So the race finally comes to an end, and although the winning team seemed a little...well, assier than normal tonight, I am guessing that most people are okay with the results. (Look at me NOT doing my best to not spoil it!) I thought the final challenge with the flags was an inspired touch, and made for some genuinely tense moments. I have to admit, though, that I wasn't paying attention to the whole two hours--it's finals week at school and I move permanently in less than a week, so my mind is elsewhere, to put it charitably. Please feel free to point out your own highlights and lowlights in the comments, along with your take on the finishing order.
All in all, though, good season, right? I certainly enjoyed it.
Last week, when I was disconected from everything I hold near and dear (i.e. TimShady, TiVo and an internet connection), TimShady sent me a text message on Wednesday night that simply read, "MoJo Sux." At the time, I was perplexed. Sure, they weren't great, but they were better than Team Himbo, right? As it turns out, NO. No they weren't.
So that's why it was so satisfying to watch this week's leg of the race and see the standard-bearers for negativity this season finally get their comeuppance. It was a nice capper to an excellent episode that featured so many of my favorite things: cab drivers screwing folks up, monkeys-a-go-go (I loved it when they were stealing the food before the "offerings" were complete), and my all-time favorite--everybody say it with me--THE GROSS FOOD CHALLENGE! Bonus: Bucket vomiting! Double Bonus: The hilarious editing from Yolanda wondering whether it would involve playing cricket to a shot of a bowl of fried cricket-ish bugs. I laughed, y'all.
I have to say that while I'm not super-jazzed about any of the teams in the finals, it looks to be a good race among three hyper-competitive teams. Should be a good one, right? Who will win? Who should win?
[Freakgirl is posting for Max this week, who is busy with real life]
Last night's episode of Amazing Race was probably my least favorite of the season. The pack is small, the teams are starting to fight, and they're not pulling any punches. The only team that didn't act horrible at some point were Ray and Yolanda. The team that won my personal award for Most Horrible were definitely Monica and Joseph, just for overall attitude. What is WITH people who say that the Yield isn't fair? It's part of the game. Monica crying, "It's not fair," about the Hippies yielding them really got under my skin, because the actual reason she was crying was because SHE wanted to get to Yield THEM. Gah. Everyone is tired and angry! Best part? MoJo fighting for so long that the Yield clock ran out and they didn't notice. Heh.
As for the rest of them...Eric and Jeremy pulled a very dangerous stunt by cancelling the Hippies' and Ray-Yo's taxis, and let MoJo take the blame. Hey, it's not against the rules, but it's a stupid thing to do. My point was proven when E/J accidentally cancelled their own taxi. Nice. In other scheming, the Hippies decided to call attention to the fact that Eric was shamelessly flirting with Monica. BJ was not graceful in this, as he said, "HEY JOE, ERIC AND MONICA, HUH?" Tyler did a better job later, when he basically just prodded Eric into saying cheeky things about Monica while Joseph quietly seethed.
While all three teams were fighting with each other, Ray-Yo ended up in first place. YAY! Their prize was a year's lease on a Mercedes SUV, one for each of them. I think that was the first time I saw Ray show any sort of emotion resembling joy. Hee! I hope they're not following in Fran and Barry's footsteps, though.
Technical difficulties prevent me from getting screencaps this week, but how scared of that Outback cowboy guy was Phil? So scared.
[Freakgirl is posting for Max this week, who is busy with real life]
I watched last night's TAR late, in the afterglow of a Bruce Springsteen show, so do forgive me if I leave anything out. We start off with Fran and Barry leaving the Pit Stop and tossing $20 into BJ & Tyler's car on the way out. Next are MoJo, who bitch and moan and complain about the hippies telling them to give them money or they will Yield MoJo at the next available opportunity. Give me a break. The hippies did not try to extort money from anybody, and I'm confident that we'll eventually find out what went on at the Pit Stop. But for now? Shut up, Monica. Yo-Yo and Ray-Ray also leave money, and Eric and Jeremy leave a (quite funny) IOU instead. Heh.
The teams bunch at the airport, with the exception of the Hippies (who are busy picking up hitchikers, wtf), and as everyone boards a plane bound for Australia, MoJo and Jeric are thrilled that the Hippies have missed the plane. Or have they? Turns out the plane is pretty empty and they wait a few minutes to allow the Hippes to board last-minute. And it was worth every minute just to see Monica's bitchface.
Soooooo...we get to beautiful Australia and the teams hit a Detour that leaves Monica bobbing up and down in the water crying, and me laughing. I had no idea I disliked her so much, but there you go. What can I say? Fran and Barry are very impressive, strength-wise, on both the biking and the bush-dragging (dirty!). I want a tandem bike. The Roadblock takes place in an old prison and, although Jeric arrives there first, Eric has a real problem finding the right place to go. Nothing seemed to be marked at all. However, the two boys have such a lead that it doesn't matter, and they tear out of there in first place and go on to win the leg (and really piss off Monica, who comes in right behind them and actually pushes them off the mat). Also? Jeric started their annoying chatter about chicks again during this leg. No idea why. They were also randomly yelling, "CRIKEY!" all through Australia. RACISTS!
At the end of the day, Fran and Barry end up in last place and get eliminated. They did great. I'm glad they won first-place last week and got a prize. I'm sorry to see them go. I wish it had been MoJo.
I assume everyone who has been thinking this season of TAR is "boring" was pleased by this latest leg. We got a wonderful and humbling inversion of the usual finishing order, some colorful locals (the "ripped" floodplain guide in Oman), some level-the-playing-field bottlenecks, some funny hippie jokes (I thought their impressions on the empty bus were hilarious), and some joy as a couple realized that an intense televised race around the world is probably not the best place to test your compatibility. It's called eHarmony, Yolanda and Ray--look into it. Plus, best of all, we got to see Fran and Barry deliver a decisive victory! I was thrilled for them, and I don't even like them very much.
Why do I have a feeling that the hippies will have no trouble bouncing back next week? For some reason, it's very easy to picture them bumming their way around the world with no money and only the clothes on their backs...
Seriously, I think a "squabble" turns into a full-on nasty psycho-couple fight when the husband calls his wife a bitch on national television. A truly icky moment, but obviously one left in by the editors to make us all very happy that Mr. and Mrs. "Dadgummit!" will not be participating in any more legs of the race. And have you ever seen a more loveless post-elimination couple? I should show that clip when I'm teaching the difference between "content" and "resigned."
I have to admit that I was packing stuff while I watched tonight (I usually take a few notes), so my memory for specifics may be a bit hazy. Let's see...
*Note to producers: I'm kinda over the whole "let's put a few tiny markers inside bajillions of other things" challenge.
*As we had all suspected/hoped, there was a deliberate bottleneck (actually a couple of them, right?) this time, bringing a little suspense back to the race. We're all better for it, I say.
*As much as we all hate Team Himbo (or think it's boring to see them win over and over), we have to give a little credit where it's due--the dudes really are winning over and over. They may put the "dumb" in "dumb luck," but you can't fault them for that, really. They're not being devious or sneaky or cruel--they're just getting the job done.
*Um, did I just defend Team Himbo a little? Damn, I've got to stop writing these "Ambien posts"! (Sorry--I'm a sucker for silly Ambien [insert verb here] humor lately. Just ask TimShady.)
*Do you think Eric and Jeremy watched tonight's episode and got a little sad that they missed the chance to grapple with a burly Greek fella in some mud? Just askin'...
The big shocker tonight, of course, was the dismal performance of Team Hippie. What happened there? I'm genuinely relieved that they made it to the next leg, and I did love seeing all of the Greek guys at the sports challenge laugh their asses off at the wrestling match. Looks like the bad luck continues next week, if the previews are any indication. Where's your karma now, granola boys?
First off, let me say that my old-man-teacher self is LOVING the new TAR timeslot. So fun to watch the last 15 minutes in a non-bleary-eyed state!
Anyway, I enjoyed this leg immensely, even though the travel was just from one side of an (admittedly large) island to another. The interactions between Team Himbo and The Hippies just carries so much more...meaning now, doesn't it? (By the way, I just can't call Team Himbo the "Frat Boys," because that implies that they actually spent some time at an institution of higer education. I mean, come on!) Note to both teams, though--talking like rejects from Super Mario Bros. while in Italy is cute about once. Maybe.
Monica's fish-based meltdown (feel free to use that for your next band name) wasn't fun to watch, but I did love it when Joseph unquestioningly went with her count of the fence-heads over his own. Let's see Lake (hmmm...a waxer or just naturally smooth?) do that! Barry's traffic-based meltdown wasn't fun to watch, but...well, I'm still trying to shake the image of those fuzzy shoulders in an open marketplace, so I'll have to look for a silver lining later.
As for the elimination: Farewell, my nerds. You never really had a chance on this leg, but you rule, indeed.
Oh, and one final blink-and-you-missed-it moment of delight: Phil! At the pit stop! Dancing! Awesome!
Picture 1: Evil Phil will kick your ass. Picture 2: Phil dances with his thumbs, like Elaine
Nearly naked pictures of Eric, Jeremy, BJ and Tyler from The Amazing Race.
The Amazing Race is moving to Wednesdays at 8:00pm. Please make a note of it. Between TAR and Lost, my Wednesdays will be so full of adrenline rushes that I won't be able to sleep. :)
Max is a busy busy man this week, so I'm going to open up the comments for last night's Amazing Race. If we're lucky, he'll get us a little recap later. Here it is! [from Max]
It's hard to write a post after so many comments have already been made, since most of them hit on the same things I would have talked about if I had been able to get this up sooner: Lake's "dang it!" dickitude, the hippies' inexplicable and growing appeal (am I just getting soft in my old age, or is it all starting to seem like less of an act and more genuine?), Team Himbo's ridiculous (and less believable by the episode) insistence that THEY LOVE WOMEN.
There are some things left to ponder, though. For instance, how crucial was the Yield in the ultimate defeat of D and D? The innocent child in me wants to think it made the finale come down to the wire; the cynical adult knows that was all probably a trick of editing. Still, it might have made some difference between 7th place and last place, even if it wasn't an "it's a foot race!" difference, (Those are my favorite TAR moments--can't wait until we get our first one this season.)
Also, did anyone else get a little weepy when Boy Nerd got all upset over Girl Nerd at the pit stop? I did, honestly. And Phil's "Give the man a hug" advice just made me even weepier. (Sidebar: I think Boy Nerd is already showing signs of a little weight loss--good for him! They could both use a little more cardio training, though. You're not climbing Everest, dorks.)
Finally, I think I need to visit a chiropractor--my vertebrae sympathetically compressed every time I saw one of the guys hoist that big old bell by himself. Ouch!
p.s. Am I still alone in wondering why Phil won't make that "f" sound when he says "amphitheater"? Is anyone else bugged by that? Anyone? [Tumbleweeds roll across the screen as an empty turtleneck on a clothesline flaps in the lonely breeze...]
So the next time I'm playing Catch Phrase with Phil, I really hope I don't have to get him to say "tongue-wrestling." Yikes!
Anyway, I feel like I'm in the minority here, but I was totally okay with the outcome of the race tonight. The daughter I could stand, but La Madre? Not so much. As for the first-place team, they may be annoying, but Team Himbo was surprisingly map-savvy, huh? And speaking of maps, that reminds me of my favorite line from tonight's leg: "This is the way Fran and Barry travel. In a car. With a map." Yeah, dawg. I swear, I was waiting for Barry to top it off with, "That's how Fran and Barry roll, yo."
I have to admit that it's pretty hard to dislike the hippies right now. Not only did they seem genuinely enthusiastic about Fran and Barry making it to the mat at the beginning of the show, but there was something so perfectly poetic about watching two flower children searching for a buried gnome in the middle of a lush field. Even the crass, Apprentice-esque marketing slime that covered the challenge couldn't take that away. It also couldn't take away visions of that nightmarish "unroll the haystack" challenge from a few seasons back, but at least this one wasn't almost literally backbreaking.
(Seriously, though: Tongue-wrestling?)
PHIL'S PHASHION CORNER! Michael sez... I've been holding my tongue on Phil's Phashions, but this week I feel compelled to wag it. My tongue, I mean. We could quibble over details (he could go one size down on the jacket) but if you layer Phil in chocolatey hues and slide a turtleneck over his head, you're gonna force me to trot out the "D" word. Divoon! Maybe later he'll make some egregious choices and then I'm sure I'll cluck it. My tongue, I mean.
[freakgirl is filling in for Max this week]
This week The Amazing Race took us to Moscow, where our racers encountered fear of water, bad cab drivers, tiny dolls, and the first Superleg. Yep, it was a to be continued - quite early in the season, too. We're also three episodes in with no signs of the Fast Forward or the Yield. Interesting. So, the teams departed the Pit Stop and we got the nauseating news that Danielle & Dani hooked up with Team Himbo. Just as I predicted, Team Himbo sucked out any of D&D's remaining sense, and later in the leg, they forgot their TARpack at a task and had to retrieve it, dropping to the bottom of the pack. That's what you get, girls.
Mom and Daughter lost a ton of time when Mom volunteered for an obvious swimming challenge, even though she can't swim. I was DYING inside for Desiree, but I thought she handled it well. And I was even proud of Wanda for finally doing it. But MAN, woman, develop some coping skills. This week's Detour - Scrub or Scour - was fantastic, mostly because the Moscow cabbies couldn't find the trolley park for Scrub and a lot of people ended up at Scour instead. I enjoy that kind of unpredictability, but I was sick to my stomach hoping that Lake and Michelle would never find their clue. But they did. They suck. "Do you really want me to get in my bathing suit around all those Russian men?" WTF? I also need to take a minute to say that I was charmed by BJ and Tyler this week. I enjoyed them!
The episode ends with Team Himbo landing on the mat and finding out the leg isn't over. The teams are split between the trolley park and the doll theater - anything can happen.
I am seriously hoping that freakgirl posts a shot of Phil's Eyebrow of Death from the end of tonight's race. If looks could kill, Team Himbo would be have had their final pit stop at a morgue in Brazil...
That said, though, I can't help liking those dudes. The whole "We're straight and super-horny!" routine is wearing a bit thin, but so is the "Hippie Power!" nonsense, the "Nerds in Love" routine, and--until tonight's conclusion--the Glamazon chorus of whining (good riddance, ladies). Plus, the dudes picked the VW Bug that was the exact color (and maybe even the same model year) of my own first car, a gorgeous 1970 kelly green Beetle.
I do wish the teams had left Brazil during this episode, but I guess it's a big country and deserves a couple of hours' worth of adventures. I enjoyed seeing so many teams get demoralized over tonight's leg of the race (come on, you know you like that part too), but I can't wait for some serious soul-crushing and ego-smashing adventures. Russia may show a little potential next week, but bring on Senegal and India!
Thank God, the race is back--and this time, no annoying families are here to suck the joy out of the experience. Oh, wait, that's not quite true. I've already moved the Bedazzler-lovin' "Glamazon" sisters and the mother/daughter combo to my "Get Rid of Them NOW!" list. Of the latter pair, the daughter can stay, but that hot-to-trot tamale madre needs to hit the road. So annoying--please don't let any of them get a chance to "unsheath their womanhood" while the cameras are on!
Aside from those folks, though, I was surprised to find myself not hating any of the other teams right off the bat. I was sure that both Eric & Jeremy and Lake & his Doormat were being set up to be bad guys (or at least the asses of the show), but I changed my mind when I saw the Frat Guys embrace their inner slack (and outer idiots) and when Lake actually gave a little help to another team at the motorcycle shop. (Note to future contestants: Always steer clear of assembly-based challenges. Always.) Heck, even the Hippies won me over a little bit...and I hates me some hippies.
My favorite couple so far: The Nerds! Are you surprised? I hope there is a test-taking challenge for them somewhere down the road! And as for John & Scott, well...bless their hearts, I guess. I don't think I would have liked to see them hang around, truth be told--there was a serious high-maintenance vibe going on there. Scott--quit enabling him!
All in all, a great episode and a return to form for TAR: breakneck pace, great editing, fabulous scenery. It was everythig we've been waiting for--here's to a great season ahead.
By the way, was Phil pronouncing "amphitheatre" correctly at the beginning of the show? Sound-wise, I always go for the "f" and not the hard "p." And on that double-entendre note (a gift for you, Michael!), I am outta here!
