The Amazing Race: Brazil

Ten teams travel from Salvador, Brazil to Fortaleza, Brazil.

Tina and Terence are easily the least likable of the twenty players. They are also both insane. I feel sorry for their respective partners, Ken and Sarah.

Terence begins the leg by getting hit in the head with the car trunk door. He insists to Sarah that he's bleeding. He makes her blow on his forehead and put a band-aid on his boo-boo. He is cranky for most of the leg.

Terence experiences a minor transformation when the mother-son team point them to the taxi stand that he and Sarah missed. Sarah is vindicated: it is okay to talk to other teams.

Tina credits herself when the airline to switches the flight to a bigger plane, allowing room for all ten teams. Tina lets everyone know that they owe her. The other teams are incredulous and pissed off. But all teams get on the same flight.

After arriving in Fortaleza, the teams ride yellow dune buggies on the beach to the Detour: Beach it or Dock it. Everyone hoots and hollers and all have fun for once.

I am rooting for the geeks, Mark and Bill. They are good-natured; they get along, and seem to carry no emotional baggage. They are the only team who choose to Dock it. They end up in the lead, thanks to their attention to detail.

Read the Clue, Sherlock

The divorcees freak out, thinking they need to find some "container" after the Beach It task. But they were mixing in instructions from the Dock It option. They waste a lot of time, digging in the wet sand. When they figure out their mistake, they are still in the middle of the pack. Despite reciting their lesson: "read the clue," they don't read the next clue and don't have their taxi wait while they perform the detour.

Mark and Bill end up in a footrace with Ken and Tina for first place. Mark and Bill don't stand a chance and end up arriving second. But all four are happy and gracious, even Tina.

Though the divorcees make the most egregious mistakes, they come in 7th. It is Anthony and the marriage-hungry Stephanie who come in last and get eliminated. In post-elimination reflection, Anthony rattles off all the things he is thankful for. He lists his looks third, and finally, Stephanie, fourth. I don't hear wedding bells for them.