The Amazing Race – Did You Push My Sports Bra Off the Ledge?

CBS

(Season 13, Episode 3)

Is it ironic that a show where time is so important gets a late start every single week? Tonight’s Race started almost eighteen minutes late! Usually by this point in the race, there are at least a few teams that I find myself rooting for, as well as those teams that I generally despise. This season, however, I find myself not particularly liking any of the teams all that much and disliking more of them than usual.

I think this may have to do with the editing, as the whiny bitching pairs are getting all the screen time, while those who are just plugging away aren’t nearly as interesting. Teams like Aja & Ty, Toni & Dallas and Andrew & Dan haven’t really stood out from the pack at all. The drama started off right away this week as Christy’s sports bra went missing and she quickly blamed Starr. She maintained this conviction and built a whole feud around it as the episode progressed.

Ken & Tina lead off this week, after overtaking Mark & Bill at the end of last week’s installment. Now, as much as it’s always impressive to come in first, I still wanted to throttle both Ken & Tina. If this were filming live, I would have booked my own ticket to La Paz, Bolivia so I could meet them at the airport and smack them each with a dead and rotting mackerel. Now as the city is elevated at 13,000 feet, I’d need to pace myself so I don’t get winded. Tonight, though, Kelly & Christy may have just overtaken them as the team to beat, and I do mean with the mackerel.

Detour (Musical March or Bumpy Ride)

Mark & Bill chose the bumpy ride on shockless homemade bicycles and quickly made their way to a first place positioning. Here’s a team I could learn to like, though maybe it’s because I’m a comic guy myself. So far, they haven’t done anything duplicitous to any of the other teams, nor have they whined or complained. Gee, maybe they could win the whole thing! Marisa & Brooke used their charm and enthusiasm to hurry along their Musical March, pushing them into overall second place.

There was an added element of the U-Turn to the competition, whereby a team could force another team to complete the other task before moving on. Available only once during the entire race, strategy is key. While Kelly & Christy seemed adamant in forcing the U-Turn on their made-up rivals Nick & Starr, and Starr considered returning the favor when the brother/sister duo beat them to the box, in the end they took the high road and didn’t take the U-Turn. In fact, no one played it just yet.

Road Block (Fighting Cholitas)

This challenge involved “fighting a girl,” as Phil put it. And these “cholitas” were petite women to boot. Contestants had to put on garish costumes, learn six moves and impress the referee to move on. Ken & Tina got to this challenge first, beating out Marisa & Brooke, and quickly got through it. Marisa had a harder time learning the competition, making her and third place arrival Mark the only contestants to need multiple shots at the routine.

With a quick finish in the Road Block, Ken looked impressive and gave his team a huge lead going into the pit stop. Maybe they’re going to grow as people throughout this race, because at the end of the episode, I didn’t want to smack them. Mostly because they didn’t say much throughout the episode, but maybe that means they’re just going to shut up more.

Dallas got through the routine on his first shot, pushing himself and his mom into second place coming out of the challenge. Andrew & Dan were third, followed by Nick & Starr and then Aja & Ty. Meanwhile, Mark had to take oxygen and blew it again.

Bringing up the rear pack, Marisa and Mark finally got through the competition, coming in 6th and 7th respectively. Terence & Sarah eked out an 8th place finish here, leaving Kelly & Christy with no one left to blame for Christy’s missing sports bra in the arena before they finally finished in last place and proceeded to bitch and complain about how they didn’t want to be eliminated, and if they somehow weren’t they were going to take down Starr for asking Aja & Ty to U-Turn the girls.

Pit Stop

Ken & Tina easily came in to the pit stop first for the second week in a row after Ken’s dominant performance in the ring. Toni & Dallas came in second, followed by a hot car and foot race between several teams to the pit stop. Terrence & Sarah won this one, barely beating out Marisa & Brooke for third place. The next pairings in were Aja & Ty in 5th and Nick & Starr in 6th.

Andrew & Dan eked out a 7th place finish, leaving Mark & Bill to come in 8th but having taken a taxi improperly during an earlier challenge they incurred a 30-minute penalty. In the end, the penalty was far too long and Kelly & Christy snuck in ahead of them, staving off elimination. So I guess that means Mark & Bill are a real long shot for winning this thing now? Dammit, do I actually have to root for Ken & Tina? Nah, I still like Marisa & Brooke! We need an all-girl team winner of The Amazing Race!

Clacked by Jason Hughes
on Oct 13, 2008 @ 18:40 EST5EDT