TV: Amazing Race 9 - Ep 8

The desert heat must have affected the Race contestants this week. They all acted out of character and finished in almost reverse order. The usually happy Ray and Yolanda started to show strain in their relationship, the Oldies had no problems seeing clue boxes, and the Frat Boys displayed hints of self-doubt.

BJ did a dead-on impression of Lake and then mocked the behavior of the Nerds and the Pinks. It was funny, but little did he know this would earn some bad karma resulting in spending over an hour digging under a hot sun for a buried supper while all the other teams passed his team.

The Hippies only luck was that it was a non-elimination leg which felt overdue. Even though they will be left with no money, they may not have too much trouble getting cash from people living in a country that Monica described as "Crazy Rich" and where even a McDonald's looks like a temple.

Monica is a quote machine (either that or the poor editors may have to mine hours of her chatter for the few diamonds in the rough). Last week it was Greece where "thinking began," and this week she commented on the opulence of Oman and little man that she wanted to take home in her pocket. Her partner Joseph came in second by calling Jabreen Castle, Jamboree Castle. Then Ray came third with his comment about the Arabic language being all squiggly.

Hopefully no camels were harmed in the making of this episode. It was kind of cute seeing them get loaded into the bedded bed of a pickup truck and I chuckled at the camels heckling the racers at the Detour.

Driving through the water looked fun, but the one time I drove my car through a relatively deep puddle, it ended up with a busted water pump later that day. I know nothing about cars, so I'm unsure if the puddle was a cause or mere coincidence. I don't remember if the cars in the show had snorkels or anything.

I thought my quote for last week's Photo Finish was funnier than someone else's quote that mentioned plastic surgery. I couldn't think of anything "clean" to submit for this week's photo.

Next week we get rowing through dark, narrow, underground tunnels in Australia. That would have been a tough challenge for me. One of my recurring nightmares involves getting stuck in a cave / tunnel / vent.