Oh, Amazing Race … how I miss Chad & Stephanie this week (who, by the way, are now married and three months pregnant). Why, you ask? Because I cannot stand Nick & Vicki. Well, not so much Vicki, but Nick is an ass. A big, giant ass. And poor Vicki believes running The Amazing Race has actually improved his attitude! Of course, right after she made that claim, the editors wasted no time in spotlighting every single offense Nick committed during this leg of the race, starting with his neglectful behavior when Vicki complained that her asthma was acting up during a run to a ferry, to his lack of compassion during a challenge which required her to eat more than her fill of sushi, to his total defeatist behavior during the last task that required them to search for a needle in a haystack, metaphorically speaking. And somehow I just knew that even though he forced Vicki to give up and take a six-hour penalty, this was going to be a non-elimination leg and we’d be forced to deal with them for one more week. If any team does not deserve to be in the final three, it’s Nick & Vicki. Sorry, Vicki.
On the other hand, Nat & Kat were a little less aggressive this week and Jill & Thomas continued to play a strong game. But my new favorite team now is Brooke & Claire. They really got on my nerves at first just because they seemed to be too perky and always “on” for the camera. I know they are TV shopping hosts in real life (at least Brooke still is), but at some point during the day the performing part of that life has to be turned off. Brooke can be a little bit of a “Chad” at times, expecting Claire to do more than she’s capable of doing but they always “hug it out” in the end. The kissing thing they did early in the race was really annoying and creepy, but that seems to have gone away — or isn’t featured as prominently as it was.
What I’ve come to really like about Brooke & Claire is just the goofiness of Brooke. She’s always got something funny to say or has some crazy face going while Claire is relating her disatrous Road Block performances. This week, she had an entire restaurant entertained with dancing and carrying on, while Claire had to sort through plates and plates of sushi to find one of five fake pieces of food. She was even cool with Claire as she hurled, Exorcist-style, before she completed the task. My heart sank when Nick & Vicki actually managed to catch up to them and I feared that if they had beaten the girls to the Pit Stop, this would not have been a non-elimination leg. Luckily, Brooke & Claire finished and are, at the least, six hours ahead of Nick & Vicki now.
I was also happy that Brooke & Claire had the cojones to confront Thomas & Jill about the U-Turn last week. Thomas insisted he felt they were strong competitors but Brooke pointed out that Nat & Kat had come in first four times so they are obviously more of a threat. Thomas just didn’t seem to get that bit of logic, but high five to Brooke for pointing that out to him. Not that it made any difference, but I would have done the same thing.
After this leg of the race, I think we can call the final three as Nat & Kat, Thomas & Jill and Brooke & Claire. It would take a miracle for Nick & Vicki to come close to catching up with the applied penalty and, yes, a Speed Bump during the next leg of the race. There had better not be some 12-hour airport equalizer at the start of the next leg! Who are you hoping to see in the final three?
Clacked by Chuck Duncan 
on Nov 28, 2010 @ 23:33 EST5EDT
Not sushi (which is Japanese) but Dim Sum. Google Majestic Seafood Restaurant Hong Kong for reviews.
*POST AUTHOR*
I think everyone kept referring to it as sushi, and I know sushi is Japanese, but I think it would have been confusing to start calling it something else.