'The Amazing Race 10' - Ep. 4 -or- "Up, Over, Under and Around in Circles"

Eight teams remain. Who will be eliminated next?

Once again, they switched the introduction to the show. They should be due for a non-elimination leg soon - I'm thinking next week. When the show started off with the word "next" in lieu of "tonight," I thought it may be this show, but it was indeed a Philimination leg.

And, I have the lowdown.

Health concerns continue to plague some of the teams as we head into the fourth leg. Mary's sprained ankle is still a problem and we learned that Rob collapsed due to heat dehydration. He was treated and deemed fit to continue racing. Since he's one of my own personal least favorites, I wouldn't have minded if they told him, "No! Stop racing! Rest for three days!" Ah, but that wasn't the case.

As the teams took off from the last Pit Stop, a rice paddy in Vietnam, I noticed that the gap betwixt first and last place had narrowed in comparison to last week's start. The first team (ChoBros) left at 10:55 PM and the last team (TnT) left at 11:48 - not even an hour apart.

The teams had to take a taxi to Hanoi, then collect 588 Vietnamese Dong. That's the currency in Vietnam; 1 Vietnamese Dong = 0.00006458 US Dollar, so it's not a heck of a lot of money, eh? They then had to travel to a park where an auditory clue, in addition to crickets, started a fiasco of mixed-up directions and a Kimberly/Robert rude cab blow-out. The clue itself was hard to understand in either language - English or Vietnamese. Some teams wrote it phonetically; other teams asked their cabbies to listen.

Some just disrespected their cabbies. Yes, I'm talking about Rob. I don't know why someone would expect a cab driver in Vietnam to understand English and, even when the cabbie doesn't speak the language, he sure can understand tone. Give me Mary and David, with Mary hugging the taxi driver and telling him she loved him instead.

After all the clue confusion and cab-clamoring, all the teams ended up on the same bus headed to Ha Long Bay. There they faced a Roadblock, a task only one member of the team must perform. This particular Roadblock had them using mechanical ascenders to scale the side of a cliff. It was a 90' ascension directly up and used both arm and leg strength.

And, this is where I get surly. Peter, of Peter/Sarah fame, takes the easy Roadblocks and lets Sarah, who has a prosthetic leg, perform the hard ones. (Dump him, Sarah!) Yes, I know editing plays a part, but if Peter hadn't made yet another remark in the line of his "disability card" utterances and then sat smugly drinking a cold beverage as Sarah struggled...! His line this time was "Pull the handicapped placard out and get in the front of the line" as only three ascenders were available at a time. This guy needs some serious dumping by Sarah, seriously. Watching Sarah climb the cliff, I think I had more concern than he did.

As Godwin Cho prepared to go up, he declared he was leaving all of his possessions to his brother. And, it was neat to watch Karlyn go up the cliff struggling, yet busting with pride at her accomplishment. It could have been editing, but it looked like every other team member remaining at the bottom cheered their mates on while Peter relaxed.

The teams had to find their next clue in an absolutely stunning cave - Sung Cot Cave. It reminded me of visiting Carlsbad Caverns. There wasn't too much excitement at hand in the cave as the teams basically just had to find their clues to their next destination, which happened to be a Detour. A Detour is a choice between two tasks, each with a local touch, performed by both members of the team.

The choices this leg were Over or Under. In Over, the teams had to take a boat called a junk, then row a smaller boat called a sandpan - sort of a wide and flat rowboat to pick up and deliver goods to two destinations in a floating village. In Under, teams took a junk, then rowed a sandpan to a location where oyster baskets were marked by buoys. They had to harvest and deliver 30 baskets of oysters.

All of the teams had trouble manuevering their sandpans and I don't think I've heard that much fussing and fretting on one task in ages. Tears, whining, arguing, and then some more tears. Peter fussed that he wanted to give up and I thought I saw contempt in Sarah's eyes. (Dump him, Sarah!) Mary and David snapped at each other and she gave him a "you're not the boss of me" comeback. Remember, at the beginning of the season, she claimed that where they're from, the man is the boss. I don't think so! Most of the teams went for Under, but Lyn and Karlyn succeeded at Over. All of the teams found out that rowing a sandpan in high winds isn't like rowing a canoe.
Much to my dismay, Rob and Kimberly finished the task first and hit the mat at the Pit Stop at Soi Sim Island first. I don't like their bickering. Phil commented on it, too. "Are you being nice to each other?" Yeah, sure they are! As the first place winners of the leg, they each won a jet ski. That's better than the one home entertainment center that Godwin and Erwin won last week, but it's no trip for two... which may be a good thing in the light of their relationship or lack thereof.



This is the order at the Pit Stop:

1. Rob/Kimberly
2. Peter/Sarah
3. Tyler/James
4. Erwin/Godwin
5. David/Mary
6. Lyn/Karlyn
7. Dustin/Kandice
8. Tom/Terry (TnT) - last and Philiminated.

In a bit towards the end of the show, Sarah told Peter she didn't appreciate him saying he was going to give up when she had worked so hard to climb the cliff. He sat there and said nothing. In a confessional she held without him, she seems to realize he's not the dream love she thought he was. Dump him, Sarah!

Supposedly, this race is one of the most extensive ever. Why are they still in Vietnam? I'm finding it a beautiful and exotic country, but they've traveled hardly at all the last two legs.

Mary is proving to be my must-watch racer each week. Between her funny lines and her reaction to wondrous places and peoples, she's fun to watch. Yes, she fussed some about her sprained ankle, but I could see her forging on with a cast if she had to do so. She may be one of the more "country bumpkin" types than we've seen on the show before, but she's definitely an ambassador of good will with the natives.

I'm still cheering on the ChoBros for the win, but David and Mary would certainly make for a very different finale. I like Sarah, but not Peter. I'm not too thrilled with either Kimberly or Rob, and the pretty teams (Dustin/Kandice, Tyler/James) aren't striking me much at all, nor did TnT. I wouldn't mind seeing Karlyn and Lyn hang in there. I think they're pretty amazed at what they've done and I bet their children are thrilled, too.

Just get out of Vietnam and stop all the crying, teams!

Oh.

And, dump him, Sarah!