The lone junkette

I fear this will be a sad week in the blogosphere for Pop Culture Junkette. Bailey and Holt are on a very extended vacation, although they have been making a valiant effort to post from time-to-time. Wilder hasn't posted in over a month. And Isaac is on vacation this week as well. Which means you all are stuck with a whole lot of Red Fraggle.

And any reader of this blog had to expect Red Fraggle's first post of this week would be about The Amazing Race All Stars, right? Here goes (spoilers ahead).

Going into this Race, I knew I would be cheering for Rob and Amber and the Beauty Queens. I love that both teams were strong racers and that they actually respect each other as teammates. I would love to see Rob and Amber win, since I still think they were totally robbed in season seven (and were so dominant that season), but I would love to see the Beauty Queens win it all as the first female team. Although I thought one of the racers (I can't remember who) had a great point when they said they expected the season ten teams would get worn down more quickly, since they basically went from one race directly into another.

Of course, on the other side of that coin are Kevin and Drew. Sure, it's been about five years since they last raced. And they weren't all that physically fit back in 2001. But didn't they at least try to get in shape a little bit before this race? It doesn't seem so. The fact that one of them (Drew, I think; I always have trouble telling them apart) was outrun by a midget is quite a testament to his physical preparation for the Race.

There were some interesting changes in some of the teams. Rob telling the shuttle bus driver to stop for Team Cha Cha Cha at the airport? Unheard of (particularly when all of the other teams were telling their drivers to keep going)! David and Mary doing respectably? Shocking!

It was also nice to see that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Uchenna and Joyce? Confused and lost! Mirna? Face full of make-up and hair falling in tumbling waves. Ian? Stupid hat and obnoxious attitude. Rob and Amber? First place throughout almost the entire leg (and wearing red again).

I was sad that we didn't see more of the Guidos, and I thought that Eric and Dani did really well, ending up on the last bus (four teams left on a 7 a.m. bus, four on a 7:15 and three on a 7:30) but still coming into the pit stop in fourth place. It must be strange for Eric, who was almost never out of the top two spots throughout season nine, to find himself so far behind so quickly. But they had a nice recovery. Of course, I was saddest to see Jon-Vito and Jill go. I was so shocked when I learned they weren't still together, and I was hoping we would get to see them grow close through the Race. But it does sound as if they both think they might want to get back together. They are so nice, one can't help but root for them.

In all, it was an okay episode, but I was expecting more excitement to start. I do still have high hopes for the season as a whole. And remember--be sure to set your DVR to end the recording an hour after the scheduled time because the Race was again pushed off by a sporting event running too long earlier in the night.