Amazing Race 15: Episode 4
By Daron Aldridge
October 20, 2009
BoxOfficeProphets.com
With one very likable team out of the race because of a lost passport, we start this week still a bit bummed but the extreme heat and indoor snow of Dubai should be fun. Let's begin.
With Justin and Zev disqualified, brothers Sam and Dan are in the pole position but they acknowledge that the next time they want to earn the honor of being first place and not get it on a technicality. Hey, fellas, a win is a win.
Those sneaky devils of the Amazing Race throw a bit a curve at the team with the departure clue telling them to fly to the Persian Gulf and find the world's tallest building. While it's not like asking them to solve Pi to 30 places, it's at least more challenging that just giving them the destination city.
Sam and Dan head to the airport with our good friends the Globetrotters, Flight Time and Big Easy, leaving just a few minutes later and trying their luck at booking on the Internet. No such luck for them but Flight does know that their destination city is Dubai in the UAE.
Next, Mr. and Miss America Brian and Ericka depart and go to the airport. Ericka also assures Brian that they need to be heading to Dubai. Brian explains his race strategy as "This is a big game of karma. So we are just being nice to everyone." Let's see how that pans out for him.
Father and son duo of Gary and Matt are next and followed by new couple Meghan and Cheyne.
At the airport, Sam and Dan are the first ones there and actually ask the ticket agent for a ticket to the Persian Gulf. Finally, one of the brothers (I'm honestly not sure which one, so I'll say...Dan), says, "Wait that's not even a country." Really, Dan? You don't say. Once Brian and Ericka arrive, Brian's crusade of karmic goodwill is under way with him telling the brothers that Dubai is where they need to go.
Lance and Keri leave the pit stop and head to use the Internet also. Keri proudly says that "We love each other and nothing is going to change that." Ever the romantic, Lance jokes, "Plus we have a ton of nonrefundable deposits on the wedding and I am not going to miss out on that." They soon learn the Globetrotters' lesson of not being able to book online.
Upon reading the clue about finding the world's tallest building, Mika of Christian country team Mika and Canaan begins to stress about this because she is deathly afraid of heights.
Gamblers Tiffany and Maria are the last team to depart thanks to the misfortune of Zev and Justin. The girls acknowledge that they are extremely lucky but they think they can be contenders. That's strange because I think that in order to be a "contender" you might not want to be the last team to arrive and be spared because its nonelimination or because another team is disqualified. I'm just saying.
All the teams are on the same flight to Dubai, which means we are in store for taxi cab roulette in Dubai and see who gets a cabbie who actually knows his way around the city. One by one the teams arrive at the sign-in sheet for the tower. The first group of four teams that get to go to the top of said world's tallest building at 5:30 a.m. the next morning includes the girls, Brian and Ericka, the brothers and Meghan and Cheyne.
That leaves Canaan and Mika, Lance and Keri, the Globetrotters and Matt and Gary only 15 minutes behind in group two.
At the tower, the clue directs them to a parking garage and to drive themselves to the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve. But wait, there's more. The only Fast Forward on the race is on this leg and requires the team to go to a car racing track and complete a lap in 45 seconds or less. Meghan and Cheyne not-so-secretively say they are going to try the Fast Forward. Brother Dan then uses some faulty race logic in my mind. He says, "Two teams going to fast forward would be a huge risk." Yes, it is but is also could be a HUGE benefit. These teams are neck and neck and there is nothing that guarantees that just because Meghan and Cheyne said they were going to it that they will get there first. They basically just handed them the free pass this leg.
All of the teams in the second group get to the cars with ease, except Lance and Keri, who go off on their own and get lost in the parking garage. This leg, Lance doesn't seem like the aggressive guy who dismantled a VCR with his bare hands in Vietnam. He actually seems a bit whiny and beat down. Lance and Keri finally get to their car and are very much bringing up the rear.
At the Fast Forward, Cheyne is the one who gets to race the car but for some reason, Meghan also dons a racing suit. This seems wholly unnecessary.
The brothers, the girls and the self-dubbed team Jungle Fever of Brian and Ericka get to the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve and race off in their 4x4 shuttles.
Aimlessly driving the streets of Dubai, Mika and Canaan openly hope that another team also got lost. Cue the footage of Lance and Keri equally as lost, plus bickering with one another. Good times.
At the desert reserve, it's Roadblock time. They must choose the teammate "who thinks they can beat the desert heat." In the scorching 120+ degree temperatures, that person must search through urns buried in the desert for enough water to turn over to a man and his camel for the next clue.
I hope you are ready for awkward, racially tinged reference of the week. Brian says he is doing the Roadblock because...wait for it...chocolate melts in the sun, so Ericka can't. Finding that reference each week is just as much fun as seeing who gives us the episode title name.
Tiffany and Dan are the Roadblock representatives for their respective teams and all three of them begin wandering the desert with no luck in finding water. Soon, the Globetrotters and Matt and Gary arrive with Big Easy and Matt on Roadblock duty.
So how far behind are Lance and Keri? We can only guess the answer is "very far" because they are still in the city. It seems that no matter how leveled the playing field is by flights and operating hours, Lance and Keri can find away to give back a lead to the other teams. I have a feeling that this lion is endangered this leg.
Back to the Fast Forward, Cheyne completes the challenge on his first try in about 40 seconds. And befitting of someone in a racing getup, he happily says, "I'm like Ricky Bobby, I like to drive fast." Cheyne and Meghan now have a title to their credit. With the Fast Forward conquered, they get to go straight to the pit stop. These two kids have a very calm and supportive relationship that seems very real and healthy. It actually reminds me of Kris and Jon from Season 6 because they were another dating couple who made it all the way to second place and I don't recall any apocalyptic blowups between them during their entire race.
Back at the Roadblock, Brian stays aboard the karma train and tells Tiffany and Dan where the water jug he found was. His Sunday School teacher would be so proud, because Brian says, "If I treat others how you want to be treated and you help them, they they'll help you down the road." It's a good thing that Brian is not on Survivor because he would be devoured by those backstabbing game players but the Race is a different beast.
With the Roadblock done, Brian and Ericka are the first out of the desert hear and heading back to the city and go to Ski Dubai, an indoor ski slope in the middle of the desert.
Tiffany and Dan help each other and get the Roadblock done with Matt finishing up right after them. Unfortunately, it appears that Big Easy really is trotting the globe as he is still searching.
I know you are shocked but Mika and Canaan are still lost but at least pull on the side of the road because Mika thinks she saw another team pass by there. With that, Brian and Ericka continue their benevolent streak and Brian tells them where the Roadblock is. Brian points out, "I may be nice but I am not dumb and this game is all about karma. If you scratch their back then they'll scratch yours." Dang, he is an idiom/proverb quoting machine. First Jesus' golden rule now this clichéd gem. Ericka freely admits that Brian is "way way nicer" than she is and "I can pull the claws out when I need to." I can't wait to see that Ericka show up later in the race.
Thanks to Brian, Mika and Canaan arrive and Lance and Keri are getting close. Lance puts his own happy thoughts out in the universe with, "Maybe we are due some fortunate luck and something good will happen." Cut to the brothers and the girls racing to their cars. With the back of her car blocked, Maria drives forward and runs over something...whoops, the radiator is now broken. Hello, Creative Editing. I've missed you. Lance asks and he has received, or so we think.
Because Tiffany let Dan use her ladle (not being euphemistic) during the Roadblock, the brothers continue to honor the alliance and decide to wait for the girls to get another car to ensure they are all right. Meanwhile, Matt and Gary bolt the Roadblock ahead of this hapless alliance. The teams are coming across a bit too nice this leg but that might just be me.
Finally, Easy finds the water and the Globetrotters are done. Canaan is the selected party from his team to brave the desert heat of the Roadblock. Suspiciously, the girls' replacement car arrives quickly. Then Maria competes with Ericka with her own unfortunate racial remark by saying that her excuse for wrecking the car is because she is "an Asian female driver." I feel wrong even repeating this phrase. This season has become a mixed bag of overly kind teams and individuals who are putting the "race" in The Amazing Race.
Let's check in with our prodigal Street Lawyer and his intended. Lance and Keri are still cruising the highways of Dubai and don't seem any closer to the Roadblock. This miserable performance is compounded by the fact that Meghan and Cheyne have now checked into the pit stop as team number one. That could have been you Sam and Dan, if you didn't just roll over and die.
Lance and Keri finally arrive and Lance takes off in the desert for his team. As expected, Canaan and Lance are the last ones there.
Matt and Gary are the first to reach Ski Dubai, which is the locale for this leg's Detour. The choices are Build a Snowman or Find a Snowman. For Build, they have to gather enough snow to build a snowman, complete with coal eyes and carrot nose. The catch is they have to build in the 100+ degree heat before it melts. For Find, they take a ski lift up and sled down the hill to a mound of snow. Then, they have to dig in the mounds to find a small stuffed snowman toy, then give it to a dancing costumed polar bear for the clue. They have really ratcheted up the cheese factor with this one.
Matt and Gary set the precedent and go with Find. Once again, Matt declares that this detour is nothing for him because he snowboards in his boxers every winter. Who knew that the ultimate Amazing Race prep work was simply growing up in rural Montana?
From cold back to the hot, Canaan finishes and he and Mika are on their way to the Detour. And back again, the girls, brothers, and Brian and Ericka all arrive and choose Find.
Even though she isn't the one who said it, I am thinking that Mika could easily claim, "I'm like Ricky Bobby." Not because of her racing ability but because of the foolish things she predictably says. Here's this week's priceless exchange:
Mika: "Isn't it funny that you can drive 120 mph here and it feels like you're only going 60."
Canaan (speaking for us and himself): "It's 120 kilometers per hour, so it IS only about 60."
Mika: "Oh, I thought we were going fast."
Instead of saying it in each recap, I will just issue a blanket "I'm sorry, Tennessee, that you are represented here by Mika. But Ericka also hails for your state and she's pretty sharp. So that's a wash, right?"
As his own best cheer section, Lance talks himself through the heat and finally finishes the Roadblock. Easy and Flight get to Ski Dubai and choose Find. All the teams are working together through the mound of snow. Ericka finds the first snowman and they are off to the pit stop.
Neither Lance nor Keri wants to make a decision on directions, so expectedly they are still lost. While not in the same "lost" boat as Lance and Keri, Tiffany and Maria and Matt and Gary feel lost in the mound of snow and abandon Find for a shot at Build.
All hope is not lost for Lance and Keri because their equally directionally-challenged counterparts Mika and Canaan are still not at Ski Dubai either. Mika defends her directions with an "I'm not stupid." Canaan answers "I didn't say you are." Sorry, Mika, but I did say you are...actually two weeks in a row.
We see Phil, so it is time for another pit stop check in. It goes to Brian and Ericka as team number two.
After debating about it, Dan and Sam quit Find much later than the other two. Sam confidently declares that "If we quit this and go to Build, the Globetrotters are NOT going to be able to find this." So, of course, Flight and Easy find it about two minutes after the brothers leave. Methinks that someone...ahem...Sam...has an unrealistic sense of self-worth.
At Ski Dubai, Mika and Canaan arrive and choose Build, which is a popular choice amongst the quitters who couldn't hack it digging in the snow option.
Matt and Gary and Tiffany and Maria finish their Build with a couple of sad excuses for snowmen. Flight Time and Big Easy coast across the pit stop and end up as team number three. The brothers finish building their snowman try to catch up to the girls.
Canaan and Mika are scrambling to finish their snowman and we are showed a successive montage of teams arriving at the Pit Stop. Matt and Gary are team number four, Sam and Dan are team number five, and Tiffany and Maria are number six.
Lance and Keri are making progress with the Build game. There is not a lot of tension this episode as it becomes cruelly clear that Lance and Keri were at risk big-time this leg, starting with the missed car pickup in the parking garage. The lack of suspense means that Mika and Canaan are team number seven.
Keri sums up their performance this leg, "It was amazing how bad we did today." Unsurprisingly, they are eliminated. Strangely, Lance and Keri have a much more mature acceptance of their differences in their relationship than what we saw on the race. Maybe they aren't such a doomed match?
I am hoping that the drama that Lance and Keri brought with them with be transferred over to another team because the kinder, gentler, karma-fearing, friendly alliance-keeping race might be good for the contestants but I question whether or not it will entertain the viewer.
Next week, the drama rears its head in the form of Mika's fear of heights and water. Amazing Race seems to have taken a page from Fear Factor. Canaan sums up the situation, "We're gonna lose the race because you are afraid of a water slide." Next week should be good times for everyone but Mika.