The Amazing Race - Playing the Race Card

The "race card" actually applies to both kind of races from last night's episode. The five remaining teams flew over to China where they had one person use trained birds to fish and then they had to either learn ballroom dance or write some calligraphy.

1. I took a Chinese class once and my professor told us about the bird fishing thing. They tie a string around their necks (visible in the episode) so that the bird can't swallow the fish, then you can just kind of squeeze the fish out. It was actually interesting to see in action.

2. Jamie/Cara are so annoying. Well, actually it's just one of them. The one without the dark circles under her eyes. I think that one's Jamie. It's as if she's on a one woman mission to make sure she leaves everyone she comes across with a worse opinion of Americans than they had before they met her. This week, the girls couldn't learn how to properly dance together with a large group of Chinese couples. They didn't seem to understand that by barging into random other people that they couldn't possibly be doing the correct moves. I did laugh when after being checked in (4th place) Cara (or whichever is the normal one) paused before asking if there were five teams that leg. It probably gets a little confusing running around the world trying to keep track of everything.

3. Luke/Margie vs. Kisha/Jen
Okay, so let's start from the beginning. Jen says how she's not afraid to push someone to get ahead. Luke's really competative. Combined with the previews for the night, whatever could this mean? When getting to the first cluebox in China, both the teams were really oblivious to the box right next to them. The bored camera guys who are sick of being there ended up pointing to the box giving its location away. Luke was blocking the box from Jen, so she kind of jumped around him and he threw up an elbow to block her. That's when she called him a bitch complete with the ASL sign for it. (educational television!) Luke wasn't aware of the insult until his mother told him and he reacted like he would have gotten violent if he had been aware of it at the time. Kisha/Jen were still a little angry from a previous leg when Margie/Luke had their cab driver lie to Kisha/Jen's.

After getting to the next clue box, Jen reached the box first. Her momentum, combined with Luke trying to stop himself right behind her, pushed her into the box. Luke tried to jump in and grab a clue over her shoulder, so Jen pushed him away. Margie yelled at Kisha for some reason. Later, she told some made up version of events to Luke where he was even more of a victim.

After checking in at the same time, Phil got the teams to talk about it. Margie tried to get Luke to not talk about it, but they said Jen pushed him and called him a bitch. Jen admitted it, saying it was a bitch move and told their side of the story, very down the middle, sharing equal blame about running into the clue box. When it was time for Margie/Luke's turn again, Kisha laughed to herself. It was very obviously at the situation, as if she couldn't believe it was happening. This caused Margie to flip out screaming that they were laughing at her son for being deaf.

Now, I understand that a mother wants to protect her son, but this was not happening. Kisha/Jen and Phil all said that wasn't what they were doing, and Luke was like, "what's going on." Margie, the only one he could rely on for information, told him her made up version of how the girls were anti-deaf. He understandable reacted to this by being very upsdet, but did say some things, he'll probably regret later.

The worst part of the event was when Margie played the race card. She turned to the sisters and said that they should understand being made fun of and being different because they're black. That's crossing a line. So after calling the sisters the wrong name (I'm wiling to write it off as just an innocent mistake, as opposed to not being able to tell two African Americans apart) she's assuming that because these girls are black, they'll be used to being made fun of? Also, being deaf is not a race. I'm not even sure how to say what I'm feeling about this, I'm just shocked that she said that.

The best part of the exchange? Tammy/Victor standing there awkwardly not sure what to do.

Oh, but point to me for guessing the previews right. I knew Luke wouldn't actually be the victim he was acting like (based on Margie's info)

The Amazing Race - Bitch! (preview)

That's the word of the night, apparently. Before I see the actual episode itself, I have a bone to pick with the ads for tonight's episode. The preview aired after last week's episode clearly showed Luke and Jen both being a little rough when getting one clue, then it shows Luke plowing into the back of her at a presumably later clue box, knocking her down. We saw Jen call him a bitch, later defending her insult by calling his actions a "bitch move." When the two teams are on the mat together, there's some sort of breakdown with Luke storming off and calling Jen a bitch. Neither is presented in a positive light, but it actually makes Luke appear as if he initiated a large amount of the rough play and couldn't handle being called a name.

The preview airing during the rest of the week was completely different. We see some of the same aggressive racing to the clue box, but at the mat Margie accuses the sisters of making fun of her son's lack of hearing. Suddenly, Luke is a victim again. How dare those girls call him names.

Now, the show can make any story they want, but Luke and Margie have gone out of their way to show that they are just as ruthless and aggressive as any other team. After using the blind yield, Luke was called a 'diabolical deaf guy' by Mike. I find it hard to believe that a team playing as hard as this mother-son team are suddenly having a break down because he was called a bitch. And I find it hard to believe that the sisters, who haven't been shown to be rude and whiny like Jamie/Cara, would actually be making fun of him for being deaf. My guess is they're laughing at what he's saying, not how he's saying it.

This is all before I see the episode of course, and it'll be interesting to see how much I misinterpreted.