Final thoughts from this season's last leg entitled "You've Just Made Me a Millionaire":
What a happy conclusion to TAR5! As usual, the masterful editing had us sitting at the edge of our seats as Phil and the other teams waited for the first team to arrive. I am sure our living room was not unlike others as a gleeful cheer went up as the mini-van pulled up instead of the town car....
Here is my take on the Final Four...
The Bowling Moms - Linda and Karen
It was hard to not get a little choked up when The Bowling Moms were Philiminated from the Race in Manila ... not so much sad, but more than a bit inspired by their journey. Teams like the Moms are ones that we tend to write off quickly even before they reach the starting line. Linda and Karen proved us wrong as they unbelievably became the first all-woman team to make it to the 10th leg of the Race. Take that all you 20-something all-gal teams from the past. While the last physical task really did them in, all props for their "never give up" attitude and while I am sure their kids are very proud -- there are whole bunch of us who feel exactly the same way.
Team Blue Lagoon/The God Squad/The Godels - Brandon & Nicole
While I am usually fairly tolerant of religious convictions and faith, Brandon & Nicole just took it to an extreme where they were never endearing (and given Brandon's bod, that is saying an awful lot). The head slapper of the night was when Brandon tried to coax Nicole up the Continental Divide by trying to convince her to picture Jesus atop of the mountain. The question at our house wondered whether Jesus was holding the check for $1 million! I have to say I was nearly in tears during Christie's ugly-cry breakdown at the alpine bicycle challenge...oh, tears of the laughter that is.
Traveling through countries like Kenya, India, and Manila wouldn't it had been nice for these two to take a moment to pray for the masses of people they passed who were living in poverty? Not the case for this pair who live privileged lives in the richest country in the world where they make a living pouting and looking pretty for the camera? Entertainment Weekly writer Marc Vera summed it up best: "I think he (God) got annoyed with two naïve twits asking for his assistance every five seconds in their selfish quest to win a million bucks." Let's just leave it at that.
Colin & Christie
Did these two ever have a team nickname? Well, one that didn't contain an expletive! Well, what is there to say... they were the villains of the TAR5 and played that role masterfully. If the show were filled with "likeable" people would it be nearly as fun? As I said yesterday, the Race came down to a missed flight -- and the 10 minute time lag between flights was enough to make the difference between first and second place. Deep down I probably would not have been that devastated if C&C won -- they were wildly competitive, playing the game to the max... and you just gotta respect despite their often ugly attitudes and tactics. Smart move on getting the town car...it almost did it.
Chip & Kim
For me, this was probably one the most satisfying wins in TAR history. Heck, they were at least one of the teams I pulled out at the beginning as a potential winner (my other two choices were woefully bad) -- and also a victory for us over-30 folks!
This was a solid team... was there even one internal squabble between this husband and wife over the 72,000 miles?! One of the most poignant moments of the finale was in Calgary... I suspected Kim was going to have a tough time with the Continental Divide climb (even more so, after we saw Christie and Nicole struggle)...but it was Kim that got to the top first and calmly said to the camera "Waiting for my husband for a change" (again no ear-shattering screaming to get up the hill faster from this team). I also liked it when Chip said now it was "Kim time" to come in and kick some booty...
Sure they told some white lies in the end (misleading the God Squad about the getting the right clue...hey B&N, how about getting your ass out the boat!... and keeping mum about the delayed flight out of Calgary), but that's the game...it's a Race and, especially at the end, you are not there to be a good samaritan. Like Chip said, they couldn't beat C&C physically... so they used their minds. Congrats to Chip & Kim!
Re: The Amazing Race 6 It is being reported that CBS has delayed the anticipated October premiere. However, this is good news! Given the ratings success of this season (finally!), the rumor is that the network is looking to give the two-time Emmy Award Winning Oustanding Reality Competition Show a better time slot (other than the planned awful Saturday night hole)! They are waiting to see if a spot opens up in their schedule (translation: one of their new shows flop)....so my guess is to look for the show on Friday nights when dr. vegas craps out...
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