Although I rooted (and rooted hard) for their demise, I kind of miss them already. The Beauty Queens were fierce competitors, taking no prisoners and shamelessly using their sex appeal to get ahead. I've never seen a team on Amazing Race acquire so many cabs, favors, and willing local guides as effortlessly as Dustin and Kandice, something that is impossible to begrudge them for. Now, although I started actively hoping for their elimination, I feel as though they will be sorely missed in the final three. I know it's different for everybody, but The Amazing Race finale will now lack an antagonist. I won't be upset no matter who ends up winning out of Team Zoolander, Rob and Kim, or Team Alabama.
I suppose I could go back to my original rooting interests from prior to the season, where I blindly despised Team Zoolander on the basis of my almost universal anti-male model stance. But I've grown to respect those guys. They're the least offensive pair of male models I've ever been privy to. My favorite team remains Rob and Kim, because I can understand their...well, let's call it "passion". In reality, it's just two people with very short fuses. I always respect a couple who have no problem airing their grievances with each other through excessive yelling and name-calling, only to patch things up the minute they both calm down. You'd think that their outbursts would be off-putting, but that's not the case. Rob is the more vocal, usually, but what makes their partnership both appealing and inoffensive is that Kim gives as good as she gets. As a couple, this dynamic is very interesting and, weirdly, healthy. I hope they win. Team Alabama has succeeded against all odds. They are physically inferior by leaps and bounds to the remaining teams, but have stayed in the game on the basis of their calmness and ability to step back and think before acting. Sure, luck has been involved, but every team needs a little luck to make it this far in the game. Alabama deserves their spot in the final three and, if they end up winning, it would be a feel-good upset of massive proportions. Last night's episode was fun, the teams beginning by traveling to Casablanca via the famed Road to Marrakesh. In Casablanca, they prepared and ate camel meat. Although one would assume camel meat to be of the so-gross-it-should-be-on-Fear Factor variety, it actually looked quite appetizing. In fact, I plan on inquiring about it's availability at my local deli. Unfortuantely, I fear that camel farms may be lacking in the Greater Seattle Area. From there, the teams flew less than a thousand miles to the glorious city of Barcelona, Spain, where 'Bama and Rob and Kim got pelted by tomatoes while trying to find a clue in a stack of messy fruit, while Zoolander and the Beauty Queens wore giant costumes and trekked down the famous Las Ramblas. The Beauty Queens were marked for elimination after finishing fourth in last week's non-elimination leg, but the thirty minute time penalty didn't come into play; they finished last anyway. And that was that. Dustin and Kandice had a teary goodbye. It seems like there's a good chance that they'll be asked to participate in The Amazing Race: All-Star Edition that's set to debut early next year. If so, I'll be happy to root against them once more. You can always use some good villains. -Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer (Photo Courtesy of RealityTV Magazine)