I know I’ve been ragging on The Amazing Race pretty much all season for being not so amazing, but this week’s episode was just spectacular! Some tasks this week that appeared to be quite complex, but were actually very simple, led to a nice shake-up in positions, and I tip my hat to the production team for finally getting the season on track.
For a while it’s seemed like Nat and Kat were the front runners because they’ve had such a huge lead, but a long wait for a train and only one flight put all the teams on equal footing when they arrived in St. Petersburg, Russia. At the Detour they had to choose from two tasks that involved either classical music or classical cinema. The teams didn’t know what was in store for them, and I declared that if I was running this race I would have chosen cinema. I would have been in for a nasty surprise.
The music challenge was extremely difficult with having to match up three pieces of recorded music with three live pianists in a room full of pianists playing different pieces of music. What seemed difficult was actually pretty easy, and I’m surprised it took the teams that actually completed the task so long to figure it out. All they had to do was listen to one recording at a time then find the right pianist, but they all decided to listen to all three and then run around the room like maniacs. Everyone but Chad and Stephanie quit, and after a few meltdowns they finally figured it out. Then Nick and Vicki had to come back after leaving to do the cinema task but found that one even more difficult.
I would have chosen the cinema task as well because I’m a movie buff. But sorting through a mountain of film trying to find images that corresponded to the film being screened was a nightmare. All of the teams — except Nick and Vicki — finally completed the task, and some of them even figured out quite early in the task that looking for the Russian words in the film was easier than trying to find a particular image. Both tasks took up a lot of time, and I’d really love to know how long the teams were actually at each location. Nick and Vicki had to have spent hours on the tasks going back and forth.
The Road Block was physical but pretty easy to complete once the team member was able to locate the items needed to complete the task. No one seemed to figure out the clue that they would have to dress in a babushka outfit, so it was amusing when Kevin and Nick decided to do the task. Kevin did pretty well and got lots of compliments from the women instructing him on how to plant potatoes, but Nick ended up being a photo op for the locals. And poor Mallory almost found herself an unwilling guest for some vodka shots with the locals. Good thing she had a camera crew in tow to rescue her. In the end, Michael and Kevin seemed to have a pretty good lead, but when they got to the location of the Pit Stop Kevin would not listen to his dad and three teams beat them to the mat.
Nick and Vicki, having wasted so much time at the Detours, came in last … but they lucked out with the second non-elimination leg of the race. I’m really happy they get to race again, because we’re actually starting to see some of these teams learn something about themselves and their partners. Chad and Stephanie had some issues at the Detour but stuck it out without things really getting ugly between them, and Nick totally kept his cool after his terrible behavior in Ghana, which he credited with helping him stay cool this time out. That’s one of the really cool things about The Amazing Race, and if we see more of this growth in the teams and excitement in the challenges, I think we may just be able to forgive the first half of the season.
“I like how they keep their buildings instead of blowin’ ‘em up.” – Nick, admiring the architecture of St. Petersburg
“Yeah, like in Vegas, they blow up everything.” – Vicki
“Hello, beautiful ladies. I have your poop and potatoes.” – Kevin arriving at the Detour location
“And my shoes came off into the manure. That was a special moment.” – Mallory at the Detour
“It was a little bit of race with a whole lot of drag, but just more queen than cars.” – Nick, referring to the babushka outfit he had to wear
Clacked by Chuck Duncan 
on Nov 01, 2010 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
