The Amazing Race 13, Episode 2: Bruised Foreheads, Feelings

It seems high stress can bring out not just the worst, but the weirdness in people. Witness, this week, Tina (of Ken and Tina) and Terence (of Terence and Sarah). Last week it seemed Sarah was a bit overly sensitive, and we see that briefly tonight with her complaint that the other two teams at an airport ticket line “didn’t even say hi!” But this week she’s Ms. Rational Behavior compared to Terence, who seems to think that any conversation his partner has with another player constitutes a betrayal. (Ironically, when they arrive at the airport, Sarah wants to run for the ticket counter but Terence pulls back and says “but I want to talk to somebody” – although presumably he means an airport worker.)

Terence also manages to hit his head on the trunk of a cab just as they leave for the leg, and his resulting behavior – getting mad when Sarah says she doesn’t see blood, asking her to blow on his forehead (“I want my head clean, please”) – certainly doesn’t incite sympathy. Who are we to root for? Probably not this team.

Probably not Ken and Tina, either. Tina wins the “weirdo” award of the week. She actually tries to take credit for the airline, which initially had no seats available, switching to a larger aircraft that can fit all the players on it on a flight to Fortaleza, Brazil. Yes, that’s it! It’s all thanks to you! Because the airline surely didn’t know in advance that 40 people (two on each team plus the cameraman and sound person who follow them around) would be seeking last minute tickets!

Bizarrely, Tina goes around mentioning to anyone who will listen that it’s all due to her and that the other teams “owe her one,” and she and Ken even budge to the head of the line to board the plane first. This angers Sarah and Terence, and it’s hard to say who comes off worse in the ensuing, silly confrontation that happens in front of everyone. Later they waste all kinds of time finding a taxi after the Detour.

So, who came off looking good this week? Not Nick and Starr. Nick broke a promise to help out Andrew and Dan at the Roadblock (not that most people would have helped, but still). Marisa and Brooke made one dumb move, going to the wrong Detour than they intended, but they persevered through the draining challenge and survived the episode, if barely (after being second to last in Week One as well). Kelly and Christy confused instructions for one Detour option for the other, costing them time, but this was more amusing than anything and the two were able to laugh it off.

If Tina/Ken and Sarah/Terence are the most negatively depicted (or at least conflict-wridden) teams thus far, who’s gotten the most positive edit? Probably mother Toni and son Dallas, who stopped to tell Sarah and Terence where to find a cab, and middle-aged geeks Mark and Bill, who just seem to be having fun, quote Yoda, quickly solved what could have been a very time-consuming alternate Detour, and waved off the fact that the ultra competitive Tina and Ken flew past them to win the leg and the ATVs that went with it.

As for the episode’s Philimination victims, they didn’t get too positive an edit either. The elimination for this episode is foreshadowed a couple of times: Outside the pit stop, Anthony and Stephanie run up to a cabbie who’s apparently pushing his car (“Is it a staller?”). Similarly, when they arrive in Fortaleza, Anthony takes it upon himself to help get a cab rolling, yelling at the driver to pump the clutch. Meanwhile, everyone else is driving away, and so the team drops back. They struggle the rest of the way, and of course get the boot at the end. But not before, riding along and commenting about the apparent squalor of the area, Stephanie wonders aloud what sorts of opportunities the city residents might have, and Anthony replies, “If they learn how to fix a car, they’d probably make it rich.”

This is a far cry from former players such as Kendra making racially tinged statements while visiting African nations, but the entire framing of this team, particularly in this episode, sure won’t make many people sorry to see them go.