The Amazing Race RecapOkay, so I missed the first episode last week, and it will take me awhile to catch up on who everybody is this season. We start out somewhere in South America (Brazil?) and the first task is to go to Block F of an office complex. This is a typical TAR bunching maneuver, as it turns out that all teams must wait to access the building. The cluebox reveals a roadblock. One player from each team must climb a circular set of stairs up what looks like to be a 20-story building, then rappelle down the side of the building. I'm no longer much for climbing, although I could do the rappelle with ease. Next up is a trip to a bus station, where we get the artificial separation of three different buses leaving an hour and two hours apart. There is the inevitable "I can't do this" moment before the commercial and then we come back and she breezes through it.
The detour is a choice between climbing a rope up a waterfall with mechanical assistance, or brewing some rum, errr, ethyl alcohol from sugar cane. Amusingly, they have to pile into old VW bugs. The hippies reminisce about their memories of VWs, which of course is silly; they're both maybe in their mid-20s and probably haven't been in a VW anything in their lives. I, on the other hand, had a VW bug for about a year. The thing was a lot of fun, but constantly in need of repair, like all cars back then. The sisters are obviously having trouble with their vehicle.
I've seen that device they were using to climb the waterfall with before, although I've not used one. I could tell that the older couple made a big mistake picking that challenge, because it requires a fair amount of upper arm strength. But the old gal, despite the obligatory "I can't do this" pre-commercial manages to get herself all the way to the top.
At the end, two teams are following a motorcyclist to the pit stop. The frat boys pull off to check on the directions, while the hippies continue to follow their guide. As it turns out, the pit stop was only a klick ahead and so the hippies score a vacation in Tahiti. The frat boys earn an arched eyebrow from Phil when they refer to him as a "woman". A bunch of other people crowd in. The older couple staggers in ninth. The sisters, who experienced a lot of trouble with their car finish last and are Phil-iminated.
One observation: Is the later time intended to allow for some more overtly sexual innuendo? I've only been watching the show for three seasons, but I don't remember it being played up quite this much before.
Eric at Viking Pundit has his usual
terrific review posted.
