The Amazing Race 10: The Finish Line, Episode 9

Peggy Bunker and Jon Weiss are here to greet us as usual. At this point they’re as familiar as an old blanket... and for some reason, Jon's hair looks like he's been rubbing it in an old blanket too! It's odd. Sort of Ryan Seacrest wannabe. Peggy says a favorite team from Season 10 will be joining our intrepid hosts in the studio today. But Peggy keeps us on tenterhooks, refusing to say which team. She also declares that this week the models mud wrestled for a million! I don’t know what show Peggy’s watching, but I didn’t see any wrestling.

After the intro sequence, Peggy gives up the information. It's Tom & Terry. Of course, given CBS's keen eye for a buck it's no wonder this is the team back. They live in New York City where the show is taped. And, of course, Peggy is old pals with Tom! Tom & Terry look thrilled to be back. They wave and cheer themselves enthusiastically. Everyone agrees that this week's show was action-packed. Terry notes that the six pack alliance is starting to crumble, and Peggy says it had to happen some time.

Jon looks very angst-ridden as he says the Chos were bothering him this week. He wanted them to forget about Lyn & Karlyn and get moving already. They just sat there in line while they watched the other teams go ahead. I agree with Jon here. The Chos could have offered money to the person in the lead to switch places with them or otherwise tried to get someone to switch places – thus allowing them to hurry without feeling like jerks. Jon continues, saying the Chos need to pep it up a little.

Tom notes that the Chos just continue to wait for other teams, but Tom thinks that's starting to change now. Peggy agrees. She says now that David & Mary are gone, that the absence of their kind, sweet-heartedness will cause a change. And, frankly, even the Chos have to realize it's getting too late in the game to wait for other teams. I hope so. Peggy agrees, saying there's a million bucks at stake here! Jon says yes! They raced hard on his season and he hasn't seen the Chos race hard yet. Terry steps in now to say that, in all fairness, the six pack alliance agreed to stay in their alliance until there were four teams left. But Tom says that, even though they were part of the alliance, there's no way they would wait for their grandmothers at this point!

Peggy agrees and then notes that it's ironic that right after David & Mary got kicked off the race they had a mining task! She says it would be like the blondes getting kicked out before a Maybelline convention. Heh. Jon says he would have loved to see them do that task. Tom notes a lot of teams gave David & Mary a shout out at the Roadblock. Terry says that Lyn & Karlyn did wear David's hat and the Chos wore the couple's “friends in low places” shirts on the leg. I noticed that and thought it was sweet.

Peggy says that they always try to get the dirt on teams in the studio. She says that Lyn & Karlyn are going to be in the studio eventually, so she doesn't want to be mean – Jon says he does – but she says, sotto voce, that they seem a little bit nasty. She asks if they really are, and Jon wants to know why they seem so miserable and if Karlyn really doesn’t want to be there. Tom says that she’s probably pretty private. He thought seeing Karlyn cry at getting the message from her daughter was the first time he saw her human side. Terry says she’s guarded, but they were kind to him and on the race. Tom thinks they’re honest and see some of the others as not being respectful. Jon calls Tom on this, saying Lyn & Karlyn’s line jumping was pretty rude. Terry agrees that Rob & Kimberly asked before jumping the line.

Peggy asks if Tom & Terry are glad they didn’t have to do such a physical leg. Tom says they thought the exact opposite! They know cross country skiing, so they would have been fine at the mud task. Terry doesn’t think the Roadblock looked too tough either, although I think pushing the bike with the brick on it back up out of the mine looked grueling. Jon and Peggy seem to agree with me, as they take us to a clip of the teams struggling to get their bikes up that hill, followed by James & Tyler doing the face-first rappelling.

The clip ends with Rob screeching at Kimberly to “get over here!” Peggy comments on Rob’s “Ike Turner” action in the clip and notes Rob’s term of endearment for his beautiful girlfriend, Kimberly – dude. Ah, yes, what girl doesn’t dream of having a sweet boyfriend who uses intimate terms of endearment like “dude?” Terry says he doesn’t get it. Then Peggy brings up Rob commenting that he didn’t think he’d be able to carry Kimberly during the Detour. Not something to say to your girlfriend.

Terry says that Rob & Kimberly had some trouble with directions. Tom says they’ve been following James & Tyler a lot, and they couldn’t do that on this leg. Of course, James & Tyler are no prize with directions either. Peggy says they found the mine without problem, but then got lost there! Jon says it’s easy to panic on the race when you’re worried about getting behind, and he thinks that’s what they did. Peggy asks for viewers to comment on Ike – she corrects herself – Rob & Kimberly’s behavior and racing this week.

Now Peggy asks if everyone pushed their bike in the Roadblock. Terry says that everyone pushed, but Godwin rode about halfway up. We get a clip of the teams riding the tram into the mineshaft and everyone notes that looks like fun. Afterwards, Peggy’s apparently bored because she changes the subject to ask Tom & Terry what they’ve been doing since the race. Tom & Terry say they’re the hosts for this race, since they’re the New York City team. They’ve been showing the other teams around since they’ve been off the race.

Terry’s mom, Jean, now calls in to say hi. She notes that Terry’s family labored for hours over their video to him, which he never got to see because they didn’t make it that far in the race. So, she now gives him the message, singing a modified version of “Can Do,” which she sings quite well. She also notes that Terry is an Obie (off Broadway) winner for Urine Town. Wow! I didn’t know he’d had that much success. Good for him!