The Amazing Race 22: Episode 6: Max and Katie's Enormous Brains

Max demonstrating his huge intellect
on The Amazing Race

We were almost rid of another hated pair this week on The Amazing Race. Max and Katie were a whisper away from joining pathological John and Jessica in oblivion, but as luck would have it, this was a non-elimination leg. This was really too bad because they made themselves truly obnoxious this time. Last week, they weren't so bad because they mocked John and Jessica's stupidity in getting eliminated while holding an Express Pass. But now, beginning in Hanoi, Max and Katie boasted about how big their brains were. Katie confided to us that she was hiding her doctorate from the other contestants so they wouldn't be intimidated by her awesome intelligence. Max said she had big brains to go with her big hair. (How do they fit in taxicabs with these huge heads of theirs?) Then they proceeded to show just how smart they were by insulting the bushmen assigned to help them dig up a scorpion.


Once they got to Botswana, Max and Katie continued their nasty ways by dissing ultra-cute Meghan and Joey. While flying with the YouTube hosts in a tiny plane, the big-brained pair confessed to the camera it would have been fun with any other team. I don't get it. Yes, Joey can be a little high-pitched and hyper at times, but he's not evil like John. The roadblock was to take three Kalahari bushmen and have them lead you to a scorpion. Katie stayed classy and complained about how bad the bushmen smelled. Nice! Joey twisted his body into a pretzel to show how scared he was.

The detour was a choice between starting a fire with zebra shit or building a trap for a guinea fowl. The hockey players zoomed ahead and made it to first place--they are ones everyone else should be gunning for since they are the strongest team and need to be U-turned when the next one comes up. Plus they keep helping out the country singers which shows that a pretty face will get you far in this life. Everyone else had trouble with the fire and switched to the trap-making, except Chuck and Wynona who went right to the task because of Chuck's hunting background. Max and Katie stuck with the fire task too long, it seems Chuck sells cigars and he thought that would help. We finally learned what he does for a living outside of getting married. The big brains came in last, but it was a non-elimination.

This episode also featured an apology from CBS for offending Vietnam veterans. It was not clear if they were apologizing for using a crashed American B52 memorial as a pit stop or the performance of a Communist/socialist song as a part of a roadblock. I guess I can understand some viewers' outrage. If they showed a bunch of German kids doing a Hitler Youth dance and then the contestants had to execute the same steps, that would kinda irk me. I remember an episode of To Tell to Truth from when I was kid. For those who don't know, the object of this show was for a panel of celebrities like Kitty Carlisle and Peggy Cass to guess the real interesting, off-beat person from two impostors. The guest was a holocaust survivor and the panelists were asking questions like "How many were killed in Auschwitz?" It was just degrading and tasteless to reduce one of the most horrific events of human history to the object of a game show. So I guess that's how the Vietnam vets felt.