Amazing Race (didn't see a thread this week)

Hi Everyone,

I'm usually the Pea that posts the Amazing Race threads each week and this week I didn't get around to it due to family commitments. I didn't see any another thread so thought I'd post this one. Yeah I know it's a few days late, but hey-maybe some of you still want to talk about the episode. I hope so. What were your thoughts. How do you think the season is going?

So, let's see if I can remember what happened. We was it last week that said Karma is a bitch? Well as usual we start out with a review of what happened last week and first they show Shelley and Nici (Mom and daughter) and at this point it's mostly Shelley's big mouth arguing with Keith I think it is in square over who pushed who and do it again and we'll see what happens, and next we see Shelley and Nici  on the double U-turn board as they U-turn Keith and Whitney. So spoiler ahead and Karma back at ya-guess who goes home this episode. Okay, I'll wait and tell you at the end of this post since that makes the most sense. But you know it's coming.

1st challenge-deliver hay and horse drawn carriages. Seems simple enough really, but I was shocked at how many teams ended up running around like chickens with their heads cut off, instead of just getting into taxis like the strong, teams up front did. Why would you just start running in random directions trying to find some place when you have no idea how far away it could be? Wouldn’t the logical thing to do would be to run up to a taxi and ask the driver-do you know where this is and can you take me here? He's either going to say "yes" or "it's too close, you can walk", and you have your answer. Of course that doesn't help when half the taxi drivers don't know where the location is-which is what seemed to happen in this challenge. But I noticed the stronger teams didn't give up and just kept running to different taxis until they found one that did. Seems to be the worst thing you can do is ask a local shop keeper or person on the street-the teams that did that ended up with those people simply pointing in direction (like Tim and Te Jay) and instead of jumping in a cab, they ended up running around the winding back alleys wasting time and getting lost in the process.

Of course it is so easy sitting here at home vs. being there in the middle of it with all of the stress and adrenaline making those choices. It was so cute seeing Bethany and Adam riding in the horse drawn carriage and she blew my mind when she just went up that rickety ladder like it was nothing to bring the hay up to the horse feeding station. Maya or Amy called out to Bethany while she was in the carriage where to go to get the hay and she told them that they had to get in a cab to get there which I thought was kind of her to share the information, and then Adam told Shelley and Nici the same thing once they were stopped and they came up to ask for help.

Maya and Amy seemed to have a lot of trouble on this challenge because when they got there they just grabbed the first two bags of hay they saw (in the next stable) and started taking it up the ladder. It took Tim and Te Jay to come along, ask where they got the hay and then tell them "that's not right" as he read the clue to them again where it said, take the bags from the marked feeding station. I wonder if they hadn't come along and if Maya and Amy had just gone ahead if they'd gotten some kind of penalty for that. Precision is everything in this game and you have got to read those instructions people!

I really like Tim and Te Jay and thought it was brilliant of them to come up with the deal of telling Shelley and Nici where the carriages were if they would tell them where the hay was. It benefited both teams.

So next challenge drive to the pottery place, find the clue and choose from milking goat and making butter or putting up a traditional tent. I thought that after the complexity of the Danish street set-ups, personally the goat milk/butter thing would be easier myself. Plus, I've made butter myself years ago when we lived on a small farm when I was a teen and had our own milk cow. It's super easy-you scoop off the cream from the top of the milk, put it in a gallon mason jar, and just sit in front of the TV and shake the jar top to bottom, over and over and eventually you've got butter. Now the way the folks on the Amazing Race did it seemed a lot different! I like goats though, we had one of those too, so I would have chosen this challenge anyway.

I hated how Robbie just stood in the middle with the bowl in his hand and made his partner go catch the goats, did anyone else notice that? Maybe he was afraid of them? He said something about how he doesn't trust any animals because they don't speak English and you can't communicate with them. I guess he just isn't an animal person. I noticed when she was starting to try to milk the goat his partner was even having a hard time just getting him to hold the goat by the horns. Oh well, I hate snake and am deathly afraid of them. Maybe he's the same with goats.

The cyclist girls really fell apart on this one as they switched from the goat challenge, to the tent challenge and back to the goat challenge. I was really surprised to see the Dentists though-they came in from so far behind and just kept getting further and further ahead. They chose the tent challenge even after the disaster in Denmark and whipped it up in no time. When Jim was sewing on the tent Misti said something about how Jim used to be in Medical School before he went to Dental School. Maybe that's where his ego comes from? Seems to me if you can't cut it (make it) in Medical School you go to Dental School which I assume would be easier, but that's just my theory. I could be totally wrong. Maybe he decided instead to go to Dental School because the pay is a lot better for all I know.

I did love it on the goat butter challenge when the traditional guy started singing and then some of the contestants started singing their versions along after him-that was great! It must have been so hot and tedious to sit there and wait for that butter to be made (45 minutes) so singing was a good way to pass the time.

Next was that high wire act and the puzzle challenge at the end. Again I am just so blown away by Bethany and her "can do" attitude. She just took her shoes off so she could better use her feet when she had to get that puzzle to manoeuvre around to fit in correctly.  She is such an amazing young woman and I'm so thrilled to see that she has found such a wonderful partner in Adam. He seems like such a sweetheart who really loves her and I was reminded of the scene in "Soul Surfer" where she has just recovered and is lying on her bed in her bedroom. She has her Barbie doll in her hand and has pulled one of the arms off and is staring at it and is all melancholy. Her Mom (played by Helen Hunt in the movie) comes in to talk to her and Bethany confesses that she is sad because she thinks no one will ever love her "this way".  Her mother of course assures her that one day someone will see in her all of the wonderful qualities that make her who she is and he will be worth waiting for-I think she has found him!

I'm sorry the Dentists came in first (I know, that's mean of me to say, but that darn ego of his is growing again), but I am glad to see that Shelley and Nici went home this week. It was their time to go and I won't miss seeing their mood swings on the race. Until next week...

Debbie in MD.