The Amazing Race signs off in the Big Easy. Will it return?

Amazing Race, Season 32, Episode 12

By Jim Memmott

 

New Orleans – No need for a spoiler alert. By this time, you’ve already watched the finale of Season 32 of The Amazing Race and debated the merits of the entire season.

 

We’ll add to the debate by concluding that, while Season 32 was not a season for the ages, it was a welcome distraction in this worrisome time.The Amazing Race wasn’t always amazing, but it was comforting to have it in our homes. And, good heavens, it ended with a proposal.

The formation of an alliance of the better teams early on drained the season of drama. For the longest while, it seemed like a game of dodgeball in which the bullies singled out a victim each episode, the unfortunate team getting pelted out of the competition.

 

There were no alliances in the finale, but the BFF vibe radiated. Essentially, one team got out in front and stayed there. The other teams were slowed more by bad luck than anything else, a cabbie with no sense of direction, that sort of thing. Everyone seemed happy at the end.

 

For the record, the results:

 

The dating duo of James Wallington and Will Jardell finished first and won $1 million. They had a fairly easy time with the challenges in the Big Easy, and, at the finish line, Will dropped to a knee and popped the question. James said “Yes.” All was well. 

 

The win meant Team RogShow finished first in our pool, walking away with $100. Full credit to them as talent spotters. When race teams were chosen, they had selected sixth, meaning all the “good” teams had been taken by the time they took James and Will.

 

Married parents Chee Lee and Hung Nguyen were

second, sending $50 Team Beltway’s way. And, because volleyballing brothers Riley and Maddison McKibbin were third, Team Bushnell gets $30.

 

That’s the scoreboard on a season filmed in 2018 long before the pandemic. 

For sure, it reminded us that there’s a wonderful world beyond our walls, as there was all the stunning scenery of previous races. 

Likewise, there were the usual terrifying and/or humiliating challenges, including an I-can’t-watch-it bungee jump off a bridge in the finale.

 

Looking back there were moments during the season that were just wonderfully strange. One favorite: When the Racers delivered vegetables and other items to some absolutely silent monks. New world meets old world? Profane meets sacred? How was that arranged?

 

Another favorite: A glimpse of, and participation in, the surprisingly thriving film scene in Kazakhstan. All that was missing was a cameo featuring Borat, Kazakhstan’s Bob Woodward, and Rudy Giuliani.

Now that it’s over, when will The Amazing Race ever begin again?

 

The filming of Season 33 was halted in February and, Race producers suggest it won’t resume until vaccines do their magic worldwide. That could be a while.

 

Take heart: The Race is a survivor. Even in the best of times, CBS played fast and loose with the program, holding it back to replace shows that flopped and moving it about from time slot to time slot.

 

So, cross your fingers, the moment could come when Phil Keoghan starts another group of 11 race partners off to tour the world. See you then.

 

Overheard

 

Chee: Now we’re in the final leg; now it’s about winning.

 

James: We are going to win the Amazing Race, no doubt about it.

 

Will: I’m only focusing on not dying.

 

Riley: This is gnarly.

 

Phil Keoghan: 11 countries, 17 cities, more than 33,000 miles.

 

Hung: The Race was the honeymoon we never had.

 

Chee: I think the Race has made us closer; I hope you agree.

 

Riley: I think the race will help us more in our careers than our careers helped us on the Race

 

Order of Finish: Episode 12

 

James and Will

Chee and Hung

Maddison and Riley

 

 

 

 

 

Some sore losing, some hurt feelings, who ever heard of that?

 Amazing Race, Season 32, Episode 11

By Jim Memmott

 

Manilla, Philippines – It was three teams against one team on the penultimate (I love that word) leg of the Amazing Race, making for some strange drama and some serious, dare I say Presidential, pouting by footballer DeAngelo Williams, who, with his taller partner, Gary Barnidge, was eliminated.

The gloves are now off; there will be no alliances in the Wednesday finale. Cooperation can only go so far.

Cooperation did count in Episode 11, a speedy version of the Race, as there were no road blocks, no detours. 

The challenges were fairly easy – feeding horses, that sort of thing –until the last one, a mind-bender that asked teams to line up some songs in the order they heard them on the Race.

The NFLers were then undone by the other teams, their former Alliance mates.

 

Will and James (left), Maddison and Riley, and Chee and Hung, traded info and shut the footballers out. It was a playground moment for the ages.

 

The outcasts took a two-hour penalty and were racers no more. (Their loss was Cindy's and mine. We are out of the pool.)

 

In a rare Race moment, DeAngelo went way off script at the finish line, neglecting to let host Phil Keoghan (below, right) know he had a good time, that he bonded with his partner, that it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

"The race sucked. The bad outweighed the good," DeAngelo said. "I'll never come back on the show again. The money wasn't life-changing for me. ... I could have paid for it myself and not raced around the world."

 

Awkward! Gary tried to soften his teammate's criticism, but DeAngelo never came through with the platitudes. Nor does he back down in an extended video of the chat posted on YouTube.

Was he right to be bitter? To take his ball and go home. Yes and no.

 

It’s a race and alliances are allowable, but I had hoped the teams would be all on their own this far into the race. I can see why DeAngelo was irked.

 

But he and Gary had been saved by the Alliance before without really helping the other teams. For sure the other duos,

including the mild-mannered Volleyballers, Maddison and Riley, (left), who won the leg, were impatient with the NFLers. And DeAngleo and Gary might have stayed alive in Episode 11 had they remembered to read the clue in the music-matching challenge.

 

(Of course, the other teams also didn’t read all of the clue for what seemed like hours, but they realized their error before Gary and DeAngelo did.)

 

And the odds were against the NFLers before the episode began. If you add up all their previous finishes, they were a distant fourth. Steve Kornacki would have given them a zero-percent chance of survival.

 

All in all, the lineup for the finale makes sense.

 

Who will win? The Volleyballers, Riley and Maddison. They’ve taken the last three episodes and never finished lower than fourth.

 

Who should win? Chee and Hung. They have been the best sports throughout, with Hung (right below) saving many teams because she couldn’t stop being nice.

 

Who shouldn’t win? James and Will, if only because they seemed to get so much pleasure eliminating the weaker teams.

 

I hope this isn’t the final Race finale, but it could be a while before the show returns, given travel restrictions. So, have fun and stay safe.

 

Overheard:

 

DeAngelo: It’s about to be the Thrilla in Manilla, part II.

 

Phil Keoghan: If I can give you any advice, think very carefully about helping another team, because this is all or nothing.

 

James: Think like a horse.

 

Will: Everything we tried was wrong.

 

DeAngelo: I don’t even remember hearing these songs.

 

Maddison: Our favorite games are playing (against) our best friends, and that’s what this is.

 

Chee: The alliance is no more and we’re OK with that.

 

Order of Finish: Episode 11

 

Riley and Maddison

Will and James

Chee and Hung

DeAngelo and Gary

D

Surprise: Life isn't fair on the Amazing Race

 Amazing Race, Season 32, Episode 10

By Jim Memmott

 

Siem Reap, Cambodia – The main point of Season 32 would seem to be that the strong shall inherit the earth, as long as they gang up on the weak. 

I’m not sure that’s a feel-good message for these times, given the pandemic, but, to be fair, the Race was filmed long before COVID-19 emerged. Still, it’s discouraging that, throughout the season, the top dogs have zeroed in on the underdogs without remorse.

In Episode 10, Eswar and Aparna (right) were the latest in a line of underachievers to be turned upon by the stronger racers. The NFLers, DeAngelo and Gary, gave the siblings a dreaded U-Turn, causing their elimination (and taking Dennis Doell out of the pool)

 

Karma may come, as Gary and DeAngelo could be tripped up by the three other surviving teams (Will and James, Maddison and Riley and Chee and Hung). They don’t really like the NFLers, as they don’t feel the footballers have been pulling their weight; which is true.

Gary and DeAngelo were fourth out of five in Episode 5, in an outing that featured multiple cameos by the Travelocity gnome, a product placement that may have made more sense in 2018 when the Race was filmed and people could actually travel.

 

There was also some fishing, some garden tending, and some tile-making in which DeAngelo almost bombed because he didn’t first watch a demonstration on making tiles. (Amazing Race 101: Do your homework.)

 

DeAngelo was still struggling with his tile, making the same mistake again and again, when Eswar and Aparna showed up. That did give her the opportunity to hit DeAngelo with some zingers. In the process, her personality emerged as feisty and fun, as it hadn’t in previous episodes.

 

Nonetheless, Aparna and Eswar were last to finish and Phil Keoghan eliminated them, just like that. They said the Race had drawn them together and walked away, leaving the top dogs free to attack each other. Won’t that be fun.

 

Overheard:

 

Will: When I was in middle school, I actually had my own garden, and then I got busy and it died, but I do enjoy a plant.

 

Aparna: Gary and DeAngelo and the Beard Bros kind of screwed us over. I hate them right now.

 

Will: I will fit the mold, even though I don’t fit any mold.

 

DeAngelo: It’s a race; you got U-turned; it’s part of the game.

 

Aparna: Why would you not use your brain?

 

Order of Finish: Episode 10

 

Riley and Maddison

Will and James

Chee and Hung

DeAngelo and Gary

Eswar and Aparna

Down to five, backstabbing on tap

  

 

Amazing Race, Season 32, Episode 8/9

By Jim Memmott

 

Hyderabad, India -- It took a while, but the haves have eliminated the last of the have nots in this Race around the world. Now the real back-stabbing and double-crossing can begin.

 

What Phil Keoghan touted as the first-ever Mega Leg in Amazing Race history – basically, a two-hour show that took place in one spot with no elimination in the middle – ended as everyone believed (and I feared) it would end:

 

Sisters Kaylynn and Haley Williams were finally eliminated, taking Emily and Drew out of the pool, thanks in part to the other remaining teams ganging up on them in order to preserve their alliance, the self-labelled Mine Five. 

 

Which I kept hearing as “Mind Five,” which didn’t make any more sense than “Mine Five.” Research revealed that, in the second episode in a salt mine in Colombia, the five teams swore an oath to help each other, thus the Mine Five. Those teams are: 

 

The volleyballers Riley and Maddison (left, LA Times) who finished first on the Mega Leg; Boyfriends, James and Will; parents Hung and Chee; ex-NFLers DeAngelo and Gary, and siblings Aparna and Eswar.

 

In the Mega Leg, the Miners hit the Sisters with two 20-minute Yields (delays), a bit of overkill that certainly smacked of abuse. 

 

Though the case could be made that the Sisters would have been eliminated anyway, as they seemed more like cheerful tourists than focused racers, quite resigned to the fact that that things will always go wrong when you're in new places.

 

All of this played out in Hyderabad, which offered up a host of good challenges, including food delivering, code breaking,

dental-plate making (ugh), bangle sorting, place-mat setting and turban sorting. 

During most of this, the Alliance teams helped each other, though Will and James, ever angling, tried to play favorites within the favorites.

 

So who will be eliminated next? Based on past performance, Aparna and Eswar would be the most likely to go. They didn’t do that well in Hyderabad, finishing fifth, even though at least one of the challenges allegedly played to their strengths as software engineers. 

 

DeAngelo and Gary have the second-worst overall showing, though Gary has proven himself to be quite brainy. Still, no one in the Alliance thinks the NFLers have been pulling their weight, so there’s always a chance that they will thrown them to the lions.

 

Of the other three teams, in a just world, Will and James would be gone as payback for their scheming (or gamesmanship, if you’re on their side.) Hung and Chee would survive, based on her acts of charity alone. And it would be a major shock if the Volleyballers were to be eliminated. They’re simply very good.  

 

Overheard:

 

Aparna: We’re techies. I hope they’re going to ask us to code something.

 

DeAngelo: What’s a rickshaw?

 

Hayley: We get lost everywhere we go.

 

Will: It would be us to get blood on our hands.

 

James: Yield the blondes: We're trying to make our own luck in this race, and they’ve had the best luck.

 

Hung: Being a parent, kids are so disgusting you can’t imagine what kinds of disgustingness comes out of their little bodies.

 

DeAngelo: The girls are like cockroaches. Every natural disaster they come back strong.

 

Kaylynn: We had our nine lives, and they just ran out.

 

Order of Finish: Episode 8/9

 

Maddison and Riley

James and Will

DeAngelo and Gary

Chee and Hung

Aparna and Eswar

Haley and Kaylynn

Alliances could crumble, the last could become first

 

Amazing Race Season 32, Episodes 6 and 7

By Jim Memmott

Germany and Kazakhstan – It will be hard for Wednesday’s Episode 8 to top last week’s double-episode, two hours of Amazing Race mayhem. 

 

There was strange strategy, lots of local color (Berlin loves disco, especially in a phone booth, see left). Plus, there were the  now usual standard-transmission issues, and the wonderful case of a team that’s so bad they’re actually good.

 

Let’s start with that last point first. The ever-confused, ever-cheerful, and ever-late Williams sisters, Kaylynn and Haley, managed to non-eliminate themselves for the second time.

 

They got to the finish line in Germany last in Episode 6, just as they did in Episode 4. But host Phil Keoghan let them know it was a non-elimination leg again, and they are still alive. 

 

This raises some questions about non-elimination legs. Are

they pre-determined? Can Phil make it up as he goes along? When does the Board of Elections certify the result? When does Rudy G, file a lawsuit?

 

Who cares? It’s good to have the sisters alive, even if not well. And, take heart, they may benefit by some division amongst the top-performing teams.

 

It’s kind of odd, but the five better duos this year have been in an alliance against the two worst teams, the sisters and the duo of Alana and Leo (below). 

 In other words, the strong have spent a lot of energy beating up on the weak, when they should be focusing on thinning their own ranks. (For more, check out “The Art of War,” by Sun Tzu.)

 

The alliance only survived Episode 6 intact because of the innate kindness of Hung of the husband-wife team of Chee and Hung. She was able to unscramble the letters on a wall as she was lowered, quickly, from a tall building, head first. (Don’t try that at home.)

 

Hung then tipped told some of the other alliance teams that the letters spelled “Sauerkraut.”

Then, in Episode 7 in wintry Kazakhstan, she tipped off the NFLers about need to decorate their yurt with a boiled goat’s head. Head slap! “I wasn’t thinking race smart,” she told Chee.

 

This came after terrific challenges involving the making of films in Kazakhstan. There were stunts and swordplay, some of which stumped the team of Alana and Leo, who couldn’t seem to count spears, despite their academic credentials. Thus, they were eliminated, taking Team Boston out of the pool.

 

Six teams remain, five strong, one not so strong. But, who knows, perhaps the weak shall inherit the earth.

 

Overheard:

 

German taxi driver: Why don’t you run faster? You don’t look fat.

 

Aparna: Amazing Race is even more cutthroat than Berkeley.

 

D’Angelo: I didn’t see any letters; all I saw was my life flash before my eyes. 

 

Hung: I keep my word, and my word means everything.

 

Alana: I don’t think there was a moment on this race when I didn’t feel loved and supported by Leo.

 

Order of Finish Episode 6:

 

Order of Finish:

DeAngelo and Gary

Riley and Maddison

Chee and Hung

Will and James

Eswar and Aparna

Alana and Leo

Kaylynn and Hayley

 

Order of Finish Episode 7:

 

Will and James

Riley and Maddison

Chee and Hung

DeAngelo and Gary

Kaylynn and Hayley

Eswar and Aparna

Alana and Leo

The field narrows, the Race goes on

  

 

Amazing Race, Season 32, Episode 5

By Jim Memmott

 

Chantilly, France –There’s no predicting the Amazing Race, so, on the eve of Episodes 6 and 7 (two hours), let’s predict.

 

But, first a look back. The teams few to Paris for Episode 5 and then drove out into the countryside –

Wait, a minute, before they could head their way, Will of the Boyfriends team, couldn’t stick shift his car on a ramp, blocking other races.

 

This is an Amazing Race feature, automatic transmission drivers getting stuck by a stick shift in foreign lands. Speaking of lost arts. I suspect that down the road there will be a cursive writing challenge. You read it here first.

 

Turned out that Will, who had practiced shifting pre-race (he and partner James, have practiced everything) was putting the car into third, not first gear. That problem was resolved, and the race went forward. 

 

Arriving at a chateau, racers had to match subjects of a painting with their real-life costumed counterparts. And they did some pie filling and tried their hands at carnival games. All of this was fun, and confusing, and revealing.

In the end, Riley and Maddison, the volleyballers, finished first, continuing their good play on the season. Sisters Michelle and Victoria were eliminated, having gotten lost in traffic and losing valuable time. Thus, their sponsor, Allison Chanler, is out of the pool.

 

Using our Steve Kornacki formula (adding up their finishes in each episode), the sisters should have done better, as they stood fourth overall going into Episode 5. They had every reason to be sad, though they weren’t, as their time on the race let to a deepening of their bond. (Isn’t this always the case?).

 

Sticking with the formula, even though it’s flawed, here’s the new ranking:

Chee and Hung (12): The husband-wife team finished second for the third time. They didn't seem to have the communications issues (he needs to talk more) that they had before. 

Riley and Maddison (14): In winning the episode they climbed up a notch in the standings. Turns out they can cook, do carnival games and keep their cool.

James and Will (16): Their episode-winning streak was stopped at two, but given their rocky start in this episode, a fourth-place finish was impressive.

 

Alana and Leo (27): They are improving, with two third-place finishes in a row. He still seems devious, but he did help Will when he was stuck on a ramp.

Aparna and Eswar (29): Maybe they aren’t that strong a team. She took forever on a costume challenge that didn’t seem to rattle other teams.

 

DeAngelo and Gary (30): What’s with them? Take away one second-place finish and they would be bottom in the rankings. I can’t figure them out, though it was good to learn that Gary loves art.

 

Kaylynn and Haley (34): As engaging as they are, it’s almost as if they are trying to lose. Then again, they’re survivors. Maybe their luck will change.

 

Overheard:

 

Alana: The last time I was in Paris I had a crush on a guy name Stephen. Now I’m in Paris, and I have a crush on a guy named Leo.

 

Leo: Will and James are a plumbing issue. They clogged the ramp.

 

James: Be one with the car, my love. 

 

Michelle: I don’t know where I’m going, Victoria.

 

James: Leo wasn’t nice at all. I mean no empathy.

 

DeAnglo (to Gary): You don’t really strike me as a Renaissance man.

 

Aparna: I think our family is the epitome of the American dream. Our dad came with here like $20 in his pocket.

 

Kaylynn or Hayley: I never thought anyone could screw up as much as us.

 

Order of Finish:

Riley and Maddison

Chee and Hung

Alana and Leo

Will and James

DeAngelo and Gary

Eswar and Asparna

Kaylynn and Hayley

Michelle and Victoria

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Too early to call this Race

 

Amazing Race, Season 32, Episode 4

By Jim Memmott

 

Asuncion, Paraguay – Apologies to all. This blog got distracted by another Amazing Race, the contest for the presidency that took, well, a little while to decide.

 

There were detours and road blocks, joy and sorrow, all of which were explained by Steve Kornacki as we waited, and waited for the Call to be made.

Of course, the Call was made, but it looks like one candidate will not be like eliminated racers on the Race. He'll not say good things about his partner, describe the experience as life-altering, shoulder his backpack and walk away.

 

While we wait for that to happen, we can turn our attention back to the Race, which returns tonight (Nov. 11) with Episode 5.

 

I won’t recap Episode 4 as it was a non-elimination race. The sisters, Kaylynn and Haley finished eighth and last, in part because Kaylynn had deep trouble creating a viola out of scraps. But host Phil Keoghan gave them a reprieve, as he sometimes does.

 

The boyfriends James and Will finished first, their knowledge of Race history helping them as they had actually practiced balancing wine bottles on their heads, a challenge that was brought up from the last time the Race was in Paraguay, in

Season 20.

Now that we’ve gone through four episodes, it’s time to pull a Kornacki and rank the racers, possibly giving a sense of where things are going from here. 

The point system is based on a team’s finish in each episode, 1 pt. for 1^st, 2 pts for 2^nd, etc. Thus, the lower the total number of points the higher a team’s ranking. 

 

Here’s the standings so far:

 

Chee and Hung (10): The married parents took the first two episodes and continue to do well. Only problem: Chee doesn’t talk enough and this peeves Hung.

James and Will (12) They won the last two episodes impressively and are students of race strategy. Only problem: At times they seem too clever for their own good.

Riley and Maddison (14): The volleyball playing brothers are remarkably consistent, getting nothing but thirds and fourths. May be favorites at this point to win it all.

Michelle and Victoria (14) The sisters say they didn’t get along before the race, but take away one bumpy outing and they might be in the lead.

Aparna and Eswar (22) The siblings are first in what we might think of as the second half of the entries. They’re self-declared brainiacs, but so far that doesn’t seem to have paid off.

 

Alana and Leo (24:) Speaking of brainiacs, the dating couple

who analyze everything wasn’t doing that well until a 3^rd place finish in the 4th episode. they could be a sleeper team.

DeAngelo and Gary (24) Wow. They are athletic and likeable, every-ready with a quote, and they’re also up and down, done-in by challenges they should dominate, like watermelon stacking.

Kaylynn and Haley (27): They’ve finished eighth three times, third once. On paper they don’t have a chance. But they are spirited and have a compelling back story. The Race likes that.

 

Overheard in Episode 4:

 

Hong: Communication is something we have struggled with in our real lives.

 

Maddison: Volleyball is double-elimination. Here if you get last, it’s a pretty good chance you’re out. 

 

Michelle: We know Uruguay is in Africa.

 

DeAngelo: My number one claim to fame is putting together things like Ikea furniture with no instructions.

 

Kaylynn: If I were to give up, I’d be letting myself down.  I’d be letting Hayley down.

 

James: I think we’re surprising ourselves. 

 

Hong: You need to talk to me. Do you hear me? You need to talk to me.

 

Gary: The watermelons are still falling. It’s getting dark. The bugs are coming out.

 

Order of Finish, Episode 4 :

 

Will and James

Michelle and Victoria

Leo and Alana 

Riley and Maddison

Eswar and Asparna

Chee and Hung

DeAngelo and Gary

Kaylynn and Hayley