I just finished watching the episode that I recorded ... here are my thoughts in the order of the finish:
Ron and Kelly
I'm still not a huge Ron fan, but I am beginning to like Kelly more and more. I loved her crack about how being a Beauty Queen prepared her to wear dorky caving clothes and crawl though a cave. She was really in her element at the orphanage. That kind of thing was
exactly what a Beauty Queen learns and she did it well and with feeling. I'm bummed they didn't win anything.
TTWSNBN
Everyone knows I don't like them. But you know ... I was starting to enjoy them a bit in the first hour. They made me smile once or twice. And then ... they were the same, obnoxious jerks that I have grown to hate. First of all they refused to help Gretchen and Meredith. There was no excuse for that since Gretchen and Meredith really pose no threat. If they had given even a small token amount, I would have felt OK with it. But to stiff an old woman who took a nasty spill and then lost
everything by coming in last ... that's cold. It was also cold for them to pass up the brother's roll-over with just a glance over their shoulder. At the very least they should have slowed down like the other teams. Not stopping or even pretending to care puts them right back to pond scum, AFAIC. I am glad that Phil called them on it. I think he has been amused by them and is amused no longer. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if this is "playing to a new level" then I don't like the direction the game is going. I find it hard to believe that the die-hard fans are still trying to justify their bad-boy behavior.
Lynn and Alex
Both of them played a good game today and we didn't hear too much anti-TTWSNBN bashing. At least not that wasn't earned. They picked up on how to solve the villages problem pretty quickly. I was proud of them. I thought they were obnoxious to TTWSNBN, but what comes around goes around.
(Things get a little fuzzy for me since I was fast forwarding through the end. I don't remember if U&J finished next or M&G)
Uchenna and Joyce
Hats off to them for sharing some clothes with Meredith and Gretchen! That was beyond the call of duty and hope the good karma comes back to them

. I was hoping for a little more from them as they traveled through Africa. So many of the African-American couples feel a strong and emotional connection to the continent, but I didn't get that feeling from them. I was also hoping to see a little more emotion from them at the orphanage, given their fertility problems. However, they seemed like they were in and out as fast as they could go.
Meredith and Gretchen
Wow. Gretchen rocks. She's bleeding all over her scalp and face from a nasty fall and she tells Meredith to find the clue. Then, she goes shopping all bandaged up like the mummy. Then ... they make it to the final pit-stop of the night with a couple changes of borrowed clothes and their passports in a plastic bag. Class act, all the way.
Brian and Greg
"Go! Go! Go! Go! Run!!!!" I almost woke my daughter. I was so happy to see them finish after the accident. They seemed genuinely concerned about their cameraman and most of the other teams seemed genuinely concerned about them. They are a good team that can only go up from the bottom of the pack

.
Ray and Deana
I didn't like them. After the first of tonight's episodes I told my friend over the phone that I was beginning to dislike them more than TTWSNBN. Of course after the second ep, that was no longer true. However, I was still glad they were canned. Ray was totally obnoxious and they also refused to help Gretchen and Meredith. All that money sure helped them on the finish line, didn't it? I was impressed that they did the Fast Forward so well. I was sure one of them would fall. I am bummed that they won cars. Darn fine consolation prize.