The Amazing Race 10: The Finish Line, Episode 3

I'm sorry to say that this week Peggy Bunker and Jon Weiss are talking to Duke & Lauren, the father-daughter duo. I really thought these two had a shot at it and I appreciated how Duke was working on getting passed some of his prejudiced thinking to bond with his daughter. Sigh.

Ah, well, on with the show! This week Peggy's wearing a cute black and gray striped sweater, while Jon sports a gray striped button-down over a red shirt. Peggy welcomes us to the show. Jon says he thought there were some excellent moments in this episode. Peggy says racers are hitting their stride and that it was great to see Erwin & Godwin come in first this week. Jon says they made all thirty of the coal patties all wrong and had to do them all over, but they persevered. He thought the moment they spent in front of John McCain's suit was very special. Peggy notes McCain was held there for five years and only two teams took a moment to appreciate the prison – Tom & Terry being the other team. Jon says that you do want to take brief moments on the race, because who knows if you'll ever be back again. Peggy says that she thought it was interesting seeing the racers in Vietnam when we're at war again right now.

Jon thought it was interesting seeing David reflecting on his father's experiences in Vietnam. He was so emotional about it that he seemed distracted on this leg, but they made it through so it's okay. Peggy says she got to understand more of what Mary is about and thought she was great.

We now go to a clip of the teams trying to cross that busy road on the leg. We see Tyler & James' “Frogger” comment (that is a good game!) and we see Kimberly almost get mowed down by a motorbike. Jon notes it can get really chaotic on the race and that was a good example of it. Jon says Korea and India were the most chaotic on his race. It's dangerous!

Peggy says crossing the dangerous street wasn't the only thing that went on this week. Cue Jon's Ringmaster Recap! He still seems a bit stilted as he goes through a quick recap of this week's episode. Jon calls Godwin “Goodwin” on his recap. He apologizes afterwards.

Peggy declares that they now have Duke & Lauren in the house! Then she says, “well, sort of.” In fact, Peggy, Duke & Lauren are decidedly not in the house, since they're joining us by phone. Duke & Lauren say hello. Peggy asks how they feel about their run in the race. Duke says it was the luck of the draw and they ran a good race. Lauren agrees. Duke notes there is a lot of luck on the race.

Jon asks about the lady from the race – specifically why they didn't get rid of her! Duke says he met her on the plane. She was a tour guide in Vietnam and had to escort the folks on her tour to their bus. Peggy says it must have been frustrating. Lauren was shocked when the lady asked to go to her brother's house first. Duke then notes that it actually still worked out for them because they were the first team to the Hanoi Hilton despite all of that. Interesting! I wonder how that happened?

Jon says he's sure a lot of people felt like he did, thinking, “c'mon! Get rid of the girl!” But sometimes it's hard to tell the real effect of certain actions on the race, and this actually helped them.

Unfortunately, The Finish Line player now refuses to allow me to view a part of the show. Since I've started and re-started half a dozen times and can't get the first part of the episode to show again, we'll just have to continue on. May I pause to say that the CBS website still shows ample signs of suckitude? Although at least you can now click on The Finish Line to watch it – or at least part of it. That's something.

Peggy now takes us to the phone lines for a chat with our old pal Jamison from Massachusetts. He sure likes chatting with Amazing Racers! Apparently, Duke & Lauren are already on the line... although I don't believe Peggy ever introduced them. Odd. Anyway, Jamison tells the duo that they're his favorite parent-child racers of all time. Duke & Lauren graciously thank him. He asks about the time when Duke & Lauren were at the kiosk at the Forbidden City and Lauren joked that the last team might be eliminated.

Lauren answers by saying she knew there were twelve teams instead of the normal eleven, so she thought there would be an extra elimination at some point, but she really didn't think it would be then. Jon says that Phil told the racers there would be surprises on the race and that was one of them. But so was getting no money for the most recent leg. Jon says he loved that! Lauren notes that, typically, that only happens if you're a team that was last, but not-eliminated – or, as Lauren calls it, in a “non-elim.” Peggy chuckles at the race slang. She notes that they only had $11 left over from the previous legs, so money was a big issue for them.

There's now a call from Donna in Pennsylvania. She asks about when Duke was selling the flowers and if they could keep the money from that enterprise. As Phil clearly pointed out on the episode, they were allowed to keep that money. Nice question, Donna. Jon says he thought that was a nice way to get the teams some money for the rest of that leg. Peggy says that if Duke had been out their long enough, he would have made millions! She says he clearly has a knack for selling.