Amazing Race Australia’s unfortunate naked edit
Was it really necessary for The Amazing Race Australia to include a naked minor in a scene from The Philippines?
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
I really enjoyed The Amazing Race Australia last night. I thought producers had kicked off the series with a great start -all except for one shot.
Was it really necessary to include a naked minor in a scene in The Philippines? The child was part of a crowd watching a street challenge, but was singled out, in close-up, simply because they were naked.
Why? It added nothing to the scene and should have been edited out.
Seven didn’t demonstrate any Duty of Care.
Children of this age in their everyday environment really shouldn’t become entertainment fodder for foreign television producers who have invaded their space, especially when they are vulnerable and cannot give consent.
ACMA’s guidelines for Reality TV includes an Advisory note:Â “In order to comply with the Code of Practice regard should be given to the camera angles and those not to include. For example to exclude ‘gratuitous, demeaning or exploitative’ vision.”
I suspect if the situation were reversed and a close up of an Australian child splashing naked at the beach ended up in a scene on American television, parents would be duly upset.
Disappointing.
26 Responses
My view of Australian TV is that it is almost always crap, the result of operating in a sheltered workshop. But I think Seven have done a superb job with The Amazing Race Australia and it’s looking better than the original. Production values are excellent and a good selection of teams.
As an Amazing Race tragic I’d like to see some sort of international competition but suspect it will never happen as the Americans would not come out of it well.
I agree with David on this one – especially as they went to the effort to blur the bottom of the competitor in the heels (forgotten her name) who was wearing a g-string and short ra-ra skirt while chasing pigs in the mud. She knew she was being filmed for a reality tv show in Australia and they gave her some needed dignity – why not give some to a minor from another country who has no idea about the show he’ll be on?
@ Matt F. I don’t understand what your problem is. It is his blog so he can write what he wants but there is a comments section so his readers can write what they want. That’s the point right?
Isn’t that the thing about the Internet. Every moronic point of view can be heard.
LOL @ how you pixelate the face but not the area you seem to be complaining about.
Steviep…How ironic that you would judge someone elses intelligence while at the same time making an ill informed, outdated reference to a person being in some way less intelligent based on the state they live in!
Love how people are saying this is a ‘non-issue’… it is his blog, so he can write whatever he wants.
David I’m sorry but as many have pointed out its a non-issue, frankly im a little disappointed
Must have just been the advanced screening audience you were with, David.
Personally didn’t give it a second glance or thought….until now….
The editing included the naked boy when a comment of being naked was spoken. But as someone who doesn’t nit pick over 3 secs of footage I thought nothing more of it. I was trying not to throw up at the egg task. That was more disturbing than a small naked child for 3 secs.
The editing included the naked boy when a comment of being spoken. I laughed. And went awww how cute. But as someone who doesn’t nit pick over 3 secs of footage I thought nothing more of it as I was trying not to throw up at the egg task. That was more disturbing than a small naked child for 3 secs.
Even though I personally wasn’t offended by this shot, I did have a brief thought of “this will be in the media tomorrow”.
I think that he and his family are obviously comfortable with him being on display in public. If the issue is his privacy then he holds the same rights as the fully clothed child next to him, and his face should also be blurred.
I agree it didn’t need to be shown on TV, but I don’t really watch the show so missed it anyway. The only part I saw last night was the woman trying to catch the pig in the mud and then washing off in a barrel.
David, I love your articles and agree with almost all of your opinions. But this is a complete non-issue, its a nothing
This article sounds more like something I would expect from Fred Nile, not you.
I agree with David to an extent. But my god there are some vicious, idiotic comments on here. It’s worse than some News Limited comments sections. People cannot seem to disagree without having a go.
agent x is spot on .. its purely a privacy issue which the parents clearly didn’t have an issue with. If they saw cameras they could have thrown some pants on the kid ..
Also interesting to note the ZUJI travel ad in the second last ad break cleverly used vision we’d just seen in the episode .. but not so cleverly used a shot of the winning couple hugging at the finish line .. the ad gave away the end.
Either way .. a really well edited show I thought .. fast paced and full of sub plot ..
Sorry, just to add to my earlier comment. Some people here seem to be mixing up two different issues. One issue is the sexualisation of children, which this is clearly not and David clearly did not mean it in that way.
The real issue is the issue of the kid’s privacy, (hence David pixellating the kid’s face, not his nether regions).
Anyway, he’s naked in a public place, with apparentley his family’s approval, so any right to privacy or right to ask for consent to film is gone. imho.
What a ridiculous article.
Firstly RE: the comments you easily pick which posters work for Ch7.
Secondly, Brisvegasmate you don’t need to tell us your from Brisbane it is quite clear you are from QLD since you decided to challenge David Knox “state of mind” because of a view he has.
By thirdly most importantly, I think the photo is a little bad taste, but not to the extent you have editorialized here David. What made me post here is 1) my disgust at Mr Qld’s comment and 2) why dont you pixilate the actual private part of the kid and the face – we will still get the point.
This is a non-issue. The kid’s family obviously have no problem with him being naked in a public place. Why should anyone else? There was no need to pixellate him on TV or here. If I recall correctly the scene coincided with one of the contestants saying “I’d rather run down the street naked than eat one of those duck eggs” (or words to that effect).
Agree with snooksy, it’s prob to demonstrate cultural differences, i didn’t even notice.
Personally i think the editors at Seven need the sack anyway. How come the Amazing Race has been going for 20 season and can manage to edit to 1 hour eps including ads, yet Seven can’t edit a show to fit an hour timeslot? Is it gonna be 1.5 hours each week, and does it really need to be?The editing department can’t even edit Home & Away fit in half an hour which makes eveything late.
Oh for gods sake. The fact that you even noticed this, and especially the fact that you have to raise it as an issue says more about your unbalanced state of mind than the producers! There was nothing even slightly sexualised or exploitive about the inclusion of this shot. Get over it!
I noticed it because at the preview screening I attended in Melbourne last week, the audience laughed at the shot. I felt really uncomfortable that a western audience was laughing at a naked child who had no idea they had been edited into a reality television series, when all they were really doing is what they do every day of the week. I think producers owed them some duty of care when they could not defend themselves. I’ve said it was an unfortunate inclusion, I haven’t said it was sexualisation.
I agree with your point however you have posted a photo of it on your site…
This is nothing important. People live by different cultures abroad and it is common to see younger children wearing no clothes in developing nations. Just because it is not the culture here doesn’t mean it needs to be edited out. I think the editor left it in to reveal some of the foreign culture. Are we that prudish that we need to make an issue out of this. Are we really that high and mighty in Australia?
David, I don’t watch crap TV and so did not see the clip that has caused you such great moral outrage, but I do think that if you’re so dreadfully scandalised by it you should not be using the picture of the naked kiddie at the head of your article, face pixillation notwithstanding.
IMO this is a beat-up of a story, but again I didn’t see the show so maybe you’re right.
I beg to differ David. I don’t believe this shot is gratuitous, demeaning or “disappointing” – simply a brief shot of the crowd enjoying the race. OK, maybe it could it have been left out, but I watched the show last night and didn’t even notice it.
What an excellent job Seven did with this show. I am a 40’s male and even I welled-up when the first competitors made it to the pit-stop. No spoilers here but the emotional music, the camera work and the editing were first-class. Am very much looking-forward to the rest of this series. Excellent stuff!