'The Amazing Race' goes for a boot of beer

Sometimes I feel all too much like John McClane - how can the same thing happen to the same guy, twice?!? For me though with "The Amazing Race" it's more than twice, it's every season. How is it possible that I root against a team from the moment I lay eyes on them only to have the first time they hit a Pit Stop last it be a non-elimination leg. It happens every single time. If this wasn't a recap I'd suggest that I'd already given away too much. Good thing for me this is a recap.

The teams were off to Hamburg tonight. My new favorites, the Cowboys, were the first (along with the Detectives) to arrive Frankfurt and were on the first train from there to Hamburg. Jordan & Dan and Carol & Brandy were oh so close to hitting that first train too, but they missed it, and I smiled. Okay, maybe I'm a bad person, but while I thought I was going to like Jordan & Dan, I don't. It might have something to do with the lack of ability to drive stick, I just don't know.

In any case, the Cowboys and the Detectives were the two teams to make it to Hamburg first which meant that they teamed up for the new type of task, an Intersection. An Intersection requires two people, one person from two different teams, to work together in a Roadblock. The Cowboys claimed they were lucky they got the Detectives because they had to jump on the Metro and they didn't know what that was. I think this got the Detectives moving on the right track though so they were the lucky ones. Either way, the Intersected members of the teams went off to do a pretty good looking bungee jump. Jet managed to do it with his cowboy hat staying on the whole time. Seriously people - the Cowboys, they're my team!

The Brain Trust also got put together for the Intersection, with Jordan and Caite instantly heading the wrong way on the Metro. I'd say that I was shocked - positively shocked - for the two of them to have gone the wrong way, but you wouldn't believe me, would you? Caite claimed to be really familiar with the NYC subway system but that the Hamburg Metro didn't bother to say which train was heading in what direction. I'd bet that they just missed the sign or were too foolish to look until they were on the train, especially since no other team guessed incorrectly.

With the teams splitting up again after the Intersection, the Detectives made it to the Detour first. I don't know why the Cowboys went with a subway instead of a taxi like every other team, but they did, and several teams quickly caught up and then passed them. They're still my team, but that was definitely a lapse.

For the Detour this week folks were required to eat sauerkraut quickly or hit some targets with a soccer ball. Being a fan of sauerkraut (and something of a big-mouthed, quick eater), I would have been all over the food task, and that's what the Detectives did too. Frankly, as the Detectives said, it didn't seem like a lot of sauerkraut. Plus, the next task required them to drink a boot of beer, so the sauerkraut would have made a nice base for the liquor.

From the beer it was a hop, skip, and one small route marker more to the Pit Stop, the Indra Club, which is where The Beatles first played in Hamburg. The Detectives downed their beer and hit the mat first. Those two guys looked like a team tonight, I was impressed.

Jordan & Jeff weren't hurt too badly by Jordan and Caite's messing up the Intersection directions, but their cabbie getting lost on their way to the Detour nearly destroyed them. Well, that and their switching from sauerkraut to soccer during the Detour. If they'd stuck with one they may not have gotten to the mat last. They are quite lucky that this was a non-elimination leg. Maybe the Speed Bump will be hard next week and they'll go home. Fingers crossed.

Odds and ends:

• Dan hates travelling?!? Oh well, great idea to go on "The Amazing Race" then, that doesn't require any travelling at all, does it?
• If Joe has a bad knee, why did he want to do the soccer task instead of the eating one? If they love sauerkraut (as they claimed) why, I beg of you, why, did they do the soccer task first only to switch to the sauerkraut? Why does one team every week feel compelled to prove their foolishness? Why?
• Caite & Brent, who went to the hospital last leg, opted for the soccer task only to have Caite end up feeling serious pain while kicking the balls. Now, even if you were feeling better, if you'd just been in the hospital wouldn't you opt to do the least amount of exercise possible? Maybe though they had it right, maybe they have weak stomachs, Brent definitely heaved his beer. I think they needed a penalty for that.
• Jeff was rooting for someone to fall off a bridge tonight so that he and Jordan wouldn't be eliminated. Stay classy, Jeff.
"Let's ask older people?" You're the best, Jordan.

The TV and Film Guy's Reviews - we could totally go for a boot of beer.

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