Amazing Race Standings: Week 4

1. Paul: 995 (+3)
2. Matt: 815 (-59)
3. Dawn: 810 (-57)
4. Carl: 761 (-84)
5. Kim: 652 (-55)

This episode was very different from the usual Amazing Race fare in that it was stripped down to the bare essentials. With no airplanes or public transportation, there was no opportunity to bunch, which meant that the finishing order of the previous leg had a much bigger impact than it usually does. What this meant in practical terms was that the front place finishers of last week did well again (particularly Azaria and Hendekea), and the lagging team of Jason and Lorena never really had a chance to catch up and erase their camel-milking induced deficit, especially after Shana and Jennifer nailed them with a U-Turn.

The pool replicated the episode in part, namely in that front runner Paul kept the faith by sticking with Azaria and Hendekea, who rewarded him with a big, fat 60 point bonus. Overall, Paul has been treading water in a point system designed to sink players, so he now leads the rest of us by about 200 points. Good luck making that up, everybody!

I'm now second place in name only, as I'm virtually tied with Dawn. I'd have been happy with my week, if only Paul wasn't doing so well.

Dawn had a decent week as well, losing just 57 points. She also has Ronald and Christina picked to go next week, which I have to think has a decent chance of happening, given the hernia situation.

Carl had the rough week that I had last week, losing 84 points, mostly because he had Lorena and Jason picked to go all the way to second place.

Kim had a better week than anyone (other than Paul), losing only 55 points. But her randomized picks have already put her in such a big hole that she'd have to get very lucky to make a comeback. Of course, she's closer to the rest of us than we are to Paul, so anything's possible.