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Racing report: TAR30 episode 12 is on page 1
maf:
Racing report
Amazing Race Season 30, Episode 7, "All's fair in love and war"
Film date: 2017-10-14 - 2017-10-16
The last pit stop was at Letenské Park in Prague, Czech Republic. This is also where teams are released after what seems to have been a long pit stop in the following order:
1.Kristi & Jen 10:082.Eric & Daniel 10:48+0:403.Henry & Evan ??:??+?:??4.Alex & Conor 11:44+1:365.Lucas & Brittany11:50+1:426.Cody & Jessica ??:??+?:??
Route info: "Fly to Harare, Zimbabwe"
It seems production has provided tickets for the teams in this leg. Teams go to Typ agency (1km) to pick them up.
"In the last leg Jessica gave me wrong information. But I guess all's fair in love and war", Brittany gets the title
All teams are on the same flight:
LX1499 PRG - ZRH 19:53 - 21:00 (scheduled 19:55 - 21:15)
LX288 ZRH - JNB 22:43 - 09:06+1 (scheduled 22:40 - 09:10+1)
SA22 JNB - HRE 11:00+1 - 12:19+1 (scheduled 10:45+1 - 12:15+1)
Once they land teams must travel by train to Marondera and there get into a van which will take them to the Imire Rhino & Wildlife conservancy.
When they arrive at the wildlife conservatory teams have been traveling for 30 hours. They are put on a safari truck and taken for a ride to a bushcamp. Here they find their next clue.
Route info: "The early bird gets the worm. Build your safari tent as fast as you can and then settle in for the night." Given the wording it is natural that teams assume there is a reward for building the fastest.
"I have zero experience doing this", Jessica
"I have never done any camping in my life, ever", Conor
Teams get their tents approved in the following order:
1. Cody & Jessica
2. Lucas & Brittany
3. Henry & Evan
4. Kristi & Jen
5. Eric & Daniel
6. Alex & Conor
At 04:00 then next morning Phil arrives and bangs a pot to wake everybody. Racers have time to get dressed and eat breakfast before he collects them and makes the big announcement (now the sun is up). They will switch partners for this leg. Teams have to pair up and swap partners and will then be racing in these new constellations until further notice. Teams get to pick which other team to partner up with in the order they completed their tents. So the selection goes like this:
1. Cody & Jessica selects Kristi & Jen
2. Lucas & Brittany selects Alex & Conor
3. Henry & Evan have no choice but to pair up with Eric & Daniel
The new teams become:
Jessica & Kristie
Cody & Jen
Brittany & Alex
Lucas & Conor
Henry & Eric
Evan & Daniel
Phil then tells them that on his mark they can run over to the guides standing nearby and get their next clue. It may be worth noting that teams are accompanied by at least one guide all the time in the wildlife conservatory, and that they all leave their packs in the camp.
Route info: "Row row row your makeshift bush raft" Search the islands of Imire lake to find two canteens of water and your next clue."
Teams must now run over to the lake, pick up a raft from the shore, carry it into the water and then row out to the small islands dotting this part of the lake. The next clue hangs from a tree over the water from one of the small islands.
"This morning Phil told us that there's a partner swap, which is my worst nightmare because I didn't want to do this unless I was with Jess", Cody
"So I'm his worst nightmare come true", Jen
Teams find the canteens in the following order:
1. Brittany & Alex
2. Jessica & Kristie
3. Cody & Jen
4. Henry & Eric
5. Lucas & Conor
6. Evan & Daniel
The clue by the canteens tells them to paddle across the lake to the lookout tower and search for their next clue. They reach it in the following order:
1(+0) Brittany & Alex
2(+0) Jessica & Kristie
3(+0) Cody & Jen
4(+1) Lucas & Conor
5(-1) Henry & Eric
6(+0) Evan & Daniel
Detour: Rhino track or Bush Whack
In Rhino Track teams must saddle up and ride along a track. While riding they must keep an eye out for evidence of poachers. We are told they need to find 8 pieces of evidence and at the end they must place each piece of evidence on the correct marking on a map.
In Bush Whack teams must drive a car along an off-road track and replenish a ranger supply station with water. The catch here is that the track goes through a mud pit where their car is likely to get stuck.
At the start of Rhino track teams are shown a list of things to look for along the track. It is basically non-natural stuff like, for example, boot prints, snares and clothes. The clue does not mention that they need to remember the locations of the various pieces of evidence. It just says: "Collect evidence of poachers then accurately document the evidence to receive your next clue". Some teams are smart and assume they need to remember the order clues are found in and others are not.
The items they find along the Rhino track are: matches, coal, snare, can, bones, shells, cooking utensils, fork.
In Bush Whack a driver drives the car to the supply station where teams must pick up a jack, steel cable, water and two shovels. This list of things should make teams very suspicious about what lies ahead. Along the way they have to cross water at two places. In both cases they have to get out of the car first and walk the crossing to find the best route. The first crossing feels like a proper pond while the second is more like a mud pit.
Jessica & Kristie initially decide to do the Bush Whack, but balk when they realize one of them, actually Kristie since Jessica can not drive, must drive a stick shift car. They immediately decide to switch. As they are running back they pass Cody & Jen who are headed for the cars. Jen agonizes over if they also should switch but decides not to, this is probably a big mistake.
This is a detour with limited stations so only three teams can perform each side of the detour.
"Little Bambis", Jessica see some antelopes
"I think I talk to this horse like I talk to Henry", Evan
"The smile hasn't left my face", Kristie about riding a horse among wild animals
"The academic flannel?", Daniel thinks up a team name for their hybrid team
The first water crossing of Bush Whack is easy. At the supply station teams must dig up an empty water tank and replace with the new one, so there is some moderate physical work involved. The second water crossing is more like a mud pit. And Cody is the only ones who manage to drive through
it without getting stuck.
"I've always wanted and African mud bath", Jen
"This isn't my kind of driving", Conor gets stuck in the bog
Teams getting stuck must use their hand winch to drag their car out of the bog. This is heavy work.
"You are now the winch king", Conor, who did not get out of the car, to Lucas who did all the work
"Anybody made it through that, I would love to watch an instant replay", Conor after the mud pit (and production does splice in a replay of Cody)
Jessica & Kristie really struggle with the final path of the Rhino Track detour. They can not remember in which order they found the clues. When they have been struggling for a while Evan & Daniel turn up. Kristie asks if they want to work together but Evan declines.
"We'll see, we'll give it a shot and then let you know", Evan
This does not give her any friends. Specially as she and Daniel seem to remember the positions so they get it on their first attempt.
"She frustrates me because she's not a team player", Jessica is not fond of Evan
Finally after many attempts Jessica & Kristie find the right order and can continue racing.
Teams complete the detour in the following order:
1(+2) Cody & Jen, drive
2(-1) Brittany & Alex, ride
3(+1) Lucas & Conor, drive
4(+2) Evan & Daniel, ride
5(+0) Henry & Eric, drive
6(-4) Jessica & Kristie, ride
The next clue directs teams to the pit stop at an nearby overlook. Teams arrive in the following order:
1(+0) Cody & Jen
2(+0) Brittany & Alex
3(+0) Lucas & Conor
4(+0) Evan & Daniel
5(+0) Henry & Eric
6(+0) Jessica & Kristie
"That was quick", Phil greets Cody & Jen
At the mat Phil tells them that they need to reunite with their original partners before he can check them in. So each team must wait for the other half to arrive before they can check in. Eventually all teams are checked in in the following order:
1. Lucas & Brittany
1. Alex & Conor
3. Henry & Evan, about 20 minutes after the first teams
4. Eric & Daniel
5. Cody & Jessica, about 22 minutes after the first teams
5. Kristi & Jen
The partner swap is now officially over and once they check in Phil tells them they are still racing and hands them their next clue.
Maanca:
"...new constellations", is that a typo or definition of the word I'd never heard of? :)
maf:
Racing report
Amazing Race Season 30, Episode 8, "All's fair in love and war"
Film date: 2017-10-16
This leg follows just after the previous as leg 7 ended with a keep on racing pit stop. At least the telecast shows team immediately leaving for their next destination. In reality there was an 1h pit pit stop during which they film the confessionals for the previous leg. Once that is done teams start leg 8 in the following order:
1. Lucas & Brittany
1. Alex & Conor
3. Henry & Evan, about 20 minutes after the first teams
4. Eric & Daniel
5. Cody & Jessica, about 22 minutes after the first teams
5. Kristi & Jen
Route info: "Make your way to Khan fabrics and haberdashery in Harare to find your next clue. You have $18 for this leg of the race."
Teams jump into safari trucks, which take them out of the conservation area. Once outside they jump into the waiting vans. They keep these vans for the rest of the leg.
The total driving time to Harare is close to 2 hours.
At the fabric store teams encounter a double U-turn board. This comes as a surprise for the racers as the clue did not warn about any upcoming U-turn. Teams arrive at the fabric store in the following order:
1(+0) Lucas & Brittany, U-turns Cody & Jessica
2(+0) Alex & Conor, U-turns Henry & Evan
3(+2) Kristi & Jen
4(+1) Cody & Jessica
5(-2) Eric & Daniel
6(-2) Henry & Evan
"It's nothing personal in U-turning Yale. We wanted to get a strong team out", Alex
"I think it is time to be a little more competitive. Hopefully there's no hard feelings", Brittany is optimistic
These U-turns should not come as a surprise. Editing has done it's best to show us animosity between Brittany and Jessica. And we get the feeling that team Yale keeps to themselves and other teams feel that they are a strong team (which they are).
"I don't really get ocean spray's logic with U-turning us.", Jessica is not happy
"I don't like her, the feeling is mutual", Jessica also provides an answer
Kristi & Jen are very happy, and a bit surprised, to not see themselves on the U-turn board.
"You get U-turned now and you're probably done", Daniel
"That sucks", Evans reaction to their U-turn
Detour: Handle with care or Just get it there
In Handle with care teams must make their way to Eastgate mall. Here teams must go to the mail room and deliver 7 packages to different businesses in the confusing mall. At each business they must also collect their outgoing mail.
In Just get it there teams must make their way to Magaba tyres and deliver two tires by rolling them on the ground. They will have to travel half a mile through a busy market and finally load the tires onto a marked delivery truck. It seems the clue includes basic directions to where the tires need to be delivered. One tire is an ordinary car tire but the other fits a tractor and is therefore a lot bigger and heavier.
Kristi & Jen arrive to the tire detour just ahead of Lucas & Brittany. They decide to work together. As they reach Cameron Hardware, their destination, Kristi & Jen spot a set of stairs leading up. They try to shout at Lucas & Brittney but the latter do not hear, so Jen & Kristi make their way up the stairs.
"Kristi, let's just go. They're not waiting for us", Jen
At the top of the stairs they find the marked delivery truck where they should leave their tires. As Kristi & Jen run back the stairs they encounter Lucas & Brittany who are backtracking. They tell the latter where the truck is.
On their way back Kristi & Jen also meet Henry & Evan. Jen blurts out where the delivery truck is as they pass. She immediately regrets this:
"Me and my big mouth, stupid idiot", Jen
Alex & Conor struggle with the tires. They have a hard time to find Cameron Hardware. Eventually they get directions and find a flatbed truck where they promptly load their tires. The problem is that this is not the right truck. They realize this when the driver doesn't have a clue for them.
"Gosh, we look stupid", Alex
When Henry & Evan reach the truck the driver does not give them the next clue.
"And I'm sorry... I don't have anything for you",
I.e. production has briefed him to not give them their next clue since they have to do the other detour.
When Henry & Evan reach the mall and start delivering they meet Eric & Daniel who are just about to finish their delivery.
"Is there a map or anything", Evan asks a very good question
The firefighters does their best to tell team Yale where various businesses are located.
Cody & Jessica do something similar when they arrive at the tire detour. They see Alex & Conor about to leave so they rush over and ask for hints, which they get.
Teams complete the detour in the following order:
1(+2) Kristi & Jen, tires
2(-1) Lucas & Brittany, tires
----- Henry & Evan, tires
----- Cody & Jessica, mail
3(-1) Alex & Conor, tires
4(+1) Eric & Daniel, mail
5(+1) Henry & Evan, mail
6(-2) Cody & Jessica, tires
Route info: "Take your car to the city's largest park, Harare Gardens, and search for your next clue."
Teams find the clue at the park in the following order:
1(+0) Kristi & Jen
2(+0) Lucas & Brittany
3(+0) Alex & Conor
4(+0) Eric & Daniel
5(+0) Henry & Evan
6(+0) Cody & Jessica
Route info: "Check out the Zimbab-way"
In this task teams must learn a popular song in a native language and perform it together with a band in front of a live audience. Teams will be judged on pronunciation and showmanship.
They are given sheets with the lyrics. These also say which portions should be sung by the band, racer1, racer2 or all together. These two lines are typical of the stuff they had to sing:
--- Quote ---E'yay yoi-ye e-yay ho-ye ba-bá.
Pasi pā-no ka'ni pa-né zee-edzó
--- End quote ---
Most of the racers are not happy about this task.
"They don't pronounce things they way that we do", Kristi
"This is my one fear, dancing and singing in front of a live audience", Lucas is not happy
"I love performing", Jen (but that was with skiing, which she was very good at)
"My biggest concern about this entire trip around the world that we're taking was always the music aspect of it", Alex
"We're never gonna get through this", Conor
Funnily enough it turns out that the hardest part of this challenge is not the pronunciations but keeping the pace and to show enough showmanship. As this task is hard, we get to see lots of teams failing and lots of footage at band members laughing. It also ends up taking a while so all teams have time to arrive before any of them manage to get approved.
"You're not following the pace of the beat", Kristi & Jen's instructor
"I don't speak music", Kristi
"We both speak some other languages and we got the pronunciations down very quickly", Evan
"I want to apologize to my kids for when they get old enough to understand what's about to take place here", Daniel
"So, what's left for you guys is for you to move. You have to put the papers down, start shaking", Lucas & Brittany's instructor
"This is kind of a show. They are also testing your confidence", Kristi & Jen's instructor
"Don't worry about looking like an ass, man", Jen to Kristi
Cody is getting frustrated here. He doesn't want to rehearse instead he wants to try and try again.
"I mean, what else can I rehearse?", Cody (and the answer is keeping the rhythm)
Teams get approved in the following order:
1(+1) Lucas & Brittany, on their 5th attempt
2(-1) Kristi & Jen, on their 6th attempt
3(+0) Alex & Conor, on their 3rd attempt
4(+1) Henry & Evan, on their 2nd shown attempt
5(+1) Cody & Jessica, on their 3rd attempt
6(-2) Eric & Daniel, on their 3rd attempt
The next clue is a route info which tells teams to make their way, on foot, to the pit stop at First Street Pedestrian mall.
Things get just a little tense at the mat when Henry & Evan arrive as Alex & Conor are already standing there. But Henry & Evan take the high road and do not seem upset abut having been U-turned.
As usual the episode is cut to make it look like an exciting race between the last two teams. And it was not too far between them since Cody & Jessica are still on the mat as Eric & Daniel arrive.
Teams reach Phil in the following order:
1(+0) Lucas & Brittany, win a trip to St Lucia (no mini-golf though)
2(+0) Kristi & Jen
3(+0) Alex & Conor
4(+0) Henry & Evan
5(+0) Cody & Jessica
6(+0) Eric & Daniel
"We went down dancing", Daniel when they reach the mat
"Just a great experience", Daniel
maf:
Racing report
Amazing Race Season 30, Episode 9, "The first rule of the Amazing Race club"
Film date: 2017-10-18 - 2017-10-19
All driving times and distances are from Google and should be taken with a big helping of salt. Specially as it seems teams took very indirect routes. The lesson is that it is much easier to navigate if you have internet access (which the racers do not).
Before this leg starts for real we get to see Jess & Cody going shopping. Jessica lost her sneakers after the pit stop in the last leg so they go back to the Eastgate mall and buy a couple of new ones. This is strange since it means production let them out to do stuff during the pit stop. We have later learned that editing played a trick on us here. Their shopping trip took place after the leg started while they were waiting for their flight.
The last pit stop was on the First Street Pedestrian mall in Harare, Zimbabwe. Teams are released after a rest day in the following order:
1.Lucas & Brittany08:412.Kristi & Jen 08:46+0:053.Alex & Conor 09:05+0:244.Henry & Evan 09:24+0:435.Cody & Jessica 09:35+0:54
The first clue tells teams to fly to the Kingdom of Bahrain. Once they land they must pick up cars outside the airport and drive themselves to the capital and port city of Manama.
It seems as if as usual teams are give flight reservations but are free to take better flights if they can find any. Teams pick up their tickets at the Phileas Fogg travel agency. From interviews we learn that all teams manage to find a flight which arrives 1h earlier than the provided one. The flight all teams find is:
ET873 HRE - LUN 13:46 - 15:08 (scheduled 13:30 - 14:35)
ET873 LUN - ADD 16:02 - 21:05 (scheduled 15:35 - 20:35)
ET600 ADD - DXB 22:05 - 03:04+1 (scheduled 22:00 - 03:00+1)
FZ23 DXB - BAH 07:30+1 - 07:19+1 (scheduled 07:15+1 - 07:30)
We do get some unexpected airport drama in this leg. When Lucas & Brittany try to get their boarding passes for their connecting flight in Dubai they realize that Lucas no longer have his passport. He must have left it on the last flight. They scramble to have people search for it (they are not allowed back onto the plane).
"I just feel bad for her because I do stuff like that all the time", Lucas takes the blame
"That's not how you want anybody to go out.", Kristie
"Sounds like the Karma was kicking in way earlier than I anticipated", Jessica
"I believe the first rule of the Amazing Race club is to always have your travel documents aka passport with you", Conor gets the title
Unfortunately for Lucas & Brittany his passport fails to materialize so they miss the next flight. Instead they find themselves in the Dubai airport without a passport. They are let into the country and go to the American embassy which actually is able to issue a temporary passport quickly and since there are plenty of flights they manage to reach Bahrain later that night. But who are they trying to kid? This team has doomed written all over them. They probably fly on:
FZ27 DXB - BAH 17:36 - 17:26 (scheduled 17:10-17:25)
The other teams land in Bahrain without any issues and find their cars
outside the airport.
"It's hot", Kristi upon exiting the airport
Their next clue lies on the car: "Drive to a Dhow Shipyard at the Muharrak fisherman port and search for your next clue".
In the car Evan interviews that they do not feel safe even if Lucas & Brittany was not on the plane as they could have found their passport and gotten on the next flight an hour later.
Cody & Jessica has a hard time finding the shipyard. Most people they ask do not know where it is.
"I think that's an indication on how this is gonna go", Cody is prescient
Teams reach the shipyard (6km 8min) in the following order
1. Alex & Conor
2. Kristi & Jen, just after #1
3. Henry & Evan
4. Cody & Jessica
5. Lucas & Brittany, about 12h after the others
Route info: "It's time to haul some timber"
Teams must now haul timber from a big pile to a set of scales on the other side of the shipyard and weight out 300lb. this is a very physical task, and there is no shade so it is also very hot. The only upside is that production seem to have provided work-gloves for everybody.
"My biggest stress is just keeping up with Cody, not disappointing him, not holding him back, I don't want t be the reason we loose $1,000,000", Jessica
Teams have slightly different strategies here. Alex & Conor carry all their pieces of wood while Kristie & Jen just drag theirs. The latter strategy seem to work better because the girls manage to get ahead of the boys.
Teams complete this task in the following order:
1(+1) Kristi & Jen
2(-1) Alex & Conor
3(+0) Henry & Evan
4(+0) Cody & Jessica, after the other teams have left
The next clue is a route info which directs teams to Showaiter Sweets. Here teams must sample the king of Haluwa, a local treat, to receive their next clue. AT least that is what the telecast looks like.
In reality there was an additional task in between, "Who knows your partner best?". For this task teams had to go to a nearby boat. One team member had to stand on a plank over the water while both team members were asked questions about their team. The questions were:
* Who has carried the most weight in the race?
* Who is the first to quit on a task?
* Who knows their partner best?
It did not matter what the answer was as long as they both gave the same answer. If not the person on the plank had to jump into the water, and then they could start over. This entire task was cut from the telecast.
Instead we get to see teams struggle to drive to Showaiter Sweets. This turns out to be very hard to find, even for those teams who have a local map.
Alex & Conor arrive to the area at the same time as Kristi & Jen. They both start looking and asking around. Alex & Conor find somebody who knows where they need to go and instead of rushing off they tell the girls.
Eventually the all make their way to the sweets store (2.5km 7km) in the following order:
1(+0) Kristi & Jen
2(+0) Alex & Conor, a second after #1
3(+1) Cody & Jessica
4(-1) Henry & Evan
Route info: "Drive yourselves to Delmon Pottery Industry in the village of A'ali and search for your next clue.
On their way here teams really start to experience how bad the traffic is and how hard this place is to navigate. Everybody gets lost.
"It is just really difficult to get yourself in the right place", Conor
"I'm not happy", Jen does not like being lost
Teams arrive to the pottery place (22km 23min) in the following order:
1(+2) Cody & Jessica
2(-1) Kristi & Jen
3(+1) Henry & Evan
4(-2) Alex & Conor
Route info: "Make a match". Each team must choose a small pouch which contains 10 small trinkets. They must then look inside the hundreds of pots covering the grounds for a match for each of the trinkets. Each pot contains one trinket, but there seems to be only one exact match for each of the 10 trinkets.
"Oh, my gosh. She's got a cat again", Cody when Jessica picks up a cat
This task is tedious and takes a long time. So long that all teams arrive before any of them are done. So we have four teams running around trying to remember what their trinkets looked like and which pots they have already looked in.
For a while it looks like Henry is going to pass out from the heat, but he recovers.
Teams complete this challenge in the following order:
1(+0) Cody & Jessica
2(+0) Kristi & Jen
3(+1) Alex & Conor
4(-1) Henry & Evan
Once teams are done the shop owner give them a pot. They have to smash this to find the clue inside.
Route info: Drive yourselves to the Bahrain Endurance Village in Zallaq and search for your next clue."
This is another hard to find place (as are they all) but Alex has an edge this time. He has been racing in Bahrain and he recognizes this place as being close to the race track, and he knows how to get there.
"So far we're really enjoying ourselves here, apart from the lost factor", Kristi doesn't like being lost
Teams reach the endurance village (25km 26min) in the following order:
1(+2) Alex & Conor
2(+0) Kristi & Jen, just as team #1 is leaving
3(+1) Henry & Evan, after team #2 have left
4(-3) Cody & Jessica, as team #3 is finishing the task
Route info: "Milk a camel".
Teams have to milk a camel to get at least 4dl of milk. Unlike the last time the race milked camels (season 12) this cup has high edges and nobody is shown spilling any milk.
"These hands were made for milking", Conor
"I just was really excited to have face time with animals", Jen is excited
"This is so cool", Evan
"Oh my god, this is gross", Jessica is not quite as excited as the others have been
Cody is the only one who actually drinks the milk afterwards. Also, in the secret scenes we get to see Cody hit a traffic sign as they pull into the parking spot so before they can leave he has to change one of their tires as it is going flat.
Teams complete this task in the following order:
1(+0) Alex & Conor
2(+0) Kristi & Jen
3(+0) Henry & Evan
4(+0) Cody & Jessica
The next clue tells teams to drive themselves to the next pit stop at the Tree of life. This is a magnificent old tree in the middle of the dessert.
Teams arrive to the tree (27km 35min) and are greeted by Phil and a falconer in the following order:
1(+0) Alex & Conor, win $7,500 each
2(+0) Kristi & Jen
3(+0) Henry & Evan
4(+0) Cody & Jessica
Lucas & Brittany do not give up even though the have lost a passport. They manage to go to the American embassy and get a new one, as well as a visa to Bahrain. They get onto another flight to Bahrain,. All of this is actually kind of impressive. But it is all in vain, it is dark when they land and when they get to the shipyard they find Phil, who eliminates them on the spot.
"We got some amazing experiences and we're going to be able to spend the rest of our lives with each other now", Lucas
maf:
Racing report
Amazing Race Season 30, Episode 10, "The first rule of the Amazing Race club"
Film date: 2017-10-20 - 2017-10-21
All driving times and distances are from Google and should be taken with a big helping of salt.
The last pit stop was at the Tree of life in Bahrain. Teams are released near the Muharraq's Falcon Monument in the following order:
1.Alex & Conor 10:182.Kristi & Jen 10:40+0:223.Henry & Evan 11:25+1:074.Cody & Jessica 12:05+1:47
Route info: Fly to Chiang Mai, Thailand Once teams land they must jump into Songthaws and make their way to Royal Park Rajapruek where they will find their next clue hidden among a herd of elephant statues.
"What's a Songthaw? Is it like a spaceship?", Conor
At the airport we get to see Henry & Evan keep to themselves searching for flights while the other teams sit down and talk about how they want to be the final three.
In the end they are all on the same set of flights:
EK840 BAH - DXB 17:35 - 19:49 (scheduled 17:50 - 20:00)
EK374 DXB - BKK 22:30 - 08:11+1 (scheduled 22:30 - 08:00+1)
PG270 BKK - CNX 10:00+1 - 11:23+1 (scheduled 10:00 - 11:15)
At the airport teams find four Songtaws, basically a small covered truck with benches in the back, waiting outside. The drivers have marginal English skills.
"Unfortunately communication with the driver in one of these Songtaws is not easy", Kristi
While going to the first location the road passes through the mountains. The landscape here is simply gorgeous:
"This may be my favorite spot of all of them so far", Jessica likes this place
"I still think I like the American trees and hills better", Cody has a different opinion
The elephant status are located in the middle of a pretty large park so there is some running involved in getting to them. Teams reach them (11km 21min) in the following order:
1. Alex & Conor
2. Cody & Jessica
3. Henry & Evan
4. Kristi & Jen
Among the elephants each team find a garland and a note hanging from it. The note tells them to give the garland to one of four ladies in exchange for their next clue. The ladies can be found in the area around the royal pavilion.
"This isn't not like awesome", Conor is awed by the place
Each lady only have one clue so finding one with a clue gets harder for the later teams. Teams get the next clue from one of the ladies in the following order:
1(+0) Alex & Conor
2(+1) Henry & Evan
3(+1) Kristi & Jen
4(-2) Cody & Jessica
Detour: Size it or Seize it
In Size it teams make their way to Patara Elephant farm (21km 34min). Here they must measure an elephant and calculate its weight.
In Seize it teams must travel to a marked rice paddy (17km 26min) and catch 20 bullfrogs.
Both detours are located along the same road, and teams going to the elephant detour would pass the frog detour on their way there.
Kristie & Jen initially decide to go for the elephants. En-route there they bicker a bit about which detour to take and when Jen sees that the frog place is closer they change and go for it.
"I would love to play with elephants, but we do need to choose what is fastest", Jen
Catching frogs turns out to not be difficult. And to taunt the racers production have put a bunch of kids in the adjacent rice paddy. These kids have lots of frogs they are playing with.
"Not only do we get to play with frogs. We get to play with frogs in the mud", Jessica, with a hint of sarcasm in her voice
"This is disgusting", Jessica when entering the rice paddy
As you might guess from the comments above this is not Jessica's favorite task. She refuses to catch any frogs so Cody has to do all the catching for their team.
Kristi & Jen figure catching frogs is hard and that the other teams does not seem to make any progress. They decide to switch task immediately. Also Jen hops in front with the driver to avoid miscommunication and improve navigation. However we later learn that the map they have has a very liberal relationship to spatial geometry.
According to Jen the editing in section which follows is kind of deceptive. But the end result is that team Yale beat team Extreme to the elephant detour.
At the elephant detour teams are led to an elephant mother and her baby. The baby is only there for distraction as it is the mother they have to measure. Before they can do any measurements they have to get to know the elephant by giving her some fruit. Some of the measurements require that one team member get up on the elephants back. Nobody complains about his.
There is some math involved in calculating the weight of the elephant. Basically they have to calculate (girth_length*2.11)-4.425, and teams are not allowed to use calculators. The tricky part of this detour is getting all the measurements right. It's especially hard to measure the foot when the elephant keep moving it all the time.
Kristi & Jen get the foot circumference to 34cm and since the height of the elephant is supposed to be this times 2 their elephant should be 68cm high. They look at this value and realize that something is wrong. They redo the measurement and find that the circumference is actually 134cm.
Once teams get their measurements approved both team members get to ride the elephant down a trail. At the end of the trail they have to feed it a few pieces of fruit before they get their next clue.
"I get to ride an elephant?", Jen can hardly believe her ears
After a while the teams doing the frog hunting figure out how to do it and they start catching the jumpy critters.
"It was definitely impressive to see Cody in there like a swam rat", Conor
"This is a boys detour", Jessica does not want to touch the frogs
Teams complete the detour in the following order:
1(+3) Cody & Jessica, frog
2(-1) Alex & Conor, frog
3(+0) Kristi & Jen, elephant
4(-2) Henry & Evan, elephant
Route info: "Make your way to the Original Khumkhantoke restaurant and search outside for your next clue."
Teams reach the restaurant in the following order:
1(+1) Alex & Conor
2(-1) Cody & Jessica, while Alex is still eating
3(+0) Kristi & Jen, after the first two teams have left
4(+0) Henry & Evan, after all other teams have left
Road block: "Who wants to Thai something new?"
In this road block players must eat three scorpions, a bunch of crickets and finally a frog (all seem to be stir-fried). And to increase their motivation live scorpions are placed on their teammate while they eat.
"You sit down in this circle with these local people and they have like normal looking food.", Alex thinks this task is going to be great
"I think this is a scorpion, I'm not that thrilled to be eating these", Jen
"I know that Evan does not like bugs", Henry
The contestants getting the scorpions placed on them have different reactions. The reactions vary between Jessica who looks like she wants to scream, but is too scared to do it, to Henry who wants to pet them.
Henry seems to turn away so that Evan does not see his scorpions. She does not seem to enjoy her meal but she soldiers through it and get it done without complaining.
Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):
1(+0)Alex* & Conor (4-3)2(+0)Cody* & Jessica (4-3)3(+0)Kristi & Jen* (3-4)4(+0)Henry & Evan* (3-4)
--- Quote ---ROUTE INFO
Make your way to your
next Pit Stop at Wat
Ched Luangm known
locally as
วัดเจดีย์หลวง, and search
the grounds for Phil.
Warning: The last team
to check in may be
eliminated.
--- End quote ---
"Remember how I said this was my favorite place? I'm kind of taking that back", Jessica did not enjoy the scorpions
"Third place is fine when there's like 9 teams. Third place when there's 4 teams is stressful", Jen
"We're still in it until we're not", Evan probably suspects a non-elimination leg
The extra info tells teams that Watt Ched Luang is a temple and running is not allowed on the temple grounds. So we get a slow race to the pit stop.
Teams reach Phil in the following order:
1(+0) Alex & Conor, win a trip to Curacao
2(+0) Cody & Jessica, a few seconds after #1
3(+0) Kristi & Jen
4(+0) Henry & Evan, are saved by a non-elimination
"I contributed nothing to this leg of the race", Jessica
"You have not finished lower than third on any leg of the race", Phil to Kristie & Jen
"We had a good last few legs and this is the time to really step on the throttle", Conor
"There has only been three all-female teams to win the Amazing race and we want to be the fourth team to accomplish that", Jen
"I always had the expectation that we would do extremely well on this race", Cody
"Henry and I stack up against these teams really really well, even when we're at a disadvantage", Evan
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