The Amazing Race – Episode 21-2 Review – “There’s No Information In Indonesia”

Reviews, Top Story

This week on The Amazing Race, the teams left Shanghai and headed to Indonesia. The winner of this leg would win the Express Pass, so everyone was ready to hit the ground running.

The Chippendales, who began in last place, were thrilled to find out that everyone was going to be on the same flight. But the Monster Truckers pulled a fast one on everyone and took off for Hong Kong to find a quicker connection. In Jakarta, the only team to nab a quicker connection were the long-haired rocker/lawyer dudes. That put them on the ground first, followed by the rest of the pack. The Monster Truckers hadn’t made the right decision in “running their own race”.

Moo-ve On

The airport drama didn’t matter too much, since teams were just picking the order to race bulls the next morning. It was an incredibly lame challenge. Teams had to “race” bulls on mopeds, but they weren’t even driving the mopeds themselves and it didn’t matter if they actually beat the bulls. Weak sauce.

Roadblock: Balloon Art

The Roadblock wasn’t much better. One team member had to pedal to power a children’s ride while making balloon “art”. Like, really The Amazing Race? Can we get a challenge that would be more difficult for Bozo The Clown to complete? They weren’t even making animals, they were just making four balloon hats and four “dogs” that looked nothing like dogs. All that takes is one knot! There was one highlight, though:

“There are some things the gays are just naturally better at. Balloon animals are one of them.”

Someone’s a fan of Modern Family‘s Fizbo the Clown…

The only person who struggled was the tiny substitute teacher, who sweat so much his glasses fogged up. Oh dear. What will happen when he has to do something actually strenuous?

BTW, can we talk about how adorable the kid handing out clues was?

Detour: Fish or Ice?

To get this clue, teams first had to stop at a motor shop, and several of them were taken to the wrong location and set back. Fish are gross, so I would have gone for ice in this situation. But it actually seemed as though the ‘fish’ option was quicker.

The teams who went for fish had to transport a bunch of fish, and then arrange them in a particular way for a vendor. The Sri Lankan twins did that one, and they were handling the fish with their bare hands! One girl’s hair was in the fish-filled barrel! Eeeww!

The teams who went for ice had to transport long blocks of ice and stack them. At least they got gloves.

Nail-biting finish – HA!

HOLY CRAP, those NAILS! Sick! I know that’s a cultural thing and I’m being really rude, but…honestly, gross.  Natalie and Nadiya just managed to beat out Trey and Lexi for first place. In third were the Chippendales James and Jaymes, who made a good comeback this week, followed closely by Abbie and Ryan and Josh and Brent. James and Abba managed to come in sixth, with Caitlin and Brittany in seventh.

Most of the teams had arrived at the mat or were completing their Detour by the time the Monster Truckers, the substitute teachers and Amy and Daniel had even found the right location. I felt terrible for Amy and Daniel. They seem like a great team, and Amy is definitely inspirational. I really wanted to see them succeed over the other two teams, but it wasn’t looking good for them.

Rob and Kelley managed to get through the Detour and come in eighth place, so the only hope for Amy and Daniel were that Gary and Will might struggle with the heavy ice. I didn’t want to see them make it at all – they weren’t even running for the pit stop! I mean, how bad do you even want to win if you don’t run to the mat? Ugh. I was so disappointed when they arrived in ninth place.

I had a feeling it might be a non-elimination leg (and let’s face it, it would have made for good TV to keep them around), but I was wrong. I’m super bummed that Amy and Daniel were eliminated, guys. They had a strong first leg and a stupid bad cab ride took them down. That’s a pain, especially when the three teams who squeaked in ahead of them weren’t particularly smart or fast.

You can follow Jill at her blog, couchtimewithjill.com, or on Twitter @jillemader Jill has been an avid fan of TV since the age of two, when she was so obsessed with Zoobilee Zoo that her mother lied and told her it had been canceled. Despite that setback, she grew up to be a television aficionado and pop culture addict.