The Amazing Race season 6 is consistently ranked as one of the worst seasons in history. It doesn't help that it aired only two months after the season prior and a month before the following season, which were both highly rated. The Amazing Race 6 visited seven countries, including Ethiopia and Sri Lanka, and gave the series one of its most memorable challenges when teams unrolled bales of hay in Sweden to find a clue. Sisters Lena and Kristy Jensen spent over eight hours attempting to find one before being eliminated on the spot by the host, Phil Keoghan.
Even with new locales and memorable moments, The Amazing Race 6 is marred by a dull race map, bad casting choices, and unsavory moments. The Amazing Race began with three European legs, followed by one leg in Senegal, then returning to Europe for three more legs. There were very few The Amazing Race 6 teams viewers were able to root for, as the better teams were eliminated early on in the season. The teams remaining spent the race endlessly bickering, such as Adam Malis and Rebecca Cardon, who was breaking up while on the show. Adama and Rebecca's constant fighting left Kris Perkins and Jon Buehler, another couple, as the only likable team by mid-race. While they had their issues, they received very little airtime amid the drama ensuing with other teams.
The Amazing Race 6 Is A Study On How Humans Handle Stress
As The Amazing Race 34 was praised for its little drama, The Amazing Race season 6 continues to be reviled, thanks to Jonathan Baker's treatment of then-wife Victoria Fuller. His shoving of Victoria while berating her on the mat in The Amazing Race season 6, episode 5, remains the hardest-to-watch moment in the show's history. There is also the issue of the winner, Kendra Bentley, spending both African legs whining about how deplorable they were. "This city is wretched and disgusting. And they just keep breeding and breeding in this poverty. I can't take it," Kendra said regarding Dakar, Senegal, during the episode.
The Amazing Race 6 Took Contestants Out Of Their Comfort Zones
While these moments are truly hard to watch, it also shows a side of human nature rarely seen on TV anymore. Booking flights on The Amazing Race is stressful, and so is being stuck with another person for days. The Amazing Race 6 shows the true horrors of what happens when there is a lack of communication with a backdrop of locations where unthinkable human atrocities occurred, such as a slavery port in Senegal and the Berlin Wall in . Humans are capable of terrible things, but to learn from them, they need to be watched and analyzed.
Witnessing Aaron Crumbaugh propose to Hayden Kristianson in the season finale is made all the sweeter knowing the trials and tribulations they've been through on the race. There's also the moment when Don St. Claire breaks down in tears having to watch his wife, Mary Jean St. Claire, complete a difficult roadblock involving heavy buckets of salt. The Amazing Race 6 will never compare to the greatest season, The Amazing Race 7, but there were still endearing moments between all the bickering and yelling.
With social media changing the way contestants interact on reality TV now, it's unlikely a season like The Amazing Race 6 will happen again. It's rough around the edges and has some truly terrible moments, but when looking closely, there is a lot to be learned from the season, along with some truly stunning locations that are rarely visited by the show. This season is worth another visit; if only to how vile humans under stress can be.