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Racing report, TAR 19, Episode 12 is on page 2
maf:
Racing report
Amazing Race Season 19, Episode 1, "Kindness of strangers"
Film date: 18-20/6-2011
I have tried to estimate distances and driving times every now and then. This data, from Google, is an approximation at best and may have no relationship to reality.
The race starts at the Hsi Lai temple in the foothills of Los Angeles. Teams are transported there by the TAR bus (with covered windows) and are:
* Andy & Tommy, former Olympic snowboarders from California
* Ethan & Jenna, former winners of Survivor and dating for 7 years
* Laurence & Zac, father and son adventurers from Thousand Oaks, California (Zac was the first person under 18 sailing solo around the world)
* Ernie & Cindy, recently engaged from Chicago, Illinois
* Justin & Jennifer, Brother and sister from Stone Mountain, Georgia
* Bill & Cathi, married grandparents from Albany, Oregon
* Liz & Marie, twin sisters from Deerfield, Illinois
* Jeremy & Sandy, dating from the San Francisco bay area
* Ron & Bill, domestic partners and flight attendants from southern California
* Amani & Marcus, married 10 years from Pine Mountain, Georgia (he is a former NFL player)
* Kaylani & Lisa, former showgirls from Las Vegas, Nevada (they think they are smarter than they look, time will tell)
At the starting line Phil informs that there will be 12 legs. And the winners of the first leg will get an express pass. This allows them to skip one challenge any time during the first eight legs of the race.
This year there is a starting line challenge. Behind Phil is a wall filled with folded umbrellas. Each umbrella bears three letters which are visible when unfolded. Above teams will get to see six fixed letters which when combined with the right umbrella letters twice, gives the letters needed to spell the first destination. The task is to find an umbrella with the right characters on and bring it to Phil.
The fixed letters they get to see are "WANPEI". The destination sought is "Taipei Taiwan" and the letters needed are "TAI". Once teams give Phil a correct umbrella they will get a set of keys to a car outside the temple.
Phil also informs teams that the last team to complete this initial challenge will receive a new penalty called a Hazard, which will have to be performed sometimes during this leg. With that he is done torturing the teams and let the loose on the first challenge.
Choice quotes:
"Look for vowels", Tommy has a good idea
Teams complete the umbrella challenge in the following order:
1. Andy & Tommy
2. Amani & Marcus
3. Liz & Marie
4. Ethan & Jenna
5. Jeremy & Sandy
6. Ernie & Cindy
7. Ron & Bill
8. Bill & Cathi
9. Laurence & Zac
10. Justin & Jennifer
11. Kaylani & Lisa
Once in the cars teams are greeted by a short video of Phil "Congratulations on figuring out where you're going to next, Taipei Taiwan. ... You may only travel on these flights, China airlines which will carry the first 8 teams and Eva air, which departs 20 minutes later.". Teams also receive a clue envelope with additional instructions.
Teams must now drive themselves to LAX (57km 0:39). Some of them stop at the first gas station to ask for directions. So did Kaylani & Lisa, but they left more than a memory behind as Kaylani's passport fell out of the car. A guy from the gas station then tweeted that he had been randomly filmed for the race and that one contestant dropped her passport. This was spotted by the über-fans on the forum (Peach and Walkinpneumonia) and they tweeted back that he had to got to LAX to return it.
A short while Later Kaylani realize she has lost her passport. When she can't find it in the car they go back to the gas station, but the passport is nowhere to be found. Eventually they decide to drive to LAX anyway, hoping that one of the other teams has foudn it and brough it with them. Meanwhile Phil is also en route to LAX to perform an on the spot elimination. But fortunately for Kaylani & Lisa the stranger from the gas station actually made it to LAX and pages Kaylani, so she is reunited with her passport minutes before the check-in closes.
Choice quotes:
"I'm seriously gonna vomit all over the place", Kaylani is stressed from having lost her passport
"She's all angry right now. Angry is not going get us anywhere now", later in the airport shuttle Kaylani is pragmatic while Lisa is angry
Teams make the flights in the following order:
Flight #1, China Air CI7 LAX-TPE 00:57-05:00 (landed 50 minutes early)
1(+6) Ron & Bill
2(+2) Ethan & Jenna
3(+3) Ernie & Cindy
4(-2) Amani & Marcus
5(+4) Laurence & Zac
6(+4) Justin & Jennifer
7(-6) Andy & Tommy
8(-3) Jeremy & Sandy
Flight #2 Eva air BR1 LAX-TPE 01:15-05:34 (landed 26 minutes early)
? Liz & Marie
? Bill & Cathi
11(+0) Kaylani & Lisa
There are many changes in the order between the temple and the check-in desk, this indicates that teams had trouble finding their way.
We get to see a short sequence from an airport bookstore where Ron & Bill look at guidebooks while Tommy is furiously copying something from one.
Ethan & Jenna had not planned to tell anybody there both won survivor. But they can forget that since they have already been recognized.
When teams land in Taipei they must make their way by bus to the Ximending commercial district. Here the clue says the should "Look up for their next clue". The clue they need is on a billboard which shows animated red and yellow dots (looks like balloons). Every now and then the billboard reveals four Chinese characters.
All the teams from the first flight make the same bus. Of the second flight Liz & Marie and Kaylani & Lisa makes the second bus while Bill & Cathi miss it and have to take a later bus.
In the bus Cindy asks Marcus if he a football player. He denies it and says he is doing protecting (like bodyguard). The truth is that he is a former NFL player, so he is a bit dodgy here.
Finding this clue is not easy, and the task is made harder by the fact that there are lots of yellow and red things around, including the very visible mushroom-shaped hat of a local street sweeper.
Choice quotes:
"I mean, what are we looking for?", The snowboarders are bewildered
"Is it going to be like a billboard or something", Cindy is on the right track
"Everything here is race colors, people working in the streets had yellow and red hats on them, it's like practically the national color here", Jenna
"I can't be them balloons up there can it?", Marcus has the right idea, but abandons it
"It's exhausting to not only endure the challenges of the race, but to endure the challenges of our relationship as well", Justin quarrels a lot with his sister
"I can't read it, but I can copy letters kind of well. 7 years of Chinese school hopefully", Cindy has studied Chinese and hopes she has learned something
"That's pretty gnarly though", The snowboarders after they have found the clue
"That has to be the tallest building", Bill has a bad interpretation of the clue
The camera men are happy because they get lots of shots of the teams walking right below the billboard.
Bill & Cathi miss the clue completely and wander around for more than four hours before they finally get it. By then they are way behind the other teams.
Once teams realize where the clue is they must find somebody who can translate it, which is not all that easy early in the morning. A lot of teams draw the characters on a piece of paper. Eventually they figure out that it reads "Confucius Temple" in the following order:
1(+5) Justin & Jennifer, copied the message
2(+2) Amani & Marcus, copied the message
3(+5) Jeremy & Sandy
4(-3) Ron & Bill
5(-2) Ernie & Cindy, copied the message
6(-4) Ethan & Jenna
7(+0) Andy & Tommy
8(-3) Laurence & Zac
?(+0) Liz & Marie, worked together with Kaylani & Lisa
?(+0) Kaylani & Lisa
11(+0) Bill & Cathi
Teams travel by MRT from the billboard to the Taipei Confucius temple and arrive in the following order:
1(+2) Jeremy & Sandy
2(+3) Ernie & Cindy
3(-1) Amani & Marcus
4(+2) Justin & Jennifer, within seconds of #1
5(-1) Ron & Bill
6(+0) Ethan & Jenna
7(+0) Andy & Tommy
8(+0) Laurence & Zac
9(+0) Kaylani & Lisa
10(+0) Liz & Marie
11(+0) Bill & Cathi
--- Quote ---Road block
Confucius Says: Who's
ready to play telephone?
--- End quote ---
Team members must call a specific number from a payphone in the temple. They will then hear a Confucius proverb which they must memorize without taking any notes. They must then recite it word for word to a monk. The proverb is:
"In all things success depends on previous preparation. And without such previous preparation there is sure to be failure"
What they don't show is that teams first had to get a phone-card. They could either buy it in a store down the street, or borrow one from a local.
Choice quotes:
"Yeah, 'cause they like to telephone", Marcus on why all the girls are doing the road block
"After the 20th time I could feel a little bit of panic setting in", Ron
"Liz, you said it every time", Marie complains when Liz misremember the phrase again
"Oh, I can not hug you", Liz almost hugs the monk when she finally succeeds
"After 41 years of marriage it is imperative you get the support you need from your partner", Bill is supportive at the temple
"'Travel by taxi', oh god, my dream has come true", Cathi is tired of walking
Andy & Tommy played Rock-paper-scissors about who should do the road block. Andy wins so he gets to do the road block.
Teams complete the roadblock in the following order (* denotes team member performing the road block, and the numbers how many roadblocks each team member have performed):
1(+1)Ernie & Cindy* (0-1) 2(+2)Justin & Jennifer*(0-1) 3(-2)Jeremy & Sandy* (0-1) 4(+2)Ethan* & Jenna (1-0) 5(-2)Amani* & Marcus (1-0) 6(+2)Laurence & Zac* (0-1) 7(-2)Ron* & Bill (1-0) 8(-1)Andy* & Tommy (1-0) 9(+0)Kaylani & Lisa* (0-1)Succeeded on the first attempt shown10(+0)Liz* & Marie (1-0)11(+0)Bill & Cathi* (0-1)Succeeded on the first attempt shownKaylani and Cathi were the only contestants who seemed to succeed on their first attempt (according to what was shown).
The next clue reads
--- Quote ---Travel by taxi to Dajia
Riverside Park and
search under the bridge
for your next clue
--- End quote ---
Or at least that is what is shown. In reality all teams had to make their way to the Core City Pacific mall (9.7km 0:22) and find their next clue on the 11th floor. It was there they found the clue telling them to go to Dajia Riverside Park.
It is in this mall which Kaylani & Lisa encounter their Hazard (which looks very much like a speed bump). One of them must perform a bungee jump inside the mall. Kaylani does this without any hesitation.
Choice quotes:
"Last time I bungee jumped, my harness started to undo", Kaylani have had bad experiences
"Oh my god", Even though she is experienced, Kaylani realizes it is a long way down
"I said I would do anything for a million dollars, I meant it", Kaylani after the jump
Teams arrive at the Dajia Riverside park in the following order:
1(+0) Ernie & Cindy
2(+0) Justin & Jennifer
3(+0) Jeremy & Sandy
4(+0) Ethan & Jenna, after the first three teams have left
5(+3) Andy & Tommy
6(+0) Laurence & Zac
7(-2) Amani & Marcus
8(+1) Ron & Bill, after the first seven teams have left
9(+0) Kaylani & Lisa
10(+0) Liz & Marie, after the first nine teams have left
11(+0) Bill & Cathi, way behind
Route info:
--- Quote ---Join a Dragon Boat race
team!
While one of you sets
the pace with a steady
drumbeat, the other will
join the oarsmen and
help row the boat around
a racecourse.
Once you've completed the
course, you will
receive your next clue.
--- End quote ---
Choice quotes:
"I feel so asian right now", Cindy on the dragon boat
"Yesss, we just caught up", Kaylani is excited when they see Ron & Bill at the dragon boats
"It's beautiful out here", Cathi appreciates the surroundings
"That was more fun than I had all day", Cathi did enjoy the dragon boats
Teams complete this task in the following order:
1(+0) Ernie & Cindy, Cindy drummed
2(+1) Jeremy & Sandy, Sandy drummed
3(-1) Justin & Jennifer, Jennifer drummed
4(+0) Ethan & Jenna, Jenna drummed
5(+0) Andy & Tommy, Andy drummed
6(+0) Laurence & Zac, Laurence drummed
7(+0) Amani & Marcus, Amani drummed
8(+0) Ron & Bill, Ron drummed
9(+0) Kaylani & Lisa, Lisa drummed
10(+0) Liz & Marie, Marie drummed
11(+0) Bill & Cathi, Cathi drummed
Route info:
--- Quote ---Make your way to the
next Pit Stop: National
Revolutionary Martyrs'
Shrine.
Warning!! The last
Team to check-in may
be eliminated.
--- End quote ---
The temple is not far away (2km 0:06). Teams reach it in the
following order:
1(+0) Ernie & Cindy, win the express pass
2(+0) Jeremy & Sandy
3(+0) Justin & Jennifer
4(+0) Ethan & Jenna
5(+2) Amani & Marcus
6(+0) Laurence & Zac, sprinted past #7
7(-2) Andy & Tommy
8(+0) Ron & Bill
9(+0) Kaylani & Lisa
10(+0) Liz & Marie
11(+0) Bill & Cathi, 4+ hours after the rest but are saved by a non-elimination
Choice quotes:
"Control freak Cindy on the race is actually a pretty good team mate", Ernie appreciates Cindy
It is good to see that almost all teams actually run up to the Pit Stop. This shows a competitive spirit.
Finally we also learn that the next leg is going to feature a double elimination. Ethan is going to lose his clue and many teams think they have made fatal blunders.
Dom:
Great report!
I found it funny that Marcus said he wasn't going to outright lie to the teams, and he didn't! He said he does some 'protecting' which is technically true, being a tight end!
georgiapeach:
Thaks Maf!! Another awesome job!!
apskip:
--- Quote from: Dom El on September 30, 2011, 01:45:33 AM ---Great report!
I found it funny that Marcus said he wasn't going to outright lie to the teams, and he didn't! He said he does some 'protecting' which is technically true, being a tight end!
--- End quote ---
Another perspective is that Marcus has been retired for 7 years from professional football, so what he said was not just technically true but totally true.
maf:
--- Quote from: apskip on September 30, 2011, 12:44:00 PM ---Another perspective is that Marcus has been retired for 7 years from professional football, so what he said was not just technically true but totally true.
--- End quote ---
I stand by that IMHO what he said is technically true. He did evade the question, it was sloppily constructed which left a big loophole. But he understood what they were asking and choose not to respond to that.
/MaF
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