Episode Report Card Miss Alli: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT A farewell to arms
By Miss Alli | Season 6 | Episode 10 | Aired on 01.24.2005
At the bus station, Kris interviews about the frustration of working so hard to get out in front, and then having the other teams catch up, as Lori and Bolo and Hayden and Aaron are doing right now. Normally, I'd say, "Welcome to bunching, dear," but it's true that it didn't used to happen, like, six times every leg. It just seems like this year, there's a determination that every single leg will come down to a footrace to the mat, and that used to be the exception, not the rule. As they all get on the Kandy bus, Hayden talks about how the public transportation everywhere else will really make you appreciate the public transportation in your United States hometown. In fact, she says it's a "reality check." One can dream.
As Hornio reaches the coconut plantation, El Hornio spots the trees and says there's no way he'll be able to climb up there. But Rebecca just runs over to the tree and starts up, because if they stand around and argue about it, he won't go. Oh, and El Hornio tells her she "look[s] cute up there." Like a "little monkey." Ew, love and primate references are always a bad fit, in my opinion. Rebecca skitters across the ropes, picks up the jug, and heads back. "Nothing to it!" she calls out, hoping it will make El Hornio brave. He tells the camera that Rebecca is "the superstar," and he's going to just "try not to cry." Sigh. As she comes down, Rebecca gives him a bunch of rope-scampering pointers. And then she tells him he'll be awesome (because she wants the money), gives him a kiss (because she wants the money), and sends him off (because she wants him to go away -- accidental sincerity!). He begins to climb.
At the bus station, Nuance hops the second bus to Kandy, after learning that other teams did in fact leave ahead of them.
Adam does the ropes. They finish the Detour and get the Kandy clue. And the next thing you know, they're at the bus station taking the third bus. "Today's been a rough day," Rebecca tells the camera. "I'm assuming we're done with the game," she says, keeping that positive attitude.
Kandy. Kris and Jon, Lori and Bolo, and Hayden and Aaron get off their bus. When they reach the art association, though, they learn that...it's closed. It's closed at 4:00 in the afternoon, and it's not open again until 8:30 in the morning. So that's a sixteen-and-a-half-hour opportunity to catch up. You can ask yourself how you could possibly have biffed this leg badly enough not to wind up in a tie with everyone else at this point, but I can't think of a way. Meaning that the entire leg up to this point not only turned out to be meaningless, as is often the case with airports and such, but could only have been meaningless, by design. So bus number two brings Freddy and Kendra, and they see the sign, and are sad. But bus number three brings Hornio and they, of course, are excited. Rebecca explains that she was hoping it would turn out this way, that nothing in the entire first three-quarters of the leg had any significance whatsoever. "I'm feelin' strong!" she says to the camera. I am not feeling strong, on the other hand, except for my strong sense of justice being offended by this travesty. Okay, not really, but if any of those emotions were appropriate to the situation, I'd be experiencing them.