Reality TV Calendar
Episode 6 Commentary by Jessi K.
November 3, 2008
In this week’s Amazing Race, the six remaining teams set off from Siem Riep, Cambodia, which has survived the horrors of war and now an American reality television show production, to Delhi, India, a country that is no stranger to the horrors of The Amazing Race.
As teams ventured off from the pit stop in Cambodia to the travel agent to obtain airline tickets to India, we learned from Dallas that there’s a bit of attraction between him and Starr. How anyone on this race has eyes for anyone other than Phil I’ll never understand, but I find this romance very interesting indeed. What I also find very interesting is the music played when the two share the screen together. Starr sat next to Dallas while at the internet café and suddenly the music changed to “bow chicka a bow wow.” Yes, things got pretty steamy when they shared a mouse.
While love is blossoming between Dallas and Starr, Ken and Tina’s relationship seemed to be hanging on by a thread. “Our relationship has been a struggle, it’s gotta start moving forward and quickly,” Ken said. Unfortunately, their marriage seems to only be moving in a positive direction when they’re doing well in the Race. Last week’s third place finish has now filled the two with doubts again about where they stand with one another. Ken had all sorts of strategy for how to fix their issues but at this point, their relationship is about as permanent as Tina’s eyebrows.
Terence and Sarah started their leg thirty minutes behind due to Terence’s speeding infraction in last week’s episode and the two dashed off to catch up with all the other teams at the travel agent. Sarah asked her tuk tuk driver if he knew the location of the agency. “I know everything,” he replied. Sarah smiled at his response and said, “I like a tuk tuk driver that knows everything.” Apparently she also likes her boyfriends like she likes her tuk tuk drivers.
Once in Delhi, teams tried to make their way to Moon Light Motors. In the cab Nick and Starr couldn’t help but laugh at Kelly and Christy’s clothing—or lack thereof. Culturally sensitive Nick tried to tell them to cover up. Starr added, “I would not be comfortable wearing what they’re wearing,” while clad in a shirt of which her own “tuk tuks” were anything but tucked away.
As in seasons past of the Amazing Race in India, confusion abounded as teams tried to find their first destination in Delhi. Nick and Starr were first to arrive to the road block which required one member of the team to paint a tuk tuk. Ken and Tina were the last to arrive as their cab driver and well, most of Delhi had no idea where the roadblock was located. This didn’t stop Tina from repeating the destination or the address over and again with a little more force and volume each time she asked someone though: “MOONLIGHT MOTORS. 16 DD A.” This seemed to fall on deaf ears over and over again and for all we know, that address may have well been Ken’s shoe size. Nothing seemed to be working for the two of them and it was painful to watch. Every clueless Delhi dweller seemed to push Ken and Tina closer to divorce. I was actually holding my breath during various sequences, silently chanting to the universe “Come on, help a marriage out.”
Once they did arrive to Moonlight Motors however, it still wasn’t smooth sailing. Tina was full of opinions and nagged Ken through the entire task. Though, maybe this strategy worked as he finished quickly beating Kelly and Christy, and Terence and Sarah, who had issues of their own. Terence badgered Sarah through the entire task which probably contributed to their being last. “I need you to do this quickly, I need you to go all the way around,” he instructed. “I am telling you what you want to know and you’re not listening to me.” He was just short of taking her hand and spraying the car himself. How she managed not to resort to childhood tendencies and spray him with the paint gun I’ll never know. And how he manages to be employed as a coach I’ll also never know. Who hired him? PAU: Passive Aggressive University? When Sarah finished the task he let her open the next clue’s envelope: “Open it. You deserve it,” he told her. Wow, could he be any more kind?
When teams had finished painting their tuk tuks, they had to make their way to the Ambassador Hotel to receive their next clue from an Indian Doorman. Their clue revealed their next detour: launder clothes or launder money. In launder money, teams had to make a wedding necklace using 10 rupee notes with the sum of 780 and present it to an awaiting groom. In launder clothes, teams had to make their way to a laundry shop and iron 20 pieces of laundry, of which had to be approved by a laundry lady. Nick and Starr, Christy and Kelly, Dallas and Toni and Andrew and Dan all chose launder clothes. I imagine this Indian laundromat was called anything but “Scrubby Bubbles.” My jeans trembled as I watched men beating the denim dry in the background. And seeing the charcoal irons with handles so hot that teams needed gloves, I vowed never to complain again about the fact that Downey’s Wrinkle Releaser squirt bottle pinches my hand.
Terence and Sarah and Ken and Tina found themselves laundering money at a wedding banquet hall. They were greeted by an elephant and throngs of people while the others laundering clothes were only greeted with stern looks by their laundry attendants. As I understood it, the crowd of people was there for the racers to exchange money with in order to have the right combination of rupees for the wedding necklace, but both teams bypassed the crowd (and the elephant!) at the reception and desperately sought out citizens on the street.
While Ken and Tina and Terence and Sarah were in search of smaller bills, Dan and Andrew were fighting their way through the task, literally. Andrew tried to argue with the laundry attendant that he couldn’t possibly get any more wrinkles out of a garment. Dan continued to wallow in the fact they had left the previous roadblock first only to be passed by other teams. As he complained, the wind picked up and blew all of his hard work to the ground causing him to throw a tantrum. Andrew looked bewildered at his friend in the midst of a meltdown. He tried to give him a pep talk, “Just keep going, you’re doing a great job,” but you knew he was really thinking, “When I get home, I am totally deleting this dude off my Facebook page.”
Back at the reception hall, teams tried to make their way through the crowded wedding reception to find the groom. But the lower level of this reception hall was jam-packed making it extremely difficult to navigate as well as to find the person the necklace was intended for. Terence was knocked around like a rag doll which was amusing but watching Sarah, Ken, and Tina try to pass through such chaos made me feel claustrophobic sitting in my living room alone.
At the pit stop, Phil greeted Nick and Starr Baha’i! first and they were awarded electric cars for winning the leg. (I would’ve been more impressed had they won electric tuk tuks.) Christy and Kelly, Toni and Dallas, Terence and Sarah, and Andrew and Dan all finished before Ken and Tina who arrived to the Baha’i House last. It was no real surprise that this week was a non-elimination leg and Ken and Tina will have one more chance to stay in the Race, however, they’ll encounter a “speed bump” on the next leg. The last thing these two need is another bump in the road.
What they could’ve used this episode, however, was a Keoghan bear hug. Where’s Phil’s dad when you need him?!
Jessi K. is a freelance writer from Iowa who has a penchant for reality TV, carbonated beverages, and boybands. She can be reached at Jessi@RealityTVCalendar.com.
Episode 6 Commentary by Jessi K.
November 3, 2008
In this week’s Amazing Race, the six remaining teams set off from Siem Riep, Cambodia, which has survived the horrors of war and now an American reality television show production, to Delhi, India, a country that is no stranger to the horrors of The Amazing Race.
As teams ventured off from the pit stop in Cambodia to the travel agent to obtain airline tickets to India, we learned from Dallas that there’s a bit of attraction between him and Starr. How anyone on this race has eyes for anyone other than Phil I’ll never understand, but I find this romance very interesting indeed. What I also find very interesting is the music played when the two share the screen together. Starr sat next to Dallas while at the internet café and suddenly the music changed to “bow chicka a bow wow.” Yes, things got pretty steamy when they shared a mouse.
While love is blossoming between Dallas and Starr, Ken and Tina’s relationship seemed to be hanging on by a thread. “Our relationship has been a struggle, it’s gotta start moving forward and quickly,” Ken said. Unfortunately, their marriage seems to only be moving in a positive direction when they’re doing well in the Race. Last week’s third place finish has now filled the two with doubts again about where they stand with one another. Ken had all sorts of strategy for how to fix their issues but at this point, their relationship is about as permanent as Tina’s eyebrows.
Terence and Sarah started their leg thirty minutes behind due to Terence’s speeding infraction in last week’s episode and the two dashed off to catch up with all the other teams at the travel agent. Sarah asked her tuk tuk driver if he knew the location of the agency. “I know everything,” he replied. Sarah smiled at his response and said, “I like a tuk tuk driver that knows everything.” Apparently she also likes her boyfriends like she likes her tuk tuk drivers.
Once in Delhi, teams tried to make their way to Moon Light Motors. In the cab Nick and Starr couldn’t help but laugh at Kelly and Christy’s clothing—or lack thereof. Culturally sensitive Nick tried to tell them to cover up. Starr added, “I would not be comfortable wearing what they’re wearing,” while clad in a shirt of which her own “tuk tuks” were anything but tucked away.
As in seasons past of the Amazing Race in India, confusion abounded as teams tried to find their first destination in Delhi. Nick and Starr were first to arrive to the road block which required one member of the team to paint a tuk tuk. Ken and Tina were the last to arrive as their cab driver and well, most of Delhi had no idea where the roadblock was located. This didn’t stop Tina from repeating the destination or the address over and again with a little more force and volume each time she asked someone though: “MOONLIGHT MOTORS. 16 DD A.” This seemed to fall on deaf ears over and over again and for all we know, that address may have well been Ken’s shoe size. Nothing seemed to be working for the two of them and it was painful to watch. Every clueless Delhi dweller seemed to push Ken and Tina closer to divorce. I was actually holding my breath during various sequences, silently chanting to the universe “Come on, help a marriage out.”
Once they did arrive to Moonlight Motors however, it still wasn’t smooth sailing. Tina was full of opinions and nagged Ken through the entire task. Though, maybe this strategy worked as he finished quickly beating Kelly and Christy, and Terence and Sarah, who had issues of their own. Terence badgered Sarah through the entire task which probably contributed to their being last. “I need you to do this quickly, I need you to go all the way around,” he instructed. “I am telling you what you want to know and you’re not listening to me.” He was just short of taking her hand and spraying the car himself. How she managed not to resort to childhood tendencies and spray him with the paint gun I’ll never know. And how he manages to be employed as a coach I’ll also never know. Who hired him? PAU: Passive Aggressive University? When Sarah finished the task he let her open the next clue’s envelope: “Open it. You deserve it,” he told her. Wow, could he be any more kind?
When teams had finished painting their tuk tuks, they had to make their way to the Ambassador Hotel to receive their next clue from an Indian Doorman. Their clue revealed their next detour: launder clothes or launder money. In launder money, teams had to make a wedding necklace using 10 rupee notes with the sum of 780 and present it to an awaiting groom. In launder clothes, teams had to make their way to a laundry shop and iron 20 pieces of laundry, of which had to be approved by a laundry lady. Nick and Starr, Christy and Kelly, Dallas and Toni and Andrew and Dan all chose launder clothes. I imagine this Indian laundromat was called anything but “Scrubby Bubbles.” My jeans trembled as I watched men beating the denim dry in the background. And seeing the charcoal irons with handles so hot that teams needed gloves, I vowed never to complain again about the fact that Downey’s Wrinkle Releaser squirt bottle pinches my hand.
Terence and Sarah and Ken and Tina found themselves laundering money at a wedding banquet hall. They were greeted by an elephant and throngs of people while the others laundering clothes were only greeted with stern looks by their laundry attendants. As I understood it, the crowd of people was there for the racers to exchange money with in order to have the right combination of rupees for the wedding necklace, but both teams bypassed the crowd (and the elephant!) at the reception and desperately sought out citizens on the street.
While Ken and Tina and Terence and Sarah were in search of smaller bills, Dan and Andrew were fighting their way through the task, literally. Andrew tried to argue with the laundry attendant that he couldn’t possibly get any more wrinkles out of a garment. Dan continued to wallow in the fact they had left the previous roadblock first only to be passed by other teams. As he complained, the wind picked up and blew all of his hard work to the ground causing him to throw a tantrum. Andrew looked bewildered at his friend in the midst of a meltdown. He tried to give him a pep talk, “Just keep going, you’re doing a great job,” but you knew he was really thinking, “When I get home, I am totally deleting this dude off my Facebook page.”
Back at the reception hall, teams tried to make their way through the crowded wedding reception to find the groom. But the lower level of this reception hall was jam-packed making it extremely difficult to navigate as well as to find the person the necklace was intended for. Terence was knocked around like a rag doll which was amusing but watching Sarah, Ken, and Tina try to pass through such chaos made me feel claustrophobic sitting in my living room alone.
At the pit stop, Phil greeted Nick and Starr Baha’i! first and they were awarded electric cars for winning the leg. (I would’ve been more impressed had they won electric tuk tuks.) Christy and Kelly, Toni and Dallas, Terence and Sarah, and Andrew and Dan all finished before Ken and Tina who arrived to the Baha’i House last. It was no real surprise that this week was a non-elimination leg and Ken and Tina will have one more chance to stay in the Race, however, they’ll encounter a “speed bump” on the next leg. The last thing these two need is another bump in the road.
What they could’ve used this episode, however, was a Keoghan bear hug. Where’s Phil’s dad when you need him?!
Jessi K. is a freelance writer from Iowa who has a penchant for reality TV, carbonated beverages, and boybands. She can be reached at Jessi@RealityTVCalendar.com.
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