The Amazing Race 21: Episodes 6 and 7: Bye, Bye Beekman?

The Beekman Boys try to get synchronized.

You never know what's going to happen on the Amazing Race. The last two episodes have provided more highs and lows than in recent memory. I do love it when you never know who's going to win. Last season, Dave and Rachel won nearly every leg despite their being that year's Bickersons and it was pretty clear they were going to take the big prize. Now the lead keeps switching between Team World Domination, the Long Hairs, the Texas kids, and the loud Sri Lankan twins. And just when you think you have a team all figured out, they switch personalities on you. For example, last week sweet and innocent Trey and Lexie from Texas turned into accomplices in near larceny when they failed to tell James and Abba the rockers that the Sri Lankans had found their money on the floor of the travel agency in Bangladesh. I'd like to think that's something I wouldn't do, that I'd say, "Hey did anyone lose all their money?" But in the heat of competition, who knows?

To further add to the moral confusion, Team World Domination whom I had decried as too competitive in previous blog posts, turned into nice people this week by staying to cheer on the Beekman Boys as they attempted the synchronized swimming challenge in Moscow.

But let's go back to where we left off in the last blog (I've had a real life since then, thanks very much.) At the starting line in Bangladesh, the teams are given instructions to fly to Istanbul and they all head for a travel agency. How do they decide when to go right to the airport and when to go to a travel agency? It's here that James and Abba drop their money and the Sri Lankans don't exactly steal it, but they do pick it up after it has fallen on the floor. Heinous behavior. Once I did find a wad of cash on the floor of a bar. There was no one else around, so my friends and I said "Free drinks!" It was the 1980s when people did that kind of thing. But this is entirely different. I was not on TV! So James and Abba go begging for money in one of the poorest countries in the world and discover having a film crew following you around makes panhandling relatively easy, especially in the financial district.

Once in Istanbul, teams have to take a ferry ride to the Asian side of the Bosporus (Vicky Edyie gets preposterous on the Bosporpus!--Bette Midler reference) and chose between getting a massage and carrying bagels on their heads.

If you had a choice between a relaxing in a Turkish bath while muscular masseurs soothed your body or carrying a huge tray of bagels on your head while trying to find three different addresses in a foreign language in the sweaty Istanbul streets, which would you do? I'd take the former in heartbeat even if I were in a race around the world for $1 million. But our beloved Beekman Boys and the Monster Truck couple chose the latter while everyone else went for the massage. I guess they thought it would be quicker than lolling in a sauna with suds and steam. It turned out to be a race for last between them.

The Beekmans and Monster Truck got to the next challenge dead last within minutes of each other (even though Josh and Brent had the super difficult Speed Bump of eating two ice cream cones--twice since they went to the wrong location the first time.) At the last minute, Josh got out and directed traffic to clear out a jam and they just made it. Mr. and Mrs. Monster Truck were eliminated, though the big, middle-aged husband showed some graceful dance moves.

In this week'e episode, teams had to fly to Moscow, which you wouldn't think would be that much of a schlep from Istanbul, but there was no such thing as a direct flight. The Beekmans and Team World Domination were on a delayed flight and got stuck in Frankfurt until the next morning, several hours behind the other four teams. All looked hopeless for these two teams who agreed to travel together, but they have one possibility for salvation and they don't even know it. James and Abba, who were in fourth place, left all their stuff in their taxi and cannot check in unless they have their passports. (Remember that happened to Zev and Justin on Season 15?) In what looks like an Amazing Race first, we have a cliffhanger and were not told who would finish fourth, fifth and sixth when it was not a two-part leg. The episode stops with James and Abba having to find their taxi and the Beekmans and Team World Domination at the swimming challenge.

The preview for next week seems to indicate that everyone stays in Moscow and Abby and Ryan are still in it since they are doing some kind of test challenge. I would hate to see Josh and Brent get eliminated because of a lack of choreographed swimming skills. It would be kind of ironic since Josh's drag persona was named Aquadisiac. I just finished his second memoir The Bucolic Plague and identified with him since I have a house in upstate NY too (but I never did drag.)  Either way, at least they will be in eight episodes, which added to their FBBs on the Cooking Channel adds to their media saturation.

Maybe it will be another non-elimination round, maybe James and Abba will get the boot. We'll have to wait and see.

The Amazing Race 21: Episodes 4 and 5 Catch-up

The past two weeks have a bit crazy so I've fallen behind, loyal blog reading public of 30, in my vital mission of recapping reality shows. I went to my place upstate with my friend Diane where we watched Esther Williams and Van Johnson in Easy to Love and three episodes of Dark Shadows (it was a festival of bad art), then I caught a bad cold and there was a little hurricane called Sandy.

Project Runway ended (Dmitiri or Boris or Vladimir or whatever his name is won), I tried to DVR the first episode of Project Runway All-Stars and the latest of The Fabulous Beekman Boys, the damned thing didn't do it. Fortunately, it did get The Amazing Race. Episodes four and five both took place in the same city in Bangladesh which shows that the producers are still trimming the budget. But they are also trimming extraneous scenes which is a good thing. When they began in Indonesia not every team was shown opening their envelope and we didn't waste any time viewing the rush for the airport ticket counter. Once they all got to Dhakka, the first task was to repair a damaged bus. The Sri Lankan twins make the most noise, while Mutt and Jeff trailed behind.

The next challenge was a choice between sewing a mattress or banging out a crowbar thing. Naturally the Beekman Boys chose sewing, but so did alpha teams World Domination and the Chippendales. At the mattress sewing challenge, Chippendale dancers James and Jaymes brightened right up when Josh mentioned that he had been a drag queen and made his own costumes. Interesting. I had just finished reading Josh's memoir I Am Not Myself These Days in which he recounts his adventures playing Aquadisiac, a drag creation with goldfish swimming around in her plastic tits by night, and working in an ad agency by day, all while living with a drug addict-hustler. I'd say that was more life experience than most of the alpha teams have probably had. In addition, Josh is running a farm in Sharon Springs with Brent while he still holds down an advertising job. James and Abba, the rock and roll guys, went for the Fast Forward--a relatively easy job of rounding up dead rats--and won, Mutt and Jeff were eliminated.

In episode five, James and Abba were ahead the whole time, benefiting from the Fast Forward the week before, which was kind of unfair. They rarely put a fast forward in if they are not going to change cities. Usually there is some levelling event, like an airplane trip or park or a location that doesn't open until the next morning. James did receive some bad news at the top of the leg that his father had inoperable cancer. They came in first and Ryan of Team World Domination proved what a jerk he is. There I said it and I'm glad. It's not enough that Ryan and his love slave Abby are the only team who could possibly win $2 million for coming in first in leg one, he has to break the record set by Dave and Rachel last season of winning the most times. He opened up leg five by declaring this ambition. Then when he and Abby come in second at the end of the episode, he acted all downcast because they were only second and his dreams of being the most powerful Amazing Race contestant ever were dashed forever! (they can't possibly break the record now since there aren't enough legs left.) This caused poor Abby to tear up since she sweated bullets all day and thought she'd actually done a good job. But no, it wasn't enough for Mr. Super Alpha Male. He forced himself to smile and accept second place.

The Beekman Boys were almost eliminated having lost their way in trying to find a cab and then having trouble with building a gigantic scale with bamboos and ropes. But it turned out to be a non-elimination round   and they will make it to Istanbul nest week which we have not visited season seven with the accursed Rob and Amber. Since then I have visited Istanbul myself and am looking forward to this episode.