‘The Amazing Race 22’ review: A cautionary tale and an injury debate
This week on “The Amazing Race 22,” we present you with what is a valuable lesson to future teams to do your homework before going on the show. There are some things that you cannot predict for, whether it be bad taxis, confusing clues, and of course the challenges that are completely out of left field. However, a few things are constant: there will always be something that involves jumping or climbing down some ridiculously high point, and there will always be at least one water challenge.
We also have an interesting discussion of the race rulebook coming back, so be sure to keep reading after we detail all of the teams’ positions in this leg.
1st – Bates & Anthony. If the rest of “The Amazing Race” is all about balance tasks, these hockey stars are almost sure to win. They have just about everything that you need to be a great team: physical strength, a good relationship, and enough strategic acumen to conquer tough challenges.
2nd – Dave & Connor. Sure, these two guys did a great job at getting to the Pit Stop despite a huge blunder pretty early on with a clue … but what we’re really interested in finding out next concerns the Achilles injury that that was suffered at the very end of the leg. There’s no way we see this sort of injury allowing the team to continue, so the placement here could be irrelevant.
3rd – Jessica & John. They still have not decided who to give the Express Pass to at the moment, but this couple seems to be firmly in the drivers’ seat at the moment. It’s frustrating in some ways based on sheer predictability, but these are the teams that consistently win this show with few exceptions (see Josh & Brent last season).
4th – Joey & Meghan. Team YouTube still seems to be mugging for the cameras a little too much for our taste, but there’s no questioning at the moment that they could be a solid team. Having a lighthearted approach to the race is useful during tough challenges, and we haven’t seen them become extremely frustrated with each other yet.
5th – Chuck & Wynona. Chuck’s mullet is still fantastic, and this is the team destined to be the next Mark & Bopper. They are extremely likable, and they also are the sort of people that could really use the money. Unfortunately, we think that they will probably be destined to around this sort of finish on the show thanks to their physical liabilities.
6th – Mona & Beth. They were the only team out of the early group to actually do the detour involving building an underwater dinner table (at least at first), and they made up some valuable time in doing so. These two may be the underdogs of the entire race at the moment: they don’t seem particularly strong, but are determined.
7th – Caroline & Jennifer. Speaking of surprises, these two really managed to make up a seriously large amount of ground just by making no mistakes. The country stars seemed dead in the water going into this leg, but now have a major fighting chance.
8th – Max & Katie. We don’t imagine Max & Katie to stay in danger for very long, since they have the makings of a strong team. The only concern that we really have long-term is that they seem so concerned with being “evil” that they may ultimately lose sight of what’s important.
9th – Pam & Winnie. Somehow, these two ladies managed to survive in the race despite making some pretty colossal errors, with the primary one being getting lost at sea and allowing a pair of teas to catch up despite being an hour and a half behind to start off the real competitive portion of the leg. The only thing that really helped them was the fact that one pair of guys did something much worse.
10th – Idries & Jamil. These two were our pre-show pick to win, so suffice it to say that seeing them be the second team out is pretty embarrassing. Let this be a lesson to future contestants, though: actually prepare for everything before going on the race. These two may be busy OBGYNs, but you have to imagine that they knew that there was going to be water on the race. Wouldn’t you work on conquering that fear before going out, especially since this is something that you can work on? This is really just a case of a team that beat themselves, and they had every opportunity possible to stay in this race with good position.
Now, let’s talk a little bit about the implications of an injury happening now. If Dave & Connor are unable to continue with the race, what happens? While producers could introduce a non-elimination leg, this seems to be a little bit bad for the race given that there are already three of these. What may be more interesting is if Idries & Jamil managed to get a reprieve and can continue with the show, and they could do well considering that there are probably not going to be many more swinning challenges ahead.
What do you think is going to happen following Dave & Connor’s injury? We want to hear your thoughts below, and be sure to watch a preview for this week’s episode over at the link here.
Photo: CBS