The Buoy Club

The Amazing Race: Fluent Chinese and Elbow Checks!

I bet the closed captioning guys were dead tired after this episode. Our teams finally land in China, and much to no one's surprise, team Harvard speaks fluent Chinese. What strikes me as funny is it seems like it took a return to their homeland for this team to remember they spoke Chinese. If I knew another language on a race where withholding information could mean winning a million bucks, you best believe my team's conversation would have to be translated. After all, if it weren't for their lack of running skills, team Harvard would've finished first because of their ability to communicate at the Detour. Don't be surprised if you see more Chinese as the race gets tighter.

After last week's previews, I expected the brawl between the Sistahs and Luke to be truly epic. Much to my delight, it lived up to the hype. After Luke elbows Jen's attempted grab at the clue box, the episode's first "bitch" flies out. What's funny is that Jen drops this bomb right as Margie runs past. Great timing. After lecturing Luke about staying level-headed, Margie then proceeds to lag behind as her son races toward another clash with Jen at the very next clue box! Once again, the two collide and Jen is sent reeling into the poor, defenseless clue box. Despite the animosity, I don't think the blame really lies with either racer. Nobody pushed anybody and Luke's elbow didn't connect with any part of Jen's body.

Making this confrontation even more awkward is the fact that these teams were forced to race side-by-side for the rest of the leg. I was just waiting for Luke to nudge Jen's elbow during the calligraphy writing. But that tension paled in comparison to the showdown we got on the finish mat. While I think Margie might've overreacted just a bit, Kisha and Jen did nothing but make total asses out of themselves. You don't laugh in the face of someone hurling accusations at you. I don't care if that's your personality. But since they're such big believers in karma, I'm sure they'll appreciate a big helping of it next week at the swimming challenge!

Overall, this episode featured a memorable clash between an unlikely pair of teams, but ultimately lacked any real drama since the midgets were so far behind.

BUOY CLUB GRADE: 86 out of 100.