Recap: The Amazing Race 9, Episode 3 – “This guy is haulin’ balls!”











EP 09-03: I AM IN RUSSIA PLAYING WITH THE DOLLS

TO BE CONTINUED!?!? For the first time in a while, I was SHOCKED by something that happened on TAR. Only the 3rd leg of the Race, and we already have a TO BE CONTINUED… That capped a very, very good episode which was infinitely better than the first two episodes of this season.

Lake & Michelle proved that they are this season’s dysfunctional couple. Lake is more a Colin/Ray-lite than a Jonathan-lite. That, and they made bigger mistakes than Fran & Barry! who almost redeemed themselves this episode. They managed to stay in 2nd place in Moscow until their doomed taxi ride.

And ANOTHER team made worse mistakes than Fran & Barry… Dani & Danielle left their critical Race packs at the Road Block which held their money and PASSPORTS… come on dude, that’s the first thing you need to worry about forgetting, not your makeup. Meanwhile, they and the either horny or just overly funny Eric & Jeremy intensified their flirting this week. Sharing a taxi cab is sometimes helpful, but would’ve been an incredibly stupid move for them to have gone back with the “Pinkies” which what I was expecting. The Pinkies actually had the sense to get out and hail their own taxi.

Another pair of taxi sharers, David & Lori and Joseph & Monica would’ve been in a sticky situation. They were in last place arriving at trolley depot, what would’ve happened had they arrived at the Pit Stop last together? I think MoJo would’ve beat them in a foot race?

BJ & Tyler are now officially too annoying. They were humbled and subdued after losing their 1st place lead on their way to the DETOUR. Ray & Yolanda finally made an impression this week. Good going for Yolanda for being this week’s fear conqueror by jumping into a pool. But Yolanda was much tougher than the first two fear conquerors in the last two episodes. *cinematography was awesome, see below* Later on, Desiree desperately tried to reassure her mother Wanda into completing the ROAD BLOCK. She eventually was able to do it, and if it wasn’t for other teams’ mistakes, they could’ve been last.

On to the episode itself… the zipline was no “Batoka Gorge” (TAR1) that’s for sure. The ROAD BLOCK was fine, the DETOUR was at least somewhat interesting. Another luck DETOUR which has screwed so many teams in the past (Lena & Kristy, TAR6; Gaghans, TAR8)… This time though its not an elimination leg so the luck “scour” DETOUR will most likely have no affect on the last team. The other DETOUR, “scrub,” offered almost as bad choice as looking through dozens of nesting dolls.

Russia seems like a beautiful, freezing place. Amazing architecture all over the place. The last Russian leg was in TAR5, the teams will have to backtrack through Europe or Africa at least. The TAR editing team kicked into high gear this leg. They managed to get clips that emphasized the importance of the TAR fanny packs. First with MoJo, then Lake & Michelle’s little squabble, and of course Dani²’s almost fatal mistake.

*And from above, the cinematography at the pool when Yolanda was getting herself ready to jump was awesome. Another example of TAR’s excellent production team.

And of course, the TO BE CONTINUED… it seems too early in the Race, but I guess Jerry and Bert want to emphasize the randomness of the double and non-elimination legs. Also, I guess with this mostly likable cast, they don’t mind keeping them on longer.

Anyway, TAR9 is finally kicking it into high gear/picking up the pace, and they are gearing up for what looks to be a great season.


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QUOTES FROM EPISODE 09-03


Michelle: “Dang it! That just killed my ass”

Desiree: “I’m going to pee my pants!”

Joseph: “This guy is haulin’ balls”

Monica: “All I know is Russian people drink and smoke a whole lot”

Fran: “Do the dive we learned. Nope you didn’t learn it well enough”

Wanda: “El trunk?”
Desiree: “He’s Russian, not Spanish Mom”

MY RANKINGS FOR
EPISODE 09-03

JOSEPH/MONICA
WANDA/DESIREE
DAVID/LORI
FRAN/BARRY
RAY/YOLANDA
ERIC/JEREMY
BJ/TYLER
DANIELLE/DANI
LAKE/MICHELLE


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