Season 28, Episode 8
preview:
Armenia/Georgia – The
Race is often about baggage, especially the anger issues and
phobias (heights, depths, worms) that the teams bring with them.
 |
| Scott and Blair |
And then there’s their actual baggage, all
their clothes and calculators and notebooks stuffed into backpacks.
Alas, right near the end of Episode 7, Scott, Blair’s
partner and kind-hearted father, picked up the wrong backpack (Tyler’s) as he
was hustling to get a cab to the finish line.
Valuable time was lost after he discovered his error and
looped back to return the bag to the frantic Tyler, who, along with his partner, Korey, was thus able to overtake Scott and Blair and escape elimination.
 |
| Brodie and Kurt |
The departure of Scott and Blair eliminated poolster Dennis
Doell. Also gone is a developing
plot line, the budding romance between Blair and Brodie, one half of a
super team along with his buddy, Kurt.
“Brodie and I have decided there’s definitely something
there,” Blair said at the start of the episode, “and we are going to see about
the possibility when we get home.”
With Blair out early there’s a danger that host Phil
Keoghan, an incorrigible matchmaker, will lose all interest in the race. Then
again, there’s enough else going on to keep him occupied.
 |
| Korey and Tyler |
What, for example, has happened to Tyler and Korey? Geez, I
thought they were strong candidates for the gold, but, of late, they’ve looked
like, well, losers. Korey was awful in the dance number, clumping about and
almost losing his cool.
Though, in his defense, it was a killer challenge. If Korey had trouble, so did Scott, who took on the challenge, it was later divulged online, because Blair had hurt her knee in an earlier episode and was in a ton of pain.
Dana, Matt's partner, did make the ballet look easy, but she’s a dancer and had been
waiting for a chance to shine. A few of the others did well, and more power to
them. It was hard.
Which raises another question. Are the challenges more
difficult this season? There was that business when everyone had to risk death on
a snow-clad and windy mountain. And even the crazy candy making
test in Episode 7 was brutal on the fingers. (Though, it did set up a few of Tyler’s puns on
nuts. Not all was lost.)
 |
| Cole and Sheri |
The descent of Tyler and Korey has been counterbalanced by
the rise of other teams, especially Zach and Rachel, who finished first in
Episode 7 and Burnie and Ashley, who lost out on first because of a bad cab ride and
may be much stronger (and nicer) than they seemed at first.
And, as quick as most of us have been to write off the mom-and-son
team of Sheri and Cole, they continue to survive, thanks, as I’ve said before,
to Sheri, who has proven to be a cheerful, determined spirit and, not for
nothing, a good dancer.
Still, look for them to go in Episode 8, though I think I’ve
predicted their doom before.
Overheard:
Scott (of a coughing
cabbie): Got a little bit of pulmonary obstructive disease going on here.
Tyler: We’ve been
waiting to dip our nuts for seven legs.
Scott: We
celebrate mediocrity because it turns out pretty well for us at the end.
Dana: Let’s see
if 16 years of dance lessons paid off.
Blair of Scott: I’ve
seen him dance at weddings; he can grove.
Korey: I think I
finally did put the Korey in choreography
Order of finish:
1 Zach and Rachel
2 Burnie and Ashley
3 Brodie and Kurt
4 Dana and Matt
5 Sheri and Cole
6 Tyler and Korey
