Uninspiring French television was what inspired American producer Elise Doganieri to create the reality TV show, The Amazing Race.Three years ago, she was in France with her colleague and her fiance Bertram van Munster.
Her whining about how there was nothing she liked on TV made van Munster, whom she married soon after, challenge her to come up with something better.
She took up the challenge and concieved a race around the world for teams of two people with pre-existing relationships to complete tasks at each pitstop.
At the end of the road was a booty of US$1 million for the winning team.
Together with van Munster and Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer (Coyote Ugly, Con Air) in the driving seat as executive producer, her brainwave was moulded in to The Amazing Race.
Despite making its debut a week before the terrorist attacks of Sept 11 last year, the show's popularity (11 million viewership in the United States alone) did not dip in the aftermath.
The show is into its third season starting today.
Applications to take part continue to flood Doganieri's office.
From the 3000 tapes she received for season one, the number has swelled to more than 12000 for season three.
Before The Amazing Race 3 debuts today on Channel 5 and AXN, Doganieri, got on the line from Los Angeles.
She tells Life! what is so amazing about this race, which was filmed from April to September this year.
So what's new?
We have 12 teams this time, instead of 11. We wanted to have more eliminations. We have a very competitive cast this time: outspoken, quite outgoing and very funny.
You're gonna see a lot of people crying, from excitement, fear, joy and frustration. It's our most emotionally-filled season - 100 times more than the last two.
We've made this one a little harder because every season they get smarter and think they know what they can expect.
We've thrown in a few little curve balls to catch them off-guard so they don't get lazy.
Did the race stop over in Singapore as rumoured?
We're not allowed to say where we went, but I can tell you that some of the locations are so unique and unusual people don't ever think of going there for a vacation.
How real is the reality?
It's as real as it can ever be. We basically lay out a course for them, and we know the challenges that are going to be in those locations.
But we have no idea what's going to happen or sometimes how they're going to get there. We say: "Fly here to there and when you land there, find this temple."
But we don't know if they're gonna hop in a cab or what. Nothing can be scripted for something like that.
What impact did the events of Sept 11 have on the reality TV genre?
A lot of people saw the Amazing Race as a way to help them look at the world and see that there are still so many wonderful places, and taht we have to continue with life.
But is reality television just a passing fad?
It's hugde and is here to stay. There's no denying that it's a real genre, just like drama or comedy.
There're Big Brother, Fear Factor, Bachelor, Temptation Island and Survivor, which is into its fifth season.
People can relate to reality television because it is a safe place. You can live through these people on TV doing all these crazy things.
Life, Straits Times (Singapore), 3 October 2002 (We're ahead of the US by 16 hours!)
Ouch, my fingers hurt. 
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