Now that Mark Burnett is stealing some thunder away from American Idol with The Voice, is he now hoping to suck a little steam out of The Amazing Race?
You be the judge: Burnett is the man behind a new summer reality show for ABC dubbed Expedition Impossible, which features 13 teams of three players who will travel across deserts, mountains and rivers in the “exotic, fabled Kingdom of Morocco.” Fun? Each week a new stage of the expedition will be revealed to the competitors, who must find a way to work together to complete the trip. After 10 legs of competition, one team will cross the finish line. Winners each receive $50,000, a Ford Explorer (nice product placement) and the privilege of never having to be called members of the Fab 3, Mom’s Army, or Grandpa’s Warriors ever again.
You think we’re kidding? Check out the monikers given to the 13 teams, which start the expedition on Tuesday, June 21. (My money is on the fishermen. Not so much for the gypsies):
California Girls
Christina Chin, 24, Davis, CA, manager
Brittany Smith, 24, Rancho Murietta, CA, pro golfer
Natalie Smith, 25, Woodland, CA, teacher/coach
The cops
Robert Robillard, 43, Concord, MA, police officer (duh)
Dani Henderson, 34, Marlborough, MA, police officer
James Vaglica, 49, Billerica, MA, police officer
The country boys
Nicholas Coughlin, 28, Clinton, MS, internet marketing
Jason Cronin, 37, Pensacola Beach, MN, business owner/entrepreneur
Chad Robinson, 27, Bolton,MS, realtor
Fab 3
Ryan Carrillo, 36, Los Angeles, CA, business owner
Kari Gibson, 26, Los Angeles, CA, poker tournament hostess
AJ Gibson, 30, Los Angeles, CA, mortgage consultant
The fisherman
Gus Sanfilippo, 48, Gloucester, MA, fisherman
Nino Sanfilippo, 43, Gloucester, MA, fisherman
Joe Sanfilippo, 44, Gloucester, MA, fisherman
The football players
Akbar Gbaja-Biamila, 31, Los Angeles, CA, broadcaster
Robert Ortiz, 27, Solana Beach, CA, business owner
Ricky Sharpe, 31, Costa Mesa, CA, coach
Grandpa’s warriors
Dick Smith, 69, Normal, IL, store owner
Steven Smith, 49, Savoy, IL, store owner
Sam Gibbs, 23, Thomasboro, IL, store anager
The gypsies
John Post, 29, Pensacola, FL, sustainable farmer
Taylor Filasky, 31, San Diego, CA, video producer
Eric Bach, 26, San Francisco, CA, sales
Latin persuasion
Dashia Imperiale, 44, New York, NY, fitness instructor
Raven Garcia, 30, Bronx, NY, freelance writer
Mai Reyes, 38, New York, NY, manager
Mom’s army
Eleanor Vanderbeck, 52, Reading, PA, bookkeeper
Ruthie Vanderbeck, 27, Reading, PA, realtor
Abbie Vanderbeck, 29, Norwalk, CT, nanny
No limits
Erik Weihenmayer, 42, Golden, CO, speaker/writer
Jeff Evans, 41, Boulder, CO, physician assistant
Ike Isaacson, 33, Topeka, KS, National Guard
New York fireman
Kevin Coursey, 39, Belle Harbor, NY, firefighter
Robert Kiley, 34, Rockaway Park, NY, firefighter
Michael Egan, 34, Rockaway Park, NY, firefighter
Team Kansas
Lindsey Haymond, 27, Houston, TX, teacher
Kelsey Fuller, 21, Overland Park, KS, student
Mackenzie Fuller, 18, Overland Park, KS, student
Race you to Twitter! @EWLynette
ABC — WHY CAN’T YOU BRING BACK BATTLE OF THE NETWORK STARS?????
WIN.
I love you.
That would be awesome!
Nice.
This!
Just by adding 1 extra person to each team you get way too many people. TAR is king & always will be.
Ummm….I don’t think Pensacola Beach is in Minnesota (MN).
Ummm..maybe? Just like Paris, TX, Paris,AR, Murphreeboro, TN & Murphreeboro, AR…etc.
…or this one family member lives in Minnesota. Who knows?
Pensacola Beach is in FL.
This sounds sorta like that show NBC did a few years ago. The name escapes me but it was amazing race with lots of mental puzzles…
You mean Treasure Hunters?
That was it. Still lame though.
Lame. This might be worse than NBC’s copy of Amazing Race. It was so horrible I can’t even remember the name.
Treasure Hunters had its problems, but the $3 million prize from that show makes this show look like a pathetic joke.
i just threw up in my mouth a little
Lynette- Fisherman is singular. Fishermen is plural. I hate to sound like a grammar cop but spelling and grammar isn’t your best trait.
I find it ironic that you are complaining about someone else’s grammar when you said “spelling and grammar isn’t”…it should be “spelling and grammar aren’t”.
People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
Whoops, I meant aren’t your best traits. (although I think when I wrote it I meant spelling and grammar as one thing.)
Feel free to call me a hippocrite.
Oh man…. it’s hypocrite. Right on about the grammar, though.
There is very little better on these boards than some person who feel the need to correct someone else’s spelling or grammar proving themselves to be not so bright.
@BuffyFreak When you’re in a rush to post a comment you tend to forget about grammar and spelling until after you click post comment. Everybody makes typos. I just happened to do so in a public forum.
@Charlotte Thank you for correcting me on hypocrite. For me, that is a hard word to spell.
Yeah we do all make typos…except the whole point of your post was to correct the author’s mistake. Perhaps that was a typo as well…but you’re misspelling and misunderstanding of the word hypocrite are most assuredly not typos…it wasn’t hypocrisy…I’d say irony…
grammar AND spelling…two things…the conjunction AND is the tip off that there is more than one item…
Love you guys!
Fab 3
Ryan Carrillo, 36, Los Angeles, CA, business owner
Kari Gibson, 26, Los Angeles, CA, poker tournament hostess
AJ Gibson, 30, Los Angeles, CA, mortgage consultant
FAB 3!!! Woohoo! Can’t wait to see your adventure!!!
Love you guys!
Yay Fab3!!!! Go AJ, Kari and Ryan!!!
This is gonna be great!!! I can’t wait to root for my FAB 3 Team!!! HOOO-RAY Twirl it out!!!
I love the Amazing Race but I’ll check this out. Could be fun…
Go Team COPS…I’ll be watching you. I’m your number 1 fan LOL……
Me 2!!!
Can’t wait. lets go JUN 21st
Let’s go cops!!!!! Can’t wait for June 21st!
Team Cops….ready to whoop some
The only thing that would be worse is if they put them all on an old-timey pirate ship and made them dress like…oh…right.
Go fab 3!!! Not a big fan of this type of reality show, but I’ll be tuning in for u AJ, Kerri n Ryan
Mark Burnett produced Eco-Challenges
for yrs before developing Survivor. this should be good, ot at the very least , interesting. give it a chance people!
The pre-USA Network Eco-Challenges were really good. If this show is anything like those, I may just tune in, although in addition to AR, not instead of it.
I’m hoping this show is more like the Eco-Challenge, or similar adventure races, than The Amazing Race.