Before I begin this week's blog I need to rant....
NOTE OF SUGGESTION TO LOCAL CBS AFFILIATE WMAZ-TV CHANNEL 13 IN MACON GEORGIA!
WHEN YOU DECIDE TO RUN A SCROLLING MESSAGE FOR EMERGENCY WEATHER YOU COULD AT LEAST PLACE IT IN A POSITION ON THE SCREEN THAT DOES NOT BLOCK THE TEXT THAT APPEARS DURING THE AMAZING RACE! SURE, YOU THINK THE SCROLLING MESSAGE FOR WEATHER ALERTS AND SCHOOL CLOSINGS ARE IMPORTANT, BUT DAMN, BE CONSIDERATE FOR PEOPLE WHO TUNE IN TO WATCH THE AMAZING RACE.
The reason for the opening statement is because on the evening of the March 1st broadcast of The Amazing Race in Central Georgia, the area had a rare snow storm of LESS THAN ONE INCH of snow which caused some sort of a panic and most of the schools decided to close on the next Monday even though most of the snow DIDN’T STICK and or had melted within a couple hours! The local station plastered message scrolling at the bottom of the screen through MOST of the broadcast and I was unable to read anything that would identify a team, a location or a team place position throughout this week’s broadcast.
I bet they weren't as paranoid about snow in the Northeast, where some areas got a FOOT of snow this week.
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And now, on to the blog
Greetings everyone and I apologize for my delay in posting this week’s weekly Amazing Race blog. I had a busy weekend so I missed the actual broadcast. But thanks to the DVR, I had the show recorded and watched it a day later, so here are my impressions for this week.
So far I am enjoying the season. I like the new editing and updated theme music for the show. And certainly I am enjoying the scenery. Also there are hardly any teams or team members that are annoying the crap out of me unlike any other season so far. I have noticed a great problem developing with the sibling teams. The older sibling takes on a more dominant role and the younger sibling feeling disrespected and wanting more equal and fair treatment from the older sibling. As the older sibling with a very vocal and sometimes mean spirited younger sister I certainly know how it feels to think I know more because I am a few years older and have to fight with the younger sister over it. It’s really not a fun position to be in and I could see where it could eventually cause problems in a situation like The Amazing Race. So we are about to see an escalation in tension between siblings within a team.
Having said that, the top team from last week’s broadcast is the brother-sister team TAMMY & VICTOR who arrived at the pit-stop in Salzburg Austria first and breezed through the last leg of the race but began to show signs of struggling to get along.
The departures from the pit-stop began late in the morning with Tammy & Victor leaving at 10:13am nearly two hours before the next team, the gay father and gay son Mel & Mike who left at noon. Followed by Amanda & Kris at 12:15, mother and son Margie & Luke at 12:30 then married couple Brad and Victoria, former Miami Dolphins cheerleaders Jamie & Cara, sisters Kisha & Jen, brothers Mark & Michael and finally, the blonde beauty queens Christie & Jodi. I don’t have the departure times for most teams because of screen blockage for weather problems we had over the weekend. The local station ran messages at the bottom of the screen so I could not read the actual time of departures. I do remember from the last broadcast that there appeared to be a long stretch toward the end with the last place team arriving very late at night.
Teams travelled to Romania to the gymnasium where Olympic Champion Nadia Comeniche trained for the 1976 games. And getting to Romania was a challenge for some.
So with the rather large stretch of time between the first and last team departures, Tammy & Victor had the greatest head start of at least two hours before the second team. Most of the next teams were able to catch the same train and they made reservations for flights leaving for Romania at 4:45pm while Tammy & Victor made reservations for a 3pm flight. But their plane had to return to the airport in Munich because of mechanical problems. With their great head start completely vanished, Tammy & Victor had to settle for a 9:30pm flight with the four teams at the back of the pack. Meanwhile, married couple Brad & Victoria gambled on an earlier flight (7:30pm) with a connection and lost because their first flight was delayed and they missed their connecting flight in Amsterdam. They were forced to wait until the next morning for any available flight to Romania.
So Mel & Mike, Amanda & Kris and Margie & Luke were all hours ahead of everyone else arriving in Romania and took taxis to the historic gym for this episode’s “roadblock” task where teams had to perform gymnastics. We saw Amanda complete the procedures first then Margie and Mike. Those three teams moved on before the next few teams flight arrived. Then Tammy & Victor, who started this leg with a two hour head start, had bad directions and were the last of the teams from the 9:30 flight to arrive at the roadblock. Now Tammy & Victor were further behind in the race. Then Tammy struggled to complete the gymnastic procedures under the constant pressure of her older brother pushing her to get the task done. The other teams had left the gymnasium.
It is at this point, THE GREAT AMAZING RACE TEAM EQUALIZER DEMON came into place as ALL but one team met at the Bucharest train station. The train everyone would have to take was not leaving until 6am the next morning. The one team behind was Brad & Victoria at the airport in Amsterdam with no chance of catching up.
After the roadblock, teams then had to travel by train to the area of Transylvania to locate “the black church” for the “detour” task choices of “gypsy moves” where teams would go to a Gypsy settlement where they would act in helping a Gypsy family move using manual labor or “vampire remains” where teams would have to perform tasks inspired by “Dracula” that involve opening a coffin and smashing antique wooden frames stored inside the coffin to locate the Amazing Race flag then give it to someone dressed like a vampire to get their next clue.
After the “detour” task teams travelled to a local house for the PIT-STOP. Amanda & Kris were first to finish and could have been the first at the pit-stop but they lost their fanny pack with all of their money and passports inside. Mel & Mike were next to leave for the pit-stop and were FIRST to arrive at the pit-stop. For that they won a vacation package to Costa Rica from show sponsor Travelocity. Amanda & Kris found their fanny pack and arrived at the pit-stop in SECOND place.
The rest of the arrivals were…
THIRD: Kisha & Jen
FORTH: Margie & Luke
FIFTH: Mark & Michael in a foot race with the next team
SIXTH: Christie & Jodi. The team I predicted to be eliminated had little problem during this leg of the race. They also caught up
with the help of travel schedules.
SEVENTH: Jamie & Cara
EIGHTH: Tammy & Victor struggled to get along and in the process, they got lost during the “detour”. Then Victor became emotional through the “detour” task and appeared to have given up. They also had the unfortunate luck of the early first flight that had to return to the airport and killed their strong lead. I’m sure that played a role in their spirit during this leg of the race. It clearly was not a good time for them.
Married couple Brad & Victoria went on to finish through the leg of the race and arrived after dark and were eliminated. They took a chance on a flight schedule that would have arrived earlier than a later leaving but direct flight that other teams selected. It was a gamble that cost them the race because of a delayed flight and a fogged in connecting airport.
And now I come to the end of this week’s blog and I missed the prediction for elimination. That is actually the norm for me. Sometimes it’s more of a “who I wish would be eliminated” prediction than one based on true ability. But we have good teams left. I should say we have good capable teams left. But if I had to choose one team for elimination that choice would have to be narrowed down to one of strength or great disadvange. But you can’t let any disadvantages fool you.
We have the first ever deaf contestant on the show with Luke & Margie and he and his mother have remained in or near top positions so far. Same for an injured and aging father traveling with his not-so strong son (Mel & Mike). The father is struggling to keep up and sometimes you wonder if he will drop dead. Or is it just an old gay drama queen about to come out?
If I had to continue my tradition of predicting the next team to be eliminated then I have a tough choice to make. The top team is now at the bottom. The bottom of the past couple legs managed to step ahead a couple positions. The team with the “weakest” contestant is Mel & Mike with the old man struggling through most of the heavy tasks. It is not going to get any easier as this race goes on. So I will continue my weekly predictions and I have to say that we will have another “first to worst” situation next week with Mel & Mike being eliminated or at least in last place. That is my prediction. Mel his son Mike.
If they are eliminated they will be fine. Mel needs some rest and you know the eliminated racers have that hidden retreat to hang out at while everyone else lives the rough life in a quest for a million dollars. Hey, it’s still a good “free” vacation.
WE shall see next week. I will try to blog a little sooner after the broadcast.
Have a good week!
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