Warning: Mild Amazing Race spoilers ahead
Let’s talk about Ericka, the former Miss America who is currently on The Amazing Race with her husband Brian. Is she really pulling her weight?
Last week, for instance, when the teams arrived in Dubai, she hilariously noted that “chocolate melts,” meaning she doesn’t like to be in the heat and so couldn’t do the “hunt for water” challenge. Then, during the challenge at the faux winter palace, she declared that she was not a snow bunny. And on last night’s “life raft challenge,” Brian cheerily interviewed, “This one doesn’t do water.”
Hmm… she doesn’t do heat, cold, or water. What does she do?
Well, she herds ducks with pizazz. And at the beginning of last night’s episode, she said she puts her make-up on every morning, even if she knows she’s going to sweat it off before lunch.
In other words, Ericka does a lot of diva-ing. Or deeving. Ericka deeves.
Normally, this would turn me against her, yet I cannot deny that Ericka is awesome. For one thing, she so clearly loves her husband (and he so clearly loves her) that I can’t stop squishing at their super-cuteness. If they’re both happy, who am I to judge?
For another, Ericka seems to have a pretty good sense of humor about her own high maintenance. I imagine she’s one of those people who jokes about how she hates carrying her own groceries, and then while you’re laughing with her about how girly she is, you just happen to carry twelve bags to her fifth-floor apartment. But when you leave, you don’t even think about the work you just did, or the fact that you’re now twenty minutes late for Couples Retreat. You just smile about how cool Ericka is and how you really ought to clean her bathroom, since she, like, hates smelling Ajax.
Forget swimsuits. This is how you become Miss America.
p.s. — On a similar note, have you noticed that of the two poker players, Tiffany does all the physical stuff? Shrewdly, Maria praises her before asking her to do things. “Oh Tiffany, you’re so strong! You can totally row that boat! Also, wouldn’t it be fun to whitewash this fence? Look at how much fun Brian is having!”
9 responses so far ↓
1 Julia // Oct 26, 2009 at 11:42 am
Erika has already done her part: she got them on the show. Of all the married couples that applied, which one would you go for as a casting director, a regular old inter-racial couple, or an inter-racial couple where one of them was Miss America, and will definitely deeve all over the place?
2 Roommate Joe // Oct 26, 2009 at 11:54 am
I can’t argue Ericka’s high-maintenance-ness, much as I too adore her. But in her semi-defense, though she said she didn’t do snow, she did manage to complete that task just fine. The way she started sledding down the hill screaming in terror and ended up at the bottom of the hill cackling with something close to delight may have been her most endearing moment.
Compare that to Mika, who a) didn’t do the sledding at all because she…said she didn’t know how (???), and b) didn’t do the waterslide.
Obviously, this isn’t a competition between Ericka and Mika (and lucky for Mika that it’s not). I just have to give her the eeensiest bit of credit.
3 Mark Blankenship // Oct 26, 2009 at 1:13 pm
True enough, Joe. I will cede that Ericka did go sledding, and even though she didn’t want to, she went down the waterslide. I guess that’s another part of her charm… when push comes sled, she stops deeving.
Unlike Mika. Who sucks. And who is dating the equally sucky Canaan. Dude, do not hate on Big Easy. America won’t stand for it.
4 ferretrick // Oct 26, 2009 at 1:22 pm
And Ericka was the one who actually found the snowman doll (not only that, but most teams didn’t even complete that task). You can argue she just got lucky, but she was in there doing the job. My read on Ericka is a little different-I think she just likes to kick up a fuss and get some attention just for the fun of it, but then when its crunch time, she knuckles down and does what needs to be done and moves on to the next thing. I don’t think she complains to get out of pulling her weight, I think she just likes the attention bitching and acting diva gets her. As certain people I know (that would be *ahem* me) are like that, I dig her.
While Mika and Canaan do suck, I also thought Big Easy was being a jerk. I mean, I get psyching out your oponent and going all out to win and all, but at that point tormeting Mika was like kicking a sick puppy. Too easy and low to be worth it. Good sportsmanship would have been better.
5 Mark Blankenship // Oct 26, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Aww dude, ferretrick! I think Big Easy played it just right. I assume that when he saw she was sitting on the slide, he expected his presence to goad her into action. He had to prevent her from taking the plunge that would eliminate him from the competition.
To me, it’s Canaan who did the truly unsportsmanlike thing by trying to push her down the slide. You expect your opponents to come at you offense, but not your teammate. And no matter who it is, you do not expect them to use physical force against you when it isn’t expected or appropriate.
Of course, lord knows what I’d do if I ever went on this show. The pressure could easily send me screaming down a hillside, loudly refusing to ride side-saddle on a giant ram.
6 Roommate Joe // Oct 26, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Ericka also also owned up, in fairly low-key fashion, to being wrong in not abandoning the gold-counting task sooner.
As for Mika — Canaan is a jerk, sure, but she is the WORST. The absolute worst. There was a point where I thought the smart thing for Canaan to do (besides, you know, not trying to throw his girlfriend off a high perch) would be to go down first, leave Mika no one to whine to, and basically let her guilt herself into taking the slide. But I’m now convinced she would have just sat up there and sulked until they got passed and lost.
7 Jenertia // Oct 26, 2009 at 9:28 pm
This is a small point about Waterslidegate, but I think when Canaan was manhandling Mika, he was trying to get her to just sit down on it – that’s what he was saying right before he grabbed her. He was trying to implement a ‘baby steps’ approach, but she panicked. I also think the Trotters’ heckling was acceptable. In any game, you would try to psyche your opponents out.
On topic, I was impressed that Erika ‘didn’t do water,’ but went down the slide without fuss. I suspect it’s more a ‘water ruins my hair and makeup’ thing than an ‘I’m phobic’ thing.
8 ferretrick // Oct 27, 2009 at 8:46 am
Oh, we are of one mind about Canaan, Mark. Besides the fact that pulling and shoving a woman is something YOU JUST DON’T DO, CANAAN, she could have gotten seriously hurt if she had slipped and gone down the slide in the wrong position.
I just think Big Easy piling on to the already bad situation was not necessary.
9 K. // Oct 27, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Having been in interracial relationships myself (I’m black and have dated a rainbow coalition of guys), I like that they make jokes about it, because that’s been my experience. The “team zebra” stuff was very cute. And I think I read that one or both families wasn’t on board with them, to the point of not coming to the wedding (I’m not sure where I read this so if I made it up, let me know), which I am sure hurt a lot, so for them to be able to still joke is cool.
In Big Easy’s defense, he didn’t know how long Mika had been sitting there and the extent of the drama that had gone on – for all he knew, they’d just gotten there and she was about to get her druthers up and go down any moment. Also, Mika … really had no business on the race – she said she’s never run in her life, she’s afraid of heights, she doesn’t know how to sled (which doesn’t even make sense – even if you’ve never seen snow, there’ s nothing to know – you just sit down and gravity does the rest), and she clearly can’t swim either because she was wearing WATER WINGS. I’ve never seen an adult wearing water wings.
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