This week’s episode of The Amazing Race began just as many other episodes have this season: dating couple Meghan and Cheyne departing first as a reward for last week’s first place finish. Ripping open their clue envelope in the dreary morning hours, the pair discovered the locale of this week’s mobile adventure: Prague, the capital of The Czech Republic and the former Holy Roman Empire, known for Gothic architecture, an impressive cultural output and more Bohemians than a college town coffee shop
Contestants were informed to search the Old Town Square and locate “a vintage Praga.” An understandably vague clue, but perhaps a bit advanced for the remaining teams. After all, brothers Sam and Dan were certain Prague was a sovereign nation.
As most do when backed into an intellectual corner, Meghan and Cheyne consult the internet for answers. Utilizing an airport computer, the duo discovers a Praga is an old-fashioned convertible. Hoping others would be confused by the linguistic similarities, Meghan suggests telling the other teams that Praga is vintage clothing from Prada, thus ensuring their lead. A conniving plan, but undone once Meghan and Cheynne stumble upon Harlem Globetrotters Flight Time and Big Easy using an adjacent computer to research Pragas themselves. Though the couple never tried their plan, Sam and Dan somehow reach the false conclusion without their assistance.
After landing in Prague, Meghan and Cheyne, Flight Time and Big Easy, and Sam and Dan instinctively race towards a taxi hub, searching for available drivers. Spurred by their perpetual underperformance, married couple Brian and Ericka take advantage of a rumor overheard on the plane: a nearby subway line is the fastest path to the Old Town Square. Whether the rumor was true goes unanswered; a traffic jam makes access to the subway station impossible. Smarting from the loss, the married couple hail a nearby cab, distantly behind the other three teams.
At the Old Town Square, Meghan and Cheyne are first to discover the Praga, parked discreetly amongst modern day automobiles. Inadvertently signaling the car’s location and identity to Sam and Dan, the teams learn the location of their next clue: Kayakay Troja, a man-made whitewater rapids course.
Upset at his brother’s breakneck pace, Sam bemoans having to rush from location to location, unable to soak in the rich Czech atmosphere. Dan signals disgust at his brother’s wanderlust approach to the race, gaping admiringly as if they were on vacation. Neither one is at fault in their arguments, but neither one is particularly right; an all-expenses paid world tour is a prize in and of itself, perhaps even greater than the million dollar grand prize. But is a world tour really all that great if the majority of it is spent in obscure locations, participating in ridiculous challenges? Sam and Dan’s rhetorical dichotomy is probably the greatest underlying motive for The Amazing Race as a whole: is it about the prizes and challenges, or is it about the foreign cultures and scenery?
While the brothers infer way more than should be intended from starring on a reality show, Meghan and Cheyne are the first to arrive at Kayakay Troja and meet this week’s Detour Challenge: Fast & Furious or Slow & Steady? In “Fast & Furious,” teams must paddle an inflatable kayak down man-made rapids without capsizing. In “Slow & Steady,” teams must pull themselves along an aerial ropes course using a ratcheting carabiner. Arriving close behind, Sam and Dan see Meghan and Cheyne gearing up for Slow & Steady. Opportunistically, the brothers decide to attempt Fast & Furious, which, if the name is indicative, should grant them a decisive lead. After all, how hard could it be for novices to ace white-water kayaking on the first attempt?
Theorizing that two men well over six feet tall would fare poorly in an inflatable boat down rapids, Flight Time and Big Easy also opted for Slow & Steady. Meghan and Cheyne took advantage of their initial lead and outplayed the professional athletes. Or, one of them, at least. Flight Time raced ahead of the other three, finishing the ropes course, followed by Cheyne, then Meghan, while Big Easy hung exhaustedly near the halfway point.
Last week, the Globetrotters and Sam and Dan created a seemingly irreparable rift between their teams. As the case can be with the unpredictable nature of reality television, the tension was anti-climatic and the rift was settled off-camera. However, the frenetic pace of competition and the allure of one million dollars creates drama sporadically, often regardless of intention. The vessels it uses as avatars are chosen at random.
For example, at the end of the ropes course, the safety operators instructed finishing contestants to depart the scaffolding immediately. A physically spent Flight Time descended slowly. Meghan and Cheyne interpreted this behavior as sabotage, as if Flight Time was trying to slow the couple down until Big Easy finished. While this was not Flight Time’s attempt (initially), the fuel for the argument was laid and a full-fledged rivalry between the teams emerged.
Meanwhile, Sam and Dan failed the kayaking course for the fifth time. As Brian and Ericka arrived and chose the Slow & Steady option, the brothers called it quits and also vied for the ropes course. Perhaps Sam and Dan should have heeded the words of Aesop: “Slow and Steady Wins The Race”
Progressing onwards to the next destination, the Estates Theater, Meghan and Cheyne were the first to learn of this week’s Roadblock Challenge. Hidden somewhere among the seats of the opulent concert hall were several miniature mandolins. One team member must search among the seats and balcony boxes, locate the tiny instrument, and bring it to Don Giovanni, played by an operatic orating performer. A difficult task by itself, but also strewn among the theater seats were an assortment of other instruments. Cheyne, not knowing what a mandolin looked like, grabbed every instrument he could find, presenting each one to the continually singing referee, who at each instance greeted Cheyne with a dismissive laugh and a chiding, “no.” I’m no fan of opera, but if all performances contained characters like this jerk, I’d frequent the fine arts much more often.
Back at the Kayakay Troja, Sam and Dan pulled far ahead of Brian and Ericka, finishing the challenge while Ericka struggled. Unable to locate a cab in the vicinity, the two brothers resorted to underhanded treachery. Brian and Ericka promised their cab driver a bonus if he would wait around until they finished the challenge. Sam and Dan, however, offered an even larger bonus if he would drive the brothers instead. After the cabbie pondered the ethical decision, he eventually decided not to wait for the sluggish married couple, driving Sam and Dan to the Roadblock, and leaving Brian and Ericka behind. Once again, a stake has been driven between teams, leaving Sam and Dan stigmatized and Brian and Ericka bitterly distrustful of the other teams.
At the theater, Flight Time, perhaps out of encouragement, perhaps out of boredom, decided to join the vocalizing operaman, musically inquiring “Where are yooooou, Big Eeeeeeasy?” After contestants erroneously produced an orchestra’s worth of stringed instruments including guitars, violins and empty mandolin cases (and perplexingly, a small bag of beads), Cheynne first discovered the requisite miniature mandolin, completing the challenge. Surprisingly, Big Easy was happy with this occurrence, as the impatient Meghan required seemingly incessant status updates from her partner, repeatedly shouting much to everyone’s annoyance, “Cheyne? Cheyne?” Hurrying onwards to the Prague Castle, the Pit Stop for this leg of the race, Meghan and Cheyne arrive for yet another first place finish. Sam and Dan edged ahead at the concert hall and continued for second place. Flight Time and Big Easy, admittedly weary from the onslaught of opera music, took third place. Brian and Ericka, so far behind they hadn’t seen Meghan and Cheyne since the airport, solemnly completed the Roadblock and advanced morosely towards the Pit Stop.
To their complete and utter surprise, host Phil Keoghan revealed this was indeed a non-elimination leg, keeping the happy couple in the race for at least another round. As teaser scenes from the next episode revealed, the upcoming destination is Prague, yet again. These two details combined seem innocuous, but the tinfoil-hat wearing skeptic in me believes the producers encountered problems. Perhaps the next chosen destination was unready, perhaps no immediate flights were available, perhaps the next Detour required refinement, no one knows. Including a redundant episode this late in the season seems obscure and unnecessary, but, at the very least, Sam can see more of Prague and stop whining.
