By far the worst episode of The Amazing Race that I can remember. Bad Roadblock, Bad Detour. Somehow this episode even managed to make Beijing seem dull.First off the booking a flight drama gets real old for me. Tammy & Victor having such an advantage due to speaking Mandarin doesn't really seem to help them all that much, except things like getting the travel agent to get them seats at the front of the plane.
The Roadblock task was as painful to watch as it was to experience. Upon landing in Beijing the teams had to find Liangzi Jian Guo Men Dian foot massage spa. where they learned it was a Roadblock. Cara, Luke, Tammy and Kisha opted to do the Roadblock.
First the Roadblocker had to drink a medicinal tea. Then enjoy a foot massage, known for its therapeutic benefits. Rather than enjoy the massage it appeared to be painful torture that had those being tortured crying out in pain. I think those who use waterboarding to get info from bad guys might want to look into this foot massage torture.
If the pain got too much you could cry Uncle. But then you'd just have to start the 10 minutes of torture over again. Cara started out laughing, but was soon in tears. Kisha looked on in panic as she saw Cara being tortured. Soon Kisha was in pain, chewing on her jacket to try and keep from screaming. When Tammy and Victor arrived, both Cara and Kisha were screaming in pain, causing Tammy to ask if it really was that bad, to which Cara said, “I feel like having a baby’s got to be easier than this.” Luke suffered in silence, biting on his hat.
After the torture ended, the next entertainment was a fight for taxis to take the teams to Guangcai Natatorium, that being the place where Michael Phelps swam in last summer's Olympics. There seemed to be way too much dwelling on Michael Phelps.
At the Natatorium that's when the episode really went downhill. The Detour was Sync or Swim. In the Swim option you had to wear the same type swimsuit that Phelps wore, then swim 8 lengths of the pool in a team relay.
In Sync the teams had to jump off a 3 meter board and hit the water at the same time. Victor & Tammy thought this would be easier than swimming. It wasn't. Over and over again they tried, with 2 very bored looking judges judging them. To get their next clue they had to get 5's from the judges. Jen & Kisha opted out for Sync too, til they got on the boards and Kisha panicked. So, it was off to Swim for them.
Jaime & Cara and Luke & Margie opted to Swim and were good at it. Why the ongoing time kept being compared to Phelps' seemed dumb and pointless to me. The Chinese running the Swim did not seem to get much amusement from watching the Americans. Usually the locals have themselves a good time laughing at the Americans struggling with some fool thing.
When Kisha & Jen hit the water it did not go well. So they switched back to Sync where Tammy & Victor continued getting 1's. Boring.
Kisha & Jen managed to dive a couple times, but eventually Kisha could take it no more, collapsed in tears and said she wanted to go home. In the meantime, Tammy & Victor gave up on Sync and went to Swim, which went well for them.
Soon, Kisha bucked it up, put on a lifejacket and went back swimming. They knew they were in last place but were being real good sports about it.
Then, for even more quality TV we see Victor unable to get into the cab to go to the Pitstop. Victor's legs were cramping on him. He seemed to be in a lot of pain. This entire episode seemed to be all about pain. I'm not a big fan of watching people in pain.
I also didn't like Luke & Margie's continued whining about Jen & Kisha and the supposed horrors the two sisters committed. I started off liking Luke and his mom. Now, not so much.
So, the 2 ex-cheerleaders knew they were the first out of the swimming pool, but they'd been in first on the way to the Pitstop several times, only to have something screw up. But, this time they did get their as Team #1, all relieved and happy. Only to be handed a clue with Phil telling them that this leg of the race was not over.
And then "To Be Continued." Previews for next week looks like they are still in Beijing and will be eating something disgusting and wandering around in goofy costumes.
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