IMHO "The Amazing Race" (14.07): Gorilla My Disappointment

The latest leg of The Amazing Race made for another solid episode in what is turning out to be a great season as the race went to Phuket, Thailand for tiger portraits, elephant tricks and calling out random numbers.

Unfortunately, I can't give this episode the usual up-arrow, instead giving it a mildly-disappointed sideways arrow. The reasons for my disappointment are SPOILER-related, so be prepared to be spoiled if you read any further.

Let's get the night's big disappointment out of the way: After weeks of being the kind of realty TV contestants I live for, Team Supergay were the last team to arrive at the Pit Stop and, thus, were eliminated from the race. Amid a good episode overall, that's disappointment enough to bring my rating down to a sideways arrow.

It was a fatal combination of bad luck and bad choices that lost them the Race: Not only did they get a cab driver who hindered them, but they missed chances to make up for their driver's deficiencies. I had a bad feeling as soon as we saw Mike talking about how they were focused on having fun in the race but they had to make sure not to lose track of being competitive. This struck me as a omen of doom, the kind of confessional meant to set up the storyline of a team's closing chapter and that sinking feeling got worse soon after the teams landed in Phuket.

Does anyone think Mel and Mike got the apathetic taxi driver karma meant for Jamie?

The first check point only gave the racers a picture of a gorilla statue, requiring them to figure out that the statue could be found at the Phuket Zoo. Unfortunately, after having trouble finding a taxi, Team Supergay found a driver who took them to Patong Beach, far from the Zoo. Worse, Mel and Mike missed a chance to fix things when they saw the other teams asking locals for help and, eventually, head in the opposite direction. Even worse, when they got to the beach they dismissed the first person to tell them they were in the wrong spot, losing even more time.

Continuing to trust their driver cost Team Supergay enough time to put them firmly in last place, though both of the remaining Team Doublemints took long enough on a task to offer some hope. I have to admit, after cheering Mel for saying that this game wasn't worth dehumanizing someone by yelling at them, I really wanted to see someone start yelling at that cab driver. At least, he had me yelling at my TV.

Jamie continues her USA goodwill tour

In order to get their Detour clue, the teams had to ask a shopkeeper at a herb shop to open drawers for them until he opened one with an envelope. Despite being the first to arrive at the store, Team Doublemint (Ginger) spent the most time there, most likely because Jamie's berating of the shopkeeper inspired him to slow them down. This was yet another week where Jamie grumbled about people not speaking English; am I the only one imagining tourists from other countries going to Jamie's job and yelling at her for not speaking their language?

Unfortunately, Team Doublemint (Ginger) was able to find the clue before Team Supergay could complete the zoo tasks and find the shop. Still, we got another reminder of what Mel and Mike brought to the Race as they joked through their troubles. After Jamie's rude behavior, it was nice to see a team put a smile on the face of the shopkeeper's wife.

Team Supergay continues the tradition of making locals laugh

Jamie wasn't the only racer behaving badly. Team Nugget earned two penalties for how they handled their detour task, which involved pushing a teammate in a rickshaw for a two mile course. While each team was supposed to have access to an air pump to let them repair a flat tire, Team Nugget tried to sabotage other teams by putting all the pumps in a box (which at least hurt Team Asian, who seemed to have a flat tire) and further strayed from the rules by getting their cab driver to lead them to their destination.

The penalty offered one more moment of false hope, but it turned out that Team Nugget's lead over Team Supergay was longer than an hour. Too bad, those two have been really irritating lately and there would have been some real schadenfreude if that time penalty got them eliminated from the race. I guess I'll have to find some pleasure in seeing them lose to Team Asian after having made some "ching chong" jokes while performing the challenge.

The rickshaw challenge also illustrated one of the hurdles faced by Team Deaf (gay). Margie noted how communicating in sign language can get tiring (after all, you can't look away and keep up the conversation) and pushing the rickshaw was a challenge since the two couldn't communicate, except for when Margie would swat Luke to get him to stop. As you recall, last week's previews showed that Margie passed out from heat exhaustion at the Pit Stop. Hopefully, after a rest period she'll be okay to continue in the race.

Luke charges ahead

The last glimmer of hope we had that Team Supergay might be able to keep themselves in the race came at their Detour task, which involved filling some barrels with water and arranging others on a boat. When they arrived Team Doublemint (Red) was still working on the task and weren't working as smartly as they could. Throughout the Race, we've seen Mel and Mike outperform other teams by moving more efficiently than their competitors, something they manage in this task as well. Unfortunately, this time their efforts weren't enough.

At the least, The Amazing Race made sure Team Supergay's last episode had a good amount of the humor and even temper that made me appreciate their presence. Mel and Mike got plenty of funny moments last night (my favorite came when Mel made a bad pun and Mike tried to ignore how bad that joke was) and they kept up their humor no matter how clear it was they were in last place. Seeing them eliminated was definitely bittersweet because we were reminded of what they brought to the Race.

In their parting moments, Mel made me tear up a little when he said about Mike, "This is my kid and I left something in the world that will make the world a better place." This may sound minor in comparison, but they also made The Amazing Race a better show when they were around. Thankfully, we don't have to completely go without Team Supergay since CBS continues to check in with the eliminated racers with the Elimination Station webisodes. In their first episode, Mel talks about the sequester house as a halfway house to adjust from being in the Race to regular life. I hope those webisodes have a similar effect helping me adjust to not having TV time with Mel and Mike every week.

What did you think? I'd love to shake my fist in the air and find some reason to say that Team Supergay still deserves to be in the Race, but they ran into some bad luck and, unfortunately, missed their first couple opportunities to mitigate that bad luck. At least we still have Luke to cheer on and taxicab karaoke to anticipate when The Amazing Race returns in a couple weeks.