The Amazing Race: Power Rankings
By Daron Aldridge
December 2, 2012
BoxOfficeProphets.com
With only two episodes and even fewer teams than that number that I like, here we go:
Trey & Lexi (Dating): I’m one part proud and another part not-so-much. First the pride stems from the fact that I pegged this team before the season started to make it to the finals and they are only one leg away from fulfilling my prediction. I’m not so proud of the alliance this otherwise mostly likeable team has made with the twins. Will I get past their role in the theft? Probably not, but they are the lesser of the two evils in that alliance. Plus, with the more dominating teams eliminated and Team Longhorn seemingly hitting their stride the last few legs, it only seems appropriate that this couple assumes the top rank.
Jaymes & James (Best friends/Chippendales dancers): Here’s another team that seems to have come into their own late in the Race. Team Beefcake has maintained a fun-loving, self-deprecating attitude over the course of the race, which has endeared them to me and make them the sole remaining team that I can wholeheartedly root for. The guys have persisted this season and risen from the back of the pack to the front. Plus they have proven me wrong that they are one blunder away from elimination because if that were true, they wouldn’t be one pitstop away from the finals. This is the team I want to win it all but really any of the remaining teams is fine with me, except…
Natalie & Nadiya (twin sisters): I am so tempted to place them as the number one ranked team. Not because I think they deserve it…They don’t at all. (I know you remember the thievery of James & Abba’s money that I won’t let you forget and even mentioned it already in this column.) And not because they are the best team like they think they are…They definitely aren’t. (The only reason they are in first place last week is thanks to the Fast Forward.) Nope, the main motivation would be to hopefully saddle Team Despicable with the Daron Curse of teams I value and rank highly being sent home almost immediately. But the previous two reasons have taken precedence over my irrational desire to somehow impact an outcome that is already decided.
Josh & Brent (Life partners for 15 years): Team Beekman was previously ranked last because of their series of the errors and lack of desire to actually compete. Well, they didn’t do much to dispel those assumptions last week. The guys and the divorcees tagged along with one another the entire leg in Holland, which benefited Josh & Brent greatly. It is possible (granted only slightly) that Abbie & Ryan could have gained some lead over the guys if they hadn’t been joined at the hip. The fact that Josh was *this* close to actually accompanying the divorcees on their U-Turned task is why I keep them in last. They continue to exhibit a lack of fire or aptitude for the Race.
Those are my semi-objective feelings about the remaining teams but the only real scenario that I would be happy with this week is Natalie & Nadiya going home. The prospect of them still competing for the prize is about as unsavory of a possibility as I can think of for this season. If the twins make the finals, I can only pray they end up in third like the colossally annoying Brendan & Rachel and not in first plus a million dollars richer like Ugly Americans Ernie & Cindy.
It’s almost time to see who makes the final.