Amazing Race 17, Episode 10

That was okay, I'd had enough of Chad and Stephanie anyway. I was worried Brooke and Claire would be out, so the outcome is fine by me.

It's that point in the game where I'm watching the opening credits and seeing teams that make me ask Thing 1 "who the hell is that?".

I much prefer a W-Turn to a single U-Turn; it means that one team does not have a target stamped on their foreheads, and there's still some suspense at the Amazing Bathmat. And it was very nice to see people using the U-Turn as a strategy in the game, rather than a weapon of personal malevolence.

Apparently, Chad did not go to Notre Dame, because he does not know the difference between a PhD and an MD. I'm sure they would have told him that there. And remember, Chad, YOU were planning on U-Turning those two if you had the chance, too.
Chad did impress me a bit at the Pitstop with his reaction to being U-Turned; I expected him to whine about it not being fair, and then fling himself down on the Amazing Bathmat and beat his tiny fists on the Bangladeshi ground. At least he acknowledged it was part of the game.

Can we talk about Nat and Kat during the Talking Head confessionals? Because the blonde one looked, as my mother would say, like she had been dragged through a hedge backwards. It certainly looked like it was hot and muggy and seriously sweat-producing there, but man, she looked rough. I wanted to have a shower and a good night's sleep just looking at her.

Was that band at the Pitstop all playing the same tune?

Why did Jill and Thomas run to the Amazing Bathmat? They had a seven hour lead ahead of any other team, why not stroll for once?

That was the first time I've seen Brooke and Claire get even the tiniest bit snarky with each other there, and it was very short lived. I tell you, that Brooke is way tougher than she looks. "I'm going to go through this like a spider monkey!" was one of my favorite lines of the night. Also, when Stephanie bent over to shout "Shut the hell up!" right into Chad's ear during the brick task...I liked that one a lot, too.

Next week? Nick is officially dead to me. Seriously, he's just mean and stupid. Saying things in the heat of the moment out of frustration is one thing, but saying things to your partner designed to be hurtful and belittling is completely another. Do you think Nick and Thomas could be out and we could get Jill and Vicky to run the rest of this together?

Until next week!