Episode Report Card Miss Alli: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Tea and Treachery
By Miss Alli | Season 1 | Episode 3 | Aired on 09.25.2001
The clock ticks to 10:00 AM. Everybody storms the appropriate French landmark (or, in the case of Pat and Brenda, the inappropriate French landmark). And here, ladies and gentlemen, is The Great Single-File Controversy. Basically, what occurs is that the three teams that were waiting at the Pantheon do indeed enter in an orderly way -- Esquire, Danza, Guido. But EDG doesn't see the pendulum and walks right by it. The Guidos see it, and go straight to it, thus becoming the first team to pick up the clue. Rob believes that this is a violation of the go-in-order pact. I, personally, don't. I think it was reasonable, mostly for the sake of the other people visiting or working at the Pantheon, for them to find a way not to run into the building like a gang of out-of-control twelve-year-olds. But once they were inside, I don’t think the agreement required Team Guido to point out where the pendulum was and wait for EDG to come over and go ahead of them. I will never state this point any better than it was put by Sars, who pointed out that the name of the show is The Amazing Race, not The Amazing Montessori School. (In a few years, that's going to stop making me laugh out loud every time I see it.) I understand EDG's frustration, but I don't think Team Guido violated the agreement -- and even if they had, I think the adventures of Big Brother Will have pointed out that agreements, on a game show, aren't exactly the same as agreements in your actual life. I would also point out that after Team Guido grabs the clue and bolts, Frank and Margarita go next, so EDG itself didn't stick to the order, which would have put the Esquires next. At any rate, the clue tells the teams to next find a man in the blue suit across from the Hotel de Ville.
As Bill and Joe try to wipe Rob and Frank's spit off of the backs of their matching jackets, they make their way toward the Hotel de Ville, voicing over that they try to be friendly, but that their real aim is to intimidate the other teams. Yeah, thanks for the tip. We had no idea.
Pat and Brenda can't find the cat. Sniff.
Notre Dame and The Climb Of Many Stairs. Paul and Amie reach the top, then Lenny and Karyn, then Emily and Nancy, who says, "Oh, please, God," as she climbs. Yeah, no kidding. I'm tempted to say, "Oh, please, God," just looking at them climbing that many steps. I had to walk up seven flights of stairs at work the other day, and I considered it no fun at all. This would be considerably worse. There's some scrambling at the top. Here come Davey and Margaretta, and hey! You! Yeah, you. You're one of the several people I've heard in the last few weeks speculating that Davey and Margaretta probably weren't even doing the harder physical challenges, because they weren't shown doing the bungee jump or running up the Eiffel Tower. Here's where you apologize. Not only do they go up almost 300 steps at Notre Dame, but I'd point out that their entire rules violation was based on the fact that, unlike everybody else, they BOTH climbed the Eiffel Tower. So let's not have any more of the doubting of Team Ensure. They could probably kick your ass as well as mine.