‘The Amazing Race 21’ review: Rats, drats, and congrats

Sometimes, there are episodes of “The Amazing Race” that are hard to get excited about. Why? Let’s just say that if the location and the challenges are not awe-inspiring, then the rest of the episode is not really, either.

If this was the first time that the show had been to a third-world country, then maybe this episode would have done a little bit more for us; instead, though, it was really not anything different or new for the show. To make matters worse this week, the challenges either transitioned from boring (sewing … seriously) to disgusting (the Fast Forward that showed Mark & Abba picking up dead rats off of the ground). Where is the expression of Bengali culture? Instead, all we really got from this episode was that Dhaka was crowded, has a lot of dead rats, and also has some buses that need to be repaired.

One other thing was also relatively constant about this episode that made this entire hour relatively unexciting was that even the order of the teams was uneventful. Even though a number of teams became incredibly confused as to where they were supposed to go on their way to the pit stop, Gary & Will were once again in last place by the time that the dust settled. Unfortunately for them, there was no reprieve this time courtesy of a team messing up badly along the way. Hopefully with these two gone now, the show will start to pick up a little bit when it comes to drama; in addition to that, we have to hope that someone will emerge as a fan favorite soon. After all, while there are teams that have their moments (the Chippendales, the rockers, Trey & Lexi), there are not any “Mark & Bopper” teams that make you want to shout at the TV with joy when they finish a leg.

What did you think about this episode, and do you wish that the challenges were a little bit better this season?