The Amazing Race Holland

An interesting episode, with lots of frustration for the contestants. First, teams are told they must fly to Amsterdam. It turns out that the next flight is over 10 hours away, so all teams will catch the same flight. As it happens, the starting times reveal that the Blonde Beachers were almost two hours ahead, so the bunching maneuver certainly hurts them.

As they wait in the airport, the Gay Brothers decide it's time to come out of the closet. Everybody seems to take it in stride. Although Tiffany Michelle of the Poker Players expresses some regret they don't want to date her, she reaffirms their alliance.

After landing in Amsterdam, the teams must drive to a dam, where a statue will alert them to the next clue. The Interracial Couple's hubby can't get the car into drive, and finally asks somebody in the garage for help; I'm not sure what was going on there. One of the Globetrotters mentions that out of all the players in the race, everybody knows Brian's name, because his wife is constantly yelling "Brian!" On cue, they arrive at the statue and he urges his wife to run and she says, "Brian!"

Teams must drive to some small city in Holland and find the Martinitoren, the tallest building in the town. There they have to count the bells in the tower. The pink-haired farmer's son blazes this one, but there are two very interesting moments by the other teams. First, the Blonde Beachers work together, although this is a roadblock, which is supposed to be done by one player or the other. Somehow this does not seem to matter, as they are not penalized. Second, the Gay Brothers give the Poker Players the answer (62), giving the latter a break over the Interracial Couple, who are now in last place.

And it looks even worse for the Interracial Couple as Brian's wife (a former Miss America) can't seem to figure out the number of bells in the tower. She's consistently wrong as the other teams move way ahead. Next is the Detour: Farmer's Game or Farmer's Dance. Farmer's Game is basically golf with a ball a little larger than a softball. In Farmer's Dance, someone must ring the bell on one of those carnival-type sledge-hammer machines, then learn a dance, and then eat a bunch of raw fish.

The first team to arrive are the Blonde Beachers. At first they seem to be having trouble with the Farmer's Golf. The Farmer and Son decide to try dancing at first, and they easily ring the bell. Then they see the part about eating fish, and apparently pink-hair boy never eats fish, so they dash off to play golf. There's a hilarious bit in here where the Farmer says this isn't the first time he's dressed up in women's clothing. Huh? He quickly clarifies that it's just for some costume parties. Ooooookay!

Meanwhile, the Gay Brothers quickly make their way through the golf game and are headed for the mat. The Poker Players start out with Farmer's Dance, but it is quickly apparent that neither of them can hit the bell, so they decide to play golf. The Globies decide to go dancing, and despite some obvious discomfort with the fish, they blaze through.

Gay Brothers win. About this time, Miss America finally finds the 62nd bell. The Blonde Beachers finally get the hang of golf, and the Farmer and his Son don't seem to have any trouble. Blonde Beachers finish off, followed by Globies and Farmer and Son.

And now it becomes obvious that the Poker Players are hosed. They don't have the strength to ring the bell at the Dance Challenge, and they are hopeless at golf. They go back to try dancing, then back to try golf. Eventually the Interracial Couple arrives, hubby rings the bell first time, and it's pretty obvious.

But... they were supposed to ride a bike to the Detour, so they incur a 30-minute penalty. Miss America breaks down; after being stunned to find they had not been Phil-liminated as the last team, they have to wait. But the Poker Players do not show up and the Interracial Couple are still in the race. The Poker Players are unable to finish, and concede.

Comments: It's easy to say that it was unfair to have a detour where sheer brawn matters; the only all-girl team is eliminated because they couldn't ring a frigging carnival bell, while every man did it the first try. And I will say it. Obviously the counter is that they shouldn't have gotten the answer to the number of bells in the tower question for free; that's a bit too much alliance.

Team to beat: Still the Beachers. The Farmer and Son are probably the most likely to go next week; the Farmer is the only old person in the race. The Globies, Gay Brothers and the Interracial Couple all look competitive. A lot will depend on whether there is a bunching maneuver next weekend, as the IC is still clearly several hours behind everybody else.

Labels: The Amazing Race