Bucky recaps last night's Amazing Race. Take it away, Bucky!
The Amazing Race picks up at last week's Pit Stop in the Seychelles and we learn that the teams will all catch a 2 a.m. boat that will take them to the airport, where they will depart (together, on the same aircraft) for Panang, Malaysia. There they will have to go to a place ominously called "The Snake Temple" to receive this week's first clue. We also get footage of a couple of mean-looking snakes. (Note to people who want to be on The Amazing Race: Get comfortable with snakes and other creepy things.)
Since there is time to kill, we get some extraneous footage of Steve buying a shirt from a guy and the Detectives giving him some clothes. He and Allie are relieved that the next leg isn't in a cold climate. Additionally, we get the Detectives and Brent & Caite dissing Carol & Brandy again and Caite saying that if she ever gets the chance to U-Turn someone, it will be Carol & Brandy. (I'm wondering if this doesn't foreshadow the final three teams, because the producers seem to be playing up this conflict quite a bit.)
We’re also reminded the Cowboys will have to do a Speed Bump tonight, since they benefited from the non-elimination leg last week.
At the airport in Malaysia, everyone grabs a cab and I think the Brothers are in about 4th or 5th, but they get what has to be a TAR Hall of Fame cab driver, who passes everyone else up.
The Snake Temple turns out to be tame and we don’t even see any encounters between racers and snakes. What a let-down. (Note to aspiring Amazing Racers: Concentrate on learning to drive a stick and ignore the previous snake advice.)
The first clue leads them to the Detour where the choice tonight is:
Buddhist Tradition
– lugging a bunch of big, symbolic poles up 150-some steps to a temple. When they get them up there, they have to set them on fire for the next clue. (Note to anyone: Wherever you have the chance to set something on fire, without risking jail time, take it. Burning things up is a lot of fun.)
Chinese Custom
– each member will have to balance what appears to be about a 15-foot flag pole (with flag blowing in the breeze) on their forehead and walk 120 feet without dropping it, to get the next clue.
On the way to the Detour, the Detectives, the Brothers and Steve & Allie get caught in traffic. Steve & Allie and the Brothers abandon their taxis (the Brothers leaving behind a NASCAR-ready driver) and begin to hoof it to the Detour site, while the Detectives show patience. Sure enough, traffic thins and the Detectives drive by the jogging teams.
The Cowboys decide to do the flagpole balancing act, while everyone else opts for the challenge that will let them set things on fire.
However, the Cowboys complete the flagpole balancing task easily, while Carol & Brandy, Brent & Caite and the Detectives are wearing themselves out lugging all those big polls up the steps. (Louie has what appears to be an asthma attack in the middle of it, as a matter of fact.)
Steve & Allie arrive late to the Detour and the Brothers even later. (This part was sort of confusing to me because I was also watching the baseball game. Note to future “Reality Check” guest posters: Concentrate on the task at hand.)
The Cowboys get the next clue and are off to the Road Block, where they also encounter their Speed Bump—smelling some freshly ground up spice tea and matching the scent to one of several possible pots of brewed teas. It only takes them two tries and they head for the Roadblock.
At the Roadblock, teams will have to smash coconuts taken from a large pile until they find one that has been colored on the inside with dye — sort of an Easter coconut, I guess. Then they have to use that as a centerpiece for a symbolic offering to one or another of several Malaysian sea gods that they must construct (following a model that as been constructed for them.) If they build an acceptable offering, they get the clue to the Pit Stop.
Jet does the work for the Cowboys and he finishes before any other team has even completed the Detour. They get to the Pit Stop where Phil informs them they are the first teams in TAR history to go from last to first with a Speed Bump. The Cowboys smoked everyone tonight.
Eventually, Brent & Caite, Carol & Brandy and the Detectives finish the pole lugging challenge and take off for the Roadblock. Steve & Allie arrive at the pole lugging, decide it looks too hard and switch tasks to the flagpole balancing (which means they have to taxi to that site.) The Brothers get lost. When they get to the new task, Allie quickly decides she can’t balance the flagpole, so they switch tasks back, necessitating yet another cab ride. Meanwhile, the Brothers have arrived and begun the Detour. They finish well ahead of Steve & Allie and take off for the Roadblock.
As Roadblocks go, this one isn’t much of one. All the teams finish pretty easily with the only variable being the “luck of the draw” in picking a coconut that has been colored. Louie, for the Detectives, gets one on his second coconut, while Caite seems to be smashing coconuts for quite a while before happening upon a colored one. Jordan, working for the Brothers, screws up his first try at constructing the symbolic offering, because he doesn’t read the directions completely, but recovers from that gaffe quickly.
There is some (I think edited-in) drama involving the race to the finish between the Brothers and Steve & Allie, but in the end dad and daughter accomplish the reverse of what the Cowboys did: they go from first to last and are eliminated. I’m sad. In a touching exit interview Steve says he has new-found respect for his daughter and that running The Amazing Race with her was better than winning his World Series ring. Very touching.
The final order of finish:
1st - the Cowboys, who win what Phil calls a romantic trip for two to Maui.
2nd – Carol & Brandy
3rd – the Detectives
4th – Brent & Caite
5th – the Brothers
6th – Steve & Allie
The previews for next week look interesting and my guess is that if “you turn” on the television and watch, it will be worth it.