Amazing Race 7/13

Cafe Society
21

Well I am glad Allison and Donnie are gone in the sense I defintiely did not want them to win, but for entertainment purposes I really wish they were staying. I love watching meltdowns.

Chip and Kim are likable enough, but they have shown so far that thay are not particularly good at racing. But I do side with them on the cab thing, not necessarily that they should have gotten the cab, but that they did nothing wrong in staking their claim to it. I dilike the twins immensely, although they did say the one thing I agree with and that is it is a race, meaning it isn’t personal it’s biznizz.

I admit, I like Charla and Mirna, they also make me laugh.

This show is the bestest!

22

I disagree with nearly everyone regarding the taxi situation. Twin clearly got in the taxi first, Chip was probably 10 feet away when she got in. The rules for Amazing Race may be that both members need to be present to win, but not in the world of taxicabs. Chip lost major credibility in my eyes.

And for those who haven’t seen them, Kevin O’Connor and Drew from Season 1 have their own show on the Discovery Channel. It’s just like AR, except they aren’t racing. I love those guys.

23

Who? Oh, yeah, you’re probably right there.

Perhaps Mirna had Peggy Hill as her high school Spanish teacher. (Speaking of which, yesterday’s syndicated KotH was the one where Peggy leads a field trip to Mexico…)

I have a feeling that the producers where hoping for Mario & Luigi to be the reincarnation of Kevin and Drew from season one but so far they’ve been very disappointing. Occasionally offensive and not very fun otherwise.

One of the many thing I’ve learned from the Amazing Race: U.S. currency is good anywhere for anything.

24

I’m not sure that’s true, but I am certain that last night was the first time in any season of TAR that they’ve shown someone exchanging currency. Which leads us to the following possible conclusions:

  1. The contestants exchange currency, but they don’t show it because it’s boring. Just something they do at the airport while waiting for a flight.

  2. They’re sometimes given local currency. When they read aloud “you have $93 for this leg”, it really means they have 10,000 New Rupees (or whatever).

  3. The Almighty Dollar really is good anywhere.

I’m gonna have to pay attention the next time they pay a cab driver.

25

Chip was absolutely doing the right thing.

This…is…a…race…for…a…million…dollars.

Both teams thought they were last. The Twins may have gotten there first, but when Chip squatted their cab, well too bad. Chip was smart and the Twins were whiney and self-righteous.

26

Damn, damn, damn. I missed it last night. I guess I’ll go haul my sorry ass off to the official website to get a recap. I love this show. Damn.

27

Hey, I’m not saying it wasn’t good strategy. I’m just saying it was a dick move, and he was being a jerk. I don’t take kindly to jerks.

28

From the leaderboard:

  1. Brandon/Nicole (Team Blue Lagoon, last week #6)

A strong showing, and thankfully not so many (any?) sanctimonious “God is with us” quotes.

  1. Charla/Mirna (Team 150%, last week #5)

This is the only team that brings back the joie de vive of Team Guido from season 1. Despite the too-frequent 'I can show the world" sound bites, at least they have fun. However, once again they lost their way, and that’s going to screw them in the end. Whatever you think of them, the episodes will be a bit duller if they get eliminated.

  1. Jim/Marsha (Team Major Dad, last week #10)

I’m astounded that they are still in it, given their last place showing in the premier, and their gullibility. Very touching how impressed Dad was with his daughter at the end. I hope they stay close to the front for many episodes to come.

  1. Linda/Karen (Team Shine-O Ball-O, last week #3)

Did they or didn’t they steer Jim wrong? If so, they paid for it by dropping a notch, but demonstrated that the suburban bowling alley must be a site of betrayal and intrigue worthy of a European royal court. They have more than meets the eye, those two, even if all Argentinian tango dancers look alike to them.

  1. Bob/Joyce (Team Chat Room, last week #4)

Were they in it this week? Hardly any screen time. Nice showing though.

  1. Colin/Christie (Team Mannequin, last week #7)

Once again, they make a route-delaying bad choice (wrong cemetery) that lands them in the middle of the pack and on the cutting room floor. I think they’ll be seen more often as the pack thins out. What the hell was with that little flashlight perched on the top of Colin’s head when they read the first clue?

  1. Marshall/Lance (Team Super Mario Bigots, last week #2)

How the mighty lame have fallen. I can’t wait for one of these two idiots to mouth off in front of the wrong “useless foreigner”. Or Chip.

  1. Chip/Kim (Team Cosby Show, last week #8)

They are lovely people, and I don’t begrudge them anything they have done so far to try and win, but these 8th place showings are only going to cut it for so many episodes, doncha know.

  1. Kami/Karli (Team Doublemint, last week #9)

Wonder Twin Powers: Dysfunctional! These two are never going to last.

Eliminated: Alison/Donny (Team Team? What Team?, last week #1)

A refreshing change from the usual “We didn’t get the million, but we learned so much about ourselves and each other, it was worth it” departure. This was: “We lost and I fucking hate you!!” This episode demonstrates why all reality shows should be like the Amazing Race. Alison was apparently a viable contestant on Big Brother, while here she’ll be forgetten by the time she shows up applauding at race’s end. This may spoil the network’s wish to keep past Big Brother viewers watching (just as poor team grouping and lackluster buggy drivers spoiled the producers’ wish for a lot of neck and neck horse & cart races this episode), but that’s OK. I don’t think Nielsen can detect fluctuations that low.

And what happened to the much-vaunted “Yield”? And where’s the “Fast Forward”?

And what’s with the absurdly oversized public sculptures of mundane objects in South America? A giant, half-buried stone hand last week, a giant metal tulip this week. What gives?

29

The official site says that no team “found” the Yield this Leg, which doesn’t make much sense. The Yield (because of the way it works) has to be where every team has to go past it. I suspect that no team bothered to use it and TPTB simply saw no need to show it to us.

And, also from the official site, only two legs have Fast Forwards on them this Race. Supposedly it was costing too much to set one up for every leg when they only got used about half the time.

Chip jumping into the cab may have been bad sportsmanship but this is a Race for a million dollars and both teams thought they were at the back of the pack. To them, giving up the cab would be the equivalent of losing the Race. (Which did happen to Dennis & Erika in the previous leg when they gave up a cab.)

As for the money thing, one team in the first Race was eliminated as a direct result of not getting money changed. Their cab driver tried to transfer them to another cab halfway to the destination and insisted on being paid in local currency. They had none and the time lost trying to get their money changed cost them the Race.

((And, does anyone besides me always repeat One Meeellion Dollars in a Dr. Evil voice whenever the prize money is mentioned?))

30

Oh come on, she’s hysterical! She told everybody and everything that she loved them. “Te amo taxi! Te amo Evita! Te amo man driving the utility cart through the cemertary! Te amo tango! Te amo dancers! Te amo horse-drawn cart!”

Don’t hate on Mirna, she’s just full of love!

Btw, was the bit where they asked the prostitute about the disco priceless or was it me? The whole “she’s a hooker, she must know where a disco is!” thing had me rolling with laughter.

Do we really know that, or are we guessing this because they’re not slim?

Still loving Chip & Kim, taxi intrigue notwithstanding. Still cheering for Charla and Mirna, linguistics issues aside. Still hating the twins and Team Foot-In-Mouth Neanderthals. Still utterly ambivalent about the dating couples. Digging the older folks: bowling moms, kissy Bob & Joyce, and Papa Jim.

This show rocks. Compared to the utter inanity of Big Brother right before it, it’s like watching an hour of revelation from the heavens.

31

As I was watching, milliseconds before Mirna said it, I yelled out something to the effect of “Ask the hooker at the bus stop!” (And given the fact that I live alone and was yelling to no one, I sometimes fear for my sanity. And I wonder what the neighbors think.) But it was Charla saying something to the effect of “She won’t help us, she’s waiting for customers” that really cracked me up.

32

It wasn’t just you. I turned to my husband and said, “I know you hate her, but she’s high-larious.”

He just grumbled.

33

Me. (I do the same thing when I watch Survivor, too.)

34

From the Amazing Race website:

I was expecting to read that they speak Italian, because what they were passing off as Spanish sounded more like a desperately confused, inebriated and orphaned offspring of Italian and English. I stand corrected! Good God, what could their French be like?

35

Oh they do *not * speak Spanish; they must’ve lied on their application. Unless they truly think “stop-o el boat-o” is Spanish.

36

Nothing chaps my… chaps… more than someone who claims to speak a language because they can regurgitate simple phrases like ‘I love tango!’

37

Disco hooker was funny, but the boat waiting for them to board and seeing the other teams faces? Priceless.

(I’m sorry but if it guaranteed the ticket people getting their 15 seconds on American TV, I’m all for it. This from a woman whose claim to fame is being an extra in the movie Cobb. And ending up on the cutting room floor. It still counts!)

38

No, the teams are always given U.S. currency. (I read that in an interview somewhere.) But it’s true that people in most countries will accept U.S. money, and sometimes give a better exchange rate than banks, since the greenback is often stronger than their local currency.

39

A) Donnie and Alison are G-O-N-E! :: does happy diance! :: I hated them more than I hated Kelly and Jon from last season…and that’s saying something.

B) Ok, there’s now two rulez for The Detour:
[ul]
[li]All things being equal, the more X-TREME! challenge (ie: the one that looks better on TV) is the best choice.[/li][li]One thing that makes the challenges unequal is if one looks too easy. (“Look at this! It’s walking a few dogs one lousy mile! How hard can it be?”). If it looks too easy, it’s a bad choice.[/li][/ul]

C) The black couple, despite the fact that I really like them (the twin’s hissy-fit notwithstanding), really seem like losers. :frowning:

D) I like Charla and Myrna–the tall one seems to have some sort of cow based phobia but that’s ok. I “allow” one phobia per constestant before I start sneering. And they’re having fun. Look at them in the dance club or taking a second or two to tango. That, m’friends, is cool.

E) I can’t tell if the brothers are trying to be funny or are really that stoopid. (“Lousy foreigners”? It coulda been funny, but not the way they said it.)

F) I thought the challenges were kinda lame this time 'round.

I love this show.

40

The Pizza Kings rock! None of this fake lubby-dubby PC-driven (TV-driven?) stuff for them. For most Americans, the rest of the world is a foreign country anyway.

And look what happened to the pact between the twins and the nice African-Americans. You knew just as soon as they pledged fealty to each other that the furies would work overtime to show what a load of old bollocks that was.

I’ve still got serious hots for Marsha. She’s so damned nice to her Dad and so damned take-charge.

You’re right to be worried about Jim’s secret military vendetta against the moms. With Marsha now anointed as team leader, I fear for their well being.