No Teams Eliminated
Another exciting episode of the Amazing Race with teams racing to Russia. They experienced a zipline, a jump off diving board into a pool, and a choice between washing a bus or searching many babushka dollars for a clue. The teams’ strengths and weaknesses continue to emerge, and here are my thoughts about each twosome.
Eric and Jeremy, also known as the “Frat Boys,” are developing an alliance with Dani and Danielle. While I can appreciate their wanting to have fun at the Pit Stops, they are obsessed with getting to know the other team, and wonder if this will cause a conflict of interest. The boys did show that they are still competitive when they let Dani and Danielle go back by themselves to retrieve their passports and clues that they left at the challenge.
BJ and Tyler, also known as the “Hippies” are still doing well and making friends. They were first to depart, and first to arrive at the zipline challenge. They lightened the tension by jumping out at the other teams and scaring them. This twosome is very endearing as they continue to have a good time with the adventure, and try to enjoy the journey.
Joseph and Monica, referred to as MoJo seem to be working as a team really well. They had some bad luck today, with a cab driver getting lost, but are still major competitors.
David and Lori – Although they haven’t traveled out of the US much, they seem to be doing really well. They have been flying under the radar so far, and it is working well.
Ray and Yolanda – Although their entire relationship has been long distance, Ray and Yolanda have done a good job working together. Yolanda even managed to overcome her fear of the water.
Wanda and Desiree – The mother/daughters plan of staying focused seems to be paying off. Desiree has done a good job of keeping her mother positive and focused, even though Wanda tends to overreact. They somehow managed to get past a challenge that appeared near impossible for them. Wanda’s severe fear of the water almost prohibited her from diving to the bottom of the pool to retrieve the next clue.
Lake and Michelle – Although Michelle seems to be getting more in the race, the tension and bickering between the twosome continues to escalate, and it shows in their inability to find the locations. The two argue about everything and Lake constantly puts Michelle down. I want this team to be eliminated soon because I do not like Lake
Danielle and Dani – Who claim to be playing with their hearts above all, are forming an alliance with Eric and Jeremy. This team was doing well the first half of the race until they made what could have been a fatal error leaving the bag with their passports and money in the dressing room at the last challenge, and having to go back to retrieve it.
Fran and Berry –These two continue to hang in there, although it seems like a huge struggle for them. After every challenge, I am sure they are going be last. They seem very slow, but have managed to keep up with the other teams enough to stay in the race.
My prediction is that Fran and Berry will be eliminated next. They have not quite figured out how to work their strengths to their advantage, and always seem to be barely hanging on. They are a cute couple, and I hate to see them go, but it is time.
Next week promises to be exciting as the teams have not stopped to rest. When they arrived at what they thought was a Pit Stop, they were told to keep going! They are going to be tired starting the next leg of the race airing next week.
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March 19th, 2006 at 5:41 pm
You’re right, episode three of Amazing Race 9 was another exciting one and many of the teams strengths, weaknesses, and personalities continued to emerge.
First of all, while the Eric and Jeremy team did come in first by arriving at St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow, Russia before any other team - the look on their faces when instead of getting another first-place prize they were handed clues and told to keep racing was priceless. If they manage to hold this lead through the next race will be surprising.
My hippie-favorites BJ and Tyler continue to run a good race but something is odd. In the pre-show interviews I could swear BJ claimed to speak Russian. But in this episode they showed no evidence of speaking and understanding the Russian language. In fact, there is more than one clip in which they are filmed stumbling along using English while in Moscow.
What is TTOW? Before you ask me what TTOW is let me tell you I don’t know. TTOW was sewn on the matching shirts of BJ and Tyler and they exclaimed it during a congratulatory headbutt after completing the zipline challenge. They called it their ‘power word’ and ‘the circle of the universe’, but that’s all we’ve heard so far. If you know what TTOW is, please post a reply.
Lake and Michelle made the first self-inflicted screw-up by turning the wrong way on the very first turn away from the coffee plantation, Fazenda Primavera da Serra, in Bratas Brazil. They initially lost a place to Dani and Danielle but of course everyone caught up on the Lufthansa flight to Moscow.
And more than once now we’ve seen Dani and Danielle show some game-smarts by asking the right questions and taking the time to review the options before making avoidable mistakes, like they did in this show by learning some key transportation and race-ready terms such as ‘where is Chaika?’ and ‘go fast’ in Russian on the flight to Moscow. But no sooner did they finish the diving roadblock at Chaika Bassein did they forget their clue and passport bag and have to turn around and split from Eric and Jeremy.
Oh, and while I still cannot tell Dani and Danielle apart, the apparent pairing with Eric and Jeremy now makes it Eric (brunette) and Danielle and Jeremy (blond) and Dani. This makes a fun distraction for this season of Amazing Race. I can’t recall if we’ve seen this dynamic between competing teams before.
Ray and Yolanda made an interesting choice when Yolanda volunteered for the roadblock at Chaika Bassein before reading what it was. It involved jumping in water and Yolanda apparently doesn’t swim very well. She completed the task with only a bit of hesitation, but it still doesn’t make sense why she first volunteered and then was seemingly unable to switch after making the declaration.
Wanda and Desiree did the same thing but Wanda (the mother) knew what the roadblock was before jumping in. Wanda also eventually completed the task but she definitely lost a lot of time trying to dive down and retrieve the next clue under water.
-nap