The Amazing Race 9: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Episode 10: I {Heart) Stupid T-Shirts

Quick shout out to Brent and the guys from the school – had a great time talking with you the other day, hope we can do it again very soon!

For being such a polite, entertaining season with a lot of nice, likeable teams, this race sure has degenerated quickly, hasn’t it? I suppose that’s a testament to how rough this season has been. It seems that way, anyway. Have the challenges seemed harder, or is it an illusion brought on by the wimpy challenges in the Family Edition?

The Good:

Where Did the Cabs Go?: While a very sneaky and underhanded move, I have to congratulate the Frats on canceling the other cabs. It didn’t work out so well in that their cab didn’t show up, but on the bright side, it caused everyone to blame Joseph, so it was a kind of lose-win – until they fessed up to it later.

Anyone else notice the name they game the cab dispatcher, Doug Brubaker, was an alias used by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie Total Recall?

Yes, it’s sleazy. Yes, it’s dirty. But it’s as legal as stealing someone else’s cab or giving someone bad directions – quite different from actual physical interference or sabotaging cars by slashing tires, for example. If there’s not a rule against it, it’s fair game, and the other racers should be ready for it. After Boston Rob in Season 7, there’s no excuse for teams NOT to be prepared for a snake. I agree that when you get down to four, the race has to change. No more helping the other teams out, no more sharing. But there is a limit to this – more on that in The Bad.

Not much good this week, shockingly.

Oh, Almost Forgot: I wanted to give Ray & Yolanda a special mention, who got their crap together and raced a good race. Congratulations.

The Bad:

Well, It Turns Out: I was wrong, and the Hippies DID directly threaten Mojo with a yield if they didn’t give them money. I have to think this was a bad move, and you saw why during the episode. It put Mojo on the defensive and put heat on the Hippies themselves, which was made even worse when the yield actually happened.

The worst part is, it wasn’t even necessary. As I said last week, the Hippies had to know that begging for money would be no problem, and they also had to know that Frankenberry were more or less guaranteed to give them something. Mojo’s money would have made absolutely no difference. The Hippies should know, as much as any other team, that you shouldn’t create enemies when you don’t need to!

And What’s Worse: It seems it happens every season – someone gets yielded and they spend the rest of the time whining and pouting and crying about how “unfair” and, in Monica’s case, “scummy” it is to yield someone. It’s already been said but I’ll say it again – It’s part of the race, STUPID. Deal with it. I’d hate to play a game like “Sorry” with Monica. Every time you sent her piece back to start, you’d get a whole dramatic production. It’s a game, there are rules, you lost. Tough. If you don’t like it, next time, win.

There’s a good way and a bad way to handle it. The good way is, when the other team comes back to wish you good luck, to say, “You too, have fun while you can, because once we’re out of here, we’re going to come back and pass you like Road Runner.” Or words to that effect. I’ve never been good at trash-talk. The bad way is to cry, and turn your back on the other team and pretend they’re not there, and say that you’d beat them down if you weren’t in the race and later flip them off while driving. Frankly, I have my doubts that Joseph could beat down Frankenberry without help, but that’s neither here nor there. I know he supposedly goes out drinking to get into fights, but I have a hard time believing anything anyone says on the race, especially at this point.

By the way, do you actually think Mojo wouldn’t have used the yield had they gotten to the mat first? Me either.

According to the Insider footage, the Hippies apologized on the mat and Monica accepted. You actually think that’ll last? Me either.

I’m Sorry, But…: “I {Heart} Spinning”? What in the holy blue f*** is THAT about?

Can you imagine Monica packing for the Race? “Oh, I have to take my ‘I {Heart} Spinning’ shirt so that the national TV audience knows exactly how I feel!” I mean, I’m not saying that “Puerto Rico Suave” is the best t-shirt ever, but it’s at least FUNNY.

My fiancée’s daughter has a shirt that says “Dancers are cuter than cheerleaders.” Her son has a shirt that says “We’re not happy until you’re not happy.” I have a shirt that says “People like you are the reason people like me need medication.” My fiancée has a shirt that says “I Refuse.” All of which are funny and show a bit of our personality. “I {Heart} Spinning”? What does that even MEAN?

Seriously, I’m missing something. Sure, fire the emails and tell me I need to chill out. But think about it. She actually NOT ONLY made the choice to BUY the shirt, but had to actually pick out the shirt to wear on national TV. SPINNING!

The Woe of Ray: While I’m glad that Yolanda has moved past her berating Ray for the incredibly heinous crime of uttering the foul curse word “damn” in her general direction, I must say that her current path of abuse is even more troubling. While a little bit of playful banter is healthy, Yolanda seems to be taking every opportunity to put Ray down. What’s worse, she keeps looking right at the camera when she does it.

The only thing I can figure is that she’s desperately trying to “prove” her superiority over Ray by embarrassing him, talking about moving out, describing his bodily noises, etc., and making sure everyone knows it. While Yolanda is hardly the worst female partner ever on the Race – or even in this season – she isn’t anyone I’d want to be with for any length of time.

The Ugly:

What Happened to the Hippies?: Ever since the non-elimination leg, they’ve been ultra-competitive, in a bad way. They’ve done a complete 180, not just turning off the charm, but turning ON the hostility. Threatening to yield Mojo, trying to steal cabs (and Tyler getting mad at BJ for getting out of the car! What’s up with that? The cabbie wouldn’t have taken them!), Tyler not letting BJ have his shoes for the run to the mat (I would demand that Tyler hand his shoes over if I were BJ), and generally being annoying.

Again, I just have to question the maturity of it. And this childishness begats more childishness, like Joseph offering a kiss from Monica to the befuddled airline attendant (who looked like he wanted to run away from those two loonies) because they wanted to beat the Hippies that badly. Then there was the cab canceling incident, which much as I loved it, was essentially childish.

It’s not good racing anymore.

Mike DeGeorge is an Accountant from St. Louis and is also Associate Editor for RealityNewsOnline. You can reach Mike at rno.mike@gmail.com.

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