I lost my passport...!

First of all, for people who says, "Oh that telephone message can't be that hard to remember!" or "How can they easily missed that giant screen of red & yellow balloons?!" It makes me want to slap their faces. 


Do you have any idea how tiring the racers are at this point??  I do. It is easy for people to say stuff like that when they sits back on their big plushy chairs and watch people racing around the world on television screen. It makes me want me to throw them in the race and make them goes like, "Oh.... Wow, this is WAY harder than it looks on t.v.!" 


Exhausting. Hunger. Not able to shower for couple days. Sitting in cramp space on the plane for like 14 hours. It def. took toll on racers. So, don't forget that!


That's why I'm writing a blog because I have been through The Amazing Race twice. Both race were just utterly exhausting. Even if it were only the first leg, but I know how they felt exactly. The first leg and the last leg are usually the most tiring legs ever. The racers were brand-new. They were feeling so many emotions all at once. They had no idea what to expect. They had no idea their competitors' backgrounds. The first leg is pretty nerve-wracking for everybody. Nobody wants to be the first one to go!


That's the beauty part of The Amazing Race. So many emotions stirred up at the starting leg! 


It gave me goosebumps when everybody gathered up at the starting line and waiting for Phil to says, "Go!"  


Closed captions wasn't working for the first ten minutes of the show so I was little lost. Kind of same way as I was at the starting line last season! It was sooo windy and cold on that day, my Mom's fingers were pretty much frozen so all I knew were: "Queensland" that we have to look for! 


I take it that most of the teams weren't sure what they were supposed to look for. Lucky for the teams that they do not have to run a long distance to give the answer to Phil at the temple! So, it's easy for the teams just to run and back to get different umbrellas. Remember how far my cast had to run forth and back on a hugeeeee field in middle of the desert!? 


The Couple Team Curse trend has finally broken the streak 


Season 15 Car Plate Challenge: Married Couple were eliminated at the starting line.
Season 18 Paper Airplane: Engaged Couple had to perform Automatic U-Turn task and were eliminated first. 


Congrats to dating & engaged couple teams for not coming in last! A female team, Kaylani and Lisa, came in last at the umbrellas challenge. 


Now, I am really curious about the passport fiasco. A lot of people thinks the show cheated for "giving" the passport back to Kaylani... 


Having done The Amazing Race twice. I can assure you that the production DO NOT have anything with returning the passport. There's no cheating involved at all. The guy just happened to be nice enough to pick it up and tweeted about the passport. One of uber-fans just happened to see the tweet and instructed the guy to go to LAX so he can save Kaylani and Lisa from being eliminated. The guy was nice enough to go through so much hassle for Kaylani. I can say that the guy just happened to be at right place and right time and he made a choice to save Kaylani. Sure, he could just screw Kaylani and Lisa's chance by not returning passport and turn it in to Embassy. (From what I heard, the guy who found the passport, he attended Kaylan's viewing party, that's pretty nice of Kaylani!) 


Now, I have a BIG question. Why would in the world Kaylani has her passport in her backpocket where it could fall out?!!?!? Why it's not in their fanny pack!?


I always made sure to tuck my team's passports away in little pouch where it could be zipped up in our fanny pack so that way it wouldn't fall out. I would hate to pull a Justin and be eliminated. 


Off to Taiwan!


First 8 teams scurried to the first route marker. I LOVED the red & yellow balloons screen! That's pretty creative!!! I'd like to point it out that Ernie & Cindy (Team Lucy Morris!) made a smart move by writing a clue down. I mean, they were in a foreign country and I can assure you that NOT everybody could speak English! I know it's a race and everybody were in a big hurry. But again, it is not a smart idea to run off with no clue and what if all cab drivers doesn't speak English?! Ernie and Cindy were pretty smart enough to write a clue down. I cannot recall if few other teams did the same thing but I know there were few teams that did not write the clue down. I know it is not easy to write Chinese words down. But, it's better to play safe to have a clue written down! 


Poor Bill & Cathi... Trying to figure it out where to look for. The clue can be pretty tricky at times. I think they just analyzed the clue too much which ended up their downfall. Just try not to analyze every single word on the clue. Just try to think it as a big picture and look for red & yellow which is Amazing Race's trademark. At least, the Grandparents got a grand tour of Taipei! 


The Telephone Message Task. Don't be too hard on the teams for not able to memorizing on the message right off the bat. The weather must be pretty hot in Taiwan. Plus, they were pretty tiring and hungry at that point. Also, the teams have no idea where everybody else are so I am sure all of them probably were thinking that they might be fighting for the last place... or for the first place. Lots of pressures! I applaud for everybody who were able to memorize the message especially that they were not able to write it down. Again, I was little jealous that they do not have to run the long distance to deliver the message to the messenger. Remember the flag task from last season? We had to run 1/2 mile to deliver the message to the messenger then we had to run back to get the right message! Remember Jet and Cord had to run back and forth few times! Not fun. 


Smart move on Kaylani and Lisa's part for not repeat the message to the Twins especially when they had to perform a Hazard task. (I do not get it why the task have to be named Hazard when it is sort of like Speed Bump task?!) I was little surprised that Kaylani and Lisa performed the Hazard task on non-elimination leg. 


I'd really like to find out to see if Cathi actually do get the message on her first try! Remember it is all editing!! If she actually got it on the first try, BIG kudos to her! For trying to make it up on the time they lost.


The boat race seemed really fun. Probably way more fun than the sailing task we had to do last season. The pole actually swung and slammed onto my head at one point! It was so painful! It probably would have been more challenging if the race is actually timing, more pressure on teams to finish the race on time! 


Pit Stop Order: 
1st: Ernie & Cindy - They won Express Pass! I wouldn't be surprised if they do not used Express Pass and still make it to the Final Three. (Remember, my Mom and I won the first leg and we weren't awarded Express Pass and we still made it to the Final Three) I mean, they are pretty smart and strong. Remember, they wrote a clue down. Ernie were being supportive of Cindy during the telephone task. If they keep playing that way, they'll go pretty far in the Race. Always write clue down every time if there's needed to! I would love to see Ernie & Cindy give their Express Pass to Bill & Cathi so they can keep "weak" team in the Race and knock stronger teams out. That'll be a brilliant move. 


2nd: Jeremy & Sandy - Nicely job for coming in the second place! I really hope they weren't kicking themselves for not getting the Express Pass. They had a great strong start so I am sure they wouldn't need Express pass to keep themselves in the Race till 8th Leg (Express Pass is only good till 8th Leg, I think). 


3rd: Justin & Jennifer - Great start for the sibling. I loved it how Jennifer went like, "Shhh! Shh! Don't let other teams know!" I would have done the same thing! But, there's no time for fighting! If they need to do well on the Race they need to listen to each other and work together well. Never underestimate the powerful siblings bond. The sibling teams won Season 13 & 14. Teams need to look out for Justin & Jennifer... They could easily sneak up and win the Race in a blink! 


4th: Ethan & Jenna - I actually laughed out loud when Ethan & Jenna decided to not tell other teams that they were on Survivor. They must be kidding me. Survivor is way much popular than Amazing Race is. I wasn't surprised when the teams figured it out who they were. It is better to come clean than deny who they are because U-Turn could come and haunt them! Overall, they did pretty well for the first leg. Again, so did the reality teams (Jeff & Jordan and Rob & Amber - they did well on the first leg then next few legs, they frizzled out). So, we'll see how they do in second leg. 


5th: Amani & Marcus -  Kudos for Marcus not fully revealing that he used to play for NFL. Bodyguard actually sounds better but again with him being big guy isn't going to help any. The ladies probably would want to U-Turn him because there's NOOOO way that they could out-run him to the pit stop! Anyway, I liked it how they were actually enjoying and having fun instead of being so caught up in competitive mode. I can see them going pretty far in the Race as long as they weren't being U-Turned. 


6th: Laurence & Zac - I liked it how they ran to the pit stop and beating Andy & Tommy. That's pretty important thing to do. Do not stroll to the pit stop. No way to know if they were in the last place. No way to know where everybody are at. It's ALWAYS safe bet to run and beat a team to the pit stop. They worked together pretty well for entire first leg. I'd like to see more of them in second leg. 


7th: Andy & Tommy - Smart move on their part for not telling them that they were Olympians. I am trying to figure it out if they were just taking their time on the first leg just to downplay their strengths so that way no one would find them threatening. If I was on the Race with them, my first impression of them would have been the Hippies/Stoners! They should def. keep downplay their strengths and stay in middle of pack for next few legs. Remember how the racers ganged up on the Cowboys last season just because of their strengths solely? 


8th: Ron & Bill - They weren't shown much during the first leg. They seemed not very physical or much  as runners. They def. do need to step it up if they do not want to hang around in back of pack.


9th: Kaylani & Lisa - The showgirls got the most screentime! Came in the last at the starting line, losing passport, Twitter drama, performed Hazard task, and edged out two teams to the pit stop! Can you say, "Phew!" They probably were the most luckiest team ever in the first leg... Good thing it is not TBC (To Be Continued) Leg or they probably would be still frazzled going into the second leg. So, it's good that they get 12 hours break so they got the time to pull themselves together and ready to blaze through the second leg... I hope! Congrats to Kaylani & Lisa for breaking the "starting line streak". 


10th: Liz & Marie - They're fun to watch but I couldn't tell them apart. I actually asked the Twins to see how could I tell them apart. They said, "Marie's the crazy one!"  That's pretty funny. I guess Marie were the one that barked at Liz for not being able to remember the message. Marie, that's not helping at all! Try to bit your tongue back and encourage Liz more. I know it's not easy for the Twins especially that they were pretty far back in the pack and on the brink of the elimination. Pressures mounted up on their shoulders as they fought for their lives to be not eliminated. I'm glad to see them to survive and doesn't have to face the Speed Bump. Hopefully they could pull themselves together and be more supportive of each other in second leg. 


11th: Bill & Cathi - They got VERY lucky. I mean it doesn't happened so often with two seasons in a row where the first leg as a non-elimination leg. I'll bet that all the first eliminated teams were probably cringing to see Bill & Cathi survived their first leg. I never thought this first leg would be non-elimination! My last season, the first leg were non-elimination! My jaws were dropped to the floor. Bill & Cathi caught the most lucky break ever on The Amazing Race (Along with Kaylani and Lisa!!!) Now, they just need to play smart. I mean, REALLY smart. Esp. with the double elimination in the second leg! They just need to sail through the second leg with NO mistakes. NOOO mistakes, I mean it!! They just need to do the Speed Bump quickly. I'd rather to have a "weak" team like Bill & Cathi in the finals than facing off the strong teams in the finals. 




DOUBLE ELIMINATION NEXT WEEK....


Ugh. That is not how the Race works... I do not like the idea of two last teams gets eliminated next week? Now, that is pretty unfair twist. Again, that is part of the game, gotta roll with it. So much pressure and so many stakes on the line... 


All I can say is do not make a single mistake and play the game perfectly. According to the preview, it seems like several teams made mistakes. Especially with Ethan and Jenna losing a clue. REALLY!? It's just like losing a passport. Well, not exactly. But, losing a clue, it's pretty much over if you do not know where to go next. Unless a team comes along and tell Ethan & Jenna where to go. If there's no one else around, they are pretty much toasted. 


That's WHY my Mom and I and Jaime & Cara formed an alliance. We worked together and supported each other from the beginning to the end on our Season 14. We always shared the information. It paid off. Alliance is pretty much important asset on the Race. 


For Ethan and Jenna being on Survivor... I can guarantee you that it is pretty much a final nail to their coffin. No one would want to help the Survivor Winners! Unless their clue magically appear out of nowhere. It would be pretty stupid of teams if they tell Ethan & Jenna where to go especially it's Double Elimination leg! Keep it to yourself!!! 


Again, it's The Amazing Race... So many things could go wrong!