IMHO: The Amazing Race (14.05) Sticks, Stamina and No Shame

Okay, I usually try to focus on the gays in these IMHO graphics but this week fans of The Amazing Race  got a moment that was a fourteen-seasons-in-the-making event: host Phil Keoghan in his undies! I guess the producers felt a need to offer some substitute beefcake to make up for the hunky Kris getting eliminated the week before the underwear challenge.

But that's not the only reason another engaging episode of The Amazing Race gets an up arrow. For the details on what made this week's leg of the race work, wade into the SPOILER-filled waters below.

As much as I loved this episode, this was definitely the low point of the season for me, by a small margin. I know Siberia is associated with cold winters, but this week's challenges involved driving white cars in the snow, operating heavy machinery in the snow and running in the snow. With all that time spent around the snow, this episode felt a bit monochromatic in contrast to the scenic vistas of previous episodes.

Thankfully, this episode also had one of my favorite aspects of The Amazing Race, the big stack-up. From the pit stop, racers had to take a train that only went once a day, which means everyone had to catch the train together. That makes the rest of the leg closer and gives us a chance to see the racers interacting with each other, including the juxtaposition of Team Doublemint (Red) uncomfortably sleeping on beds too small while Team Nugget look snug in their beds.

Luke cries for poor you

We also got to see Team Supergay chatting with Team Deaf (gay). Between Luke's expressiveness (an important part of sign language) and Mike's sense of humor, it's one of the season's funniest moments, particularly when Mike labels Luke the "sinister deaf kid" and jokes about faking a limp so that Luke won't be tempted to U-Turn him next.

This week's detour was a challenge that had the teams facing "unavoidable aspects of Siberian life", a Russian Bride or a Russian Snowplow. I'm confused about the Russian brides being "unavoidable" — is Siberia the wedding capitol of Russia or do they make you get married by a certain age, like a Logan's Run but where the Carousel is replaced by a wedding chapel?

Margie is not a fan of heavy machinery

The detour offered a chance to contrast Team Supergay with Team Deaf (gay). When it comes time to pick a detour task, Luke pushes for the snow plow because the task sounds less complicated while Mike votes for the brides, which sounds more fun. "I'd rather party with virgin brides than snow plows," he announces. That's why, if the two teams are ever in a footrace to the Pit Stop mat, I'll be cheering for Team Supergay. Let's hope that never comes up, though, since I want both teams to last to the end of the season.

The "Russian Bride" task turns out to be the more time-consuming one, as the task — which involved picking up a bride from a Soviet-era apartment building and then taking her to church — was more complicated.

For one thing, it turns out "Soviet-era apartment building" refers to a structure that would leave most city blocks with huge feelings of inadequacy. Then the church turns out to be pretty hard to find, a challenge made more difficult by the chaos of Siberian traffic. While Team Supergay maintains the fourth-place spot they started with, they seem to arrive long after the three teams ahead of them, who chose the snowplow.

Mel bonds with a Russian bride

Meanwhile, after a week off, Team Asian (or, specifically, Victor) returns to making me cringe by getting help from Team Deaf (gay) and Team Doublemint (Red) ... and ditching them as soon as their help wasn't needed. Victor yells back "Sorry!" as he speeds away but it's more of a "I don't want you to hold this against me later!" apology than a "That was a terrible thing for me to do" apology. But he just might end up sorry down the road.

Tammy makes up for Victor's behavior, however, at the snowplow challenge, which could have easily turned out to be a new "Caravan of Fools", as both teams were wandering from one piece of heavy machinery to another until Tammy called them over to the area where there was heavy machinery and an obstacle course.

When Victor runs into Cara at the Road Block, he basically rationalizes that it was okay for him to rush ahead since it didn't leave them in the lead for long.

Luke's black briefs and Phil's boxer briefs

The Road Block asked who had "stamina and no shame", which meant the the racers had to take a 1.4 mile footrace in their underwear. In solidarity with the racers, Phil describes the challenge while standing outside in his own pair of boxer briefs.

Luke, meanwhile, runs in pair of black briefs remind me of that time when black briefs was the underwear of choice for movie heroes everywhere ... or do you have to be a specific age for black briefs to invoke memories of Turner & Hooch ads on TV?

Not only does Luke look pretty good in running in his underwear, he also turns out to be a pretty good racer since he ends finishing first, making Team Deaf (gay) the first team to win two legs of this Race.

Meanwhile, the other two teams doing the Russian brid challenge, Team Doublemint (Red) and Team Doublemint (Flight Attendant), are left racing each other to see who'll end up in last place. Fortunately for the flight attendants, this turns out to be a non-elimination leg, so they manage to return for another leg of the race.

Next week: Mel goes begging in India

What did you think? If Team Doublemint (Flight Attendant) makes it past their Speed Bump, Team Nugget is also starting to look like the race's weakest competitors. After watching them dive into traffic, I'm expecting a car to take them out if their poor sense of direction doesn't do the job first.

Next week, the race heads to India where the sight of the poor has Luke in tears, Team Doublemint (Ginger) dresses for a Bollywood number and Mel begs for rupees — I do hope when he says it's for the poor he means it literally (as he'll be giving the money to a charity) and not facetiously.