photo: cbs
The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business
This Is Where It Ends (Brazil & Florida)
Original Air Date: May 8, 2011
Rachel – Sr. Managing Editor
rachel@thetwocentscorp.com
It’s season finale time, kids! Who will take care of ALL their Unfinished Business? personally, I’m OK with any of these teams winning, although I do have my favorites. The finale was a two-parter, so you’ll get two lists this time around. The first list covers the penultimate leg which began in Switzerland (again) and ended on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro. With that, I give you…
The Top 4 Things I Learned From The Amazing Race
1. Gary and Mallory: Getting a body wax with your dad is weird. Let me back up. For the First Brazilian Road Block, teams had to learn the samba and lead a troupe of Carnivale dancers in a parade. Mallory (who “belongs on stage” apparently) looked SO happy while she was performing. I love her. At the second Road Block, teams had to endure a 15 minute body wax. All I can say is the boys on the race are in for some pain. Gary took it like a man, but Mallory did recognize that ridiculousness of the situation of getting a wax with her dad. Now that’s quality bonding! They got to the Pit Stop (on Copacabana Beach below the famous Brazilian Museum of Contemporary Art) in first place, winning not only a cruise through the Mediterranean, but a spot on the Finals.
2. Kisha and Jen: Flying under the radar is good until the last leg. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Were these two IN this episode? I know they were, stop complaining. At the Detour, teams had to mix 100 servings of the most popular drink in Brazil. Don’t ask me what it’s called. Jen, who worked as a bartender in college, carried her team through and they got the Phil in second.
3. Flight Time and Big Easy: Shake what your mama gave you. At the Samba Road Block, Big Easy had to wear a speedo and dance his little heart out. Boy’s got rhythm! He did great! Now I must confess something here, I have been holding a bit of a grudge against the Globetrotter for the past few episodes. They did some things that I thought were a bit jerky. But seeing the whole Samba Road Block reminded my of why I liked them: their humor and their support of one another. They got to the mat in third.
4. Zev and Justin: Sometimes, the rhythm isn’t ‘gonna get you.’ My favorite team had a rough leg. The teams needed to be 5 and 5 for Road Blocks going into the finale so Zev had to do the samba. Zev does not Samba. After several attempts, he finally started loosening up and passed. Then, at the second Road Block, the two boys, who are quite hairy, I might add, about punched the poor waxing techs because they were in so much pain. At first it was funny because they were screaming like girls, then it got kind of sad because it really hurt. Knowing that they were in fourth, they still stuck it out, finished the Detour, and got to Phil in last place. To quote Zev “He was the Race and I was the Amazing.” Indeed.
photo: cbs
Next: The final leg which takes us from Brazil to Florida.
The Top 3 Things I Learned From The Amazing Race
3. Gary and Mallory: Bad Taxi Driver on the last leg = 3rd place. Always. Everyone was on the same flight from Rio to Miami, but out of the gate (literally), Gary & Mallory got a taxi driver that didn’t know what he was doing. If you are a taxi driver, get to know your area, OK? Thanks. It was freakishly stressful at the beginning, but then they realized there was no way to catch up so they just enjoyed themselves. At a Road Block, Mallory got to swim with mermaids. At another Road Block, Gary got to use the biggest forklift I have ever seen. In the end, they got to complete the entire race together as father & daughter and that, to them, was priceless.
2. Flight Time and Big Easy: Two teams comprised of professional athletes makes for a tight & fun race. Man, it was close! At the airport, the Globetrotters did something very smart: they checked their baggage, left it at Miami International, and ran the last leg with just their grandma fanny pack. Brilliant. Another potentially brilliant thing (that backfired a bit) they did was to send their cab driver to go get gas while they were performing a task. They stumbled a bit at a Road Block where they had to set up a airstream trailer to look like a brochure, pink flamingos and all. The very last thing they had to do was to ride a trike seven miles across the aptly named Seven Mile Bridge to the finish line. How close was it? Well, they could see Kisha and Jen win the million from their vantage point on the bridge. Maybe 3 minutes? I think that’s pretty close.
1. Kisha and Jen: When it counts, come in first. They never arrived at a Pit Stop in first place. They were also never in the bottom of the pack. I guess flying under the radar (until it counts, that is) paid off for these two sisters. While they weren’t my choice to win, it wasn’t awful that they did. In fact, it was kind of precious, especially having it air on Mother’s Day. Kisha and Jen were raised by a single mom who gave them everything they needed to succeed in life. Now they plan to give her everything SHE needs. Wonderfully sweet, if you ask me.
So what did you think? Did the right team go win? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below (and while you’re at it, follow me on Twitter @RachParkBishTTC)!
TheTwoCents 
At first, I was sad that my fav team in then end Zev and Justin went home in the second to last leg, but I was happy that Kisha and Jen went home. Even though I didn’t like them all too much as a team in their first race, they grew on me this season. Happy they won and did love that it was all for their mom and the ep aired on Mother’s Day.
I was sad about J&Z, too, but I think they were OK with it and had a good time. More importantly, like Justin said, their friendship grew. That’s cool. Thanks for the comment!
Jen and Kisha were a lot of fun this season and really seemed to approach this race by giving themselves more slack and putting less pressure on themselves. They definitely enjoyed being with each other and it was fun to watch. They weren’t my favorite team but I liked them a lot and I’m happy they won.
Zev and Justin’s moment when they fell into last was kind of underplayed. They left the dancing before the Globetrotters but get to the waxing after them. At that point, there was no catching up.
Think it killed the cheerleaders to have the last leg be in the city they’re from? 😀
The construction of the final leg wasn’t great. It was a series of tasks where there wasn’t a lot of opportunity either to lose or gain time. I do kind of expect something more than we got from the last leg.
I think the nail in the coffin for Z&J was attempting the Bikini Selling branch of the Road Block. If they had just gone with the drink mixing, it would have been a heckuva lot closer.
And I totally agree on the weirdness of the final leg. No huge remember-every-detail-of-the-race task. Just a bunch of ‘go here and get that clue’ crap. Strange.
I think the only team that could’ve done the bikini task successfully was the Globetrotters. Z&J had no chance at that and I was surprised they even tried. Think about it guys — you’re average-looking guys (being generous) asking women to change into a bikini and model it for you? No. That’s not going to happen. Not at all 😀
I was surprised then didn’t have a task where each time had to remember the entire race. But I guess they assume by now that everyone takes notes and does not use their memory anymore. But last time they had to remember the people that greeted them and I didn’t remember a single person so that was a twist. Maybe they couldn’t think of something for this one?
I wanted Gary and Mallory to win but the last 7 teams I liked. So it did’t matter all that much. It was just fun to watch.
I especially enjoyed watching them dance and the underwater band.
“I was surprised then didn’t have a task where each time had to remember the entire race.” Me, too! Isn’t it standard to do a memory task? It felt like that last leg was a bunch of navigation to get clues to the next place. Very thrown together. Maybe they were trying to do something different? I don’t know… but they sure dropped the ball!