Amazing Race Reality Show Reopens Vietnam War Wounds

The last American troops left Vietnam in 1973, 40 years ago. But the passage of time has not erased the wounds for many who have been there. Last Sunday, March 17th, an episode from the CBS reality show "The Amazing Race" reopened the war wounds for some Vietnam vets.

The Amazing Race is a reality show in which contestants forming teams of two race each other around the world while performing various cultural activities in the countries that they are visiting. On March 17th, the contestants flew to Hanoi, Vietnam. One of the controversial tasks involved contestants listening to a propaganda show inside a theater glorifying the Communist regime and then finding pictures with the correct words so they can move on to the next tasks. The problem was that they had hundreds of pictures to choose from, meaning that if they did not find the picture with the exact words on it, they would have to come down to the theater and listen to the show all over again. The other controversial task involved contestants going to a War Memorial showing off an American B-52 that was shot down.

In an angry post on the American Legion's website, National Commander James Koutz, himself a Vietnam veteran, cried foul.

"The show is called ‘The Amazing Race,’ but I call it ‘The Amazing Gall,’" Koutz said. "In a broadcast reminiscent of Tokyo Rose, reality game show contestants visited a ‘B-52 Memorial’ in Vietnam, which featured the wreckage of a B-52 bomber shot down during the war. What wasn’t shown were the U.S. crewmembers that were killed or the grieving American families that were left behind. The Department of Defense is encouraging Americans to honor and commemorate our Vietnam War veterans for the sacrifice that they made 50 years ago. The American Legion takes this obligation very seriously. We only wish that the network that once gave us Kate Smith – famous for her rendition of ‘God Bless America’ – would return to its great roots and not be so eager to broadcast anti-American propaganda."

American Legion members visited the Facebook pages of The Amazing Race to express outrage at the episode. The show apologized to viewers at the start of the March 24th episode.

The show is designed to be both entertaining and educational, educating viewers and contestants about different cultures around the world. Contestants must perform tasks related to the countries that they are visiting. In one task while in Hanoi, contestants had to hold hands and do the correct dance steps and hop through a hoop. If they forgot to hold hands or they did the dance incorrectly, they had to go back and do it over again before they could get the directions to the next task. In another, contestants had to choose between cooking a Vietnamese dish and matching living pieces with the pieces two Chinese Chess masters were playing on the board. Following the latter, contestants could make other competitors do a detour and do the other task before finishing the race.

The tasks were made more complicated by the language barrier; there were several times that contestants got lost because the cab driver didn't know where to go or they could not find anyone who could speak English. There were other times where the language barrier was a problem; for instance, in the cooking task, the contestants frequently had to go back and get the right ingredients because they had gotten the wrong ones.