A Mike Life – The Life of Mike!

The Amazing Race, leg 4

// March 9th, 2009 // fun

Drat!

I lose my first team and while that sucks, I’m more annoyed at a good team going home because of a lame U-Turn. I’ve always wondered about this little aspect of the game. Hardly anyone ever uses it because you have to slap your picutre up there and so everyone knows you were the “losers” who did it.

But NOW it’s a BLIND U-Turn and thus anyone can do it and no one will ever know…unless you spill the beans or the show finally airs.

****SPOILERS*****

I knew one of my teams was going home when all three missed the connecting flight to Whereverska, Siberia.

Poor Amanda and Kris had no clue who U-Turned them, even thinking Margie and Luke would have felt bad for them upon seeing their mugshot on the board. Oops…

(on a side note, the editors once again gave us a little brief  “interview” with Amanda and Kris before they left the pit stop for this leg of the race. They really need to stop doing that, it really ruins the surprise.)

As cool as the “blind” part makes the U-Turn now (meaning people will actually USE it), it’s a part of the game I dislike. It’s an artificial tool that is for the most part “random” and teams can’t do anything about it. The game is about racing and beating your opponent, and maybe I’m a purest, but I’d like to see the TEAMS decide it.

And if you are going to throw things like that in there, how about doing it on a leg with some easy challenges? I can’t imagine how frustrated I would have been to find out I had to do BOTH of those tasks. The wood-stacking challenge was incredibly difficult and time-consuming.

(speaking of, how hilarious was the kid with his arms around the “cute girls”? See picture on the right)

I sound bitter, but I’m really not. I just liked Kris and Amanda, they were likable, a strong team and they got outsted by a game mechanic, not by anything wrong they did.

But most of the teams are likable right now aren’t they? Even the cheerleaders Cara and Jamie and their “we did it without boys!” are growing on me. The flight attendants looked quite intelligent on this leg and knew exactly how to get the right flight in order to make that connection from Moscow.

If anything, the little stuntmen are the only ones you could really call “bumbling fools” at this point in the game.

In fact, the show isn’t making me laugh a whole lot so far this year. Maybe because most of the teams are competent. People aren’t fighting yet (much), there aren’t any goofy attempts at “marching” and teams are focused.

I’m trying to think about how hard it would have been for me to come up with “CHEKHOV” out of random letters that I had to turn into a word and I think I’d have a tough time. The only Chekov I know was from Star Trek!

But I was happy that Luke figured it out. He looked incredibly frustrated, and we all know by the hounding of the editors and sound clips, that this is the time of his life right now, so I’m definitely not ready to see him and his mom go home.

THE CONTEST

Jina and Sara are already down to just one team after four legs, which doesn’t bode well for their chances.  Scotty is holding on strong with his entire roster still in the race.

Melissa Jill – Tammy & Victor, Brad & Victoria, Mark & Michael

Scotty – Tammy & Victor, Margie & Luke, Mark & Michael

Jina – Amanda & Kris, Lakisha & Jennifer, Brad & Victoria

Sarah – Margie & Luke, Brad & Victoria, Mark & Michael

Kathy – Christi & Jodi, Cara & Jamie, Amanda & Kris

Mike – Amanda & Kris, Tammy & Victor, Margie & Luke

Tracy – Cara & Jamie, Tammy & Victor

Nicky – Cara & Jamie, Mike & Mel

Sara – Margie & Luke, Brad & Victoria

Adrian – Mike & Mel, Christie & Jodi