The Amazing Race 32 Episodes 8 and 9

What happened last night with The Amazing Race really bothered me.

The teams went to India, which happens every season.  This was the mega leg of the race — i.e., the longest and most difficult leg of the race.  It was stretched out over two episodes, that’s how much of a mega leg it was.  That said, it was pretty obvious from the start that Haley and Kaylynn were going to be eliminated.  They started out in last place and they never got out of last place.  The only reason they were still in the race was due to luck.

What bothered me, though, is that the other racers seemed determined to kick this team while they were down.  First, Will and James used their yield on Kaylynn and Haley, despite the fact that Will and james were in first place while Kaylynn and Haley were way back in 6th place.  Then, Riley and Madisson — who were in second place — yielded Kaylynn and Haley for a second time, despite the fact that Kaylynn and Haley were still in 6th place.

Using all of your yields on a team that doesn’t have a chance to win is not a brilliant strategy and the fact that Will and James thought it was so cute to keep yielding them did not make me happy.  This season has been dominated by a very mean-spirited alliance and quite frankly, I’m sick of it.  There’s only three episodes left and I’ll be rooting for Eswar and Aparna, because they’re the only team that’s not a part of an alliance.

Watching last night, I realized that Will and James are the only racers who have a definable personality.  Unfortunately, it’s not a very likable personality but at least they’re more interesting than Riley and Maddison.  Having a beard is not the same thing as having a personality.

Anyway, here’s where we stand after the mega leg:

Coming in first, Riley and Maddison.  Whatever.  They’re boring.

Coming in second, Will and James.  The mean boys of The Amazing Race are awfully proud of themselves for continually picking on whoever is in last place.  What’s funny is that I would probably love them on either Survivor or Big Brother because those are games where you have to be kind of mean and ruthless.  The Amazing Race, though, should be a more positive experience.

Coming in third, DeAngelo and Gary.  Again, whatever.

Coming in fourth, Hung and Chee.  They’re either going to win or Chee is going to have a total meltdown.

Coming in fifth, Eswar and Apurna.  GET IT TOGETHER, YOU TWO!  WE’RE DEPENDING ON YOU!

Coming in sixth, Kaylynn and Haley.  Their luck run out last night.  They were a positive team so I’ll miss them.  That said, you really can’t spend 75% of the race in last place without eventually getting eliminated.

Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving, everyone!

Lisa Marie

 

The Amazing Race 32 Episodes 6 and 7

I have mixed feelings about last night’s Amazing Race.

On the one hand, I was happy to discover that we were getting two episodes.  I was also happy when the first leg of the night turned out to be a non-elimination leg.  Despite coming in last, Kaylynn and Haley got to stay in the race and that made me happy because Kaylynn and Haley are likable team.  Despite their struggles, they still remain generally positive and they seem like nice people and they remind me of me and my sisters.

But then, at the end of the second episode of the night, Leo and Alana were eliminated from the race.  Those of you who know how much I’ve been cheering for Leo and Alana this season can guess how unhappy I am about that.  What makes me even more unhappy is that Will and James and Riley and Maddison basically bullied Kaylynn and Haley into using the yield on Leo and Alana.  I absolutely hate bullies and Will and James’s little celebration about getting Kaylynn and Haley to use the yield did not sit well with me at all.

I mean — if not for Leo, Will would still be trying to figure out how to get out of that parking garage in Paris.  Everyone should try to win the race but giggling like a child because you convinced someone else to do your dirty work for you is never a good look.

After last night, I’m pretty much sick of the alliances.  It really is high school.  Will and James and Riley and Maddison are the cool kids and they basically spent the entire race picking on Leo and Alana.  Well, Leo and Alana are gone now and I’m so hoping the alliances start to fall apart over the next few episodes.  Realistically, I think Hung and Chee have the best chance of winning the race this season but wouldn’t it be great television if Kaylynn and Haley or Eswar and Aparna came out of nowhere to take the victory away from the alliances?

Here’s how things stand after last night’s two episodes:

Coming in first, Will and James!  Will and James are a strong team.  As much as I don’t like the way they treated Leo and Alana, I have to give them credit for working well together and just for their sheer determination to win this thing.  That said, I really hope that karma has something up its sleeve for them.

Coming in second, Riley and Maddison!  There’s always a team of boring athletes who make the final three and Riley and Maddison seem to have a good shot of making it this season.  Despite not really having any discernible personality beyond their beards, they’re a strong team.

Coming in third, Hung and Chee!  They’re consistently a strong team and I still think they’re going to win.

Coming in fourth, Gary and DeAngelo!  Gary and DeAngelo are still the most inconsistent team this season.  They’re always either in front or they’re falling behind.  I’m going to predict that they’re going to go out right before the final leg of the race.

Coming in fifth, Kaylynn and Haley!  I like Kaylynn and Haley, though I’m a bit annoyed that they allowed themselves to be, more or less, bullied into using the yield.  Because I like surprises, I wouldn’t mind if their luck suddenly improved and they made it to the end.  It probably won’t happen though.

Coming in sixth, Eswar and Aparna!  Eswar and Aparna have never had a break-out moment but they’re still hanging in the race.  I like them but they’re going to need some luck to make it much further.

Coming in seventh, Leo and Alana!  My favorite team has been eliminated.  Hopefully, they’ll get another chance to run the Race in the future.

Next week, we’ve got another two hours as the Race heads to India!

 

The Amazing Race 32.5 “”You Don’t Strike Me as a Renaissance Man”

I got so jealous last night!

Seriously, I would have loved to have run that leg of the race.  The racers got to go to France.  They got to look at paintings.  They got pies thrown at them.  They got to play some carnival games!  It was great!

Unfortunately, they also had to drive and that proved to be the downfall of Michelle and Victoria.  After coming on strong over the past couple of legs, Michelle and Victoria managed to get lost while trying to drive from one destination to another.  As a result, they were the last team to arrive and they were eliminated from the race.  On the one hand, it’s easy to shake your head in amazement that two people could somehow get that lost.  On the other hand, I’ve actually had to drive in Europe and trust me — it can happen!

Especially when you’re having to drive a stick shift.  Me, I cannot drive a stick.  I’ve tried to learn and no, it’s just not something I can do.  I find it to be way too complicated and frustrating.  Will and James ran into the same problem last night, though they did manage to recover after Leo gave them some help.  (Considering that Will and James u-turned Leo and Alana just a few legs ago, that was a development that I didn’t see coming.)  Kaylynn and Haley also struggled with the stick shift and they definitely would have been eliminated last night if not for Michelle and Victoria getting so amazingly lost.

It was a fun leg.  I loved seeing France.  The carnival looked like a lot of fun.  I’ll miss Michelle and Victoria, though.  They were my second favorite team, right after Leo and Alana.

Here’s how the teams did, last night:

Coming in first, Riley and Maddison.  Riley and Maddison are a strong team and I’ve been waiting for them to have a break-out moment.  They finally got it last night.  They were in the lead pretty much from the minute they arrived in France.  They were so far ahead that even struggling a bit at the carnival couldn’t slow them down.

Coming in second, Hung and Chee.  After struggling during the last leg, they made a comeback tonight.  They’re still proving themselves to be a consistently strong team.

Coming in third, Leo and Alana!  I think getting U-turned really lit a fire under Leo and Alana.  They’re coming on strong and, as of right now, they seem like they’re in a very good position to make it to the end.

Coming in fourth, Will and James!  Despite struggling with their car, Will and James still managed a decent finish, which shows just how strong of a team they are.  If they do get eliminated, it’ll be because of something like a car breaking down or a plane landing late because the two of them are running a strong race right now.  Despite their good finish, I think they may have gotten humbled a bit last night, which I do think will help them in the long run.

Coming in fifth, DeAngelo and Gary!  These guys are still the most inconsistent team on the race.  I don’t see them lasting much longer but I could be wrong.

Coming in sixth, Eswar and Aparna.  Eswar and Aparna seem like they should be a strong team but they struggle nearly every leg of the race.  They’re likable but they’re another team I don’t expect to around for much longer.

Coming in seventh, Kalynn and Haley!  I like the sisters but, at this point, they’re on borrowed time.

Coming in eighth, Michelle and Victoria.  They were a strong team.  It kind of sucks that they’re out of the race just because they had trouble navigating the streets of France but that’s the race for you,

Next week, the race moves to Germany!

See you then,

Lisa Marie

 

The Amazing Race 32.4 “Olé, Olé!”

I’m having a little mini-vacay at beautiful Lake Texoma this week but, fortunately, I was still able to catch The Amazing Race last night.

As I watched it, I did some tweeting and believe it or not, Hung Nguyen of Hung & Chee replied to some of my tweets.  (Actually, I think she replied to a lot of people’s tweets but still, it was pretty cool.)  Anyway, she seemed to have a really good sense of humor about last night’s episode and she also mentioned that she and Chee are still married after all of that.  It’s interesting to think that this season of the Race was filmed two years ago.  I mean, whoever won the race has had to spend two years not telling anyone!

Anyway, last night, the race moved down to Paraguay.  It was a non-elimination leg, the first one of the race.  I kind of had a feeling it would be, just because of how difficult the detours and the roadblocks were.  I mean, the thing where you had to balance the bottles on your head — that’s something that some people just aren’t ever going to be able to do!

My two main takeaways from last night are this.  Number one, Will and James seem to be getting way too smug for their own good.  I understand that every season needs a villain and Will and James are probably not be getting the best edit as a result but their little vendetta against Leo and Alana still doesn’t sit well with me.  Number two, Leo and Alana are currently my favorite team and I hope they make it far in the race.

Here’s how everyone did last week:

Coming in first, Will and James!  Putting aside my feeling about them u-turning Leo and Alana, Will and James are a strong team and they do seem like they’re going to be around for a while.

Coming in second, Michelle and Victoria!  My second favorite team came in second and I was happy!  After their struggles over the previous two legs of the race, it was good to see them make a comeback last night.

Coming in third, Leo and Alana!  Leo and Alana had a good leg and, as you can guess, I was happy about that.

Coming fourth, Riley and Maddison.  They’re a strong team and I do think that they have a chance of winning.  But, so far, they’ve finished 3rd twice and 4th twice.  They may be pacing themselves but I’m still waiting for the big breakout moment where they move to the top of the pack.

Coming in fifth, Eswar and Aparna.  These two are consistently in the middle of the group.  They do well enough but I don’t see them making it to the end.

Coming in sixth, Hung and Chee.  They fell behind but they still made it to the mat and kept their hopes alive.  I still think they have a good chance of winning, despite their struggles last night.

Coming in seventh, Gary and D’Angelo.  These two are all over the place.  Last night, they were in first, then they were last, then they were first again, and then finally, they were the 7th team to arrive.  (Though the episode was edited to make it look like they were heading to the Pit Stop at the same time as Kaylynn and Haley, it’s pretty obvious that Gary and D’Angelo arrived long before the sisters.)  Gary and D’Angelo have got to get some consistency going or they’re not going to be around much longer.

Coming in eighth, Kaylynn and Haley.  Every season, there’s a team that gets epically screwed by a bad cab driver and last night, it was Kaylynn and Haley.  At least it was a non-elimination leg!

And that’s it for now.  Next week, the Race goes to France!