Wanda and Desiree, the Mother/Daughter team is ELIMINATED! in the fourth episode of Amazing Race 9
The episode this week was an exciting one, with a great mix of challenging and humorous adventures. The exhausted twosomes continued from Russia on to Frankfurt, Germany with no opportunity to rest. The teams were given a once in a lifetime chance to ride on the test track for Mercedes Benz. How fun! The teams searched a field to find a hidden Gnome, and were given the option of learning a German jig or breaking wine bottles over each others heads. By far, the funniest part was watching the teams smash wine bottles on each other to find a winning label. Some teams seemed way to excited to be participating in this. The teams seem to be getting more competitive as the race goes on, as they start making snide comments about each other, and telling little lies.
Here are the teams still remaining:
Eric and Jeremy were once again strong competitors this week. They started off with a good lead as they were the only ones to get on an early evening flight. The two have been getting a few lucky breaks, but their teamwork and youth is definitely working to their advantage. They continue to be the Casanovas of the race (as pointed out by Phil), hitting on all the attractive girls. It is very entertaining.
BJ and Tyler did not do quite as well this week, as they were not the leaders at any time during the race. They continue to have a good time, and try to speak the languages. They are a great comic relief, and continue to be my favorites. They keep a great sense of humor, but are still focused on the game. I think their quote summed this week up best when they stated “It ain’t over until Phil sings!”
Lake and Michelle did really well this week. They missed the first evening flight by just minutes, but managed to get themselves on a later evening flight. They pulled a Rob and Amber move by picking up a drunken man on the side of the road, and having him lead them to the next destination. Although they had to take him home afterwards, the move seemed to work well for them. They continue to bicker, but they seem to be overcoming the challenges.
Fran and Berry have proved me wrong, as they continue to stay in the race, and dare I say seem to developing as competitors. They continue to choose tasks that I would not recommend for them, but it is beginning to look as though they know what they are doing. Watching the two of them do a German jig was priceless!
David and Lori, who would have been eliminated if there had been pit stop at the last stop, were given another chance. They managed to move up from last place to fifth place, securing their continuance in the race. They don’t seem quite as “into” the race and each other, for that matter, as they did at the beginning. I am curious to see what next week brings for them.
Joseph and Monica had a hard time this week, but continue to hang in there. They didn’t have any major troubles (aside from the normal) except for switching tasks mid-stream, which actually seemed to work for them. They were having a great time with the wine bottles at first, but you could tell it was getting to be too much for them, and switched to the other task.
Ray and Yolanda also had a rough week, but are also hanging in there. They had basically the same experience/problems as Joseph and Monica. They had their challenges, but managed to hang on for the week. I bet they are so relieved for this leg to be over, so they can start fresh on the next one.
Danielle and Dani struggled once again to stay in the race. Their first mistake was to depend on the navigation skills of Wanda and Desiree, who had no idea where they were going. Why they continued to follow the mother/daughter team even after they got lost, I have NO idea. I think Dani and Danielle need to revert back to their original plan to use their “sexy factor” to get others to help them. They have managed to hang in there thus far, but if this continues, they will not be around long.
Wanda and Desiree- ELIMINATED! In a surprising twist of events, the mother/daughter team was eliminated this week. It seems their weakness lies in the fact that they both get flustered very easily. When they lose their concentration they REALLY lose their concentration, as exhibited by Wanda in the pool last week and Desiree searching for the Gnome this week. I think they had a lot of potential, but just couldn’t hang in there.
My predictions last week were blown away when Fran and Berry stepped up and came in 4th this week. I still think they are one of the weaker teams, but if past performance is any indication, I think Dani and Danielle might be the next to go. That would be a shame however, because they do seem to bring some excitement to the game. David and Lori, according to the previews, also have a hard time next week, so I have not ruled them out as the losers.
I’ll be tuning in next week to see what happens!
-Dana
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March 28th, 2006 at 4:27 pm
What kills me about the elimination of Wanda and Desiree - the mother/daughter team - is that it was completely avoidable. They had already succeeded in bringing Dani and Danielle down with them by getting lost on the way to Ellbach Field to find the Travelocity Roaming Gnomes, and if Desiree had only tried a little bit harder they could have beat ‘the double-D twins’ to the finish line. Instead, Desiree chose to pout and have a temper-tantrum in the field and then reluctantly participate in the ’slap’ Detour. If she had stepped it up by as little as one-minute we would have seen Dani and Danielle eliminated.
How current participants do not recognize that EVERY effort counts in this race is beyond me. This is the ninth season and they’ve had plenty of material from earlier episodes to learn what does and doesn’t help.
For example, two seasons ago we saw Rob and Amber shamelessly ask locals for assistance and it worked quite well for them. Lake and Michelle utilized that strategy this last week when they picked up the drunk local ‘Hans’ to show them the way to the field. (Why this guy was walking down a Bavarian countryside road drunk in the morning is anyone’s guess.) This is a strategy which seems to work.
Blindly following other lost contestants DOES NOT WORK. Dani and Danielle may be cute enough, but their race-skills so far have not been exhibited. I realize the show boils down hours of racing into 40-some minutes each week, but when they were following Wanda and Desiree the one in the back (I still can’t tell them apart) wasn’t even trying to look at a map or figure out the correct route. For this alone they deserved to lose and only got lucky by finding the gnome first. And apparently they got lost again on the way to the pitstop at the Siegestor Monument; almost allowing Wanda and Desiree to come in 8th place and not get eliminated.
It will be interesting to see if Eric and Jeremy end up helping Dani and Danielle stay in the race for the remainder of the legs or not. Either the boys will help the girls or the girls will be the downfall for the boys. So far Eric and Jeremy are really strong players (with quite a bit of luck) and they’re continual flirting with every pretty girl is hilarious. I love how they appropriately nicknamed ‘The Pauli Girl’ during the Break It detour.
The rest of the contestants all pretty much maintained position in this episode and had no major screw-ups or breakthroughs. You’re right, Fran and Barry were a bit of a surprise but twice now the flight schedules have helped them even-up the placements. And Dave and Lori exhibited a bit of cunning when they blatantly lied about knowing directions. It may be early, but the teams so far are a bit overly nice to one another. I expect this will change as the race continues.
In the next episode tonight the teams head to Italy. I really have no idea who has a better chance but Eric and Jeremy are still in the lead unless once again the flight schedules evens everyone up.
I’ll continue to gamble on the hippies - BJ and Tyler. They seem to have a great dynamic as a team and are not as distracted as Eric and Jeremy. The rest are all pretty even in my book with the exception of Dani and Danielle (unless helped by Eric and Jeremy or the notoriously flirtatious men of Italy) and Fran and Barry. If Fran and Barry make it through this next leg without the aid of the flight schedules I’ll begin to reinvest more faith in them. We shall see…
-nap