Return of Philimination!!

WOO! and HOO!! I'm so excited! Amazing Race 5 started tonight and I'm already jazzed about having an hour of television to yell at every week! If you've never seen this show, you have my sympathies, because WOO! and HOO!! Short version: 11 teams of two race around the world, finding clues, doing odd tasks, and trying not to come in last at the end of each leg, because if you do, you're eliminated! The winning team walks (limps, crawls, whatever) away with $1 million. This description doesn't even begin to do justice to the concept. First, there's the host, Phil Keoghan, the improbably sexy New Zealander who explains all the rules and eliminates people at the end. (Is it just me, or has Phil lost his accent?) Then there's the crazy running around the globe, the bickering and name calling, the strategizing and back-firing, the butt-biting karma, the judgement passing, the hypocrite being, and my favorite? Oooh, my absolute favorite part of the show--the "brilliant" self-examination and commentary by the players. I love it when people are idiots on TV.

Tonight's highlights:
* The Dad of the Dad/Daughter team stumbling and gashing open his knee at the very start of the race. He tries to dismiss it with his military swagger, but ends up getting 25 stitches at LAX! Always choose lockjaw over losing!
* The Model team: "We need to trust that the Lord has our best interests in mind." Seriously, people are starving to death all over the world, and you think God is putting air in your sails?
* The Asshole, I mean, Brothers team snickering about women drivers and blah blah blah shut up. I hate them already. Die.
* The Cousin team: the not-a-dwarf half of the team bitching and moaning about carrying 50lbs of beef while her is-a-dwarf teammate carries both their backpacks, despite the fact that each one is nearly as big as she is. And she's constantly ahead of her teammate! Shut up, not-a-dwarf.

Oh, heaven! And if you do get into it, check out Television Without Pity's recaps. It's like watching the show with your favorite snarky friend, Shannon.