The Amazing Race: Escape from the Johannesburg Airport

If you love airports, this is the episode for you. And, really, who doesn't like airports? The teams have to get from Maputo to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and they quickly find that all the flights are full. In fact, the only way to get there is through Johannesburg. Charla and Mirna manage to get out in front because they – well, I can't really say they figure it out first, but they go to Johannesburg first. And I place the blame for what happens in the rest of the episode - teams spread out far as they do or do not get on flights - on the producers. This is why they get charter flights and emergency backup reservations, to prevent huge gaps between teams. So the first half of the episode is basically devoted to teams standing around in the Johannesburg airport, begging to be let on planes, or, in the case of Eric and Danielle, being placed on a plane only to be cruelly ripped from it. Ha! Oh, I'm sorry. My schadenfreude really kicks in with this team. Maybe it has to do with the fact that, early in the episode, Eric confuses Tanzania and Tasmania, and yet the conversation still ends with him calling Danielle stupid. I'm not saying she's not, but they really don't have a healthy couple dynamic going. Does Eric even like her?

Meanwhile, I am more and more charmed by Oswald and Danny with each passing week. They earn themselves major points (with me, probably not with their driver, unless he's a PR fan) by joking with their driver, Andre, and using the Tim Gunn voice on him. On the way to Zanzibar, they joke around with Mirna and Charla, too, telling them to stay away from the bench they're working and claiming that they'll sell them for food, and the cousins… don't get it. Hey, I appreciate your jokes, boys.

Disappointingly, the cousins come in first again, all because Oswald and Danny stop for fruit. (At least they'll never get scurvy.) However, I did enjoy Phil having to explain the cousins' prize to them:

Phil: You've won a catamaran!
Charla and Mirna: Buh?
Phil: A catamaran! You know! A… boat with two hulls, joined by a frame? A catamaran?
Charla and Mirna: Muh?
Phil: Seriously, you don't know what a catamaran is? Are you –
Charla and Mirna: Our cat's breath smells like cat food.
Phil: Uh, never mind. How did you manage to come in first?

Phil also gives a massive eyebrow pop, like, visible from space, when introducing the Roadblock (throwing a traditional Masai rungu), so it's another good week for Phil overall. Anyway, thanks to the anti-bunch, the final two teams are obvious for most of the episode: Joe and Bill and Teri and Ian. The Guidos kick serious ass on the puzzle Detour, so they get to stay for another week, and Teri and Ian are eliminated.