Amazing Race: Seriously, You Thought That Was A Good Idea?

Reminiscent of the same episode last season (with the volleyball sisters), one team did something so stupid on last night's episode of Amazing Race that I cannot believe they actually thought it would be a good idea. The team of Flight Time and Big Easy--the Harlem Globetrotters--decided to incur a 4-hours penalty when Big Easy found it difficult to complete the very first task. The task: take five letters attained via voice automation and re-arrange them into a Czech(?) word. Sounds easy enough right? Not so for Big Easy. Granted, there are many possible combinations (five raised to the fifth power) so yes, this could be a time-consuming task but it is Amazing Race so the motto work smarter, not harder applies. If it doesn't sound like it could be a word, it probably isn't. But, Big Easy is not exactly the brains of the pair. After watching the three teams who would move on to the final leg complete the task (including the couple who first had to tackle a speed bump), Big Easy thought it would be wiser to incur a penalty rather than struggle further (keep in mind, another team gave him the first letter so he had a slight advantage). Boy was he wrong! While they waited out their four hours, the other teams completed their two remaining tasks. Note to Big Easy, exercising a little brain matter and trusting in your abilities yields surprising results. And, when you're down to the last leg before the finals on Amazing Race and don't know what's waiting around the corner, you're best bet is to keep racing. Four hours is too much time to sit on the sideline, especially at the start of a leg.