The Amazing Race 8: The Finish Line, Episode 10

Sarah welcomes us to the show and compliments Jon on his snazzy attire. He does look good in a suit and tie, but it is a stark contrast to Sarah’s jeans and casual shirt. He’s even wearing a pink shirt. A salute to the Godlewskis, perhaps, who have been called the Pink Ladies? Sarah reminds us that the finale of TAR8 will air Tuesday from 9-11 PM Eastern, and afterwards there will be a special Finish Line with all three of the remaining families. She then introduces the Godlewskis - all of whom once again have pink in their wardrobe - and notes that Christine is wearing a shirt that says “I’ve Been PHILiminated.” Sarah thinks all the teams should get one, and Christine says they are available on the CBS Web site.

Sarah says the sisters came a lot farther than a lot of people expected, and asks if they would have done anything differently last night. Nobody answers, so Jon asks Christine to answer. She says it will drive you crazy if you try to second guess yourself but the first detour they chose (building the teepee) was very difficult. There were no instructions, they just had to look at a completed teepee and try to copy that. The other teams didn’t make any errors, but they did, and once they got behind they couldn’t catch up. Sarah says the teepee part did take a long time but Jon says they were working together as a team and did a lot of things right. Everybody had something to do and it seemed to work well. He continues that they were hoping it would have happened sooner in the race but it didn’t really affect them overall.

Sarah says teamwork has been Jon’s continued mantra this season, and asks if the Godlewskis had decided before the race who was going to fill different roles, such as driver, navigator, and team leader. Before they can answer, Jon says it didn’t seem like they had a leader, they would all put their efforts in but nobody took charge. Sharon says when it came to driving, she was used to driving an SUV and she and Michelle both drive stick shifts, so they handled most of that. But whenever it came to a task, they all had something to contribute so they just went with their skills. If someone wanted to take charge that was great, otherwise they all just kept working. Christine adds that she and Tricia felt like they were good with their map skills so they were comfortable navigating. But they still wanted someone double and triple checking because there was often more than one way to get where they needed to go.

I must pause to note that, even though I am using Real Player and not the CBS Media Player, my video keeps stalling but the audio is working fine. So if I get someone’s name wrong I apologize. I’ve been fighting with it for an hour and four reboots and I can’t get it to play smoothly. I’ll do my best with the audio and hope it clears up for Part 2. Sarah introduces a clip of Sharon and Michelle on the golf course roadblock. Nothing new there, just what we saw on the episode. The clip ends with the sisters on the mat being Philiminated and their parting words. Christine was surprised how Sharon treated her, and Sharon says she loves Chris but they don’t click and she didn’t expect the race to change that. (It’s one thing not to click, it’s another to be brutally and intentionally unkind. Granted at times Christine as annoying with her crying and whining, but most of the times they drove her to that point. My sister and I are very different people but we love and respect each other and would never cut each other down like Sharon did to Chris. Then again, we aren’t on The Amazing Race…)

Sarah asks why they wanted to do the race in the first place. I can’t tell who’s saying what but someone sarcastically asks, “Whose idea was this anyway?” Another sister replies that they wanted to win the million dollars. Someone else has been watching TAR since season one and always wanted to do it. When she heard they were casting a family edition she thought it would be great. Jon asks if after watching the race they look at each other a little bit differently because of what happened on the race and how everything fell into place. The sisters all say no. It wasn’t surprising to any of them how the others acted, but Chris admits she was a little shocked at how Michelle and Sharon acted towards her at times. But she realized that it was always at the intense moments when they were doing a roadblock or detour. They haven’t all lived together for 20 years, and here they were together for 24 hours a day and it can be very stressful. They didn’t realize how difficult it would be to all be together. Sarah appreciates that they admit they did it for the money, since so many people don’t, but it is obviously a big motivator. The sisters laugh that they didn’t think about the fact that there would be so much togetherness. They also appreciate all the phenomenal places they got to visit.

Jon notes that they finished the race in fourth place, and that’s where he and Al finished too. He says that knowing that they were that close to the chance to run for the million dollars has got to put a wrench in them and that’s it’s very frustrating. Sarah tells him not to make the Godlewskis feel bad. The sisters all laugh and tell Jon he’s not going to make them cry. Sharon (I think) says they all did go home and relive the race, and at times they have race dreams that make them think they are still in the race and they made different choices so there will be a different outcome. She specifically mentions the wheel vs. teepee detour, saying that once you fall so far behind three other teams who are racing well there is nothing you can do to catch up. She goes on to talk about the golf ball roadblock, saying they had only found two balls and the Weavers had already left so they knew they were very far behind and it was very stressful. That’s when the fighting started, because your heart physically sinks when the other teams leave you behind.