Running for the ratings
- Source: Global Times
- [09:24 September 02 2010]
- Comments
Two scenes from The Amazing Race: China Rush. Photos: Courtesy of ICS
If you happened to notice a crowd of flustered foreigners being chased by cameras over the past few weeks there was no need to panic. It was not a tour group gone mad but the filming for International Channel Shanghai's (ICS) latest reality show The Amazing Race: China Rush.
Unlike last year's home-grown reality show Shanghai Rush, China Rush imported the program format of The Amazing Race, a seven-time Emmy award winner for Outstanding Reality Competition Programs. Produced by ABC Disney, the China show screens every Sunday night at 8 pm on ICS and on CCTV News every Saturday.
"We signed an agreement with Disney this time, and were given the production bible by Disney so that we could keep to the format of The Amazing Race," said Li Yi, deputy director at ICS.
Extending the race to Shanghai and 10 other Chinese cities, China Rush maintains The Amazing Race style with a background of different cultures and history.
After three episodes, there are now eight teams (16 contestants) remaining from the original 10. They have eight cities left to visit throughout China with a team dropping out at each destination until the winners are found and can claim the grand prize - a world tour provided by Travelzen.com.
The first to be eliminated were Paul and Francis, Maasai Warriors from Kenya, and Hector and Miguel, from Mexico. The remaining contestants are from Australia, the US, England, India, Latvia and Canada.
"We try to have an international cast. The players were all recruited on a global basis. We focused on the contestants' backgrounds and characteristics. We want to present a diverse selection of competitors and make the race more dramatic," said Li.
This came through at the very beginning of the show.
In the first episode, the racers, who had never traveled on the Shanghai Metro before, all got lost at the ticket machines. When they were told to take a bullet train that runs at 350 km/h from Shanghai to Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, the Maasai Warriors, who had never left East Africa before, were amazed at the speed, saying: "it moves faster than a cheetah."
As well as culture and customs, at every pit stop the host is accompanied by a guest wearing a local folk costume. "All the 12 episodes are very different, set in various cities across China, presenting a country of diversified cultures. We show local costumes and some of our local guests speak in their dialects and perform folk dances," Li said.
Filming was not easy. It was "much more complicated than Shanghai Rush where the shooting was all in our own city," said Li. "This was the first time a show involving foreign contestants has been made throughout China. We had to talk to government officials in each city to get approval. At the beginning, some officials were worried that this could produce a bad image of their cities, and we needed to convince them otherwise."
