The Amazing Race Recap

Dumb Did Us In (but not the way the sore losers mean)

By Daron Aldridge

April 13, 2010

I was rooting for the bombs in this scene. Sadly, they lived.

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"Dumb did us in." – A quote that could feasibly be stated by any of this season's teams but this time around it is Brandy and Carol

The contestant of questionable sobriety and his daughter got eliminated last week after finishing first the previous leg. Will the same fate await the cowboys? Let's see.

Phil reminds us that cowboys Jet and Cord had an Amazing Race first last leg by jumping from last place, performing the Speed Bump and reaching the Malaysian pitstop in first place. They leave at 10:02 a.m. for Singapore via the lead-killing combination of bus and train. When they arrive they have to find a fellow named Allen Wu at a concert hall. Who is Wu? Why, he's the host of The Amazing Race: Asia, of course. The producers won't just let The Biggest Loser franchise have the monopoly on cross-promoting international spinoffs.

Dating couple (and arch-enemies of Team South Carolina) Brandy and Carol are next to leave at 10:12 a.m. and fill in the audience that the clue warns of a U-Turn ahead. Team Super Fuzz of Michael and Louie leave at 10:31 a.m.

Fortunately for Jet and Cord, they get on the first bus out of town and are the only team there. The public transportation equalizer didn't get them yet. South Carolina's Brent and Caite rip open their clue at 10:50 a.m. and she gleefully wishes that any of the other teams will get to the U-Turn before the "mean lesbians," so they can be punished for making fun of her and Brent's presumed (and occasionally proven) lack of intelligence. The U-Turn will require the chosen team to perform both of the Detour tasks at that point in the race.

Brandy and Carol hop on the next bus all by themselves about ten minutes before the last team of brothers Dan and Jordan leave the mat at 11:09 a.m. During their interview, the brothers declare that they don't intend to "throw elbows" or rub people the wrong way, including using a U-Turn, because look what happened to Joe and Heidi. But then Jordan throws in the escape clause of "unless it's make or break for us." At least he's being honest. It really bothers me when teams on this show get all riled up when others use the U-Turn and say they are playing dirty. If I'm ever on the show, I give everyone permission to slap me if I make such an ignorant statement should I be a U-Turn recipient.

The remaining three teams get on the next and final bus together and Dan goes fishing for information. He directly asks who they are the most concerned about for the U-Turn. Michael offers up the rationale that the girls are the most well-traveled of the teams left and Jordan correctly points out that they have yet to come in first, though. Caite, full of spite, declares that she is "100 percent U-Turning the lesbians" if they get there first. Humorously and as an attempt to make Caite defensive, Jordan asks, "Why? Because they're lesbians?" This leads to her normal chorus of "They are so mean to me all the time." The brothers see right through the excuses and understand that they are only targeting them for punishment because they don't like them. I believe that Dan was just trying to gauge the situation and see if possibly they were in the other teams' sights.

Kuala Lumpur sucks the wind out of the cowboys' lead with the news that the next train isn't until 9:30 p.m. All the teams get to settle down for a nice overnight train ride together. A few shots of the disinfecting wipes they use to clean their bunks on the train go a long way to making me not want to have this as a future vacation destination.

While the teams are waiting to disembark the train, Brandy and Carol try to nudge their way through to the next car, so they aren't at the back of this pack. With a retort that he has likely been rehearsing in his head, Brent says, "Ladies get their way; bitches don't." Zing. There is so much disdain between these teams that as much as I would love to be on this race, they have successfully made me thankful that I was nowhere near that epicenter of tension.

Michael and Louie get a cab first to go to the concert hall with Brandy and Carol, the brothers, Brent and Caite and the cowboys getting taxis in that order.

Super Fuzz and the girls get there first and immediately run inside of the hall, whereas Dan and Jordan correctly search the grounds outside the location. Bingo, they get their clue first. Not only is there a U-Turn on this leg but apparently the one and only Fast Forward is on this leg as well.

This particular task of riding the Singapore Flyer (a giant Ferris wheel) and crawling from one car to the next at its highest point. This will let the team bypass every other challenge and check in at the pitstop. Jordan and Dan go the Fast Forward because they feel confident that no one else has their clue yet.



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As expected, Brent and Caite get to the concert hall and follow the other teams that are wandering the halls of the building. Jet and Cord show up and quickly come across Allen Wu just as Michael and Louie are also back outside and getting their clue.

A quick side note: Surprisingly, aside from the teams ignorantly telling Thai taxi and bus drivers to "vamanos" or "rapido," there has been a void of any "ugly American" moments on this race, which is a nice change of pace. In fact, either Jet or Cord always seems to take the time to shake the hand of every person that hands them a clue. Mama must be proud.

Time for a Detour: Pounding the Drums or Pounding the Pavement. For Drums, they have to learn a complex drum routine from a young drummer and perform it on a stage in a park. For Pavement, they have to pick up supplies to sell 25 ice cream sandwiches with a street vendor. As an unsettling but irrelevant aside, Phil informs us that an ice cream sandwich in Singapore is actually a block of ice cream between wafers or wrapped in a slide of bread. I think I will be haunted by the imagined taste of this delicacy.

Given my lack of rhythm and self-awareness about this deficiency, I would opt for Pavement. After all, I am the guy that was called out over the loud speaker for clapping off beat by the "toy soldier" emcee during the Pixar parade at Disney's Hollywood Studios. It was only extremely embarrassing.

The cowboys and Super Fuzz head for the Drums with South Carolina and Brandy and Carol not too far behind. Everyone is so focused on the race and probably the anticipated U-Turn that they don't seem to notice that Dan and Jordan aren't around.

Cord shows he is the weak percussion link on this team and Caite decides that shaking her rump helps her keep the beat. Wreckx-n-Effect must be proud.

Michael and Louie quickly realize that there isn't a chance for them to do the Drums correctly, so they head to the Fast Forward. They assume the brothers opted for the Pavement task. Unfortunately for cops, their gamble didn't pan out as Dan and Jordan are already geared up and heading to the top of the Ferris wheel. It's off to sell ice cream for Super Fuzz (after their cabbie returns from his own pitstop).

As he climbs out to start the task, Dan jokingly tells a frightened Jordan, "Hey, if you fall and die, I love you." That is the kind of encouragement that I would expect from my brother. These two have been nice complements to each others' personality in these latest legs. They get their clue and head to the pitstop.

The remaining teams at Drums all have a person who is getting increasingly more frustrated by their inability with the drum routine. Carol and Brent want to switch tasks and Cord just wants Jet to stop talking so he can concentrate.


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