The Amazing Race – Episode 20-2 Review – “Moo-vin’ Right Along”

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I watched The Amazing Race this morning since I was at an Oscars party last night, but if you watched TAR in real time and missed Hollywood’s salute to the movies, I can tell you what you missed right here. It was a rather predictable evening, unlike this episode of The Amazing Race that saw a lot of twists and turns.

Pony Express

Dave and Rachel began this second leg in first place, but they didn’t hold that advantage for long – their next clue was arriving via chasqui (courier) and they had to wait until daybreak, and by that point all the teams had arrived. In fact, when the poor guy rode in on his horse with the clues so many teams charged him that I was worried they’d spook the horse.

The clue instructed teams to choose a Detour – either “Boil My Water” or “Light My Fire”. Only one team, the border patrol agents, chose “Light My Fire”. They had to load a bunch of wood and clay onto a donkey and then transport it to a village to start a fire. It seemed like a bigger risk, given that working with animals on The Amazing Race can often be unpredictable.

Everyone else went for “Boil My Water”, which required them to assemble a solar panel and use it to boil a kettle of water. That sounded easy enough, especially since most of the teams had no problem putting together the solar panel. Most of the teams – the clowns missed the rather obvious instructional illustration on the box (and there wasn’t an Ikea phone number listed anywhere either) and had to be tipped off by Dave and Rachel; Team Meathead had to ask the cousins for advice; worst of all, Rachel spent most of her time with Brendon squawking “I’m sorry I’m not good at this. I’m sorry I’m just a girl.” Just a girl? This is why I hate Rachel. Ohhh, I’ve had it up to HERE.

The biggest obstacle in this challenge, however, was the amount of time it took for the water to boil. I think this was an issue only Team Border Patrol foresaw, and they managed to leave the Detour in second place while everyone else stood around making awkward “a watched pot never boils” jokes. Only Bopper and Mark finished ahead of them. There’s a team I may have underestimated following the first episode. They might scream “hillbilly”, but they did pretty darn good this leg.

Bus Ride Blues

From the Detour, teams had to catch a bus for an 18 hour ride to Buenos Aires – a task that seemed easy enough, albeit it probably rather uncomfortable. (Note to self: If I ever get to be on The Amazing Race, pack a lot of Gravol.)

The teams were on three different buses, and it looked like Team “Teacher” (the federal agents) and the cousins would be battling it out for last place since they were the only two teams on the third bus. But a freak accident involving a blown out window (thankfully, no one was hurt) delayed the second bus and shook everything up. Suddenly the hot brothers, Vanessa and Ralph, the clowns and the meatheads were at the back of the pack.

Divide and Conquer

Once in Buenos Aires, teams were faced with a Roadblock: “Where’s the beef?” Unfortunately, the clue didn’t tip off the teams that the task would involve math – math with no calculator! I’m not going to lie to you – there’s a reason I was a journalism major and am a blogger. My math skills are dismal. I can throw down a seven letter word in Scrabble any day, just don’t ask me to calculate my score. I’m not sure I would have been able to complete this Roadblock.

The challenge required the teams to head to a cattle market, where one person would divide the total weight of a corral of cows (shouted out by the auctioneer) by the number of cows in the corral to get the average weight. This meant dividing a number around, say, 2,477 by a number of, say, 22. I can’t do that. However, what I also wouldn’t have done was act like Rachel, crying and moaning about how I “don’t know anything about cows.” Um, sweetie? Cow knowledge wasn’t really what was required here.

A lot of the teams began to work together to get the answer, starting with Rachel of Dave and Rachel and J.J. of Team Border Patrol. They got the answer and headed off to the pit stop, where Dave and Rachel nabbed first place for the second time in a row and Border Patrol placed second.

Mark gave Annoying Rachel a hand in the Roadblock, so they landed third and fourth place. Not before Brendon and Rachel had a big fight though – I never watched Big Brother, but I read enough of Allison’s reviews for the blog to know that Rachel is really annoying. Now I know why. She threw a tantrum like a toddler!  Her whining included “You know I’m not as smart as you,” and then she ended the fight by helpfully noting to Brendon “You have a booger.” Classy chick, right?

Next came the two teams from the third bus, who totally thought they were bringing up the rear. The Cousins managed to breeze through the Roadblock thanks to helping an 11 year-old kid with math homework and grabbed fifth place, followed by Team Fake Teachers in sixth.

That just left the crew from the second bus. I like Vanessa and Ralph so far, so I was happy to see Vanessa get the right math answer on her first try – they made it to the pit stop in seventh place. Unfortunately my least favorite team, the meatheads, were next. They worked with the hot twins though, and I was definitely not ready to see those guys go home.

That meant the clowns were in last place, since no one wanted to help poor Dave come up with the right answer. I was sort of expecting this to be a non-elimination leg, but when they arrived on the mat Phil told them they were out of the race. It’s probably for the best, since they were already starting to grate my nerves.

I like how this season is shaping up so far. Dave and Rachel are definitely contenders, but there are some dark horses. Mark and Bopper surprised me this week, and I think as we see more of Vanessa and Ralph, the hot twins, and the cousins we could have a good competition heating up. As for Team Fake Teacher, I think their days could be numbers. What did you guys think of the episode?


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.