TV: Amazing Race 10 - Episode 9

This was a pretty tense week. It ended with a literal cliff hanger as the Male Models rappelled down the side of a stadium tower face first hoping to finish first and get a nice prize from Phil only to find out the race was not over. The Beauty Queens should not have been that far behind them. Meanwhile the remaining three teams were about an hour back and scrambling not to be eliminated.

The Bama Moms almost found themselves looking at a 12 - 15 hour deficit when all the other teams were able to grab a 7AM flight that would eventually take them to Finland while the next flight could have been a 9PM flight to Paris. But somehow they were able to wheedle their way on board with just seconds to spare. It was a pretty crazy flight plan from Madagascar to Johannesburg, South Africa to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Frankfurt, Germany to Helsinki, Finland.
[I had the same number of stops on a flight going from San Francisco to Bangalore, India via Paris, New York, and Mumbai. When I saw that itinerary, I changed the layovers to be about 12 to 15 hours each, so I could do some power sight-seeing at each stop.]

Whenever there is a bunching up, it seems like the Beauty Queens are always the first to get out of the airport. It has been giving them a huge time advantage and has made the other teams jealous. The producers have not shown how the Queens achieve this, but I suspect they are able to sweet talk other passengers into switching seats so they can exit the plane first.

At the other end of the spectrum, the Chos were out to prove that nice guys finish last. One of them correctly observed, "Being polite sucks sometimes." and earned title of the week. From the previews of next weeks episode, they finally make a second observation that their alliance is over. I may have been wrong about their outlook. Even when they had a chance to pass some teams racing through mud, they ran out of gas again and remained last.

Rob and Kimberley outraced the Chos as carrying Kim was probably much easier than carrying a Cho bro. In one of the funniest moments this week, Rob made the remark that carrying his partner was much easier than he thought. This left him open to the nightmare question, "Do you think I'm fat?" That exchange probably threw them off course so much, they ended up dropping from third to last in finding the Road Block challenge.

The teams had to descend into a scary dark mine to retrieve what sounded like the final clue of the week. Rob let out some evil yells as he raced his bike up the mine shaft and caught up to the Bros and the Moms The shot of Rob's headlight coming up behind the the Mom who was panting like crazy sent chills up my spine. It was like something out of a horror movie.

The ironic part of the challenge is that David of the recently eliminated Coal Miners probably would have felt right at home there. I'm not sure where the Chos got the Miners' T-shirts, but it was sort of funny that the Chos were racing in memory of David and hoped to channel David's spirit in the mine. The dude was just eliminated not killed.

The walk down the side of a stadium tower would have been the scariest challenge for me. My knees would have been trembling like crazy. But it was funny to watch. It would have reminded me more of the Batman TV series if they let both members rappel together.

And bats would have been appropriate for a slightly post-Halloween episode.

Other Notes:
I have to admit I am finding myself more attracted to Dustin each week even if she thinks people in Finland wear wooden shoes.

Someone needs to warn Tyler that being Metrosexual is "Out" while Real Men are "In". This at least according to the latest episode of Men in Trees. I may have to blog a bit more about this little TV show which is a pleasant mix of Sex and the City and Northern Exposure. Not quite as good as either, but it's the closest one can get to new episodes of each.

Did it sound like Kimberley was asking for directions to La Jolla?

Here's is a pretty cool Google Earth Mash Up of all the Amazing Race 10 locations. Similarly, here's the Google Maps Mash Up. Neat stuff.