IMHO "The Amazing Race" (14.11)" Water, water everywhere, too much to drink

The finish line is in sight for what has been a pretty gay season of The Amazing Race, with gay racers still in the running for the big prize as we pick up mid-challenge.

But there's one more team to eliminate and one more leg to run in China before we can return Stateside. This last leg was a solid penultimate episode and one that easily gets an up-arrow. But if you read any further, watch out for the SPOILERS.

Okay, first off, I have to admit my strong dislike for the team of Pam Beesly and Grace Adler faded a little at the start of this episode. At the end of last week's episode, the redheads thought they had won their first leg only to be told that they were on a continuing leg, a moment that inspired some long-awaited schadenfreude. That feeling turned into admiration, however, when I saw how quickly they got their Race face back on. Hooray for racers who know how to save their complaining for when they're moving in a cab.

Overall, this was a pretty camptastic episode. First off, the racers were required to carry little Travelocity gnome statues with them through out the leg. That was a pretty hilarious sight in and of itself but the the Amazing Race crew took it further by dressing the gnomes up in various guises:

The Travelocity gnome as baker, fashion model, bee keeper, opera princess, take-out customer and stabby weapon

The detour had the racers choosing between jobs associated with gay men: waiter and make-up artist. Since the waiter task involved repeating Mandarin phrases properly, everyone except the team made up of fluent Mandarin speakers chose to make each other up to look like a Prince and Princess from a Chinese Opera.

The make-up jobs should have been pretty simple and the sisters, Lakisha and Jen, finish the task pretty quickly. However, the other teams make the task difficult for themselves. First, an increasingly-testy Margie spends her time on the make-up chair turning her head and yelling at Luke that he's doing it all wrong and will have to start over, bringing back Luke's "my mother is trying my patience" face. Then the redheads get themselves a driver who take them to the wrong opera house, a mistake that probably would have cost them the race if the next clue didn't turn out to be so hard to find.

Luke's "annoyed with mom for wanting to throw cakes" face and his "annoyed with mom for not sitting still face"

Last week I complained about karma missing its target with the better-behaved teammates facing the painful foot massages but this week (probably due to having to balance out the detour tasks) Victor and Jen face the "eating foreign foods" task which, in this case, is "street food" of fried scorpions, beetle larvae, grasshoppers and a starfish. That offers a satisfying bit of payback for Victor's older brother bossiness (which included his reading over Tammy's shoulder in the restaurant task) and Jen's racist comments from last week. The "street food" challenge is easily the worst for Jen as she drinks plenty of water to wash down the taste of the deep fried delicacies, making for a very uncomfortable cab ride and necessitating a bathroom break on the way to the pit stop, a potty emergency that gets the sisters eliminated.

Meanwhile, I think Margie's recent testiness is enough payback for Luke' fights with Jen and his grudge-holding. I mean, we're not talking about Colin-levels of bad behavior. And after having her snap at him repeatedly in this episode, I think watching Margie eating starfish innards was enough to get Luke to forgive her recent behavior.

That foot massage doesn't seem so painful to Luke in comparison to eating a starfish.

That just leaves Jamie awaiting a package from the karma fairy and I have a feeling that'll happen next week, when the race heads to Maui and Jamie runs afoul of a no nonsense cab-dispatching wahine. Jamie has been pretty bad all season, yelling at people to speak English and generally berating drivers. I could easily see her grumbling about a local who speaks Pidgin English not speaking "English" or I could see her just berating her driver. Again. Either way, I've got my hopes up.

Overall, though, this has been a wonderfully gay season. Not only did we get three gay teams, including the first team to feature a queer father and son, but this season included some pretty gay moments. With the finale coming, I thought it'd be fun to look back at the season's gayest moments.

5. Battle of the gay-hyphenate teams

Okay, a look back at the season would be incomplete without mentioning the ugliness between Luke and Jen which led to the uncomfortableness at the mat where Victor and Tammy suddenly found the ground so very interesting. Afterwards, it seemed like there was a magnet between the two because they had at least two more collisions with each other.

4. Drama-free Team Supergay

It's easy to be the ones who stay calm and play fairly when you're in the lead, but Mel and Mike White managed to maintain their demeanor even when things looked bleak, like when Mel was sure he would lose the Race waiting for the wind to change or even when they knew they were far behind and about to lose the race.

3. TAR hotties in various states of undress

Whether that be the time the camera panned back to reveal Phil in his underwear, Luke running through the streets of Sibera in his underwear or Victor's trip to Skimpyland to attempt synchronized diving, who missed the alpha male teams making an early exit this season?

2. The general camp sensibility in the challenges.

Let's see, we had street performances in costumes ready for a Bollywood number, tiger portraits, and let's not forget that things started with a challenge that was literally cheesy. Oh and they gave me a chance to make an innuendo about wood. I love this season.

1. Riding in the karaoke party taxi with some ladyboys

Making Mel and Mike's elimination even sadder was the fact that the next leg included a challenge that involved Thai ladyboys hosting a karaoke party in a cab. That was made up for by Tammy's squealing "My Thai trannies!" at the sight of her party companions. Thankfully, Tammy has kept up her good spirits in the game, giving us one last touch of the spirit Mel and Mike brought to it.

I might have been momentarily disappointed at the way he let his temper build and then held a grudge, but I can't stay mad at the sinister deaf kid long and will be cheering for Luke and Margie to win it all. What have been your favorite moments of the season and who will you be cheering on Sunday's finale?