A Spousal Nightmare – Jonathan Baker from ‘The Amazing Race 6’

The shamefulness didn't stop there on leg seven. Once again, it was a foot race to the Pit Stop, but a small elevator had to be taken first. Jonathan & Victoria happened to be on an elevator with an elderly local woman, and Jonathan told her to move away from the door since they were in a race and had to get off first. Not only that, but he physically pushed her out of the way once they were at the top. Okay, it's one thing to shove your wife... what am I saying? He shouldn't put his hands on anyone, let alone a local! Of course, they once again lost the foot race, this time to Kris & Jon, and Victoria began to cry, prompting Jonathan to scream at her and tell her not to cry when they get on the mat again. He didn’t seem to understand that he was the one causing her to cry!

So we moved to leg eight, another one of Jonathan's finest moments. When he and Victoria found the Fast Forward clue and saw that Adam & Rebecca were already there, not only did Jonathan complain, but he blamed Victoria for the whole thing, and she had nothing to do with it! Then he flipped out on her again at the Detour when they decided to switch tasks. Once again, Victoria had nothing to do with it, and actually suggested that they did the other one first, but of course, you can't tell that to Jonathan – master of the universe. Even though they switched tasks, they still beat a good majority of the other teams! However, once again, Jonathan wailed that they lost the race because of Victoria.

Since the Roadblock for the eight leg of the race was an easy one, Jonathan did it – but still managed to mess it up. The Roadblock required that one member of the team smash grapes and fill up five bottles. When Jonathan was down to his last bottle, his faucet somehow got jammed and he couldn't finish. Instead of calming down and fixing the problem, he blamed Victoria, who if anything, was telling him how to fix it. I just don't understand how this guy operates! After he finally figured it out, and after all but one team had passed him, Jonathan told Victoria that they deserve to lose after how horribly THEY did at the Roadblock. THEY? No, Jonathan, you meant to say YOU – how horribly YOU did at the Roadblock. Victoria had nothing to do with it! Of course, they didn't come in last, and if they had, it was a non-elimination leg anyway.

Jonathan's shameful run on The Amazing Race thankfully came to an end on leg nine, but it was still chock full of shameful activity. First, Jonathan screamed at a travel agent in Corsica because he was in a hurry and needed to get to Ethiopia. Instead of making the agent work faster, she told him to leave because her computer wasn't working, but when Kris & Jon got there, she was more than happy to give them a hand. Then, once in Ethiopia, Jonathan had his van driver pull over, where he all but kidnapped a boy walking down the road. Victoria tried to stop him since the boy didn't speak English, but that didn't stop Jonathan, who yelled at Victoria to communicate with the boy that he KNEW couldn't even speak English.

At the Detour, which consisted of throwing mud on the side of a house, Victoria deeply cut her finger on a nail sticking out of the transport device they were using to move the mud from the pit to the house. Victoria went screaming in pain over to the locals for assistance, while Jonathan continued to do the Detour without even offering assistance. On The Early Show, Victoria said that she told Jonathan not to help her, but that's not the point. The woman is his wife – and more important than a race. Jonathan didn't even go over and ask if she was okay, and that is shameful all in itself.

After they finished the Detour, teams were instructed to take two donkeys to a nearby church. Jonathan & Victoria didn't read the directions carefully, and ended up only taking one donkey. Naturally, this was Victoria's fault in the eyes of Jonathan, who mouthed her off the whole way back down and up the hill to get another donkey. Knowing that they were eliminated, Jonathan had to make a huge entrance to the Pit Stop mat, and gathered up as many people as he could to accompany him – trying to make him look like some kind of saving grace. Then, before stepping on the mat, he sent his posse away and thanked them for their help. Finally, Jonathan was eliminated from the race.

I can only wonder what other shameful acts Jonathan would have performed had he lasted longer. Actually, I can't even wonder because I'm sure it would have exceeded any of my expectations. One thing is for sure, and that is that he is one of the most shameful people I've ever seen on a reality show. The person that I feel the most sorry for though is Victoria. The lucky viewers only had to endure nine one-hour segments of shamefulness. Victoria has had put up with nine years so far, and has another who-knows-how-many to look forward to?! Jonathan Baker truly deserves this spot in the Reality TV Hall of Shame!

Phil Kural is a recent graduate of Temple University, and can be reached at pkural@gmail.com with any comments you might have.

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