Culturally Preconditioned

Tragic. Just tragic. Quite possibly the suckiest way to ever be eliminated from the race. What is it with these people? As more and more people are getting medivacced out of Survivor, more and more people are getting eliminated from The Amazing Race for losing their passport. Sad. But more on that later.

Teams fly out from Ho Chi Minh to Phnom Penh, Cambodia - the last South East Asia location this season (poor Sam so wanted to come to Malaysia - it’s true, he told me). There were some initial airport drama when two teams (Zev/Justin and Lance/Keri) were put on the standby list - but it proved to be nothing since all of them boarded the same flight out (more than 16 hours after they started this leg).

Once in Phnom Penh, teams had to go to the Foreign Correspondence Club, and whisper to the editors for their assignment - the whole Alias-espionage kinda thing was cutesy, but was unnecessary. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say the entire segment was like an advert for the FCC (much like the heinous Bintan Lagoon Resort episode of TARA1). The clue given, on the other hand, was pretty clever. Teams were given a picture of Jackie Onassis during her visit to Cambodia in the 1960s, and they had to figure out the next location based on that (”the person in the picture had a room in a hotel named after her” - which turned out to be at the Royal Hotel). Some of the teams referred to Jackie O as Queen Elizabeth and a woman of Cambodian descent made me alol so much).

After getting their clues from the hotel, teams were faced with a detour between (1) Cover - where they had to use their power of persuasion to sell 4 helmets at a fixed price of $10, or (2) Wrap - where they had to get a scarf, and find a woman in a crowded market wearing a matching scarf. All teams except Lance/Keri did (1). The crowded market thingy got me to wonder if TAR ever had a similar challenge in Chatuchak Market in Bangkok or the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. That would be so fricken awesome, cause the markets are huge!

Teams next had to travel on foot to Wat Toul Some Thing for a roadblock - where one team member had to don a monkey mask and perform a series of monkey acts/maneuvers as demonstrated by the Monkey Monster. It didn’t appear to be all that difficult, but apparently  some teams were really bad at it. Oh well. After the roadblock, teams are directed to Wat Phnom, the pitstop for this leg of the race.

In the order of their arrivals at the pitstop

[spoiler]

1. Zev & Justin - Whoa! What a comeback.. from last place to first? and then last again? Musta been an emotional rollercoaster ride for these two. It sucks that they are eliminated from the race for losing their passport, but this was not the first time they lost vital stuff in the race. I actually kinda like this team, but at the same time, I’m kinda glad I don’t have to listen to Zev’s voice anymore.  And with regards to their passport, apparently (i’m copying this word per word from someone who watched the elimination video at CBS) “They had gone into a temple before arriving at the roadblock (which was not shown), and Justin had pulled out his headlamp to find their way out of it. The passport was in the same pocket, and it fell out. When they went to the embassy to get a new passport, someone had turned it in, and that’s how they figured out what happened.”
2. Sam & Dan - mmm yeah they’re officially the team that I’m rooting for this season, but in this episode, they’re more UTR than those bitches on Galu in Survivor Samoa. And them not recognizing Jackie O in the pic? Someone mentioned that they’re in danger of losing their gay cards for that. LOL. In any case, they’re beginning to show that they’re front runners on this show. I just hope they’re not gonna continue being boring.
3. Flight Time & Big Easy - omg I love this team. They have mucho ssts and lol worthy comments throughout the show, and they are perhaps the only team in this episode to have shown some characters - unlike certain couples that seem to be void of all characters *cough* Mika and Canaan *cough* I hope they’ll continue to kick ass. And he’s wha??? 6′9″ ? There better be some challenges rigged to his benefit somewhere along the lines. LOL
4. Brian & Ericka - I like this team too. They seem to get a long together and doesn’t seem as incompetent as some of the rest. So go Team Zebra.
5. Gary & Matt - My feelings are unchanged towards this team since the last episode, so not much to comment on here.
6. Meg & Cheyne - see above. And also see my comments on teams that are void of all characters.
7. Lance & Keri - I really thought I wasn’t going to like this team less, until Lance did the flying kick thingy at the pitstop. Look at me.. i’m so manly and brutal and muscular fwooargghhhroaarrr… lol what a douche. That little skit he did seriously reminded me of the two fucking attention mongering twats from TARA2 who also twirl at pitstops. And for that, I think I’m gonna hate this douche forever, or at least until he DIAF. (gif below courtesy of BurritoTaco from SurvivorSucks)
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8. Mika & Canaan - why aren’t they eliminated yet?
9. Maria & Tiffany - luckiest bitches alive! This is the second time they’ve been spared in this race, and it’s only episode 3! This team better step it up, but I honestly think they’re just on borrowed time right now.

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Next week, teams head out to Dubai, and from the looks of it.. it seems like they’re gonna rehash the same challenges they did for TARA1. W00t!