And So it Begins…

Tonight is the first leg of The Amazing Race 4! Whoo hoo! Following is my random commentary on the show – I’ll post the opening comments so they are visible to everyone, and the rest I’ll “hide” in the extended entry portion to prevent any spoilers. Consider this your warning – there might be spoilers ahead.

:: Phil opens they show in Los Angeles, the “Gateway to the Western United States”. Call me crazy, but how can it be the gateway if it’s on the far edge of the West Coast? I would consider Denver the gateway, or some place other than LA.

:: The teams show up in stretch Hummers. Hummers are goofy looking to begin with, and should be left on the Army base. I really don’t like them “stretched” and in white. Very odd looking indeed.

:: Tian & Jaree: “Friends, models and thrill seekers.” They share the thought that “girls have it easier than men in a lot of situations … you know, thank God we’re good looking!” Oy.

:: Steve & Dave: Air traffic controllers from Chicago. Plan to run the whole race “without breaking a sweat.”

:: Reichen & Chip: The married gay couple this leg of the race. (Team Guido from the first race never said that they were married.) Was there a gay team on TAR3?

:: Millie & Chuck: Dating TWELVE years, and virgins. Chuck admits that he’s scared of commitment, and Millie says it’s time to either commit or move on. I predict that they end up engaged when it’s all said and done. That or Chuck ends up having a torrid affair with Reichen and Chip.

:: Steve & Josh: Father and son with struggles to work out.

:: Russell & Cindy: Close friends that *she* hopes will take the next step. Uh oh, this sounds familiar. He’s not ready for a relationship – it will never work.

:: Monica & Sheree: Friends and NFL wives. I think they should be booted by default – with their husbands in the NFL, do they really need the million dollar prize? Ok, ok, that’s probably not fair.

:: David & Jeff: Friends from California. Confident that they can win the race.

:: Amanda & Chris: Dating for five years, from Souix Falls, South Dakota. They’ve never left the US. Hmmm…

:: Kelly & John: Recently engaged. “No matter what, we’ll still love each other. And hopefully still getting married!”

:: Debra & Steve: Phil says they are from Indiana. The website says they are from Kentucky. Which is it?

:: Jon & Al: Circus clowns. Interesting…

:: 13 legs in the race, 12 teams, 3 in the final round, so 9 pit stops are elimination points. Last team is eliminated. And they are OFF!

:: First leg – heading to Milan, Italy. They are limited to only traveling on one of three flights – I wonder why? Is it TAR’s way of trying to eliminate the flight factor? Or make the flight factor stronger? Normally, planes are the great equalizers, so I wonder how this will play out.

:: Kelly is telling Jon to follow the guys from California. “Come on, I know they’re from California, they’ve got the look.”

:: Tian & Jaree are already having problems – their trunk won’t shut properly. All the other teams are already gone, so they don’t have any guys around to flirt with for help.

:: Amanda has the mouth of sailor and is swearing at everyone while she’s driving. She says that Chris says she has horns holding up her halo.

:: Tian and Jaree got a replacement car, but no time credit.

:: There are more bleeps then you can count when Amanda’s on. Bleep!

:: Monica and Sheree asked the motorcycle cop for directions to the airport. Smart move, hopefully.

:: Reichen and Chip just said that they have been limited as to where they can park at the airport. This is odd – normally, teams do whatever they want. I like it better that way – a free-for-all, fend for yourself sort of thing. Why limit the flights and everything else?

:: “It’s so easy for us to get directions, we’re so beautiful.” Yeah, right. Some guy just told Tian and Jaree, when they asked for direction help, “I just told you three times.” He sounded a little edgy. I guess beauty only goes so far…

:: Usual cluster at the airport – everyone fighting to get on the best flight – but some people went to Luftansia instead of Swiss Air, so their flights get in later. Meanwhile, the father/son team grabs the air traffic controllers in line, bumping them ahead of the NFL wives. We get the “Winners never dheat and cheaters never win” line as a result.

:: Tian and Jaree are dumping out their luggage at the airport. “We’ve really just got to get rid of a lot of stuff.” Doh! Didn’t you watch the show before you signed up? You are going to have to bond with that backpack – make sure it’s as light as possible before you leave the house!

:: Swiss Air flight is delayed… Ha! Lufthansa flight makes it in first after all. That’s what they get for cheating on the first flight! Ha! (Ok, it wasn’t really cheating at all, but it’s amusing in the bad karma sense.)

:: They arrive at the Galleria in Milan and have to hunt for bus tickets. High, low, everywhere else. They are well hidden, so it’s funny to see them looking everywhere.

:: Poor Debra just wiped out at the airport. Ouch!

:: Alliances are already forming – and already messing some teams up.

:: Some teams are grabbing two ticket slips for the buses, others just grabbing one. I wonder which one is right?

:: Josh just helped the NFL wives get on the 2nd bus – fixing the bad karma from screwing them out of the Swiss Air flight. He said he did it because he didn’t want “those two blonde chicks with the fake tits on our bus.” Mwuhahaha! (The hate for Tian and Jaree is already showing!)

:: Chip and Reichen are debating about not letting people know that they are gay. Interesting twist – why would they hide that? How will it benefit them later? They offered to share a hotel room with Debra and Steve when the hotel ran out of rooms – really nice of them.

:: Off on charter buses to an unknown destination… a town in the Dolomite Mountains to Cortina D’Ampezzo.

:: Go to the mountain, take the lift, and pick which option you want to do for the detour challenge. “Search or Rescue” – Search with a locator beacon in the snowfield to find the key to drive the snowmobile or Rescue by going to a rock tower and cross an Alpine bridge made of only 4 wires. Ride the zipline (a scary experience) down to zoom to the key. Ugh – the heights on that wire bridge are more than I could handle!

:: Hike back to the chair lifts, find the pit stop, check in. Last team in gets eliminated.

:: NFL Wives took the fast forward. Hard hike in the snow, but they made it and might be the first team in to the pit stop.

:: Dave’s knee went out. Ugh. He can’t bend his right knee, and he’s walking in snow. This can’t be good. The air traffic controllers look like they are going to die before they get to the pit stop.

:: Three-way tie for first place between Millie/Chuck (the virgins), Amanda/Chris (potty mouth) and Steve/Josh (father/son). They all won a trip to Hawaii.

:: Steve is helping Dave walk with his bum knee. He’s grateful for the help.

:: Next round of teams is running the detour challenge. The clowns have it totally made on the wire, “just run it like a high wire.” Easy for them!

:: NFL wives make it in to the pit stop. 4th team in – better than being last!

:: Steve and Dave – 5th place.

:: Kelly and Jon – 6th place.

:: Jon and Al – 7th place, with nice red clown noses. Classic!

:: Russell and Cindy – 8th place.

:: Tian and Jaree are in last place … and from what they’ve done in this episode, I hope they get booted. I don’t know if I could handle them for the rest of the race! Goofy women are getting COFFEE while waiting for a cab – no wonder they ended up in last place!

:: Debra and Steve are slowly making it across the wire bridge. Uh oh – I hope they make it instead of Tian and Jaree – Oh! But David and Jeff are lost! They went down the hill to the snowmobiles for the Search detour, and they haven’t done a detour yet! They have to go back up and do the detour before they can continue! (Or did they do the detour and I missed it? Did they think that was the pit stop when they got there?)

:: Reichen and Chip are in 9th place.

:: Tian and Jaree and Debra and Steve waiting for cabs to get to the pit stop. David and Jeff are already in cabs, and get there first. 10th place.

:: Who will it be? Who will it be? CRAP! Tian and Jaree made it there first! CRAP!!! 11th place. Debra and Steve are eliminated…

:: Why does Phil always tell them, “I’m sorry, you’ve both been eliminated from the Race.” What is he going to say? “Steve, we’ve decided we’re keeping you, but Debra, you’re going home…”

:: Next episode? Snow rafting, but Kelly and Jon lose their raft. Gondolas in Venice. A “tricky road block that could unmask the next eliminated team.”