Archive > The Amazing Race 30
Racing report: TAR30 episode 12 is on page 1
maf:
Racing report
Amazing Race Season 30, Episode 11, "It’s just a million dollars, no pressure”
Film date: 2017-10-22
The last pit stop was at Wat Ched Luangm in Chiang Mai, Thailand. And this is where teams are released the next day in the following order:
1.Alex & Conor 06:452.Cody & Jessica 06:47+0:023.Kristi & Jen 07:15+0:304.Henry & Evan 07:44+0:59
Route info: "Fly to the Pearl of the Orient, Hong Kong." Once in Hong Kong teams must head to Victoria Peak where they must find a photography kiosk to get their next clue.
"Even though we're all arriving at the same time at least Yale has a speed bump because we want them to go out this leg", Cody
"I wish yesterday was an elim... so bad", Alex
All teams are on the same set of flights:[/i]]
PG224 CNX - BKK 12:03 - 13:32 (scheduled 12:00 - 13:20)
CX654 BKK - HKG 15:41 - 19:32 (scheduled 14:55 - 18:45)
[/tt]
When teams arrive in Hong Kong there is the customary mad dash through the airport to the taxis. Teams then make their way to the Lions Pavilion lookout point on Victoria Peak.
In the taxi we learn that Henry speaks a little bit of Mandarin. Which helps a bit but in Hong Kong most people speak Cantonese.
Kristi & Jen's taxi drive to the wrong spot and end up going the wrong way on a small road a little bit lower down on the mountain. In the end they ask the driver to turn around while they run up to the pavilion (the sign says it is a 8 minutes walk).
Teams arrive to the photo kiosk on Victoria Peak in the following order:
1. Alex & Conor
- Henry & Evan, find their speed bump
2. Cody & Jessica
3. Kristi & Jen
4. Henry & Evan
Here Henry & Evan find their speed bump: "Light the way by turning on all the lanterns to receive your next clue". They must now illuminate and hang 40 Chinese lanterns. This task is not difficult, it just takes some time to complete.
"Our taxi driver Henry is here cheering us on", Henry (& Evan) have a good relationship with their driver, who is also named Henry
At the photography kiosk they guy running it ask if teams want to have a picture taken. He does not take no for an answer and takes and prints a picture of each team with Hong Kong in the background. When he hands over the printout he also adds the next clue.
Route info: "Travel by taxi to Aberdeen and search the waterfront for your next clue".
"I feel like the other three teams have agreed to freeze us out", Evan (and she is right)
The clue box at the waterfront is elusive. Partly because production has placed some nets and other fishing stuff in front of it. Nevertheless, teams find it in the following order:
1(+2) Kristi & Jen
2(-1) Alex & Conor
3(-1) Cody & Jessica
4(+0) Henry & Evan
Detour: Hairy Crab or Grub Grab
In Hairy crab teams must do as the local fishermen and secure a basket of hairy crabs for transport. That is they must take 50 crabs and wrap each up in string so it can not move. To make the task a little bit more difficult they must do this outside on a boat in a simulated typhoon, that is a rain machine and a fan.
In Grub Grab teams must make their way to Jin Bao Seafood Restaurant. Here one team member must act as the waiter and take the orders of 8 customers, all speaking Cantonese. They must then relay this order to their partner in the kitchen. In the kitchen there are trays of food with labels. The labels have the dish name in Cantonese and English. The person in the kitchen must figure out which dish the partner say the customer is ordering and prepare the food (i.e. place some of it on plates) and hand over to the serving team member.
The detours take place at different locations and teams must travel there on marked boats.
"I don't like crabs, I don't like seafood", Jessica
The crab detour takes place on a boat and teams are given rain coats. The crabs are lively and use their pincers.
"I would love your cooperation my friend", Jen talks to a crab
"The crabs were vicious killers", Conor
Alex & Conor have a very hard time with the crabs so they decide to switch. They arrive to the restaurant just before Henry & Evan.
"The crab thing was horrible", Alex to Evan as they wait in the kitchen
The restaurant side also seems hard. To increase the noise level production has places a guy playing Erhu (a string instrument) in the corner. And the customers are talking softly and quickly.
"This is impossible", Conor comes into the kitchen to vent
"We have to do this one, we can't switch", Alex
"That was so hard, they speak so fast", Henry also thinks it is hard
Some of the orders they have to fetch are (thanks to cbacbacba1):
豉汁帶子蒸豆腐 Si Zap Daai Zi Zing Dau Fu (Steam tofu with Scallop in Black Bean Sauce)
蒜蓉開邊蒸蝦 Syun Jung Hoi Bin Zing Haa (Steam prawn in garlic sauce)
薑蔥霸王雞 (Chicken with Ginger & Scallions)
金菇紅燒豆腐 Gun Go Hong Siu Dau Fu (Braised Tofu with Mushrooms)
金銀蛋浸時蔬 Gam Ngan Daan Zam Si So (Golden and Silver Eggs with Amaranth)
蒜蓉粉絲蒸鮮魷 Syun Jung Fun Si Zing Sin Yau (Steam Squid with clear noodle in garlic sauce)
Meanwhile the teams at the crab detour are complaining that it takes a long time.
"This challenge sucks and I hate it", Jessica
Alex soon figures out a strategy and start do deliver some food. When he is done the Maitre d'or asks if everybody got what they ordered, and three of them shakes their heads. This means that the racers are told which orders they got wrong and this makes the task a lot easier.
Teams complete the detour in the following order:
1(+3) Henry & Evan, restaurant
2(+0) Alex & Conor, started crab but switched to restaurant
3(+0) Cody & Jessica, crab
4(-3) Kristi & Jen, crab
Route info: "Make your way back by taxi to the roof of central pier no 4 and search for your next clue."
Teams arrive to the clue box on the pier in the following order:
1(+0) Henry & Evan
2(+0) Alex & Conor, arrive as Henry is still smashing
3(+0) Cody & Jessica, arrive as Conor seems to be finishing up
4(+0) Kristi & Jen, arrive as Cody is smashing stuff
Road block: Who wants to get smashed?
In this road block one team member get to put on protection and must then smash a bunch of electronics (old school TV's computers etc) and a couple of vases with a baseball bat. They must find two halves of a clue hidden inside some of the pieces. Once they are done they must throw a bucket of paint over the wreckage to create an art installation.
While they do this their partner gets a briefcase handcuffed to their wrist.
The old TV's and other electronics is surprisingly tough so it is quite hard to break them. Each team managed to break at least one bat in the process. No worries though, production has brought a bunch of them so they get free replacements.
"It felt pretty awesome to be smashing all that stuff", Henry got some aggression's out of his system
"Cody is smashing the crap out of some stuff", Jessica
"Ouch, that was really painful", Kristi after her first swing bounces back
Kristi & Jen are feeling the pressure here. They need to be in front of at least one team and in this case the closes team is Cody & Jessica. But Cody is in cyborg mode and smashing stuff like a terminator. That is hard to beat.
"This is so hard to watch", Jen watches as Kristi is in pain
Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):
1(+0)Henry* & Evan (4-4)2(+0)Alex & Conor* (4-4)3(+0)Cody* & Jessica (5-3)4(+0)Kristi* & Jen (4-4)13 minutes after the previous team
Route info: Travel by taxi to Lan Kwai Fong...
Teams must now make their way to Lan Kwai Fong, described by Phil as the heart of Hong Kong nightlife. Here they must search for signs representing three of the race legs. The signs they need to find are:
* a green/white happy hour sign with a picture of the arch from Washington Square park representing leg 1
* a yellow and red neon fez representing Morocco in leg 3
* a red and yellow bull representing Provence in leg 5
These leg numbers are the digits of the code which opens the briefcase they got at the road block. They just have to try the various combinations. As an added twist each briefcase has a different order.
On their way to Lan Kwai Fong Henry & Evan make list of the legs and which numbers they had, this is a good idea. Afterwards we learn that at least Kristi & Jen also made such a list. The girls also started an exhaustive search of all combinations to their briefcase and if the taxi trip had been a bit longer they might have gotten it open before even arriving.
Lan Kwai Fong turns out to be a crowded chaotic street. And there are tons of signs here.
The arch sign is the hardest one. Not only is it hard to spot since it is not in race colors but once teams spot it their first guess is that it depicts the Arc'd Triumphe in Paris, which this race did not visit. The fact that numerous more or less drunk locals point teams to it does not help at all. Specially since some other residents are fans of Cody & Jessica and actively try to misdirect the other teams.
Henry & Evan is the first team to get it and they leave before Kristi & Jen arrive to the street. This just adds pressure on the remaining teams since they know that one of them is going home.
As Henry & Evan rush down the street to find a taxi they pass Alex & Conor. Henry can not help himself but blurts out that they are too far down on the street (which they are). Evan is not happy about him helping another team here. Later in the taxi she explains:
"I like Indy car but it is way too tight to help them", Evan
Later we learn that Kristi & Jen thinks the same:
"We have a close relationship with Cody & Jessica, but it was like an us or them scenario today", Jen
Both Kristi & Jen and Cody & Jessica separately arrive at a situation where they are pretty sure they have two numbers so they just try to guess the last digit by brute forcing. It also helps that the briefcase has two locks with the same combination so they can both work independently.
Teams opens their briefcases in the following order:
1(+0) Henry & Evan
2(+1) Cody & Jessica
3(+1) Kristi & Jen
Inside the briefcase they find two road signs for "Johnston Road" and "Wan Chai Road" and a key to the handcuffs which is attaching the briefcase to one of the team members.
Teams quickly realize that they have to make their way to this intersection, and once there they find Phil and the mat.
As Henry & Evan catch sight of the pit stop they start rushing across the street and are nearly hit by a tram.
"Let's not get killed", Evan
Teams check with Phil in the following order:
1(+0) Henry & Evan
2(+0) Cody & Jessica
3(+0) Kristi & Jen
At the mat Phil tells Henry & Evan that they have made history as they are the third team to ever complete a speed bump and win the leg.
Phil also tells teams that the last leg will take place in San Francisco and that teams will get to fly business class on their way there.
Cody & Jessica arrive at the mat as Phil is chatting with Henry & Evan. Jessica is visibly sad at the mat.
"Losing people gets harder because we're friends at this point", Jessica
Later in interviews they spell it out that they are every unhappy that Henry & Evan is one of the three teams going to the final.
It seems as if Kristi & Jen checked in around 01:00 and at about 03:30 Phil goes to Lan Kwai Fong where Alex & Conor are still trying to find the signs.
"Shoot", Alex reaction upon seeing Phil
Phil eliminates them on the spot.
"It was an honor to meet these people and race with them", Alex about the other teams
maf:
Racing report
Amazing Race Season 30, Episode 11, "It’s just a million dollars, no pressure”
Film date: 2017-10-23 - 2017-10-24
The last pt stop was in Hong Kong at night. Teams only get a few hours of rest before the next leg starts in the morning. We do not get to see the start but instead find teams at the airport. The first two teams, Henry & Evan and Cody & Jessica are waiting to see which third team made it into the finals.
"I want the win more than the money, I just want to win it", Cody
"I want the money", Jessica
The last destination is San Francisco and this time production has provided flights. They have even been nice and given the teams business class seats on the log leg from Taipei to San Francisco. All teams fly:
CI916 HKG - TPE 18:06 - 19:45 (scheduled 17:35 - 19:30)
CI004 TPE - SFO 23:47 - 20:01 (scheduled 23:35 - 20:00)
Note that since it crosses the international dateline this flight lands before it starts according to the local time at the destination.
"Just a million dollars, no pressure", Jessica gets the title
Henry & Evan check their bags and then do not pick them up in San Francisco. Kristi & Jen just left their bags on the plane (they were eventually able to get them back, but there was some fuss). Cody is the only once racing with a backpack on this last leg.
Once teams land in San Francisco they must make their way to AT&T Park where they must find the "Hey kid" statue of Willie Howard Mays.
There is the customary rush through the airport and into the taxis.
"It smells like America, this is my place", Cody is glad to be back
Teams arrive at the statue in the following order:
1. Cody & Jessica
2. Kristi & Jen
3. Henry & Evan
Route info: "Pull some balls from the drink" "Find three numbered baseballs to represent the career home runs Willie Mays hit during his stellar baseball career." In this task teams must make their way to pier 40 (500m) and get into kayaks and paddle to the McCovey cove outside AT&T park. Here they must search among hundreds of baseballs for ones with digits printed on them.
The number they need to make up is 660 and can be found on the statue of Willie May behind the clue box. But nobody thinks about looking here.
"Should we ask someone?", Jessica
"No, let's just go", Cody
In fact the only teams which checks which number they need to get before they get into the water is Kristi & Jen who ask a local to google it.
"What are the numbers we are looking for?", Evan realizes they are missing something when they start picking up balls
"It doesn't say what numbers they are", Henry (the clue does not say)
The two teams who did not look up the number beforehand apparently think that only balls with the correct digits are going to be in the water and it's all about finding the order. But after they find four different numbers they realize this is not the case. Cody & Jessica paddle to the shore and ask one of the onlookers to google the answer. Henry & Evan see this and paddle close so that they can hear the response.
Apparently it took a while to paddle from pier 40 to the landing zone. So the teams which did not look up the number beforehand are very lucky that there is a helpful bystander who can look it up for them.
To add to the action we have Lou Seal, the giants mascot, throwing additional balls into the water.
Eventually teams complete this task in the following order:
1(+1) Kristi & Jen
2(-1) Cody & Jessica
3(+0) Henry & Evan
The umpire hands them their next clue and tells them to go to their team zodiac.
Road block: "Who brought an extra pair of underwear?"
In this task one team member must use a mechanical ascender to climb over 200 feet up the anchorage of the Bay Bridge. Once at the top they will go inside the structure and do a free fall jump, with a descender, into the black abyss. Once back at the bottom they will get their next clue and can reunite with their partner.
Kristi & Jen are a bit confused here so they waste some time before they realize they have to get into the zodiac as well. So one team passes them on their way to the bridge.
Once at the bridge the participating players sit up in safety gear and start climbing up on the outside of the anchorage.
"Your butt looks great from down here babe", Jessica to Cody
"Your butt looks great too Evan", Jessica fills in for Henry
Once at the top there is some more rigging, including putting on a bunch of lights. Once rigged players can walk out on a plank and into the abyss. They are held up by a rope going to a descender which will slow their fall as they close in on the bottom for a fairly soft landing.
"I hate tall buildings", Kristi is about to drop down
Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):
1(+1)Cody* & Jessica (6-3)2(-1)Kristi* & Jen (5-4)2.5 min after #13(+0)Henry & Evan* (4-5)14 min after #1
The next clue is a picture puzzle which when solved leads teams to the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory.
In the boat en-route to the shore Jessica tells the camera that they are not sure of what kind of factory they are going to, only that it is named "Golden gate" something.
"We are at the Golden Gate bridge so we know it's going to be somewhere close", Jessica as production put up a sign that the bridge behind them is in fact the Bay Bridge.
Once back on land teams talk to people and with some googling teams figure out where they are going. The first two teams run there while Henry & Evan take a taxi.
They arrive at the cookie factory in the following order:
1(+0) Cody & Jessica
2(+0) Kristi & Jen
3(+0) Henry & Evan, while the first two teams are still doing the task
Here each team member must make 51 perfect fortune cookies. There is a machine making the patties so "all" the racers need to do is grab them as they come out of the oven, i.e. they are hot, and put a piece of paper in them and fold. All of this has to be done fairly quickly before the patties set.
"These are really hot", Cody
There are gloves the racers can use, but those make it harder to grab the papers they have to put inside so it is a trade off.
There is a special tray where the racers place the cookies in small holes. Once they are done the master baker inspects the tray and throws out any cookies which are not up to his standards.
Teams complete this task in the following order:
1(+1) Kristi & Jen
2(-1) Cody & Jessica
3(+0) Henry & Evan, did close the gap to the team in front of them
Once teams are done they get a giant fortune cookie with a race clue inside. In the telecast it sounds as if this clue sends teams to the USS Hornet. But in reality it sent them to City Hall. City Hall was lit up in red and yellow, we get to see a short shot of this in the telecast, and here they find the clue sending them to the USS Hornet.
Teams reach the USS Hornet in the following order
1(+0) Kristi & Jen
2(+1) Henry & Evan
3(-1) Cody & Jessica
Route info: “This is It! Search the U.S.S. Hornet to find 12 airplane parts. Then, ONE of you must assemble your plane to show one image from each leg of the race. When you think your plane is “properly assembled,” ask the Captain to check your work. If it’s correct, he’ll clear you for takeoff.”
They must assemble the plane at one end of the flight deck. Phil and the eliminated teams wait at the finish line at the other end. So teams can see the finish line from where they do the assembling part of this task.
The plane they must assemble is more like a large toy. The body is there but they have to search the ship for 12 parts (wings, propeller etc). The planes and parts are color coded. The plane only needs 6 parts but the racers have to pick the right 6 parts.
"This place is like a maze", Cody
It is not show explicitly but the person assembling the plane must be the person who did not do the road block.
Teams find all their pieces and start to assemble their planes in the following order (* denotes the person assembling the plane)
1(+0) Kristi & Jen* (spent 1h 11min searching for parts)
2(+1) Cody & Jessica*
3(-1) Henry* & Evan
The following table (done by Neobie) lists the parts the different
teams got:
White (Jessica)Red (Jen)Blue (Henry)Helmet (Iceland, 1)/Fish (Tangiers, 3)Left wingPropellerWingFries (Antwerp, 2)/Elephant (Chiang Mai, 10)Left wingTailplaneTail finPontoon (Imire, 7)/Scales (Bahrain, 9)PropellerLeft wingTailplaneMagnifying glass (Prague, 6)/Paddle (San Francisco, 12)Tail finLeft wingPropellerRudder (St-Tropez, 4)/Handcuffs (Hong Kong, 11)TailplaneTail finTailplaneKnight (Arles, 5)/Microphone (Harare, 8 )TailplaneTailplaneLeft wingMap of Geneva?/Train (Imire, 7)PropellerRight wingTailplaneDrinking horn (Iceland, 1)/Rope ladder (Antwerp, 2)Right wingTailplanePropellerFish (Tangiers, 3)/Fortune cookie (San Francisco, 12)Right wingPropellerTailplaneTyre (Harare, 8 )/Scorpion (Chiang Mai, 10)Tail finTailplaneWingHelmet (Iceland, 1)/Falcon (Bahrain, 9)TailplaneTail finRight wingBeer spa (Prague, 6)/Baseball bats (Hong Kong, 11)TailplaneRight wingTail finBold denotes correct answer.
The wings, although toy-like, have leading edges on them so there are clearly left and right wings. However the "correct" solution required teams to put the two left wings on the plane. I.e. one of them was facing backwards. There are quite a few viewers who think this was a very poor decision of the producers. It means that the task favored teams who used the brute-force approach rather than the logical think-it-through method.
The task is time consuming so for a long time we have all three teams working side by side within sight of the pit stop. This makes it fairly exciting.
Evan is nervous here which makes her yell a lot of encouragements to Henry.
"Come on Hen, you've got this", Evan
"Oh my god, tell her to shut up", Jessica is not happy about Evans talking
This is a hard puzzle and all players doing it are more or less frustrated. There are many calls for the judge to check and many cases of "This plane is not cleared for takeoff".
The puzzle part of this task takes more than a hour to solve.
At one point the graphic on the screen show that Henry actually have the right solution. but he switches one part before asking for a check so that chance is lost.
In the end teams get the planes approved in the following order:
1(+1) Cody & Jessica, on their 10th check
2(+1) Henry & Evan, about 10 minutes after #1
3(-2) Kristi & Jen, more than 1h later
Once the plane is approved they can roll it over to their team mate and run together to the finish line. This is hard to miss since they can see it so teams reach the finish line in the following order:
1(+0) Cody & Jessica, win the $1,000,000
2(+0) Henry & Evan
3(+0) Kristi & Jen
"9 countries, 21 cities, more than 29,000 miles", Phil tells the distance they have traveled
"It was truly an amazing experience to run this race", Jen
"I think the best thing we got out of the race was just a set of really incredible experiences", Evan
"My daughter gets to see this, and she gets to see her dad win", Cody
Marionete:
Great reports, as always, maf!
I love these because they're so in-depth and document most, if not all of the relevant information for each episode.
BourkieBoy:
Thank you so muck (again), for these absolutely wonderful reports!
They are so good to refer to, if I'm not sure about what's gone on in those episodes!
claude_24hrs:
Delete as mistaken info. See Neobie's updated post in TAR Maps thread.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version