The Amazing Race Summary Part 2 - Season 22

Okay, in this post I will discuss about The Amazing Race Season 22. Again, this post is based on my perspective, for the unbiased summary please click the following Wikipedia or Wikia page.

The Amazing Race 22

The Amazing Race 22 Route

In this season I started to favor some teams, and the route of this race is also one of my favorite routes in this show. My first favorite team is Pam & Winnie who are best friends from L.A., they are both pretty, smart and considered as one of strong and competitive woman teams, and also representing the Asian-American in this race (I'm truly Asian, of course this matters hehe...). My second favorite team is Max and Katie who are newlyweds from Buffalo, they are highly competitive & intelligent (esp. Katie) and newlyweds who dream to have a memorable honeymoon experience by joining this race, what an unforgettable one in a lifetime honeymoon isn't it?

First challenge in Bora-Bora

The route of this race is also somehow fascinating for me. Starting from U.S. (L.A.)-French Polynesia (Bora-Bora)-New Zealand-Indonesia-Vietnam-Botswana-Switzerland-Germany-Scotland-Northern Ireland-U.S. (Washington D.C.). This was the first time race to visit Bora-Bora, an exotic tropical paradise located in the south Pacific Ocean, made this spot listed as one of my favorite destinations for honeymoon. In this leg of the race teams were challenged to do tandem skydive from helicopter at the height of 3000 m above the ground. This was a fantastic challenge, encountering an expensive experience by overlooking the lagoon of Bora-Bora. The following task was looking for your next clue inside one of 400 sandcastles at the beach. This task relied on luck and passion. Performed at noon, looking for the clue while digging the hot sand not only tested your physical, but also your mental strength. In this leg, the smart Katie made her move by persuading the last three teams including her to give up the challenge and receive the four hours penalty in order to save their time in the following leg from painstakingly digging the sandcastles. This proved as good decision where in the following leg the race was slightly reset due to hour of operation of the water taxi in Bora-Bora. Further, Katie proved again her intelligence in Bora-Bora by choosing the easier detour challenges to perform and save their position. Her suggestion for choosing the later detours also help her team to move up in the later legs.

Contrary results. (Left) Dave & Connor were able to race even with crutches after receiving express pass from Jessica & John. (Right) Jessica & John got eliminated without cleverly used their express pass to help them during the detour/roadblock challenge

In the second leg in Bora-Bora one team (Dave & Connor), father and son who are both cancer survivors, got some accident of tearing his (Dave) achilles tendon while racing the other team (Bates & Anthony) to the pit stop in order to secure the first place in that leg. Fortunately, because the already made some alliance and pact with the other team (Jessica & John), they received an express pass which won by Jessica & John in the first leg and needed to be given to the other team. By using this express pass Dave and Connor were still able to continue the race while Dave using crutches to help him move. Moreover, they are greatly benefited from the express pass which help them to secure the first position (together with some prizes) in the next two legs in New Zealand and Indonesia, before finally withdrawing their participation from the race to get some surgery for Dave. However, the opposite thing happened to Jessica & John, while they struggled to perform a detour during the leg in Bali, Indonesia, John insisted not to use their express pass to save it for the later leg if somehow they get U-Turned by other teams. This decision proved to prevent them from winning US$ 1 million after they got eliminated in the 4th leg, and marked the history of The Amazing Race as the first team who have express pass but not able to escape from elimination.

Talking about intelligence, luck and patience in this race, I thought they all have same proportion for this race. Let me get some examples. During the leg in New Zealand, only Max and Katie team who reserved the flight from New Zealand to Bali before going to the airport, helped them to secure their seat for the first flight scheduled to arrive at Bali. In the leg in Vietnam, they were also the team who initiated to look over an internet for help them to solve the clue before going to the travel agent (actually they are second in chronological order after Pam & Winnie who departed first). This leg showed me that both team were the smartest one among others. However, both teams met their bad luck in Botswana and resulted the elimination of Pam and Winnie in Botswana. During the leg in Botswana, Pam and Winnie already chosen the appropriate detour challenge but their donkey couldn't moved at all, pushed them to switch easier detour but required high accuracy. They were doing the both detour challenges inaccurately and made them to come in last position for elimination. For Max & Katie, during the road trip in Botswana Katie already noticed the speed limit but unfortunately Max still drove to fast and made them caught in speed trap by local police. This speed ticket consumed their valuable time and almost cost their position (however they were saved by Pam & Winnie struggling with detours). Talking about luck, the other team (Chuck & Wynona) were the luckiest team in this race. As one of the weakest teams and came as the last team to check in the pit stop twice in New Zealand and Vietnam, they were still saved by their good luck, where in New Zealand they encountered a double-length leg and in Vietnam Dave & Connor withdrawal from the race made them the actual second last team and saved their position. Their luck made them able to race until third-quarter of the total journey, before getting eliminated in 8th leg.

Tidal Basin where Max & Katie got stuck

The race continued from Botswana to Germany, and here I found a new twist about The Amazing Race namely the curse of three consecutive first positions. It stated by Bates & Anthony who won the three consecutive legs, but got some bump in the following leg. Since that I observed the behavior of the winner of each pit stop. Later I found that in season 16 Louie & Michael, season 13 Ken & Tina were two teams I found encountered this curse. Due to their competitive and intelligence skill, Max & Katie succeeded to climb from the underdog team to top three teams who race for the final. It was shown clearly that in the 4 last legs, their intelligence helped them to solved the challenges faster than the other teams and made them won 3 consecutive prizes by finishing first in 4 last legs. However, the curse stated by Bates & Anthony came to reality. In the 4th leg after three consecutive wins, which was now the final leg in D.C., Max & Katie still surpassed the other teams by going to the right places referred by the clues. But, when they encountered the roadblock in the Tidal Basin Max met his bad luck without finding the right "secret service" among hundreds of secret services spread around107 acres of Tidal Basin. This was only luck matter, because Anthony quickly met his secret service only after meeting several secret services. This hampered Max & Katie which later turned out they were placed 2nd after Bates & Anthony in the finish line. This was really disappointing because it was well known that Max & Katie were superior team  until luck took place in the race. I hope they will get some second chance, something like The Amazing Race 18: Unfinished Business.