You know, I actually kinda liked it better when I was the one who kicked it off every week…
BBF - The Amazing Race. CBS’s third “reality”-style game show. Wednesdays, 8:00 PM in Hawaii, 9:00 in the rest of the country. Go to CBS.com for details.
everyone - Before the inevitable grumbling about how “ridiculously easy” or “stupid” the challenges have been so far, remember, AR is all about moving quickly, and thinking quickly. I guess they learned that the race is simply more exciting when everyone’s together and there’s no clear winner.
Sometimes you just don’t know what’s coming up next. Sometimes the big gamble at the airport helps you, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes every second counts; sometimes all you gotta do is keep your head on straight and not stumble hours behind. You really can’t tell, and that’s one of the good things about this contest. If it’s nothing but a straight up physical & intellectual challenge, shoot, may as well just hand it to Derek & Drew after the second leg.
And now that I’ve mentioned it…I’m always just a bit iffy when a challenge involves beating a human opponent. (Props to CBS, of course, for never picking anyone too hard.) From what I’ve seen, though, if you just stay calm and find a tactic that works, you’ll pull it out without too much trouble. And the final stretch was just a test of endurance, mental toughness, and the will to win…nothing unusual for AR, I can assure you.
Updated standings & prospects. (First number is the finish position; number in parenthesis is start position for the next stage. An asterisk indicates a team that’s used a Fast Forward.)
2 (1): Ken & Gerard *
Looking very good, and finding themselves in first will only boost their confidence even more. Slowly progressing from darkhorse to contender.
3 (2): Flo & Zach
Now that they’ve finally “beaten the twins”, which they’ve beaten us over the head with for nearly the entire freaking race, things are looking good for them. We’ve seen the first hints of dissention, though…can they keep it up?
4 (3): Derek & Drew *
Slipped a bit, but it means nothing at this point. After the close call at the very beginning, they’ve really turned it on and look very strong. Making that airport gamble pay off was huge.
5 (4): Andre & Damon
One of them mentioned a gain of two spots; they’ll be very happy to find out that it was actually four. They caught a break at a very good time, but I sense a lot of combativeness from this pair (really evident after getting stuck behind Heather & Eve, which was their own damn fault for not making the deliveries in order anyway). They just don’t seem comfortable anywhere, anytime, and I think this’ll be their undoing.
6 (5): Teri & Ian
Well, they got a second wind…let’s see how long it lasts. I still don’t have any hopes of them making the final three.
7 (6): John Vito & Jill
Still pluggin’ away. They actually don’t have a bad chance of making it to the first nonelimination point.
8 (7): Michael & Kathy
Starting to flag a bit, but there’s still time to turn it around.
9 (8): Aaron & Arianne
Almost nothing went right for them in this leg. Arianne was really bagging it in the Roadblock challenge…excuses, halfhearted attempts…a sure sign of failing resolve. At the bottom spot, they don’t have any room for error.
Prediction…uh, the twins continue to annoy the hell out of two, maybe three teams for some weird reason, and Teri & Ian’s breakdown continues. I think those are pretty safe.