CBS video: Mel & Mike:
----
The father and son duo of Mel and Mike come into "The Amazing Race 14" with a compelling if controversial background story but not necessarily the best chances of winning.
The obvious pre-race hook to the story is that the older Mel came out as gay to his family nearly 30 years ago. Mel later moved on to a marriage with a same sex life partner. Whatever tribulations the revelation may have brought at the time don't seem to have affected team chemistry in the present day.
On a side note, I will say this much for Mel. While orientation may not be a choice, activism is one. Being a gay rights activist in Lynchburg, Virginia, the hometown of the evangelical Liberty University and the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, has to take some guts.
----
Unfortunately, having guts may simply not be enough for Mel and Mike this time out. Their chances of actually winning the thing though seem to small. In fact, Mel himself joked in the team pre-race video about potentially being "Team Speed it Up." A 66-year-old retiree combined with a scrawny screenwriter son could simply be overwhelmed by the physicality of many "Amazing Race" tasks.
What Mel and Mike bring into TAR14 will be traveling experience, life experience and communications skills. Mel's previous work as a minister (among varied occupations) and Mike's screenwriter work for comedy movies should help them in communication if nothing else. It's hard to imagine Mel and Mike making too many enemies or becoming a target of other teams.
----
Of course, the one other obvious way that Mel and Mike could avoid making enemies would be to suffer an early elimination, thus allowing no opportunity to create feuds on the race. I fear Mel and Mike could end up as the big stars of the Elimination Station instead of The Amazing Race 14, let's hope I'm wrong.
____________________________Labels: mel and mike, tar 14.0, the amazing race, the amazing race 14
