"Don't ANCHOR your team down."
Welcome to The Amazing Race finale! Tonight Phil starts us off with a tender look back over the season to reminisce about adventures and teams gone by. The following things bring a tear to my eye: The LA Blondes almost getting squashed by a bus, a dancing muppet, donkey abuse, "Baaaaby there's no more miiiiiiiiiiilk!!" No wet people (The Babies) allowed in a taxi, and best of all, The Babies being eliminated from the race. Then Phil reminds us that Moronald and Christina have had a lot to work on. They have? I didn't notice - oh wait, that was Moronald telling me every single week that he has a lot to work on. Next we look back on Grandpa Donald's Louis L'Amore hero status, remembering that for nearly every single challenge he had some pertinent life experience in that very field: masonry, printing, panning for gold, milking a camel, pole vaulting, sky diving, landing on Mars, etc. All Nick has really done is carry Grandpa's bag. And The Hippies? Well they've stayed calm through everything and had an all-around great time. Which of these three wonder teams will be the first to cross the Amazing Finish Line and win a million dollars?
The answer begins in Taipei, Taiwan - not pronounced "Tuh-pie," and not found in Thailand. Moronald and Christina have been on a winning streak, and they are the first to depart at 9:47 AM. The clue tells them to travel over 4,500 miles to their final city - Anchorage, Alaska and make their way to 6th Avenue Outfitters, an outdoor adventure store where they will receive some supplies and their next clue. They sprint down to the road to get a taxi. The Hippies leave next at 10:30 AM and Nick and Grandpa are seven minutes behind them. Nick and Grandpa are excited to go to Alaska because Grandpa worked for some time as an Eskimo. Actually it's because he hunted and fished every day of his life growing up and suspects they might have a challenge like that in Alaska.
Moronald and Christina get tickets to Alaska on China Air and then proceed to the China Air lounge to look up 6th Avenue Outfitters using the internet buffet. The other two teams get tickets on the same flight and then start to worry that Moronald and Christina are nowhere to be found.
Pay no attention to the lounge behind those doors!
TK starts having hallucinations of Team Daddy-Daughter jetting off on some mystical earlier flight that will put the rest of them at a severe disadvantage. Much to TK's extreme relief, everyone boards the same flight and starts mentally gearing up for Alaska. As they disembark in Anchorage, TK wonders aloud which team can run fastest and remarks that he has seen Moronald run "like a ninja." That's pretty funny.
Moronald and Christina manage to keep their lead, grabbing the first taxi and arriving at 6th Avenue Outfitters first. The clue tells them to find Ship Creek Boat Launch for the next clue. They grab their bag of goods from the clerk and run back to their taxi. It's too tempting for me every time someone asks "Do you know where Ship Creek is?" But we'll get to that later. The Hippies pop in and out of 6th Avenue Outfitters and their taxi driver thinks he knows where to take them. Nick and Grandpa are right on their tail, but neglect to take their bag of supplies from the store. Oops.
"Wasn't someone supposed to adopt me?"
Moronald and Christina get to the boat launch first and the next clue is a Detour, meaning a visit/fashion show courtesy of Phil. Today's Detour contains the choice: Cut the Cod or Grab the Crab and Phil has an adorable pun to go with each description. In Cut the Cod teams have to use the filleting knife from 6th Avenue Outfitters to slice through several enormous codfish and search for a clue hidden in a tiny canister inside one of the fish. "Teams with the GUTS to DIG in to their work could finish faster." In Grab the Crab, teams stand in a small pool of water in the hull of a boat that is filled with 500 live crabs and pick up the snapping crabs to search for one sporting a fierce red and yellow (race colors) bracelet. "Teams without fast hands could find themselves in a PINCH." Oh, Phil! I swear to Cod you are Crabulous!
Spectacular windbreaker!
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Comments (9)
Thanks for a great season of recaps!! You have done an "AMAZING" job!!
I am thrilled that TK and Rachel won. It is good to see nice people win. I would have been happy with any of the 3 but these 2 were my favorites. Can't wait for next season.
1 of 9 | Posted by sneakers57 | Posted on January 22, 2008 4:28 PM
Nick is useless! Grandpa should've gutted HIM with the filet knife! UGH.
2 of 9 | Posted by nyrlieht | Posted on January 22, 2008 5:18 PM
Great season. So glad the nice guys finished first. Karma gets an honorable mention for reminding Cristina that it isn't nice to cheat. (And, for future reference, "it's just business" does not excuse any and all actions, either, Cristina).
I thought the other two teams handled their disappointment with good grace.
Great recapping! Thanks!
3 of 9 | Posted by fire@will | Posted on January 22, 2008 7:30 PM
Great recaps this season, HG. I don't even watch the Amazing Race normally, but I read one of your recaps and started watching. :)
I was so so so happy that the hippies won. They were just too adorable and proved that nice guys don't have to come in last. When I saw Jen waiting for them at the finish line, I wanted her to scream "You don't deserve this! You are just slackers!" lol
4 of 9 | Posted by snootchy bootches | Posted on January 23, 2008 4:50 AM
Yay! I would have been happy with any of the teams - all of them were better than certian people who have won in previous seasons! :)
But TK and Rachel were just so SWEET this entire season, and even when stressed out they were awesome. I'm so glad they won.
And it looks like both the other teams ended with having a good time and not hating each other.
YOU were awesome, HG - I can't wait to read more of your recaps. See you at the start line of the next Race!
5 of 9 | Posted by lonebutterfly | Posted on January 23, 2008 4:51 AM
I was very happy that TK and Rachel won. THEY HAVE TO GET MARRIED NOW! They are so lucky to have found each other. I wish them the best of luck.
Oh, one last thing...it would have been a trip to see Jen or Nate do that final, crazy, complicated, practically unsolveable, donkey roadblock. The final three teams were raised properly so they behaved appropriately. Jen and Nate, though, would have been screaming at each other through the whole thing.
Good recaps Honey Gansta. I could identify with your running around the living room. I don't have that much energy so I was biting my nails. I need a manicure now.
6 of 9 | Posted by weasel dearest | Posted on January 23, 2008 6:33 PM
I was SO happy the hippies won! I found myself rooting against Christina and Moronald though. I think Christina put a bad taste in my mouth with her behavior on a couple of the previous legs. As much as I do think Grandpa led that team, he should have read the clue also and not placed all of the blame on nicholas. There are 2 people to a team! Moronold's I love you sentence at the end was priceless...I really hope he didn't mean it the way it came out.
7 of 9 | Posted by yankeesfan | Posted on January 24, 2008 6:31 AM
This was my favorite line:
"Nick decides to do it! This is great news until I remember that Nick is an idiot."
I would guess that because the box just popped open, they probably let those two go after the other two teams had gotten to the finish line. There is no way that I can believe Nick figured out that brain teaser.
The most exciting parts - and this was a very exciting episode as a whole - were the brain teaser, as I saw the leader Christina crack, and when they got the "this is it!!!" clue.
I'm not sure how I feel about TK and Rachel winning, I mean yes, they were nice, and everyone liked them. But they came in last once, staying in the race by the skin of their teeth, and had many challenges. Whereas Christina and Moronald were first team the last few legs of the race and they were leading for a long time, always one step ahead. Separating people's feelings of the people, which isn't how you win anyway, I would have liked to see C&M win, I think they deserved it.
Super funny recap - well done HG.
8 of 9 | Posted by gnomecorp | Posted on January 24, 2008 11:08 PM
Your recaps are awesome! I enjoyed reading them as much as watching the show itself!
9 of 9 | Posted by kh | Posted on January 26, 2008 9:15 AM