The Amazing Race Recap
By Daron Aldridge
October 18, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Speaking of how teams have done up to this point, let’s look at my unabashedly nonobjective power rankings, from great to not-so-great racing:
Team Dude Andy & Tommy: A few seasons back Meghan & Cheyne started early raking in the first place finishes and took home the big one at the end. These snowboarders are poised to repeat that type of performance, all the while keeping it fun but racing smart. They even try to throw a strategic bone to Amani & Marcus to ensure the married couple wouldn’t be eliminated. Their intel didn’t help out but it was proof that these dudes are looking beyond just the task in front of them.
Team Test Drive dating couple Jeremy& Sandy: Here’s a team that I pegged wrong and am surprised they are racing calm and quite well. He initially seemed like a tool with a short fuse and as a result, I thought there would be fireworks and drama, but that hasn’t proven to be the case yet. They’ve worked well together so far. An error by our second place team is the primary reason I am placing the couple ahead of…
Team Regatta Laurence & Zac: At the end of the second leg, I rightfully praised them as being one of our three teams who read the additional orphanage clue. They repaid my compliment by NOT reading their Detour clue correctly. With a minor time penalty, it wasn’t their finest hour but they still appear to have the drive and competitive experience to make it to the end.
(tie) Married Amani & Marcus and engaged Ernie & Cindy: The soon-to-be wed racers have been keeping near the top and the husband and wife duo dodged a bullet last week. I think that are evenly matched but Marcus’s NFL experience has more significance than their experience with a lost cabbie. Despite their cabbie issue, Amani & Marcus went from last to sixth during the last leg. These two teams are interchangeable in 4th and 5th places.
Squabbling siblings Justin & Jennifer: The fourth place third leg means little to me when there is still another team-hindering factor – years of not being able to stand each other. The train depot meltdown incident on leg two, I think, was the tip of the iceberg. Given time, they will be their own worst enemies.
(tie) Twins Liz & Marie and grandparents Bill & Cathi: These two are the bottom of the barrel to me because of how tight the race is shaping up to be this season. With so many challenges already placing the majority of teams nicely clumped together, these are the two teams that I see being squeezed out for elimination. Bill & Cathi (or Ma & Pa, as the others have lovingly named them) will be doomed if it comes down to a footrace and Liz & Marie will be gone if a task is too mentally challenging. Either way, one of these two should be the next sent packing.
Enough with my theorizing; let’s see if they prove me right or wrong as we start the fourth leg of the Amazing Race.
But first, the Phil-ography lesson this week is that Indonesia has more active volcanoes than any other nation in the world. Okay, kids, that fulfills the requirement to allow CBS to place The Amazing Race in the “Education” category on the DVR.
In the pole position at the temple Pitstop is Team Dude, who leave at 8:17 a.m. and are thirsty for an outright win that isn’t the result of a time penalty. They actually express some remorse that they got the win because Laurence really got them through the Roadblock. Just 11 minutes later, the father/son sailors leave.
With news that there are no direct flights to their destination city of Phuket, Thailand, both teams opt for one to Jakarta that leaves at 9:40 a.m. Curiously, they decide to just seek out the connecting flight to Phuket after they land.
To address the elephant in the room, go ahead and get it out of your system by giggling at the name Phuket. Yes, it can easily be mispronounced as to complete a ‘There once was a man from Nantucket’ limerick. Yes, I am not above laughing every time heavily accented Laurence says the name with just enough finesse that the censor’s nerves are bound to be shot. Hehehe…Phuket…never gets old. Sorry, back to the race.
With Team Test Drive Jeremy & Sandy standing on the mat, any possibility that our leaders would have air companions goes away when we see that this third place team leaves at 9:40 a.m. As the remaining teams three through eight leave we see just how tight the last leg was. The twins are the last ones and they leave just after 10 a.m. That’s less than half-an-hour difference between third and eighth.
The gaggle of teams that converge on the Air Asia ticket counter get the news that they will have to connect through Jakarta but all those teams also book their connection to Phuket that lands at 6:50 p.m. Not looking good for my frontrunners.
And such naysaying is justified. Team Dude Andy & Tommy and Laurence & Zac are disheartened to hear that the earliest connection (which, unbeknownst to them, carries all the other teams) is booked. So now they get to take another connection through Bangkok, which puts them in Thailand at 7:40 p.m., and no longer in the lead. This leg alone, these two teams have just about as many connections as your average Southwest Airlines frequent flyer.
The winners of the mad taxi scramble in Phuket for the first flight is Ma & Pa. Bill & Cathi scored the most aggressive driver at the cab stand who blows past three sets of teams en route to the route marker on floating pier.
Their obliviousness to their placement is about to be shattered as Andy & Tommy and Laurence & Zac land in Thailand. The helpful taxi dispatcher at the cab stand confidently says she knows where they are headed because the others came through an hour ago. Cue the losing Price is Right music as we go to commercial.
Since all the teams hit the marina in the evening after it closed, the group is perplexed as to where the guys could be. Not too long after, both of them show up. Their sense of defeat is short-lived, though, because the next morning the teams aren’t in the order they arrive but rather queued up like race horses waiting for the rope to drop.
Their destination: A barrel with the clues at the end of a very long floating pier. Tommy shoots out front and Team Dude is back in the lead. So much for that extra stop in Bangkok. Man, Bangkok AND Phuket in one episode…this leg is making it hard for me to stay PG.
The clue is this leg’s Detour. Phil brings down the mood several sobering notches by reminding us that this city was the site of the devastating tsunami in 2004 and the Detour is designed with community-benefiting activities in mind. It’s either Coral Reconstruction or Beach Preparation. For Coral, the teams have to assemble a PVC pipe structure, load it on a canoe and then take it underwater. Finally, they must place coral into the structure to get their clue. For Beach, the teams have to locate ten umbrellas and 20 chairs with a matching symbol and then set them up on the beach to get the clue. Both tasks look physically demanding but if any team member has an aversion to swimming, the choice is clear.
Andy & Tommy blaze a trail for the others by choosing Coral. The only teams to opt for Beach are the twins and engaged Ernie & Cindy. Of course, that is the initial plan for teams but once again, Laurence & Zac overlook a detail (the very obvious signpost pointing to each Detour option) and end up on the opposite side of the beach at the Beach Preparation task. They decide to just try it since they are there. I am becoming more and more convinced that the only way these guys knew about the orphanage donation sign on the second leg is because Team Dude told them (a la how they tried to help Amani & Marcus on the previous Roadblock).
Speaking of Andy & Tommy, they are making short work of the Coral Reconstruction and are in the front. Even though others seem to be keeping pace with them, once in the water, Andy & Tommy separate from the pack. Their surfing background is invaluable to controlling their equipment and understanding that the current could quickly move them off target. As siblings Justin & Jennifer and Team Test Drive struggle and bicker, the snowboarders are back ashore with their clue, which is a compass and medallion.
As a nice contrast to Jeremy & Sandy, married couple Amani & Marcus is pleasantly supportive of each other when something goes wrong. This is why I want them to stick around. They actually serve as a positive example of how a couple can work together.
On the Beach, the twins are sweating it and unsuccessfully finding their beach equipment. Ernie & Cindy and Laurence & Zac are making some solid headway on their Detour, though. Team Regatta’s directional misstep has been a blessing for them as one-by-one the Coral teams come back in and switch tasks. Aside from Team Dude, siblings Justin & Jennifer are the only ones to finish that task.
Marcus is particularly winded from his Coral attempt, which is surprising considering he is a retired NFL player. Sadly for the teams switching tasks, the wind that was causing the currents and waves is going to wreck havoc on their umbrella setup.
Andy & Tommy’s boat arrives at the Soap Islands that are depicted on the medallion and they get their Roadblock clue. Andy chooses to do it and it appears to be a doozy: The team member has to climb a vertical side of an island to a bird’s nest that has their clue. With this Roadblock and Detour, Phuket, Thailand, may be the most physically demanding leg of the season. This type of challenge reminds me that if I ever want to be on the Race, I need a team member that has the strength to do these types of challenges as well as carry me through each leg.
Meanwhile, on the Beach, Laurence & Zac have a nice groove going, Ernie & Cindy and Amani & Marcus are making progress, and Sandy has opted for the unconventional choice of helping twins Liz & Marie get their umbrellas to stay. Of course, she is doing this as Jeremy (you know, her ACTUAL team mate) is correcting Sandy’s misplacement of the chairs.
By now, Justin & Jennifer are at the Roadblock clue and Jennifer chooses to do it. She doesn’t give off a particularly "strong" vibe to me, especially since she let Justin do all the swimming and work on the Coral task. We’ll see shortly how it will work out for them.
Andy climbs that rock wall with amazing ease and gets the clue pointing them to the next Pitstop, which is located on a floating village. Team Dude gets out of there before the siblings arrive. Jennifer proves me wrong in two regards: She doesn’t have any problem with the Roadblock and that the task doesn’t appear as physically demanding as I assumed.
The teams on Beach have finally made headway with their Detour. Ernie & Cindy are the first team to finish the Beach task with Laurence & Zac right behind them. After getting their clue next, Marcus gives the twins a tip on getting the umbrellas to stay in place. The girls aren’t alone though; Ma & Pa are still working the task, albeit very slowly.
To the surprise of no one, for the third straight leg, Team Dude Andy & Tommy hit the mat in first place and get rewarded with an additional $5,000 each, which Andy exclaims, “We get to bring our wives on the trips we won.” Phil is 100% correct in this assessment of their leg: “You guys absolutely smoked this course.”
Right behind them is a team I didn’t think could pull out a second place finish with such a wide margin: siblings Justin & Jennifer.
Instead of using the compass provided to ensure they are heading 13 minutes north, Ernie & Cindy are cruising around the Andaman Sea, while Laurence & Zac get their Roadblock clue. Finally, grandparents Bill & Cathi finish the Detour and leave the twins lost in a cluster of overturned umbrellas. Cathi joins Marcus and Sandy in helping the girls with a suggestion to use a shell to dig the holes deeper.
Is it just me or are Liz & Marie the Amazing Race charity case team this season? Are they that inept where the others feel so sorry for them that they risk their own standing in the race by offering help? No, it’s not just me and yes, they are THAT inept.
Zac quickly climbs the Roadblock and gets their clue, while Amani reads the clue and gives Marcus a breather by choosing to do it. On the less supportive side, Sandy immediately volunteers Jeremy for the Roadblock for their team.
Ernie & Cindy are fruitlessly searching for anything that resembles race flag colors, but since they are stuck out in open water, which means randomly pointing out the very few boats out there. They have yet to realize that the medallion is their destination.
The twins explode with anger after noticing that their chairs are misaligned but after three hours of beach work, it is pretty justified. They are the last ones to get out of the Detour.
Amani has overcome some trepidation with the rock climbing height and stays just ahead of Jeremy, who has no issue at all with this Roadblock.
Laurance & Zac’s sailing expertise is their albatross at this point. They overthink the clue beyond merely pointing the driver where they should go. Instead they begin dissecting the map to navigate. They are quickly slipping out of third place.
Pa decides to do the Roadblock and it once again proves to be a simpler task than I expected.
Fueled by animosity, Team Test Drive Jeremy & Sandy hit the mat as team number three. They are still on the mat as Laurence & Zac are checked in as number four. Amani & Marcus don’t see the signs pointing them to the floating stadium, so they slip from third team to get to the village to the sixth team to hit the Pitstop, right after Ernie & Cindy.
The race for last is anticlimactic with the twins so far behind they can only hope for a non-elimination. As expected, Ma & Pa are number seven and the girls are last. Any prayers they may have said paid off as they are spared elimination. That makes two non-eliminations this season that spared undeserving and underperforming teams.
Time for a late-breaking correction: I rescind my power ranking statements about Jeremy. He proved this week that he is still a tool with a short fuse and he & Sandy were the primary arguers this episode.
Well, I will say my own little prayer that this week goes by fast and we get a proper elimination next week when the teams take on Bangkok.