'The Amazing Race' recap: Urine It to Win It

Jen and Kisha finished the task (although, frankly, it just looked like the judge gave them a pass after they'd failed three times), and dashed after Margie and Luke. But what of the cheerleaders? They were still dragging around the town after three hours, searching for the clue. ''This is why I did not want to go to China,'' said Jaime. ''It sucks.'' (She should really try selling that slogan to the Chinese Bureau of Tourism. It's gold!) But as obnoxious as Jaime has been this entire trip, Cara has never turned on her. And as the search dragged on and Jaime got more and more negative, Cara finally said, ''If we're going to be defeatist, then why even bother?'' To which Jaime snipped, ''Oh, as if you haven't been acting that way the whole time, Cara.'' Cara delightfully broke the fourth wall, looking at both of her accompanying cameramen as if to say, ''Did I actually hear that right?'' I dig Cara, the way that she rarely loses her cool (except briefly on this episode, when she snapped at Jaime for implying that this leg was Cara's fault), and seems to be enjoying the Race and taking her pal with a grain of salt. The way she blithely waves away Jaime's obnoxiousness makes said obnoxiousness look like a put-on, which is the reason that I can find them entertaining rather than completely hateful. Without Cara, Jaime would be completely despicable, but with her, she's Jasmine Guy on A Different World.

Jen and Kisha arrived at the food Roadblock first (after Margie and Luke had already come and gone), and Jen stepped up, probably wanting to atone for her swimming sins. But she was so grossed out by the food that she had to wash down every tiny bite with a giant swig of water. The cheerleaders managed to catch up, and Cara wolfed down the grossness. The sisters ultimately finished first, but the damage to Jen's bladder was done: After downing four bottles of water, she had to pee...and bad.

When Cara finished quickly, they miraculously found a cabbie who not only knew where to go, but knew how to speed. We kept cutting between the redheads gleefully reveling in their fast cab, and Jen moaning about how ''I think I'm gonna ask Phil, can I pee before he checks us in.'' Usually, when the show tries to build suspense between the last two teams, it's the first team they've shown arriving near the Pit Stop who end up checking in first. This time we saw the sisters get out of the cab first, so they seemed destined to stay in the Race....

But then Jen stopped at a Porta Potti.

It's a race for a million dollars and she stops to pee? I debated this with my wife at length after the show: I know what it's like to really have to go to the bathroom. It can get really, really uncomfortable. But this was for a million bucks! Hell, let your bladder rupture, you can buy a new one later! Or here's an easy solution: Jen, you were wearing a robe. Pee your pants, no one would know! There can be an ''anything to win'' dignity to such a thing, anyway. May I remind you of Will ''Dr. Evil'' Kirby peeing in the hammock in the penultimate Head of Household challenge in Big Brother 2? He did it and he was proud of it, and that was only for $500,000.

But no, Jen had to stop. And as a result, the cheerleaders beat them to the mat. ''I'm sorry to tell you...you're gonna have to keep racing!'' said Phil in the go-to reality host switcheroo. (I'm sorry, hosts, but this kind of thing doesn't even make sense. Why are you sorry to tell them that they're still in a Race for a million dollars? This is like saying, ''I'm sorry to tell you that your family is dead...dead to rights on being alive!'')

So, would you have stopped to pee? And Kisha said that she wouldn't hold it against Jen, but is such restraint humanly possible? And here's a question that I'll ask for the last time: Who do you think should win in the Hawaiian final three? I think I'm rooting for Victor and Tammy who, for all their upbeat intensity, I find quite likable. And as always, check out Phil's blog on Popwatch: As a guy currently riding his bike across America, he surely has many thoughts on pee stops.

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