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RSS'The Amazing Race': Taking five before the pit stop
There are foolish teams on "The Amazing Race" and then there are teams which act foolishly. Tonight we saw both, we unquestionably saw both, but I'm not sure I can tell you which was which.
Jaime & Cara didn't take Phil's little "it's not a Pit Stop" trick as hard as I feared they would, quickly racing after the roaming gnome to get their next clue. Of course, the people who were happiest were Jennifer & Lakisha, mainly Jen because she knew that she was completely at fault for the swimming thing. Okay, fine, it's not really her fault that she never learned to swim, but that wasn't going to make her feel any better.
The teams actually raced through the night, because by the time they found the gnomes and went off to get some bikes they needed to ride to Tiananmen Square, it was light again. By that point, Tammy & Victor were in first and terribly, terribly excited -- the Detour had an option where the main difficulty was going to be speaking Mandarin.
They messed it up! How did they mess it up? They were taking orders at a restaurant and got one as being for squid instead of fish. Come on, now! Shameful. Their parents must have been sitting there watching the show tonight either hugely embarrassed and upset or in utter hysterics. Tammy & Victory worked it out, but it still cost them time they shouldn't have lost.
Then on the other Detour there was Luke, who acted like the petulant kid he's proven himself to be these past few weeks. He had some serious trouble putting traditional opera make-up on his mom. He was terrible at it -- and Margie was way too much of a backseat driver during it -- but at some point he needed to stop his complaining.
For all that, I still wanted to see Margie & Luke make the final three, and even though Cara & Jaime were having taxi troubles I was nervous. I was even nervous after Tammy & Victor U-turned Jen & Lakisha before doing the "eat disgusting food" Roadblock. Did you know that you don't eat the outside of a cooked starfish? I certainly didn't.
To that point we had some foolishness, but after that, the contestants went off their rockers.
Except for Tammy & Victor, none of the teams could find the U-turn location, which was at the same opera house they had been inside for their task. Were the instructions that bad? Could no locals really tell the teams where they were going? Jaime & Cara -- who were way behind -- finished the Detour before Jen & Lakisha or Margie & Luke found the U-Turn.
More than any leg I've seen in a long time, tonight became a comedy of errors. Cara & Jaime, still looking for the U-Turn, refused to listen to people who tried to help and the chef at the restaurant eventually took pity on Jen & Lakisha with the orders, there's no way they said the names of the dishes correctly.
Tammy & Victor, again, crushed the competition (I knew their language skills would help eventually). They came in first and I loved it, but it wasn't exciting.
No, what was exciting was the foot race for the finish. Cara ate the food at the Roadblock like a champ, putting her and Jaime just behind Jen & Lakisha, but they were still behind when they arrived at the Pit Stop's location. However -- and I'm not kidding here -- Jen had to stop at a porta-potty before going to find Phil and jumping on the mat. Seriously, Jen had to go so badly that it was worth her giving up a chance at a million dollars.
It was an idiotic move. It was so boneheaded I can't imagine it. I'm not afraid to tell you that I would pee on myself before making that side trip, I would jump on the mat and then run to the bathroom, I would grab something from my bag to pee into on the mat before stopping, I would do anything but what Jen did.
Guess what? Jen & Lakisha lost because of that porta-potty trip. While Jen was doing her thing in the bathroom Cara & Jaime jumped on the mat, eliminating the sisters. Ridiculous, just ridiculous.
Odds and ends:
- Jen & Lakisha may have been my least favorite team left standing, but I didn't want to see them go home like that. Jen almost cost them the race last week and did this week. That's got to hurt and it was sad to see.
- I think the favorite at this point is the team of Tammy & Victor. Do you think they're going to go all the way?
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i am still in shock that she went to the bathroom...im even more shocked that her sister let her...
45 minutes into the show, I was sure that Jaime & Cara were going home tonight. I mean it took them 3 hrs to find the U-turn location, there was no way they could've come back from that. But I can't beieve the sister made such a big mistake at the final minutes of the race. How long was she in the bathroom?
I'm rooting for either Tammy & Victor or Jaime & Cara to be first. I'm tired of Luke childish behavior and Margie enabler attitude.
I'm rooting for Tammy and Victor. Not only are they the best team of the three, but they're the only ones who can win without making me cringe.
Oh, and Jen and Kisha totally deserved what happened to them.
It may be shocking to us but it's pretty obvious to me that Jen and Lakisha, particularly Jen, on a subconscious level didn't want to win. Lakisha, after the swimming pool fiasco, probably was too tired at propping her sister up. They were both tired and emotionally drained and probably wanted to drop out. Jen making a bathroom stop was a way to eliminate her and her sister from the race without out officially quitting the race.
I wouldn't be surprised if Jen has a history of quitting in her personal/professional life when things get tough. Nobody who truly wanted to win a million dollars would've self-sabotaged herself the way Jen did in the final legs of this competition. Unfortunately, she and Lakisha will have to live this boneheaded move for the rest of their lives. Hope they didn't need that money!
Tammy and Victor are the only team left who deserve to win. Cara is nice enough, but Jamie is horrid. Luke is a petulant brat and when you see how his mother treats him, it's no surprise how he got that way. All he proves is that a deaf person can compete in the race as long as his mommy is dragging him along behind her. There are plenty of excellent role models for the deaf -just off the top of my head... Marlee Matlin, Linda from Sesame Street, Helen Keller, Evelyn Glennie (if you don't know who she is, look her up, she's really cool), Lou Ferrigno. They don't need him.
What about Victor not being able to let Tammy read the menu items?? Each time he would say I'll let you say it and then everytime he would speak over her. Obnoxious!!!
I personally dont like any of these teams. Tammy's great but Victor is too much. Cara seems great but Jamie makes me cringe and Luke is ridiculous and his mom is his enabler.
They couldn't have made this two episode leg any more weighted in Tammy and Victor's favor. Yes I like them somewhat (then again I really don't have a favorite at this point) but if they didn't win this leg then they should have gone in the hall of shame.
I found it funny that even Margie is getting sick of hearing "Moooommmm" from Luke.
I'm guessing that the sisters were actually several minutes behind at the pitstop. Their poor navigating probably hurt them more. I think it's also easy to say "I'd hold it" but who knows when you really really have to go what you'll do...I'm not certain I'd pee my pants in front of a bunch of cameras.
I think Victor's decision to u-turn the sisters shows that probably nobody else likes that team either (not buying the running comment). I'm certainly happy to see them go...what attitude.
Anybody else notice Luke nearly having another collision with them with his bike?
Luke and Margie are in trouble if they wind up with any challenges where Luke has to do something on his own...he's not very good at pretty much everything!
Well, I'm going to say it: the race was fixed. This leg was so obvious in favor of Tammy and Victor. It is one thing to stay for so long in China (which is dubios anyway), and another thing to have a task that involves speaking the language. Of course they were great at it, they probably finished it in 20 min. The other three teams had no way of communicating with the locals, and the clues were all in English. This is totally unfair and the producers should have changed the restaurant task, once they realized T&V are still in the race at this point. They've got a huge advantage anyway; they were able to talk to the locals. I am not watching the finale, I am that disappointed.