LAST EDITED ON 11-28-06 AT 11:17 AM (EST)

Leaving the pit stop, Tyler immediately set the tone of the episode by telling us: “If I were to pick who would be in the final three, it would be James and I, Rob and Kimberly and Bama. The Blondes are really tough girls. They have a lot of drive and have been at the top of the pack for the last couple of legs.”
Arriving second at the airport, James added: “Look, the Blondes beat us…Those damn blondes beat us here.” Their frustration grew when they learned that they couldn’t take the same plane to Milan as Dustin and Kandice, who exchanged a smile at the news.
In Casablanca, they started wondering: “Where are the Blondes” asked James. “It’s the question of the day…The blondes have too much power over us.” The girls were nervous when they arrived at the Moroccan airport but they simply smiled at James’ lack of excitement when they got back together.

The second team to join the feud was Rob and Kim. Rob started by trying to scare the girls. “Our plane arrives in Ouarzazate at 1:00PM” said Rob, knowing the girls’ plane arrived at 4:55PM. He confided that he did that because: “The Blondes race with a certain amount of arrogance. I don’t like their style of racing.” He was happy with his bluff when he told them it was a joke.

Rob and Kim had not seen the Blondes in the Casablanca airport, so when they boarded the plane to see the girls already seated despite having major delay problems, Rob commented: “I was literally crushed when I saw them. They took an unnecessary risk to gain time to get to an airport where we were all connecting. I was hoping that the way they run the race would be their fatal mistake.” Will it be the blondes fatal mistake once they have to beat the penalty, or will it be Rob and Kim’s mistake because they are obsessed with the Blondes?

Out of Ouarzazate, the Blondes got to the cars first. For some reason, Rob took offense: “The blondes are sneaking out. I’m so over them. I’d like to take them out so bad.”

We know why Bama hate the Blondes:
-We have to get to the yield first” said Karlyn once in Morocco.
-“Karlyn wants to yield the Barbies” commented Lyn.
-“We’ve wanted to slow them down since the beginning of the race” agreed Karlyn.
-“We’ll yield the Blondes” said Lyn. “It’s exciting.”
-“What goes around, comes around” agreed Karlyn.

Dustin and Kandice explained their goal. “Honestly, the million dollars isn’t what’s driving us. Ultimately, it’s the spirit of the competition” said Dustin who went on to add “we don’t want to stop for anything less than first place.” Immediately after that, we see them exchanging a high five in the car, congratulating themselves on “Final Four.” That appeared to be a contradiction. Also, talking about numbers is rarely a good sign.

Many of their nice showings had been due to Kandice’s skills at navigating with maps. Hearing that they didn’t have a map was all we needed to know that they were going to run into trouble. It started right away when they asked for directions to the souk. The local brought them to a deserted area of the city and it looked a little scary. They decided to head back and finally made their way to the “Antiquités du Sud” shop. The bunching point brought them back with the group.

Battle at the Yield

Unfortunately for the Moms, the Blondes decided to use their yield opportunity:
-“They’re going to hate us.”
-“That’s nothing new. If we didn’t do it, we wouldn’t be playing our best game.”
-“If we hadn’t yielded them, we would have jeopardized our chances to win” explained Kandice while Dustin was getting ready for the chariot ride. “It’s really tight right now. We had to do what we had to do.” explained Kandice.
Karlyn fumed: “We already hated them. I expected it because it is typical of something they would do. They haven’t shown any character. They have to live with it. I can go home at night and go right to sleep.”
Lyn had the last word; “It’s funny that they see us as a threat. They are stupid to have yielded us. Would you rather race in the final 3 with teams that are right where you are?”

The Roadblock
Dustin did a good job on the chariot during the roadblock: “I felt like a legitimate gladiator. The crowd was cheering. I was victorious in battle.” Kandice sure has a good time cheering her partner on.

They left tied for first with Rob and Kimberly and agreed to ride together. Rob was quick to remind us that: “The Beauty Queens are not to be trusted. We can use them from time to time, but we won’t trust them.” The models caught up to the front teams and the couple’s car got a flat tire.

On the way back to the Detour, the girls see the couple still stranded on the side of the road but pass right by, saying: “We can’t help.” Both Kim and Rob were disappointed that the girls didn’t stop to at least tell them what had happened. Rob then tells us that, from Day 1, they saw that they couldn’t trust the Blondes.

Dustin and Kandice were at the front since the Detour clue but they missed the turn for the “North Africa” olive farm. They finally arrived fourth at the detour and they had to wait for a grinding pit to open up. As the pit stop was next, they knew they were in big trouble but were ready to face the bad news. We heard them say they were numb but still felt great with the way they ran the race.

At the Berber camp that served as the pit stop, Phil had an extended exchange with Dustin and Kandice after they hugged him, relieved to have heard that their bad day hadn’t cost them the race.
-“I know how you guys would love to win this race” said Phil. “The other teams see you as a real threat and every single one of them would love to see you leave this race.”
-“Especially one of them” answered Kandice with a tear in her eye.

-“We can’t make everyone happy, especially in this situation. The teams can see how competitive we are. That’s probably a little bit scary to them” explained Dustin in the last confessional of the evening.
-“The fact that we’re still here and they’re all ticked at us, that is cool with us” said Kandice “We aren’t playing nice. We yielded a team today. We didn’t stop when someone’s tire went flat. We’re just playing hardcore.”
-“We want to do it better, we want to do it faster and we want to win” concluded Dustin.

What can be understood by the way the story has been presented? There are always two ways to look at editing. What someone sees as a sign of longevity, another sees as foreshadowing someone’s demise. Some viewers like the Beauty Queens, some can’t stand them. I tend to get focused on a story and my analysis can certainly appear biased even if what I’m trying to do is read the story being told. My intent is trying to see where the editor is leaning. Phil’s interactions at the pit stop and what he says during the recaps are always heavily edited. Did anyone notice the only line we heard from the rap songs in this week’s recap was Kandice singing: “In Madagascar, we were number 1”? Phil must talk with each team for more than the 5 second clips that we see each time. From what I’ve heard, it isn’t the editor’s intent to have us see the Blondes as the malicious Barbies the other teams have denounced and that some viewers see. If it is their intent then they have failed because only the Chos and David and Mary have had comparably high numbers in the Favorite category on the CBS polls.

It is unusual to focus so much attention on a feud. Even Rob and Amber weren’t ganged up on the way the Blondes have been by the three remaining teams:
The Love/Hate relationship Dustin had talked about last time with the Boys was gone this week. The Boys spent most of the episode focused on the Blondes, hoping to get rid of them.
In Rob and Kimberly’s case, we never saw a reason for that antagonism early on during the season but it sure is in full force now.

If the message is that alliances aren’t the right strategy to win TAR then this alliance of purpose between the three teams against Blondes has to fail. And for that, the blondes would have to win. The first story of the season was how “couch potato Mary,” despite a bad ankle, beat the tri-athletes, the story now is about the Blondes’ goal to become the only female team to win. It has been reinforced by Phil too often to be ignored. The situation showed that they are now vulnerable, it could be to hide their comeback and how they beat their opponents. It would be the natural conclusion to the story.

On the other hand, it is very possible that their last confessional was the start of their swan song. If the goal was only to show that a female team can win, then the comments or rather the obsession from the other three teams already proved that the goal is possible. Maybe a final victory isn't necessary. The “marked for elimination” penalty is going to be difficult to overcome.

Lyn and Karlyn had their best result of the race. After Phil wondered if they could succeed as the last representatives of the 6-Pack, Lyn said: “It’s a strange feeling to be the last team surviving from the 6-pack but it’s a position I take with pride. We started the race on our own, we didn’t come with the 6-pack, we acquired them. It’s going to be tough with the teams we’re up against but we are ready.”

After Rob and Kim and Tyler and James got on the first flight to Casablanca, Lyn told us: “We had a three hour lay-over in Paris. We were able to get a map from the bookstore.” Karlyn simply added: “We’re smarter racers than people think.” We even saw Karlyn sitting on the large, unfolded map, scouting the area around Ouarzazate that they’d be sure to travel.

Being the only team that knew where the Kasbah was, Bama were first to the “Antiquités du Sud” bazaar. When Kimberly saw only 3 necklaces left, she assumed the Blondes had already been there! Arriving last at the bazaar, Dustin said: “The sisters could be in the lead right now.” Kandice’s face showed how surprised she was at the thought. At the Atlas Studios, Tyler was amazed; “Bama beat everybody. I’m looking at everyone and I can’t believe Bama beat us.” James added: “What a curve ball!” On the way to Idellson, Kim said: “Bama is good with directions.” By the end of the leg Tyler realized that: “Bama gets places fast.” It validated the comment that Bama are smarter racers than they appear to be. As Lyn said: “We’ve never been first, we always come from behind but we keep hanging on…The yield was good luck for us…The blondes have been evil and their evilness is biting them back.”
Karlyn was happy to tell Phil they were team #2 even if they had been yielded.

That will certainly keep alive the possibility that this is the all-female team that wins but we heard too many negative comments. Joking and laughing at the idea of yielding the blondes only to make an obscene gesture once they had been yielded cannot be seen as the way to picture winners. Karlyn did realize that it was inappriopriate but it still showed some hypocrisy. I also would have thought that we’d hear some “posthumous” praise for the Cho brothers. Instead, in the recap, Phil pointed that “Lyn and Karlyn broke free from their alliance with Erwin and Godwin” and then we heard Godwin say: “That sucks.” Their opening statements were not very complimentary. They haven’t been given a chance to redeem their rough edges.

Tyler and James were in first place for most of the race. They only fell behind Bama when the first three teams got lost on the way to the Souk and then later when James missed the first flag at the detour.
Tyler’s driving got them back in the lead and then they saw the Blondes had missed the turn for the olive farm. Forgetting the necklace almost cost them first place but the Moms would need much more of a head start to outrace these guys!

This team has had the most first place finishes since the beginning of the race. Why are no other teams commenting on the danger they represent? Only the Blondes alluded to their skills. Do the editors really think they can turn a win by a team that has to be considered the favorites into an underdog victory? That seems unlikely. The fact that most of their airtime consists of telling us about the other racers indicates that they will not suddenly become the focus of the story.

Almost all the comments they had were about the Blondes or Bama’s racing skills. They want to get rid of Dustin and Kandice, they are surprised that the moms are competitive, they help Rob and Kimberly along the way and they are happy when they catch up and pass other teams. There isn’t much left about what they have to do or how they see their own race. Are they there only to serve the other racers’ story? What is their story now that we haven’t heard about their dark days in a long time? They are athletic young men who want to get the Blondes out of the race. Is that all? In comparison, didn’t it feel that the Frat Boys had a little more story? I remember it started with their flirting craze then we had their famous short-cuts and later we had their showdown with BJ and Tyler. We know who won that battle: The team that the editor had focused on all along.

Rob and Kimberly had strong opening statements:
-“This race is definitely helping me grow” claimed Rob. “I realize that sometimes I need to really breathe and calm down.”
-“Rob is starting to learn that sometimes you can’t control everything” explained a rational (who would have thought!) Kimberly. “If you can’t control it, then there is no need to freak out over it.”

They got caught up in the frenzy of targeting the girls and nearly freaked out on a few occasions, especially when they saw the Blondes had boarded the plane to Ouarzazate. Rob chose to do the Chariot ride roadblock, telling us: “Kimberly is petrified by horses. They don’t seem to like her.” Kim nodded her head in agreement. We got a replay of her fall off a horse in Mongolia to explain the decision. It was probably done so we can realize that Rob could be out of roadblock options and that Kim may have to do them all in the crucial final legs. It would tie in with their “choosing smart” comment from the last episode.

They didn’t freak out when their car broke down and were able to profit from the girls’ mistake. They came in safely in third place.

This team certainly hasn’t gotten rid of all the negativity that some of their comments created but it isn’t quite the same team as the one that started in Seattle. Compared to the other teams, most of their confessionals show them together instead of one by one. We had another occasion to see that Kimberly may be the best female athlete. This time, she outraced both Beauty Queens to the Yield box. It is strange that it hasn’t been pointed out yet. Is that to leave more room to grow?