The Amazing Race: Like James Bond Again(S22E3)

Well, that was a fun little break for me:  it was new nephew weekend, and then I was a major slacker, so expect lots of reviews starting tomorrow, when I have a day off finally.  To start...
 
SO we jump right back in with a recap of Dave’s possible race ending injury.  But first, an overview:  The teams fly out to Christchurch, New Zealand(Phil’s hometown) where the boat out to the detour, a choice between fishing and vintage racecar driving.  The car thing was a bit of a trick, since both team members had to finish a course with a combined time of 83 seconds.  The teams then went to a hillside to participate in a messy obstacle course involving molasses and chicken feathers, ending with a dunk in a manure pond.  Lovely.  They then get to see Phil in all their stinky glory.  I bet Phil felt very lucky to smell that.
 
Bates and Anthony left first, and still didn’t leave much of a mark in my brain, beyond being following followers who follow, all the way to the top of the wrong mountain.  Smooth, guys.
 
Dave and Connor went to the hospital to check out Dave’s ankle, and it turns out he tore both the tendon and the muscle.   They got a boot from a pharmacy, and decided to continue on.  Jessica and Jon did give them the express pass, which was used almost immediately at the detour, since Dave couldn’t drive stick, and neither of them had the patience for fishing.  Connor was able to do the obstacle course, and Dave and Connor came in first.  But will they stay in the race?
 
Jessica and Jon, beyond giving the express pass to the team that posed the least threat to them, were completely forgettable.
 
Joey and Megan were surprisingly competent in everything they did, which surprised me a bit, since I am pretty sure I still hate them.
 
Chuck and Wynona though they were so smart, they took the latest flight out of Bora Bora.  They also were the only team to take the fishing detour, which was finished competently.
 
Mona and Beth apparently were racing, but I have absolutely no recollection of that occuring.
 
Caroline and Jennifer likewise made no impression.
 
Max and Katie are still on my haaaaaaaaate list, but no new reasons this week, luckily for them.
 
Pam and Winnie managed to get into first place for all of five minutes at a bunching point, but when they actually had to navigate themselves, fell down to fifth again.  Other than that, they were another forgettable team.
 
An to end, when Dave and Connor came in first, we learned that we don’t have a pit stop this leg, and everyone is still racing.  Dun dun DUN!

Amazing Race: Loose Lips Sink Ships(S22E2)

Another week, another episode full of whiny teams.  The teams get a major bunch right at the start, when water taxis don’t run in the middle of the night, oddly enough.  They head out to another island, where the teams get a blessing from a priest before collecting scuba gear to do the detour.  The choices are create an underwater picnic with a helmet on, or find two red pearls in a large amount of oysters using swim fins and a snorkel.  The teams then got a map to head to yet another island, where they had to kick a coconut down a track on stilts for the roadblock, before making a mad dash to Phil, who is on yet another portion of the island. 

How did the teams do?  Let’s find out

Jessica and Jon left first, but were quickly gain on by all but the last two teams.  Dave and Connor tried to get the second express pass, but they held it close to their chest, at least for now.  Other than than, these two didn’t leave much of a mark

Bates and Anthony rocked this leg, and managed to come in first, but again, didn’t say anything to really stand out, either.

Dave and Connor made a major error this week-they forgot their scuba gear at the priest island, and had to go back after reaching the detour.  Other than that, they ran a solid leg, and actually managed to pick up a spot in the melee.  But Dave, on the run into the mat, thinks he ruptured his Achilles tendon.  Dun dun DUN!

Pam and Winnie were pretty whiny this leg, even as they didn’t make much of an impression.  They did manage to get completely and utterly lost after the detour, but did it affect their finishing position?

Mona and Beth were a complete and utter non-entity, beyond the fact that they were the first team to choose the picnic detour, and managed to pick up a few places.

Joey and Megan were pretty annoying again today, they were fully obnoxious in how proud of themselves they were in the detour, ‘oh, look at us and how smart we are for thinking of this technique’ that EVERY other team(except one) did too.

Chuck and Wynona were standard middle of the pack fare, though Wynona was a titch insufferable in her whining about being too old for this.  I just wonder what she thought she was getting into, if not a physically taxing game.

Idries and Jamil were fully scared of water AGAIN.  And again, I have to ask what they thought they were getting into.  Have they not seen this show, like at all?  Anyway, they do fine until they get to the detour, where their whole thing unravels.  They blather around for the better part of an hour, attempting to get clams and having to be rescued, before they finally change to the other half of the detour, and finish that relatively quickly.  But did their dithering hurt them?

Max and Katie ran a solid, if unremarkable leg.  It’s almost too bad they had that four hour penalty(beside the fact that I still HAAAAATE them), though it was cut to an hour and a half with the bunching.

Caroline and Jennifer also had a solid leg, and rocked the final challenge, but again, had a four hour penalty that made everything interesting.

Beyond the whining and bunching, this was a solid episode.  The challenges were sufficiently difficult, so that positions were not guaranteed, which was nice.  I also liked that they actually had to navigate themselves around, which always leaves room for extra drama(oh hi, Pam and Winnie!).

Lets see how everyone ended up, shall we?

Finishing Order(Average Place)

1. Bates/Anthony(1.5)

2. Dave/Connor(2.5)

3. Jessica/Jon(2.0)

4. Joey/Megan(5)

5. Chuck/Wynona(6.0)

6. Mona/Beth(5.5)

7. Caroline/Jennifer(8.5)

8. Max/Katie(8.5)

9. Pam/Winnie(6.5)

10. Idres/Jamil(9.0)-Eliminated 

Amazing Race: Business in the Front, Party in the Back(S22E1)

Yay, it’s a new season of Amazing Race, and we have all new contestants, ones no one has ever seen before!  Tons of stuff happened in this episode, let’s take a peek, shall we?

The teams started in LA, of course, because it’s not like there aren’t literally a million other places they could start.  Everyone made their way to Bora Bora to go skydiving out of a helicopter, followed shortly by a needle-in-the-haystack style roadblock that always tend to be the demise of at least one team.  The teams had to dig through hundreds of sandcastles to find their clue, rebuilding each destroyed structure as they went. The teams then had to build a canoe to paddle to the pitstop.  With eleven teams, this episode was jam-packed, with lots of personalities to go around.

Chuck and Wynona are married rednecks.  How do we know they are rednecks?  Well, the mullet is the first clue(on the man, in case you were wondering), and Chuck is also into taxidermy.  They manage to get on the first flight to Bora Bora, but are held up on the sandcastles, pulling them back a few slots.

Bates and Anthony are professional hockey playing brothers(in the blood sense).  They did crack me up in the intro, where they started in on the clichéd ‘we’re so close’ bit, but the other brother ended it with ‘each other’s sandwiches,’ so, amusing.  They didn’t have much time on screen at all though, so I’m not sure if their prospects are very good.

Mona and Beth are moms who happen to roller derby, which is fun.  Of course, they had a snafu on one of the signup sheets-missing a line but other than that, had a pretty solid leg.

Max and Katie are terrible people, and they know it.  I hate them, and was not sad they had such a terrible leg.  I’m really hoping their penalty will doom them next leg.  Oh, and according to Max, Katie’s ‘likeability factor’ is low, and her being sociable is horrifying.

Dave and Connor are father and son cancer survivors.  Son is a professional bicyclist, and that is about all we learn about them in an overstuffed leg.

Jessica and Jon are dating, and are a non-entity.  I don’t even remember them doing a single thing this leg, so maybe gone quickly, but who knows.

Idries and Jamil are twin OB/GYNs, and are kind of hilarious.  When another team asked them their professions, one of the twins first responded ‘I’m a delivery man.’  The other team calls them on those shenanigans right away, and the other twin goes, ‘okay, okay, you got us.  We’re kindergarten teachers.'  I’m not ashamed to admit, I lolled.

Pam and Winnie are Team Asian Besties, only to differentiate between the three other besties on the race.  They were yet another non-entity.  Though I did wonder if Winnie is an homage to Winnie Cooper.  She seems about the right age.

Joey and Megan are Youtubers, and I am so glad I have never run across their show before, because they annoy the living hell out of me already and they had VERY little screen time as well.  If that’s what non-internet users think all online content producers are like, then I can see why they don’t even want to try.

Matt and Daniel are firefighters, rednecks and really poor racers.

Caroline and Jennifer are country singers that I’ve never heard of, and had very little screen time as well, though what I did see of them seemed…whiney.

The first episode of a season is always fun, but so jam-packed you don’t really get a feel for many of the teams.  So far I’m on the hate train for the newlyweds and the youtubers.  Everyone else was kind of meh. 

It was interesting that the final three team came together and decided to quit the sandcastle challenge together.  I don’t think I’ve seen that kind of game-playing since Rob and Amber.

Finally, we have team placement:

1. Jessica/Jon

2. Bates/Anthony

3. Dave/Connor

4. Pam/Winnie

5. Mona/Beth

6. Joey/Megan

7. Chuck/Wynona

8. Idries/Jamil

9. Max/Katie

10. Caroline/Jennifer

11. Matt/Daniel-Eliminated

Amazing Race: Take Down that Million(S21E11)

OOOOOH, I am so frustrated right now.

We started back in Spain, and headed up to France, followed by a final leg in New York city.  But who was there? 

I’m gonna run this a bit differently thatn I normally do, but I want to keep you in suspense!

We started out with Trey and Lexi leaving first, James and Jaymes in second, Josh and Brent in third, and The Twins last.  Once they all get to France, there is a lot of trash talking between the Twins and Josh and Brent, and alliance making between all the teams but Josh and Brent. 

The Twins were bunched until the first clue, where they ran into their speedbump, which separated them from everyone else. 

That is, until they got to the detour, where they ran back into Josh and Brent.  Unfortunately, the Twins fell behind again, while Jaymes and James, and Trey and Lexi busted their behinds and got out ahead of both of them.

Josh and Brent nearly got themselves out of it again when they had navigation issues getting to the detour, and the Twins made it to the Roadblock before them.  The Twins actually managed to leave the Roadblock ahead of Josh and Brent, but had their own navigational issues, and so the Twins made it to the final pit stop in last place, and were eliminated.

Amazing Race: Not a Well Rounded Athlete (S21E10)

Well, that was a thing.  Considering we’ve only had two NEL’s, and there are only four teams left, I bet you can guess where this leg went, hmm?

Let’s get right into it, then.

Natalie and Nadiya left first, at 2:55 in the morning.  Due to a massive bunch, they were grouped with everyone once they hit Spain, but they managed to bork the whole thing up by failing at stick.  Every year, someone gets hit by the stick stick.  They did fairly well for the rest of the leg, but couldn’t make up their early fumbles, and managed to come in last(SPOILERS!)  But are they eliminated?  Finish the recap to find out, or be not surprised by my uber subtle opening paragraph.

James and Jaymes left second, and had a good leg.  They had no issues with stick, and stuck with Trey and Lexi to find the musicians in the cave.  They got lost heading to the detour, but in going to the wrogn one, they really cracked me up: “workin at Chippendales, we put on a construction outfit or two.”  “Yeah, I may have swung a Styrofoam hammer” *grins* They had to put together a windmill for Don Quixote, and got all gussied up for it and everything.  They only didn’t come in first because of…

Trey and Lexi, who left in third.  They had a very strong leg, even though Lexi got a bit whiney at the end.  A little cut on your finger is not something to go into full meltdown over, though it may be a case of killer fatigue.  They rocked the tennis challenge, and were able to pull into a lead and didn’t relinquish it.

Josh and Brent left last at 9:38 am, so only six and a half hours behind the rest of the teams.  They must have made up a lot of time, cause I could have sworn they were a full day back, but they really got their act together.  They even met up with the rest of the teams in Spain, with our first big bunch in a long while.  Even though they got all caught up with the rest of the teams, they still managed to fall to the back of the pack, and were only saved from their second last in a NEL by the unforced errors committed by the twinnies.  They were even a bit funny this week, in a self-deprecating sort of way.  Josh managed to hurt his ankle in the previous leg, and Brent was trying to be helpful: “I’m breathing through the pain for you.” “Thank you, but it still hurts.”  Then they thought it would be a good idea for the guy with the bum ankle to do the tennis challenge.  Yeah, not so much.  It took them three tries to get through it, and they only accomplished hurting the ankle even more.  They rocked it on the windmill task, and managed to come in not last for the fifth leg in a row.

This was kind of a frustrating episode.  It seems like the roadblocks and detours should mix around the teams a bit more than they do, and not so much the getting to the challenges.  I really don’t think Josh and Brent should be there, but they are following my theoretical strategy to a ‘T’: Don’t come in last.  It seems to be working for them, so we’ll see how everything shakes out in the season finale next week.

In looking back at my predictions from the fifth episode, I only have the possibility of getting two right: if Natalie and Nadiya get in the top three, and don’t come in third, and if Trey and Lexi go out in fourth.  I thought James and Abba were still going to be here, along with Abbie and Ryan, but not so much.  I also though James and Jaymes were going out in fifth, and Josh and Brent, and we all see how well that worked out. 

Like I said earlier, next week is the finale, so we get to find out if Josh and Brent finally get out like they’ve been threatening the whole time, and if my favorites, the Chippendales, will win it all!  Woohoo!

Finishing Order(Average Place)

1. Trey/Lexi(3.30)

2. James/Jaymes(4.00)

3. Josh/Brent(5.10)

4. Natalie/Nadiya(3.20)   

Amazing Race: Fishy Kiss (S21E9)

So last week, the amazing editors teased us with Abbie and Ryan failing at the airport again.  Did it come to fruition, leaving my least favorite team out to dry?  Let’s find out, shall we?

Jaymes and James started first, and had a rather unremarkable leg, right up til the U-Turn.  They hemmed and hawed for a bit, but finally made a decision, and moved on.  They did manage to crack me up this week by asking the duck on the lake for directions: “hey duckie, you know where the Poffertsjesboot is?” but didn’t get to keep their first place streak going due to…

Natalie and Nadyia, who, after a very lucky one hour layover that didn’t leave them stranded, took the fast forward, and finally one another leg after missing since the second leg.  They were not seen very much at all in this episode, and so I don’t have a lot to remark about them, beyond the fact that their earlier misdeed is one of two things keeping them from being my choice team(the other would be the adorableness that is Jaymes and James, but who’s counting?)

Trey and Lexi actually left before Natalie and Nadyia, but I wanted the fun transition, so they get to be third in the write up.  The only thing of note for these two was that they U-Turned Jaymes and James knowing full well that they had already passed the U-Turn, just to make sure Abbie and Ryan didn’t use it on Josh and Brent.  I’m not sure if I like this tactic, it really seems like it ruins the point, and I have to echo what others have said, in that I wonder if the producers are somehow going to make sure that can’t happen in future seasons.

Anyway, Abbie and Ryan left next, and they had the leg from hell.  They got stuck in Frankfurt again due to poor check in skills, they barely squeeked by Josh and Brent in the detour, only to find out that…Jaymes and James U-Turned them!  I was so happy when they decided to do that, and that Trey and Lexi took out A/R’s recourse.  It was fantastic.  And Ryan was such a sad sack through the entire leg, “Oh, woe is me, the airlines hate us, and the Chippendales cost us two million.”  Go whine into some cheese, ya narcissistic loser. And speaking of…

Josh and Brent nearly foiled the top three’s plan, in that Josh was almost willing to wait for Abbie and Ryan to finish the other detour before moving on.  Yes, it was about as ludicrous as you can imagine.  Luckily, Brent talked some sense into him, and so we have our top three all but locked up.

I think it’s going to be Jaymes and James, Natalie and Nadyia, and Trey and Lexi in the top three.  I really hope the boys can pull it off, but much crazier things have happened.  Just watch Brent and Josh win it all.

Finishing Order(Average Place)

1. Natalie/Nadyia(3.11)

2. Jaymes/James(4.22)

3. Trey/Lexi(3.56)

4. Josh/Brent(5.33)

5. Abbie/Ryan(2.78)-eliminated