The Amazing Race – A roo’d awakening

When we left our teams on last week’s The Amazing Race, Jet & Cord were still trying to figure out the clue with the flags and the compass. Everyone else was so far ahead, it seemed like they would never catch up. Oh, but then there was the great equalizer — a plane trip to the next destination. Jet & Cord signed in last for the second flight and managed a heroic comeback, checking in third at the Pit Stop.

There was little real drama along the way, but the race seemed to already be taking a toll on 70-year-old Mel White. On the ferry to Sydney, Mel was in a frightening state and it really seemed like he needed emergency medical attention. Fortunately, he snapped out of his stupor and told Mike he wanted to continue and that he was taking responsibility for his own actions. What a trouper!

A lot of the teams who had suffered some meltdowns during their previous seasons seem to be working together well at this point, but I still have my doubts about Ron & Christina being able to hold it together long enough to get further ahead in the game. Teaming up with Gary & Mallory on the last task of the leg, Ron was extremely impatient with the even more extremely excitable Mallory. She wanted to race blindly off in the direction she saw the other teams hopping — they were all dressed as kangaroos — but Ron wanted to wait and study the clue thoroughly, not knowing if the other teams had any idea where they were going but he reluctantly relented. Finding the next clue, Mallory & Gary dashed to their car to drive to the Pit Stop because they saw Kris and Amanda in the distance.  Ron still felt Mallory had no idea where she was going — even though she got them to the clue box — so he went another direction … and got lost (briefly).

Lucky for them Kris & Amanda had to endure the U-Turn they incurred at the start of the race, and even though they managed to finish both tasks before Ron & Christina had finished one, their lack of chemistry smarts put them too far behind the other teams and they checked in last and were eliminated. The show’s editing made them seem much, much closer to Ron & Christina and I expected to see them at the mat together, but they were actually much further behind and were the last team to check in. Just like last time, the U-Turn took Kris and Amanda out of the race.

While not the most exciting or challenging leg in Amazing Race history, there were some good (and one questionable) moments:

• Kisha & Jen had the great idea to use the internet to figure out the ambiguous clue which had teams look for something that said “to ship to sail” — and Zev & Justin benefited by being right behind them at the kiosk. Obviously Jet & Cord have never heard of the internet as they searched Sydney for hours and into the night before someone could tell them what it was.
• Why were Kent & Vyxsin riding along with Margie & Luke to the Living Desert? Aren’t teams supposed to drive themselves?
• Kent immediately knew the elements Hg (Mercury) and Bi (Bismuth) because he’d gotten an A in chemistry. Everyone else had to ask the locals.
• Margie lost her kangaroo foot cover and had to go back to find it, but Mel had picked it up and gave it back to her instead of leaving it in the street like some other teams had.
• Luke called Jaime & Cara his “Race girlfriends.”
• Zev pointed out that there weren’t many steakhouses in the outback.
• Zev & Justin checked in first – with their passports!
• Best line of the night: “Vyxsin, please get me children.” – Kent, thinking they needed a group of kids to dance around their artwork at the Detour.

Clacked by Chuck Duncan
on Feb 28, 2011 @ 08:44 EST5EDT