Trying to find a needle in a haystack couldn't possibly have been any more difficult than it was for the Utah team to find a clue in a hay bale on "The Amazing Race" this week.
Eight hours of frustration later, Kristy and Lena Jensen became the third team eliminated in the race around the world for a $1 million prize.
It was all so completely unexpected. The Jensens, who narrowly avoided elimination last week after a wrong turn, were cruising along in third place (out of nine teams) when they hit the "roadblock" — a task one member of the team must perform while the second member waits.
The task didn't seem that tough. In a field in Sweden, team members had to unroll large, round hay bales to find the clue that would direct them to the end of that leg of the race. There were 20 clues (for nine teams) in more than 200 bales. Other contestants unrolled a few; Lena unrolled more than 100 without finding one.
Was it just bad luck? Or, in her frustration, did she overlook clues?
Whatever the case, Lena kept looking, hoping this was one of the non-elimination legs of the race. No such luck — host Phil Keoghan eventually arrived to tell the sisters the eighth team had finished the race more than two hours before and they were out.
Kristy and Lena took their loss with grace and class. "She was my best friend," Kristy said. "We didn't get in any quarrels. She's a great partner. She's an amazing person."
Lena said her only regret was, "I knew this was a big deal for her, and I didn't want to be the one to ruin that."
"You didn't," Kristy said, choking back tears.
In the three episodes they lasted, the Jensens did nothing to embarrass themselves. That may sound like faint praise, but it's not. It's a huge accomplishment for anybody on any reality show. Even on "Amazing Race," where even the teams you like sometimes lose their tempers and act badly under stress.
Good for the Jensens. I'm genuinely sorry to see them go.
ALMOST OUT: Utahn Shawn Nelson narrowly avoided elimination on Tuesday, too. He was one of two contestants on Fox's "The Rebel Billionaire: Branson's Quest for the Best" who had to face a "big challenge" in the latter part of the show, with one of the two going home.
The challenge? Richard Branson told Shawn and fellow contestant Jessica that one of them would have to sing in front of a concert crowd of tens of thousands; the other would have to parade on stage naked.
(I hereby retract what I wrote on Tuesday, that this show "isn't offensive or twisted or mean-spirited.")
"I wouldn't streak, just because I don't believe in exploiting nakedness," Shawn said. " You know, it has to do with my religious beliefs."
"Right when I hear the challenge, I know that I'm the one getting naked," said Jessica, who also got eliminated. "Shawn's a Mormon, so I can pretty much bet the farm that he's not going to want to take off his clothes."
This was supposed to prove that one or both of them had enough courage to run Branson's business empire. Basically, it just proved that this show deserves its lousy ratings.
THAT'S NOT REPORTING: More appalling, perhaps to journalists, was the behavior of KSTU "reporter" Sandy Riesgraf on Tuesday night. She's been playing cheerleader at weekly viewing parties to hype "Rebel Billionaire," but she and Ch. 13 really got caught with their pants down on Tuesday night.
Having apparently missed a cue in a live shot before the show began at 7 p.m., Riesgraf was seen and heard exhorting the crowd to cheer on command. That's one of the ultimate crimes in journalism — you're supposed to cover news, not create it.
You could argue that this isn't a news event, it's entertainment. But Ch. 13 sent a "reporter" to cover it. And any reputable journalism school would fail a student who pulled something like that.
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com