The Amazing Race 6: Episode 2

For the second season in a row the team that Sweetie and I picked as the sacrificial lamb pre-race has come back to surprise us. Last season we figured the Bowling Moms would be eliminated in the first week. They came in 3rd. This year we figured the senior citizens were just along for the ride, and they're continuing to hold on. They also win style points this week for utilizing a senior citizen discount on the train in Norway.

It is no surprise who was eliminated this week, and that's the female friends from New York. An equilizer saved them last week, and they were given another equilizer in this episode, but the game only has so many equilizers before they catch up with you.

Even though it would have meant certain elimination for my team of choice last season, I like the new twist this season allowing one teammate to complete no more than 6 roadblocks over the course of the race.

There was lots of fighting and difficulty between teammates this week. Here are basic rules you need to remember before competing in The Amazing Race:

1. Recognize your individual strengths and weaknesses. Play to strengths and try to minimize weaknesses. If your teammate failed archery in college it's probably not the best idea to ask them to complete the archery challenge.
2. It's worth it to take 5 seconds to figure out a plan of attack. Having a strategy you can execute to plan will save you more than the 5 seconds you invested to come up with the plan.
3. Once you have a plan, stick to it. The only reason to completely deviate from a plan is because you came up with an absoultely horrible plan, and if you are only capable of coming up with horrible plans you're better of sitting at home and watching the show rather than participating. If you switch from one plan to another you are just wasting time. There are rare exceptions to this rule when it comes to detours, but rarely is it worth the while.
4. Remember, you are a TEAM. Yelling abusive remarks about how stupid your teammate is and how they can't get anything done isn't going to help the two of you win the race. Recognize that you will have moments of yelling and stress, but make sure to kiss and make up later.
5. The Amazing Race is not the place to test a relationship. If you don't have a strong relationship that can survive the yelling and the stress your doomed.

They're taking a northerly route this race, which is an interesting change of pace. It will be interesting to see where they go from here. Next week it looks like they'll be at IKEA headquarters. Perhaps the challenge will be to pronounce the names of IKEA products.