MONDO EXTRAS

I flag down Sarah again, having remembered a question I wanted to ask her: "How many languages do you speak, anyway?" She tells me she's fluent in three, including Spanish and Portuguese, which, given that they spent, like, half that season in South America, came in pretty damn handy. So how was she always busting out the Khmer in Cambodia and what not? As she tells me, what she did was that on the plane to every destination, she would find fellow passengers who looked local, and pick their brains. She would put together a sort of mental mini-phrase book of terms like "fast, please" and "we're in a race" and "do you understand," and her natural facility for languages did the rest. What's more, she would also quiz them about popular activities where they were going. She admitted to me that none of those activities ever actually happened as part of the Race, but I heartily respect the effort. She wondered why none of the other teams seemed to do that -- not only this season (although she didn't want to name names, Jaime) but on her own season -- on her own plane. "They could see what I was doing, why didn't they do that?" she honestly wonders. As for their ultimate loss, she blames it on "overthinking." Somehow, something in the way the clue was phrased gave them the idea that the Fast Forward they attempted to won would require them to be branded rather than eat a big plate of meat, and that's what did them in. Quietly, to myself, I continue to blame Terence.

For some mysterious reason, I get the idea in my head that I owe Dan from TAR 13 a beer. He asks for a Coors Light and I regret the offer immediately.

If I expected Margie and Luke to be joined at the hip tonight for communication purposes, that is very much not the case. Margie accumulates a group of fans near the bar, and I wade in. "Are you still in shape since the Race?" I ask the bionic woman. "I haven't done a thing," she confesses, but promises to get on that this week, not that she isn't wearing the hell out of a little black dress tonight. I learn something interesting: Luke and Margie auditioned for the Family Edition (with two other family members, of course), and nearly made the final cut, but were told the show decided to "go a different way." Margie was not previously a fan; in fact, the first time Luke had her watch the show, she said, "This is the worst thing ever!" Glad she came around. And when she's told how lame the Family Edition was, she's glad that didn't work out.