Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Go Camel Go!

A few days late, but here's a re-cap of Sunday's episode of The Amazing Race.

With the last leg being a non-elimination leg, it left us still with 7 teams competing for the $1 Million grand prize: dating couple Peter & Sarah, dating couple Rob & Kimberly, models/recovering addicts/hot boys Tyler & James, friends Lyn & Karlyn, beauty queens Dustin & Kandice, brothers Erwin & Godwin, and coalminer and his wife Dave & Mary. Having finished last in the non-elimination leg, Dave & Mary were told they had to finish first this leg or else they would suffer a thirty-minute penalty that could prove to be costly in this close race.

The teams kicked it off by learning they would be flying from wherever the hell they were to Kuwait. In one of Phil's special little twists, they weren't given a written clue - just a cellphone (or Blackberry? not sure...) with a short video message from that silver-tongued devil himself instructing them to find some towers that were shown to them. Hmmm...How would they possibly figure this out? Oh yeah. The Internet. Or ask someone. Or look it up in a book. Gee, now that was hard, eh guys? Duhhhhhh!!

After teams found the location of the towers in Kuwait City, they had to ride the elevator to the top, and await for it to open at 11 am, which left all the teams logjammed together once again. After being allowed in to get their clue, they were given the option between a Roadblock or a chance at the Fast Forward. Dave & Mary had no choice - they had to go for the Fast Forward. The front-leading teams at the time were Peter & Sarah, Dustin & Kandice, James & Tyler, and Rob & Kimberly, and they all opted for the Roadblock. It dictated that one team member must climb an outer ladder up the side of one of the towers where they would retrieve a satchel of puzzle pieces that they had to put together back on the ground to discover the location of their next clue.

Despite their strong alliance with the Cho brothers and the Alabama girls, Dave & Mary clearly stated that no one was going to roll over and give them $1 Million, and they'd have to work hard and earn it. Apparently, they were wrong, though, because Erwin & Godwin purposely helped them get away from the towers and then told them that they weren't going to challenge them for the Fast Forward. Huh?? I mean, I like those guys - they seem like genuinely sweet people, who are all about the experience and not the money, but are they stupid?? The move left them in last place, and with the two of them fearing heights, it seemed like they were doomed.

The challenge once again proved quite easy for everyone, except for Erwin, who had to pep-talk himself through it, but he did make it. Back on the ground, Kimberly struggled with her puzzle, but I was extremely proud of Rob for not roaring at her. He seems to have really learned to control himself, and I'm liking him more and more each episode. And he's definitely getting cuter. The Barbies, the Hot Boys, and Peter & Sarah made quick work of their puzzle, and conveniently, there was a completely bilingual man nearby who told them what street their puzzle told them to go to.

Meanwhile, Dave & Mary were at the Fast Forward, and I still have no idea what exactly they had to do. They got all dressed up in astronaut suits and stood near a big fire. Then they got to go to the Pit Stop. Now that was difficult.

After racing around trying to screw each other up while looking for their next clue in a row of shops, teams were presented a Detour. They either had to fill up ten bags of camel feed in the hot desert sun and pile them on a pallet, or use a voice-controlled robot camel jockey and race a camel 100 yards or something like that. Is it just me, or are some of the challenges just ridiculous? Neither of these activites were difficult. Okay, so maybe working in the hot sun is tiring, but it didn't seem to be much of a challenge filling the feed bags (except for the Barbies, who missed the part where they had to fill their bags to a certain level, so they had to do some re-filling). The camel racing one was absolutely retarded. They had to strap this robot onto the back of a camel, then shout into a walkie-talkie to get the camel to run. It didn't matter what they shouted: "Go, Camel!" "Giddy-up!" "Sens Rule!" Whatever, it didn't matter, those camels just got up and lurched off and ran like the wind. Sooooo tough.

Once again, though, my hot boys did their best to make a mess of it. They got lost looking for the feed bag challenge, and ended up racing the camel, but by then, almost everyone else had completed their tasks. Fortunately enough, Peter & Sarah had a complete meltdown, as they argued steady and also got lost. They thought they had gotten lucky upon accidentally coming across the arrow to one of the challenges, only to discover they had landed at the Fast Forward, which was already long gone. They turned up on the mat in last place, where the Philiminator put the kaibosh on their Amazing Race dreams.

I think that's the first time I've seen a couple get tossed from the race where they both stated that they no longer wanted to be in a relationship with each other. Usually, no matter how much fighting and ridiculousness that goes on, at the end of the day they say they love each other and the race showed them how strong they are as a couple, blah, blah, all that mushy bullshit. Apparently not so for Peter & Sarah. Good for her - he was an inconsiderate, arrogant asshole, especially in regards to her physical disability. She'll be far better off without him!

So the Hot Boys finished in 6th place for the second week in a row. They'd better get their act together next week or I could be losing my favourite team! I have no idea how they're losing to teams like Erwin & Godwin or Lyn & Karlyn, or even Dave & Mary. Hopefully their luck will change next week!

Have a good day everyone!