The Amazing Race: How do you spell "defeat"?

"Amazing Race" spoilers coming right up, with talk of the elimination at the top, so tread lightly, RSS readers...

I briefly toyed with titling this post "I hope you're all happy now (again)," but realized that would make the elimination too obvious. But CBS' suggestion that this would be the finish everyone would be talking about sure hinted that Rob and Ambuh would be taking a major, major humble, and they did.

While the prospect of the two of them winning leg after leg was going to grow tiring, and while Rob brought this defeat 100 percent on himself, I'm not jumping with joy over the result. Frankly, I'd rather have Romber, cockiness and all, around over Charla and (especially) Mirna, who are two of the most loathsome people I've ever watched on a reality show. So much to hate: Mirna complaining about her partner's "shortcomings," Mirna yelling at Charla during the signpost task as if Charla were a mentally defective child, Mirna's juvenile (and not even properly-phrased) "See you! Wouldn't want to be you!" taunt to Rob, and both of them calling Amber a bitch. They can't get off my TV fast enough. It's a measure of how much the other teams dislike them, I think, that everybody found Amber's "Got it!" misdirection so funny, even though everyone usually resents Rob and Amber's antics.

At the same time, though, I'm glad that if Rob had to lose early, it wouldn't be a loss he could blame on a broken-down car or any other kind of bad luck (which shows how much I know), but on the inexplicable disappearance of what had until now been a great Racing mind. First he screwed up with his choice of the signpost Detour, which sounded way the hell too complicated when Phil described it, then he misspelled Philippines (now spelled correctly by me) and failed to notice it and worst of all, he refused to listen to Amber when she told him it was time to give up and switch to the other task. It's rare that he's let stubborn pride get in the way of a smart Racing decision, but he buried them on that one and then finished off their fate by insisting on doing the Roadblock, even though he doesn't have the patience for a detail-oriented task like the mail-sorting. Not only did Charla and Mirna lap them on the task, but they must have done it by a wide margin, because there's no way Rob and Amber lose a footrace to them even if Charla has a small headstart.

So they're gone, and now things get interesting. Uchenna and Eric are left as physically strong racers, but neither of their partners are great at that side of the competition. The Cha-Chas, Guidos and Teri and Ian (who needs to watch those tantrums or he'll lose all this new goodwill) are the savviest travelers but are older and/or less in shape than some of the other teams, the beauty queens have no outstanding strengths but no major weaknesses, and Charla and Mirna... well... they're probably due for a non-elimination leg next week, I fear.

What did everybody else think? And is anyone else as eager as I am to watch this week's "Elimination Station" episode on CBS.com to see how grouchy Rob is in sequester?