The Amazing Race Review: Kisha and Jen Pull It Off

I confess myself disappointed with the season finale of the 18th season of The Amazing Race, as the team that I had pegged to win were quickly eliminated just short of the top three.

Team Zev and Justin, usually such a strong and steady force in this competition, found themselves up against their toughest challenges yet, slowing them down and ultimately putting them out of the competition. And to add insult to injury, after the elimination of the team with the most number one finishes this time around (4), the million dollar prize went to a team who has never before, in all the 11 legs of this season, managed to make it to the number one spot. And while on the one hand you can say, yeah let’s give one up for the underdogs; on the other is a profound disappointment as one must wonder, shouldn’t Kisha and Jen have shown themselves to be true contenders before this?

We start off this leg with the teams traveling to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and for a moment the teams relive their final moments on their previous season of Race. The Globetrotters found the true danger of taking a time penalty, Zev/Justin think back over their lost passports that sent them home empty handed, and Kisha/Jen talk about working up Jen’s weak bladder that previously sent them home. Gary and Mallory are super excited about this leg, almost as excited as Flight Time is at the prospect of meeting some Brazilian women. With some helpful male advice from Big Easy, “check the neck” the teams are off in search of a Brazilian adventure. Well, actually no they’re not. They’re still looking for the million dollars.

The teams all travel to the airport to schedule their flights to Brazil. The Globetrotters are the first to purchase tickets via airline agent, Zev and Justin are right behind them and purchase a flight set to arrive in Brazil at 7:30 a.m. Curious, The Globetrotters decide to check out other flights and come upon Gary/Mallory and Kisha/Jen booking a flight that will have them arrive in Brazil at 5:40 p.m! Almost ten hours behind! When the teams ask Big Easy if he has found a better flight, Easy denies that he has and quickly walks away leaving the other teams suspicious enough to look for and find the same airline agent to book the earlier flight. So, all the teams are even at this point.

For their first task in Brazil, the teams must dress in a Carnival costume, learn how to Samba and lead a Carnival troupe through the streets. This doesn’t prove a problem for most of the teams. After learning the count involved in the dance, Mallory quickly completes it. Big Easy approaches this task with the same enthusiasm that he does all things guaranteed for a laugh, though he doesn’t get the moves right away, he sure has a fun time trying. But poor Zev, he easily has the most difficulty with this task. Laying the blame on his “white boy rhythm,” Zev struggles through learning the quick paced moves but eventually, after much frustration he does get it.

For the second tasks, the teams had to choose between two challenges. The first challenge asked the teams to learn and prepare 100 mixed drinks under the watchful eye of a seasoned bartender. Once the teams correctly made a hundred drinks they would receive their next clue. The difficulty of preparing a mass quantity of drinks doesn’t seem to have much effect on the three teams (Gary/Mallory, The Globetrotters and Kisha/Jen) who choose this task. After a slow start of trial and error in learning the drinks, the teams quickly crank out drink after drink. Zev/Justin were the only team to choose the second challenge, and it becomes quickly apparent to them the futility of their task. The task is to carry around a giant umbrella full of bikinis, find some hapless girl to model a bikini for them and then purchase said bikini. Um, yeah in what world can two guys walk on a beach and ask a girl to model bikinis for them. I’d be more concerned for the girls who said yes to this. Fortunately for my peace of mind and unfortunately for Zev/Justin’s none of the women of Brazil seem okay with this. After a frustrating try, Zev/Justin switch tasks, already so far behind all of the other teams. Their fate’s been set, and they both know it. Zev/Justin finish the task and take a shot for themselves before heading to find Phil who gives them the bad news, they’ve both been eliminated.

I have to say that I am completely distraught by this; if any team were to win this race I would expect it to be Zev/Justin. They’ve been steady and consistently strong throughout this race and the fact that they’re not even going to make it into the final three is insane. It’s just completely unacceptable to me that anyone other than Zev/Justin win, and to watch them go is like, ‘what am I supposed to do with the next hour now because I can no longer care who wins this?’ Yes, I’m still a fan of Gary/Mallory (who incidentally got first place leg winning a cruise for two to the Mediterranean). As a team, these two are great. Mallory has a winning and contagious personality, and Gary has unfailing strength and calmness of character. I really do admire them, but I can’t say I love them enough to want them to win over Zev/Justin who are no longer eligible to win. But I need to get over that. Here’s the second half of this week’s two hour episode.

The final three teams continuing on are Gary/Mallory, Kisha/Jen and the Globetrotters. The teams are even as they all are on the same flight to Miami, Florida, but oh what a difference a taxi makes. Taxi drivers are one of the most important tools that any of the teams can have. A good one can cheer you on and laugh as they cut and move you in front of your competitors. But a bad one can totally screw you, insert Gary/Mallory.

At the airport, Gary/Mallory have a tough time even getting a taxi, they scream out ‘taxi, taxi’ but nothing’s really going for them until finally they hop in the first available ride. Their first clue that this isn’t going to go well for them is the fact that it takes their driver FOREVER to even get in the car while Gary/Mallory are sitting in the cab yelling for him to come on. I suppose the fact that both The Globetrotters and Kisha/Jen have already left is why Gary and Mallory don’t just ditch that taxi and get another. Perhaps if they had known their driver didn’t know where he was going they would have cut the cords sooner and saved them some time. As it is their driver gets lost, remains unresponsive to their questions about if he knows where he is going, and completely puts them at a disadvantage as they head into the final tasks.

Because of Gary/Mallory’s bad luck in drivers, this race is mostly between The Globetrotters and Kisha and Jen with both teams chasing right after one another as they do their tasks. For the first time that I have seen on The Amazing Race, the teams don’t have a memory challenge where they must recap each leg of the race for the final clue. The only reason for this that I can see is that since the teams have all been through this journey before, it would be easy for them to confuse this trip on The Amazing Race with their last time here. I still would have liked to see it, because this is one of my favorite tasks as it’s a sort of recap over all the teams’ journey here on the Race. While it is difficult for most teams to remember specific details of a fast paced-high intensity Race, it’s not impossible. And if they’re going after a million dollar prize, they definitely should have had some final challenge. Instead, the producers wussed out with this one and the final teams have one of the easiest tasks to manage.

For one of the tasks, the teams have to go undersea to an underwater mermaid show and search through several treasure boxes to find their next clue. The teams use a personal submarine system, sort of like an underwater motorcycle, to ride from one clue to the next. No one has a problem with this task; even Jen who is afraid of water has no difficulty. Lame. But it turns out the curse of the taxis haven’t stopped with Gary/Mallory. Before the task started, The Globetrotters told their driver to go get gas while they were doing the challenge and then come back and pick them up. Well, their driver did go somewhere, but when it came time to pick them up he was late. In his defense he could have no clue as to when the Globetrotters would be done, so he’s not actually late, he just wasn’t finished before they were. Looking for their taxi, which they eventually find a couple of blocks away, holds up the team and lets Kisha/Jen pass in front of them.

For the last task the teams had to assemble a mobile home to match the specifications of a pictured ad. Of course, this shouldn’t be that difficult if the teams pay careful attention to detail. It seems even Mother Nature knows this task is too simple, and so she sent a strong and courageous wind to screw with them at every possible turn. Knocking down their plastic white picket fence, blowing their canopy back and forth and off to the side, and kicking dust up in their face. Now, this isn’t a million dollar wind storm, but hey it will do. Kisha and Jen are the first to complete this and make their way to the final pit stop where they are the first team to arrive as the winners of a million dollars and The Amazing Race.

As I said before, I’m totally bummed. At the beginning of this leg there is no possible ending that could have satisfied my disappointment that Zev/Justin didn’t make it to the final three. I’m not trying to take anything away from the winners, but the fact that a completely as-of-yet unaccomplished team got this is even worse. You could say that Kisha/Jen pulled through when it finally mattered, but seeing how this leg required neither strength nor skill, I won’t say that that counts for much.

Congratulations to Kisha/Jen, winners of season 18 of The Amazing Race.

Season 18, Episode 11: “This is Where it Ends” (original airdate May 8, 2011).

The Amazing Race airs Sundays at 8/7c on CBS.

Photos courtesy of CBS.