The Amazing Race Recap
By Stephanie DeGateo
November 2, 2006
BoxOfficeProphets.com
That's it. There is nothing more substantial to report from a race perspective. But there were so many annoying things to this leg. The first incident, and really the least consequential, was a dust up at the airport. Kandice and Dustin were in line purchasing tickets to Mauritius, when Lyn and Karlyn came in, followed by Tyler and James. For no particular reason, the beauty queens told the ticket agent that the models were with them. They did not purchase tickets for Tyler and James, and its unclear if they even reserved tickets for them (but it seems that is what occurred). Whatever they did, it set Lyn and Karlyn off. The beauty queens walked out and then Karlyn went at it with Tyler. Let's just say no one was well-served by this incident, reputation-wise.
The beauty queens were petty to start this chain of events, Karlyn overreacted and Tyler really needed to dial back his attitude towards Karlyn. Overall, it was a nasty little scene and in the end, nothing was gained by it. (A small word on the other airport scene with Kandice and Dustin � they asked the first ticket agent they encountered for the fastest flight to Mauritius, and when they were informed it was through London, they asked what country London was in. They then proceeded to insult the ticket agent by questioning his intelligence. I personally can understand the question about London � it's counterintuitive to think they needed to fly through Europe to get from the Middle East to Africa and there are other Londons in the world, outside of England. However, there attitude towards the ticket agent was a bit off-putting. Really not a nice side of them).
The second thing that annoyed me was the choice of detour tasks by the teams. The teams were faced with a choice between finding a salt shaker in mounds of salt or following a treasure map for a deserted island to find a sail for a boat. As mentioned above, only the beauty queens initially chose the treasure map task. By the end of the day, all the teams were on the island looking for sails. Why?? Because YOU NEVER CHOSE THE NEEDLE IN THE HAYSTACK TASK!!!!!!!! Seriously, these tasks always are the downfall of teams. Just ask Season 6's Lena and Kristy. This season's racers need to smarten up, and fast.
The third and most annoying thing about this leg was the racing strategy of the Six Pack (formerly the Back Pack) alliance. Here's the problem � there are six teams left in this race. It is too late to be helping other teams. There is too little time separating the teams in each of the preceding legs. In this leg, Mary and David waited for the Chos at the Mauritius airport. (The Lyns smartly took off without the rest of the alliance).
Then more incredibly, the Chos waited for Team Kentucky and Team Alabama after the swimming task, despite the fact that both those teams were weak swimmers and there was only one other team still swimming � the models who were gaining time given their physical advantage. As Tyler and James indicated, the Chos have to be doing this to take two weaker teams into the finals. Even the Chos admitted that "cynical" people probably believe that - but they state they believe an alliance of three teams will be stronger than three individual teams. Maybe if all things were equal, but they are not. You only have to compare Mary bobbing in her life jacket to Tyler's swimming to see that this strategy has some deep flaws.
Lastly, as the Six Pack alliance are the last three teams heading out of the detour task to the pit stop, Mary states that when she and David get to the pit stop area, she's going to wait for Lyn and Karlyn before heading to the mat. Now the fact that the alliance teams are following each other to the pit stop, where one of them is sure to be last is Exhibit "A" to the flaw in the strategy. More importantly, either Mary has a serious misconception about her speed (which I don't think she does) or she wants out of the race. There is no other reason to wait on a team that you need to beat in a foot race to stay in the game. It didn't come to that � David and Mary took a wrong turn, but still...Karlyn and Lyn seem to get the fact that the alliance only works at times, but Team Kentucky and the Chos don't seem to get this show. And quite honestly, it makes for a tough viewing experience.
Next leg, Mary and David are once again marked for elimination and it will be interesting to see how their alliance mates help them this time. The Chos seem like nice guys - guys you'd want to be friends with - but as TAR competitors, they need to realize that helping Team Kentucky at this point in the race will only serve to send them to sequesterville sooner than they probably deserve.