'The Amazing Race' stops to feed the camels

It was off to Jaipur, India tonight on "The Amazing Race," making it one of those wonderful instances where I can say "hey, I've been there!" Those monkeys they kept showing through the episode? They weren't some sort of aberration, they're everywhere. It's awesome.

Everyone was on the same flight to Jaipur, and so there was a great crush to get a taxi. Mel & Mike were the unlucky guys who put their stuff in the trunk of a cab before asking if the driver knew where he was going. The driver didn't and ran off somewhere to get directions, leaving Mel & Mike's stuff locked in the trunk. I promise this is the last time I'll say this tonight, but that totally happened to me in a rickshaw in Jaipur, except the driver ditched us in the middle of goodness knows where in the pitch black. He was getting directions, but he certainly didn't say that before he pulled over and walked away. Mel & Mike gained points with me for apologizing to the cabbie for getting upset, I'm really starting to like those two guys.

Stopping quickly at a sacred tree, the racers were quickly off to the Amber fort (the "b" is silent) where a Roadblock forced them to feed and water some camels. It was... kind of boring, just carry some feed and fill some water in a trough. It may have been semi-labor intensive, but required absolutely no skill or talent, and I'm not even that convinced it required that much heavy lifting. Who hasn't carried a few buckets of water? And why only Mel could figure out instantly to use the huge basket for the feed I couldn't guess. Mel did have a hard time with the water part. No offense to Mel, he's not exactly as spry as some of the other people out there. Even so, he still finished the task second.

The Detour tonight forced people to either pedal a huge bike with barrels full of straw through the streets only to then find a tiny metal elephant in a barrel or to put on a traditional costume and dance in the street for 100 rupees (somewhere between two dollars and two-fifty). Pedaling was clearly the wrong choice, but for some reason Mark & Michael chose it. They were the only ones.

Why those two did a task that labor intensive, required them to travel on their own through the city, and search for a needle in a haystack, I can't possibly imagine. I mean seriously, have they never watched the show before? It was one of those Race moments I'll never figure out no matter how much I try. There was a little figure in a huge stack of hay. There was actually hay in the haystack task. What were they thinking?

Tammy & Victor, not for the first time this season were way out in front from the moment they landed in Jaipur. They finished well in advance of any of the other teams, but I still don't particularly like them after last week's performance.

I honestly believed that despite having a Speed Bump (where they had to paint an elephant), Christie & Jodi were going to pass Mark & Michael tonight. They didn't, but they came awfully close, Mark & Michael were still on the mat when Christie & Jodi made it to the Pit Stop. I'm not sorry to see Christie & Jodi go home this week, but Mark & Michael need to smarten up if they're going to win.

Odds and ends:

• Perhaps the most interesting moment of the show tonight was see Margie & Luke dance in the streets. To give us a little taste of Luke's world, the show muted the street sounds briefly during the dancing. In the chaos and noise of India, the sudden silence was amazing, a stark contrast to the rest of the show.
• I'm sure that someone out there can shed light on why Mark & Michael chose the task they did, please, have at it.

The TV and Film Guy's Reviews - where the camels are well fed.