The Amazing Race 17--Episode 9--Double U-Turn in Dhaka

This was the best Amazing race episode for this season. We were in an exotic and bizarre location (Dhaka, Bangladesh), the tasks were pretty challenging, teams yelled at each other while carrying bricks, and there was a double U-turn. At first I thought they were going to spend too much time at the airport, but even that usually boring sequence turned out to be pretty good when Chad was slupring on his Blizzard ("I didn't get enough graham crackers in the crust") while Jill and Thomas were smart enough not to be satisified with being on the same flight as everybody else and finding an earlier one to Bangladesh. Then the punk rockers actually showed some brains and worked to get an earlier flight, too. Though they booked one behind Jill and Thomas they were still way ahead of the other three teams.

In Bangladesh, we were introduced to a new innovation--the Double U-turn. Jill and Thomas U-turned Team Home Shopping which kinda surprised me. I do think they should have U-turned someone, unlike some other people on the internet who are saying they should have skipped it like Nick and Vicki did later because they were seven hours ahead of everyone else and there was no way anyone else was going to catch them. But it was an important strategic move if they wanted to get rid of a competitive team. I would have U turned Chad and Stephanie as the doctors later did. I don't think Brooke and Claire were as big a threat as those two. But I do have to hand it to the salesladies, the blonde pushed the one who had gotten the melon in her face in leg one really hard and they wound up neck and neck with the other teams even though they had to go all the way back to the dock and haul bricks.

Another thing I liked about this episode was that it was action packed. Even getting the first clue involved performing a task--squeezing out the juice from those bamboo things and then drinking a whole glass of it. Then they had to deliver food to a ship or haul bricks, then build a rickshaw. It all looked really tough. The doctors did the right thing in taking the second U turn and giving it to Chad and Stephanie. They had no choice. If they didn't they would have been eliminated for sure. They're just lucky the punk rockers didn't use their U turn. I'm not sad Chad and Stephanie are eliminated, but I will miss Chad's meltdowns. He was never as crazy as some of the classic Amazing Race temper tantrum throwers like Jonathan who pushed his wife in Berlin I think it was or that couple who cried when they go eliminated in Hong Kong and the guy said "I feel like our relationship just died."

Now it's looking like Jill and Thomas are the team to beat unless Brooke can drag Claire's tired ass over the finish line. I do admire Team Home Shopping, but I don't think they can beat Jill and Thomas.

Day 16--Head for airport in Muscat, book flights to Dhaka
Day 17--Arrive Dhaka, Bangladesh