This leg started in Dubai (those resorts and the area looked amazing!) and ended in Amsterdam  and, in all honesty, I felt like the tasks were pretty easy so I was stunned to see some people mess up so badly.

The contestants had to correctly count the number of bells (62) at this one bell tower in the Netherlands and most of them were able to do it in a reasonable amount of time except for Brian and Ericka.  It was Ericka’s job to count and she just couldn’t get it right and was still there a LONG time after all of the other teams had moved on.  It bordered on ridiculous.  Since she had to run up and down the stairs to count her legs were tired and by the time they moved on to the next task, she was whining about how much her feet hurt.  It drove me nuts.

The other team that seemed to completely lose their minds were Maria and Tiffany, the professional poker players.  They got to the task where one of them had to swing a sledgehammer and hit a target and they Maria just couldn’t muster enough strength to make that thing fly up and ring the bell.  They finally gave up and went back to complete the other task, which involved swimming across a body of water to play a demented form of mini-golf.  They got too cold and felt the task was too hard and actually summoned Phil so that they could quit.  Lame.

Still, I was happy to see Maria and Tiffany go.  I couldn’t stand them.  I wouldn’t cry if Brian and Ericka were next…

image: CBS

Post from: EveryJoe

Poker Stars Quit “The Amazing Race”

The teams were given a clue that contained a major hint right at the top of it but many overlooked it at first.  They had to find one of the 11 license plates that was for an area in Japan since that would be their first destination.  The teams who were able to find the plates were given plane tickets to Tokyo but the one team who didn’t figure it out in time was eliminated before the race even began.

Harsh!  Can you imagine how much it would suck to get your life all in order in preparation for being oversees for an indeterminate amount of time only to get eliminated within the first couple hours of the show?  Yeah, not cool CBS!

The rest of the two-hour finale involved flights, challenges, a non-elimination leg and lots of screaming and bickering.

In the end, Eric and Lisa (left) were cast out before the show even started and then Garrett lost his cool when Jessica (right) narrowly lost to Ericka in a challenge that involved shepherding ducks.  He freaked out again when Phil told them they had been eliminated from the race, prompting the host to ask if Garrett gets that angry all the time.  Sounds like a keeper to me…

images: CBS

Post from: EveryJoe

“The Amazing Race” Debuts With A Twist

Photo: Sonja Flemming/CBS ©2008

I was also glad because I seriously could not stand the other two teams.  Jamie and Cara came in second place and, truly, that was way better than what I think they deserved.  Why is Cara friends with someone like Jamie?  She is one of the most rude, abusive people I’ve ever seen on the show and every week, it was shameful to have to watch her insult and demean people all over the world.  It was worst, though, when she would turn on her own teammate.  She screamed and yelled at Cara throughout the race and, in the end, her own behavior and frantic behavior is what cost them.  She kept complaining that they got taxi drivers who didn’t know where they were going.  Don’t you think that after the first couple times, she would have asked the drivers before getting in to the taxi if they knew where they were going.  Sometimes I think they deliberately threw them off track because Jamie was being rude.  Really, the woman was more of a liability than anything else.

Then there was Margie and Luke.  The mother/son team came in third and that’s exactly where they belonged and I’m being generous.  Luke is hearing impaired and, for most of the race, he acted as though being deaf prevented him from reading, using common sense, possessing problem-solving skills or being physically active.  His poor mother (who really enables his whiny behavior) had to work twice as hard and was the only reason they were in the finale at all.  Despite what I think of her as a person, and as a mother, I have to give her a lot of respect for how physically fit and determined she is.  She is strong and it’s too bad she hasn’t instilled that trait in her son.  I felt embarrassed for Luke as he, a fully grown man, threw several temper tantrums that would land my five-year-old on a time-out (in fact, she’s never even acted like he did).  He gave up quickly and if a task looked hard or gross, he let his mother do it.  I was so thrilled when he volunteered for the “foot massage” challenge (can you believe he did that?!) and it turned out to be a very painful experience.  That’s exactly what he deserved!

Tammy and Victor weren’t without fault, however.  I didn’t respect the fact that they used the U-Turn on Keisha and Jen.  I also didn’t like the fact that they borderline abused the fact that they spoke Chinese during the Beijing leg of the race.  It’s one thing to use it to your advantage but it’s another to work the cultural angle to try to block other teams which is what they did when they said stuff like “we’re American-born Chinese people.  Please help us by putting those other teams at the back of the plane” or “please help us, if we don’t win our parents will kill themselves.”  It bordered on ridiculous.  Still, they were the more tolerable of the three teams left standing so I’m glad they won.

What did you think of this season?  Did the right team win?  I would have liked to see Mel and Mike make it further but it just wasn’t meant to be.

Post from: EveryJoe

Victor and Tammy Win Amazing Race 14

Photo: Sonja Flemming/CBS

That wasn’t the big drama of last night’s episode, however.  Margie and Luke (mother/son team) clashed all day with sisters, Kisha and Jen.  To be more accurate, it was Jen and Luke’s physical collision to started the feud.  They both spotted the clue box at the same time and were so eager to get to it that they got physical.  Jen pushed up on Luke from behind and he responded by almost elbowing her in the face.  As usual, Margie didn’t see anything wrong with her son’s behavior (I find him to be a quitter and he hides behind his deafness a lot).  At the same time, Jen was a bit out of line for calling him a “b*tch” which, of course, he didn’t hear but his mother signed to tell him.  That enraged him so when Jen and Luke met up again at another clue box, the same thing happened only Luke pushed her from behind.  Margie saw no problem with her son getting physical with a woman and that disappointed me.  She has made excuses for him throughout the race and has even had to do some tasks alone while he sat on the sidelines making excuses.  I hope they watch the show and gain some insight.

This leg of the race took place in China so Tammy and Victor had a clear advantage and they used it.  Not only did they speak to each other in Chinese during the tasks but they even used their Chinese heritage to try to manipulate the game.  They encouraged taxi drivers to give out wrong directions to the drivers for the other teams and they would get to a task and ask to be seen first and even said told one official that their Chinese parents would cry themselves “to death” if they didn’t win the competition.  How is that not cheating like Mike and Mark?  Oh well…

So, things got really ugly at the check point when Kisha and Jen came in first but were closely followed by Tammy and Victor and Margie and Luke.  You could see and hear Margie begging Luke not to say anything to Phil (the host) but he wouldn’t listen and as soon as he exploded, she took up his campaign.  Kisha and Jen explained themselves but then Luke demanded to be heard.  He started signing and Kisha laughed which only infuriated Margie more.  She accused Kisha and Jen of laughing at Luke’s disability which made him even more upset and he ran off for a minute but called her a b*tch over his shoulder.  Phil tried to calm things down and told Margie that he didn’t believe Kisha and Jen were laughing at Luke in that way but she refused to listen.  She went off on a tirade about how Luke has been treated badly his whole life and then brought up the fact that Kisha and Jen are African-American.

The whole thing was blown out of proportion and it should be interesting to see what happens next week.

Post from: EveryJoe

Mike and Mark Eliminated on Amazing Race

Casting is underway for the 15th season so if you are interested, applications are available at www.cbs.com/amazingrace.  They have a lot of interesting questions on the application (what most disappoints you about your partner, do you have phobias, etc…).  Some of it sounds like they pick the contestants based on the type of drama they will create.  I can’t complain since that’s a big part of why I like the show!

I would love to apply because I think my husband and I could really have a chance at winning but he’s not an American citizen.  Oh well.  Maybe they will make an edition for Canadians.

image: CTV

Post from: EveryJoe

Amazing Race Renewed for 15th Season

From the press release:

“The Amazing Race” video game teams players up in pairs for an unforgettable journey across exotic locations and continents in a race against time and other teams. Players work to find each checkpoint and take on dozens of frantic challenges and tasks as they navigate Detours, Roadblocks and other unpredictable game elements from the show. Working together strategically throughout the game is essential as each team tries to discover hidden clues that are crucial to getting them to the Pit Stop first- and one step closer to ultimate victory at the check-in mat.

I’ve gotta say that I have my doubts about this game. I usually don’t have a lot of faith in games that are based on TV shows. Who knows, maybe they’ll make me a believer. The game is set to launch along with the show’s 14th season.

Image|CBS

Post from: EveryJoe

Amazing Race Show Set to Become Game