There was obviously a lot of pep talk and “put your big-kid panties on” speeches behind the scenes after last week’s tearful episode. The teams that were the worst offenders — namely the Green Team and the Cheerleaders — came out strong and stayed there. I’m pretty sure that Justin only cried once.
This week’s cry-o-meter
Justin — 1
Cheerleaders — 0
Hey! Did you hear the pope is in town?
The teams headed to Buenos Aires, Argentina, which is the birthplace of Pope Francis — a fact we’re reminded of constantly during the first 15 minutes of the leg. Did they know about the papal visit being scheduled in the U.S. when they were recording, or was this a major editing job to capitalize on the buzz of the pontiff? The teams get their detour in the Catholic church where the Pope was baptized, and it was a nice touch that every single team stopped to recognize how magnificent it was.
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Paper or Porcelain?
Teams have to choose between Cartoneros or Fletero for their detour. Basically — paper or plastic. You can either collect 100 kilograms of cardboard or transport a mannequin across town. Only one team (The Reporters) chose the easy task (Fletero) while everyone else went foraging through the city looking for cardboard to recycle. Where does all this cardboard come from?
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The Green Team manages to gather the required weight first, and almost immediately, Justin goes from crybaby to cocky.
I’m not sure which version of Justin is more annoying, but it’s apparent that the Green Team is quickly becoming the team to hate on this season. Look, I get it. He’s passionate and wants to win, but he’s all over the board with his approach. At first he’s “rah-rah let’s work together.” (Hey Justin, this is Amazing Race, not Survivor. We don’t do alliances here.) And then he swings to damn the torpedoes, full-speed ahead and would jump over his mother to get the job done.
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Tango for two with a side of vertigo, please
Anyone else a little dizzy from this week’s roadblock? This wasn’t just a challenge to dance a tango — the contestants had to do it while suspended from cables on the wall! It was a flashback to the ’80s when Lionel had us dancing on the ceiling. The teams that did well at this had dancing experience. The Dancers, the Cheerleaders, the Reporters, and then there was Diana. Poor Diana. She’s so overshadowed by Justin that we hardly get to see her do anything worthwhile, but she knocked this roadblock out in two tries all while Justin was obnoxiously cheering in the stands. A little too loudly for Josh of Team Texas’ liking.
The Track Stars were the last team to do the roadblock and knew they had to get the tango in one shot, which they did, and ran out of the studio toward the pit stop with only one of them wearing shoes! Quite possibly the best line of the night came at this very moment…
I wish I could say that I was happy that the Green Team finished first, but I’m not. It’s not that I wish them ill, and I think they are very strong contenders, but there’s something about them — him — that is just hard to take. We’re only into the second leg, and I already feel like it’s Reverse Amazing Race and the teams that are the strongest and should be in front — the Dancers, the Track Stars — are struggling to even come up for air. And to watch a team like the Cousins, who gave it all and cared so much get eliminated? It makes the tears-to-cockiness ploy of Justin even harder to stomach.
There is a lot of strength and skill that goes into winning this show, but don’t kid yourself — there’s also a lot of luck involved. The Green Team has a good shot at winning this whole thing but only if Justin tempers his personality. Otherwise, as soon as one of the teams has a chance to give Green a U-turn, you know it’s guaranteed to happen.
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