The Amazing Race 9, Episode 8 Preview

Six of the 11 teams on this season of The Amazing Race have already faced off with Phil and walked away losers. Five teams remain, and all ten racers are diverse, giving us an interesting group of racers to root for or boo at. Some have gotten ahead thanks to luck, while others have struggled to stay in the race because of stupid mistakes or simply the misfortune that comes from other teams having luck. Eric & Jeremy and BJ & Tyler have consistently finished in the top two, partly thanks to circumstances out of their control. This means the other teams have had to work extra hard to keep up.

Will things continue in this vein in the eighth episode? Will those who coasted with ease thanks to tasks and navigation continue to stay ahead? Or will they finally catch a bad break (or, as some might hope, get slapped upside the head by karma)? Unfortunately, I can’t divulge that information, as I’ve been sworn to secrecy. But Wednesday night is fast approaching and you’ll have all of your answers soon.

I can report that the teams are heading to the Middle East this week, specifically Oman. Conditions there are more brutal than what the racers have been used to so far. For one thing, the sun is unforgiving, and this leg’s roadblock requires one member of each team to be under it for a potentially long time. Will that hurt any of the teams’ chances of making it to the mat before the others? Or will they just play on as they have been?

Even though much of this season has taken place in non-English-speaking countries, the racers haven’t seemed to have much trouble with language barriers. They’ve always been able to find an English-speaker or muddle through with an attempt at speaking another language. Reading signs was probably not too much of a problem either, since Italian, Spanish, and German all use the Roman alphabet. But the official language of Oman is Arabic, so reading signs is definitely much more difficult there for English-speakers. Will this cause any problems? And will the Americans have any trouble getting Middle Easterners to help them out?

If you’ve been missing comedic animals (practically a staple of The Amazing Race) this season, not to worry – one of the tasks requires the transportation of an animal that has no problem voicing its opinions. Look for some animal comedy gold. Also in the comedy category, a trailing team decides to entertain themselves by impersonating eliminated contestants. Leave it to these teams to find moments to be lighthearted in the midst of a grueling race.

The first part of this season has been somewhat monotonous – every week, either Tyler & BJ or Jeremy & Eric come in first, and whichever one doesn’t comes in second. Will that pattern hold? Or will things finally be shaken up? Like I said, I can’t spill. Tune in Wednesday at 8 p.m. EST to find out!

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out these other Amazing Race 9 Episode 7 articles:

Jenn Brasler is an Assistant Editor of Reality News Online and an aspiring writer from Falls Church, VA. You can e-mail her at luckyjenn@hotmail.com. She hopes the second half of the season is more exciting and unpredictable.

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