(S10E04) The Amazing Race is always a battle but this season seems even more brutal than most. The good thing is that it means that no one team is dominating the race. But it's painful to watch at times because the teams already seem deeply tired. One thing is certain this episode, you can fight with your partner every step of the way and still come in first.The teams are given audio instructions which really throw them. Tyler and James have the smart idea to have their taxi driver listen to the instructions too while Rob and Kimberley follow them get lost and end up behind again. It happens one more time with them trapped in a loop which also happens to David and Mary. After all that drama everyone ends up cued up again for a bus ride to Ha Long Bay. The Road Block involves scaling a a cliff face. Once again, Sarah volunteers while Peter "coaches" her from a safe distance, contentedly chilling in the boat. I know all about reality TV editing but really how much of this is skillful editing and how much of it is Peter's asshat behavior.
Next the teams travel to Sung Sot Cave to find a clue. This leads them to the Detour which involves either rowing around to deliver goods or harvesting oysters. For either challenge rowing is the sticking point. Some teams take an oar each, others go for the one person rows, the other person navigates technique. Either way there is lots of yelling and weeping. This is a challenge that is a huge advantage for those with upper arm strength and so the girl teams have the biggest problem (and Tom and Terry too).
I'm not quite certain how Rob and Kimberley make it to number one but at least it keeps them from sniping at each other for a few minutes. They win jet skis. Sarah and Peter do well this go-round too but their relationship is splintering apart. I suspect that Rob and Kimberley are one of those naturally fighting couples but that Peter and Sarah aren't accustomed to this type of drama. He prefers being in the position of power as her coach and the teamwork that the race requires isn't working for him. Dustin and Kandice and Tom and Terry battle for last place crying all the way. Tears for me this week, watching the gay hobbits get eliminated. It's been a tough couple of weeks for my favorites it looks like my David and Mary and Lyn and Karlyn might also face Philimination soon.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-09-2006 @ 2:51PM
Ginny said...
Ha! When Mary said "I know Phil.." I knew it would be a main point here. This season is so good. My arms ached after watching all the teams try and row....and when T & T were coming in last and actually pulling the boat while swimming I started rooting for them and cried a little when they were talking about it after having been eliminated. Go Mary and David and the Lyns!
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10-09-2006 @ 1:11PM
KC said...
I agree Deidre - it was brutal. The hardest leg I've ever seen because there was no break in between tasks. The hobbits went out like true winners. I would never have expected after all the whining, that Tom would have stepped up like such a hero. This leg really was amazing.
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10-09-2006 @ 1:49PM
Murphy said...
"...upper arm strength and so the girl teams have the biggest problem (and Tom and Terry too)."
Are we watching the same show? I'm so sick of the "gay men" are weak stereotype. I'm also sick of ABC picking the most stereotypical gay men. Have they never been to a gym in their lives? Speaking for myself, we all aren't as flambouyant as TV portrays us to be. Would it hurt for them to put some gay men that are not so typical. It just pains me to think that lots of people are laughing at T&T. I give him credit for pulling that boat! Lots of it. And I'm sure we'd all be in tears if we didn't think we could finish the race. They were combating wind, so I am sure it was 10x more difficult. Ok, I'm done.
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10-09-2006 @ 1:50PM
Murphy said...
Ooops...CBS..whatever, they all need to change their ways :P
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10-09-2006 @ 3:09PM
Julie said...
In response to Murphy - I do believe Reichen and Chip won several seasons ago and they were definitely not sterotypical! One was in the Air Force and one was an All-American swimmer, if I recall correctly. And Team Guido was certainly not stereotypical, either. They were very strong and competitive. I may not have liked their general attitudes but they came darned close to winning, finishing in the top 3.
I think the Southeast Asian heat has really zapped the strength of the contestants this time. Having lived there as a youth, I can tell you it's brutal, particularly in the summer months. I think that may be contributing to their exhaustion. I'm ready for Peter and Sarah to go, although she's a pretty tough cookie despite the whining. He's just a bugger. And I'm over the Barbies...
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10-09-2006 @ 3:38PM
Brent McKee said...
Tom towing that boat because he was frustrated with rowing was one of the single most impressive things I've seen from any team in the Race. Shades of Humphrey Bogart in "The African Queen."
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10-23-2006 @ 2:06AM
J T said...
Julie: "Reichen and Chip won several seasons ago and they were definitely not sterotypical!"
You either have few gay male friends or you've just never been around them in a major metropolitan area. Those two are, rather were, the most sickening kind of stereotypical Fags I know where I come from in NYC. Go to Chelsea above the west village and walk in any gym or "posing" bar and you'll see more of them than you will any like Terry and Tom or even those two shopping Queens who's names I've forgotten from a few seasons back. And not ironically, Reichen and Chip broke up probably because of Reichen's being a fame whore. I mean that Calendar he was hawking. Yeah. Like any self respecting gay Man would pay for a nude calendar of some egotistical "Clone" and no, I'm not jealous. He has nothing on me. Oh OK. I don't live at the Gym but then again I don't live for attention on every street corner and gay bar. And now he's with that homely Dufus Lance Bass who if not for being famous, couldn't get arrested in any bar full of any sort of variety of Queers. Trust me. We're a lot pickier about Men then most straight Women are which is why you who are married or dating those sort of Redneck or New Yawk (read Brooklyn, Queens, Jersey) tough talking Guido Homophobes who think we're all after them, they're safe. So I agree with Murphy. Few "Reality" shows ever go to the trouble with the exception of Real World, of casting NON stereotypical Gays.
Stick to editorializing your own breed. And TV Producers. This season the show looks like you went all out for a few token stereotypes. Low. Very low.
PS:Peter is a big closet case. Glad she's dumping his candy ass.
PPS: I don't know what show that Emily or whoever said she's board with no interesting characters remaining but Honey. You must be gay yourself because as the two Cho Bros and the Recovery Boys stay in. I'm sticking to the tube...no pun intended. I'll gladly take my eye candy straight.
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