April 25, 2010: Amazing Race Recap

The Amazing Race returned this week after a two-week layoff, and with half of the remaining contestants hailing from Rhode Island, would New England reign supreme? Would the models lighten up now that the 'evil' lesbians are gone? And would Jet and Cord continue to dominate the Race? Let's head to the Far East to find out! As always, mouse over the pictures for hidden captions.

As I watched the teams exit the Pit Stop to start the episode, I couldn't help but notice that Jet and Cord left at 7:04 pm, while it was still light out, but when Louie and Michael left at 7:35 pm, it was completely dark. Something seemed fishy about that...there's no way that it gets THAT dark in 31 minutes. I demand an explanation from Bertram van Munster.

On their way to Zhoujiajau, which was amusingly referred to as "the Venice of China", the teams bonded at an airport McDonald's. Nothing says harmony and team building like an airport fast food joint. I had to wonder if this Singapore McDonald's offered the same deal that I saw earlier this month on a trip to Las Vegas.
That's not a joke. When I was in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago, McDonald's was offering FIFTY NUGGETS for $9.99. Why on earth would anyone ever need fifty nuggets. If you want to offer such a deal, at least try to market it as a Family Meal...but no, it's just "Hey, you. Need fifty nuggets? Ten Bucks!"

But back to the show, and speaking of wonderful examples of the American way, we saw Louie and Michael say that trying to find someone speaking English in China was like "talking to Martians." Oh, thank you so much for continuing the Amazing Race tradition of perpetuating the Ugly American stereotype of being pissed that everyone in the world doesn't speak English. Reichen and Chip would have been so proud.

I get very frustrated watching teams complain that their cab driver doesn't know where he's going. Every season there are teams that maintain that their cab driver is going to cost them a million dollars. If it's that bad, just get out and call another cab, and stop your bitching!
I liked the noodle-making challenge, but I was so confused at the presence of Ping Ping? What the hell was that? What on Earth did having the world's smallest man have to do with that challenge? Did he just happen to live nearby? And he was smoking!? Just as I was writing down all the jokes I was going to make about the whole ridiculous situation, like the fact that smoking stunts your growth...Jet and Cord made the same joke, and I had to start scratching out half of my notes. And then at the end, they put a graphic up that Ping Ping was now dead...and I had to scratch out the other half. Not fair.

Jordan had a significant problem with the noodle-making challenge, but instead of working through it, he had a drama meltdown and kept complaining about how cold his hands were. I'm telling you, if I was doing that challenge, and I was going to complain about something, it wouldn't have been about the temperature of my hands...it would have been about the 21-inch guy sitting on the table smoking a cigarette while I was doing it!
Thankfully, Louie and Michael kept a lid on calling each other 'baby' this episode. But these undercover detectives were unable to find the Fashion Show location that was located right beside the clue box. The fashion show challenge was entertaining, but we also saw the return of the City Slickers music once the Cowboys finished. Oh my gravy!

In a season that had some pretty weak challenges overall, I thought that the Roadblock in the football stadium was one of the best ones of all-time. And when the wind started whipping up, Cord decided that his best defense was to somehow try to straddle all of the puzzle pieces with his own body, while Brent decided the best way to handle it would be to walk around ranting and throwing his arms up in the air. It's always fun to watch an adult throw a tantrum, isn't it? I half expected him to lay down and start pounding his hands and feet on the ground.
It was very obvious that this was a non-elimination leg when Jet and Cord arrived at the Pit Stop. Normally, as the Race goes to the final three teams, Phil tells the teams as they arrive, "You will be one of the teams racing for the one million dollars." As soon as he didn't say that to Jet and Cord, it was a certainty that this was a non-elimination leg.

Next week: The Handlebar Brothers encounter a Speed Bump, Dan has a Taxi Tantrum, and we get down to the Final Three.