The Amazing Race 16: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Episode 5 – “We’re Not Stupid People”

The Good

• The brothers were so happy to be able to drive a car with automatic transmission! And I was almost equally as happy to not have to write about them screwing up because they didn’t know how to drive a stick-shift.
• That was an awesome Detour! A whole World War I reenactment going on around them (even if some of the racers thought it was World War II – sheesh) with biplanes and bombs and shooting – that may have been the best one ever.
• Jordan should know that you shouldn't talk while your mouth is full! Gotta give props to the producers for adding the subtitle of "?????" when she was eating the baguette, running down the street, and trying to say something to Jeff. Ha!
• Jeff & Jordan were incredibly lucky to survive this leg. I thought they were doomed throughout most of this episode and that this was not going to be an “edge of our seat” ending, but rather a “this is so obvious we’re not even going to try to hide it” leg. This was not only because they got lost and bumbled through the leg, but because there just wasn’t much of an opportunity in this leg for them to make up time, even under the best of circumstances – and adding in the Speed Bump on top of all their other problems was definitely not the best of circumstances! So they were just lucky that Joe pissed off the detectives and that Joe & Heidi were so incompetent at the Morse code challenge.

The Bad

• While U-Turning Joe & Heidi was the only thing that kept Jeff & Jordan in the race, I don’t think it was the right strategic move at the time. Yes, I understand that the detectives thought Joe needed to be humbled, but these decisions need to be made based on strategy, not emotion (the same as if they were in Survivor or Big Brother, games that are more strategy-driven). Joe was already injured and had shown that injury could negatively affect him in physical tasks. Meanwhile, there were several other able-bodied and fairly smart teams the detectives could have U-Turned instead. I do wonder if the cops are about to become the villains, since we got the standard reality show villain "didn't come here to make friends" quote from them!
• I can’t believe Jeff & Jordan got lost right out of the gate! As if they didn’t have enough problems coming from the back of the pack, they messed themselves up as well.
• And how many hints to the location of the baguette clue did Jeff need? The chef was pointing right to the center of the baguette when Jeff asked about the clue, and did it several times! Sheesh.
• Brent & Caite failed to follow the directional sign or pick up their clue after the Detour! They were another team that was very lucky – heck, they didn’t even lose a place in the race (though of course they lost time). Once again, though, we saw the not-so-bright side of the dating models.
• Joe & Heidi just could not get that message, no matter how hard they tried. But Heidi assured us, “We’re not stupid people.” Well… I don’t see how they ended up with the messages they brought forward, considering what the answer turned out to be. I mean, most of them weren’t even close! They had such a huge lead on Jeff & Jordan, but they just couldn’t pull themselves together.

The Ugly

• In addition to getting lost right away, Jeff & Jordan began bickering almost right off the bat. The further they fell behind, the worse the bickering got. And my goodness, Jordan was whiny! Her hat didn’t fit right. Her boots didn’t fit right. Whine, whine, whine! It was, well, ugly.
• Carol & Brandy also went back to their bickering ways, what with complaining about getting dirty on the Detour and then yelling while riding the bikes. This does not bode well for them in future legs.
• Joe apparently made one off the cuff comment on the bus about how he wasn’t worried about anybody – and that’s what got them U-Turned and eliminated. Yikes. There is an ugly moment he will look back on and wonder just how different things might have been if he’d just kept his mouth shut.

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