Some amazing end-of-the-road rage

Amazing Race, 31, Episode 4

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam – The Race is heating up.

In a city that never sleeps, there were crowded streets and wacky challenges – moped maneuvering, bamboo-boat navigating.

And there was anger, real anger. It made for a furious finish. Best in a long time.

Here’s some takeaways:

Go out snarling

Early on in the episode, Corinne Kaplan, partnered with Eliza Orlins, made it quite clear that she hated the team of Rachel Reilly and her sister Elissa Slater. 

I think the sisters snagged a cab or some such other venomous act. It was so bad – so bad – that Corinne planned on blocking them on all social media once the race was run.

Phil, Rachel, Elissa, Corinne and Eliza

Wouldn’t you just know it? After equally disastrous perfomances, Rachel and Elissa barely edged out Corinne and Eliza for the next-to-the last place.

Lowering the hammer, Phil Keoghan sent Corinne and Eliza packing. (So long to their pool supporters, Team Bushnell.)

All this happened when Rachel and Elissa lingered at the pitstop, standing next to the losing team.

Rachel tried to bury the hatchet, Corrine and Eliza stuck it in her back. The first rule of The Amazing Race – lose with grace – was totally violated. It was just awful, and great.

Snobbery on The Race?

Corrine’s departure is a loss, as she was shaping up to be a true villain, someone who describes herself as “100% that bitch.”

I was especially struck by her explanation of Eliza’s troubles riding a moped: “She didn’t grow up in a trailer park with a fricking moped. She rides bicycles. She’s got really good balance."

Panic attacks

Now, as this clip from Best in Show featuring Hamilton and Meg Swan (Michel Hitchcock and Parker Posey) demonstrates, 

Busy Bee

sometimes couples direct their anger toward each other in high-tension situations, though that hasn't really happened on the Race this season. 

That kind of friction was supposed to be the default position of Colin Quinn and Christie Woods, who spatted in Season 5 of the Race. So far, they're all Zen. And it's working, as they finished first in the episode.

Colin and Christie

Age matters? 

“We’re just like mom and dad coming to play with all the young millennials and their big followings,” Colin declared at one point. 

A swat at millennials is easy, but a demographer might argue that Colin and Christie aren’t far out of that category, as he’s 38 and she’s 40.

Chris and Bett float in a boat

The real graybeards remaining are Chris Hammons, 40, and Brett LaBelle, 44, who had their best outing ever, finishing third, even with an extra challenge. (Though Chris didn’t win many style points when he stumbled zipping up a down escalator.)

Other thoughts:

Nicole Franzel and Victor Arroyo are impressively consistent, as they finished second for the third-straight time.

Nicole and Victor

The once-invincible Afghanimals, Leo Temory and Jamal Zadran, seem off their game. After two first-place finishes, they have moved back to the middle of the pack, finishing eighth and then sixth.

Becca Croz and Floyd Pierce, everyone’s Team Fun, struggled a little and didn’t get that much air time. Corrine didn’t leave room for anyone else.

Overheard:

Korey: We look cute in layers.

Corinne: If you don’t know where something is, don’t say you do.

Elissa: Luckily, I have major balance.

Corinne: If you didn’t hate mopeds before, now you really hate them.

Elissa: That is when I go into Zen Elissa…hope for the best, expect the worse.

Bret: I always dreamed Venice would be like this.

Christie: It’s been 15 years since we’ve won a leg on the Amazing Race.

Britney (on Janelle): She it did it all today; I took out a polar bear and that was the extent.

Corinne: I’m not a positive person. I don’t really know how to spin this.

Order of finish:

1) Christie and Colin

2) Nicole and Victor

3) Chris and Bret

4) Becca and Floyd

5) Tyler and Korey

6) Leo and Jamal

7) Janelle and Britney

8) Rachel and Elissa

9) Corinne and Eliza