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
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