TV: Amazing Race 10 - Episode 7

Rob summed up how the show has developed so far by observing, "It's amazing how this race flips, dude!" [Yes. All people in California address each other as 'Dude' or 'Man']. The coal miners went from last to first and back to last place, but were spared from elimination once again. They seem to be following the BJ and Tyler tactic of winning by losing and lulling their competitors into complacency. If these folks reach the final three, I imagine David and Mary will remove their sandbags and start running sub-10-second 100-meter dashes to finish first. Then they will reveal an evil laugh as they receive their million-dollar check. But I will continue rooting for them.

By odd coincidence, I recently researched the island of Mauritius on the Internet a few weeks ago after hearing that the company I work for was going to open an office there. It looks like a nice place to visit; I would consider myself lucky if I ever have a business assignment there.

I will have to remember that there do not seem to be many direct flights to Mauritius from Kuwait. It could not have been fun for teams to fly all the way to London, UK to Mauritius. The Beauty Queens were most incredulous that it was the fastest route. I suppose it was in frustration that they set up a conflict between the Models and the 'Bama Moms. In the end, all the teams ended up taking the same plane.

Next I have to remember that Mauritius is another country that drives on the other side of the road. On my only trip to London, I did try driving a company car with a stick shift around a parking lot. Between driving on the other side, rarely driving a car with manual transmission particularly one with the stick on the other side, and being completely unfamiliar with the rules of the road and the street signs (particularly at roundabouts), I opted to just use hire cars and the train to get around. I am impressed that the teams did not get more lost other than the Models.

Finally I have to remember to avoid sprinkling salt on my food in Mauritius. Most of the teams chose SALT at the Detour, but it did not look like any of them washed their hands before starting to dig into the piles of salt and stepping all over it with their dirty shoes. Also, the decoy salt shakers were filled with soil that was just poured into the pile.

So even with a car break down (and another Rob meltdown) and a car accident (Beauty Queens perhaps earning some bad karma), the final order was determined by how long it took for each team to give up on SALT and switched to SEA.

Humorous moments:
Phil saying "Uhh..." when Dustin asked him if he wants to ride with her on the scooter she just won. Classic. He practically walked into that trap. He may still have been too off-balance to fully execute his fake 'Philimination' routine with the Miners.

Speaking of traps, someone had fun setting up the pit next to the sails. I am pretty sure I would have fell into that thing and died laughing after freaking out for a little while.

Mary has a fear of fish? I had never heard of that before, but it does have a name, Ichthyphobia. She probably watched Piranha before becoming a Steven Seagal fan.