If you are not American, it is quite possible that you are not familiar with the TV show: The Amazing Race. It’s not made much of a splash in Europe, for example*, although I believe that there was a Norwegian version at one time. Basically it features a bunch of two person teams racing around the world and completing challenges as they go, in a race to win the series and a nice prize of one million dollars.
The show is now on it’s (count ’em) 25th series on Friday night network TV in the States. It is one of the biggest reality TV franchises going, consistently pulling in decent ratings of 5-7 million per episode, and this season it paid a visit to Malta for the first time ever, in an episode to be shown in the US this week.
In other words, many millions of Americans will have just gotten their first ever look at Malta. Let’s face it, the vast majority will never have heard of Malta before, or if they have heard the name will have only the shakiest notion as to where it is.
So what exactly will they see?
The title of the episode is “Hot Sexy Knights”, so make of that what you will.
As this show involves completing various and often ludicrous challenges, it’s no surprise to see the famous Maltese ‘gostra’ event appear. This involves running along a greasy pole to catch the flag at the end, just in case you weren’t sure.
These happy chappies were painting the Maltese cross onto shields. They seemed to enjoy the experience.
In keeping with the episode title, there are some knights waiting at the top of Ursula Street in Valletta for the contestants to deliver trays of greenish liquid. There are a lot of steps on Ursula Street. Not sure as to the hotness and sexiness of these knights, but better judges than I can decide upon that.
So I’m not sure that that amounts to a comprehensive overview of the islands, but still no doubt gave those Americans some kind of vaguely positive idea about the place. “Beautiful sunny Island near Italy with lots of history and some weird traditions” probably sums it up. Not a bad review, all in all.**
I certainly doubt the tourist board will complain too much about the exposure.
*Melita shows the Amazing Race on one of their many channels, but they are only up to Season 24 so you’ll have to wait a while to catch this one.
**Although this show does seem to suggest that armour-clad Knights are to be found strolling about the streets of Valletta, which is not true on most days.
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