THE AMAZING RACE VII --TAR7-- Official Show Thread & photo preview

Here we go again, race fans, for the Seventh Season of The Amazing Race (TAR7). We'll vicariously travel with eleven teams as they fly, drive, climb, crawl, leap, slide, and boogie around the world to compete for one million dollars. They'll never know where they're going next or what they'll have to do once there. The last team to arrive at the "designated pit stop" at the end of each week's episode will be eliminated from the race -- unless it is not. So pull up your favorite armchair and travel along with the Freeper Amazing Race contingent every Tuesday night for the next few months as we root for favorites, throw tomatoes at the others, and wish we were the ones living dangerously. BON VOYAGE!

Brian, 27 & Greg, 24 are brothers from Santa Monica, California. Brian is an actor/bartender and Greg is a bouncer. Their primary motivation for participating in the Race is to travel the world with each other and meet new people. Veto!s opinion: Team Bro wants face time on tv. They are big, strong, in shape, and they think they're action stars. But are they wily? Could be they'll be eating other teams' dust.

Debbie & Bianca are best friends from Los Angeles, California and Woodbridge, Virginia, respectively. Bianca is a high school teacher and Debbie works as a photographer. Both are highly educated, experienced travelers, and have lived abroad. Veto!s opinion: Keep an eye on these two. Unless they scratch each other’s eyes out, they’ll probably do just fine.

Lynn & Alex are (would you believe?) a gay couple from West Hollywood, California. They both work as executive assistants. With their four-year anniversary on the horizon, they possibly hope to get married in Amsterdam—if indeed they race through Amsterdam. Veto!s opinion: Need I say?

Megan & Heidi, a make-up artist and fashion designer, are roommates from Oak Park, California. Both are allegedly extremely competitive and not afraid to take risks. They decided to sign up for the Race “just for the challenge and competition.” Veto!s opinion:. Can the Hair Queens keep up the pace when their tresses get tangled? I see hissy fits on the horizon.

Meredith, 69, & Gretchen, 66, are a husband/wife team from Easton, Maryland. Meredith is a retired executive and Gretchen is a retired nurse/flight attendant. He holds seven National Masters Swimming Championship titles, she admits to being quite loud, particularly when upset. . Veto!s opinion: If Gretch doesn’t turn into Nurse Ratched, they may go far and win Freeper kudos for their efforts.

Ray, 44, & Deana, 27, are a dating-on-and-off team from Canfield, Ohio and Youngstown, Ohio respectively. Ray, a former semi-pro football player, is a stockbroker and Deana is a marketing and promotions executive. Both enjoy weight lifting and karate. Veto!s opinion:This season’s “will their relationship last?” team. Ray will overdo it trying to beat younger guys. Ho-hum.

Rob, 29, & Amber, 26, AKA Boston Rob and Ambuh, are an engaged couple from Canton, Massachusetts and Beaver, Pennsylvania, respectively. They formed an alliance and fell in love when they competed with each other on “Survivor: All Stars.” Amber won the one million dollar prize. Rob finished as the $100k runner-up, but proposed to Amber before they knew which had won the big bucks. Veto!s opinion: Two Thumbs Up! Highly athletic and competitive, these two know how to work together. But will their “take-over-the-‘hood” skills that won them Survivor translate to racing’s Hall of Fame? Why, indeed, not?

Ron, 28, & Kelly, 26, are a dating Team from Villa Rica, Georgia and Greenville, South Carolina, respectively. Ron is a former Iraq War POW who is currently a student at the University of Georgia and works as a motivational speaker. Kelly was crowned Miss South Carolina in 2002 and works as a Legislative Correspondent…(for whom?) Ron was an Apache helicopter pilot in Iraq. When shot down, he was captured, interrogated, held captive and later rescued by the United States Marines. Following his rescue, Ron returned home and was introduced to the reigning Miss South Carolina. The two have been an item ever since. Ron is very competitive and admits he’s a thrill seeker. . Veto!s opinion: Two more thumbs 'way up. They’ll be Freepers’ favorites, and they have what it takes to win.

Ryan, 31, & Chuck, 32, are lifelong friends from Landrum, South Carolina and Inman, South Carolina, respectively. Ryan is a general contractor, and Chuck works in boiler tube replacement sales. Both are motorcycle nuts and very religious. . Veto!s opinion: Definitely wily Southern boys. Up against tough competition, but I hope they make a good showing.

Uchenna, 40, & Joyce, 44, a childless married couple from Houston. Uchenna worked for Enron as an energy trader and Joyce worked in sales for WorldCom, have different jobs since their companies went bankrupt. If they win, they say they’ll use the money for in-vitro fertilization. Veto!s opinion:A tough, scrappy pair, but too much tension here, methinks, for them to get much traction. They’re hardly Kim and Chip, the wonderful black couple who won Amazing Race two seasons back.

Susan, 54, & Patrick, 26, are mother and gay son. She is the Director for Judicial Affairs for Miami University in Ohio and Patrick is a writer now living in Hollywood. Susan, married to Patrick’s father for 34 years, earned her college degree as a “non-traditional” student. Patrick says his family has always been very supportive of him,even —surprise, surprise-- when he told them he was gay. Veto!s opinion: They’re looking for love in all the wrong places; hopefully, their elimination from the show will be swift and merciful.

A Sunday ping for TAR7 fans. Don't forget to watch Tuesday night, 9 pm Pacific/Eastern. Check your local listings for local times, please.

Short-form summary of last week's race:

Friends, Freepers, and Countrymen, lend me your ears. If you missed the show last week, it had the best possible outcome! Team ExLax was eliminated! (Applause meter off the charts.)

How did that come about? (The long-form summary)

The week before, we were treated to a nonPit-Stop ending with a “to be continued” promise on the screen. Though Romber arrived first and would have won the leg, had it been a leg, and Metch came in far behind the others, no Team was eliminated nor did any team gain an advantage from scurrying around in hot, sweaty and entirely luckless Lucknow, India, one of the true armpits of the world. Plenty of pain, no gain.

Phil handed out clues that directed Teams to board a train at 9 p.m. on platform 2 at the railroad station across the street, destination unknown. (Patting self on back, I did predict that they’d travel by train, not plane, last week.) As they rattled down the tracks to a mystery destination, it was not until the middle of the night that their clues were delivered by a spectral figure in white who seemed more like the resident haunt than a real live porter. Destination Jodhpur in Rajastan, more than 24 hours down the track.

Settling in for the long journey, Relly and Romber shared a compartment and made friends. An alliance of sorts was formed. Ron remarked in a camera-aside, “Rob’s really humorous and Amber’s just very sweet.” Rob said, “We actually started a real friendship, but in the end, we want to win. That’s why we’re here.”

Once in Jodhpur Train Station, Teams had to find their next clue at Route Marker. Travel one mile to the Sardar Marker and find a clock tower, where their next clue waited on the first floor balcony. When all five Teams arrived at the clock tower, they found that it was closed until 10:00 the next morning. Teams checked into a small hotel. Buzzing around town, the cameras let us know that Jodhpur is a pretty colorful place, with bright goods in the stores, pretty women in the streets along with men and kids. At night, a lively Hindu wedding was taking place, with fireworks and dancing in the streets in front of the hotel. ExLax joined the (lower case) village people to boogie the night away while Metch and Juchenna watched from their balconies.

Eschewing the fun and games, strategists Rob and Ron enlisted the hotel manager, Sanjay, to help them maneuver through the next day’s challenges. (In an aside, Ron says Sanjay was “coerced” by Rob to help them; nevertheless, Relly shares in his help) The outcome of this lap of the race was possibly sealed at this point. Had the good-time boys strategized rather than partied, they might not have made mistakes the next day

The next morning at 10:00, Teams raced to the top of the clock tower to find their next clue, which included the second and final Fast Forward and a Detour . Juchenna got there first and decided to win the FF, which required cabbing 10.5 miles to a Hindu temple and participating in a good-fortune ritual. They would not learn until arrival at the temple that the ritual was to have their heads shaved. Little did they know that shiny bald heads were in their futures…..no biggie for bald Uchenna, but Joyce ……..

Dazed and confused from dancing the night away, ExLax started off for the FF too, believing for a moment that they could beat Juchenna to the temple. The other teams, faced with the choice of “Trunk” and “Dunk,” In Dunk, they would have to tie dye a pile of things to get their clue, an easy but possibly slow process; in Trunk, they’d cab to Jodhpur’s Old City and use muscle power to push a wooden tiki elephant weighing 600 pounds half a mile to a temple, where a priest would hand them their clue. While physically demanding, they could also exert their powers of persuasion to get help from locals.

Relly, Romber and Metch chose Trunk and began pushing their heavy, unwieldy elephants down the street with the help of various locals. Gretchen apparently misread the clue and jumped atop Metch’s elephant, adding another 150 pounds to her longsuffering husband’s labors. Observing the hard time he was having she shrieked “We have a bad elephant.”

Meanwhile, ExLax decided that they’d lose if they got to the FF second rather than first and turned back to try shoving an elephant. (Not going to write inelegant things here, nosiree.)

We’re treated to interesting scenes of street life as Relly and Romber push their elephants along, with Kelly getting unasked-for help from people and thanking them graciously and Rob having a tougher time. “It’s tough to organize Indian labor,” he remarked. Nevertheless, Relly and Romber arrived at the temple and received their next clue at almost the same moment. ExLax made it back to the Trunk starting line and completed the task in good time as Metch continued to struggle. .

Romber and Relly were well underway by auto rickshaw to Oeora Krishi Farm to find their next clue. Rob pulled their friend Sanjay into his vehicle to point the way. Lynn & Alex completed the Detour, as did Meredith & Gretchen, now firmly in last place.

Where’s Juchenna? Hopelessly lost, that’s where. They just cannot find the right temple in a country that has a temple on every hilltop. Too confusing, and their driver seems the ultimate ditz (not a gender-specific term.)_ As they’re going around in circles, Relly and Relly are fighting for first place at Eora Krishi Farms. There, one member of the team must drive a camel cart twice around a dusty track. Kelly and Amber volunteer and set off down the track with Kelly pulling ahead thanks to her more cooperative camel. Amber’s critter has more interest in nearby trees and gullies than in racing and is very hard to keep on track. (Is luck changing here? Doesn’t Romber always have all the luck?)

As Amber wrestles her recalcitrant beastie, Metch arrives at the track. Gretchen hopes aloud that Amber’s camel will go around the track backwards, cackle cackle. But wait! Who’s keeping track of ExLax? They got their clue far ahead of Metch, but they have not arrived at the racetrack. ExLax is lost, Juchenna is lost, Romber and Relly are racing toward the finish line, or so it seems thanks to skillful editing.

But in real time, Juchenna has in fact found the temple, discovered that the FF requires head shaving. No problem for Uchenna, who is already bald as the proverbial bowling ball. But Joyce? With all that hair? Uchenna is solicitous to the max, bless his heart. Torrents of “You don’t have to do it. Don’t do it,” flow from him but plucky Joyce shows her mettle and sits while two holy turbaned and robed barbers shave her head. Uchenna stays by her side, arm around her, giving support and encouragement. When it’s over, he tells her that she looks beautiful bald. (Personal note: At this juncture, Veto! moves Juchenna into the possible winner’s circle.) Collecting their Fast Forward pass, Juchenna heads off to the Pit Stop at Jaswant Thada, a royal tomb in the city of Jodhpur. They’ve wasted hours, will they be first on the mat?

Back at the camel course, Kelly finished her second lap in the camel cart to complete the Roadblock. Amber was close behind, delayed when her camel briefly stopped just feet before the finish line. By this time, ExLax has arrived and Lynn does a good job with his camel cart, leaving struggling Meredith in the dust.

Relly and Romber once again are running a tight race. For first place? Possibly, but Juchenna’s cab driver has by now read his map and knows where the Pit Stop is located. The three teams are underway at all possible speed. Who will get there first? With Lynn also completing the Roadblock, only a frustrated Meredith remains on the course, in last place once again. Metch bickers. Gretch shrilly kvetches "We have a bad camel!" and shouts at Meredith as he founders. “I’m trying!” he yells. At last Meredith finishes and shouts for Gretch to join him, prompting her to respond, “For God sakes, we’ve never acted like this with each other.” (Riiiiiiiiiiiight.)

Now all five Teams are en route to Jaswant Thada, and the margin of error is razor-thin. With a slight lead over Metch, ExLax ends up at the wrong palace. Ooops, back into the cab, they hope they hadn’t lost too much time.

Lady Luck comes to the races again as Relly has to stop once more at a gas station. The tight race for first place was decided then and there. Romber catches up with Relly, and Juchenna pulls ahead, stepping on the mat in first place. Uchenna said, “You made the ultimate sacrifice for this one, baby.”

Uphill from the mat, Relly pulls up to the path first, with Romber directly on their tails. The two couples run over rocks and rills as fast as they can. The race to the mat is a photo-finish, with Relly touching in just a second ahead of Romber. This would have been quite the finish to the race at the end, which one can only hope will be so exciting.

Metch? ExLax? Who will be last? We already know, but it was fun to watch Metch somehow luck out once again as ExLax brings up the rear and becomes the seventh Team eliminated from TAR7.

This week, teasers show the Teams climbing rocks that are probably not in India and a voice-over asks whether Romber will be sorry that they teamed up with Relly. Another teasher shows Kelly verbally blistering Ron once again, sayhing that he "doesn't commit." When he looks shocked and reminds her of his service to his country and being a POW, she bitch-slaps him verbally again, telling him that being a POW was just his way to get out. WhooooEeeeeee, will Ron shove her off the upcoming rock face? Tune in to find out!

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