Amazing Race 7

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Episode 3 - My Thoughts

First of all, Miss Alli's recaplet is up, so go read it.

Wow, there's a lot to talk about with this episode. I'm gonna do my best to keep it in order.

Did anyone else notice that Rob and Amber were nearly an hour ahead of the team that came in second? That's, kind of awesome. Who knew that knowing how to stack books would get you so far ahead? They rip their clue and they get to drive themselves over 150 miles to the "Old Bridge" (keep in mind that this is the name of the place they need to go to) in Argentina. I'm all about teams having to navigate themselves places. No, it's not the 500+ mile trek from Le Mans to Marseilles, but I'll take it! And the cars are waiting for them in a parking structure that doesn't open until 5 AM. I'm not a fan of the bunching, but this was okay for me for a couple reasons:
  1. The sign that said it doesn't open until 5 am was a real sign on the building, unless the production crew has suddenly become adept in creating signs in color schemes other than yellow and red and look authentic, which I don't think they have.
  2. They're driving over the Andes mountains which, I would imagine, might not be so safe for teams in the dark (especially that really windy part which I'm sure is used in all Mazda commercials).
  3. The tasks they were going to are either biking down a railroad bed or rafting down a river--neither of which can be done in the dark. So, do we have teams wait at a parking structure before having to navigate their way to a next task, or do you let the navigation (and, ahem Debbie and Bianca and Susan and Patrick, I'm talking about you) and those who are really bad at it get a free pass if they get lost? Personally, I'd rather see the bunching at the beginning. And there you go.

Oh, Brian and Greg, you are quickly becoming the funny team of the season in the absence of Ryan and Chuck. Your little skit at the beginning of the episode? Priceless. Keep it up, and stay in the race ('cause you're one of my teams!).

Poor Debbie and Bianca. Not only did Rob steal their cab (and I'm totally sure that watching it last night was the first time they found out about it), they were the only ones we saw actually stop and ask for help with the navigation before they even got on the road. And they still drove two hours the wrong way. I'm just guessing that if a clue says "drive through the mountains" and I continually see the mountains to the right and the ocean's waves getting sea spray all over the car, it would take me less than two hours to figure out I was on the wrong road. What were they planning on doing, driving north through Chile until they hit a border? That would take a really, really long time.

Um, Gretchen? Please don't ever say "I make it up to Meredith in other ways." I certainly didn't need to hear that. Neither did the rest of the country. You probably lost those few who are still fans of yours that can overlook the whiny voice and odd noises you emit.

Susan wants to find Patrick a boyfriend. That's so cute. And I have a few number Patrick can call if he wants.

The first Yield of the season! And, surprise surprise, no one used it. I'm not a particular fan of the yield myself, but if it's there, why not use it? I think that Lynn and Alex would have used it on Rob and Amber if they had been ahead of them. But, then again, the whole point of the Yield is to mentally throw someone off their game (because really, usually holding someone up for just fifteen minutes isn't going to make a big deal in terms of time it takes to complete tasks).

That raft course looked wank and easy. It's no wonder eight of the nine teams chose to do it. But Amber really need to stop talking about how she needs to lose weight. She needs to shed pounds like Mischa Barton needs a tummy tuck. How excellent was it, however, when Debbie and Bianca were talking about how they hoped someone had a flat tire, quick cut to Brian and Greg with their tire blowing out? Awesome. Even more cool when, as Brian and Greg were walking their bikes, they could see Meredith and Gretchen going by in their raft.

And then...the Roadblock. I'm not a fan of the eating challenges. That's why when I get on this show, Karen's doing all of them. I do find most of the eating challenges within the realm of reason (although the caviar was a bit extreme). I know that many countries eat what we would deam "icky" parts of the cow, but the fact is they do eat them. And part of traveling is sometimes staring at food that you know you have to eat and just totally don't want to. But four pounds of it? That's a lot. I suppose, since they're in the Andes, they could have been asked to eat each other.

Uchenna--totally chanelling the wookie. Sorry dude, Revenge of the Siths is coming out in two months, and that's the last one.

Ron? Shut it. I do not need to hear that the food, while better than what you got in prison camp, is the worst eating experience you've ever had. You're now four POW references over the line. That's more than one an episode. Good bye.

Greg--I loved the "When I cook brains at home..." line. Keep it up, buddy.

I was really starting to miss Ryan and Chuck. They would have had it done in ten minutes and turned to another team and said, "Are you going to finish that?" It would have been awesome.

Ray didn't tell Deana to suck it up and finish! And that's because Rob--is a mental magician. I'm not quite sure where to begin on what happened with all the quitting. This is only the fourth time we've seen someone quit a task. The first was season one episode nine when, knowing they were in last and so very tired and unable to see their way out of a detour, Nancy and Emily opted to just take a cab to the pit stop and they were slapped with a 24 hour penalty. Second was season five, when Lance and Marshall were also in last and Lance gave up on the roadblock. Third was last season with the key locks when Hayden finally quit. Now, all of these were instances where teams were in last place or on something other than a detour. It just seems like the rules are changing slightly. Which is, in my mind, okay. Rob has never been good at eating challenges (his first season in Survivor he was not able to keep the fish guts down), so I figured that if they decided he was going to do it, something was going to happen. What Rob did was actually totally genius. He knew he couldn't finish it. He assessed his options of taking a four hour penalty or taking as much time as he needed to eat the food. Now, it was totally a gamble because, if I understood the penalty correctly, your four hours started either a) when the next team showed up or b) when you decided to quit, whichever came last. Rob knew his time would start right away because a team had arrived shortly after him. But how in the world he managed to convince both Ray and Deana and Meredith and Gretchen to quit when the next team hadn't arrived? I'll never know.

Voldemort? You've got nothing on the Jedi mindtricks and mental magic of Rob Mariano.

Lynn and Alex come in first. Yea! But why didn't the boys get a trip?!

That's it for today, everyone.

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