TV: Amazing Race: All-Stars Ep 7 and 8

This episode turned out to be a two-parter. What started out as a gap of 16 hours or so between first and last place ended with the last few teams just a few minutes apart. However, a 30-minute penalty incurred at the end of a non-elimination leg resulted in Team Guido being Philiminated. Meanwhile, Team Cha Cha Cha decided to try to win some karma points by allowing Joyce and Uchenna to win a prize at the Pit Stop where the Teams finished in first together.

Episode 7 basically boiled down to who could find the best travel agent to book the earliest trip from Tanzania to Warsaw, Poland. That competition was won by the Beauty Queens who were patient with their agent while Mirna and Charla may have placed too much pressure on their agent by crowding in too closely. It would take 7 hours for their agent to find an alternative route to Poland. Joyce and Uchenna chose the wrong travel office, and it was funny that when they called another travel agency, it happened to be the one where all the other teams were sitting. The other teams convinced the agent to hang up on Uchenna abruptly. Eric and Danielle and The Guidos had to settle for using the original airline tickets provided at the beginning of the leg. Unfortunately, missing a connecting flight put them way behind the other teams. The tension between Eric and Danielle finally started to boil over.

Joyce and Uchenna had a chance to catch up with the Beauty Queens on a connecting flight through Frankfurt but I guess for a change they were not able to talk their way onto a plane. This allowed the Queens to cruise to victory in this leg with the Guidos somehow finishing last in a non-elimination leg and incur a 30-minute penalty if they did not finish first at the next Pit Stop.

The Guidos were so far behind that other teams had actually starteed the next leg before they finished. Fortunately, there were a couple of bunching points that allowed them to catch up to the other teams. The first was waiting for buses to take the teams to the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. The next was an Intersection that ultimately had members of four of the teams each eating a 2-foot long sausage. The whole eating contest was made for one of the most hilarious moments of the All-Star edition.

Eric and Danielle played it smart to just make sure they stayed close enough to Team Guido to the next Pit Stop, so they would not be eliminated. For a while it looked like there was a chance that Mirna and Charla would have had such a hard time getting directions from locals that they could have lost the race, but maybe their troubles were exaggerated or the distance to the Pit Stop was not very far at all.

I liked that the Race spent some time in Poland. I have yet to visit that country, but it is near the top of my list of places to go. Before a trip to Vienna, Austria in the early 90's, the mother of a good school friend loaned me a book by James A. Michener called Poland. It was excellently written, and made me really appreciate that part of the world, its history, and particularly the plight of the people of that country. [Unfortunately, I still have the book and never have gotten the chance to return it.]

The scenes at Auschwitz were particularly moving. On my airline flight, the day after viewing this episode on my DVR, I watched a touching movie called Freedom Writers. It also talked a bit about the Holocaust. Thirdly, Mirna and Charla discussed the Armenian genocide. Given some very current events around the world, it was interesting to compare how the world has for the most part gotten better -- though not by much.

I suppose the producers decided to relieve viewers from some heavy thoughts by having us see the teams struggle to eat giant sausages. I was laughing out loud when Mirna belched so loudly. Next, we witnessed Dustin suddenly throw up shortly after swallowing the last bite of her sausage. Then we had to watch Charla try to practice bulimia. That was sick but kind of humorous.

Other notes:
I wonder how long the poor guy playing Frederic Chopin had to stay in costume and sit in the misty weather waiting for the last few teams to arrive.

I never really learned how to play the piano though I had one in the house I grew up in. I did kind of learn Chopsticks and would watch how the piano tuner would work. So I know the little black spongy thing is used to do more than just clean the wire (according to Mirna). I have a decent ear for music notes but I likely would have made the same mistake as the Team Cha Cha Cha by snapping the piano string a couple of times.

I don't remember Charla falling down so often running to the Pit Stop the first time she ran the race. Fortunately, it does not look like she has gotten injured in those falls.