NBC premiered its new show Great American Road Trip on July 7, 2009. The show sends seven families on a journey across the United States, stopping every once in a while to compete in hilarious competitions. Each week a team will be eliminated, and in the end one team will win $100,000.
The Families
- The Cootes – Keith, Jennifer, Cassidy, Jake
- The Disalvatores – Silvio, Amy, Mason, Blake
- The Favereys – Lenny, Dee, Dylan, Ashley
- The Katzenbergs – Marc, Hyleri, Sami, Andrew
- The Montgomerys – Darius, Alecia, Darius Ross, Tyiler
- The Pollards – Ron, Amie, Aaron, Anslie
- The Ricos – Ricardo, Erica, Danielle, Ricky
Families on the Move
The families began their road trip at Wrigley Field in Chicago. They will travel from the city along Route 66 to Santa Monica, California in beautiful RVs that match each of their personalities.
The first stop for the families was Springfield, Illinois. Along the way the Disalvatores argued a lot about who should be driving. Silvio had a hard time handing the wheel over to his wife, but Amy eventually booted him out of the driver’s seat.
When the families arrived in Springfield they spent their first night getting to know each other. Everyone had a great time, and they felt they were all bonding.
The Presidential Race
The first challenge for the families was a presidential race. One family member had to wear a gigantic presidents head while trying to maneuver through some tricky obstacles, all while carrying as many vote boxes as possible. The remaining members of each family were supposed to guide the head, and the team with the most votes in their ballot box would win.
Everyone made it through the course OK. Some of them worried about speed and others worried about votes. After everyone finished Amy claimed the Cootes had cheated because they used Keith’s shirt to carry more. The host explained that was OK, the families just couldn’t stick votes under their shirts. Amy apologized, but the Cootes were very upset that anyone would accuse them of cheating.
The Cootes won the challenge and were rewarded with a dinner with the mayor of Madison, Illinois on the state lines of Illinois and Mississippi. The bottom three teams were the Montgomerys, the Favereys and the Katzenbergs.
The Inaugural End of the Road Challenge
Next, the teams traveled to St. Louis, Missouri. There the bottom three teams competed in the End of the Road challenge, which determines which team will go home. This week’s End of the Road challenge had one family member getting in a gigantic clear ball while the other family members pushed the ball through arches throughout a maze. Each ball was connected to a bungee cord, and if the teams did not choose the correct path the cord would snap them back.
The Favereys figured out they were on the path early when their bungee cord got twisted. They were getting frustrated and losing motivation but Ashley’s confidence boost from inside the ball helped them push through. The Katzenbergs made it all the way to the end before realizing their ball wasn’t going to make it through the final arch. It took them a while to back track and figure out the correct path. The Montgomerys finished in a flash and had no problems.
The Katzenbergs had the slowest time (41 minutes and 51 seconds) and were eliminated.
