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The Amazing Race 15: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, Episode 4 – Thick with Irony
by David Bloomberg
-- 10/20/2009
This week’s column features a number of high (or low) points in each category, including several ironic notes. One of them features our not-so-dearly departed Lance, while another couple involved somebody who we’ve barely noticed on the show until now (recognize her, at right?).
Well, we can say with almost 100% certainty that after this week, Lance will never again darken the pages of this column with his ugly behavior. Did he make it in one last time, though? And what did he do that was actually good?! We’ve got a full plate this week in all three of our categories, including quotes of the week for each, so let’s get to it.
The Good
Lance is gone! Lance is gone!
Ironically, Lance was calmer this week than he has been the rest of his time on The Amazing Race. One reader suggested he must have taken a valium, but I think it was simply that he realized he was doomed, so there was not as much stress (though there still was some, as we’ll see below). I’ve seen this before in other people – even in myself. When you think you can win, you get more stressed; when you know you’re going to lose, there is no stress.
Four-by-fouring in the desert looked like a lot of fun.
Ski Dubai looked like even more fun – and I don’t even ski. The idea of indoor skiing in the desert is awesome – it’s amazing what our oil money can buy.
And on top of both of those, the Fast Forward done by Meghan and Cheyne (really just Cheyne) would have been awesome. It was a double-bonus – they got to have fun and jumped ahead. That’s a heck of a lot different from some previous Fast Forwards that have been punitive in nature in terms of what contestants had to do.
Best (or weirdest) quote of the episode: “When they find [the miniature snowman], they’ll give it to this polar bear for receive their next clue.”
The Bad
I can’t believe The Amazing Race gave in to the Dubai propaganda and claimed they have the tallest building. Chicago still has the tallest building in the former Sears Tower (I can’t remember what its new name is). Dubai’s building only jumped ahead because of its antenna.
Never mind! I was wrong!
The theme of this week’s episode was sharing, and there was a lot of it going on with information passed from one team to another. While it could be argued this was one of the reasons Lance & Keri were last, because they didn’t appear to have any friends from whom they could get information, it’s still not necessarily a good thing to share this much. Help those who you’re sure will help you back, and help those way back in the pack, but don’t help everybody just because you like them.
One case, in particular, was ridiculous – when Sam & Dan waited for Tiffany & Maria after Maria punctured her radiator. There was no need for the guys to hang around with them while they waited for a new car. And we didn’t see the ladies wait for the brothers after the Ski Dubai tasks were done.
I can’t believe there is only one Fast Forward on this whole season. C’mon, Race producers – there should be at least two!
Besides Lance & Keri not getting shared information, they also didn’t pay attention to the info they had, such as when they saw other teams running in a different direction when looking for their cars in a parking garage, yet they kept going in the wrong direction.
Most ironic quote of the episode: Mika saying, “I’m not stupid!” right after showing she didn’t know the difference between miles per hour and kilometers per hour.
The Ugly
While Lance definitely did tone it down, as already discussed, he still had a couple ugly moments. For example, why did he get so upset at Keri for trying to ask a local for directions early in the leg? Lord knows they needed them!
Later, he got so frustrated while looking for water in the desert that was saw him throwing things again – this time, a dry urn. Really? Throwing and breaking things? That’s your way of dealing with stress?
On a non-Lance note, I can’t believe Maria ran over a metal stake, busting her radiator. After their massive suck-out last week, this looked like a bad flop for them. But they got lucky and the new car arriving quickly acted like a favorable turn and river. (If you are unfamiliar with poker lingo, you can just skip this dotpoint and move on.)
Finally, we saw Mikapractically breaking down over her fear of heights. I don’t mean to belittle her, but c’mon – you didn’t really think you could make it through The Amazing Race without facing some sort of height-related challenge, did you? Of course, the irony was that she got all worked up about nothing. She was just lucky you didn’t have to rappel down the building or bungee-jump off it or something!
Dumbest quote of the episode: “The Persian Gulf isn’t even a country!” – Sam or Dan (I couldn’t tell which one). Um… Duh!
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