TAR13 Final 3

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving weekend. It seems like it has been such a long time since I did anything productive, that it is going to be a struggle to get going again!

I have been pretty mum about The Amazing Race this season.  I stopped doing my weekly updates a couple of seasons ago when I started expressing a bit of fatigue with the show... it is still one of my favorites in the reality genre for sure, mostly for the travel aspect of the show.  Much like Survivor (which I have stopped watching), it seems like we've seen all these folks before...

That said, I still have opinions and figured I would chime in with my thoughts about the teams headed into next week's finale.  But first a farewell to the always painful 4th Place Philimination... mother-son team Toni and Dallas.  Last night's episode was pretty much Todd's absolute, keeps him up late at night nightmare... losing one's passport in a foreign country (and $$$ too!).  While Dallas was a natural for the Race (filling the "dumb jock" slot quite nicely), I was impressed with Toni's ability to keep up with him.  Oh, of course there was the nude self-pic of Dallas that floated around the Web and rumors that he bats for my team (allegedly!) didn't exactly hurt either. (Update:  Or not, apparently the flirtations on the show were genuine as he has been dating Starr!)

This season (as sometimes happens), I am not so much rooting for one team... but rooting against a couple of others...  

Thus, pretty much by default I am "rooting" for the brother-sister team of Nick and Starr (above left)... who have pretty much dominated the Race for much of this season.  While they have been sneaky, they haven't been the incarnation of evil to make you hate (or love to hate) them.  Again, not hurting is the whole gaydar whoop-whooping with the Clark Kent-ish Nick... and this time I feel a bit more confident in my assertion as he does make his living via musical theater (plus Starr was an equally fabulous Dallas Cowboy cheerleader).   Granted it would be a bit of a yawner if these overwhelming favorites win, but they are certainly deserving.

While not the worst couples in TAR history (Colin & Christi, Freddy & Kendra, and of course the mother of all terror couples... Jonathan & Victoria), Ken and Tina (above middle) certainly made this season into one big couples therapy session... and while the cheating, ex-NFL-er Ken was the immediate bad guy in this globe-trotting relationship rescue attempt, we've all seen that Tina is not exactly a prize herself.  Even going into this last leg, if Tina is looking for Ken to "show her something" than I think she may already have her answer... and once she's figured that out, perhaps she can realize that every time she does something nice for someone (anyone!), they don't automatically "owe her"... geez, she must be a horror at gift giving/receiving around the holidays!

Finally, we have the WTF!?! finalists... Andrew and Dan, who have to be the most incompetent team to make it into the final 3... well, maybe since Zach dragged Flo's ass across the finish line in TAR3.  And I can even muster up any enthusiasm for them either being the "underdogs" or that they're my fellow Arizona State alumni.  If I was in this Race and was eliminated, I think I would be kicking myself to see that these guys made it to the end, which okay... I guess does deserve some credit even if it was by scratching, clawing, and hanging by a thread.

Comments

[Gail]

I was so disappointed about Toni and Dallas! They were consistent and made me think for awhile they'd be the "under the radar" team to beat--and the most likeable. I agree with your picks, but nothing would surprise me now, even Andrew and Dan sauntering in to claim the million. I was almost in shock to see them actually running to the pit stop last night.

[Scot]

I think Nick is cute as a button, nice arms. I want to see the nude self-pic of Nick, for sure. He must be an extremely patient person to deal with his sister so well. I would have told her to fuck off weeks ago. I'll be suprised and disapointed if they don't win.
The frat boys crack me up.

[Jeff]

Toni and Dallas losing their money/passport and coming in last was heart-breaking! The only word I have to describe Andrew and Dan is "bumbling."