No second NFL game on CBS this week which means for those of us on the East Coast, THE AMAZING RACE began at its scheduled time of 8pm! YAY!
This leg began without the team I most disliked on this season. Lance & Keri were eliminated and have gone away to the “Elimination Station” to enjoy as Lance says is a “free vacation”. Well I’m happy for them. Actually I am happy they are gone!
The teams didn’t have any major traveling to do on this leg. This leg began and ended in Dubai with Meghan & Cheyne having a large lead over other teams because of their successful “fast forward” from the previous leg. They left the pit-stop around 8:40am and the last team left the pit-stop three hours later..
Teams chose a briefcase and took it to a marina for their first clue which was a “roadblock” task requiring a team member to take an inflatable rowboat out to a yacht where they were given a watch then return to the marina and use the time that the watch is set to as their code to unlock their briefcase and retrieve their next clue. On the way to the marina, the Harlem Globetrotters “Flight Time & Big Easy” had their first setback on the race thanks to their taxi driver taking them to the wrong location. Then we were treated to the amusing view of an extremely large man in a small inflatable boat that he struggled to navigate with the oars but instead used his big hands and arms to row the boat.
“Flight Time and Big Easy” were the only team who couldn’t figure out the correct code for the briefcase. Instead of using the time on the watch, they came up with some crazy idea of adding the numbers where the hands of the watch pointed to and using whatever figure that was, then when didn’t work, they just counted down from there. And went from being in third place to last.
After teams got their clue from the briefcase the teams had to travel to a water taxi station for the “detour” task choices of “gold” where teams had to weigh gold according to the frequently changing gold stock prices on a display monitor or “glass” where teams had to assemble 12 “hookahs”, as in “smoking glass”. Each of these tasks required precision calculations and teams struggled to meet the approval of their judges. After several failed attempts, Brian & Ericka changed tasks.
After the “detour”, teams went to a water slide center where they would have to slide down into a shark infested water tank. This is where Mika’s fear of heights led to a meltdown between her and her partner Canaan. Mika & Canaan. Canaan begged, yelled and even tried to push Mika onto the water slide and she kicked and screamed, refusing to do anything and then the Globetrotters arrived in last place encouraging Mika to give up the water slide. Canaan's response was to tell the Globetrotters that they were being "pieces of crap" for doing that.
Now that another team was waiting there was a 2 minute policy in place. Mika sat on the edge of the water slide refusing to move because her fear with Canaan begging her to go and The Globetrotters begging her NOT to go. When the 2 minute deadline came, Mika had to step aside and the Globetrotters wasted no time diving for the waterslide grabbing that next clue. Canaan, frustrated and knowing it was all over decided to go down the water slide hoping Mika would follow and she did not.
After finishing the water slide, teams went to the nearby “Dolphin Bay Beach” for the next pit-stop and without missing a beat or losing any part of their lead, Meghan & Cheyne were the first team at the pit-stop and for their first place win they each won a personal watercraft.
The arrivals at the pit-stop were as follows and contained some surprises
SECOND: Maria & Tiffany who I predicted for elimination had no problem with any of the tasks on this leg and surged forward to their best ranking so far in the race
THIRD: Sam & Dan have been more of an alliance with Maria & Tiffany for the past couple legs and their close arrival at the pit-stop continues that.
FOURTH: Brian & Ericka were fast despite a few minor complications
FIFTH: Gary & Matt, with Matt relieved to have a cooling off from the extreme heat of Dubai.
SIXTH: “Flight Time & Big Easy” after Mika’s refusal to go down the water slide, the Harlem Globetrotters were spared elimination. But they are now in last place and capable of catching up.
This means the last team was Mika and a forgiving Canaan who acknowledged the Mika was crippled with fear and could not overcome her fear of heights and that fear led to their elimination from The Amazing Race.
So again I have failed to predict the elimination but viewers shouldn’t be surprised at the results of this episode. If you can’t complete a task then you are not going to go far on The Amazing Race.
As for my weekly predictions for next elimination of The Amazing Race. I kind of have fun doing it every week and I admit that my predictions are mostly wishes for elimination. But I try my best to be honest with my predictions based on performance and current position. But as this episode proved, you can go from the top to the bottom in one leg of the race especially if you make a big screw up like “Flight Time & Big Easy” did in this leg. So if I were to consider that then I would go with the weakest team for the next elimination.
I still think that weakest team right now is Maria & Tiffany. I think they are only still in the race because there was no travel or extremely hard physical tasks to complete. This leg of the race was more for the brains than for the brawn and with Maria & Tiffany being professional poker players, their ability to calculate and make decisions helped them maintain during this leg of the race but I don’t think they will survive the next two legs. I am going with my prediction for Maria &Tiffany as the next elimination.
So I made my prediction based more on who I think are the weakest teams. The previews for next weeks broadcast show Brian & Ericka having problems, mainly Ericka having her meltdown. And I wouldn’t be surprised if that happened despite their being a stronger team than either Gary & Matt or Maria & Tiffany. But I am not counting them out yet.
Predicting which teams are likely for the final three, I feel sure that Meghan & Cheyne will definitely make the final three with a strong chance of winning The Amazing Race. They do have a good lead at the moment but of course the “great amazing race team equalizer” will kick in at any time in the form of a flight schedule or closed location that would allow the teams to catch up. But if any team can keep up and make up for lost time, Meghan & Cheyne can do it. I also think Sam & Dan will make the final three but they have to cut their alliance with Maria & Tiffany and focus on being more competitive instead of just looking cute in bathing suits.
Two other teams I think have a chance at making the final three with question marks are Brian & Ericka and “Flight Time & Big Easy”. They have the physical ability but I don’t think they have the full brain ability. They have made mistakes that cost time during the race. The Globetrotters made the biggest of those mistakes but everyone knows it will be hard to outrun them and many teams want them to be eliminated so it would be easier for them. I think the competitive spirit will keep them alive. Brian & Erika will make it to the final three more out of luck than ability. When I get down to just predicting only three teams for the final three, Brian & Ericka are likely to not make that list.
This leaves me with the two next teams to be eliminated. I already picked Maria & Tiffany for the next elimination but Gary & Matt won’t be far behind. Its not that I don’t like them. Right now, there are no teams that I dislike remaining on the race. I just don’t see Gary & Matt out running any team left on the race. I do think it would be cool if they did. Imagine seeing a big pink haired man winning The Amazing Race. As one of the “ugly” out of shape people in this world, I would not mind one bit is someone uglier than I am won this contest.
And that’s all I have to say about The Amazing Race this week. I will have to rely on accurate recording of next week’s broadcast as I will be wrapping up some responsibilities out of town next Sunday. I am planning on backup systems to record so I don’t miss next week. And my blog may be a couple days in coming but I’ll be back with more Amazing Race impressions next week.
And finally, this commercial message featuring one of the contestants of The Amazing Race. Brian is the first person you’ll see in this video in a commercial for KRYSTAL restaurants.
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