WOW! What a finish to the race!

I don't know what to say... the finish to the Amazing Race 7 was nothing short of AMAZING!

I have to admit, the first hour of the 2-hour finale was less than incredible. London to Jamaica? What happened to the "race around the world"... I guess it's more "wandering around the world" rather than actually circumnavigating the globe. Oh well, honestly, I liked it... it kept things interesting.

You can't say that Uchenna and Joyce didn't fight through a lot of challenges to win this race, even just in these last legs. First, getting a last-chance reprieve but losing all of their money and merchandise. Their money stretched as far as it could, but the last minute drama of not having enough money to pay the taxi driver while they are wating just a few yards from the finish line was almost the most tragic loss in history. It should be noted that it was that taxi driver who won them the race... unfortunately there must be a distinct rule that does not allow them to tell anyone that they are on the Amazing Race... or that they will win $1 Million Dollars if they just get across the finish line. Hopefully they went back and found that taxi driver and gave him a nice tip. :)

But I really don't think it was as close a finish as it seemed... either a) the taxi driver wasn't as stubborn as the show editing made it seem, or b) Rob and Amber weren't as close as they seemed. I think probably it was a combination of both. But my hat goes off to Uchenna and Joyce for an outstanding finish! I was cheering them all throughout the last legs of the race.

Question? Did the producers monkey with the race? Well, of course they do in small ways... but obviously the pivotal moment in the entire last leg was when the plane from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Miami actually stopped it's push back and came back into the gate to pick up Uchenna and Joyce. Hands down if they had not made it onto that flight, Rob and Amber would have been the winners. It's hard to believe that someone didn't pull some strings to make that happen though. Either the producers wanted to make it close and pulled some strings of their own to get them onto the flight, or U&J begged enough that the fine AmericanAirlines gate attendants convinced the pilot (obviously an American... maybe he was a fan of the Amazing Race?) Well whatever it was, it made it work.

And now that the race is over, I feel obliged to make a few remarks for my loyal readers (all 2 of you...). First, I realize I have been extremely critical of Rob and Amber throughout the course of this season. While I admit I was glad to see that Rob and Amber did not win the race... I seem to recall predicting that they would be in the final 3 teams... and they were. And I have to say they did indeed race an outstanding race, and are excellent game players. I also believe that when you take out the competitiveness of the race, and the no-doubt strategic editing by the show's producers, Rob is probably a perfectly nice guy and I credit both Rob and Amber for being such a good team.

It was nice to see all of the eliminated teams one last time to cheer in the finishers. Congratulations to Uchenna and Joyce!

That will wrap things up until the Amazing Race 8 is ready to roll. To the best of my knowledge, it's taping over the summer (with it's teams of 4 family members) and will air sometime this fall. Could be interesting, but I have to admit I'm skeptical... we'll see. And until then... find something else to watch on Tuesday night. :)

Thanks for reading over these past months...

YO-Leg Eleven!

Time for the Amazing Race!

Random trivia fact of today: Istanbul is the only city in the world to occupy two continents.

Whirling dervishes... lots of spinning people. Kinda twisted, but interesting. I think I'd be a little dizzy. :) And they're off to London, England. That is quite strange that they are doubling back to London, when we know they're going to have to go around the world.

Now it's turning into mind games. But we'll see what happens... Rob & Amber and Ron & Kelly take the gamble of going to Frankfurt, knowing that the flight from Frankfurt to London is sold out.. but if they manage to get tickets they will have a 1.5 hour head start on Uchenna & Joyce and Gretchen & Meredith, who took the safer confirmed direct flight. And Rob/Amber made it onto the flight. Ron/Kelly also make it on the flight. So everyone is happy. Rob continues to be a dejected Wyle E. Coyote.

I have to say one thing, Rob and Amber are very good at recruiting additional help from wherever they go. And now Rob and Amber are in first place. But they have to go up in the ginormous ferris wheel type dealiebob... to try to find where they have to go.

Blah blah blah, I was uninspired by the rest of this episode... not to mention I got sidetracked. So I guess it's safe to say that Rob and Amber are first yet again... and Gretchen and Meredith got eliminated. What a shame... but certainly if they had just taken the train once in a while they wouldn't have been nearly as far behind. Oh well, my hat goes off to them for a race well raced.

And from London we race home next week... cheerio!