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Brian and Ericka show that they have what it takes to possibly win it all. (CBS)
For the second week in a row — and I believe this to be a first for The Amazing Race — a team decided to give up on a challenge.
At first, I was going to harp on Maria and Tiffany, the pro poker players, for quitting on the race just a week after Mika let fear get the better of her and also basically leave the race as well.
However, where I feel a little let down by our card-playin’ pair of ladies, I think instead I’ll be positive about how another team just may have proven to be the toughest of all, given the challenges they had to face.
I’m talking about Brian and Ericka — and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if these two finished in first place.
Here’s the deal.
- Groningen’s Martinitoren / Image via Wikipedia
Our six remaining teams finally leave the uber-rich desert of Dubai for the Netherlands, and the competitors head to the town of Groningen and the Martinitoren, the tallest tower there.
It’s a church tower with a carillon — basically a tower with multiple bells which are played with a keyboard. Competitors had to count the number of bells in the tower — which ended up being 62 — and five of the teams got it on the first try. Only Ericka struggled, and she struggled mightily.
Finally, on her fourth attempt, she got the number right, after this exchange with the carilloneur:
“You’re laughing?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’m done crying,” she replied. “You didn’t see that part.”
He also didn’t see Brian encouraging his wife to keep trying and not quit on the challenge. This willingness to keep plugging away ended up paying huge dividends.
They screwed up during the detour phase — the teams were instructed to dress in traditional Dutch garb, bike down the course and then either play farmersgolf or do a farmers’ dance, and Ericka and Brian forgot to get bikes. Instead, they ambled down the Dutch roads in wooden shoes to the dance, though they handled that, a “high striker” and even soused herring quite well.
And even despite incurring a 30-minute penalty for not taking bikes, Brian and Ericka remained in the race.
Maria and Tiffany: Done in by a 'high striker' and farmersgolf. (CBS)
You see, Maria and Tiffany, who had what seemed to be a fairly decent chance at remaining in the race, ran into huge problems with the detour.
In the dance portion, competitors had to successfully hit a bell on a “high striker” — it’s the thing at carnivals on which you slam a hammer onto a lever and a small weight travels up to hit a bell at the top. Unfortunately, Maria and Tiffany couldn’t quite manage it despite several tries.
In the golf portion, the teams had to strike a large ball around a grassy field into holes using clubs with wooden shoes on the end. By the time Maria and Tiffany had reached that course, their upper body strength was sapped. The duo switched back to the dance, failed again at the “high striker”, and then came back to golf again, and finally reached the end of their rope.
Phil Keoghan had to come to them, and they told him they were done with the race.
In looking at both teams, you come to the realization that in order to win the $1 million first prize, you have to be made of some very, very strong stuff. I have a feeling that Brian and Ericka definitely have that.
And if the scenes from next week are any indication, they’ll need it, with possibly the toughest challenge of any Race making a reappearance — the dreaded Stockholm Roadblock, featuring 270 hay bales, of which only 20 of which have clues. Yikes.
We leave you now with Elimination Station, where Maria and Tiffany aren’t going to be coming back to Vietnam. Check out why no one’s upset about this:
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Would love to see Brian and Ericka win because they are gutsy.
True. They are gutsy. I think they would run through a brick wall if that’s what Phil Keoghan required.
Oh, and Phil? Don’t require it.
Sure y’all. They’re the cutest couple, the emotionally compelling vote. If it were a popularity thing, they’d be the feel-good favorite. But they missed reading the clue. Understandable enough, but a self-imposed obstacle. Plus the counting game. I getcha on the “we overcame” vibe. But did I miss where the young blonde, beentogetherforever couple, who look like siblings they’re so close, is out? They’re not strong competition you don’t think? I’ve only seen a few episodes, but they looked pretty natural, easygoing, and not breaking sweats. The dad and son team looked strong too, working together like they’d know each other all their lives.
In short, that’s a great couple. And if they’re learning, and keep up the drive, they are definitely competitors. But let’s not forget the other teams, just because blonde/blue-eyed is supposed to be a free pass. They sure seem strong to me, and gutsy too. Holla.
ps. And could you make that photo just a bit bigger Leslie? We don’t get too many interracial couples on reality tv, eh?
And congrats on your engagement, get some furniture for that fiancee, poor child sleeping on the floor… ;-)
Thanks for the congrats, Elise. But as for the picture…I didn’t write that post! The fabulous Jon Tully writes “The Amazing Race,” so he picked the photo. I didn’t have anything to do with it…although I do love that show, and love Brian – Ericka is sort of high-maintenance, but it’s clear they love each other.
And the fiancee will be fine. He just seems to like napping on the floor :)
You know, I swear there are times that your stories post under each other’s bylines.
Really — I didn’t see “by Leslie Gray Streeter” originally on this piece? Hmm….
Same criticism goes for Jon’s story then. How the heck can you say ” I think instead I’ll be positive about how another team just may have proven to be the toughest of all, given the challenges they had to face.” when everybody else finishing ahead of them faced the exact same challenges … except not miscounting, or misreading the clue.
Poor blonde folk just can’t seem to catch a break, no matter their performances.
Thanks for the feedback, Elise! And no, my byline was never on that post. I didn’t even read it until this afternoon, and Jon doesn’t have access to my login. That’s OK – we like that you read TV Talk, no matter who writes it!
Sorry to inform you Leslie … I’d bet anything that your name was up as the byline for at least 1 day.
And this isn’t the first time I’ve noticed the bylines changing later.
You might want to double check with your IT dept. (You’re welcome that I’m reading … still don’t understand how they can pay so many of you to watch tv shows and report on them as your beats, but somebody somewhere must think this is a sustainable business model. I never click the online links though, so I’m not exactly sure how my reading your tv talks translates to anything substantial though… What is Keven covering now, if Jon is your go-to tv guy? And what the heck ever happened to Scott Eyman? Do you cover books anymore at the Post, or only tv celebrity books? Thanks for the info!)
Elise:
Not sure why that would happen, with the bylines and such. I’ve never noticed it. But I’ll ask!
TV isn’t anyone’s beat. We don’t have a full-time TV critic anymore – the TV Talk blogging is something we do in addition to our beats. The TV shows, particularly, we picked ourselves. We write much more than what you see in this blog – I write about pop culture in print and online, which sometimes includes TV, and write several stories a week, including a column in Accent on Fridays and one in TGIF. Jon is a PBPulse editor, and a great writer.
And Scott is still writing about books – check out Sunday’s Accent section!
Thanks, Elise!
Jon is a PBPulse editor, and a great writer.
Show us, don’t tell us. ;-)
Please do look into that changing bylines thing. When your work here is so personalized, it helps to know who’s writing, from the original read on.
How do you decide which tv shows are worthy of weekly review, and which aren’t? Does a journalist need special training to be a tv reviewer, and what is Kevin doing now? Also, why do you bury the non-tv and non-fluff stuff in Accent? Shouldn’t that go into Arts and Culture, which seems to be neglected ever since you went to the pulse format.
Is it working? Are your younger readers turning out for the tv and wine reviews, and staying to read the news? Somehow, I doubt that fluffy stuff works myself, there’s too many alternative tv-show review sites that the online person would also turn to, as well.
Do you ever get out much, past the club reviews and press release invites, to cover what regular people — families, transplants, singles, etc. — do in WPB for entertainment? Sometimes the comped shows y’all review really aren’t accessible to those not being comped, so I wonder if you’re reaching that working, everyday set of people — what they do for kicks independently on the weekends, evenings. Somehow, I don’t think the free wine review parties are on the radars of your younger readers, particularly those paying their own ways.
Thanks for reading my comment!
Sorry to be a nag, but…
Can you please link me to the books section? I went to Accent, clicked on Scott Eyman, and the last story there was written in March 2009.
I clicked on the Books section above on that page, and got a hippie looking guy telling me the link was no longer valid, had been disconnected.
When you went to this new pulse format, all the solid regulars are gone, at least to us reading online. (Gary Schwan, the art critic — is he still with us?) Can you please put them on the pulse main page too, so if these categories are covered, they’re not hidden?
Thanks so much. I really enjoyed the books section, and think I’m too old for the club/tv/dating blogs and reviews. Thanks for whatever you can do on this. Maybe it’s more an online IT thing, but I’d be grateful if you could pass along the request. Thanks again.
I am not sure why the books section isn’t online – it is in print. I’ll pass all that on to the Pulse crew.
A lot of the regulars are gone, period – Gary Schwan has retired, along with Hap Erstein, although he is back as a freelancer for theater. Pulse already existed before those guys left in 2008, though.
People do get out to different events – I know that in my That Girl column, I don’t usually write about things that I am invited to (I like to just drop in, which is why I found things like the Southern Kitchen in Lake Park. I just stumbled on it).
We can’t cover everything, but we love suggestions!
Thanks for reading, again!
Elise- here’s Scott!
http://www.pbpulse.com/category/arts-and-culture/book-reviews-arts/
Thanks for the link, and anything you can do to keep the books section online!
Thanks again.