Episode Report Card Miss Alli: A | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Come on baby, let's do the twist
By Miss Alli | Season 2 | Episode 2 | Aired on 03.12.2002
In an interview, Alex says, "There's, like, a good chemistry that goes on with Tara and I. She's really cool, and we have a great time together." (Bamp-bamp.) They reach the clue at the top and raise their arms in triumph. Together, they view a rainbow. (Swelling violins.) Why do I have a feeling Chris is somewhere projecting the rainbow with a flashlight and a bunch of mirrors and going, "Duuuuude"? Never leave your wing man. At any rate, now they have to drive and then hike until they get to the jungle camp. As Phil explains, the last team to check in here -- dramatic pause -- will be eliminated.
Xerox finds the camp and gets out of their Weeniemobile. They take yet another little spill on the hike. Sheesh. As one of them voices over about lack of nourishment and lack of sleep, they finally reach the mat. The greeter welcomes them to Iguacu, and Phil tells them they're in first place. "Have a little trouble?" Phil asks. "A lot of trouble," they lament. Indeed. One of them insists in an interview, though, that it's going to take more than injuries for them to be beaten down.
Peggy and Claire get into the Weeniemobile, just as Boston and Tarawil run up to the mat. Boston edges Tarawil on the run, and so they land in second place. Tarawil is team number three. Wil says that "you're going to slowly see these other teams deteriorate." Whatever. Furthermore, Wil, if I ever have to actually see all of the purple and white flowered shirt you're wearing in that interview, of which I can now see only the collar, you will officially become The Worst-Dressed Contestant In The History Of This Show.
If you believe the editing, the Roadblock is being done by Dave, just ahead of Mary, Russell, and Danny. Peggy and Claire open the Roadblock clue and Claire takes it. "I have a great sense of direction," she says. Cut immediately to Claire in the boat, looking around helplessly, saying, "I don't see it."
And now, based on that very cut, it's time for a little Editor Appreciation. I have told people over and over that one of the primary things that sets this show apart from many others like it is the high quality of the editing. The editing of this show is consistently skillful (I can usually tell what's going on, at least well enough, despite what are sometimes upwards of ten pockets of activity), perfectly paced (it ain't edge-of-your-seat stuff as it comes out of the cameras, you can bet your ass) and witty (as it was right there, and as it was repeatedly during the first season -- the cut to Kevin and Drew dancing, the cut to the Guidos climbing up on the roof, the cut to the frozen tundra in the finale, and so forth). So because I don't like to give all the praise to the on-camera talent, give it up for your editing staff, as taken from the credits, which tell me that the guilty parties are Kinsey "Not a Loser, Baby, So Please Don't Kill Me" Beck, Paul "Flip A" Coyne, Teki "Pun This, Smart-ass" Cruikshank, Andrew "Two First Names" Frank, Paul "Not From Cheers" Frazier, Clayton "Bruiser" Halsey, Don "Juan" Misraje, Ryan "Bud" Morrell, Paul C. "Leslie" Nielsen, Skip "No, Just Skip" Robinson, James M. "Law Firm Senior Partner" Smith, and Eric "Named After Two Forms Of Transportation" Van Wagenen. Cheers, all.