Amazing Race: Week 5

The Episode

Seven teams left, which seems like so few. I think the Amazing Race should consider adding a team or two to their lineup. Then they could get rid of one of these pesky non-elimination legs that no one seems to like (and which are now even more compressed towards the end of the show).

In this leg, teams flew to Cambodia. All of the teams wound up on the same incoming flight except for Aja and Ty, which is pretty much all you need to know to figure out what happened. To spare any false suspense, it was unclear how much they lagged behind the other teams, but they never appeared to be at the same location as any other team. So, missing that opening flight basically sealed their doom.

The other teams had a fine and exciting time battling for first place. It seemed like every task and car ride saw them switching leads, except for the hapless Andrew and Dan, whose troubles began in the very first task, when they couldn't figure out how to crank some diesel into a truck's fuel tank. A lot of teams bill themselves as "happy go lucky" when they enter the race, but not all of them actually perform in accordance with this self-image. Andrew and Dan are a good example of a team that is happy go lucky, until they're under a bit of pressure, in which case they just turn into bickering ninnies. Dan keeps yelling at Andrew, who seems primed to blow up at some point in the not-too-distant future.

Terence and Sarah overcame some real hardships this leg. First, they were stopped for a speeding ticket doing about 10 mph over the speed limit. Not only did they have to wait for the ticket to be written, but they also had to sit for a 30 minute penalty at the end of the leg (at least, I think they did; the show was a little confusing by saying that the penalty didn't affec t the outcome this leg, and would carry over to next leg). Not only that, but their boat broke down later in the leg, which cost them even more time.

The Detour: After some planes, trucks, and boats to open the leg, teams wound up in Cambodia, in the midst of a floating fishing village. They had to choose between "Village Work" or "Village Store." In "Work," they had to wade through some waist-deep muddy water and haul in some fishing traps. In "Store," they had to travel to three stores in the village and pick up an item from each. It seemed like "Work" was the better option, judging from how quickly the teams finished. Dallas and Toni were one of the teams that chose this option, and Toni proved her worth by taking charge when Dallas seemed to kind of wilt under the pressure of the situation.

"Store" provided the best moment of the episode. Kelly and Christie arrived at the local dentist office, having been told that they had to pick up some teeth. When the office worker pointed them to a table of chattering plastic toy teeth, they thought they were being directed to remove the teeth of an old woman sitting in a chair. "Hers?" one of them asked, while they both looked horrified at the prospect. Happily, their belief that the show would have them perform dental surgery on hapless locals proved to be unfounded, and they were soon on their way.

The Roadblock: "Who has a good sense of direction?," asked the clue. The teams all had definite ideas about which of their members fit that description, but I'm not sure that a sense of direction really played much of a role. The idea was that the contestant had to wander around a sprawling, absolutely magnificent temple, and find a specific chamber of echoes, which had acoustic properties that magnified the thumping of the chest.

Tina was particularly inept and funny in this Roadblock, thumping her chest at random spots in the temple and looking around her semi-expectantly. At one point, she sheepishly thumped her chest in an enormous outdoor area that may not even have had a ceiling. She was one of the first to enter the temple, and one of the last to leave.

Nick also distinguished himself in this one by once again doing his best to screw another team. He made a point of hiding the clue under his shirt and pretending he was still looking for the right place in front of the other teams.


Team Battle: Well, the entirety of the "fight" between Kelly and Christie, and Dallas and Toni turns out to have been shown in the previews from last week. In other words, nothing major.

Elimination: Aja and Ty were eliminated, which surprised exactly no one. One the one hand, their only fatal mistake this week was missing a plane flight in the very beginning of the leg, which makes their elimination seem a little unfair. But on the other hand, this was them reaping what they sowed in last week's episode, where a lot of foot-dragging and lollygagging led to them finishing way behind the rest of the pack. If they had performed better in the last leg, they would have been in the thick of it this leg, so they really have no one else to blame. Their finishing placements in other legs were "4th, 8th, 5th, and 7th," indicating it was only a matter of time before they fell prey to the more competitive teams.




This is how the 8 remaining teams finished. The number in parentheses shows how they improved or slipped over the previous episode:

1st: Nick and Starr (+4 = biggest improvement)
2nd: Toni and Dallas (+2)
3rd: Terence and Sarah (-1)
4th: Ken and Tina (-3 = biggest slide)
5th: Kelly and Christie (-2)
6th: Andrew and Dan (no change)
7th: Aja and Ty (no change = eliminated)

The Pool

Mom, Carl, and pool leader Mike all had pretty great weeks. Mike was the only one to peg Nick and Starr for FT, and gained a 40 point bonus as a result. Carl and Mom each got 50 points for accurately predicting that Aja and Ty would be eliminated this week. This allowed Carl to jump into second place, where he is currently nipping at Mike's heels. And Mom jumped out of the cellar and into a competitive fifth place. Meanwhile, Kim and Paul lost a bruising 50 points each for mistakenly predicting that Aja and Ty would go all the way to 2nd place. So Paul, the reigning Amazing Race Genius and Kim, the reigning Ultimate Survivor, are canoodling with each other at the bottom of the pool.


1st: Mike 1056 (-20 +40)
2nd: Carl 1044 (+50 +0)
3rd: Jen 980 (-20 +0)
4th: Dawn 942 (-20 +0)
5th: Mom 916 (+50 +0)
6th: Matt 848 (-30 +0)
7th: Kim 824 (-50 +0)
8th: Paul 806 (-50 +0)

Don't forget to send me your FT picks, and good luck everyone!