By Jim Memmott
Amazing Race, Season 26, episode 3
Nagano/Thailand -- Reca
lculate, recalculate. Much of the wisdom received during the first two episodes of this season no longer applies. Yes, we were led astray.
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| Hayley and Blair dancing |
I bet you thought blind dater Dr. Blair was the jerk and his race partner Nurse Hayley was a saint. Whoops, it may be the other way around.
There they were in Thailand about ready to take on a zipline challenge. Blair barged ahead, not listening to Hayley when she said he may not be following the instructions.
Of course he wasn’t following the instructions – he's a guy – and from then on Hayley reminded him and reminded him and reminded him to listen to her.
And every time she did this, she always closed with an “Aren’t I Cute?” smile.
Now I know Hayley brought some baggage about doctors to the race but, good heavens, how many time can you unpack the same suitcase? Oddly, Blair didn’t fight back. Yet.
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| Made up Mike and Rochelle |
Another switerroo: We all believed the previously dating team of bearded up Mike and inked up Rochelle was doomed to go home.
Check that assumption at the door, as they finished ahead of everyone else in what turned out to be a non-elimination episode.
They even made it through the My Way Cabaret drag/dancing sequence (was that an
Amazing Race first and is it really necessary?) after having so much trouble with a dance challenge in the first episode.
Their win meant they were the first previously dating couple to take a first this season, blind daters Jelani and Jenny having won the first two episodes.
So it may be that the perceived wisdom of the first two episodes – the better you know each other the worse you do – was wrong, as well.
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| Matt and Ashley |
Speaking of couples who knew each other, hats off to hairdressers Matt and Ashley. Oh sure, he left his fanny pack behind at one point, and she had to talk him off the ledge. But later he got down on a knee and proposed at the finish line.
It was such a special moment that the other racers joined them for a group selfie. (I realize that selfies are this season’s signature gimmick. But why?)
Host Phil Keoghan, an obsessive matchmaker, had to be happy with the proposal, but he's getting nowhere with the blind daters, who remain all business, with the exception of Jackie and Jeff, who are quite cheerfully sharing a bed.
“It’s crazy that within three legs of the race we’re that comfortable with each other,” Jackie coyly explained.
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| Bergen and Kurt get zany |
Blind-daters Bergen and Kurt aren't sharing anything at all, mostly because they’re so much alike. “Here’s the deal,” Kurt confided. “We like big tough masculine men.” Alas, by their own admission, neither one of them fits that description.
Because they wouldn’t need it or didn’t want it, the guys gave up their “Date Night” pass to Mike and Rochelle. Then Bergen started crying because he has to meet Mr. Right on the Race.
Speaking of separated at birth. Is Laura of Laura and Tyler really filmdom’s Amy Adams? Your call.
About that non-elmination:
The New Kids (Actually Old Kids) on the Block, Harley and Jonathan, may be the most compatible of the couples, pre-existing or not, but they had a perfectly awful race, bad plane connections, etc. Luckily, Phil gave them a reprieve. Good guys can finish last and still live to race another day.
Overheard:
Jackie: Jeff and I have chemistry, but it’s too soon to tell.
Hayley: You have to listen to me…you need to listen better, your listening skills are subpar.
Jonathan: At this moment I might even jump out of a plane if it would get us ahead.
Mike: Oh, boy, how do you put panty hose on?
Jonathan: I think he’s the yin to my yang, or the yang to my yin. I don’t know how it goes.
Hayley. At least I have a backbone.
Tyler on dancing in drag: Let’s just smile and make the magic happen.
Jeff: Oh my god, look how ugly I am.
Matt: You’ve got to promise that you’ll make me the happiest man in the world.
Order of finish
1) Mike and Rochelle
2) Hayley and Blair
3) Jenny and Jelani
4) Laura and Tyler
5) Aly and Steve
6) Matt and Ashley
7) Bergen and Kurt
8) Jeff and Jackie
9) Harley and Jonathan
