By Jim Memmott

Amazing Race, Season 25, Episode 4

Shetland Islands/Copenhagen/Malmo/Copenhagen – Those of you familiar with the Bible may remember something about the first becoming the last.

I don’t think the reference is directed at the medical profession, but it does describe what happened in Episode 4 of the Race, a shocker that rescued the season from the curse of predictability.

The married dentists, Jim and Misti, had previously seemed invincible, having won two of the three earlier legs. 

Indeed, things were going so well for them that Jim had announced that they hoped to be “the most dominant team in Amazing Race history.”

Best not to brag, as the good doctors would learn in an episode in which they seemed jinxed from the opening whistle.

Ford C-Max product placement

They made a wrong call on plane reservations. They used too much fuel in their energy efficient Ford. (Good grief, was that product ever placed.) They couldn’t get the furniture-arrangement task right. They were flagged for a missing flag on a wedding cake. Misti had a brain freeze on a sandwich order.

Given the string of disasters, it was no surprise that they were the eighth and last team to arrive at the finish line.

Not to worry, they handed over the Save (Get out of Jail Free) card they had acquired by winning the first leg.

Host Phil Keoghan, who was accompanied by two very big dogs or two fairly small horses, then gave back the Save Pass to the Docs, saying it was a non-elimination leg so

they didn’t need to surrender it yet.

Time out. They were last. They got to keep on racing. But they even retained their Save Pass?

What gives? Shouldn’t they have been punished more? I'd say they should have, but, to their credit, the dentists admitted to being humbled by their dismal performance. Maybe they’re not so annoying after all.

Keeping with role/reversal narrative, surfers Adam and Bethany, the winners of the last episode, were almost as bad as the dentists.

And for the first time, sadly, it looked like Bethany was hindered by the fact she only has one arm.  She couldn’t really ride a strangely configured bicycle or carry a multi-tiered cake, Everything was “gnarly,” as she concluded in surfer speak.

Alli and Kym decorate a cake

The bicycle messengers, Alli and Kym, put the pedal to the medal and won the episode, in part by remembering to bring along the frosting to put on the cake they had to transport on one of the gnarly bikes.

In the process, they proved that a team can be cheerful, have fun and still win.

As, for that matter, so did the team of candy scientists Amy and Maya, whose episode was highlighted by Amy’s joyful swoons at the end of the waitressing task. 

Brooke and Robbie

Speaking of bright spots, pro-wrestlers Brooke and Robbie were almost, well, charming, offering malapropisms (Brooke mixed up “handicapped” and “handyman”) with some strong play.

Cheerful? Fun? Not the mother/daughter team of Shelley and Nici, who had a breakdown for the ages, Nici blubbering and Shelley refusing to offer comfort.

“She shuts down at the moment I need her the most,” Nici wailed to Phil. Meanwhile, Shelley just nodded. Good grief, it was hard to like either one of them.

Enough. I predict there will be more flaps to follow, which can only add zest to what would seem to be a wonderfully re-energized Race.

Overheard:

Robbie: We’re out of Denmark and into Sweden. Is that a different

country?

Shelley: My daughter still owes me an apology.

Nici: I said you were right.

Shelley: That’s not an apology.

Jim: I let Misti do this one. She’s got a good memory, and she’s a smart girl.

Phil (to Nici): This is where you have to be a grown up; come back here and talk this out.

Misti: We got our teeth kicked in today.

Order of finish

1) Alli and Kym

2) Brooke and Robbie

3) Keith and Whitney

4) Amy and Maya

5) Te Jay and Tim

6) Shelley and Nici

7) Adam and Bethany

8) Jim and Misti