Previously, on Amazing Race: sprachen de spanglish?

Another decent episode, for all kinds of reasons. There were a few moments where I laughed out loud, and a few where I had to shake my head. Hey - didn't there used to be a rule about how many road blocks each participant was allowed to do? I couldn't figure out why so many of the men were tackling the ever-challenging 'gnome-lifting' event, but that's just me. Oh, the lederhosen, how I love thee! And talk about stepping up in the world, from Brazilian volks to fine German automotives. Hmm... feels like I should make a subtle Nazi reference here. Well, consider it made.

Without further ado, on with the snark!

Chuckleheads: Now, "not thinking" has been their strategy thus far, and it's been working for them. Then, they chose the time-consuming bottle breaking thing instead of learning to dance (they're white men--maybe they can't dance??), and blew a lead of at least 3 hours. Fortunately, most of their competitors made the same mistake and it didn't end up costing them too severely. That left only the awkwardly uncomfortable moment on the map where Phil refered to them as casanovas (because 'creepy horndogs' was inappropriate for TV), and they felt complimented and compelled to share their plan to tongue wrestle the pinks. Ick.

Team Hippy: These guys are trying just a little toooooo hard to be wacky (I was in fact reminded of guys who try a little toooo hard to prove their heterosexuality, but that's just me.). In any case, I think the viewing audience all let out a collective "eeeeeeeew" on being informed that blondie was sans underwear. I actually stopped to ponder that: was it just that day that he'd gone commando, or was it, like, part of his wacky hippy ethos? *shudder* Anyway, further on the wacky: running backwards to the mat, the hippie hoe-down at the field o' gnomes, offering a finsky to Phil, who looked puzzled and bemused (oh, wait, that's just his face). Oh, but snaps to these guys for sprachen ze lingo once again.

Lake and puddle: Now, they're my team, and I'm happy they are still in the race, but honestly, that man is jigging on my last nerve. I had to snort at the look on his face in the car. After giving puddle a stern warning to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative (sorry if that song is now playing on a constant loop in your brain), she fired back a stream of "yeah baby, go baby, you're the greatest baby" that put a funny look on his face. Flashing back to the ol' wedding night, Lake? Oh, and even funnier: his use of the word "dadgumit". Tee hee!

Team Geezer: I questioned their sanity when they decided to learn to dance instead of breaking bottles. Granted, they were coming off of the nightmarish doll opening task, so you can forgive them for being a little gunshy. I figured they'd never finish once I caught a glimpse of Fran's dance "technique". Fortunately, the German dance instructor was willing to let 'vaguely correct' be his standard for acceptable dancing, thus saving these two. I smiled kinda sadly when Barry indicated that they had hit their stride, what with all the driving and map reading they were doing. Yeah, because that's where this race is won or lost, isn't it?

Team Nerd: The Nerds lost their race virginity on this leg: they told their first strategic lie. I was conflicted about this. On the one hand: go nerds! We almost lost you after the trolley cleaning fiasco. On the other: isn't it akin to Luke accepting a prosthetic hand, thus taking his first steps to Vaderville? But, I'd rather have defiled, stealthy nerds than no nerds at all. Oooh, and seeing the two of them dance made me giggle, because nerds are not known for their gross motor skills.

Ho-Jo: Okay, she still irks me, but he was laying on the cute fairly heavily this time around. Did you see the grin on his face as they rounded the wall of doom? I was all 'Joseph had a facial expression! Joseph had a facial expression!'. Fortunately, no one was there to witness that. It wasn't pretty. He, however, kinda was. And even though I find her fluffy and annoying, she at least had a good attitude toward sleeping on the floor at the airport, so I guess she can stay for another week.

Yo, Ray: Once again, this team was kinda quiet and just plugged along and got the job done. I think their editing is improving. They no longer look like two strangers forced to spend time together. Now, they feel comfortable commenting on the size of his butt. Well, she does, anyway. He looked more than a little uncomfortable high stepping with the boys in the shorts, but kept it together. And they seem to have a better sense of direction than some of their competitors. I hope they stay in the game long enough for me to have something witty to say about them.

Pinks: This was not their leg. First there was that fiasco with the daypack, then the impossibly high standards at the trolley cleaning station, then they couldn't get on the flight they wanted, and then they had to follow the chickitas...wait. No they didn't. What - they can't read a map? They would rather follow blindly than take a stand? I really expected more of this team: they've were on autopilot for much of this episode. They didn't even vamp it up in the lederhosen, and if you can't have fun in German drag, what is the world coming to?

Chickitas: Why do you speak with an accent? Why do you say everything in Spanglish? Argh...what kind of argumentative questions are these? Jr. was not particularly pleasant to mamacita this time around, for all the crying at the end. These two seemed like such a strong team, until confronted with the mysteries of the autobahn. Sure, they drove around in circles, but at least they were making the effort, unlike the pinks who were content to passively follow these two into last place. Then the crying at the gnome toss. Hey--you think that's tough? You wouldn't have made it a few seasons ago at the bale unrolling thingie. Sorry, Liz...yer outta here!

Man... this thing takes forever to put together. Can't wait until we've pruned a bit more of the deadwood...