The Amazing Race Review: The Jungle and the Sea

I heard once about a group of dolphins that got together and managed to overtake and kill a shark. One day, everything’s all good in the aquarium, and the next thing you know, Flipper’s caught an attitude and is taking it out on nature’s greatest predator, street style.

Now, while I don’t know if this is really true or just a bit of pro-dolphin propaganda, I’m willing for the moment to lay aside any disbelief because it fits so neatly into this week’s episode of The Amazing Race. This week, the teams prove that a group of flounders working together as a group can annihilate even the toughest beast of the sea. Andy/Tommy are ousted just short of the final three by a bit of team work, which ironically enough had nothing to do with the final competitors. Also, the top three groups show a bit of unity as they face the giants. I wonder if that will all change now that Andy/Tommy’s out of the picture…

Up until this point, Andy/Tommy have had a really golden ride on this season of Race. No matter how many times they screwed up or got lost on the way, they always managed to make the check in. More often than not, that check in was before any other team as Andy/Tommy have six first place wins (and awesome prizes) to boast about. When we start off this episode of Race there is nothing to show that anything is different.

The teams start this week in Brussels, where they must dress up as Charlie Chaplin-looking detectives and find a building where they will meet a man dressed in a blue sweater. Being the detectives that they are, they tell him who he is and who they are. The teams are given the clue that it’s part of a comic and are sent on their way. Most of the teams decide to ask the locals who they are, but Andy/Tommy take a different route and decide to look it up on the Internet. They find out that they’re dressed exactly like Charlie Chaplin, famed sleuth that he is. The real answer to this is Thomson and Thompson which all of the other teams get from the locals pulling them ahead as Andy/Tommy go back to the drawing board. They do eventually get it and move on to join the teams who are waiting to catch a train to Amsterdam before heading to Panama City.

All the teams are on the same plane and arrive in Panama City, where since it’s even ground, Tommy/Andy pull out to the lead by racing to the taxis. Marcus/Amani are the last to get in the taxis and here Marcus tells his wife that some guy gave him a magic rock to defeat Tommy/Andy. It’s supposed to bring them bad luck. I can’t help but realize that the bad luck rock is currently nestled in Marcus’ hand, possibly doing its evilness already. Marcus notices this and tosses the rock outside of the window, leaving the city to fend for itself.

Andy/Tommy’s lead continues when they learn that they’ll have a 40 minute head start of the other teams because they were the first to arrive at the challenge. Jeremy/Sandy as the second team to arrive get a 20 minute head start on Amani/Marcus and Ernie/Cindy.

For their challenge, the teams go to the San Francisco Bay Towers where they must walk a tightrope 35 stories above ground. In order to make the race numbers even, Andy, Cindy, Sandy, and Amani must complete this challenge. Andy sails through and he and Tommy are on their way. While preparing for this challenge, Sandy tells us that she is petrified of heights. She is really nervous about walking the rope but keeps it together well and completes this challenge without difficulty. If I was facing a life-threatening fear, I’d probably be a bit more neurotic than that but Sandy does a great job moving her team forward.

As Jeremy/Sandy are preparing to leave, Cindy/Ernie and Amani/Marcus are arriving for the challenge. Jeremy/Sandy give the direction to their driver, but he doesn’t know where to go so he decides to ask the other waiting taxi drivers. As Jeremy/Sandy wait in the taxi and Amani, Cindy perform the challenge, their taxi drivers work together to find the next stop. Jeremy/Sandy are initially a little peeved that all the other teams will know where to go now too, but considering they didn’t know as well, this seems mutually beneficial.

For the next task the teams must choose between two tasks: Fillet or Sole. In Fillet, the teams must travel to a local fish market and deliver seafood to vendors. When they are done, they will get their next clue. In Sole, the teams have to use a piece of leather to make one pair of sandals. Once the cobbler says their shoes are good, the teams will receive their next clue. Andy/Tommy, Cindy/Ernie, and Jeremy/Sandy all decide to do Sole. The teams have a bit of trouble with this challenge as cutting the leather proves difficult for them.

Amani/Marcus are the only team to choose Fillet. They give the address to the driver who takes them to what was supposed to be the fish market. Instead, Amani/Marcus see the other three teams struggling with the leather and know that their driver has taken them to the wrong place. It seems that their driver has been in communication with the other drivers who told him where to go, assuming that it was the same place. Amani/Marcus head back to the taxi and their driver takes them to the market.

Andy/Tommy are again in first place for the next task which requires the teams to watch a group of dancers and search for the name of the pit stop hidden on one of them. Now the clue is written in the skirt of one of the dancers, and there is also a symbol of the place on each of the girls’ belts. The teams have to look closely to see these details, but in case you think that’s too easy the producers were also kind enough to plant a false trail. Each of the girls wears a gold necklace full of coins. On each of the coins is the word Balboa.

The prominence of “Balboa” seems to convince the teams that this is the place they need to be when in fact it isn’t. Andy/Tommy are the first to be lead astray. Immediately excited by the idea of making it to the final three the two run off and direct the taxi to Balboa without giving the task a second look. Andy/Tommy get to Balboa Avenue to find that there’s nothing there; they try another stop and still nothing. Wasting time, the two decide to go back to the stop and try again.

While Andy/Tommy are making their way back to the dancers, Amani/Marcus, Sandy/Jeremy, and Cindy/Ernie are already there. It’s been a while and still none of the teams can find a clue until Jeremy, looking closely at the dancers, makes out the symbol on the belt. He copies the symbol and then shows it to the taxi driver who immediately knows where it is. Ernie/Cindy also are on the move, but they’re looking for the not so elusive Balboa.

Marcus/Amani are at the stop the longest, but once the other teams leave they give up and decide to head for Balboa as well. As the teams are in the taxis, Jeremy/Sandy’s driver calls the other two drivers and tells them where Jeremy/Sandy told him to go. In the back of the cabs Cindy/Ernie and Amani/Marcus are pretty much at the mercy of their drivers. They know that they don’t know where they’re going but the drivers tell them they know where Jeremy/Sandy’s going so they’re pretty much resting on that.

This act of faith pays off for the teams. Sandy/Jeremy are right and are the first to check in at the pit stop, winning a trip for two to Turks and Caicos Islands. Cindy/Ernie check in right behind them and the two teams cheer on Amani/Marcus telling them “we beat the boys” and a celebration ensues at the pit stop. Marcus compares this leg to the story of David & Goliath where in spite of all odds the little guys won. Andy/Tommy check into the pit stop as the last team to arrive and are eliminated.

I have to admit, it is sort of satisfying to see these teams as the top three. Andy/Tommy had a charmed run on the show that if they made it to the final episode would have heavily weighed the odds in their favor. This game is heavily influenced by skill and luck, and in this Andy/Tommy have proven themselves a formidable team. And I say this not to take anything away from the final teams who have all, in one way or another, proven themselves worthy of being here. They stand united now, but let’s see how that goes tomorrow, or rather next week…

For more on this episode, check out The Talkative Taxi Driver by Gabe Callahan.

Season 19, Episode 11: “We Are Charlie Chaplin” (original airdate December 4, 2011.)

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

Image courtesy of Sonja Flemming/CBS.