Amazing Race Tidbits
CBS' The Amazing Race 10th Edition
Thoughts on Episode Four -- Ha Long Bay, Vietnam
Episode Four was an elimination leg. The saga of the combative dating couple, Rob and Kimberly, continued with a big win. The valient Tom and Terry promised to bring their energy to this leg of the Race, but it was not enough to lift them out of last place.
In Hanoi, teams took taxis from a local park to a bus station on the other side of the Red River. Some teams fell back due to problems with local cab drivers, only to encounter an equalizer, as all teams had to wait until 5:00am to buy tickets. Rob and Kimberly had the most taxi trouble, and had to be the most relieved to be on the same bus as the other teams. The bus traveled about a hundred miles from Hanoi to Ha Long Bay.
Places for those arriving at the Roadblock got scrambled when some boats worked better than others. Dustin cut herself on her left leg getting into a boat, hurrying to beat out Lyn and Karlyn, and was bandaged before doing the climb. Also, the Roadblock only could accomodate three teams at a time. As a result, the normally fast Tyler and James had to wait on slower teams to complete their Roadblock.
One team member had to use a mechanical ascender to climb 90 feet up a jagged cliff, and then rappel down.
Episode Four Roadblock |
||
|---|---|---|
Team |
Team Member |
Result |
| Tyler and James | Tyler | Had to wait on second group on cliff--probably replaced Godwin, and easily passed the panicky Sarah for sixth. James called him "Spiderman" on the quick rappel. |
| Peter and Sarah | Sarah | Got tangled in ropes on cliff, used arm strength to finish seventh |
| Karlyn and Lyn | Karlyn | Good climb! She learned from her performance at the Great Wall that she had been too anxious, causing her to slow down. She focused on the details of the task, gained encouragement from Lyn, and worked methodically to finish fifth. |
| David and Mary | David | Started quickly, but fell back to second after bumping his head. |
| Rob and Kimberly | Rob | Strong climb! Passed David on ascender to finish first. |
| Dustin and Kandice | Dustin | Eighth to finish |
| Tom and Terry | Terry | In first group, quickly fell back to third |
| Erwin and Godwin | Godwin | In second group, finished fourth after being afraid to start rappel |
At Sung Sot Cave, James and Tyler tried the "I haven't seen the clue" ruse on Lyn and Karlyn, to no effect. Teams bunched up a bit as the beauties, Dustin and Kandice, picked up the pace.
In either Detour, teams had to ride a junk, each having a yellow and white modified Race marker or flag, to a buoy in Ha Long Bay. There, each team was to board a sampan, a small boat, equipped with two oars.
Over: Teams had to deliver produce from a supply boat to two boats in a boat village, record the "addresses" and return with invoices to the supply boat.
Under: Teams had to find a marked area and pick a line of buoys along which they would find and raise 30 oyster baskets and return them to the pearl farmer at a floating station.
The theme of this Detour seemed to be learn as you go row your boat. It was astounding how few knew how to row a boat at the start of this Detour. The later arriving teams got a rude surprise when the winds and currents picked up, causing them to work much harder.
Episode Four Detour |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
Members |
Detour Selected |
Rower |
Result |
| Tyler and James | Under | Tyler | These guys made up a lot of ground with their strength and rowing skills. |
| Peter and Sarah | Under | Peter | Peter was frustrated when Tom and Terry bumped into their boat--that is what made him talk of quitting. Otherwise, they did well at getting the baskets out of the water, and Peter ably handled the rowing. |
| Karlyn and Lyn | Over | Both | Did well enough at task that took longer, even though they had trouble rowing. |
| Dustin and Kandice | Under | Both | Went for the Over Detour first, but could not fight wind. Finished the Detour sixth in spite of inital trouble rowing. |
| Erwin and Godwin | Under | Both | Just a little trouble rowing, but evidently caught on to retain placement |
| Rob and Kimberly | Under | Both | For all their arguing and inexperience with rowing, they did well at the task, maintaining their initial lead. |
| Tom and Terry | Under | Terry | Unmitigated disaster! First, they went to the Over location, then at the Under buoys, bumped Peter and Sarah's boat, and could not untangle lines caught in the buoys. Tom could not row well at all. |
| David and Mary | Under | David | David had some trouble rowing, had trouble reaching the Over location, so they did Under instead. |
James and Tyler were furious with the junk captain when they only found out that he had not raised the anchor on the trip to the Pit Stop, located on a beach on Soi Sim Island, when they were about halfway there and Peter and Sarah had passed them. Dustin and Kandice had terrible time with final clue that was somehow shredded. They rowed around in their sampan looking for Phil and the Pit Stop before realizing they needed to return to their junk. Meanwhile, Lyn and Karlyn were on their way to the Pit Stop. Onboard the junk, Dustin blamed Kandice for not taking better care of the clue, but Kandice refused to accept the blame. Dustin got emotional and broke down. After completing the Detour, just when it seemed it could not get worse for Tom and Terry, they had the hardest time rowing their sampan to their junk. They ran up against the rocks, but unlike other teams, they get out of the sampan and yelled for help. Then while Terry rowed, Tom swam pulling the sampan toward the junk, and was pulled out of the water.
Outlook for Episode Five
The Amazing Race 10 has been less predictable than the previous couple of editions, with teams that are very competitive. The seven remaining teams have diverse backgrounds, including a team of black single mothers, another all female team, and a woman with a prosthesis. The seven teams are skillful and resourceful. Each of the teams has a unique combination of strengths and weaknesses that have emerged.
Comparison of Teams in AMAZING RACE 9 |
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|---|---|---|---|
Place |
Members |
Strengths |
Weaknesses |
| 1 | Rob and Kimberly | Athletic, fast enough in footraces, good at tasks | Arguing, fighting, hot tempered. Rob loses patience easily, Kimberly fights for control. |
| 2 | Peter and Sarah | Both Iron Man triathlon competitors, Peter is highly intelligent. Both are highly motivated and determined. | Sarah is amputee, using leg prosthesis in disrepair that may be slowing her down, quieter, more emotional, Peter is bossy and insensitive, especially with Sarah, and getting on her nerves. |
| 3 | Tyler and James | Most athletic team, intelligent enough | Not paying attention to details of clues, some bad luck |
| 4 | Erwin and Godwin | Very intelligent, athletic enough | Small in stature, bad luck |
| 5 | David and Mary | David is athletic and has traveled. Mary has sweet personality, and a quick read | Mary is weak, does not like to hear advice, afraid of unknown, and has an injured ankle, David is only fair in rowing |
| 6 | Karlyn and Lyn | Communication, determination | Limited traveling experience, short in stature, slow at tasks, fair in rowing, Karlyn is not as strong, Lyn may be slower in footraces |
| 7 | Dustin and Kandice | Competitive, college educated, athletic | Not paying attention to details of clues--or even preservation of clues, try to push ahead of others, not fastest in foot races, emotional, boy watching. Dustin is bossy and domineering. |
The teams of David and Mary, and the moms, Lyn and Karlyn, are consistently struggling through the four episodes so far. Mary has a badly sprained ankle that could slow her way down. Dustin and Kandice fell from their promising finishes of the first three episodes to the bubble position with poor decisions and just a bit of bad luck getting to the Roadblock. They have been pushy and that might play out, not in their favor. The Cho brothers also fell back from their first place finish in Episode Three, but not due to any one thing.
If Tyler and James can avoid mental errors, and they have already committed a couple of them, they would be virtually unstoppable. For the most part, Peter was making technically good decisions,, as long as Sarah does OK with the leak she encountered with her prosthesis and holds together emotionally. But Peter is getting on her nerves, as was clear in Episode 4. Kimberly and Rob demonstrated they can excel, even with the negative outbursts and meltdowns.
The theme of Amazing Race 10 is the promise of twists, turns, and surprises never seen before in the Race, clearly seen in Episodes 1 and 3. Ordinarily, a non-elimination leg would be due soon. Episode 5 is to feature a smaller reptile identified as an alligator in India, possibly a gharial or muggger. Episode 5 will test driving skills in an urban area in India. What will the upcoming episode reveal about the teams and who, if anyone, will be eliminated next? Watch Sunday, October 15 at 8PM Eastern/Pacific, or after 60 Minutes, if delayed by NFL football. Also, be sure to catch the FINISH LINE at 1 PM Monday October 16 on the THE AMAZING RACE 10th Edition Web site.
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