(S11E10) So much of this season has been about jockeying for position on flights and very little has been about challenges. Finally, after we spent a lot of time in the airport at the beginning of the episode, we got to see some really cool challenges. The first Detour was Lost in Translation or Kung Fu Fighting-- with ninjas! I would've chosen that, too. The challenges, unfortunately, were super simple for everybody, but at least they were entertaining to wtch.

This week, teams flew more than 1,500 miles from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Hong Kong.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

(S11E09) I can't believe we're already down to five teams. This week, the teams flew a whopping 5,500 miles from Krakow, Poland to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

What is wrong with people that they don't yield people? It's a tool in the game to get ahead of the other teams. And then, teams that do get yielded are personally insulted!

This week, we saw a strong team break down, another strong team make a fatal mistake and a team that has been stumbling finally found its footing.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

(S11E06) Tonight we began in Mozambique, Africa. Teams flew to Tanzania where I swear we witnessed the weirdest race ever! First of all, three teams were nearly an entire day behind the other top teams as they were stuck in the Johannesburg airport. There were three-hour time differences between the racers who left to Zanzibar by boat. The teams didn't get to a challenge until 32 minutes in the show because so much of this week was spent just trying to get the hell out of Johannesburg!

At least both challenges were on the island of Zanzibar so not much more travel was required. The first was a quick little puzzle and the second was a really tough-looking axe-throwing challenge.

Without giving anything away before the jump, I wonder how next week is going to work out with such a huge difference in the finishing times between the teams. I think the final team is going to leave about 12 hours or so later than the first team.

*SPOILERS* AFTER THE JUMP:

(S11E05) Who are you rooting for? The race is narrowed down enough that it's easier to pick a favorite. Right now, I'm partial to Oswald & Danny but I think this episode was edited in their favor.

This week, the teams all caught the same flight from Argentina to Mozambique, Africa, where they found rats. I actually thought this was one of the more interesting challenges since I had no idea that rats were used to sniff out land mines. And the names of the rats were quite funny: Tupac, Nelson, Twinkletoes, and Xena? Hilarious!

The second challenge was a lot more along the lines of Amazing Race-style challenges (finally!). Teams had to either give manicures or fill 45-pound bags with coal and carry them to a location. Most of the teams opted for the porter challenge and I think that's because they were afraid to interact with the locals.

Anybody know why the teams had drivers while they were in Africa?

(S11E01) I couldn't believe how much of this episode was spent just on the intial drive to the Miami airport. It wasn't really that stressful, nor was it a turning point in the race. It was just gratuitous video of Mercedes station wagons driving on different Miami freeways. Bo-ring. I think the editors had to do that because the Detour ended up being too easy. The farmers wrangled the horses for the teams and tied them down. The shears must've been pretty sharp because everybody seemed to get the hooves and hair off with no problem- in fact, we only saw one or two teams actually do the challenge because it was so lame.

This week our racers only went to one country: Ecuador.

[SPOILERS BELOW]