'The Amazing Race' goes commando

It didn't take very long for the word to get out to all the teams on "The Amazing Race" that Margie & Luke were responsible for last week's Blind U-turn. It caused a joke or two this week, but certainly didn't anger anyone. It actually curried the favor of Cara and Jaime, which was the point all along. I think we all know that Luke would love to curry their favor and I think we know why.

In any case, those two teams have become very buddy-buddy, with Cara & Jaime having Margie & Luke's taxi follow theirs to the first clue box tonight. They then even decided which Detour to do together. Their only mistake at that point was to let Tammy & Victor come along with them.

Fine, I'll admit it, I was wrong. I liked Tammy & Victor from the word "go." I've been pulling for them to win. No more. The siblings followed Cara & Jaime and Margie & Luke to the chosen Detour right up until Cara & Jaime tried to get directions. It became apparent that whomever they were asking didn't know where to go and Tammy & Victor sped off, ditching the girls. They then pulled a similar move when only Margie & Luke were behind them. Ridiculous!

That's not how you behave, especially at this point in the race and so early in a leg. They destroyed all trust and didn't even get ahead of the other two teams when they all hit traffic. At least they'd chosen the easier task, the less fun one, but the easier one. It involved learning to drive a snowplow rather than finding a bride and dropping her off at her wedding.

Yes, I know, earlier in the season I advocated doing the fun task, but this "fun" task involved driving around the city twice, which was not going to be enjoyable at all (and I do drive stick). Navigating around foreign cities, unless you have an iPhone, is never the right choice (and an iPhone is probably against the rules anyway). Still, I was thrilled to see Christie and Jodi do that task, and then became utterly ecstatic when they got really lost going to the church. They went to a church out in the boonies somewhere, it just wasn't the church, which was apparently in the middle of the city.

That poor bride, her would-be husband was waiting somewhere for her and she just wanted to get married. I'm sure that by the end she'd given up all hope of getting to the church on time and just wanted to get there in one piece.

From the Detour, teams had to go to the largest library in Siberia, which as far as I could tell was called the Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Bibliotekah. There, one member of each team had to strip down to their skivvies and run 1.4 miles to the Pit Stop in the freezing cold. A handy thermometer showed it was minus three Celsius when the first runners started. To prove to us that it wasn't all that tough though, Phil himself had stripped. Awesome, I like a host that doesn't mind getting down and dirty.

Luke finished his run first and he & Margie were the first to check-in with Phil at the Pit Stop. I was so happy it wasn't Tammy & Victor (who came in second), those two made my list tonight and are going to have to work very hard if they want to get off of it.

As it's done with so many teams in the past, Christie & Jodi were unable to recover from having gotten lost. LaKisha & Jennifer tried their best to lose a couple of times by getting lost themselves and having car trouble, but their mistakes weren't as bad as Christie & Jodi's.

Christie & Jodi checking in last was the moment I'd been waiting for since they were introduced at the start of the first episode this season. Do I even have to say that this week wasn't an elimination leg? The blondes aren't gone yet. They're behind the eight ball next week, but they're not gone yet.

Odds and ends:

• In case you were wondering, the producers were willing to provide underwear to anyone going commando this week. Jennifer was lent a pair when she needed them. But, Christie, who was wearing a thong, was required to do the run in said skivvy. She got her rear fuzzed out.
• The teams tonight got to ride the Trans-Siberian Railroad. I kid you not, I've always wanted to do that. I have no idea why, it's not as romantic a notion as the Orient Express, but I've always wanted to do it.

The TV and Film Guy's Reviews - we don't go commando, we do the exact opposite.