Has it been twelve weeks already (that’s eleven episodes with one preemption)? I don’t think this has been the most amazing season of The Amazing Race, but it was fun seeing some of our favorite teams back … and not so fun seeing some of our not-so-favorite teams back to take care of their “unfinished business.”
The finale took the final four teams from Switzerland to Rio de Janeiro. This could have been a really interesting leg with quite a different outcome after Flite Time & Big Easy and Zev & Justin booked a flight that got them to Rio about ten hours before Gary & Mallory and Jen & Kisha. But Flite Time has the worst poker face and the teams were tipped off that they had a better flight, so they all ended up on the same plane.
Throughout this episode, the teams really learned the value of a good cab driver. The Globetrotters got behind the other teams right out of the airport and missed a tram ride by a couple of minutes, which set them back about thirty minutes. Zev & Justin had a cab driver who didn’t know where he was going in Rio, and in Miami Gary & Mallory basically lost the race because they were stuck with a driver who had no clue where anything was. Seriously, when you hop in a cab you expect the driver to know his way around or have some general knowledge of the local geography. I hope Gary & Mallory didn’t give the guy a tip.
The producers were a little sadistic in Rio when they forced the teams to undergo a fifteen-minute Brazilian wax. For three of the teams it was a snap, so to speak, but poor Zev & Justin are pretty furry and it really did not look like fun. I feel your pain, Justin. At least he had his wits about him and was able to quote Steve Carrell’s famous line from The 40-Year-Old Virgin. But since the wax was a timed task, the guys should have just said no way and taken a penalty (which should have only been fifteen minutes, no?). And again, the guys picked the wrong Detour task – trying to sell bikini tops to women on the beach already in bikinis. They were so far behind at that point nothing could save them and our second place poll finishers (with 40% of the vote) were eliminated before the final leg.
I kind of lost interest at that point because Zev & Justin were my favorites, but I still had Gary & Mallory to root for (our top poll choice at 47%). But once they fell behind due to the cab driver’s incompetence, it was pretty much over for them even when it seemed like they had caught up. In the end it was a two team race between Flite Time & Big Easy (third in the poll with 10%) and Jen & Kisha (last with 3%) – congrats to those 3% of our voters as Jen & Kisha became the second all-female team in Amazing Race history to win.
It wasn’t an easy win though and I give them kudos for finishing. I was surprised the final task didn’t involve a memory game as in previous seasons, but however silly the final task was – creating a “trailerhood” based on a photo in a brochure – it was a challenge and pretty funny because the wind picked up just as the girls and the Globetrotters started setting up. The wind almost gave Gary & Mallory a chance to catch up as the other teams’ items kept getting blown over and across the street, but even though they finished the task on the first try the other teams were long gone, peddling across a seven-mile-long bridge to the Pit Stop.
Now that Jen & Kisha have taken care of their unfinished business and the other teams have all had their second chances, I’m looking forward to a new season of new personalities and hopefully some really amazing locations and challenges (although that task at Jules’ Undersea Lodge was pretty cool with the band and the mermaids). We’ll see you back here in the fall. Thanks for reading and commenting!
“I’ve seen him dance, but not sober.” — Justin commenting on Zev attempting the samba
“What’s the penalty for knocking her out cold?” — Justin during his Brazilian wax
“When they do somethin’ stupid, we think it’s funny.” — Trailer park resident commenting on the teams’ construction skills
“Seven Mile Bridge is really seven miles. We didn’t have a chance after mile two.” — Big Easy commenting on Kisha & Jen’s lead
Clacked by Chuck Duncan 
on May 09, 2011 @ 00:17 EST5EDT
