Live to whine another day

Amazing Race, 31, Episode 5

Vietnam/Dubai – We’ve got a wealth of riches, an almost annoying wealth of riches on our hands.

After a week off, the Race returned with two episodes, back-to-back on the same night. (Starting an hour early to fill the vacancy left in the absence of Survivor.) 

Rachel and Elissa at the end

Why then recap Episode 5 – which turned out to be non-elimination in played out in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates – when you know it has already been upstaged by Episode 6? Then again, why not?  

Here’s some takeaways:

Sisters, sisters

It took five episodes for Rachel Reilly to revert to her wonderfully whiny self, her default position on earlier versions of the Amazing Race.  But, finally, the meltdown happened. 

Facing sure elimination, she became distraught, woe was her.

Rising to the occasion her sister, Elissa Slater, tried an intervention: “Rach, please stop!”

And so she did, after Phil Keoghan let her know it was a non-elimination leg. Which means, of course, that we’ll have Rachel to kick around for at least another episode. 

Rap star

Becca and Floyd

Becca Droz and Floyd Pierce, Team Fun, came in first, in large part because Floyd drew upon his drum-major experience and instantly figured out the silent-rave challenge, which is something this viewer still hasn’t done.

After Phil told the Funsters they had each won $5,000, they then asked him to join them a free-style circle rap contest. And so it was that Phil earned his Phil-o-meter. Life is rich.

Ride share

The Amazing Race has always focused on the lives of ordinary people who staff the shops, plow the fields and cook the meals.

In Dubai, where luxury and tall buildings and bright lights were on display, we were treated to the working stiffs who own and drive Ferraris, Maseratis and Rolls Royces. Next stop Mar-a-Lago.

Bait and Switch

World's tallest building

There’s a really tall building in Dubai, the tallest in the universe. The Racers were whisked upward, riding in the fastest elevator in the universe. When they got to the top, I knew they would bungee jump all the way almost to the ground. Many of us would avert our eyes.

But wait. They weren’t asked to jump, or free fall or even look over the side.

No, they were subjected to a virtual reality challenge in which they digitally climbed. Good grief, a  reality show was engaging in virtual reality. Lame.

Dino-mite

The Race is no stranger to the surreal. Case in point, a challenge in this episode took place in Dinosaur Garden Glow, a park filled with models of dinosaurs in which the Racers donned dinosaur costumes and hunted for day-glo dinosaur eggs. 

Do people do this for fun in Dubai? I guess so.

Odds and end

Fortunes, rise, fortunes fall. 

Chris Hammons and Bret LaBelle, second on the episode, are rising stars given to trash talking about each other. Gotta like them.

Colin Guinn and Christi Woods, life partners, continue to do well, their old, more volatile ways forgotten. “We’re

We met at Starbucks

appreciating ourselves differently,” said Colin, in mellow-speak echoing Hamilton and Meg Swan in Best in Show (Michael Hitchcock and Parker Posey)

Alas, Tyler Oakley and Korey Kuhl, once outsized personalities, seem content to reside quietly in the middle of the pack. 

And the Afghanimals, cousins Leo Temory and Jamal Zadran, are slumping. They finished next-to-last, undone by virtual reality. I’m beginning to think they aren’t as strong a team as they think they are.

Overheard: 

Elissa: It’s my show.

Rachel: Well, it’s my show, too.

Jamal: Amazing Race you tricked us again.

Britney: I’ve had three babies in five years; so I’m not some kind of seasoned Olympic runner by any stretch of the imagination.

Floyd: I know how to feel a rhythm in myself and recognize it in other people.

Colin: You can go just as fast and just suck the juice out of every experience.

Korey: I’m a bird; I’m a plane; I’m on the Amazing Race.

Rachel: A little mistake can cost you the whole entire leg. 

Order of finish:

1) Becca and Floyd

2) Chris and Bret

3) Christie and Colin

4) Tyler and Korey

5) Nicole and Victor

6) Janelle and Britney

7) Leo and Jamal

8) Rachel and Elissa