TV: Amazing Race 9 - Ep 6

Kind of an interesting mish-mash of stuff happening this week. However, in the end it was a predictable finishing order as the teams spent more time touring the beautiful island of Sicily.

The hippies continued to have fun while staying at or near the head of the race. They played with a dog and put up a bogus "Official sign in sheet" at one of the challenges that the Frat Boys almost took seriously. The two teams talked as if they were turning into rivals (pixie dust... vs. dumb luck...), but there are some compromising photos floating around MySpace that may indicate they were all partying together a little too hard in Florida recently.

Nice editing by the producers by having Monica talk about how strong she is only to have her break down in tears at a later challenge. This time she got filthy, but wasn't loving it. Hauling a dead fish isn't my idea of fun either, and overall she's been a trooper. Joseph made a wise decision to listen to the woman and trust her counting abilities.

I also agree with Joseph's observation about how more open and trusting Europeans are with strangers compared to Americans. That still throws me for a loop sometimes. Ray and Yolanda escaped last place as they once again relied on the kindness of strangers to get directions everywhere (though some people found Ray intimidating later). Their relationship future looks like its getting brighter future, but I fear their chances of winning seem to be dimming just as quickly.

And leave it to Lake and Michelle to display no trust the locals at all as they had their money clips tightly secured onto their bodies. If they've had those things tied on like that during the whole race, then it might explain many of their mistakes -- blood circulation being cut off from their brains.

Kayak polo looks fun. But were those guys even trying to play defense against the contestants? Not sure why Ray thought he had to shoot from 3-point range. I expect to see Sicilian Kayak Polo matches on ESPN8 "The Ocho" someday.

Fran and Barry somehow keep plugging along and I'm not sure what the secret to their success is. I'd hesitate to buy fish from a sweaty, old guy with such hairy triceps (but I'm one to talk...). They win the quote of the week with "There's a fabulous statue ahead -- with no head!" [Cutaway to shot of a fabulous statue with no head.]

Funny scene - the hippies grabbing bear hugs from Monica as Joseph looks on with a "WTF?" expression. I guess the hippies learned a trick from the frat boys who did not get distracted by women this week (perhaps still mourning the loss of the Double-Ds).

Quick update - I just noticed my caption was chosen on the CBS TAR website (yes I sometimes go by Eric but that's another story). I thought I had an even better caption for last week's episode referencing "shrinkage" but maybe it was too risque for CBS (or they never watched Seinfeld).