The Amazing Race: Leg 10

*spoilers as always*

There really is only one thing to say after the 10th leg of The Amazing Race:

Happy Birthday Jennifer!

With only one episode to go, the race to finish in the top 3 led to one of the best legs of the season, where almost all the teams were neck and neck and fighting hard to not be eliminated.

And with TK and Rachel as my favorite team, I ended the episode with fingernails a lot shorter than they were at the start.

The leg started off with an awesome declaration from Nick:

“All the teams still in it are bitches.”

I’m not even sure what he meant by that, but I think Nate and Jennifer might know. On poor Jennifer’s birthday, they went through so many ups and downs it was like their entire race squeezed into one leg.

Every team except TK and Rachel started the leg around 7 AM, trying to find a floating garden at the building with the hole in it. Lucky for TK and Rachel, it opened at 10 AM and since they were 3 hours behind, they made up a HUGE amount of ground.

The airport featured the beginning of the end for Jennifer and Nate, after she interrupted Nate and he flipped out. The arguments would continue from there.

Christina told the ticket agent to tell the other teams that there were no more tickets left, but while they talked big later about playing dirty, I’m pretty sure those were really the last tickets.

Meanwhile, TK and Rachel get to the floating garden, only to pass the clue box once and get delayed.

Now this is where things got fuzzy. We lose track of TK and Rachel, and the other teams at the airport are booking flights to Thailand. Ronald and Christina get on the first flight out and land 15 minutes before the Nate and Jen, and Nick and Donald. They get through immigration quickly and the other two teams on the later flight end up stuck in line.

And then all hell breaks loose. TK and Rachel show up out of nowhere, shocking Jennifer, making Nick laugh and causing Rachel to get so excited she loses her voice in weird scream-like cheers.

This makes Jennifer want to shave TK’s dreadlocks and Nick to shave TK’s beard. I don’t know what their fascination was with shaving, but it was slightly creepy when Nick said it.

Ronald and Christina had a good enough lead that they never saw the other teams and made it to the Pit Stop in first place. They won a wonderful vacation together with a suite, a spa hot tub and massages. Ummm…

The rest of the leg was really between the last three teams. They all snag the high-speed train to JiJi where TK and Rachel get off the train first and make it to the Detour before the other teams. This turned out to be a huge accomplishment for them, as the Speed Bump came right after.

The challenge was kind of cool, as teams had to sit in a little SUV that was up on a 20-foot tall see-saw and then drive through a pool of water in a jeep, holding their breaths for 17 seconds.

TK and Rachel’s Speed Bump was to run through fireworks being shot at them from both sides, and then get drenched with water. While the Yoga Speed Bump for Kynt and Vyxin and this one are kind of simple tasks, I like that they aren’t major challenges that would really slow them down.

While they did the fireworks, the other team teams finished the Detour and made it back to the train station. But they just missed the 7:36 train, and had to wait until the 8:00. This allowed TK and Rachel to make another surprise appearance, getting onto that train and bundling that last three teams together again.

All this time, Nate and Jen were slowly losing it. It was as if they could just feel themselves losing before it happened. They had no confidence and could do nothing but worry about how TK and Rachel caught up.

The hilarious bit came when Jennifer made fun of them, talking about how they are always so relaxed and calm, never seeming to let anything get to them. She was so insightful, but not enough so to realize perhaps that they might try the same thing.

Nick and Donald get off the train first and the Road Block was next. All teams chose to run down a 200 foot sidewalk laid with stones that they had to walk barefoot down. They got there first, but were passed by TK and Rachel, who “have strong feet” as they said.

Nate and Jen struggle to find a way there, not being able to decide on a taxi or subway, so they take the subway on Jennifer’s whim, and then having been told to take a bus, Nate suggests maybe a taxi would be wiser. Jen asks Nate to be a man and just make a decision, and that’s when we pretty much find out Nate doesn’t know how to be a man.

He just starts flipping out, Jen flips out (On her Birthday!) and they end up getting to the Pit Stop in last place.

Afterwards, in an almost tearful ending, Nate and Jen talk about their relationship and appear to break up. It was hard to not think it was staged, but it sure looked real, despite the 3 camera angles with one of them on some kind of mechanical, panning arm.

It’s interesting to note how Nate and Jen ended up worse and worse as the race went along, and likely break up afterwards, while Ronald and Christina became closer as the race goes on and appear to have a strong father-daughter bond at this point.

So who do you think will win now? I of course am pulling for TK and Rachel, but I really think it’s only between them and Ronald/Christina. I just think at the end of the day, Donald’s lack of being able to run will hurt him and Nick.

And here are the standings in the contest, with Nicky being the first contestant eliminated…sorry Nicky!

Seems like a lot of us were right about TK and Rachel! Can’t wait for the finale next week!

Mike: Azaria/Hendekea, Rachel/TK, Lorena/Jason

Jina: Azaria/Hendekea, Rachel/TK, Marianna/Julia

Tracy: Ari/Staella, Rachel/TK, Jennifer/Nathan

Scott: Kynt/Vyxsin, Nicholas/Donald

Nicky: Jennifer/Nathan, Azaria/Hendekea

Kat: Nathan/Jenny, TK/Rachel