bj and tyler, you are the official winners of the amazing race! *breaks down with joy*

what a race! i was crying when i called up mara at work. then i stopped crying long enough to call arol too. what a brilliant season. thank goodness, TAR is redeemed after that very disappointing family edition. ratings, according to news, sunk to historic TAR lows after TAR8 ended. oh well, i guess the family edition totally lacked the excitement of the usual TAR format. but anyway, the hippies helped erased that by being the very first team to survive 2 NELs and win the million-dollar prize. TTOW!

i loved the japan leg, though i thought they could’ve done better with the ‘maiden’ detour. for sure, eric and germ-y were disappointed that the maiden they were carrying wasn’t as hot as they thought. gawd, the ‘maidens’ look like uhm, hookers…or fags. especially the one rayo got. and who was that guy in the harry potter scarf? they should’ve asked takuya kimura or shingo katori instead. hehe. but the ojiisan at the mat with phil looked so adorable. he looked like the old man everybody calls ‘おじいちゃん’ in every inaka. welcome to lake yamanaka, japan. ^_^

well, i don’t want to rub it in. but this is a vindication for the hippies. in your face, frats and mojo! and fyi. the frat brats (who aren’t really frat boys, btw) aren’t the strongest team ever on the amazing race. we have rob and brennan, colin and christie and (i’m saying this with grudge) rob and amber. to name a few.

and mojo…i don’t even wanna start with mojo! boo-hoo!

the final episode had so many brilliant and funny moments:

• the salaryman telling yo that she looked like janet jackson (then they all do that weird karate kid-like gesture), to which yo replied ‘i’ll tell michael you said hey’. great one, yo!
• hamarikyu gardens…i’ve been there! i loved the place. but they have squat toilets. nyak.
• germ-y telling eric he was the captain of his high school swan boat club. hehe.
• the toll gate guy slapping ray on the butt (good-naturedly)
• the hippies biking through the busy tokyo streets while tyler shouts ‘変な外人です。ごめんなさい！’ cute.
• bj needs to work on his japanese. i hate it every time he says ‘arigatou’ with that annoying american accent. comes out as ‘arigatow’. ugh. tyler, on the other hand, was pretty good! あゆみ has taught him well. ttow, あゆみさん!

anyway, here are my favorite TAR teams:

• team cha-cha-cha (oh yeah!) – TAR2
• john vito and jill (they deserved to win…more than flo)- TAR3
• teri and ian (yes, i’m one of the few) – TAR3
• ken and gerard – TAR3
• the clowns (jon is NOT a clown. he is a human cannonball) – TAR4
• chip and kim – TAR5
• bowling moms – TAR5
• gus and hera – TAR6
• kris and jon (kris is just the complete opposite of the ‘ugly american’)- TAR6
• uchenna and joyce – TAR7
• the hippies (TTOW!) – TAR9
• fran and barry (i’m always inclined to like the oldies every season, anyway. hehe. ) – TAR9

i didn’t see the whole TAR season 1 so i don’t have a favorite team. as for TAR8…well, i think i watched a total of 3 episodes. or less. that’s it.

TAR also had its share of controversial and uhm, interesting teams like flozach, freddy and kendra (the amazing racist), romber, colin and christie, reichen and chip. even if they are usually the most hated teams, they make TAR super interesting and fun to watch.

TAR is one of the only 3 shows i watch on tv (aside from csi and csi new york) and it was a fantastic 9th season. i’m just looking forward to TAR 10. i wonder when the all-star edition is going to happen.

One team is ecstatic when they learn the location of the next destination a place they’ve been to and where they know the language.

TTOW! that would be bj and tyler in the land of the rising sun! go for it, kintaro!

Little mistakes can cost big when the finish line is so close, and one team wastes a lot of time looking for equipment needed for a challenge. Will this be the difference between first and second place?

uhm…frat girls?

The last two legs of the race are both mentally and physically grueling. Which duo will win the one million dollars?

japan and usa…in winter!

oh good Lord! thanks for saving bj and tyler’s necks twice!! i don’t know what i’d do if they were philiminated. thank goodness for NON-ELIMINATION LEGS. why don’t we all do a group hug and share that hippie lovin’?

i used to really hate non-els, especially during that AR season with flo the whiner and zach the saint. they were supposed to be gone after a certain leg but because it was a non-el, they were saved and went on to win a million dollars. i so hate that season!

…and then there were (still) four. hehe. four teams, that is. here’s what i think about each team:

bj and tyler (AKA the hippies) – i don’t know what i think about them ^_~ i LOVE this team to bits! they’re crazy, they love each other, they’re very nice to the locals, they make it a point to learn how to say ‘thank you’ or ‘where is this place’ in the country’s native language. big plus for them: tyler speaks japanese. anyone who speaks a foreign language immediately gets brownie points for me; anyone who speaks japanese immediately gets MORE brownie points from me. TTOW! i hope the hippies will be TTOW-ing their way to the pit stop, with the philiminator telling them they’ve won a million dollars.

joseph and monica (AKA team mojo AKA team frodo AKA team hobbit) – just lucky to be in the race for this long. good thing the hippies got to the yield mat first! in your face, team hobbit! with all the hippie lovin’ going on, team frodo became public enemy number 1.

ray and yolanda (AKA team warrick brown) – i like them. not as much as i like bj and tyler, though. they’re too boring to be big favorites but still likeable. what puzzles me is that, despite being very fit and athletic (check out yo’s gams!), they’re not getting a lot of first place finishes. except in tonight’s episode. which made me soooo happy! yay, they get a prize!

eric and jeremy (AKA frat boys) - true alpha males to the bone. i have a certain aversion to teams like this one and i don’t know why i don’t find them more interesting. sure, they have nice bods, as many people say (oi, i hate nipple rings!). and sure, they look cute (i beg to disagree). yet i find it hard to like them. i thought reichen and chip were more interesting, hehe.

cancelling other teams’ cabs is too low, even for the immortal rob mariano, but apparently not too low for these frat guys. and team frodo just snickering in the background. funny, instant karma bit back too soon. wahaha! sure, the hippies got their share of karma too (for yielding the hobbits) but they did apologize to mojo. this monica person is really getting to my nerves; saying ‘i hate the hippies’ every five minutes is annoying. people get it. so stop. NOW.

here’s a nice post i got (from the fort) about mojo:

colin & christie, rob & amber, jon & victoria, youve all been dethroned as masters of TAR asshatery in one fell swoop by mojo in the space of 2 episodes……….mama weaver & the spandex twins, better put down the twinkies and start praying cause team mojo looks set to rocket through the stratosphere of idiocy next week and whip out some majory asshatery of weaveresque purportions……….