Popcorn and Twizzlers

If you've been missing NBC's Treasure Hunters, you've been missing a highly competitive game between teams from all walks of life. You have Ex-CIA, Air Force, Southie Boys, Geniuses, Grad Students, Miss USA, Brown Family, Wild Hanlons, Young Professionals, and finally, the backstabing Fogal family. Yes, tricks and sneaky tactics abound on this show, especially from the Fogals, whose leader Brad is a senior pastor at his church. His wife, Margie, seems like a sweet PTA mother. She doesn't seem to have a sharp mind, but she is quite lacking in a conscience. Their daughter, Kayte, barely registers with her prescence, but how can she, considering her parents garner attention from the camera and the other teams with their dirty play tactics.

This game is all about competition and as far as I'm concerned, pretty much anything goes. The only reason I'm bashing upon the Fogal family is because they aren't playing it smart. To be truly sneaky, everyone must trust you. You should not blatantly grab someone else's clue and run off or tell two other teams to bank on the river to check something out, then paddle like the devil is behind you. If any of those teams had been near last place, that would have made sense, but the Browns and The Hanlons were at least an hour behind them, so there was no worries about being eliminated. Pull out your bag of tricks when its necessary and when you can get away with it. A snake in the grass doesn't reveal themselves until they strike and if the Fogal family wants to play their strategy this way, they'll soon be ousted.

On the last episode of Treasure Hunters, the Fogals, as well as Team Air Force, were indeed ousted. The game this time was for one team to pair up with another and work together to get two separate clues, bring them together, and finally open a box with the final clue. All six other teams allied against the Fogals in particular, shouting, "We've Fogaled the Fogals!" Clearly, the other teams are not going to fall for any more underhanded tricks from this devout Christian family.

Are the other teams any better? Well...here and there a team will pull something, such as getting one team to give them a combination and "work together" for it, but then not tell the other team what it was even though they have nothing to gain by withholding information. The Grad Students couldn't catch a break in the first episode, due to the Fogals stealing their underwater clue and then The Geniuses stealing their other clue, leaving them with a box that was thought to have a broken and unopenable lock. The other teams utilize the opportunites given to them, but not like that happy-smiling Fogal family, who are vicious and blatant about it at every turn. Yes, the show is pretty much anything goes, but its kind of hard to see a man of god be such a seemingly nice guy one moment, and in the next playing the remorseless "cheater" (I use quotes because there aren't set rules). In fact, Brad seems so concerned with winning, he barely noticed when his daughter injured her thumb or when she dropped the canoe in exhaustion. He doesn't seem to think of his family as anything more than tools to use. I honestly don't feel any love between members of the Fogal clan.

Expect to see more of their questionable tactics Mondays at 9pm on NBC.

Eliminated teams: The Young Professionals were the first to go, having lost a lot of time by heading to Mt. Roosevelt instead of Mt. Rushmore. The Browns were eliminated, but later reinstated due to Grad Students dropping out of the competition. Jessica hurt her leg during the hunt, completed the hunt with her teammates Kat and Melissa. She finally threw in the towel when she was told by the orthopedic surgeon that if she continued on with this very physical game, she would be facing surgery and possibly life-long complications with her ankle. The most recently eliminated were The Wild Hanlons, after failing to figure out the combination to their box and trying to randomly guess it. I'm sorry to see them go because although they are not worthy of being called Treasure Hunters, their stupid antics were hilarious. They might not have been eliminated had they not, as Josh said, "drive 80 miles round-trip to get a hamburger during an elimination competition". Yes, they really drove 40 miles away mid-competition to Burger King.

If you haven't given this show a chance yet, please do. It's quite fun to root for your team, or see what strategies are going to be employed next. And can you believe that Miss USA (all three of them DIDN'T ever win Miss USA title) is STILL in the running. They're flying under the radar.



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