EPISODE 6:What a roller-coaster of intense highs and lows that was! Firstly the fab yielding of the Weavers by the Paolo’s, then the shady underbelly of Costa Rico satisfyingly swallowing up terrified Americans, then the hysterics of Ma Weaver having a break down and then the final sprint to the finish with the Ghagans gut-wrenchingly just not making it.
Even though I’ve had the best time making fun of them I've known that seeing the youngest nipper getting the whack wouldn't be easy but I never imagined it would be as deeply upsetting as it was – made more so by them losing to the Weavers obviously and by how proud and brave Carissa was.
The way her lips and cheeks were so desperately trying to cling back the tears was too too much and once it was over and I’d managed to get my emotions under control for her my heart when out to Him Gaghan.
He did such a fine job of keeping his families spirits up I thought - espesh considering it was all directly his wife’s fault for being so useless in her search and also for not having any urgency about it whatsoever. I know panic isn’t a good thing but there’s a point at which the adrenalin it gives you is an inspiration and she didn’t have one smidgen of this.
I reckon their biggest mistake was not letting Billy do the Roadblock. He’s consistently shown that he’s smart, strong and wants to be involved and with him being so much closer to the ground I reckon he would have aced it.
The freaky thing is that Carissa predicted their demise without even knowing it, right at the beginning when she insisted they were going to walk to Costa Rica instead of buss-it. They literally could have walked there and still won if Tammy hadn’t done the roadblock.
Once she’d eventually found the bean and they were dashing away Carissa was defs frustrated with her – wanting not to be but unable to help it. Will she always feel that her mother's responsible for letting the family down in the race do you think? Is there the possibility that when she’s a teen Him Ghagan is going to have all sorts of TAR baggage between them to sort out?
Speaking of baggage – the pink ladies were ridiculous with theirs. Last week I wondered where they were going to put everything they kept but never for a moment did I think they’d literally carry around such debilitating sacks. They were just lucky they ended up with so much car-space this week.
This is how the action started - with the sisters lugging around white plastic bags and asking cassanova Latin types for money while everyone else left the pitstop to go to Costa Rica.
They all arrived at a volcanic game reserve where they got their Detour instructions which involved them choosing between crossing creaky bridges to find ruins from the set of Survivor Guatemala or putting 15 bales (is that what you call them?) of bananas onto a pully and delivering them to a banana dude.
This would have been my end - I just know it for sure because I would have chosen the bananas without even thinking about it. It’s got nothing to do with the height of the bridges but the bananas just struck me as seeming so much easier and quicker.
I would have faced the heavy unliftable crisis the Paolo’s faced and collapsed in a heap – unlike Tony who, once more, made me cry. Yet again he made me feel sad and yet happy and I realised that doesn’t only have to do with him being a garbage collector.
It’s more than that - I think it has something to do with the fact that I had an uncle I was very close to who lived in America and he was Greek - he had very similar mannerisms and reminds me of him a lot.
When the Paolo's went on to Yield the Weavers I was whooping wildly - the best was how incredibly judgemental the Weavers had just been previously - saying how “above” everything they were because of being Christians.
How are you possibly supposed to relate to a family who see themselves as being so much better like that? They distract everything away from the real world and their own responsility into their religion to the extent that it really must be impossible to have a conversation where you’re not feeling they see you as being less worthy than them.
The shady parts of town everyone had to negotiate before reaching the yield to find their cars was very cool. Imagine the movie scenes you could film in such a place. I always think it’s a pathetic act when teams get “scared” of being a rundown area in a reality show – what could possibly happen to them with all those other teams running around and camera men and those bright lights on the tops of the cameras?
Once they’d all made it out unscathed they headed off to the coffee estate where the Ghagans met their bean fate and the Weavers got stuck in the mud.
The most hysterical during this was Linda Weaver saying “ I’m sick of doing things I can’t do.” – which just goes to show how much of what she says is total rubbish ‘cos if you’ve done something you can’t not do it.
As much as I don’t like to compare the two it was kinda similar to Marion Paulo going on about how she couldn’t do it even once she’d won and her head was resting on a chest. I think it was on her son’s with the boobs? That white pollarneck thing he was wearing was
not a good idea.
Even though she didn’t realize it in these moments Marion was also similar to Megan Linz in terms how she too now has balls. As per always everything the Linz’s did was charming and funny – unlike the Bransens who’s dad clearly loathes them. They’re a surprisingly creepy crowd aren’t they? I find I’m forgetting about them during things and don’t care whatever happens to them.
I really wanted to know which of the prizes the Paolo’s are gonna choose for themselves. How cool were they? I was undecided as to which I would want – I liked the buggy but I’ve always wanted a segway from the first moment I heard about them so I'd have chosen that.
The shows hotting up big time – hopefully next week it'll be ablaze and the Weavers burrn for what they did to Carissa.