Now, I'm not much for most reality television, but I accept it. And I enjoy a certain amount of it, mostly in the "reality competition" category. How can one not enjoy Top Chef or Project Runway, shows which feature talented people in admittedly contrived situations, yet still striving for a title which means something to them both personally and professionally? On the other end, we have the Survivor school, in which basically anyone can show up, impress a casting director, and compete for a monetary prize. On the trashy end, we have Big Brother and most anything on VH1. And on the mostly decent, Emmy-winning side of town, there's The Amazing Race on CBS. I really, really dig The Amazing Race.
TAR is, yes, a race, specifically around the world. It features people from all walks of life going to mostly unfamiliar places and performing a series of tasks tied to each locale, and the ultimate winner pockets a cool million. With such forward momentum and a need to rapidly move from one challenge to the next, it's rare for divas and outrageous fame-seekers to flourish, so we're left with a cross-section of people doing sometimes extraordinary, sometimes silly things amidst a vivid and colorful international backdrop. To make it better, racers are paired in teams of two featuring preexisting relationships, so you have fathers racing with daughters, brothers with sisters, husbands with wives, and college roommates with college roommates. Such stressful situations lead to interpersonal drama and yelling and confusion, but sometimes the viewer also witnesses transcendent moments of humanity and deep cultural profundity. At the end of the day, it's a show where people run around and do stuff to win money, but for the audience, it's as close to different parts of the world as some may ever get, and the variety of the racers themselves shows a mass audience that people who may be different than them are just as likely as anyone else to celebrate victory, bemoan defeat, or U-Turn a Playboy Playmate. Plus, the name of the show's executive producer is Bertram van Munster. Bertram van Munster!!!
There have been quite a few teams over eighteen different races, and everyone has their favorites, like the aw-shucks Oklahoma cowboys Jet and Cord, or Rob and Amber, already famous in reality circles for competing on Survivor. But, for my tastes, nobody else comes close...I love the goths, Kent and Vyxsin.
When I heard in autumn 2007 that one of the teams competing in the twelfth race would be a couple of goths, I nearly peed myself laughing. Goths? I love goths as much as anyone who loves goths. I am probably more than a little bit gothic in my soul, being a creative type prone to light brooding and sparse maudlinism. Some of the most enjoyable concerts I've ever attended have been by Sisters of Mercy and Voltaire. I love to visit New Orleans and have toured Anne Rice's old home there. Whenever possible, I attend the glorious freakshow of DragonCon, and while I'm all about t-shirts and jeans, I love watching people so inclined show up and show out, and the goth community always does. That said, most goths I have known are more than a little precious, and the idea of Azrael Abyss and Circe Nightshade running around in lace and eyeliner while performing grueling physical tasks had me wondering if they would be the first team to be eliminated, or if they'd hold on long enough to get canned in episode two. It would make for an hour or two of entertaining television, for sure. To make matters better, Kent (or Kynt, take your pick) and Vyxsin were from LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY. It's not like they were living in L.A. and hitting up Bar Sinister every week...they were essentially COUNTRY GOTHS! Awesome! I popped some popcorn and sat down to watch the impending train wreck.
What I should have been prepared for, knowing a lot of "different" people, and being more than a little "different" myself, was that Kent and Vyxsin were just enjoyable, positive and fun as all hell (and, technically, probably not truly goth, unless you consider subcults perkygoth or glittergoth). They were not as well-prepared as some other teams and most other teams were certainly more athletic than they, but they attacked the race with a lot of good humor and vigor, and were clearly enjoying the opportunity to see exotic parts of the world side-by-side with a trusted confidante. And when they did break down, as almost every team does at least once in the stressful television fishbowl, it was with such theatrical flair likely well-honed through many a nightclub confrontation and LARP session of Vampire: The Masquerade that they endeared me all the more. Kent and Vyxsin did not win, but they lasted longer than six other teams and were so memorable, they were clearly a lock for an all-star edition of the show.
This past Sunday was the conclusion of said All-Star edition, aka The Amazing Race 18 aka The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business. Kent and Vyxsin did not win, though they again finished ahead of six other teams, and occasionally came out as a bit devious and underhanded in the show's edit (because all reality competition shows try to play up rivalries and tensions as much as possible, even if they don't exist, and the ostensible "villains," the redheaded cheerleaders, had been eliminated). Though they seemed to bicker more this time around, perhaps because they've moved to Los Angeles since their first race and probably ARE hitting up Bar Sinister most weekends, they were, in my eyes at least, still a couple of vibrant and thoughtful competitors. It's pretty great that in post-race interviews, the goths acknowledge their mistakes, but stress their devotion and friendship despite the craziness wrought by television. I've even seen them on snark-filled message boards, thanking lovers and haters alike for watching the show. If you're on TV, believe me, there will be haters.
Ever since Kent and Vyxsin have entered the public eye, they've become niche models and are frequently featured in Gothic Beauty magazine and Hot Topic ads, to say nothing of episodes of Bones and The Big Bang Theory, and they show up at a variety of conventions to meet fans and keep their spotlight lit. Not knowing Kent and Vyxsin beyond what I've seen on television (though I certainly might have run into one or both of them in passing over the years), I can't say I mind them using their reality fame to support their lifestyle as I do other obnoxious asshats who think, because they came in fourth on I Love Money, that a lot of people care what they have to say and they should be paid $5,000 to appear at a club opening. I get the feeling that my favorite goths saw an opportunity to live a life they had always wanted to live, and a certain measure of fame was a way to achieve that life.
It can be tough being different. It can certainly be tough being different, and being yourself, on network TV. I'm just hoping that Kent and Vyxsin have shown a few people in the world that they don't have to exist in a land of cookie cutter sterility and strip mall uniformity unless they happen to enjoy that kind of thing. To each their own, even and especially if one's own is zebra print fluorescent pink and black.
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