As much as I love The Amazing Race (it’s really the only competition show that I’d like to be on), I have to wonder if they don’t need a really big shakeup behind the scenes. The show still offers some exotic locations — which look even more exotic now in high definition — but the challenges have gotten a lot less challenging. They’ve become more busy work than anything. This week, as the teams traveled through India for a second leg there was a lot of race but not much that was amazing.
One of the worst parts of the race now has become the airport equalizer. Teams can be spread apart by several hours at the start of the leg, and they dash frantically (usually in the middle of the night) to the nearest airport or travel agent. I’m still wondering about these travel agents that seem to be open at all hours in these foreign countries. Do the producers pay them to stay open? It’s really the only way most teams could book flights since the airports are usually closed when they get there and all of them generally end up on the same flight. Unfortunately for the cowboys, they made a bad call and ended up on a flight that arrived in Varanasi, India an hour behind everyone else.
The Road Block had a bit of a challenge to it as a team member searched the crowded streets for colorfully garbed holy men, but either it wasn’t as difficult as it seemed it should have been or the editing made something that took hours seem like it only took teams minutes to complete. Well, except for Ron who wandered completely off course (which allowed the Jet and Cord to catch up and pass them). I’m surprised he didn’t stop to eat somewhere.
The Detour had one ridiculously time-consuming task and one fairly easy task. The easy task consisted of hopping into a boat, crossing the Ganges River, getting two bales of hay, crossing back and delivering the hay to an address on the bale. The other one required teams to follow the Ganges to a specific location where they had to make fuel pods … out of cow manure and hay! They had to make fifty consistently-sized pods, stick them to a wall to dry, then start a fire with already dried pods (who knew manure burned like that?) and boil some milk for the local children to drink. And if those pods weren’t just right, some Indian woman would rip them right off the wall (my favorite part of the task)! Why three teams chose that task, I’ll never know, because the two teams who delivered the hay finished first and second. And I’m sorry Flight Time and Big Easy, but you can say you went from worst to first all you want because you started the leg in last place, but the minute the cowboys got on the wrong flight they were in last place and still managed to finish fifth. Unfortunately, Ron’s misdirection at the Detour put the nail in his and Christina’s coffin.
And after all of that, teams headed to the Pit Stop. The only real drama was when Vyxsin jumped out of her boat and into the Ganges (it was deep!) because the guy wouldn’t take them back to the dock. There was just little in the way of drama or excitement this week. What happened to the days when teams had to do crazy things like bungee jump or hang glide? I remember season three or four, the two grandmothers who hang glided for the first time. It was an exhilarating moment and even more heartbreaking when they were eliminated. Challenges like those need to be brought back to the game before the faithful viewers tune out because the race is no longer all that amazing.
“At the airport, can you buy airline tickets?” – Kent to a bewildered cab driver
“For those of you who don’t know, when you push the gas the horn blows in India.” – Flight Time commenting on the methods used by cab drivers to get around quickly
“The holy men … they look like anorexic Santa Claus.” – Justin
Clacked by Chuck Duncan 
on Apr 11, 2011 @ 07:31 EST5EDT
Looks like another breakdown for Kent and Vyxsin next week. Those two seem to be out of their depth; I’d be surprised if they’re around for another couple eliminations.