First up, some Amazing Race MAC, then last week’s SHaQ Attack winner!

So, this week on the Race, Peter is still incredibly annoying. He acknowledges that he’s pushing Sarah on a blown knee and needs to lighten up, then proceeds to not lighten up in the least. On top of that, he has this ME FIRST mentality the way he scurries in to grab things before other teams. Yes, it’s a race, and probably if anyone else did it, I’d be applauding their madd racing skillz. But he sort of relishes snatching things right out of other people’s hands. It bugs. But then, Peter breathing bugs.

Up next! Peter’s toolishness is followed by one of the bigger sacrifices I’ve seen on AR. Nice balance, AR Editors. Golf clap.

Everyone flies off to Kuwait (boy, is this the Third World Race Route of Death Defying Heat or what?) Once there, they head off to the very exotic and very, very tall Kuwait Towers, where all the teams bunch up at the top of one of the towerlike bulbs. There, the teams discover they have a Fast Forward on this leg, and the Cho Brothers, who are in last place and need it, realize that Team Coalminer, due to their non-elimination leg penalty, need it even more. They have been helping each other out, along with Team Attitude( aka the *lyns) for several legs now. So while they wait for Dave and Mary to show up and get their clue, they lead the other teams to believe they are taking the FF, all as a bluff so by the time Team Coalminer accepts the FF, the other teams are locked into taking the Road Block. To top it off, the Road Block is climbing on the outside the top of the tower, and the *wins, who have to do this task now as well, have serious fear of heights. So that was a pretty amazing thing they did. I hope it doesn’t cost them the race. Hugs, Chos!!

Coming out of the Bulb Climb, the person who did the climb must put a big puzzle together revealing the street address, in Arabic, of their next clue location. Oh yeah, guess who did the climb outside the tower? Yeah, Sarah. Who built the puzzle clue? Sarah. Who got them lost? Peter. Maybe it’s just as well she does every freaking thing.

The Coalminers take the FF, which sends to them a staged fuel fire in the desert, where they have to put on protective gear and go very, as in Way Too, close to a burning oil well to get their clue. But Mary dons the gear and prays Steven Seagal sees her playing action heroine and casts her in his next movie (she can grate, but I loved this!) and we find out that David has always wanted to be a fireman, so it’s like living a dream for him. I’m a bit concerned when David rhapsodizes about how fireman matter - so do coalminers and dads, David! - and my heart trips for him a little. They complete the task with admirable swiftness, even Steven Seagal would be impressed, and race off to meet Phil, in first place. No time penalty for them AND a trip to Jamaica. (I was hoping for Disneyworld, but hey…) Way to go, Team Coalminer!

Now….back to the Cho’s and other teams…

The remaining teams now they have to use their puzzle to figure out where to go, which means lugging the huge thing around until they can find someone to translate it. This? Cracked me up. I loved this. The *lyns try to hoarde their helpers, then whine when the BQ’s snag one of their hoarded helpers - after they already got their answer. Yeah. Whatever. I like their loyalty to the “Back Packs” but in other areas, they annoy. A lot. This being one.

Everyone gets lost in the market. The Addicts (and Models!) find the bead shop first and get their Detour clue. Manual v Automatic. Fill heavy grain bags full of camel feed in stultifying desert heat…or remote control camel racing. Yay, I want to see camel racing! The BQ’s find it, then Romberly finds their clue, then Sarah and Peter lamely try and fake out other teams that they haven’t found it when they have, and stay completely lame with the robot hum0r (yes, Sarah, you, too.) I’m no Peter fan, and she rocked that tower climb, but I’m not really digging either of them this leg.

The *lyns and *wins end up camel racing for lack of finding the other Detour but then can’t find that either, so the Cho’s bail and head back to the camel feed “manual” challenge. Everyone is having trouble finding either Detour, except the BQ’s and Romberly who apparently get the only people in Kuwait who know where the camel feed detour is. The Chos catch up (Yay!) but the Models and Team Peterbot are hopelessly lost and get behind, as do the *lyns. The *lyns find the camels, where Karlyn threatens to out attitude the camel (and trust me, you haven’t seen this camel, but I still think Karlyn will win.)

Off the camels go! Back at the feed and seed, the BQ’s and Romberly race to fill their bags of feed first. The Chos show up (Yay!) and while the BQ’s bug me occasionally, too, no one can say those chicks don’t race. And they don’t rely on flirting or doing the easy task or whatever. Those girls work it for real. So everyone is toting and filling and dragging these enormous feed filled bags in incredible heat and I am just glad I’m in my nice cool home eating ice cream. But I digress.

The BQ’s get it done, Romberly is right on their tails. Off they go to Phind Phil. BQ’s you are Team Number 2, Romberly, you are Team Number 3. (One of the more unattractive, desolate looking Pit Stops ever.) The *lyns finish with their camel race (which is just funny with that mechanical jockey monkey on top) and they Phind Phil to be told they are Team Number 4. The Cho’s show up in 5th place and I am SO very happy their kindness didn’t cost them the race. I really like these guys. Love how Edwin, when facing down one of his worst fears, still took the time at the top of the tower, to look out and appreciate the view, and revel for a few seconds in what he’d accomplished. I will say that everyone who climbed the tower really seemed to enjoy it.

In the meantime, Sarah and Peter are still lost and Peter is bitching at Sarah who can’t read the map right and they ask and ask and ask but never get the right help. They even stumble across the Fast Forward site, before returning to the towers and starting over. The Models are fighting a similar battle, but eventually they do get directions to the camel race place and off they go with their camel. Then they race to Phind Phil, certain their race is over (and while I also like these guys - not one Drug Message this entire leg! - if it weren’t for Tyler, they would have been out a long time ago. James? Not too swift a racer, but he follows Tyler’s lead very well.) Models, you are Team Number 6.

But wait! Could this really mean, could it be???? Are Peter and Sarah, who started the leg in first, but are now in Last Place, really in threat of leaving? We just had a non-elimination. Surely the producers wouldn’t be so cruel as to do two back -to-back. Not now! Peter and Sarah, you have been Philiminated from the race. And YAY! Peter is No More! Unfortunately this means Sarah is also done, but then, I think she needed to be done with Peter more than she needed to keep running this race. Phil questions the status of their relationship on the Amazing Bath Mat of Elimination, and Sarah dumps his ass, right there, on national TV, while Peter is all “but wait, I was dumping you, you can’t dump me.” Best Bathmat Break Up Ever.

Peter tries to play it off that they will be great friends but are too hard-headed and too focused to really be a couple. Yeah. Sarah sets that record straight by telling it Like It Is. She says that while she likes Peter’s strength and focus, she also needs someone who is compassionate, nurturing and kind. She says this TWICE. And Peter just has to stand there, in front of Phil and millions of viewers, and look puzzled. Who me? his expression says. And America stands up, in unison, and shouts at their televisions YES, YOU! And for all that Sarah occasionally exhibited behavior that could bug, I thought she handled the absolute disappointment that turned out to be Peter, on every posssible level, during a raaaaaaace of tension and unbelieveable stress, in the most polite, kind, politic way any woman could have handled it. At no time, on camera, should she be ashamed of how she behaved in speaking of him, or what she said. Peter on the other hand? Yeah. We won’t go there. Romberly? Pay attention.

The great thing about this leg, which has been typified this whole race, is that the order of finish is never predictable. In this case, the last place team came in first, and the first place team was eliminated. I love this.

Now we are down to six teams and next week? It’s the BQ - *Lyn Smackdown Showdown we’ve been waiting for! I’m thinking the BQ’s come out on top, although there appears to be a karmic fender bender in their future as well. Yay Team Coalminer! And Chos? You’re the real winners here. You may not be the best racers, but I bet your parents are incredibly proud of you right now. I know I am.

Now it’s time to announce our SHaQ Attack winner from last week…

I asked you to guess who went home or won 4 different reality shows. Well, No One went home on Dancing With the Stars, Jeffrey won Project Runway, Cao Boi and Cristina both went home on Survivor, and Peter/Sarah were eliminated on Amazing Race.

At least 95% of you got at least one right, and a few of you had 3 out of 4. But we can only have one winner, and this week, it’s Blog Babe Lis! Woo hoo! As it happens, Lis was also the only one (I think) who predicted Team PeterBot would go home. Whoa! So, Lis, can you do something about Team Romberly next? And maybe the *lyns while you’re at it?

Now! As promised, this week’s SHaQ Attack contest is going to have a really super prize. Well, I think it’s kinda super, anyway. I heard from my editor last week, and a certain book of mine that will be out next March? You might have heard me mention it a time or ten, THE GREAT SCOT which is a sequel to BAD BOYS IN KILTS? Well, seems I’m going to be getting my hands on a few advance copies in a few weeks and I thought maybe, just maybe, y’all might like a chance to win one. Yes, it’s a bit of delayed gratification as I can’t mail it out until mid November, but it still beats the actual release date of March 2007 by, oh, a few months. And I was so excited, I just couldn’t wait to do the contest then. Any takers?

To celebrate tomorrow’s unveiling of my first Black Sheep cover (and did I mention it’s incredibly Maks-alicious? Oddly, my hero’s name in that one is Mac…hmmm….) I thought I’d celebrate with a Cover Art SHaQ Attack this week. SO, your mission, if you choose to tackle it, is this:

List my titles that feature the hero only on the cover. This includes only the titles that have been published, no need to add in the unreleased titles.

Then! In SHaQ Part 2 - tell me which of those covers you liked the best. Not which book you liked best, we’re talking art here. Essentially I’m asking you to judge a book by its cover. I’ll take all the correct title answers, and from them, I’ll tote up the fave cover tally. The Blog Babes who listed the correct titles, AND voted for the winning cover, will EACH receive an advance copy of THE GREAT SCOT up to a total of FIVE winners. If more than five are in the group, I will draw five names from the pile.

Send your answers and votes to: donna@donnakauffman.com with My Hero! as the subject line. Best of luck to all you SHaQ’ers out there!

Tune in tomorrow and be prepared to drool! The Black Sheep are definitely coming.

Tags: Writing //