Reality TV Shows and Vegetarians

I'm not much of a TV watcher.  And I really don't consider myself a Reality TV watcher at all.  Shows such as "Dancing with the Stars," "The Bachelor," "Big Brother," or "Survivor" hold no appeal for me whatsoever.  In the past, I've been less than charitable about people who do watch them (without throwing anyone under the bus, or naming names, I'll just say I do live with one such person!)

However, over the last few years, I've become hooked, quite accidentally, on a couple such shows, The Amazing Race and Biggest Loser.  The Race hooked me because my husband was watching it on Sunday nights while I worked the New York Times crossword puzzle in the same room.  Was I feeling a bit smug that I was engaged in such an intellectual pursuit, while HE was watching such drivel? Hopefully, not!


Little by little, bits of the action started worming their way into my subconscious.  I mean, how could I resist a woman my own age (a bit past my youth!) riding an elephant, or two members of the Harlem Globetrotters maneuvering a waterslide in Dubai, or men with very hairy bodies undergoing Brazilian body waxes, etc.?   Soon, I found myself taking the phone off the hook at 7 p.m. on Sunday evenings so there would be no chance of my missing one single minute of such riveting television.  The crossword puzzle?  That would still be there on Monday.


The Biggest Loser ended up on my list of "must see" TV while I was walking on my treadmill one night a few years ago, and happened onto one of the weigh-ins while "surfing" with the remote.  I hate exercising, so spending 30 minutes on a treadmill is pure torture and I'm always looking for a way to make it less painful. Mindless distraction seemed a good method, and Biggest Loser seemed an appropriate choice.


That night, I found myself upping my treadmill's speed and incline after watching people weighing 150 lbs or more than I straining to complete their time on a treadmill that STARTED at 3.5 miles an hour (usually my ending speed after 30 minutes) and ended on incline levels that felt like climbing a small mountain to me. After that first night, I didn't miss an episode. I have to admit though that I usually watch them while sitting in my recliner eating buttered popcorn and drinking a glass of wine.  That exercise stuff is way too much work.

Recently, I've added another show to my list. The Great Food Truck Race. On the Food Network of all channels.  This show has quite an interesting premise, especially for someone like me who thinks of a truck as the main character in a country western song, not as a food prep station.


GFTR is on Sunday evenings and last night's episode ended with one of the 4 "finalist trucks" being disqualified for cheating. One would think that all of the contestants would know the rules so this sounded like a pretty stupid mistake.  The disqualified "truck crew" didn't make any protest ... just left the scene.  I know they edit these shows, so possibly there was some exchange that got edited out.  I'm dying to know more about what happened (the emcee gave viewers just a bare bones account), but, apparently because of the confidentiality agreements all contestants signed, no other information has been released and the disqualified contestants can't say anything until a certain amount of time elapses.  So I guess we have to wait until spring to hear their side of the story.  I'll definitely keep watching.  Hmmm ... is there something promotional going on? 

Courtesy of last night's show, I've now discovered a new blog that I'm going to follow.  It's called The Chubby Vegetarian.  "Chubby" was featured on last night's show and I checked out his blog today. Since I have a daughter who is a vegetarian, I'm always interested in foods I can serve that might appeal to her.  Check out the "Tiny Yogurt Parfaits" ... something even a non-vegetarian like myself might love! 


I found Chubby's blog interesting and easy to navigate, so I've put his link on My Blog List shown on this page.  Check it out, especially if you're a vegetarian .. or even if you're not.


By the way, the Chubby Vegetarian is anything but chubby. Bet he doesn't watch the Biggest Loser while eating popcorn and drinking wine!