I can't believe three teams forgot this basic point. Fortunately, no team lost the race because of it (Face it, the Father/Daughter team were done before they realized their mistake), but it could bite one team in the ass in the end. I'll get to that later.
So, if you just joined us, Gord and I are Canadians. And we started this blog as our way of talking about the Amazing Race Canada, which aired in Canada this summer to incredible ratings. And we decided to keep it going for TAR: TOS. So it was a little bit weird seeing Phil back as host. Our Canadian host was Jon Montgomery, nice guy, had a bit of trouble getting started but once they got him doing tasks while describing them, he came to life. That's all because he was an Olympic gold medalist in Skeleton (headfirst luge) before becoming a TV host. And though Phil is pretty cool, Jon can probably kick his ass in many things. And good luck Jon in the 2014 Olympics. Bring back the gold!
Anyway, the race starts in some hokey wild west set with teams riding stagecoaches and we get introduced to everyone. Sorry, I'm not going to describe them all. Just go to the TAR CBS site and read them all. Some teams do stand out for various reason. The Exes are odd because they hate each but still hang out. The Beardos are interesting because of their beards. And the Afghan dudes because folks call them the Afghanimals and they like the nickname. Go figure.
So the teams race to LAX so they can get on one of two flights to Chile. The only interesting thing about this is that they are driving Ford C-Max's, which is the car I drive. In fact, we were the first folks in Edmonton to buy one of these fine cars. So far, we love it. Over to the airport, seven teams get on the first flight (I'm not listing these) and four on the last: Beardos, the Small Town Boys, the Father/Daughter team and the Daters. Sorry, no names because it's too early in the season for me to name or really start caring for everyone. There's some bonding at the airport but then it's off to Chile. I love how the Afghanimals shout, "My wife is pregnant" in order to get folks to let them pass at the Chilean airport. Smart move. Something Gord and Wayne would do.
The first task is a roadblock, someone's gotta paraglide. However, the person doing the Roadblock has to follow the paraglider rather than actually flying, a trick they've employed before to get those afraid of heights up in the air. No one's really afraid, well not much, so off they go. The ER Docs are first up and out, followed by the rest. Hard to keep track of all the teams, although I've mentioned this before. There are some nice shots of teams flying around and I'll admit, this kind of thing would be fun. We didn't see much of this height stuff in Amazing Race Canada, except for the last episode when teams had to rappel down a building face first. But it wasn't really missed because watching teams float around gets boring after awhile. The drama isn't really in the task themselves but in the tension and the interaction of the teams as they do the tasks. So watching a bunch of them marvel at the scenery was a waste of time.
Anyway, the ER docs get done first and they have to find some dock, get their next clue which is another roadblock. Little tricky here. It seems the teammate that did the paragliding has to do the task, which is row a boat to three different boats, get five fish and bring them back. Seems easy, but the boats are heavy (and old) and each boat only has a limited amount of fish. And the way it's worded confuses some teams. The male doc heads out, gets done relatively quick. And then they get their next clue directing them to the pitstop at the municipal theatre. And though the clue says they have to make their way on foot, they jump in a cab. Ouch.
Meanwhile, other teams are arriving at the dock, even though some of them forgot to make their cab wait at the top of the paragliding hill. Which is another rule of TAR, always keep your cab until you know what's going on. But there's not much drama in that, only a few shakes of heads and one of the Afghanimals calling someone a bitch. Totally uncalled for because he blew it by not getting his cab to wait and by letting someone steal his cab. Gotta more faster Afghanimal.
So there's a bunch of teams rowing and searching for fish when one of the Afghanimals realizes that the wrong one is doing the task. So after some shouting, they switch (and fall), allowing other teams to pass them. While I like these boys, their silly antics could cost them. It's good to have fun and joke on TAR but too much silliness and you make mistakes. And I counted two big ones from these boys.
At that pitstop, Phil tells the ER docs about their mistake, reminds them about the first rule of TAR and gives them a 30 minute penalty. This allows the Exes to jump into first, getting the two express passes (what no trip to anywhere? Even though the Canadian budget was less, every leg winner got a free trip somewhere). Those passes will help the Exes in future legs (we hope) which could backfire on the Docs. But they finish their penalty and come in second. The rest of the teams finish the fishing task with the Bingos in third, NFLers in 4th, Baseball Wives in 5th, Ice Girls in 6th and the Afghanimals in 7th.
Meanwhile, the final four teams had already arrived (three hours behind everyone else) and race to the finish. More paragliding and following in which the daughter's cab seems to take the long way around. So she arrives late, much to the chagrin of her over-controlling dad. Everyone's worried about being last, though the rowing task is perfect for the Daters because he used to crew in prep school. "I say, Lovey, how wonderful. I am Thurston Howell lll and this is my wife, Mrs. Thurston Howell lll".
So the Howells (my new name for them until something causes me to change it), are Team 8, followed by the Small Town Boys, and then much later, the Beardos. Those boys did have some trouble with the rowing. But it's the Father/Daughter team in last. Even more so, since they read the rowing crew wrong and had to switch. Sorry their adventure was over early but maybe Daddo can find a suitable boy for her at the elimination station.
Next week, looks like rock breaking and girls in bikinis. Looks like fun. Wonder which side of the detour was which?