The Amazing Race
Season 35, Episode 10
By Jim Memmott
Stockholm – Call me crazy, but I’m going to miss Todd Martin, the tall mansplaining former basketball player.
Some viewers I know were annoyed by the big guy, but he was a perfect guest in every country he visited, always praising the scenery and thanking the locals.
And he didn’t know the meaning of the word “quit.” Even when he and his wife, Ashlie, were clearly on their way to a defeat – she lost far too much time in the wreath-making challenge – he cheerfully talked of a comeback. Everyone knows that comebacks happen in sports. Why not in life?
Alas, the comeback kid didn’t come back, so now he and Ashlie are gone, taking poolster Cindy Schmitt with them.
We’re down to four teams, which, I assume, means two more episodes.
It could be that the ever-upbeat and wonderfully goofy pair are better than this column thought.
Or it could also be that they were lucky not to be part of an alliance that made sense until it didn’t make sense.
Near the end of the episode, three teams, Greg and John Franklin (brothers), Corey and Rob McArthur (son/father), Anna Leigh Wilson and Steve Cargile (daughter/father), were in a group, working together. They got some bad information and wandered off together in the wrong direction.
Joel and Garrett, not part of the group, didn’t get lost, and thus they won. The brothers Franklin, who had finished first in the three previous episodes, captured second place. Rob and Corey came third and Steve and Anna Leigh were a close fourth. As always, she kept telling him to run faster, though it seems he has run out of gas. Stay tuned.
All in all, it was a good episode, though it had me scratching my head sometimes.
Why, for example, did the Racers have to skydive?
Sure, it was fun to see so much fear transformed to joy as they glided to the earth. But they weren’t judged on their form, or the accuracy of their landings. No one had to jump again.
I guess parachuting was just a scary time-filler. (One, I should add, that I wouldn’t have done in 10 million years.)
The recycling challenge also left me a little puzzled. There didn’t seem to be a way anyone could fail. Finding the right bin for each item – refrigerators go here, etc. – wasn’t hard. Basically, it was just like a pleasant visit to the Peaks Island, Maine, dump, which, I know is a whole other story
For the record, Corey and Rob used their Express Pass to avoid the wreath-making challenge. I’m not sure it made much of a difference, as they lost the time they had gained when they couldn’t find the right entrance to the opera house.
Overheard:
Todd: I feel like Rocky. We’re up against the ropes now, but we have to fight our way to the top.
Rob: What’s better than skydiving with your son.
Garrett: I’m so glad I got to go through that experience (skydiving). I’ll never do it again.
Greg: John and I are city boys. We can do the subway.
Ashlie: I love your positivity, but I’m not there right now.
Garrett: It was such a blast picking up that toilet and just slamming it.
Todd: Teamwork makes the dream work.
Phil Keoghan: I don’t think we’ve ever had a final four this close going into the penultimate lap.
Ashlie: We gave it our all, but I love this guy.
Todd: Six years ago, we weren’t in a spot where we could do this. God has restored our relationship.
Order of finish
Joel Strasser and Garrett Smith, best friends
Greg and John Franklin, brothers
Corey and Rob McArthur, son and father
Steve Cargile and Anna Leigh Wilson, father and daughter
Eliminated
Todd and Ashlie Martin, married, high school sweethearts
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