By Geoff Herbert
syracuse.com
BUFFALO, N.Y. — “The Amazing Race” is back after a long break due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but a pair of contestants from Western New York didn’t get to enjoy it for very long.
Buffalo Police Officers Armonde “Moe” Badger and Michael Norwood Jr., known as Buffalo’s “singing cops,” were first to be eliminated on the season 33 premiere Wednesday night.
The globe-trotting reality TV competition first sent teams to England for challenges that included Buckingham Palace and Parliament Square. Badger and Norwood were part of Artist Den, tasked with pasting up a piece of original artwork like Banksy, but Moe suffered a leg cramp and, to make matters worse, they didn’t realize their puzzle was a puzzle and put every single square on a wall separately.
The final clue sent the contestants to the Natural History Museum, where the Buffalo “bobbies” — British slang for cops — were last to arrive. They were sent home almost as quickly as they’d arrived, losing out on the show’s $1 million prize.
Norwood and Badger, who are partners in the Buffalo Police Department’s Housing Unit, previously got the national spotlight with videos of themselves singing songs like Shai’s “If I Ever Fall in Love” and Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud.” During the holidays, they were known as the “Caroling Cops” as they performed Christmas songs around Western New York.
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Badger was a professional gospel singer before becoming a police officer, while Norwood has jokingly called himself “a legendary shower singer.” They appeared on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” in 2019.
According to Entertainment Weekly, “The Amazing Race” season 33 actually started filming in early 2020 but had to hit pause in the middle of the competition due to Covid-19. At that point, Norwood and Badger were already gone, but seven of the nine remaining teams were able to resume filming 19 months later.
“It was tough. There were some emotions behind stopping, but our number one priority is always safety, and nobody knew at that point the extent of what would happen,” host Phil Keoghan told EW.
“The Amazing Race” airs Wednesdays on CBS. The show can be streamed live on fuboTV, Paramount Plus and other live TV streaming services, and can be watched the following day on CBS.com.
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