The Amazing Race: Agony of Da’ Feet

After the nightmare fracas that arose last week between Margie & Luke and Kisha & Jen, the question on everyone’s mind was whether or not the offended parties would be able to dial their rage back down from 11 and focus on the business of racing. The ultimate result of their anger management efforts seems TBD, but for now everybody’s avoiding eye contact and keeping their rage just below the surface like a bubbling cauldron with a rattling lid.

In spite of Tammy & Victor’s best Mandarin speaking efforts to snowball the competition with bad seats on the one available flight to Beijing, everyone stayed neck and neck through the Road Block, a deceptively pleasant sounding foot massage that looked less like an afternoon at the spa and more like something that would show up on a CIA memo. I hope Kisha, Tammy, Luke, and Cara all felt great the day after, because even the direct aftermath of the supposed act of relaxation seemed to be more pain than pleasure.

In the first of what will likely be many Olympics-themed challenges, teams took to the pool for the Detour’s choice between a potential quick finish if they master the tricky art of synchronized diving, or an assured slow and steady payoff for swimming a 400-meter freestyle relay. Jamie & Cara breezed through the swim, likewise Margie & Luke. But Tammy & Victor hit the springboard for what would prove to be an ultimately futile attempt at jumping on the count of three. Unable to please the judges, the sibs also wound up on the long haul.

Nearly all of this episode’s drama stemmed from Jen coming to terms with her near-rabid levels of hydrophobia. Crying, shaking, flailing, threatening to quit, classic reality show breakdown stuff. But Kisha does what all big sisters do best and talks a little peace and sense into her wayward kin. They leave resigned to their Eliminated Team Walking status with their heads held high, but there’ll be a sizable shock in store for them at the mat since the episode ends with the moderate shocker that the leg is still in process. I actually felt a little bad for Jamie & Cara being deprived of what would have been their first winning leg, but not that bad. They’re still Jamie & Cara, after all.

Season 14, Episode 10: Having a Baby’s Gotta Be Easier Than This (originally aired April 26, 2009)

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Sundays at 8pm ET/PT on CBS

Photographs courtesy of CBS