TV: Amazing Race 9 - Ep 9

And then there were four.

The oldsters did a great job of staying in the race for a long time, but elimination always seemed inevitable. And I suspect that it was not the strenuous challenges this week that did them in. I think Ray and Yolanda even admitted Fran and Barry had "dusted them" on the bike ride to a lighthouse. I think their downfall was caused by taking too long to find the final clue in the caves. Having a taxi driver flake out on them didn't help either. At least they won the best prize given out to the winners so far this season with a trip to Rome.

There are usually 12-hour breaks at each Pit Stop, but it seemed like the teams were arriving later and later at night last week but leaving in the late afternoon this week (almost a 24-hour break). BJ was burning in the midday sun and the drive to Jabreen Castle was just 150 miles. Maybe the speed limit was low and they ended up eating the underground stove cooked dinner on the road. Unfortunately I deleted the episodes before confirming any of the times.

I would not have left any money for the Hippies this late in the race. It certainly didn't bring any good karma as the teams finished in order of stinginess with the Frat boys leaving an IOU of $100 to be paid after the race (which would be small change if they end up winning this thing). The Hippies gave a ride to a hitchhiking Bedouin who paid them back in kind. Then they had no problems getting money from plane passengers (who could afford a flight from Oman to Perth) and ended up a few hundred dollars ahead. I wonder how long the flight was held up so those two guys could get on board. It looked like a pretty empty flight.

It will be interesting to see who can get to the next Yield on this Race first as the Hippies and Mojo definitely have a rivalry going. Not sure how the Hippies can threaten to use the Yield if they stay in third place.

The long trips left the teams pretty bunched up all the way to Rottnest Island. I guess Perth / Fremantle is the hometown of one of at least one of my regular readers. I've only had the pleasure of hanging out in Melbourne, but I'll revisit Australia someday.

The race borrowed a page from my other favorite show, Prison Break, this week. It may work out for Mojo to have lost time on the bike ride and detour so that the Frat Boys arrived at the prison an hour earlier. All the effort the Frat boys put out trying to find things inside the prison and running to the pit stop instead of taking a taxi could leave them a little worn down the rest of the way. Jeremy had no search algorithm at all.

Mojo keeps edging closer and closer to first, but hopefully they will not get too disheartened by that and realize the only leg of the race that really matters is the last one. The Frat boys still look like the favorites in this thing.

Best scene this week: Fran and Barry entering a backpackers' hotel room called "The Pleasure Dome" and commenting about their sex life (or recent lack thereof).

Hopefully the excitement and emotional fireworks will continue to escalate next week.