Amazing Race 15: Episode 6

By Daron Aldridge

November 3, 2009

Best friends = closeted couple. And it's clear which one has hand in the relationship.

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Flight Time forces down the herring and the Globetrotters make it to the pit stop as number three. Matt and Gary are still doing the Game but let's be honest, the battle for last place is between the girls and Brian and Ericka. Brian and Ericka finally realize they missed the bikes and the breakdown commences. Ericka goes on and on about her feet killing her and she doesn't want to hear that Brian is also in pain. This back and forth continues for the rest of their power walk.

Tiffany is still able to muster up the strength to get close to ringing the bell but Maria feebly hits it every time. Seriously, some of her tries barely make it a couple of feet. I stick back my earlier assertion that Maria is dead weight for Tiffany on this race. After 71 attempts, the girls head back to the golf.

Matt and Gary are checked in as number four. Ericka has calmed down as they approach the Dance. Brian rings the bell in 70 fewer attempts than the girls. It would be easy to say that this Detour was stacked against the girls here but I would argue that not only was Tiffany very close on multiple hits, the Game option was more about precision and less about strength as demonstrated by Meghan once she got the hang of how to hit the ball. The Amazing Race has consistently made one of the Detour options that didn't rely solely on strength. I think this is still case here with this Detour as well.

Brian and Ericka pick up on the dance lessons easily and all seems well with the couple. He says the Dance helps relax them and bring them back down to Earth. Two devoured herrings later and a pair of borrowed bikes from a local man, Brian and Ericka head to Phil. As she hobbles to the mat, Ericka admits that this leg was rough for her and declares, "This was not my finest hour." With that, Ericka gets credit for the episode's title. While it's not the funny, punny or pithy quote they typically use, it perfectly summarizes both their and the girls' performance this time.




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Phil lets them know that they are the fifth team to arrive but because of the bike error at the Detour they get a 30-minute penalty. That is the rotten cherry on top of a dirt sundae for these guys, who can just now sit and wait.

Because Maria and Tiffany are fatigued, beaten by the wind and haven't made it off the first hole, Ericka and Brian make it through their penalty and are officially checked in as number five. Since the only thing saving the girls is this being a non-elimination leg, we cut back to Maria and Tiffany shivering in field. Despite being told that they must complete the Detour in their Holland underwear, Tiffany is conspicuously wearing a jacket now. The girls finally fold, which means that Phil shows up on the course to confirm they are quitting the game. Maria credits Tiffany for getting them this far in the race and she couldn't have done it without her. I agree 100 percent, Maria. You benefited from getting a non-elimination on the first leg, having a teammate in Tiffany who performed all the tasks and Zev and Justin's bad luck.

Fittingly, the field visit from Phil reminds me of the Roadblock with the bales of hay that was the undoing for the Mormon sisters from a few seasons ago. I say ‘fittingly' because the previews show that the teams will face that very challenge next week. We are reminded that the sisters were at the challenge for eight hours. I can't wait to see how it shakes out this time.


Continued:       1       2       3       4       5

     


 
 

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