Amazing Race: Begging for Help

elephantsugarcane

The holidays and travel caught up with me, so I am finally going back to finish up my recaps of the last season of Amazing Race. In this ninth episode, teams traveled to Indonesia to feed elephants and have nervous breakdowns trying to make music. Click through to read the commentary from Amy, Steve and me in this episode titled, “Part Like the Red Sea.”

Before we started watching the race, we placed our bets. Both Amy and I were still going for the blondes. I chose them since I was amazed they were still in the race. I know I have chosen them many times before, but with the remaining teams left, they had to go sometime soon. No way, they were making it to the final three. Steve picked Providence Amy & Jason since he’s crazy.

Another item to note, just before we started watching the episode, we noticed the description said something along the lines of, “Final five teams race….blah blah…a relationship suffers…” Suffers! Would it be the Exes like usual? Would the blondes and Afghanimals fight? Would Nicole finally get tired of Travis and how he loves to talk down to her? We were intrigued….

While teams were leaving the pit stop, there was a lot of focus on the ER doctors morality. It really rubbed them the wrong way about the Afghanimals lying. They complained about it so much that it was making us all dislike the ER doctors and we liked them up until that point. Amy said, “I am over their morals.” Then they started praying. We get annoyed when any team prays to God while on the race. As Amy said, “I really hope God tweets something about all this — quit bugging me about money.”

Meanwhile, Jason was asking Providence Amy what kind of people are in Indonesia. Would he run into Asians or Indians? Sigh. Marie and Tim talked about how Tim has made more mistakes than Marie since apparently, we were keeping score. Amy said to Tim, “Going on this race was one of your big mistakes.” The Afghanimals overslept and got to the race mat late. They didn’t seem to care. They were running around all spazzy like. Amy wondered if they were drunk. They ended up leaving the pit stop at the same time as the blondes. It didn’t really matter though since everyone ended up on the same flight.

ramass

Since The Amazing Race producers know that anything involving animals is hilarious, the first task had all the team pick up two head-butting rams, take them to a ram fight, watch them butt heads, and then load them into a truck. The entire thing was odd. Each episode title comes from something said in each episode. While struggling to walk the rams down the street, Jamal told Leo, “Don’t let it ram my ass!” Why was that not the title of the episode?

After the ram task, teams had to catch a train. The ER docs and blondes were on the train talking to each other pretty much for the first time since the ER docs are usually in the lead and the blondes are usually last. Everything was nice until the Afghanimals made the train. That disturbed the ER docs greatly. They hate them so much! We felt they should really not focus so much energy on them, but they had started going on down that rode and there was no stopping them now. I have also noticed over the past few episodes that the more Nicole concentrates, the more her lips disappear. I fear that she will have trouble eating with her lack of lips. Please help.

nicoleslips

Providence Amy and the Exes didn’t make the train and had to wait an hour for another one. The Afghanimals were urging the train to take off by saying their wife was pregnant, but I am guessing the Indonesian train conductors just smiled and waved at them while leaving when they planned. This got Travis all riled up, who muttered, “You don’t have to lie.” I don’t think the people of Indonesia have any idea what the Afghanimals were saying to them. So much anger!

When the teams got off the train, they ran into a detour. One had them feeding elephants and the other singing to birds. The elephant one seemed annoying since they had to go to a market and pick up a bunch of items, including long, unwieldy sugar cane, shove it into a taxi and take it to a zoo where they had to transport it on a trolley that was just rickety enough to have everything fall off of it multiple times before getting to the elephants to feed them. The bird one had them pick up some lovebirds in a market before going to a bird arena and get the birds to sing as part of a competition. Even though the elephant one seemed crazier, Amy and I said we would both have picked the elephants. It seemed most of the teams agreed because everyone picked the elephants except for the ER docs. Well, actually, one of the blondes said the birds seemed easier, but when she asked the other one what she wanted to do, she said they should do the elephant task. Yes, I should really know which blonde is which, but I just can’t remember their names.

The blondes showed up at the zoo first and we were all confused. We were confused that they were actually in first place for the first time ever in the race, but we were also pretty sure the clue said pick up food first at a market and then take it to the zoo. We thought that maybe they had to get the trolley first before getting the food. Were the blondes being extremely dumb or were the Afghanimals doing it wrong by going to the market first? We were so confused! While still being confused about who was doing it right, we did agree that the Afghanimals seemed to be smart by getting a taxi and dumping all the items right into it instead of trying to wave down a taxi while holding a bunch of stuff. The trunk was filled with tons of watermelon, bananas and other fruit while they shoved the huge sugar cane in the backseat and held it while they headed to the zoo.

sugarcane

Meanwhile, the blondes were busy running around the zoo. They had not found the trolley so they really hadn’t done any of the task at this point. We were feeling like they were doing it wrong since they were the blondes and could they really be in first place? Then it turns out we were correct. They were doing it wrong! They had found the trolleys at the marked entrance, but then wondered where the market was with the fruit. Wait, if the trolleys were at marked entrance and they had been running around inside the zoo, how did they get in the zoo? Did they not go in the entrance? So many unanswered questions! When the blondes took off to the market, the Afghanimals arrived at the zoo. They were glad they had kept their scarves from Abu Dhabi since they used that to help keep the fruit wrapped and contained on the trolley.

While the Afghanimals were cruising through the zoo to the elephants, the ER docs were wrapping up their bird detour. It didn’t seem to take too long to get their birds to sing. They had some various devices to help get them to sing. Then they pointed out the birds were singing and they got the clue. Maybe more teams should have done that one since they were now in first place heading to the next task before the last two teams got off the train. It was funny when they picked their detours. Marie was so excited to see elephants. It was the happiest we had seen her the entire race.

Apparently the elephants were in the farthest back corner of the zoo, since there was a nice montage of the Afghanimals following the marked path, but passing by every animal before reaching the elephants. Meanwhile, we were first excited that the blondes got a taxi right next to the fruit stand so they could load it all up with what they needed. Then we were once again confused. While they struggled with the sugar cane, but got it into the taxi just like the Afghanimals did, one of them said it wasn’t going to work and just took it out. It was already in the taxi! Amy said, “What are these girls doing?” I responded, “Being dumb.” One of them said they would just do the task without the sugar cane. Do they think they are going to be able to finish without it? They talked about switching tasks, but decided to just do the elephant one wrong. Good move.

beingdumb

The blondes headed to the zoo and started to fight. Ashley really wanted to do the bird task but says she quiets down and just does what Ally wants. Ally said they could switch, but then Ashley just started complaining again. We realized this was the suffering relationship. Oh the drama! When they did arrive at the zoo, they ran into the Afghanimals that just finished up their task. Their melons were rolling off the trolley. Steve said, “Her melons are rolling away.” They guys gave them their scarves to use, but told them they just put the sugar cane in the taxi. You know, like they had it before they just took it out!

rollingmelons

 

The ER docs arrived at the road block. They had to put some wooden pieces in a certain order to make an octave. They knew it had to do with music. Travis said he was better at music things, but they decided to have Nicole do it because they were so far ahead of other teams. Did they know they were so far ahead of other teams? It looked really difficult. There wasn’t an example to follow. It was just a pile of wooden pieces that they had to pick through to figure out which ones to use to create an octave. Nicole was trying to ask the kids that were wandering around playing music to help her. That’s not how it works! The Afghanimals show up and start spazzing out like they usually do. They were dancing around while Travis started to look nervous. He yelled out to Nicole, “Let’s at least hustle!” Yes, at the very least in this game, let’s hustle.

Over at the zoo, the blondes were done bringing all their fruit to the elephant, but said they would be back with sugar cane. Providence Amy was busy knocking everyone out. While Jason was telling her to please be careful, her response was to start turning around saying she couldn’t see him. If you can’t see, turning around while waving a super long item is smart.

killingwithcane

 

Leo finished up his octave stand and started cheering with the children. Jamal yelled at him to go turn it in since Nicole finished up to and ran ahead of him to turn hers in. Neither one was correct though. Nicole’s didn’t sound like it had all the right notes. Leo’s did sound like it had all the right notes, but they said his stand wasn’t correct. They both went back to fix it when Providence Amy team and the Exes showed up. Providence Amy decided to do it. For the Exes, Marie and Tim had been switching off road blocks, and it was Marie’s turn, but she felt like it was something music related and Tim was a musician so she convinced him to do it. Smart move.

Everyone but the blondes were at the road block, but the blondes were on their way. Leo finished up his octave stand and got his clue. As soon as the cheering started, Jamal stood up and yelled at Leo to destroy his stand so no one could see it. When Nicole heard this, she jumped up and ran to the judging area to try to see Leo’s stand. He stood up and started running around with it while she begged to see it since she had been there so long already. Why would he help a team that hated him so much? Why was she wasting time trying to see what he did instead of just finishing her own? He ended up taking his apart while the producers nicely showed the ER docs talk to the camera about how they are running the race in an honest way so their children can be proud of them. Producers love hypocrites!

honestplaying

 

The Afghanimals barely left to head to the pit stop when Tim finished up. Nicole just stood up and tried to get him to help her. He just ran by her. Tim was so happy at how well he did. Amy said, “I like how Tim did it, but Marie is taking credit for it since she told him to do it.” Oh Marie.

jaunty

It was a race to the pit stop between the Afghanimals and the Exes. Phil was hanging out at an observatory with some weird guy. Steve said, “Oh look at that jaunty fellow.” The Afganimals came in first place. The Exes ran up right behind them, so they got to hear that the Afghanimals won $7,500 each.

Back at the roadblock, Providence Amy figured out the octave puzzle the same time the blondes showed up. Travis was sitting there looking dejected and saying he was embarrassed. Wow. Providence Amy was all ready to just leave their good buddies, the ER docs, when Jason said to go help her so Providence Amy did. She didn’t really help Nicole though, but actually just did it for her. The blondes had shown up though so the Providence Amy team were risking being in last place by helping Nicole. Amy said, “What the hell? You are going to lose the money right now for being nice.” I pointed out that the Providence Amy team loves to get lost going to the pit stop. They were already risking being in last place without helping anyone. When Nicole did finally get the clue, Travis didn’t tell her congratulations or anything like that. He said, “Finally!” Ah, so supportive. In the cab ride, he continued to say he was embarrassed.

Surprisingly, the Providence Amy team did not get lost to the pit stop so they showed up in third place with the ER docs in fourth place. That left the blondes in last place. They were actually eliminated. You know with all our making fun of the blondes, they didn’t give up and beg someone to help them like Nicole did. I would have rather been wrong about them being last after watching this leg.

 

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