The Amazing Race 15: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, Episode 7 – The Last Straw
by David Bloomberg
-- 11/10/2009
This week featured the return of the ugliest challenge on The Amazing Race ever – looking for a needle (okay, a flag) in a haystack. How did the teams handle this task and others? Did any good come out of all this?
As regular readers know, I generally talk about the race in the order given within the column’s title – start with the good, end with the ugly. But sometimes the ugliness is such that I feel the need to discuss it first. Considering the way CBS played up the return of the ugliest task ever, this week it makes sense to go in reverse order.
The Ugly
Yes, it was the return of looking for a needle in a haystack. This Roadblock is just Ug-Ly. I’m not a fan of random tasks anyway, and this one was random plus physically difficult. I know it makes for great drama, but I hate what it does to the race itself…
…Because it can lead to results like Brian & Ericka coming in third place while Sam & Dan struggled into fourth after they had been far ahead – all due to complete and utter random luck rather than any race skill. Hate it, hate it, hate it.
If I hate it just watching from my couch, I can imagine how frustrated the racing partners had to have been. But still, that doesn’t excuse the behavior of one particular teammate. Dan: Shut. Up. I thought Sam was going to kill him. My wife asked me, “Why won’t he shut up?” My answer: “I don’t know.” As even Dan realized eventually, “I probably should have shut my mouth from the very beginning.” I do have to say, a lot of the ugliness was canceled out by Dan realizing how much of a jerk he had been.
The Bad
Ericka shared with us that her mom had issues with her being married to “a white guy.” Really? That’s sad in so many ways.
I would have had a real problem with the amusement park ride. I mean, I’d have done it – I’m no Mika – but my stomach wouldn’t have been happy about it!
Two teams got screwed by trains taking off while they were still getting their tickets, just barely missing them. It didn’t really matter for the Globetrotters, who caught up at the Detour, but it put Gary & Matt in a horrible position and they didn’t do anything wrong, as far as we saw.
I don’t understand why Cheyne clammed up when Megan asked if he wanted to do the Road Block. This was obviously a very physical task, so asking her to compete with the stronger guys was not a bright idea.
Understatement of the race: Matt telling his father, “That’s not a good sign,” when Sam found the flag.
I normally wouldn’t do this, but with the preview for next week showing Matt having no clue what a candelabra is, I’m going to give him a mention here in the Bad section ahead of time. I’ll also add, “That’s not a good sign.”
The Good
Happy birthday, Flight Time! Big Easy gave him the best present he could have – the first flag in a haystack and first place at the Pit Stop (not to mention a resort trip)!
Once again, it was smart of Cheyne and Sam to work together to make sure they saw the arrow from the amusement park ride. This ensured they stayed ahead of their biggest threat, the Globetrotters – at least for a little while. Plus, frankly, if they hadn’t teamed up and one had spotted it, the other likely would have just followed them anyway.
We got to see one of the coolest Detours ever – blowing stuff up! Who the heck would rather use the Viking alphabet instead of dynamite?! Obviously nobody. I hope the producers didn’t put too much work into the Viking one.
Sam & Dan were smart to figure out that it was quicker to use their hands to push sand into the sandbags at the Detour rather than using the little shovels – and they compounded that move by also being smart enough to hide that information from the other two teams who were there with them. Sometimes you want to share information, sometimes you want to keep it to themselves. Overall, they’ve done a pretty decent job of being able to determine which is which.
Even after spending hours on the Roadblock, Meghan had the energy to play a prank on Cheyne by pretending to quit and then handing him the flag. Ha!
Brian & Ericka actually made a smart move – realizing they needed help with directions and hiring a taxi to guide them to the Detour. Meanwhile, Gary & Matt went around in circles for a while before finally getting some help.
My favorite teams right now: The Harlem Globetrotters and brothers. The latter fell in my personal standings a bit due to Dan’s inability to leave Sam alone, but then rose back up again at the Pit Stop.
I complained, above, about the random nature of the Road Block – but at least the producers were wise enough to make this a non-elimination round. It will be tough for the father/son teams to come back from their deficit, but at least they have a chance.
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