by Sam McMillen

The Amazing Race 15

 

This week on The Amazing Race, the nine remaining teams headed east to Argentina. A six hour bus ride through the Andes had the teams gawking at the natural beauty that surrounded them, taking their minds off the race for a few minutes to soak in the view. Upon arriving in Bariloche, teams had to find El Boliche Viejo (The Old Joint) and play a game of five card stud against a Travelocity Gnome. Once a team wins a hand, they head to a nearby cattle ring for a Roadblock in which one member has to lasso a "steer" (made of hay) to get their next clue. The teams then drive themselves to a Detour, where they must decide between Horse Power and Horse Sense. The leg is full of confusion, bickering, confusion, fake animals, confusion, and more confusion... so let's get started on the most memorable moments.

 

DON'T DRINK THE WATER!
Toward the beginning of the episode, Brent and Caite are taken to the hospital for food poisoning symptoms. Their pit-start time comes and goes while on the way to the ER, an event which must have sent them into a world of panic. What if we're doing a second leg here, with no chances for "bunching"? What if we miss a flight to our next location and everyone else is on it? Nonetheless, their condition was bad enough that they felt it necessary to check into the hospital. While Caite's getting hooked up to an IV, Brent says "we could be out of it right now". Probably the last thing Caite wanted to hear at that time, but an inconvenient truth nonetheless. Being eliminated because your body failed you would totally suck. Luckily, the two return to the pit-start map only to find Michael and Louie in the hotel lobby, awaiting their "bunched" bus departure time.

 

THE GNOME
The Travelocity Gnome made an early appearance this season, which is awesome because he's a total rock star. This season, the gnome could be found seated with Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid in one of those old fashioned pictures you have taken at the fair. The adorable garden watcher turned world traveler was waiting for the teams at El Boliche Viejo, where he played them in a game of five card stud. Jet and Cord comment on his impenetrable poker face during the match up, in which the gnome beat the cowboys three times before they were able to overcome his poker prowess. According to the picture in the clue, the gnome was besties with Butch Cassidy - clearly he's going to have some poker skills. Tiffany and Maria, take notes... you could learn a lot from this guy. The tricky part is that after you "win" your gnome, you have to take him with you everywhere along the leg in order to check in with Phil. Thankfully, no one left him stranded in the compass field (I hear coyotes have a taste for ceramic gnomes... trust me, I have a degree in biology). Conclusion: Travelocity Gnome for president in 2012

 

A GLIMMER OF HOPE
It's the best feeling in the world. You've been working on a challenge for what seems like hours and things aren't looking good. Out of thin air, you catch a break and it looks like success is around the corner. As soon as it comes, something happens and the joyous moment flies away, sending you back to square one. This week two of these events stuck out to me. During the roadblock, Shawne struggles with the lasso for quite some time. She finally catches the tip of one of the horns, providing a huge boost of excitement for the all-female duo. As she begins trying to pull the steer in, the rope slips off the tip. All of a sudden, the ladies are back to praying for a "yeehaw Jesus" miracle. Jeff and Jordan also have a glimmer of hope moment when they find a bag of loot during the Horse Sense Detour. They're cloud nine moment is shattered when they finally find the bandit (they kept going to the gunslinger guy instead - I woulda done the same thing, he was quite the looker) only to be turned away because the bag didn't match their coordinates. At least they had a handsome, white bearded, little ceramic man to console them when their dreams were momentarily crushed.

 

SWITCH ISN'T JUST A WILL SMITH SONG
Sometimes, a challenge proves to be simply too difficult to finish in a reasonable amount of time. While I don't have scientific proof, there's an exact correlation between time spent on a task and blood pressure levels. At the same time, there's always the idea in your head that if you just try it one more time or just spend five more minutes on it, your time investment will be fruitful. An example was when Dan and I tried the kayak challenge in Prague three times before switching (definitely three times too many). I learned two things during that challenge: 1) I can't kayak worth crap 2) I don't look good in a helmet. This week, teams quickly realized how tough the Horse Sense detour was. Honestly, how can you be sure you took exactly 189 steps to the northeast? And what if it was Charla out there with her smaller steps? Most of the teams that start with the compass detour eventually switch, which I definitely think was a smart idea. Jeff and Jordan are able to finish the task, however who knows how long they might have been out there if Michael and Louie hadn't accidentally given away the location of their loot. Whoopsie daisies!

 

HEY, THAT AIN'T FAIR!
There is sometimes a task that one team is going to be better at because of their "theme". Other teams will inevitably complain about it and point out the unfair advantage had by that lucky team. Like if our season had a dunking challenge, a "who can look the most Asian" challenge, or a "which team can interlock their fingers, exposing a zebra-like color pattern the most" challenge. One team has the obvious upper hand in the Roadblock this week, as the task involves lassoing a bale of hay with steer horns attached to it. Cord comments on how Brandy threw a fit because the cowboys were clearly advanced in the fake steer roping category of life. The thing you have to remember is that these tasks are planned out LONG before the cast is set, so there's no way the challenge was set up to give Jet and Cord a boost. It's purely coincidence. Now if only our season finale had a "who can look the stupidest on national television" challenge. My brother and I would be very rich men.

 

MAKING ENEMIES - AND NOT JUST WITH OTHER TEAMS
While I really like Carol and Brandy, it seems that they're not making too many friends on the race course. It kind of started in the airport with the whole "tiara" comment directed toward Caite. This week, the newly dating couple approaches Jet and Cord in an attempt to ask about their mad bus hopping skills. Jet and Cord complained about how the ladies weren't personable or friendly about it, they just kind of attacked them with questions. Another secret clip shows Joe and Heidi talking about how the ladies offended Steve by saying to his face that he and Allie weren't a threat as a solid team (which is deliciously ironic when Steve and Allie beat them this leg). The drama isn't just inter-team as this episode is full of bickering and "temper-tantrums" for the princesses. Don't get me wrong, I like the ladies and I think they have final 3 potential, but making enemies this early is a bad idea. Of all people, Dan and I proved that a little bickering won't stop a team from being successful, and it's my opinion that inter-team relationships are at times just as important as the relationship between partners.

 

READING PHIL
When Phil delivers the news that they're still in the race, Jordan (of team Big Brother) looks at him and says "I can never read you, you scare me. I always try to read your face, and you're just like, blank". This is one of the reasons why I love Phil. He loves to play with you and make you think you're time is over. At the mat of the second Prague leg (after that torturous Gollum task), Phil went on and on asking Dan and me if we had enjoyed the race and gotten everything we wanted out of it. His tone was quite dismal, and we hadn't seen another team for hours, so we were genuinely surprised when he told us we were team two and headed to the final leg. He such a trickity little trickster, and I'm proud of Jordan for finally calling him out on it.

 

TEAM STALLIE
So my love for Steve and Allie is still going strong, and I really enjoyed their quirks this week. Three events stuck out to me. 1) While running to the clue box just before the Detour, Steve takes a nasty spill and does a sweet little ninja roll to cover it up. Unfortunately, Allie saw it and calls her dad out by laughing and yelling "you totally just fell!" 2) The team chooses the Horse Power Detour and Steve struggles to get on the horse, so he prompts his daughter to push him up by his butt. She obliges, but I'm sure she was laughing at the fact that she was in Argentina, pushing her dad's romp so he could get on a wooden horse and play some polo. 3) During the Detour, Steve is clearly in pain while carrying the heavy wooden horse. When Allie asks him what's hurting, he quickly responds "I'm 57 years old, what ISN'T hurting". I really love their relationship and I think they're totally a dark horse team. I'm even gonna say it, they're a final three pick for me.

 

This week was quite entertaining I must say. Between a hospital visit for Brent and Caite and even more stick shift themed disasters for Dan and Jordan, I'd say it was a pretty eventful leg of the race. We have to wave goodbye to Shawne and Monique which is a huge bummer because I loved their positive attitudes and friendly interactions. Your dramatic prayers will be missed! Jet and Cord prevailed again and are looking pretty unstoppable at this point. The biggest victory of the episode was Brent and Caite pushing through their illness, however Steve and Allie have officially taken over their final three spot in my book. Until next week, race dirty!

 

The Amazing Race airs Sundays at 8/7c on CBS.

 

(Image courtesy of CBS)

 

Follow Sam at twitter.com/sammcmillen

 

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