Amazing Race Begins Again

This is one of my favorite shows. The dynamic of having two people who know each other very well put under time pressures and relationship pressures while racing around the world is endlessly fascinating to me. Usually it comes down to those couples that can deal with the ways that the other person behaves rather than their own actions. Those who believe in each other and support each other go alot further than those who bitch and whine about the perceived 'failures' of the other. The producers do a great job choosing the contestants and you get a wide variety of pairings from parent/child, husband/wife, gay/straight, gay/gay, friend/friend ect. Last cycle there was the first ever deaf contestant and his mother. The kid was a dick and that had nothing to do with his handicap. This round we have a guy with Asperger's syndrome (Zev), a form of autism. Two things struck me about him during the first 2 hours of the show last night. First of all the guy is GREAT. When a soaking wet local got on the contestant's bus in Vietnam, Zev thought nothing of giving this guy his coat. It was an act of humanity so foreign to most of these type A asshats that make up about half the players. Secondly one of the challenges involved herding a large group of ducks using long polls through an obstacle course. It was awesome to see that the ducks knew exactly how to behave around those who were uptight or being screamed at from the side by their partners - they just didn't go where the asshat herders wanted them to go. Then up comes Zev, who his awesome friend, who is not handicapped, called the "Duck Whisperer". With grace and calmness he got the ducks to do exactly what he wanted in the way he wanted with no ducks freaking out in record time. It was a brilliant example of what I hope will be a long season of Zev's awesome attitude about life and others. He has everything to teach us about the simple decency of most mentally challenged people than some entitled able bodied ever would. His partner Justin deserves credit too for totally believing in the abilities of his friend. He neither talks down to him or treats him like anything other than an equal. Good on ya Zev and Justin. Now go and win the million dollars you magnificent human beings.