By Jim Memmott
Amazing Race, Season 25, Episode 6
Morocco – OK,
I admit it. Five days later, I’m a little shaky as to what actually happened in
Episode 6.
I think Shelley and Nici,
the bickering mother/daughter team, got hopelessly lost, the usual Amazing Race trigger for backbiting and
recriminations.
But, no, accusations didn’t fly. They acted, alas, like adults.
Then, even though they
travel for a living as flight attendants, they waited far too long to ask
someone for directions.
Thus, they came in last
and were told to go home by host Phil Keoghan, who seemed to be standing beside
a strange guy with a rooster on his head and a bird on top of the rooster.
Shelley then suggested that feuding may have fueled their earlier energy, keeping them on their A-game. “I
think we should have kept fighting,” she said, a sentiment perhaps endorsed by Team
Beltway, the Washington-based entry into this pool that had backed the pair.
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| Nik Wallenda |
I also remember seeing the
one-armed Bethany climb a ladder, heave a hay bale about, do a Wallenda on a wire
bridge across a deep gorge and put together a puzzle using her feet.
If that actually happened,
shouldn’t the $1 million just be given to her and her husband/partner Adam?
No team is more deserving.
I think I recall a
fun goat-milking/butter-making challenge during which Alli, of the bike-riding
team of Kym and Alli, broke into a kind of chant, echoing the singing of one of
the locals.
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| Alli and Kym making goat butter |
Time to grouch: I don't know about you, but I'm getting a little tired of challenges which require teams to replicate some sort of room, as in the Detour which tested people by having them put together the mirror image of a Berber tent.
There was a similar challenge in Episode 4, as there have been others in seasons past. Enough is enough. Let's save the rearranging for Architectural Digest.
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| Misti and Jim |
Finally, I’m not sure what
to think of the return to form of Drs. Jim and Misti, the dentists with the
sparkling teeth who finished first.
“We’re back where we need to be,” Jim concluded at the end,
perhaps showing that his humility after being non-eliminated in a previous
episode was an aberration.
Shop talk
CBS has announced that the
finale for this season will air on Dec. 19. There are seven Fridays between now
and then. And, because only six teams remain, it’s fair to assume that we’ve
got some a non-elimination round or two coming up. Or it may be that the Race will be bumped at least once,
giving way to an awards show.
The ratings for the Amazing Race have fallen this season,
thanks to the switch from Sunday to Friday nights. The Race has hovered around 6 million viewers, compared with its Sunday
night viewership of 8 or 9 million.
But the show is
competitive with other shows in its Friday night slot, and its encouraging that
CBS
has announced that there will be a 26th season, one that begins on
Friday, Feb. 27.
Overheard:
Kym (about a goat): We got a feisty one; call him Alli.
Misti: Jim
went to medical school before he went to dental school and he was an all-star
suture-er.
Robbie:
I don’t trust any animals. They could snap at you any time.
Jim (on Misti): She’s strong; she’s brave; she’s smart. There’s nothing she can’t do.
Robbie:
My biceps. Look at these babies.
Brooke (on the high wire): Oh my God...I want to die...This is crazy…i just
have to keep telling myself I’m a superhero.
Phil:
I’m happy to see that mother and daughter are connected again.
Order of finish:
1) Jim and Misti
2) Adam and Bethany
3) Alli and Kym
4) Te Jay and Tim
5) Brooke and Robbie
6) Amy and Maya
