Geeky and creepy in the penultimate Amazing Race

Amazing Race 37 Episode 11

 

By Jim Memmott

 

Portugal – Phil Keoghan knows how to build suspense. 

He ended the episode with a cliffhanger’s, cliffhanger, leaving us not knowing which team would be the third team in the finale. 

It was manipulative. It was heartless. And, boy, was it good theater.

 

Alyssa and Josiah Borden were maybe a minute behind Ana and Jonathan Towns, each team putting tile on a wall, piecing together a mosaic.

 

Then Jonathan (left) dropped a tile and the episode ended. Boom, just like that. Are he and Ana doomed? Will Alyssa and Josiah survive? We’ll soon find out.

 

The survivors will join Carson McCalley and Jack Dodge, the fun-loving gamers who finished first, and the siblings Han and Holden Nguyen, who took second. They’ll all fly (business class) to Miami for the showdown.

 

But the vibe will certainly be different depending on the third duo.

 

No one would be rooting against Alyssa and

Josiah. They get along. They need the money to pay off student loans. They have been strong racers, though a little shaky of late.

I suspect no one would be rooting for Jonathan and Ana, as Jonathan has emerged as downright creepy in his treatment of Ana. In this episode he even barked at her for joining him in a line.

 

“Just don’t cut me off, that’s rude,” he told her. “You stepped right in front of me.”

 

Ana talked back, just a little, but mostly she persuaded Jonathan to keep going, the race not being over until it’s over.

 

Thanks to her, they did keep going, and perhaps they survived. Perhaps.

 

Despite Jonathan, the episode was fun, the highlight being Carson’s joy when he realized he was going to get dressed up in a suit of armor and live out a Renaissance Faire Fantasy.

 

You gotta love Carson, and Jack, too. They are geeks without apology; they bring the good times.

 

Han and Holden had a strong outing, as well. Early on in the season, I had thought Holden was clueless, a talker without talent. I was wrong. He’s a younger brother who is ever eager for his older sister’s approval. She, in turn, is patient and all-knowing. There, I finally understand them.

 

Overheard:

 

Jack: We take on this underdog wimpy vibe in our head, and the other teams are the popular kids.

 

Holden: Dude, life’s so much easier with a map.

 

Alyssa: The energy is really changed; nobody is helping anyone anymore.

 

Jonathan: You’re worse at navigation.

 

Ana: Why are you being so disrespectful?

 

Carson: This is the best day of my life... My friends, who I play Dungeons and Dragons with, they are going to freak out.

 

Jonathan: I wish I could be in a different state of mind. It was tough to enjoy it when you knew you were going home.

 

Order of finish Episode 11

(Updated at the start of Episode 12, Ana and Jonathan were able to put the cracked tile into the mosaic, and they went on to finish third.)

 

Carson and Jack

Han and Holden

Ana and Jonathan

Eliminated:

Alyssa and Josiah