Actually, theschnauzers, the flight schedules from Hong Kong to Seoul do halp N/V catch up some. Mainly due to TPTB extending the pit stop. There is an 8 hour gap in flights from HKG to ICN (Seoul), from 4pm to midnight....the first three teams were released, so that they had to sit at HKG for that gap....negating the 6 hour detour penalty. The main reason that N/V are behind so much.......there is another gap in flights after the first three teams left HKG of about 6-7 hours.......before N/V could get out of HKG.
In retrospect, it appears to me that if N/V had of just taken a nap and tried to finish the boat detour after the sun came up.....they would have been able to catch the same flights with the other teams......The combination of taking so long and then the penalty, doomed them, which is what it is supposed to do. It is hard to see that far ahead when you are dead tired and hungry......Nick was hungy, but Vicki just had had a filling meal (actually several, considering the ones left in the toilet......
...)......whether she enjoyed it or not........she had the nourishment....Nick didnt.
As they said in the after leg confessional.......they just had a really bad day all around.