The Amazing Race 10: The Finish Line, Episode 2

Our cheerful hosts, Jon Weiss and Peggy Bunker are back to dish about the latest episode of The Amazing Race! Both hosts look crisp and clean in white shirts today. I have to give CBS some kudos today, because they actually added a direct link to The Finish Line on their videos page. Hurrah! This week Kellie & Jamie – the Cheerleaders – are actually going to appear on the show and not just phone their interview in.

The hosts start by talking about some of the problems the teams had in this leg. Peggy says that the cracks are starting to show in some of the teams. Jon says he loves watching the beginning when teams are really starting to bicker. Peggy comments on how much ground travel happened in this episode. Jon says that ground travel is really tough and the teams had to go over 900 miles by train this episode, travelling from China to outer Mongolia. I can't even imagine – but very cool!

We now go to our Ringmaster Recap. It goes a bit more smoothly this week, but Jon's piece is definitely still a work in progress. He gives us a quick rundown on this week's episode, ending with poor Kellie & Jamie's elimination. I know my male Amazing Race buddy was disappointed by their elimination!

Speaking of the cheerleaders, they now join us... by phone. Huh? I thought Peggy said they'd be in the studio! Does it cost too much to get the teams to come in now? Jon greets the girls by saying they did fantastically this leg... Um, Jon, they came in last. That's not fantastic. Jamie says the episode was very good, but it was hard to watch. They started crying while watching it. Kellie says that trying to shoot that arrow was the most frustrating thing she ever did! She says she shot 117 arrows before finally giving up and going to the Pit Stop. “The bow and arrow just were not my friend,” she finishes up. No kidding!

Peggy notes their car's battery went dead and they got lost a lot during the leg. The cheerleaders agree. Jamie says they got to the temple first, but then everything went wrong. They just think it wasn't meant to be. Peggy notes that both girls just got out of college and were new to world travel, but they just dove in and did it. Kellie says they were new to traveling, but they're both huge fans of The Amazing Race and decided they would run their own race. They decided not to just stay with other teams, but that ended up hurting them. If you stay with other teams, you know you're not in last by yourself. Possibly true, but if Kellie really couldn't do the bow and arrow then they would have lost anyway.

Jon says he and his race partner Al made that mistake a few times. If you're with another team you can say to yourself that at least you might be able to outrun them. Jamie says that, with hindsight, they should have stayed with the single moms to the end. Then Jamie believes that Kellie would have had the adrenaline rush to hit that target and they could have out run Lyn & Karlyn at the end. Kellie tried to complete the Roadblock at the end, but they already knew they had lost at that point, so that made it much harder.

Peggy says to the girls that even though they were only on the race for a short time, they managed to garner some fans. With that, she takes us to the first caller, Aldo from Michigan. Aldo greets the cheerleaders and asks how long the train ride to Mongolia was and how bad the jet lag was for them. Kellie says they had so much adrenaline going the whole time that the jet lag didn't really affect them at all. They were so excited and thrilled to be there that it didn't affect them. Peggy notes it was there inner cheerleader helping them out.

We now see a clip montage of the teams checking in to this week's Pit Stop. It's sad to see Kellie & Jamie looking so down as they finish the race in the dark after quitting the last Roadblock. They were always so upbeat during the race!

After the clip, Peggy says they look gorgeous even when they're crying. Kellie says her hands were bleeding and Jamie wanted to help her so bad. Jon notes that Jamie was extremely supportive of Kellie and that was great to see.

Peggy asks what they're doing now. Kellie says she's graduating in December and Jamie's working. Jon points out they had an experience that other people only dream of – and that they're part of the Amazing Race family now. Jamie notes that they learned they had to trust each other and depend on one another in the race and that it really raised their friendship to a new level.

Jamison from Massachusetts now calls in again. He says that the cheerleaders were his pick to win from the beginning. They apologize for disappointing him. He then says that the girls had a real bond with Tom & Terry and he wondered how that came about. The girls said they started bonding during the dancing challenge in China. Then they spent more time together on the train to Mongolia. Kellie says their personalities just really meshed well together and they were great. Jon notes that one of the times you really get to bond with other teams is on long train journeys like that. He says that, on his race, teams really bonded on a day-long train trip in India.

Jon asks if they formed alliances with any other teams. Jamie says she wouldn't say they did that, but they formed friendships with some teams and would have helped them out. Peggy asks if there were any teams they weren't friends with. Jamie says they didn't gel with Rob & Kimberly. They fought a lot, but were good people. They just don't like the fighting. Peggy comments that everyone saw Rob & Kimberly getting a bit snarky with each other this week. The girls think that happened a lot. Jon asks what other teams they liked. The girls say they liked Vipul & Arti. They also say the Coalminers, Mary & David, are quite nice – and, of course, they love Tom & Terry.