The Amazing Race, Episode 3 MVPs and LVPs: Cargo Class is Overbooked

In Episode 3 of The Amazing Race, the teams arrived at the airport to find that most of the early flights were already booked. Similarly, as I was watching the show and thinking about which teams belonged in Cargo Class this week, it became increasingly apparent to me that Cargo Class was quickly going to book up, because there were several racers this week who really deserved the award. Unfortunately, First Class, the spot for the best behaved, smartest, most strategic racers looked pretty wide open. But just as only one team can really be the very worst and belong in Cargo Class, one team has to be the best and belongs in First Class. Let’s hand out those awards and see how this shakes down, shall we?

Let’s start with the dishonorable mentions for the Cargo Class award, shall we? I’d like to give a special “Just Drop It Already” award to Karli, Kami, Chip, and Kim for the now-heated rivalry that started in Episode 2. As you’ll recall, the two teams reached a taxicab at the same time, and neither one of them was willing to give it up until a second cab came. That seems only reasonable to me; I wouldn’t just give up the cab at a crucial part of the race, and I’d certainly understand why a rival team would feel the same way. But instead, the two teams decided to scuttle the alliance they’d formed just a short time before, and the rivalry from this non-incident carried through into this episode. Karli and Kami griped about Chip the entire time (seems Kim is immune to their wrath). And Chip fanned the flames by yelling some comment to them every chance he got. The entire thing is just ridiculous, and it needs to stop.

The next dishonorable mention goes to Marshall and Lance. To give credit where it’s due, Marshall and Lance handled their flat tire really well. Finding out you have a flat is never fun, and to have to change a tire on the side of the road in the dark and in the middle of a race would be incredibly stressful, especially if, like the two brothers, you’ve never changed a tire before. Unfortunately, that pretty much ended Marshall and Lance’s grace under pressure. They had a dust-up with Mirna over standing in line at the airport, and one of the guys vowed revenge. Vowing revenge is one thing; getting that revenge by yelling, “Bitch” at her out the window of a moving car is another. If they wanted to get revenge by passing her team bad information, or even just by beating them in the end, that would fall into the category of being just part of the race. But yelling nasty words out the car window is not only obnoxious, it’s also really weak. If you want to put Mirna down, walk right up to her and do it. Be a man.

The brothers further cemented their dishonorable mention during the chocolate challenge. Marshall volunteered to bite the chocolates and look for the white center. When he had trouble finding one, Marshall had such a meltdown over that chocolate that he could have made fondue. Sure, it had to be frustrating to watch other teams pass him, but it’s not like he had to do anything physically or mentally challenging. If you can’t handle the stress of eating chocolate, you might as well throw in the towel now.

But without a doubt, the winners of the Cargo Class award this week were Mirna and (to a lesser extent) Charla. They started out by having an alliance with Brandon and Nicole because they are all “God-fearing people.” Charla and Mirna were kind enough to make sure their friends got out of the mud okay before they continued on to the airport. The two of them were in the lead and went in the wrong direction at an intersection. They quickly realized that they were lost, and Mirna complained that because they trusted another team, they were lost. Nope, not so, Mirna. You were the lead car – you got lost because you went in the wrong direction. And frankly, it doesn’t surprise me that they went in the wrong direction, because they’ve gotten lost so many times already. They got lost on the way to the airport in Episode 1, on the way to the disco in Episode 2, and then found themselves lost again in Episode 3 (and that’s not even a complete list). Here’s a tip to anyone considering applying for the next season of The Amazing Race: Learn to read a freaking map before you go. As for Brandon and Nicole’s supposed betrayal, the two of them noticed that Charla and Mirna weren’t with them. Brandon said that although Charla and Mirna didn’t catch up, they couldn’t slow down too much because the other teams were behind them. That leads me to believe that they did slow down, but didn’t wait around forever for the other team to catch up to them, which to me is only reasonable.

Once at the airport, this God-fearing team exposed their hypocritical side. Marshall and Lance discovered a quicker flight, and the two of them immediately butted to the front of the line. That would be well and good and in the name of fair play if they weren’t constantly claiming the moral high ground. To make matters even worse, when they were trying to get as high as possible on the standby list for an early flight, Charla claimed that she needed to get on the flight so she could see the doctor. I hate it ordinarily when teams claim that they need to get somewhere in a hurry because “it’s an emergency.” It’s a lie, plain and simple, and it exploits the sympathies of people who are just trying to do their job. Charla’s claiming that she had a medical emergency took that lie to another level. At that moment, Charla and Mirna landed themselves squarely in Cargo Class.

Like I said, there was a long line for Cargo Class this week, but considerably more room in First Class. I considered giving the First Class award to Jim and Marsha, for staying as positive as possible despite the fact that they were well behind the other teams. But the fact of the matter is, Marsha employed some pretty lousy airport strategy, and I can’t award First Class to a team just because I like them. The same goes for Bob and Joyce. This couple is a delight to watch. They’re strong, they work hard, and they clearly admire and respect each other, which is refreshing compared to the way some of the other teams treat each other. But other than being nice people, they didn’t do anything spectacular and only finished in fourth place, just above the middle.

Instead, the First Class Award belongs to our first place finishers, Colin and Christie. The two of them did a couple of very smart things on this leg of the race. First, when several teams were lost on the way to the airport, Colin and Christie stopped to work together with them. Back in the car, Colin admitted that this was a strategic move – help other teams early in the race in the hopes that they’ll help his team later on. The team’s timing couldn’t have been better. It was the very beginning of that leg of the race, so it was likely that the teams would end up bunching up at some point, so even if he and Christie had gained a few minutes, the other teams would have caught up with them anyway. Plus the teams that he and Christie were helping were other middle of the pack teams, no one who seemed likely to surge ahead and win. Making a few friends can only help them. The other smart thing they did was to ask the ticketing agent to put them at the top of the standby list for the first flight. The worst that could have happened would have been that she’d tell them no, which wouldn’t be a big deal. Instead, the best outcome came of it, which was that they got on the first flight and gained a time advantage over most of the teams. Once they did that, they raced solidly through every challenge that was thrown at them and easily came in first place and First Class.

That’s it for this week’s awards. Charla and Mirna won the parade of losers to get the Cargo Class Award, and Colin and Christie played incredibly well and won First Class. Who will get the awards next? I’ll see you here next week to answer that question!

Betsy is the Associate Editor of RealityNewsOnline and can be reached with any comments at betsyw42@hotmail.com.

Be sure to sign up for our e-mail update so you can stay informed about new articles on the site! And take a look at the rest of the site. You can find out about some other popular shows at our The Amazing Race 5 page and our Last Comic Standing page; and don't miss The Reality TV Hall of Shame. You can even buy reality show stuff at our Reality TV Store!

For more news about reality TV, be sure to check out SirLinksALot!