by David McAlpine

 

Last time on The Amazing Race, the teams were led on a wild goose chase through the streets of Cambodia. No one knew who Jackie Kennedy was, but that didn’t stop the pack from changing too much, since everyone pretty much stayed where they were from place to place. In the end, it was only Zev losing his passport that saved Maria & Tiffany, thus ending Zev & Justin’s time on the race.

 

The teams are told to head to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which I don’t remember the race ever going to—exciting! However, combined with the fact that the teams all pretty much arrived at the same time and the fact that they went up to the top of the tallest building in the world…only to go back down to a parking lot, well, it was kind of lame. The change of scenery was actually laughable: from high up, looking over the entire city to a completely flat, perfectly paved mall parking lot.

 

Sam and Dan seemed to think that the “Persian Gulf” was a country or something, because they kept referring to it and wondering what it was. Mika and Canaan also started to get on each other’s nerves, especially when Canaan made fun of Mika’s fear of heights. Response: icy glare. Score one for Mika. Meanwhile, Brian has realized how much bad luck they’ve had, so now his goal is to build up as much good karma as possible. So he decides to tell everyone at the Phnom Penh airport where they’re going and he helped Mika and Canaan when they were lost. I mean, good karma is great…but if you come in last, don’t you still lose?

 

Lance and Keri start to meltdown, too, after they literally watch a flight to Dubai fill up in front of their eyes on the internet. Keri’s logic: “It was a computer glitch.” Lance’s response: “Does it really matter? It’s still your fault.” Dominating husband! For the win!

 

While other teams were falling apart, Meghan and Cheyne were pushing ahead, grabbing the season’s only Fast Forward (and yes, it is only leg 5). Two two headed to an open wheel race track where one of them had to complete a lap around the track in less than 45 seconds. And since it is just driving in a circle, of course Cheyne did well. After his “driving brilliance,” the two were headed to the Pit Stop in a Maserati. The two arrived first (surprise!).

 

Next up is the Roadblock, where one member of each team has to wander around the desert (which looks ridiculously hot) to find urns buried in the sand containing water. Once the team member had found enough water to fill their bag, they would be able to move on to the next clue. I thought the heat would have gotten to the teams more, but everyone seemed fairly calm. Well, everyone except Canaan. Remember the icy glare Mika gave him earlier? It came out again when he said he couldn’t handle the desert heat—because he could right after she looked at him.

 

The positions still haven’t changed much at this point (even after Maria & Tiffany skewered their car tire on a spike and got a replacement car), except the fact that Lance & Keri keep falling farther and farther behind, mostly because of Lance’s dramatics. This time it was taking the time to smash every urn he found on the ground with superhuman power. Roid rage much?

 

It went from hot to cold as the teams arrived at Ski Dubai, Dubai’s indoor ski resort, for the Detour. The choice: Build a Snowman or Find a Snowman. In Build a Snowman, teams had to build a snowman outside in the desert (where it’s 120 degrees) to the attendant’s satisfaction before the snow melted. In Find a Snowman, teams had to take the ski lift up to the top, then sled down the artificial mountain and looking through large piles of snow for a tiny snowman toy. Of course Brian, our resident good karma guru, and his lovely assistant Ericka, find the snowman toy without much problem at all, silencing many of their karma critics…for now. Almost everyone else opted to go outside and try building the snowman, because no one seemed to have the patience to search.

 

And when a couple blobs of a snow and a stick constitute a snowman, I would have gone for that task, too. Flight Time and Big Easy still don’t have a problem finding the toy, but everyone else is frantically building snow sculptures in the desert. Cue Lance, who needs to beat the crap out of his snowman before they leave, just because. I thought he had good reason, because they were behind the whole leg. The teams finished in the following order:

 

1st: Meghan and Cheyne (FF)

2nd: Brian and Ericka

3rd: Flight Time and Big Easy

4th: Gary and Matt

5th: Sam and Dan

6th: Maria and Tiffany

7th: Mika and Canaan

8th: Lance and Keri

 

As if we all didn't see it coming to begin with, Lance and Keri were eliminated from the competition. I was only really sad to see them go because of how hilarious Keri’s Boston accent was.

 

Tune in to CBS on Sunday at 8/7c to see what happens on the next leg of The Amazing Race 15!

 

(Photo courtesy of CBS)

 

Follow David on Twitter: @DavidMcAlpine

 

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