The Detour is next: It’s a choice of “Sole” (working with leather to whittle a pair of sandals or something) or Filet (running around a fish market delivering seafood to different vendors). Everyone but Amani and Marcus decide to make the shoes, which surprised me. I’d have chosen to deliver the fish. Seems like you could really screw up with that leather and trying to please people with shoes. Plus you gotta get up close to other people’s disgusting feet. That is something that I wouldn’t want to do. I wouldn’t even want to get up close to my own feet, really.
So, again, Amani and Marcus are the only ones to pick the fish. Unfortunately, the driver takes them to the shoe place anyway. All that taxi driver collaboration that Ernie was crying about apparently didn’t help them any.
Wow gross, the fish task was totally disgusting. They were seriously stuck hand carrying stinky fish against their chests. And they sure were carrying some weird looking stuff. Was that squid, octopus? I’ll bet those shirts smelled real good. I’m sure Marcus shared a nice football practice analogy that CBS thankfully edited out for us.
The snowboarders are apparently even good at hand carving and fashioning sandals. They are done fairly quickly and head out to Cathedral Square where some chicks are dancing. The boys have to figure out by looking at the dancing ladies where the pit stop is.
Apparently, Amani and Marcus were smart picking the fish task. I still don’t get why anyone would ever think that making a pair of shoes would be quicker than just dropping off some fish, but whatever.
At first, the snowboarders seemed to be on the way to the pit stop. Unfortunately they saw a bunch of references to “Balboa” on the ladies and ended up in two separate wrong places before they realized that Balboa was not correct. They have to head back to the dancing girls to figure out where they really should go.
Marcus shows up to the dancing ladies and starts dancing around with them like there’s not a million at the end of this rainbow. I guess I’m just way too Type A or something, but the fact he’s even wasting one second goofing off when he’s vying for the final three right now just blows my mind.
I must say I loved how Cindy and Ernie try to sabotage the others “Don’t let the taxi driver tell them where to go!!!” but then they show up to where the dancers are and demand right away that the others tell them if they know what to do or where to go. Typical.
Uh oh, the snowboarders may be effed, though Ernie and Cindy also leave with the whole Balboa thing on their minds. Awesome…a little wild goose chase and maybe I’ll be rid of them once and for all. It’s looking like Amani and Marcus are now headed for Balboa as well. Only Jeremy and Sandy seem to have directed their taxi driver to the right place. Then, all of a sudden, we see all the taxi drivers (except for the snowboarders’ driver) on the phone with each other and Jeremy and Sandy’s apparently tells the others the site of the correct pit stop. Not sure if it’s just me, but this was total crap. Basically, Amani and Marcus and Cindy and Ernie (unlike Tommy and Andy) got to avoid the whole Balboa blunder because the taxi drivers were collaborating on every fare the whole episode. One driver even said something about seeing the correct location on a “little slip of paper?” What paper? Something from production? Seems like cheating to me, but whatever. I think the drivers should have to head where the racers direct them. I will admit, had it been Ernie and Cindy screwed over by the whole thing, I would’ve probably thought it was perfectly legit, but because the snowboarders got so clearly screwed over, I was pissed. I get it, I’m biased. This little twist of fate clearly saved Amani and Marcus and Ernie and Cindy from having to deal with heading to the wrong location, having to head back to the dancers and then battling each for third place. Unfortunately, this also sealed the snowboarders fate. Did you ever think I’d be rooting for these two when we first started?
Pit stop:
1. Jeremy/Sandy
2. Ernie/Cindy (the F word slipped out when I saw them)
3. Marcus/Amani
**Of course everyone is thrilled and dancing around because the strong team was eliminated. They won six legs of the race. I still say it’s bogus they got eliminated, but oh well. Anyway, the others are sitting there dancing around like idiots, acting like they are happy for the others, when it’s obvious to the rest of us that their body language is just basically saying “We’re SO glad you are in the final three because we think you suck and we could beat you so much easier then the snowboarders! Yay!”
4. Andy/Tommy (Eliminated). I am now really sorry they are out. These two were very classy about being eliminated. I have to think those two custom ‘Stangs waiting at home made them feel a little better about it.
Previews of the finale: Lots of frayed nerves, bickering, utter panic. They are apparently ending the race in Atlanta. Aren’t Amani and Marcus from Georgia or something? I must say that I will be so on edge for Ernie and Cindy to lose. Anyone who studies for this race like they are going on Jeopardy annoys me. Anyway, I’m good with either Jeremy and Sandy or Amani and Marcus winning.
I am definitely interested to see what this finale will be like. It seems like with the last few finales, it has been pretty obvious all along who was going to win. My guess is Ernie and Cindy (barf) or Jeremy and Sandy are in the best positions to win, though nothing would surprise me at this point. I didn’t expect the snowboarders not to be in the finale. Now, if I consider it from a production perspective, they never focused much at all on Jeremy and Sandy. My guess from that perspective is that they probably are not the winners. As for Ernie and Cindy and Marcus and Amani, I’d say it’s been neck and neck with camera time, though I’d give a little bit of an edge to Ernie and Cindy. Of course, they are annoying and the cameras love that. But please God, don’t let them win. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see….
See you next week for the finale!
Written by:
Kim Wilson
Email: kwilson at gmail.com (I know, goofy looking address…lots of spam recently)
Twitter: @kwilson111
I love your recaps!!!! I have to agree with you about the snowboarders…so sad to see them leave…I absolutely thought they would be in the final 3…hate hate Cindy and can only hope and pray they do not win…I have to root for Marcus & Amani…they to me are the best out of the 3 left…just want to say thanx for doing this recap and I hope you will do it again next season.
You started out so well, then got really negative again. But, I enjoyed this column a lot more then your last few. I imagine it’s difficult when you don’t have a lot to work with (Ernie and Cindy/Jeremy and Sandy), but throw some positives in there occasionally and you’ll; do just fine!
I got great satisfaction over this comment:
4. Andy/Tommy (Eliminated). I am now really sorry they are out. These two were very classy about being eliminated. I have to think those two custom ‘Stangs waiting at home made them feel a little better about it.
I got such a kick out of these two, and last night was such a bummer. Who the heck ever thought these two WOULDN’T be in the finale??!! I can’t stand Cindy, feel slightly better about Jeremy and Sandy, and while Amani and Marcus aren’t the best or most competitive racers, they are the best human beings out of the bunch.
I’m not so excited about the finale now, as I thought the boys would go all the way. You have to admit they were so much fun to watch, and a lot of that was because they were having such a good time. How could you not enjoiy the combination of competitiveness and great attitudes!
Sorry to tell you, Kim, you’re the idiot here because French is one of the 3 official languages in Belgium. The other 2 are Dutch and German. By the way, I’m not Cindy. I’m a German with two Belgian friends. One of them is from the Flemish part (his mother tongue is Dutch, but he also speaks French), the other one is from the French part (she doesn’t speak any Dutch, but has studied a bit of German in school). Oddly enough, I talk in Spanish to both of them (we were flatmates in Spain). Sorry about the smarty-pants talk, but as a European it’s sth so obvious to me that I cannot help but comment (unless of course you were joking, then I’m the idiot who didn’t get it). I like watching the Amazing Race, esp. when they go to places I have been to. I loved the leg in Denmark because I recognized a lot of places they went. I have been to Copenhagen several times and even drove the distance from there to Northern Germany myself. When they went to Legoland, I recalled childhood memories of the numerous times I had been there with my family (I’m from right on the border to Denmark, so it’s close. Also, my granny is Danish and I spent all my childhood summer vacations in a beach house in Northern Denmark)
Actually, RS, the piece of paper that taxi driver saw was Jeremy’s little rendition of the building/tower thing on one of the dancers. He showed it to the driver and the driver said he knew what building it was. It wasn’t the producers or anything like that.
I really liked the snowboarders, Andy and Tommy. They were gracious, humorous, and good people. Not to mention very humble. I think it’s highly unfair that the taxi drivers called all the other drivers, except the snowboarders, which lead to their exit.
Amani and Marcus work hard and never give up. That is why they are in the final 3. They deserve to be there. I’m rooting for them to win.
Ernie and Cindy (mostly Cindy) are annoying. She cries and complains all the time! (Notice how Amani and Marcus build each other up and work together so well…hmm, maybe they could learn from them).
Jeremy and Sandy…what to say about them except, “who are they again?” Not my favorite.