Sunday, October 05, 2008

Amazing Race update – What we have here is a failure to communicate

Ten teams start out from Salvador, Brazil and need to head to Portaleza, Brazil and the next clue. Last week's winners Nick and Starr kick off this leg of the race. Terence (of Terence and Sarah) hits his head on the cab and reveals himself to be a total crybaby; he actually asked his girlfriend to "blow on my head." This team has abruptly catapulted into the lead of the teams I want to see eliminated. There's some tension at the gate while everybody is bunched up, waiting for the same flight.

Once at Portaleza, Brazil (where they still speak Portuguese) a blonde is urging her taxi driver "Rapido, por favor!" At the clue, teams find they have to take dune buggies across the beach for the next clue. This next stop is the Detour: Beach It or Docket. Teams may move a sailboat a hundred yards over sand to an inlet, or in a less-strenuous task, find a shipping container in a huge shipyard. Everybody chooses the beach task except for the nerds Mark & Bill who promptly find the shipping container. Anthony & Stephanie are bringing up the rear. Terence & Sarah finish their sailboat task first but walk right by the taxi stand. The divorcees Kelly & Christy are confused: they start looking for the "container" from the Docket detour after they complete the Beach It task.

At the next stop, it's the Roadblock: one team member must look down a long wall with advertisements for a list of potential destinations and give the name to a painter who will give a clue if correct. One of the nerds simply copies down all the places and recites them to the painter until he hands over an envelope.

The Ditzy Divorcees Kelly & Christy are comedy gold, the Lucy and Ethel of this Race. They're angry and embarrassed they didn't read the clue at the Detour and wasted time looking for a container that had nothing to do with their task. So on the way to the Roadblock, they're reminding each other to "read the clue, read the clue." Lo and behold, they get to the Roadblock where the clue instructs them to make their taxi wait until they complete the task. They don't, and their taxi drives away. And although they're the third team to complete the Roadblock they have no way of getting to the Pit Stop. Eventually they find their cab, which was waiting nearby, and head out.

At the Roadblock, Nick tells one of the frat boys he'll share the answer if he finds the right answer. Instead, he gets his clue and books from the Roadblock; in a subsequent interview, Nick is unrepentant. We know how Karma feels about maneuvers like this. The lethargic Anthony is last to find the answer and he and Stephanie are eliminated at the mat.

Final standings (with tentative team nicknames!):

Team Infidelity - Ken & Tina – Prize: off-road vehicles
Team D&D - Mark & Bill
Team Co-dependency - Terence & Sarah
Team Long Distance - Aja & Ty
Team Mom/Son - Toni & Dallas
Team Perky - Nick & Starr
Team Ditzy Divorcees - Kelly & Christy
Team Bluto - Andrew & Dan
Team Twelve Oaks - Marisa & Brooke
Anthony & Stephanie – PHILIMINATED

Next week: Teams are suffering from altitude sickness, so I'm guessing La Paz, Bolivia is the next destination.

No comments: