It’s here! It’s finally here! The final leg of The Amazing Race! There goes my exclamation point quota. Teams will fly from South Korea to their final destination city: Los Angeles. Really? I guess it’s easier to get all the other teams there for the final Pit Stop. I hope everyone ties up at the airport because I don’t want anyone (Jill and Thomas) to have an advantage.
Brook and Claire wore their cheetah pants and I couldn’t approve more. But we don’t know if they’re all on the same flight or not; what we do know is that The Amazing Race is going to milk the hell out of that Katy Perry song. Nat and Kat shoot out of the airport in first place, followed by Jill and Thomas then Brook and Claire. It’s a real race now!
Oh and it just got even more intense at “the drop zone,” the port of Long Beach. The teams will ride an elevator to the top of the crane, get strapped to a bungee swing, then plummet to the water below. Nat is terrified, and I would be too. It looks like the other teams are nervous, too, so it won’t be easy for anyone. Jill and Thomas are hoping that Nat will freak out and not be able to do it. Rude!
Nat is crying and freaking out and I wouldn’t even be that good, but they drop and everyone is fine and Nat actually seems a little relieved. The bungee swing looks better than bungee jumping, but still scary. Do you want to do it now?
Next the teams will fly in a helicopter to a “surprise destination.” They’re going all out for this one. Plus you can’t really make a helicopter pilot go faster. The helicopter lands in the Rose Bowl stadium, where one member from each team will have to decorate three different sections of a float for their next clue. I love it.
Nat takes it on and Jill and Thomas land to read the clue. Without seeing the float in front of them, Thomas says “I’ll do it,” because he and Jill agreed that Thomas could do the last Road Block. But Jill is a hair stylist, and definitely should be doing this instead of Thomas. Thomas is crafty in different ways that do not involve float decorating. After they land, Brook delights in a decorating challenge.
Nat finishes, but has to re-do her roses because she didn’t prep them correctly. That sucks! But it wouldn’t be a good challenge if there weren’t some pitfalls. Nat finishes her roses and she and Kat continue on in first place. Next they’ll solve three questions leading them to their next clue. Nat and Kat decide to find a taxi driver who has an iPhone so they can look up the answers to the clues.
Jill and Thomas finish and jump in a cab and Thomas is covered in crafting supplies. None of these cab drivers know anything, and apparently Jill and Thomas’s cab driver doesn’t even know what the internet is. Uh oh! Nat and Kat call information, Jill and Thomas get frustrated, and Brook and Claire use the internet at a hotel.
The clue leads them to Studio 7 of Quixote Studios, with Nat and Kat in the lead. They’re doing a game show! The teams must select the 11 greeters from each leg of the race in order from 48 different pictures of people in hats (and they’re flashing all over the screen!). Whoa, this would be really difficult. I just watched it from my couch and I don’t think I could figure it out. Brilliantly, Nat and Kat took notes on each leg so they’re not having trouble with this at all. They are totally killing it. Go doctors!
Brook and Claire move toward Quixote Studios as Jill and Thomas get even more flustered. Nat and Kat get it on their first try and get their clue pointing them toward the finish line at Greystone Mansion. So exciting!
Brook and Claire arrive next and are so excited to see Bob Eubanks, they jump and hug with joy. Brook and Claire are also killing this, as Nat and Kat are stuck in bad LA traffic (AUGH!). It seems like Brook and Claire got it right even faster than Nat and Kat. Jill and Thomas are still in their first taxi, and pretty aware that they’re screwed.
Back and forth between Brook and Claire and Nat and Kat’s taxis. The other teams are there, clapping. And it’s Nat and Kat! I love seeing the other teams! History is made! A million dollars! They did it without fighting! Nat has diabetes! Now I am dead with excitement.
Brook and Claire finish second–so exciting! They want to prove that you can be a strong woman and still be pretty and not all big and nasty. Jill and Thomas finished last, but they still won a bunch of trips and stuff so they’ll be okay. I’m so happy we got to see Gary and Mallory again, and that we’ll see them for the All-Stars Season 18! In High-Def! It will be like we’re actually traveling around the globe!
YOU GUYS! It looks like Brook and Claire, Nick and Vicki, Ron and Tony, Connor and Jonathan, and Michael and Kevin are returning for the All-Stars season (in addition to Gary and Mallory)! Can it be? Will they really bring that many people back from Season 17? It seems … odd. But I love the idea of “Unfinished Business” so I’ll just have to hold my breath until February (or until more information is released).
How do you feel about this final leg? Exciting or kinda lame? What about Season 18: Unfinished Business?
(image courtesy of CBS)
Writer, BuddyTV
Originally from Seattle, Carla recently took a husband and moved to Austin, Texas, where she is finally using her television “problem” to her advantage. It’s sort of like Dexter, but boring and less murdering. Carla’s favorite shows include 30 Rock, The Amazing Race, Project Runway, Modern Family, anything with murder, and pretty much anything gross and weird (CSI, The Bachelor, Toddlers & Tiaras, etc.). Favorite canceled shows include: Arrested Development, Veronica Mars and Average Joe. In her spare time, Carla leads tours of downtown Austin on a Segway (don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it!), blogs about Netflix Instant, and visits elementary schools telling children they don’t need math to succeed (just kidding, stay in school, kids).
