Race Around the World - and Gina Rinehart

I have been meaning to post about the ABC revival of Race Around the World and why I have found it watchable, but still disappointing.

Since the first series, the drop in price and improved quality of video equipment (and, of course, the Youtube based plethora of independent travel vloggers) has certainly taken the sheen of novelty off anyone being able to make TV quality content  anywhere in the world.     So the revival feels more than ever to be mainly about the pressure on the competitors to find stories and edit them into shape in the relatively short time they have.   This led to one guy having a serious looking stress breakdown on last week's episode, which he incorporated into the video, but it was uncomfortable to watch.

As far as the competitors are concerned, I have to admit that I can't really remember any apart from John Saffron from the first series, but my feeling is that this lot are generally not as likeable (with an exception I will get to.)    The two leading guys, especially moustachioed Jayden, whose hairy body looks like it escaped from some 70's era porno, seem to me to be overly self-confident and too pre-experienced as travellers and video makers.   Or should I say, it's especially Jayden who seems too competent for the show - it was, after all, Elliott who had the breakdown last week.  

I find two of the women a bit bland but inoffensive.  But Kate - her deadpan style seems far too contrived and I find her positively irritating.  As does Gina Rinehart!

The one competitor that I have consistently felt sorry for is poor old William.   He seems to be a gentle, modest person who enjoys creating gentle parody styles in his videos, and the irony was that the one which was not like that (and the only one for which he got much praise) was the one he liked the least.   I found his videos likeable and comforting (certainly not irritating like some of the others), and felt that the judges should just accept that while they might not share his taste, there's nothing wrong with his, and that creative types who stick to their guns often eventually find their audience.  (Hello, Wes Anderson.)   

William also often seemed a little hurt by their criticisms, and kept making comments about finding it harder than he expected.   As I say, I just wanted everyone to be nicer about his style and tastes.     

Anyway, onto the Gina Rinehart aspect.  Irritating "I'm so wacky" Kate ended her video from Scotland, in which she was referencing Braveheart,  with a satirical comment about imagined violence on Gina, for which Gina demanded (and today received) an apology from the ABC.  

As much as I dislike Rinehart, it didn't work as humour, made no real sense in the context, and at the risk of agreeing with the idiots at Sky News (now rebranded to News24, I see), the ABC should have pulled it before it was shown.

It's a bad day when something on the ABC makes me think Gina probably deserves an apology.