(S10E12) The last couple legs of the race are always exciting because the stakes are high and elimination is a certainty. Therefore it's quite frustrating when after frantically racing for nearly half the episode the teams get bunched up at an airport. In order to appreciate this leg of this race you only needed to watch the part of the episode that took place in Barcelona (and especially the tomato fight that makes up part of the Detour).In the first half of the race, the Beauty Queens take an early lead. They drive like maniacs, find a helpful local and breeze through the roadblock easily. This week's RoadBlock is your standard meal challenge. The challenge involves cutting meat off a dead camel, cooking and eating it. While they show the decapitated camel heads which aren't exactly appetizing the actual meat itself doesn't look so bad and they do grind and season it. Lyn and Karlyn and Rob and Kim are lagging way behind in this part of the race mainly because they are lost. Rob and Kim run back and forth frantically searching for the clue while Lyn and Karlyn seem to meander aimlessly but the real drama happens when Rob and Kim see the blondes as they leave and ask them for help. The blondes won't help or offer their guide to the cause.
When the teams are all evened up at the airport, the Beauty Queens ask Tyler and James if they can go first if they are in a race to the end. They evade the question and later talk about how they won't abandon Rob and Kim. You have to admire the brazenness of those blondes, they do everything they can to shake the Models all season but when they need something they come sidling up with big smiles.
In Barcelona the teams are all evened up as they run through a maze. The maze just seems like a time filler and once again, cab grabbing makes a difference. The Beauty Queens were smart enough to make their reservations ahead. Rob notices the blondes flirting with some construction workers and using their cell phone so he sends Kim off to investigate, exhorting her to flirt and "use her sexuality." In the end, two cabs show up (despite Kim having asked for two cabs) and so the Bama ladies and the Boy Models are left to fend for themselves.
The choice of Detour tonight made a huge difference. The teams that suffered through getting pelted with tomatoes had a definite advantage over those who opted to wander around inside giant statues.
The Detour does give us once of the best hissy fits we've seen in a while. Kim has a crazy meltdown while she is getting hit with tomatoes and walks away. She gives up and almost makes Rob go to the other challenge three times. Luckily they stay which pays off since they come in first. Rob is overjoyed. When Rob starts tearing up it looks like Kim starts laughing at first. Of the two of them I thought she was the one itching to get married but maybe it's him. Either way, their talking about the how race is different for them because they are in a relationship seems sort of insulting to the other teams.
Phil looks surprised to see Lyn and Karlyn who come in second and are the first all-female team to compete for the final prize. Tyler and James come in third beating out the blondes who are eliminated. While I didn't love their play, I do think the Beauty Queens played really well. Although I have to say that as someone who usually weeps her way through the last few farewell speeches each season, their parting moments left me cold.
My choice is Bama for the win even though Karlyn was extremely irritating tonight. Their main hurdle is that the race is often to the swift. The other teams definitely seem to think Bama is easy to beat because they do not run. Slow and steady wins the race perhaps? It would certainly shatter the illusions of the Boy Models who seem to think they are a lock to win.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-04-2006 @ 11:22AM
jaykaydee said...
In the previews for next week, they showed the three final teams running for the finish line. Rob and Kimberly and the Boy Models were smiling. Bama had their typical grumpy faces, so it didn't look like they were getting there first. I hope Rob and Kim don't win, mostly because he turned into a wussy freak crying about winning a million dollars at the end of last night's episode.
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12-04-2006 @ 12:54PM
Damian said...
They need to change the show in one key way for next season - don't allow people to have a person come along and/or lead them to a location. It tilts the game in bad ways - favoring those that are good looking, etc....obviously it doesn't control the total game because all the best looking women teams are gone. But it just takes away from the race IMHO when they really don't have to figure anything out - they just get a guide and go from there.
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12-04-2006 @ 11:56AM
Atticus said...
I just kept thinking while watching Rob and Kim together that if Kim was my daughter, I be kicking the crap out Rob when they got back home. Nobody treats my daughter like that regardless of how whiney she gets. He's a punk and as a father I could not bless that wedding.
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12-04-2006 @ 12:53PM
Julie said...
I have to agree with Atticus. You would think that, if this is possibly the love of your life, you could think of a better term of endearment than "Duuude". My kids use that with their friends! And the other that got on my nerves - "Babe". Oy.
Glad the Barbies are gone and as much as I am pulling for the underdog 'Bama to win, I actually won't mind if it's the models. They have been pretty steady throughout the race and are physically competitive. I'll be upset if it's Rob and Kim...
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12-04-2006 @ 12:40PM
Big Dave said...
Did anyone else have the Sprint commercial/promo asking us to text in who we thought best kept their cool at the detours? Well...only one team had started the detour at the time of the commercial and they only gave us three choices, the Models, Bama & Rob/Kim...no Blondies. Way to give away the finish CBS (I am in the DC TV market). The meltdown by Kim was claaaaaaaaasic btw.
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12-04-2006 @ 2:12PM
Brent McKee said...
Damian: Getting local guides has always been part of the race, dating back to the first season. It's somethign that smart teams think about doing and are able to do. Admittedly none were as brazenly successful at it as Rob & Amber in the seventh season, but it is certainly a big part of the game. You don't have to be good looking - in a lot of cases you just have to ask the right people.
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12-04-2006 @ 3:56PM
Eric J. said...
I think they should continue to allow guides, but prohibit hiring a cab just to guide you when you have to drive yourself.
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12-04-2006 @ 8:31PM
Brent McKee said...
Eric J.: With the cabs, the teams pay the drivers to lead them to their destination. Sometimes its just not feasible to find someone who can come in the car with them as a guide and at the same time it is hard for foreigners (i.e. Americans) to navigate around a new city. The alternative is to buy maps and guide books and hiring a cab to lead you is frequently the cheaper option.
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12-05-2006 @ 7:44AM
mammabammaramma said...
I had a dream that the Bamma's won. They looked so grumpy, because they were running like crazy, thinking the other teams had already made it to the finish line. In my dream, they got a great flight, and beat everyone else by 10 minutes. Then, they invited me to their big party, and gave me an Escalade. It was a nice dream, but I think I would have liked a few moments alone with Phil, instead of a gas-guzzling car.....
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12-05-2006 @ 12:37AM
silk said...
The biggest problem with the race this season was the "6-pack". If it wasn't for the Cho brothers 'bamma would not still be in the race. Though big props to the Cho team for being the first team to forge an alliance and honorably stick with it to the end, it gave an unfit team life.
The blondes played the game dirty and it bit them in the ass as, of course, everyone wanted them gone. That is Earl Hickey's karma in action. So now I am stuck rooting for 'bamma. Though their chance of winning is slim, I think. The blonde's would've been a better team to push the all girl team flag but oh well.
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12-05-2006 @ 10:06PM
Stephen Waits said...
Oh man.. I won't shed a tear if Bama gets knocked the buck out. They are disgusting.
@Damian #5 - Why should they rig the race to help ugly people?
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