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Yankee_in_ca
Member
08-01-2000
| Wednesday, December 22, 2004 - 3:14 pm
http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1011634_10_0_,00.html Push Comes to Shove Jonathan of ''The Amazing Race'' says, I'm not an abusive husband: Despite a reprimand from the producers for his apparently rough treatment of wife Victoria, the contestant says the couple are playing up their squabbles for the camera by Gary Susman Jonathan Baker isn't a reality-competition villain. He just plays one on TV. So claims the Amazing Race contestant, who insists he's not the abusive husband he seems to be on the reality program. Though the show's creators have been unusually vocal about his harsh on-air treatment of wife Victoria Fuller, Baker insists that the drama is all manufactured for the cameras — or at least that he's not to blame for it. Last week's episode saw Baker shove and yell at Fuller, blaming her for the couple's second-place finish in a challenge. Host Phil Keoghan admonished Baker on camera to ''go talk to your wife.'' Off-camera, Baker got a talking to from executive producer Bertram van Munster. ''I told him you've got to tone it down, you have to stop this kind of stuff, it's not cool,'' van Munster told the New York Post. ''Until then, I'd never given advice to a reality show player before to chill out.'' Baker, however, said that Keoghan's scolding was a matter of theatrics. ''We went in being the villains,'' Baker told TV's Access Hollywood. ''We went in playing it over the top, and CBS kind of helped it along with their storyline. I've had to do a lot of apologizing to a lot of people because they actually think it's real. And yeah, some of it's real. But you know at the end of the day we really wanted to play it campy, over the top, you know. But we do love each other.'' Some of those apologies have run on the couple's website, where Baker wrote, ''All of us have our faults. Unfortunately for me, millions of viewers are getting to see mine each week. I do not abuse Victoria, what you see is a heightened version of stress and obsession mixed with medication for a sickness called Sarcoidosis.'' For her part, Fuller told Access Hollywood that she has no regrets about her Amazing Race experience and ''would do it again in a heartbeat.'' (Posted:12/22/04)
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Yankee_in_ca
Member
08-01-2000
| Wednesday, December 22, 2004 - 3:16 pm
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6743532 (Article too long to post in text here -- but worth reading)
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Gen
Member
08-22-2003
| Wednesday, December 22, 2004 - 3:42 pm
Yankee, that is a great article! Thanks for posting the link. A little into the article, there is a link to a "Live Vote" about Jonathan's behavior. Right now, 93% are voting for him to be disqualified. Maybe CBS will take note of this and in the "To Be Continued" segment, will do something about this. One can always hope!
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Karen
Member
09-07-2004
| Wednesday, December 22, 2004 - 4:31 pm
(from Yankee's article, above) This “stunt casting” dilutes the show’s quality. It misses the point that the fun of the show was always watching ordinary people in these situations. And when producers refuse to take action when their cast goes too far, the show suffers. That just about sums it up perfectly for me.
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Wednesday, December 22, 2004 - 4:37 pm
What a great article!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks, Yankee.
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Karuuna
Member
08-31-2000
| Wednesday, December 22, 2004 - 4:40 pm
The race is already over, how could they disqualify him now?
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Seamonkey
Member
09-07-2000
| Wednesday, December 22, 2004 - 5:02 pm
You got to it first, Karen.. and even before I read that quote about "stunt casting".. yes.. it bothers me very much that he claims he has to do this to "portray the villian".. He just has no idea how to be a loveable villian and he's over-the-top even when supposedly pretending to be supportive . UGH. Kar, you just had to drag it back into real time, huh? The only good feedback will do might be in future races.
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Wednesday, December 22, 2004 - 5:07 pm
WEll, duh on me Kar..you are right! LOL
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Gina8642
Member
06-01-2001
| Wednesday, December 22, 2004 - 5:37 pm
That is a great article. It articulates much of what I've been trying to say much better than me. Saying that none of the reprimands or condemnations of Jonathan's actions made it onto the TV show. Instead they just hyped the act. Good for MSNBC (not usually my favorite for good reporting.)
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Yankee_in_ca
Member
08-01-2000
| Wednesday, December 22, 2004 - 6:34 pm
At the end, it says the article was written by the publisher of the Reality Blurred website -- and MSNBC is calling him a MSNBC contributor. But either way, I'm glad MSNBC published it -- much more high-profile that way.
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Fruitbat
Member
08-07-2000
| Thursday, December 23, 2004 - 3:55 am
Very good article. Watching themselves on TV may very well spark them to seek help. Even though they are defending themselves and pulling the, all too familiar, outrage at editing they may take a closer look at their behavior. Had production eliminated or punished Jonathan for the shove, he would have only blamed Victoria making the situation worse.
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Seamonkey
Member
09-07-2000
| Thursday, December 23, 2004 - 9:42 am
Well so far, he seems to be basking in all the attention on his website and still claiming that he had to develop an evil persona for the race 
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Reader234
Member
08-13-2000
| Friday, December 24, 2004 - 7:32 am
I have no idea where I read this... but now that I am gearing up for TAR's next episode, it does make me wonder... Did Jonathan have a "cast" party ? It was posted on another site, that perhaps we (internet commentators) are blowing things out of proportion (no comment *G) if his fellow travelers thought he was so 'bad' they wouldnt have come to his house for the "party" that kicked off the TV start of TAR... I thought that was a good point, but, I have no idea if its true... I've been looking here and there, but havent found anything that confirmed it, did I miss it?
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Gina8642
Member
06-01-2001
| Friday, December 24, 2004 - 8:39 am
I've seen pictures posted elsewhere of what looked like a holiday party at J/V's house. Lori and Bolo where there. Also, Don and MJ had nice things to say about them. So, I think they are much more likable than portrayed. It is easy to accumlate everyone's worst moments and make the viewers dislike them. It isn't that they didn't really do or say what we see but those moments are not tempered out with there better moments.
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Ladytex
Member
09-27-2001
| Friday, December 24, 2004 - 11:08 am
They have pictures posted on their website of their "Premier Party" and other occasions.
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Karuuna
Member
08-31-2000
| Friday, December 24, 2004 - 12:27 pm
Doesn't matter hwo many people are in denial about his bad behavior in the race. Lots of abusers can be very very nice when they want to be. Even OJ and Scott Peterson had character witnesses. JMO.
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Cousin_jake
Member
07-04-2002
| Friday, December 24, 2004 - 6:08 pm
Don't forget, many of their fellow competitors didn't see all that we saw while the race was on. Now that they see more of his behaviour shown on the shows, I'm sure some of them have lowered their opinion of him.
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Seamonkey
Member
09-07-2000
| Saturday, December 25, 2004 - 3:45 am
I think the party was at the Playboy Mansion, and I imagine the others were quite curious to see that place.. Atleast Hef and his twin bunnies-of-the-moment were in one picture.. And we already know what Gus thinks of him 
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Kappy
Member
06-29-2002
| Tuesday, December 28, 2004 - 11:30 am
Even the tv critic in my local paper this morning made a comment about the racist comments and spousal abuse on this season of TAR and how it isn't entertainment. Let's face it, in the end the producers only care about ratings and think of how many people who don't normally watch this show will tune in just to see how bad Jonathan really is. Sad. As for Jonathan's continual denial of his problem or his blaming it on other factors ~ what else is new? I love how he is now blaming medication.
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Seamonkey
Member
09-07-2000
| Tuesday, December 28, 2004 - 1:04 pm
The very medication that Victoria was trying to SAVE for him when she retrieved his discarded pack! I bet if someone had stolen the pack, he'd have somehow made it her fault.
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Tntitanfan
Member
08-03-2001
| Tuesday, December 28, 2004 - 9:26 pm
Well yes, Sea, that is how abusers think (?) and act!
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Chy
Member
07-19-2003
| Friday, January 07, 2005 - 12:28 pm
All we can hope for is that they will not win the whole thing!
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Chy
Member
07-19-2003
| Friday, January 07, 2005 - 1:20 pm
And I pray to God people like that do not become parents!
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Yankee_in_ca
Member
08-01-2000
| Thursday, January 13, 2005 - 11:02 am
http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/38430.htm RAT 'RACE' By DON KAPLAN January 13, 2005 -- 'AMAZING Race" bad- guy Jonathan Baker is getting more than he ever bargained for when he decided to become the show's most memorable villain. Jonathan, 42, has been at the center of a reality-TV storm pretty much since he jumped out of the latest cast of competitors and developed a reputation as the meanest man on TV. As the show has unreeled over the weeks, the drumbeat for Jonathan's head has grown louder among fans — and now he has begun to get word out through friends that he was only playing a part. In fact, friends say, when the part got to be too much for him — the night he shoved wife Victoria Fuller in anger — he tried to quit the show. But producers talked him into staying in the race, telling him the series had "never had a character like him." Jonathan has conceded to friends that it was originally his choice to "play" a villain on TV because it was a good way to stand out from the reality-show crowd. Week after week, viewers have watched as Jonathan berates Victoria and taunts competitors. It's all gone too far now, he tells friends, but Jonathan is restricted by the contract he signed with CBS from talking publicly about how the role-playing got out of hand. The fact that Victoria has been portrayed on the show as an abused spouse upsets Jonathan the most. "If she hadn't been there [on the show], he would have owned the part [of the bad guy]," says one friend. "He would have been the most infamous character on reality TV ever. "But how do you own a piece-of-s—t character like a wife abuser? At the end of the day, he's just hoping that the press doesn't crucify him," says the friend. "They're not like that in real life," says actor Jimmy Van Patten, the son of "Eight is Enough" star Dick Van Patten, and a longtime friend of the couple. "Honestly, I've never heard him speak to her like that." Van Patten fears he may have accidentally influenced Jonathan by mentioning that playing a bad guy is the best job in a TV show or movie. "My father always said that the easiest role to play is a bad guy," says Van Patten. "It's the most interesting, the most fun and it's the easiest. Jonathan may have heard me say that or learned that from me because I've played a lot of bad guys and it is more fun." "He played the game as hard as he could, did it all in fun and took it and himself too seriously," says another of Jonathan's friends. "But the people at CBS knew what they wanted and it's all heightened reality from a storyline. "As much bad behavior as there was, there was an equal amount of good that didn't make it into the show," says the friend. Meanwhile, on this week's episode, Victoria for the first time was shown getting in a few licks of her own when she taunted her husband for bobbling a challenge.
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Yankee_in_ca
Member
08-01-2000
| Thursday, January 13, 2005 - 11:04 am
http://slate.msn.com/id/2112253/fr/rss/ When Push Comes to Shove The Amazing Race wife-abuse scandal. By Dana Stevens Posted Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2005, at 7:21 PM PT Somehow, over the course of its five-and-a-half seasons on the air, The Amazing Race (CBS Tuesdays, 9 p.m. ET) has won a reputation as the "classy" reality show, what one reviewer called "the thinking viewer's reality contest." I've never quite understood the "classy" designation, since whatever cachet the world-travel angle lends to the series is undercut by the fact that all the contestants do as they race around the world is reinforce the ugly-American stereotype a million times over. Week after week, they clomp past historic monuments clad in hideous day-glo athletic gear, shrieking at cabdrivers and ticket agents to get them there "Faster! Faster! Do you even understand what I'm SAYING? Faster!" But TAR is certainly one of the most watchable reality series on TV, perhaps because its premise is kinetic and its scenery breathtaking, not like the claustrophobic gastro-torture chambers of Fear Factor. The round-the world-in-80-days aspect gives the show a certain swashbuckling flair, but as with all reality shows, the heart of TAR is pure, voyeuristic people-watching. As the season wears on, and tempers and travel budgets wear thin, you can eavesdrop on the relationship of each contestant couple (who are not necessarily romantically linked; pairs can include siblings, parents and children, or friends). Take Jonathan Baker and Victoria Fuller, a team billed on the show as "married entrepreneurs." He is an aspiring filmmaker who owns "LA's most famous day spa"; she is a painter and former Playmate who hopes to become "a leading female force in the world of Pop Art." They have spent the last six weeks dragging America through their own personal version of marital hell. Ever since Episode 2, in which Jonathan beaned Victoria with the lid of their car's trunk (it was an accident, but no apology was offered), the couple's nasty dynamic has been drawing viewer outrage. There was the now-legendary shove of Episode 5 (click here and scroll down for a QuickTime video), when, as an exhausted Victoria slogged toward the Berlin finish line carrying both of their backpacks (long story), an angry Jonathan punched his wife's shoulder, or according to some viewers, her backpack. Wherever the blow landed, the effect was the same, as Victoria lost her balance and fell to her knees, piteously wailing Jonathan's name as he raced ahead of her. (Victoria's masochistic responses to her husband's ill treatment have led fans on some message boards to give her nicknames like "Victimoria" or my favorite, "Vicnabler.") The shove provoked a wave of viewer mail, leading Jonathan to post a defense of his behavior on the couple's personal Web site. Like all good abusers, Jonathan has multiple excuses: He has blamed his behavior on the show's editors ("They used everything bad that was there,"); on beverage intake ("We were up for days, and I was drinking a lot of Red Bull,"); and finally, on "stress and obsession, mixed with medication for a sickness called Sarcoidosis." (Yeah, and I've got gout. Can I hit someone, too?) Yet, like many abusers (and a couple of presidents I can name), Jonathan seems to believe that apologies can coexist with excuses, declaring on his Web site: "I am sorry for my actions, I am sorry to Victoria [sic]. Most of all I am sorry to fans of The Amazing Race." Despite numerous scoldings—one on the air from host Phil Keoghan, another behind the scenes from executive producer Bertram van Munster—Jonathan continues to push, if not his wife, then at least the limits of spousal behavior. Last night in Corsica, for the episode's final "challenge," he had to stomp 55 pounds of grapes in a barrel with his bare feet, filling up five empty wine bottles with juice before proceeding to the finish line. (As challenges go, this one was pretty cinchy—last week in Budapest, Victoria had to choke down mixing-bowl-sized servings of unbearably spicy Hungarian soup, vomiting between gulps, as her husband screeched invective from the sidelines.) As the designated grape-stomper, Jonathan ignored his wife's instructions ("Make a moat so the juice collects!" "What do you mean, a moat?"), and wound up clogging the barrel's spout. When Victoria pointed that fact out to him—shrilly, to be sure—he raised the back of his hand to her face. There was no follow-through on the gesture, but it didn't look like he was kidding (not that "I'm gonna hit you … psych!" would qualify as a big knee-slapper). "This race shows you all the things you don't like about yourself," Jonathan mused to the cameras in one early episode this season. But instead of going on to enumerate what, in his case, those faults might be, he went on to add patronizingly that "Victoria has some challenges within herself." Really, Jonathan? Funny, I can only think of one: the challenge to grab her backpack, hail a cab, and ditch your grape-stomping ass. Dana Stevens (aka Liz Penn) writes on television for Slate and on film and culture for the High Sign.
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