TVSquad

(S12E03) They could have called tonight's episode of The Amazing Race "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Milking a Camel, but Were Afraid to Ask."

Sure, it's a reality television show, but it's educational, too. Not only did I learn all about the do's and don'ts of milking camels (which I'm sure will come into some use during the course of my life in the greater metropolitan NYC area), but I also learned the word for tree in a rather obscure West African language. Tiiga is tree. Now you know it, too.

Not only did I learn those things, but I'm also feeling a bit better about Ron of the father and daughter team. Last week he was horribly condescending and micro-managing his daughter, Christina. This week he has a hernia.

Oh, no. That's not why I feel better. Although he annoyed me last week, I certainly don't want the man to be in pain. I feel better about him because he seems to realize that he's been too rough on his daughter with no reason for it. She's a smart and capable young woman. He should be proud of her instead of criticizing her every decision.

Perhaps it was karma for his fat comment about her as he pedaled the bakfiet to the last Pit Stop. Anyway, for one reason or another, he mentioned the error of his ways and he was definitely kinder towards his daughter this week. Good. I want to like this team.

Upon leaving the Pit Stop at the beginning of the episode, teams were instructed to fly to Ouagadougou which is located in the emerging country of Burkina Faso in West Africa. But they weren't told where Ouagadougou is located. Me? I never even heard of Burkina Faso, so I'll tally that in with my milking camels and tiiga knowledge goodies from the episode.

It was a hoot to watch the teams slaughter the name of the capital city, but not so much fun each time I try to type it. Yes, feel sorry for me. You try to type Ouagadougou three times fast and you'll feel my pain.

Despite the wide differences in the times the teams left the Pit Stop, they all ended up on the same initial flight. Then it was a scramble to the connecting flight, but they all made it once again.

Once they arrived, the teams had to take a train to Bingo, a "town" located in the middle of nowhere. There wasn't even a train station, nor a real stop. The conductor yelled out "Bingo!," stopped the train, and they had to leap to the ground. The most noteworthy event which happened on the way to the train was that Shana and Jennifer got ripped off by their cab driver. Maybe it was their attitudes. None of the other teams had troubles with the locals.

But, in the end, I think they deserved it. Y'see, once they got on the train, they were full of nasty and degrading comments about the locals on the train, as well as the locale itself. Even Nathan and Jennifer, a team which gets on my nerves due to their treatment of each other, were mesmerized with the surroundings and taking it all in. But Shana and Jennifer insulted the smell of the locals, whined about flies, and didn't understand how anyone can live "like this." I didn't see much of them in the prior episodes. I can go without seeing much of this team in future ones.

The real fun tonight started with the Roadblock -- Who is ready to work up a thirst? One member of each team had to milk a camel, filling a bowl to the approval of a native, then drinking the icky sticky warm camel milk.

Once again, Christina had the right way to deal with animals. She cooed to her camel, told her she was awesome. TK was gentle with his camel and ended up being the first to finish the Roadblock. Even gruff granddad Donald did well at the milking.

Oh, but Lorena freaked out and went into hysterics. A wrong move indeed. Camels, like most animals, will spook if they hear sudden loud noises or something really disruptive in their lives. Nathan wasn't doing all that much better with his camel, but it was Lorena who had the camel breakdown to be remembered.

Once they finished the Roadblock, they had to walk four camels down a marked path to the next clue. Argh. I liked the lead bunch of teams and they went off on some unmarked path! By the time they turned around other teams were done with the Roadblock!

I almost guffawed when Ron started singing "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" to his camel and Christina admonished him. I think the camel may be smitten, don't you?

Another cute moment was when Kynt decided they had to speed up.

"Good camels like to run," he told his cluster of camels. Herd of camels? I don't know.

Even though camels can be known to be a bit cantankerous, they all seemed to walk better than the donkeys the teams last dealt with did. I just don't care for camel spit. They always drool when I see them. I wouldn't want to get hit with a gob of that, would you?

The Detour, though nothing adrenalin pumping, was something I found very neat. The teams had a choice of Teach It or Learn It. In Teach It, they would go to a local school and teach a child ten common words in English. In Learn It, the teams would learn ten words in the local language. Although the official language of Burkina Faso is French, this surely wasn't French!

The kids who learned the English words will probably remember the experience the rest of their lives. The teams who learned the words, maybe not so much. But I'll forever remember tiiga means tree. It's too bad I'm not sure what language it is!

After the Detour was completed, it was a mad rush for most teams to the Pit Stop where Phil said one team may be eliminated. The lead teams had gone awry by not following the marked path, so a team which did poorly in the milking, but great on the language, made it first to the Pit Stop.

Brother and sister team Azaria and Hendekea scored their second first place showing out of three episodes so far this season. They also won a trip to Bermuda. Azaria is starting to remind me of the Carlton character on The Fresh Prince of Belair. That might not be a good thing. I hope he doesn't start wearing argyle sweaters over his shoulders.

The next four teams piled onto the mat after a footrace -- TK and Rachel (2), Nathan and Jennifer (3), Kynt and Vyxsin (4), and Ronald and Christina (5). It seemed like only moments later Donald and Nicolas arrived (6).

The the Queens of Intolerance team arrived in 7th place -- Shana and Jennifer. After the way they acted on the train, I think I'd rather have seen them go home tonight.

It ended up being a true race between the final two teams. Lorena had such a breakdown and did so horribly at the camel task that she and Jason seemed a shoe-in for the last place. But they made up time and beat the sisters to take 8th place.

Eliminated from the race tonight were sisters Julia and Marianna. I don't feel I really got to know these two well at all, so I'm a bit ambivalent about the elimination.

I was more concerned about Kynt's state of mind without his make-up

Oh, my. He didn't look like the same lil' Goth guy at all. And, those eyebrows without the rest of it? Yikes!

I'm enjoying this season so far. It hasn't been as edge-of-the-seat excitement and adrenalin rush in the challenges, but sometimes the quieter challenges like tonight's Detour give me more of a peek into the nation at hand.

Of course, I feel the show can never go wrong using local animals as part of Roadblocks or Detours. But until teams learn that you can't force animals to do anything they don't want to do, some will always have difficulties.

I'm pleased The Amazing Race is back and I'm still cheering on Kynt and Vyxsin for a win!