Who Went Home on THE AMAZING RACE?

It’s fair to say that I’ve been a little underwhelmed by this season of THE AMAZING RACE. While I enjoy the personalities of the teams more than in previous years, I’ve felt that the challenges and tasks have fallen short. There have been but only a few challenges this season that have really stood out as exciting and worthy of TAR.  With that being said, I’m surprising myself by saying that tonight’s episode, which featured a task we have seen in a previous season, was one of my favorite legs thus far.  Go figure.

Backing up to the start of the leg, the teams left Amsterdam and headed to Stockholm. The first three teams to arrive at the airport – Flight & Big Easy, Sam & Dan, and Meghan & Cheyne – boarded the first departing flight.  Gary & Matt and Brian & Ericka were stuck taking a flight that left three hours later.  Right away I knew that somewhere along the leg there would be a task that would help even the playing field.  The producers rarely give a three hour lead without making up for it at some point during the day.

The teams on the first flight were pretty neck and neck up until the last task. Upon arriving in Stockholm, Sam & Dan and Meghan & Cheyne got a bit of a head start on the Globetrotters, but the b-ballers quickly caught up.

As for the teams on the second flight, Brian & Ericka kept their slight lead on Gary & Matt throughout most of the leg. Matt and his dad kept couldn’t catch a break this leg. They missed the first flight; the first shuttle in Stockholm, and then they ended up getting a bit lost and wasted time driving around in circles.  But the two kept their cool and remained focused on trying to catch up with the other teams.

Once in Stockholm, the teams headed off to an amusement park where one team member was required to go on a ride that took them 24 stories high before dropping them down to the ground in a matter of seconds.  Yeah, no thanks.  While on their way to the top, they had 15 seconds to spot a TAR arrow which pointed them in the direction of the next clue box.  All the teams completed the task with ease.

Once they found the arrow, the teams had to play a ring toss carnival game. Get a ring around the right cone and underneath would be the famous Travelocity traveling gnome – a long time friend of THE AMAZING RACE. One by one the teams came through, completed the task and took off with their gnome in tow.

Tonight’s Detour gave the teams the chance to solve puzzles or blow stuff up. Guess which one all the teams chose?  Yup, after packing many sandbags full of dirt, the teams detonated dynamite to unearth a box containing their next clue.  Despite some bickering between Meghan & Cheyne, all the teams fared rather well with the task.

Leaving the dynamite behind, the teams headed off to a field covered in hay bales. This Roadblock required one member of the team to find one of seven TAR flags hidden among 182 massive bales of hay that covered an entire field. Team members familiar with previous season of the show knew the dread that awaited them with this challenge.

Long time fans of THE AMAZING RACE might remember that we saw this same exact challenge back in Season 6.  Teammates Lena and Kristy searched the bales for an exhausting 10 hours without quitting before Phil finally stopped them and let them know they had been eliminated from the race.

Sam & Dan and Meghan & Cheyne were the first two teams to arrive at the challenge.  Sam opted to take on this task for his team, while Meghan reluctantly took to the field as her team’s representative.  Flight & Big Easy quickly caught up, and Big Easy volunteered as a birthday gift to Flight.

Things got intense very quickly as Dan, who had seen this challenge back in S6, kept yelling at Sam from the sidelines.  Even from the comfort of my couch it was beyond irritating to listen to Dan scream and yell, so it was completely understandable to see Sam repeatedly beg Dan to just shut it.  Meghan was also frustrated and physically exhausted, and whined throughout most of the task. (For the record, not making a judgment call on her whining – I think it was completely justified).  Flight & Big Easy spend their lives as teammates so maybe that’s why it’s a bit easier for them to be so supportive of one another.  Big Easy was the third guy out on the field but the first one to find the flag, much to the frustration of Sam and Meghan.

As this task was also the pit stop for this leg of the race, Flight & Big Easy were the first ones to the mat.

Brian and Ericka were the next team to arrive at the field with Brian opting to take on this task. Smart move. There was no way that Ericka would have been able to do this one.

It wasn’t much later that Gary & Matt, who had been trailing all day, caught up to the rest of the teams.

Given how difficult this challenge was in S6, this task was the equalizer that made up for the three hour flight difference earlier in the day. Gary & Matt may have been the last team to arrive, but they had a slight advantage as the other four team had already been in the field for some time, unraveling bales.

An exhausted Meghan was the second person the find the flag, and in a cute moment faked out Cheyne by pretending to storm off the field in frustration, only to then reveal she had found their prize. The two had a rough day as a team, but seemed stronger for their woes when they arrived at the mat in second place.

Brian found his flag relatively quickly, much to the dismay of the completely fried Sam.  Brian and Ericka spent most of the day in 5th place but finished 3rd overall for the leg.

It was down to Gary and Sam in the battle for last place and the opportunity to stay in the race.  When Sam finally found his flag it was his brother Dan who became overly emotional.  After spending the first half of the task screaming at his brother, Dan eventually felt horrible for treating his brother so poorly, and said that there was no justification for his behavior.  The two met up with Phil on the mat ensuring their stay in the game.

Despite the realization that they were in last place, Gary kept on going until he finally found the flag.  As I’m a big fan of this team, I was really hoping it was a non-elimination round.  And it was! Huzzah!! Although they will face an additional speed bump in the next leg, Gary & Matt are still in the race.

Tonight’s episode still didn’t have the interesting challenges that I hope await the teams in the future, but I can’t say I was bored.  Up until the hay bale challenge it was a relatively easy leg. But the hay challenge, being the great equalizer that it was, had me hooked right up until the very end.

With the exception of Brian & Ericka, I would have been really disappointed to see any of the teams go home.  I’m still Team Globetrotters all the way, but I’m wondering if they are being helped out a little by the editing.  I really like their positive attitude and the way they seem to embrace the race as a once in a lifetime experience, but some of the other teams don’t seem to keen on the guys.  Is it jealousy or maybe something we the audience aren’t allowed to see?

Next week’s episode might give us our answer.  Phil’s voice over leads us to believe that the competition between Flight & Big Easy and Sam & Dan gets heated.  The footage of Flight falling and taking down one of the brothers with him hints that things could get a little ugly. I guess we’ll see.

Was the hay bale challenge exciting enough for you tonight, or are many of you still a little underwhelmed with the season as a whole?  Who here remembers this challenge from back in S6?  Disappointed to see the same challenge again this season, or did you think it was a nice throwback?  What other past TAR tasks would you like to see them repeat?

Where do you stand with the teams?  Who are your favorites and who are you ready to be Philiminated?