Amazingly Disappointing

Obviously, SPOILERS AHEAD

I'm still not really over the outcome of this Race; I think it is going to take awhile.

Eric and Jeremy were in the lead at every single bunching point on this leg of the race. But when I saw what the final task was--putting the flags of every country they had visited in the order in which they visited them--and I saw that BJ and Tyler were right behind them, I put my head in my hands and just gave up. But then, for a split second, hope, as Eric said to Jeremy "you take this one, you know the flags." They had studied the flags! I renewed my chanting of "Frats, frats, frats," which I had been repeating for the first hour and 45 minutes of the show. When both Eric and Jeremy AND BJ and Tyler messed up with the flags, I kept my hope up. But once my beloved frats switched Oman and Thailand (which they initially had correct) and didn't switch them back, I knew it was over. Damn those hippies.

I was surprised by just how disappointed I was. I guess I just hate that a team as dominant as Eric and Jeremy would end up losing the Race. They were in first or second place every single leg of the race but one, when they ended up in fourth. Of course, the time they were in fourth was one of two legs on which BJ and Tyler ended last, but they had the luck of non-elimination both those times.

This ending reminds me of the season when Rob and Amber were in first practically every leg, but lost to Uchenna and Joyce. And I hated it that time as well. Of course, I am a bit of a hypocrite, as I was happy when Chip and Kim beat out the far more dominant Colin and Christie. But Colin and Christie were pretty reprehensible, and the frats just weren't.

Eric and Jeremy never got upset with each other, never threw hissy fits, never whined that they were "out of it," and were never rude to the other teams (well, except for the taxi incident, but karma got them back on that and they totally realized it and took it well). They were able to handle the physical challenges as well as the more cerebral ones...well, until the one challenge that truly counted. And they really looked so disappointed at the end of the Race.

BJ and Tyler, on the other hand, were lucky enough to be in last on two non-elimination legs, were lucky that the Japan leg came so late in the Race (a big advantage, but hey, if you can speak Japanese, you probably deserve it) and often wasted time on the Race. Although I liked that they attempted to interact with the locals, they would also make stupid decisions, chatting when time is short, or begging for money before getting your plane tickets. And often their interactions with the locals were just the BJ and Tyler Show, where they would show how goofy they were while allowing the locals to take them in. That isn't learning about a culture as much as putting on an act for people to watch. I actually think they were two genuine people who really made an effort to get more out of the Race than just running from pit stop to pit stop, but I don't think they really did a good job of doing much other than being the center of attention. Of course, when they were asked how they felt after the Race, they credited their victory to their attempt to get to know the people of the places they visited. Again, I think they came up quite a bit short there.

For those of you who have been following these posts, you will know that some of the Junkettes have been involved in an Amazing Race pool, where each week we would decide which team would end up in which place, and we got points if we were right. Coming into this week, I was one point ahead of Bailey, and we were the only two who could win first place. I chose Eric and Jeremy to win, BJ and Tyler for second and Ray and Yolanda for last. She chose BJ and Tyler to win, Eric and Jeremy in second and Ray and Yolanda in last. So, I'm sure you can now see how it worked out. At least we both got Ray and Yolanda right. Damn Bailey.

Here are the final scores:
Bailey: 91 (all previous legs) + 12 (final leg) = 103
Red: 92 + 6 = 98
Diane: 75 + 6 = 81
Laura H.: 74 + 3 = 77
Laura I.W.: 61 + 3 = 64