Amazing Race 37 Episode 5
By Jim Memmott
Bali, Indonesia – It had to be one of the best Amazing Race episodes in the history of the reality show.
There was betrayal, tension and breakdown, all the elements we want.
On the other hand, it was perhaps self-defeating on behalf of the Race producers, as a new gimmick put two of the best teams at risk relatively early in the season.
And because of the gimmick, the married duo of Lori and Scott Thompson are gone just as they were beginning to grow on yours truly.
We’ll no longer have Scott’s running commentary and his constant references to his eight, count ‘em, eight, sons. Lori, too, will be missed. Her energy. Her love/hate relationship with the other teams.
They’re out because the other racers voted during the Live Double U-Turn to make them do both Detours. One involved planting some coral in the bottom the ocean, the other called for transporting 60 coconuts via bicycle and then stacking them into the shape of a cone.
We had learned more the about the feared teams before the start of the episode. Lori and Scott told us of their significant weight loss, how they had made their lives healthier. We learned, too, of the tragedy in Ana and Jonathan’s lives, about her miscarriage and the sorrow that followed.
This is typical of the Race. The producers fill in the competitors’ biographies at key moments. They make us care more, even for teams for whom we may not have been rooting.
Why did Scott and Lori finish last? It seemed like they were running about even with Ana and Jonathan, but Jonathan came out of the final challenge a little ahead.
It wasn’t an easy Roadblock, as contestants had to paddle surfboards out into a crowd of surfers and find a board with a matching decal.
Jonathan was exhausted when he did this, sometimes just collapsing onto the board. Indeed, it looked like he was sleeping. Still, he and Ana made it to the finish line before Lori and Scott, whom Phil sent home. Their loss took Cindy out of the pool.
The Thompsons’ departure forces us to rethink the race, now that one of the favorites is gone.
Ana and Jonathan’s stock has fallen. He says he’s the best competitor in the Race – yes, I think he said that – but he seems fragile and moody. What if the heat gets to him again?
Brett Hamby and Mark Romain, the married Las Vegas performers, won the episode. They’re good, but we don’t really know them yet.
Alyssa and Josiah Borden, the married nurses, took second. They’re good, too, and she could easily get a job as a color commentator on the Race.
But how can we predict anything anymore? Host Phil Keoghan keeps coming up with innovations that change the nature of the Race.
In a way, I miss the old days of the non-elimination episodes, when Phil would give an exhausted and defeated team a new life, tell them they had lived to Race another day.
That was the kinder, gentler Amazing Race. No more. Life is hard. There are no pardons. Except in politics, but that’s another story.
Overheard:
Scott Thompson: I don’t think if they got ahead of us they would do anything to hurt us.
Erika Papadeas: We are so content to let everyone else battle it out.
Jeff Bailey: Everybody’s not built for chaos, and we are.
Scott: I just feel it’s like my eight sons voting against us.
Lori: Some of these teams are our friends. They’re not my friends anymore.
Jonathan Towns: I had reached my personal limit, as far as sun exposure.
Ana Towns: We knew we were a target ... but we just weren’t ready for it.
Scott Thompson: We got targeted because we were the best team.
Order of finish
Brett Hamby and Mark Romain
Carson McCalley and Jack Dodge
Alyssa and Josiah Burden
Pops and Jeff Bailey
Han and Holden Nguyen
Melinda and Erika Papadeas
Nick and Mike Fiorito
Ana and Jonathan Towns
Eliminated
Scott and Lori Thompson
