I am a huge fan of The Amazing Race and faithfully stay home most every Tuesday night to catch the latest episode. Suffice to say that last night’s program (12/14) was quite disturbing in the emotional, verbal and physical abuse displayed. Jonathan is absolutely out of control in his treatment of his wife. My husband and I were horrified to see such abuse played out on my favorite CBS show. I think the producers are being neglectful if they allow Jonathan to continue with this behavior. Victoria is worthy of respect, love and peace and I would hope the producers of The Amazing Race help her find a more hopeful existence apart from Jonathan. Please do not air such abuse again.
Respectfully,
Rebecca L. Tredway
4 Comments
mrscrumley Dec 20, 2004 9:08 AM
We were both shocked as well and glad that Phil did say something to them. But on Jonathan and Victoria’s blog Jonthan posts an apology and blames it on stress, medication, and CBS’s editing.
http://www.jonathanbakerandvictoriafuller.com/
I want to believe them, but I have a hard time doing so. Victoria’s reaction (crying, flinching) seem to be very real and I think that she really is already abused by Jonathan. Last season I thought Colin was abusive to Christy, but she didn’t react like she was expecting the abuse. She just didn’t seem to have a spine. Victoria is reacting in a way like she knows what is coming if she does something wrong. That is very sad.
charity Dec 20, 2004 9:32 AM
what was the story?
RT Dec 20, 2004 9:53 AM
One of the teams on T.A.R. is this entrepreneurial couple. The husband, Jonathan, is a wild card and is sometimes really intense in his behavior. The couple acknowledges that they fight a lot and the wife, Victoria, has said that her husband is like a freight train and sometime you just have to get out of his way. On one episode J, while screaming at V, raised his arm like he was going to backhand her. Then, last Tuesday, they were running toward the finish line for that leg of the race and J drops his backpack because it was heavy. Instead of leaving it to be taken by strangers, V grabs it and keeps running, bawling the whole way and begging J to slow down and help her. He’s screaming at her and even shoves her (reminded me of an impatient child in that shove) at the Pit Stop. It was really quite appalling. The host said something like, “J, you need to go speak to your wife” after V couldn’t even stand up she was sobbing so hard. And keep in mind, they were running for SECOND place at the stop. There was no chance they’d be eliminated. Ugh. It was like watching a train wreck instead of enjoying a normally awesome show.
Jonathan is a freaking nut.
RT Dec 20, 2004 10:01 AM
Hm. Looks like their website was spammed a bit by disgruntled fans. Other interesting tidbit not mentioned on the CBS website: Victoria is a playboy playmate. Hmm… Interesting.