Monday, September 18, 2006

The Amazing Race returns! Hallelujah to Season 10...

I couldn't be much happier than this... coz I would have a lot to blabber about. The Amazing Race returns; this is the 10th installment and the racers are much more diverse. In particular, Indian-Americans Vipul & Arti; Muslim-Americans Bilal & Sa'eed and the Chinese-looking Asian-American team Erwin & Godwin (a.k.a. Cho Brothers).

From the moment Phil mentioned that the show was gonna be a lil different, somehow I knew it would either be mid-race eliminations or inclusion of a new type of penalty / challenge. Lo and behold, it was mid-race elimination and the first victims were Bilal & Sa'eed.

Okay, summary... let's race! Started at Gasworks Park, Seattle, Washington. Then flew to Beijing, China; headed to Gold House Restaurant for Roadblock - ate fish eyes. Then headed to Meridien Gate of the Forbidden City. Last team to arrive was eliminated. Travel by side car on World War II motorbike and direct the driver to junction at 14 Hou Hai North Bank Road. Pedicab manager hands clue containing Detour; Labour or Leisure. In labour, teams travel a mile by pedicab to Run De Li market where they have to pave a part of the sidewalk using bricks according to a particular pattern. In leisure, teams travel two miles by pedicab to Bei Hai Park to correctly execute Taiji Bailong. Cheer leaders Kellie & Jamie and gays Tom & Jerry did leisure while other teams did labour. Then teams raced to the Great Wall and climbed to the pit-stop. Phew! That was a very physical 1st leg of the race.

I think this is the first time the race is running in a East to West direction... it usually moves from West to East direction.

Among the highlights were Peter & Sarah... Sarah has a prosthetic leg; and a faulty one too... yet she was able to churn up an amazing performance climbing up the wall and finishing third place. Bravo!

And then, as with every Season, there will be at least one pair of pretty boys and one pair of pretty girls. I'm rooting for pretty boys Tyler & James; I just hope they don't turn out to be jerks like Eric & Jeremy did. Anyway, Tyler and James came in 1st in this 1st leg and won an extra USD 20,000... yipee!

My current favourites: Peter & Sarah and pretty boys Tyler & James


Then there are the gay boyfriends Tom & Jerry (I wonder why that sounds familiar?)... very sissified... I would have preferred to see the likes of Reichen & Chip.

Looks like the coloured people aren't doing very well. Bilal & Sa'eed were the first to be eliminated at the Forbidden City while Vipul & Arti were the second at the Great Wall. Judging by the immature antics of the Cho Brothers, I doubt they will stay in the race for long too. I would have liked to see Bilal & Sa'eed hanging on in the race longer. Muslims have a lot of taboos and restrictions; it would have been interesting to see whether they would perform a task contrary to their beliefs (no offense... just kinda curious what they would do when faced with a such a choice). Like if they came across non-halal food which they had to consume as part of the challenge, would they? Unfortunately, that is one question that shall remain unanswered for the time being!
The first unfortunate teams to be eliminated: the Muslims & the Indians... sigh!


Looks like the next leg is gonna be fun... for us to watch... coz from what I hear, trouble is brewing in Mongolia!

Quote of the day: "This just goes to show you don't have control over anything. The Creator does." - Bilal of Team Bilal & Sa'eed