The Amazing Race Season 20 Recap
By Daron Aldridge
February 20, 2012
BoxOfficeProphets.com
We’ll see if they can play as good of a game as they can talk.
Here’s a snapshot of this season’s teams (in the order I predict they will be eliminated):
Joey ‘Fitness’ & Danny: Friends who hail from the Garden State and are proud proof of the Jersey Shore mentality.
Dave & Cherie: Married clowns who will rely on luck and others to win.
Misa & Maiya: Sisters from San Diego who are reminiscent of last season’s airheaded showgirls Kaylani & Lisa.
Brendon & Rachel: Big Brother alumni, with Rachel destined be in the Most Annoying Reality Show Contestant Hall of Fame.
Bopper & Mark: Friends from Kentucky, who wear their poor, family men personalities as a badge of courage.
Art & JJ: Friends and Border Patrol Agents with high likelihood that their playful banter will turn into full-blown anger.
Kerri & Stacy: Cousins with the motto “Double Trouble,” who came up with the notion that it's not that they hate to lose but that they love to win. I’d love to dub them “Team Glass Half Full”.
Nary & Jamie: Friends and Feds. The first impression is that Nary is the alpha and Jamie is the follower in this partnership.
Elliot & Andrew: Twins who are night and day personality-wise. Elliot is hotheaded and impulsive while Andrew is patient and even-tempered.
Rachel & Dave: Married Army pilot and wife. He is recently home from deployment and this is their chance to reconnect. I will go ahead and call them Army of Two.
Vanessa & Ralph: Dating divorcees for only a year but have known each for 15 years and they appear to have a very strong competitive streak.
There they are and there is my kneejerk reaction and predictions. If you need slightly more insight into why I picked this order, jump on over to my introductions column for this season.
It’s time for the proper kickoff of the next season of The Amazing Race. Pan over the scenic view of Santa Barbara that is apparently home to many vineyards, is a destination for cycling enthusiasts like our host Phil, and looks nothing like the Vancouver locales that double for the city on Psych (which also comes back later this month on USA…check your local listings.)
The show starts off with getting the teams’ collective heart rates up by making them follow Phil on racing cycles through the streets to the starting line. Thankfully, they are allowed to change out of their bike shorts before starting the race.
For the 20th time, Phil explains the race to the teams and the Express Pass is once again in play for the team that finishes first on this leg. Whereas Jeff Probst seems somewhat "over" repeating the same thing over and over on Survivor, Phil exudes the same enthusiasm he has since season one.
Their first clues are floating above a vineyard behind them in miniature hot air balloons. They simply have to pull them down to find the clue. The catch…there are only 11 clues amongst the 100 balloons. And GO!!!
Clearly, this task will be 100 percent luck and zero percent skill once they run to the balloons. Sadly, for our clowns, they are the slowest to get to the field and three teams already are "with clue" and heading to their cars.
The teams are prompted to fly to Santa Barbara…wait for it…Argentina. Those sneaky producers just wanted footage of the teams confused and asking “Where is Santa Barbara?” or “But we’re already in Santa Barbara.” The Phil Navigation System in their Ford Taurus directs them to the American Airlines counter at LAX. Wow two product placement name drops even before the opening credits might be a record for this show. The first six teams will get the more desirable flight that arrives first in Argentina.
By the time the credits roll all the teams but Bopper & Mark and sisters Misa & Maiya have gotten their clue. I felt that I would like Rachel & Dave (Army of Two) and it was solidified by Blond Rachel (as she will be called) describing Big Brother’s Rachel’s (or Bad Rachel…I just can’t pass a chance to make a negative comment about her) choice of a green, sequined tank top as looking like “Shamrock” from Rainbow Brite. I assume that Good Rachel is referring to "Patty O’Green" and I suspect that the reference was lost on hubby Dave but it still made me laugh.
Well, Bopper & Mark get their clue, effectively leaving Misa & Maiya in their wake of loud, heavily southern-accented encouragement from Bopper. This could/will get old quick. Even his best friend Mark is telling him to tone it down. Too bad Mark isn’t able to keep down his lunch thanks to motion sickness from riding in the back seat. That could definitely be a detriment on this race. It’s humorous that Bopper knows that Mark will get sick in the back seat but still insists on driving. That’s what friends are for.
The sisters have apparently lost track of what balloons they have searched and the onscreen prompt updates us on the fact that they are been searching almost an hour and 45 minutes.
On the first flight that will land two and half hours before the other one are twins Elliot & Andrew, Team Border Patrol Art & JJ, Army of Two Blond Rachel & Dave, Big Brother Brendon & Bad Rachel, Feds Nary & Jamie and dating divorcees Vanessa & Ralph. Once in Buenos Aires, they will connect on a flight to Salta and then drive to the town of Santa Barbara.
The first batch of teams gets their clue and is heading to another airport but this time for a challenge and not travel.
As the second flight lands, clowns Dave & Cherie are differentiating themselves from their competition by falling way behind early in the race and Cherie quickly breaks down. The name of this episode is “Tears of a Clown” and I suspect there will be even more such tears shed before the hour is up.
At the first Roadblock, the producers throw the teams a curve. They see that it is a hangar and it’s easy to assume that the person doing the Roadblock will be jumping from a plane. So, they pick the person but then the clue turns the tables on them. The person doing the Roadblock will actually have to navigate to the “X” that their skydiving teammate will be waiting at following a 10,000-foot jump.
Bring on the meltdowns.
The people jumping are JJ for Team Border Patrol, Vanessa, both Rachels, Nary and Elliot. Surprisingly, the biggest chicken of the bunch is JJ who declares that it goes against the laws of nature, which it kinda does. But Vanessa wins the most vivid description: “My uterus is in my throat.” Well, alrighty then.
All the teams from the second flight have their clue pointing them to the jump hangar and Stacy of the cousins’ team positions herself for supreme disappointment by declaring an extreme fear of flying. This is probably what the producers had hoped for. Misa, Joey, Stacy, Mark, and Dave are the jumpers and Maiya, Danny, Kerri, Bopper and Cherie are the searchers.
There is significantly more trepidation by this airship of fools than the previous two. Danny of the Jersey Shore Duo is having troubles of his own because he can’t drive a stick shift car. Therefore, his few miles to the landing spot will take a bit longer as he will be staying in first gear.
As Art & JJ show up at the next clue, Big Brother is right behind them. Brendon turns on the charms by ordering Rachel to sprint because they have to beat Team Border Patrol. Why? Because Brendon says he is “half-Mexican and [he] hates them for a reason.”
Let’s stop for a minute. Brendon doesn’t know anything about either of these guys and their ideological views. He is solely defining them by their job (which, incidentally, is one of the reasons why Art didn’t want to tell people what they did for a living) and fueling stereotypes. Way to go, Brendon.
We are just only halfway through this first episode and I already have to offer a mea culpa for my Introductions first impressions. I never watched Big Brother and due to my ignorance, I declared that Brendon “seems like a good guy.” My bad. It’s safe to say I was wrong and I accept that…just like I accept that Brendon is ignorant and Rachel is actually been tolerable…so far.
Well, ignorant or not, Team Big Brother gets the clue first. What’s in store is a fun one…in that it’s fun because I don’t have to do it. The teams have to make 60 meat-filled empanadas and 60 cheese-filled empanadas. AND the crimping pattern to seal them shut is unique to what’s inside the empanadas. So, the teams will have to pick up on this little detail from the ladies demonstrating.
Art & JJ don’t pick up on the detail but Big Brother and Army of Two seem to be on the right path. This puts the guys behind pretty quick.
Back at the Roadblock, Bopper is the first one to make it to the “X” when his teammate lands. Meathead Danny is lost on a side road and Maiya misjudged the road, which means she has successfully stuck in car in the sand.
It’s alright that Kerri isn’t there because Stacy is *this* close to bailing on the skydive portion. The clowns have snuck past the others thanks to Cherie making it to the landing spot before their partners.
The second flight’s teams are done jumping and leave Misa alone waiting for her sister, who flagged down a couple of locals to pull her car from the ditch.
The Empanada Nazi, as she is dubbed by Art & JJ, is shooting down teams’ work left and right. Then Brendon goes back to the stereotype well and says that they are Border Patrol so she shouldn’t approve theirs.
Upon finishing the task and getting a thumbs up, the teams have to search the grounds for Phil and the mat. Army of Two Blond Rachel & Dave are the first to finish and find Phil. Therefore, they are the proud owners of the Express Pass. Right behind is the cavalcade of first plane teams hitting the mat with Team Big Brother as number two, Border Patrol as number three, Feds (and the team with the least amount of screen time) Nary & Jamie as number four, dating couple Vanessa & Ralph as number five, and twins Elliot & Andrew as number six.
This means that the second bunched up teams are starting to arrive well after the others are done. That two and half hour lead paid off for them because I don’t think the two groups even came close to running into one another.
Bopper & Mark are doing their best at making empanadas or as Bopper called them “piñatas.” Gotta love the country boys. The other three teams are on the empanada scene also, meaning that the sisters are trailing way behind. And the distance will likely increase because the girls make the rookie mistake of leaving their bags in the car. We all know that means Phil will not check them in. The only saving grace for them may be that it seems that ALL the others are struggling with the task.
Cousins Kerri & Stacy are the first ones done and are number seven. Dave & Cherie are done and beat the others to the mat as number eight or as Joey says “That was honestly one of the worst feelings…I mean…they’re freakin’ clowns.” Yes, professionally, they are, but I don’t think they are the only clowns on this race.
Bopper & Mark are the next ones done and are overjoyed to be checked in as number nine. That leaves two teams that I had little faith in to race strong as the last two teams. So I feel vindicated already about my mistaking Brendon as a good guy.
Misa & Maiya finish before Jersey Shore but recognize that they have to go back for their bags. Then in an Amazing Race first (I think), a team is within shouting distance of Phil and the mat but are too oblivious to notice. The girls walk out to a plaza area, look one way and turn around and leave the area. If they had only looked left AND right, like you learned as a child when crossing the street, they would’ve seen him.
This gives Joey & Danny just enough time to finish the task and sneak past the sisters. They are officially number ten. Dang, I was so close to correctly calling the first eliminated team but again, I like that I called that Misa & Maiya would be underperformers despite their extreme overconfidence.
The girls blame tunnel vision, which may be true, but in 20 seasons, no one else has had that happen and there have been some very competitive teams on the race.
All-in-all, I'm pretty excited about this season and they have successfully washed the bad taste of last season’s Ernie & Cindy victory from my mouth. I look forward to what the next 11 weeks of racing has in store. Until next week, have a good one.