Stars Earn Stripes on NBC

Ok, so it doesn't appear that anyone started a thread on this one so I'll go ahead and do it. Anybody else catch this last night?

For those who aren't familiar, in an effort to win prize money ($100K) for their chosen charity (I believe all selected are military oriented), celebrities are paired with real special warfare soldiers to complete "missions". Completed missions mean "earned stripes", which has a dollar amount attached to it.

I saw the initial promos for this and just thought this was such a bad idea and possibly a disrespect to the military. After watching it last night, I don't think it's in any way disrespectful (but I'm not nor never have been enlisted so for whatever that's worth). I also don't think it's a bad idea but I also don't think it's a strong idea and it might be because of the celebrities involved. I'm not sure how much anyone will care about them doing something so far out the box. A football player dancing...I don't watch it but I get it. Nick Lachey or a WWE Diva playing special forces? Meh...!

The one thing that does get you, or me anyway, is the fact that they use live firearms and ammo and apply it to real'ish mock missions. Last night they had to jump in (a lake?) with full gear, swim to a boat, shoot targets with return fire oncoming (not sure how they did that), blew up a watch tower with a grenade launcher and then blew up a bunker while a helicopter lifted them out in seemingly real military fashion. Slowest time loses.

Having said all of that, the two most athletic looking celebrities, Terry Crews and (the trainer from the Biggest Loser, haven't watched in a while so I don't know him, Dulovett maybe?) were pulled out of the lake because they couldn't swim. Why would you sign up for something like this if you can't swim? Why would you ask someone to do this and not ask if they could swim? Ok, forget both of those questions.....They tell you exactly what you are going to do in the mission. The first thing they say is "You are going to jump from the helicopter into the lake and swim to the boat." Why not raise your hand and say "Excuse me, I'm not a strong swimmer or I can't swim". I'm still trying to decide if it was more funny to me or embarrassing but I do know I spent a lot of time shaking my head at that.

So there it is folks. Not sure if this thread, or the show for that matter will go anywhere but we'll see.

First off, I learned long ago that stereotypes are based on a certain reality. So yes, black men don't swim (in general terms). In fact, that's what I was screaming at the tv while watching it, and before anyone runs away with the discussion, I am a black man. I just happen to be one who swims. Somewhat off topic, but when I was young, my mom sent me for lessons and I really struggled to get certified. The reason was because it was so hard for me to float. I tried and tried and tried and was never comfortable, they had to pull me aside for a special session on the backstroke and even at that age I could tell the instructors were getting frustrated. Eventually I passed but it wasn't until many years later that I learned about body mass. According to studies, blacks in general are leaner than whites, which means we will sink! Or maybe a better way to say it is we won't float as easily. In addition to that, I'm afraid it's somewhat of a trickle down effect. Because many older blacks didn't have opportunities to swim they never taught their kids to swim or thought to take their kids to learn. There are exceptions of course but this gets passed down and you all too often hear about kids drowning. The Olympic swimmer gives his time to teach black kids to swim for this purpose. Anyway, back to the show, Yes!, how in the world do the producers and these military experts not go through the basic safety/survival training for the water? It almost seems like it was done (or not done) on purpose.

Agreed on all points. With that being said, my girlfriend and I love the Amazing Race. But she brought up what now seems like an obvious question.....Do they profile contestants to find out their biggest fears and/or limitations and implement that challenge or similarly so in the contest on purpose? For example, last season, there was a girl who was deathly afraid of heights and there just happened to be a height challenge. I wonder if that's true and if something similar occured with these guys?

Agreed.

And to quote from the movie Rocky......Apollo Creed - "Can he swim?" Mickey - "With a name like rock?"

This is the same test I was talking about. There was no front float. I was about 7 or 8 and I had to do it over and over. I missed out on a lot of the free swim because of it. Another thing, the "take your breath and hold it for several strokes" that you see them do in the Olympics? I wasn't allowed to do that! I had to breath with each stroke. I was ahead of my time!!! LOL! To this day I still swim better that way.

They proved it on Manswers assuming you believe them

I don't know about this as a series. But a one or two episode special to really capitalize on the star power (such as it is) playing for their respective charities is something that I think would hold my attention. I had it on last night while cooking and washing dishes so it was only a little more than background noise for me. However, I did hear, and like when the guy told Laila Ali not to punch him. Perhaps if they upped the ante and gave it a little bit of Amazing Race personality where the teams trotted the globe to accomplish their missions?