Yes, I watched Amazing Race and YAY!!!!!! But first, I did catch up on Survivor and man, Mike, DUDE, you made me feel old. My folks used to play that original recording of Alley Oop and when you uttered that line? The whole song popped into my head. Which was cool for about five seconds, reliving some past memories. Except the damn thing stayed there. I’m STILL humming it. Thanks, man.

Okay, two hours of Our Amazing Phil and his Amazing Bathmat of Racing. Loved, loved, loved the opener. It’s so good to have this show back. Comfort food, with less fat and no calories. Most of the couples are pretty tolerable. Except show of hands on who realllllly wanted Zen Yoga couple to find that damn license plate first? ME! Yikes with the lawyer shtick, already. But, otherwise, not so bad. Sure, the poker chicks were annoying, but honestly they’re not winning and anyone who downs two wasabi bombs gets at least a one week suspension from me picking on them. Shudder. Nice score on the early non-elim round.

However, tossing someone out before the show even begins (SO harsh!) then throwing them right into a Japanese game show? Gotta admit, I LOVED it. Even the harsh elimination. Sure got everyone’s adrenaline pumping even more than before. Started everyone off seriously tense, but also that much more appreciative of the journey they were about to embark on. Cool.

As for the teams, will take me another show to get more keyed in to who I’m rooting for, except for Duck Whisperer Zev, who I already adore, and his partner as well, who is pretty damn awesome for being such a true bud. Also like the Team BroGay. Like the intense blonde duo okay so far. Love Team Globetrotters. Was liking Team Pure until the duck meltdown, but we’ll see. Wasn’t too choked up to see Team Aggro Dude leave, but can’t imagine what his partner see’s in him. (He’s having major meltdowns over her duck herding task, but was happy to find out that she does well in high pressure situations because a solid marriage needs that. If, you know, he ever decides if she’s worth marrying. Um, dude….did you ever stop to think that maybe she’s looking for that very same thing? Because, epic fail on your part, buddy.)

Overall, it was just so nice to have RAAAAAAAACE! back, that I was willing to overlook all kinds of things. (Like Team Miss USA? Wow. That’s going to get old. Okay, maybe it already is, but it’s only Week 1.)

Now…back to Survivor. Still not happy about Evil Russell, but maybe it’s just me…I didn’t mind watching him so much this time. Maybe it’s because he’s just straight up evil and isn’t prancing around that fact. He’s also street smart, which makes him even scarier, really (finding the immunity idol with everyone standing RIGHT THERE before they even hand out clues? That’s balls. And I have to admire that move. I mean, dang.) And don’t get me wrong, he’s gross on levels of gross we’re just starting to discover, but still….

Maybe it’s because I’m only starting to find folks to root for (Jaison, and others whose names I cannot commit to memory yet…) But mostly I think it’s because Russell is evil with a plan. A plan he’s actually making happen. He’s at least interesting, if still evil. And gross. However, you have someone like Ben, who is just pure asshole with only stupid to back it up, and you start to value the entertainment that is Russell a little bit more. Because Ben needs to go home. And that needs to be followed very quickly by Yasmin. Which, WOW, have you ever seen a more idiotic move than the one she pulled in the opposing team’s camp? My mouth was just hanging open the whole time. Whether or not she had a point with Ben was meaningless. It was how she conducted herself from the second she held court and announced her arrival, to her huge fight with him, and, well, just every breath she took, basically. And because it needs saying again…WOW. That’s some serious self involved ego right there. And not remotely entertaining to me. So Ben, Yasmin can’t get their torches snuffed fast enough for me…but Russell can stay. For now. I just want to see what else he does. As long as he keeps the pretty around him, I’ll put up with the gross.

And, not to let you all down, but I am heading out of town on Thursday (work, not play, darnit.) and my time will not be my own again until mid-next week. I will be TiFauxing with a frenzy whilst I’m gone, but won’t be back up n’ MACing until sometime late next week when I can catch up a little. No worried, Free Stuff Friday will return next week! At some point. Might be a Lightning Round Contest, but it’ll be baaaack.

In the meantime, we still have a some dancing with stars and dancing with Cat. Hopefully this will be the last time we ever have to see DeLay on a dance floor on national television. Don’t let me down America. I’m counting on you!

In the meantime…. What did you think of Race? Who are you loving? Who needs to hit the bathmat last on the next leg? Survivor…still in? Or has the evil run you off? DISH!!

Tags: Writing //