TAR All-Stars

A great great episode last night of Amazing Race: All Stars. And even though one of my favorites was eliminated, this is shaping up to be one of the best seasons yet.

I think this is as good a time as any to be upfront about something. I love Rob & Amber. Actually, I love Rob. He was my favorite both seasons of Survivor he was on, and I love how he and Amber played (and are playing) TAR. One of the greatest things about Rob is that even though he comes off as a dumb guy from Boston he's actually quite smart. He's right - the other teams are so concerned about beating them that they're losing sight of winning the race. Love it.

I'm also falling more and more in love with Danny & Oswald. They were funny on their season, but they're hilarious on All Stars. They're also pretty fierce competitors - I'll take that combination any day. (I also like that between them and the guidos the producers are painting two very different pictures of what a gay couple looks like. It's about time - we see lots of versions of what a guy-girl couple should look like, but very little else.)

The tasks this leg were much harder than last week, which I liked. It's all stars - things should be harder. That roadblock was really tough (though how great was it that Mary came in and solved it so quickly?). And multiple flights in one leg is tough too, since the roadblock ended up having no impact on the standings, but did a lot for the dynamics of the teams. (I wish we could have heard the conversation on the flight between Uchenna & Joyce...)

Speaking of team dynamics, what was the deal with Mirna & Charla? It didn't seem like the Beauty Queens did anything to them other than be pretty, but their pettiness almost cost them the race. If they had just been content to work together they would have come in much sooner than when they did.

In the end, my favorites Drew & Kevin came in last. They did manage to provide some really fabulous television before they left. I loved that when they got their truck stuck, they hooked it to Kevin to pull it out. And the confrontation on the plan about David & Mary's luggage was good too. I wish they had realized they could drive faster, since then perhaps Mirna & Charla would have been eliminated (and we still need a better nickname for them then Mirna & Shmirna...after their talk about how they have inner beauty and don't need plastic surgery, maybe they could be the petty....). Maybe next week.