Amazing Race Recap: “Don’t ‘Dude’ Me, Dude…It’s A Double Elimination“

Tonight's episode of The Amazing Race finds Smiling Phil (pictured above) and the rest of the teams traveling to Indonesia on the next leg of the Race. Who will be the TWO teams going home in TAR's first-ever Double Elimination Leg? Will the Speed Bump be of any consequence this year? And which of the teams just can't read?

Before I get to tonight’s recap, I want to point out that I am deathly sick today. I barely even want to be awake, much less watching TV or writing a recap. But loyal readers are used to having my recaps right after the episode ends, so I’m toughing it out. Remember two seasons ago, when I was on the West Coast, and was rushing back to my hotel to try and make the episode in time in order to write my recap, and I fell and twisted my ankle? That’s commitment, people…I appreciate you loyal readers more than you know.

My Random Thoughts:

- The beginning of the episode was rather uneventful with all of the teams ending up on the same flight, and the same train upon landing, but the most entertaining scenes came in the cabs on the way to the airport: Laurence was thrilled he had a banana, Jennifer ignored her brother to look for directions, Kaylani and Lisa nearly had a map injury (??), and one snowboarder said to the other snowboarder “Don’t ‘Dude’ me, dude”, which sounds like the punchline to a joke that’s REALLY funny when you’re high.

- I knew that Bill and Cathi were way behind the other teams to start the leg, but I didn’t realize HOW far. Ernie and Cindy started the leg at 9:28 pm, and The Oldsters left at 3:57 am. That’s six-and-a-half hours! The other teams didn’t even know whether they (or anyone) had been eliminated. What ever happened to the “mandatory rest period that allows teams to eat, sleep, and mingle?” No more mingling?

- When Bill and Cathi arrived at the airport, we were shown how happy the other teams were to see them, and then Jenna telling Ethan “We can definitely come in front of them.” Why not just flash on the screen “Ethan and Jenna will NOT come in front of them” ?

- Upon arriving in Indonesia, Justin and Jennifer got into an argument at the train station which I didn’t really understand. It was like they were arguing just for the sake of arguing, and instead of actually trying to accomplish anything, they just wanted to tell each other what they were doing wrong. Drama for the sake of drama…not a winning strategy. I want to side with Justin since Jennifer seems illogical and unreasonable, but I’m having trouble getting past the UNC hat that he was wearing (Go Duke!)

- The Road Block was at the Goa Jomblang Cave, where teams had to descend into the cave and retrieve a mask and dagger. Or, as I re-named it, “How many times can we say 'spelunk' in three minutes”?

On her descent, Cindy said “we’re in like a Jurassic Park jungle here”, but unless I missed something, I didn’t see any dinosaurs. What makes a “Jurassic Park Jungle” different than a regular jungle if it’s not the dinosaurs? Anyone?

It was like something out of an Indiana Jones movie (which I had written before Ethan said it!), and while some teams complained about having to climb the ladder to get out, can you imagine how difficult it would have been to ascend on the rope instead?

- The Speed Bump was untangling a knot? Are you kidding me? I’m not even going to rant again…that was ridiculous.

- The Detour gave the teams two options to raise money in the streets, either by dancing or working as parking attendants. For the record, I would always avoid any Detour that includes the phrase “learn a traditional dance”, but in Shake Your Money Maker, the teams didn’t really have to learn anything (although it said they did), they just had to randomly dance and panhandle at a stop light while their teammate played The Twilight Zone theme on cymbals that looked like breasts.

In Be A Ticket Taker, teams had to work as parking attendants, parking motorcycles on the street. Bill and Cathi were the first to arrive, but got upstreamed by Ernie and Cindy, reminding me of this fantastic scene from this past season of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

- We always hear exaggeration on The Amazing Race, and tonight was no exception. Everything was either crazy, insane, unbelievable, or “the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.” Sandy even said in the cab “if we make a mistake right now, it’s fatal.” Really Sandy? You will actually die if you make a mistake on this leg?

I’ll tell you what WAS crazy. After seeing all the footage of the crazy drivers in Indonesia, we spotted something that was so insane we had to pause the episode and take a picture of the screen. Look at the picture below.

Not only is there a kid in front of the driver, but the woman on the back is simply holding the baby up and pressing him against the back of the driver. Pardon me for being blunt, but WHAT THE HELL IS THAT????

- Ernie and Cindy made me laugh on the always funny “High Five vs Fist Bump”, where one person goes for the slap, and one goes for the fist. What made it so funny, was that Cindy actually said…loudly…”High-Five!”, and Ernie responded with an ape-like grunt and a fist bump.

- At the Orphanage, teams had to hand over all of the money in their possession, and to any of you who may be new viewers of The Amazing Race, here’s a tidbit for you: If you ever see a sign that features an instruction that is both highlighted AND underlined in red, you’d better believe someone doesn’t do it, and it plays a major role in the Race.

Only 3 of the 11 teams actually read the sign, which is mind-boggling to me, and 8 of them had to go back, causing the order of finish to get quite convoluted. I was happy to see that the teams had to actually go back instead of just getting a time penalty.

- The snowboarders finished 4th, but were actually team #1 due to their ability to read the sign. Karmic justice, if you ask me. Phil happily told them that they won a trip to Ireland where they could golf, enjoy the spa (although when Phil says it, it sounds like ‘SPARR”), and dabble in some Archery. Are those all Irish pastimes? I guess it would have been stereotypical to say they can go eat terrible food while getting into fights over soccer games and religion…yeah, highlight the archery thing, instead.

- 8th place became 2nd place, and 10th place became 3rd place, although Phil had some fun with Kaylani and Lisa before telling them that. In the end, Team Survivor and Team Gay Flight Attendants were the two that got eliminated. Not so dramatic about Ron and Bill, as they still would have finished 11th, but Ethan and Jenna would have been alive had they read the sign.

Next Week: Cathi wipes out, and teams can’t count.

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(Photo Credits: Reality Fan Forum, CBS, Sean Furfaro)