Topic: Racing reports TAR 35, episode #12 is on page #1

[maf]

This thread will contain my racing reports where I try to describe in detail what happened on each leg. I try to give as much details about clue wordings etc as possible.

At the start of each leg, if we are given start times, I list them and how long after the first team each team is. For example:
Teams are released in the following order:

1.	Leo & Jamal	00:42
2.	Colin & Christie	00:45	+0:03
3.	Tyler & Korey	00:54	+0:12

From this table we can see that Colin & Christie started 3 minutes after Leo & Jamal and that Tyler & Korey started 12 minutes after Leo & Jamal.

I will also give the order teams arrive to or finish tasks. Whenever I do this I also try to give the placement changes. For example:
  1(+3) Jocely & Victor
  2(+1) Rob & Corey
  3(-2) Morgan & Lena
This means that Jocely & Victor have climbed three spots since the last time we got an order (when they were 4th). Morgan & Lena have however dropped two spots (i.e. they were the first team at the last location).

I also try to give distances to locations in parentheses like: "race to LAX (23km)". Which mean that it was 23km to LAX from where the racers were.

I should also state that for some information I rely a lot of what people have written in other threads on this site.

I hope this makes it easier to read the reports. Happy racing...

[maf]

Racing report
Amazing Race Season 35, Episode 1, "The Amazing Race Is Back!"
Film date: 2023-06-13 - 2023-06-15

The episode starts with Phil saying that the race is back and this time they will circle the globe in the old school way.

The starting line for this 35th season is by the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles. We call it the 35th season because it is the 35th season to air. They did actually film another season before this which for unknown reasons have not been aired yet. So while it is officially the 35th season it is actually the 36th season to film. Are you confused yet? In any way we will refer to this season as the 35th.

The teams in this season are:

• Todd & Ashlie, Married high school sweethearts
• Andrea & Malaina, College friends
• Morgan & Lena, Sisters
• Rob & Corey, Father and son. The dad, Rob, is deaf
• Joel & Garrett, Best friends who met while in the military
• Joe & Ian, Engaged
• Jocely & Victor, Married Entrepreneurs
• Elizabeth & Iliana, Mother and daughter
• Alexandra & Sheridan, Siblings and roommates
• Liam & Yeremi, Brothers
• Greg & John, Brothers and computer scientists
• Robbin & Chelsea, Childhood friends
• Steve & Anna Leigh, Father and daughter

On the starting line Phil asks some teams to tell the others a little bit about themselves. We only see him ask a few teams but I get the impression that all of them got to present themselves. This is usually the first time teams may speak to each other so I am sure they were listening carefully to gauge the opposition.

Phil then tells them that every leg will be an elimination leg, there will be an express pass and a mandatory voting U-turn.

The starting line was at the start of Mt Lee Dr. The cars are parked on N Beachwood Dr just south of Temple Hill Dr, which is 2.5km from the start. All teams run up to the cars together, and there is no way that would have happened if there had been a race from the starting line. So I assume that they had a second start closer to the cars. That way there is no rush getting down from the sign and there is much less of a risk of somebody injuring themselves running downhill (think of the camera teams).

From a comment by one of the racers it seemed that you claimed a car by grabbing the clue on it.

ROUTE INFO

Drive to the historic
Biltmore in
downtown Los Angeles
to find your next clue.

You have $120 for this
leg of the race.

Everybody starts looking for directions, a bunch of teams descend on one guy who is walking his dog close to the cars. Alexandra & Sheridan spend the most time looking at the map on his phone, so long that they are the last team to leave.

 "I am a CODA, which stands for Child Of Deaf Adult", Corey had two deaf parents

Teams reach the clue box outside the Biltmore Hotel (11km) in the following order:
  1. Greg & John
  2. Joe & Ian
  3. Andrea & Malaina
  4. Robbin & Chelsea
  5. Todd & Ashlie
  6. Rob & Corey
  7. Morgan & Lena
  8. Jocely & Victor
  9. Liam & Yeremi
 10. Steve & Anna Leigh
 11. Joel & Garrett
 12. Alexandra & Sheridan
 13. Elizabeth & Iliana

The clue box has number tags on the front and each team grabs a number. This also lets every team know which position they are in.

Road block: "Who wants to be above it all?"

In this road block contestants must cross between two wings of the hotel on a tightrope and then they must unscramble a word puzzle.

The word puzzle consists of 12 characters. There are empty lines are arranged to form three words: _ _ _ _   _ _   _ _ _ _ _ _. The letters listed under are ACEFGILNOSTY. Teams must unscramble this into "City of Angels" and tell that to the task judges, Derek & Claire (the winners of the last season).

Phil also tells us that there are two flights available and the first flight has room for six teams. Teams who get tickets for the first flight, by arriving first at the ticket counter, will get a 90 minutes head start.

There are five tightropes available so there should not be much of a queue. Specially as it seems the actual tightrope part of the task is fairly quick. Nobody is shown struggling. The hard part of this task turns out to be the word scramble. Contestants are full of adrenaline so it is hard to concentrate and they have no pen and paper so they have to do it all in their heads.

Liam & Yeremi play rock, paper, scissors about who should do the road block. And Alexandra & Sheridan seem to have a hard time deciding who should do it.
 "You pick", Alexandra
 "I don't care", Sheridan
Eventually they decide that Sheridan will do this task.

Everybody but the first two teams are stumped by the puzzle. At one point we get told that 50 minutes have elapsed. We also get to see lots of people making guesses in front of the judges. Eventually Victor gets it and he tells Joe.

We also get something as unusual as a glimpse of the line where teams are waiting to go in front of the judges. Todd is pretty sure that he got the correct response and he promises to tell the others if he can move to the head if the line. This was not a smart move.

When Rob get to the judges there is an ASL interpreter following him.

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):

1(+0)	Greg* & John	(1-0)
2(+4)	Rob* & Corey	(1-0)
3(+5)	Jocely & Victor*	(0-1)
4(-2)	Joe* & Ian	(1-0)
5(+0)	Todd* & Ashlie	(1-0)
6(+4)	Steve & Anna Leigh*	(0-1)
7(-4)	Andrea* & Malaina	(1-0)
8(-4)	Robbin & Chelsea*	(0-1)
9(+3)	Alexandra & Sheridan*	(0-1)
10(-3)	Morgan* & Lena	(1-0)
11(+2)	Elizabeth & Iliana*	(0-1)
12(-3)	Liam* & Yeremi	(1-0)
13(-2)	Joel* & Garrett	(1-0)

           

The next clue is a route info which tells them to race to LAX (23km) and then fly to the other "City of Angels", Bangkok Thailand. The first flight is operated by China Airways so all teams queue up at the marked ticket counter there. Teams only know that there is a limited number of seats on this plane but do not know how many will fit.

At the airport we learn that John has been practicing ASL so he can talk to Rob.

All teams reach the ticket counter before it even opens so we have a long line of teams. In the end teams end up on these flights:

Flight #1:
  CAL7   LAX-TPE  00:33 - 05:04+1  (scheduled 00:05 - 05:00)
  CAL833 TPE-BKK  07:14 - 09:48    (scheduled 07:10 - 09:45)
This carries:
  1(+0) Greg & John
  2(+0) Rob & Corey
  3(+0) Jocely & Victor
  4(+1) Todd & Ashlie
  5(+2) Andrea & Malaina
  6(+4) Morgan & Lena


Flight #2:
  EVA11  LAX-TPE  00:27 - 05:04+1  (scheduled 00:25 - 05:10)
  EVA75  TPE-BKK  08:36 - 11:21    (scheduled 08:20 - 11:15)
This carries:
  7(+6) Joel & Garrett
  8(-2) Steve & Anna Leigh
  9(-1) Robbin & Chelsea
 10(+1) Elizabeth & Iliana
 11(+1) Liam & Yeremi
 12(-3) Alexandra & Sheridan
 13(-9) Joe & Ian (got lost on the way to the airport)

I note that in the episode we get a sign that the first flight departs at 12:05 am and the second flight at 01:30. Which is not correct but I guess a simpler way of showing that the second flight will arrive 90 minutes after the first when teams arrive in Bangkok.

Once they land teams make their way to Wat Paknam, a temple know for housing an enormous golden Buddha statue. Almost every team has the address of the temple written down so I assume they got this info in the clue back in Los Angeles and they have had time to research it.

On the way to the temple we learn that Victor understands Thai since he speak Laotian which is a very similar language.

Todd talks to Ashlie that she is fantastic but need to work on not freaking out about things they can not control. This as they are in a slow taxi and getting passed by the other teams.

Teams reach the clue box in front of the giant golden Buddha (46km, ~90min) in the following order:
  1. Morgan & Lena
  2. Andrea & Malaina
  3. Rob & Corey
  4. Jocely & Victor
  5. Todd & Ashlie
  6. Greg & John
  7. Robbin & Chelsea
  8. Joel & Garrett
  9. Joe & Ian
 10. Steve & Anna Leigh
 11. Alexandra & Sheridan
 12. Elizabeth & Iliana
 13. Liam & Yeremi

Route info: "Travel by Long-tail boat and and then by Tuc-Tuc to Wat Suthat. When you arrive, search the temple grounds to find your next clue."

The envelope also contains a separate sheet with instructions for how to win the express pass. To get it teams must find a marked vendor in the garden behind the Buddha and complete a task. At the stall they find a sign:

Each of you must eat
one plate of exotic
fried insects. You may
not help your partner.

Each plate contains a fairly large serving of worms, crickets and the piece de resistance is a fried tarantula. Morgan & Lena go for this
 "I'm grossed out for the crickets", Morgan
Morgan & Lena have made a fairly sizable dent in the servings when the next team arrive.
 "Welcome to hell", Lena
Andrea & Malaina take one look at the plates they would have to eat and Morgan & Lena and decide to skip this task.
 "We're not eating no bugs", Malaina
I wonder if they would have reacted differently if there was not already a team there? In any case I think they made the right decision as they would probably not have beaten Morgan & Lena.

The next team to reach the marked vendor is Jocely & Victor (Rob & Corey got lost) and as they arrive Morgan & Lena are just getting approved and are about to get the express pass.

After reading the clue teams need to make their way to the temple pier. Here they must pick up named life vests and then jump into one of the provided long-tail boats (one team per boat).
 "This is what makes the race amazing", Ashlie find the boat trip amazing

After the boat drops them off teams must ride a Tuc-tuc to their next destination. These are not provided so teams must find them themselves. I wonder if teams had to get one for their camera crew as well or if that one was provided.

Teams reach the clue box in Wat Suthat in the following order:
  1(+3) Jocely & Victor
  2(+1) Rob & Corey
  3(-2) Morgan & Lena
  4(+1) Todd & Ashlie
  5(+1) Greg & John
  6(-4) Andrea & Malaina
  7(+1) Joel & Garrett
  8(+1) Joe & Ian
  9(+1) Steve & Anna Leigh
 10(-3) Robbin & Chelsea
 11(+0) Alexandra & Sheridan
 12(+0) Elizabeth & Iliana
 13(+0) Liam & Yeremi

Detour: Sword Play or Spa Day

In Sword Play teams must learn a 30 second sword routine. This takes place in Saranrom Park (800m). First they get to train with wooden sticks but when it is time to perform they are given real swords. These have a different weight distribution to the practice sticks and this makes the task harder. It is made even harder by the strict judge.

In Spa Day teams make their way to Putthinan Thai massage parlor (650m). Here they will have to endure a 30 minute painful massage. If they stop the massage along the way they loose their spot and their time is reset (for both team members). The massage parlor only has room for 5 teams at a time.

The massage seems really painful and we get to hear lots of groans from the contestants.
 "Oh my god, please just don't break my back", Jocely

Todd did not read the clue completely so when they are almost halfway through the massage it gets a  bit too intense so he says "Oh, wait, wait, wait". When he does this their masseuses immediately stop the massage. Fortunately for them there are no teams waiting so they can resume immediately, but their timer is reset so they will have to endure 30 more minutes.

Andrea & Malaina make one attempt at the sword routine before they decide to switch to the spa task

Elizabeth & Iliana are the last to arrive to the massage parlor and by that time all the masseuses are busy. They now have to choose if they want to stay and wait or switch to doing sword play. It is not a trivial decision, they assume that they are last and waiting for another team to be done will put them further behind, and sitting around doing nothing but waiting feels the worst on the race. On the other hand if they switch they have to make their way to the sword play detour (1.4km), get changed and learn the routine. Eventually they decide to stay, which probably was the best decision.

 "I had two babies, I can deal with this", Elizabeth
 
Teams complete the detour in the following order:
  1(+0) Jocely & Victor, spa day
  2(+0) Rob & Corey, spa day
  3(+0) Morgan & Lena, spa day, almost15 minutes after #2
  4(+1) Greg & John, spa day
  5(-1) Todd & Ashlie, spa day, after having to restart their treatment
  6(+3) Steve & Anna Leigh , spa day
  7(+0) Joel & Garrett, spa day
  8(-2) Andrea & Malaina, started sword play but switched to spa day
  9(+1) Robbin & Chelsea, spa day
 10(+3) Liam & Yeremi, spa day
 11(-3) Joe & Ian, sword play on their 1st attempt
 12(+0) Elizabeth & Iliana, spa day
 13(+0) Alexandra & Sheridan, sword play on their 9th attempt

The next clue tells teams to race to the Pit Stop at Wat Chaloem Phra Kiat Worawihan.

Teams reach the mat (20km) in the following order:
  1(+0) Jocely & Victor, win enough Expedia points for a trip to Patagonia, Chile
  2(+0) Rob & Corey
  3(+1) Greg & John
  4(-1) Morgan & Lena
  5(+0) Todd & Ashlie
  6(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh
  7(+0) Joel & Garrett
  8(+2) Liam & Yeremi
  9(+2) Joe & Ian
 10(-2) Andrea & Malaina
 11(-2) Robbin & Chelsea
 12(+0) Elizabeth & Iliana
 13(+0) Alexandra & Sheridan, are eliminated

At the mat Phil totally fools Elizabeth & Iliana with his expression. They are convinced they will get eliminated.
 "You have the best poker face ever", Elizabeth

 "I'm also really happy to have had this incredible opportunity to go on a race that we've watched since we was little, and to have done it with my sister", Sheridan

[maf]

Racing report
Amazing Race Season 35, Episode 2, "You don't see that at home"
Film date: 2023-06-16

The last Pit Stop was at Wat Chaloem Phra Kiat Worawihan in Bangkok and this leg starts from the same temple. Teams are released in the following order:

1.	Jocelyn & Victor	08:26
2.	Rob & Corey	08:34	+0:08
3.	Greg & John	08:44	+0:18
4.	Morgan & Lena	08:55	+0:29
5.	Todd & Ashlie	09:01	+0:35
6.	Steve & Anna Leigh	10:23	+1:57
7.	Joel & Garrett	10:28	+2:02
8.	Liam & Yeremi	10:36	+2:10
9.	Joe & Ian	10:39	+2:13
10.	Andrea & Malaina	10:44	+2:18
11.	Robbin & Chelsea	10:45	+2:19
12.	Elizabeth & Iliana	11:09	+2:43

Route info: "Travel by taxi to Wat Suwannaram in Salaya to find your next clue."

Production has helpfully made sure a suitable number of taxis are waiting outside the temple so teams jump into them.

On the way we learn that Jocelyn & Victor are celebrating their 20th anniversary today. Morgan & Lena say that they must use their express pass by the end of leg #4. We also learn that Robbin & Chelsea had a rocky start of their friendship. It started with Robbin and her friends more or less bullying Chelsea. But a couple of weeks later they saw each other on Soccer practice and ended up working together and became friends. And now 30 years later they are here.

Greg & John and Liam & Yeremi learn that there are two temples called Wat Suwannaram and that they forgot to say the Salaya part of the clue which tells them apart. Fortunately for them they only loose a couple of placements due to this (their route is 14km longer).

Teams reach the clue box at Wat Suwannaram (32km) in the following order:
  1(+0) Jocelyn & Victor
  2(+0) Rob & Corey
  3(+1) Morgan & Lena
  4(+1) Todd & Ashlie
  5(-2) Greg & John
  6(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh
  7(+0) Joel & Garrett
  8(+1) Joe & Ian
  9(+1) Andrea & Malaina
 10(+1) Robbin & Chelsea
 11(-3) Liam & Yeremi
 12(+0) Elizabeth & Iliana

Road block: Who has a green thumb?

In this road block one contestants must ride a boat to a Lotus pond. Once there they must pick 20 Lotus buds and a few leaves. They must then arrange these into two bundles which look like the given example.

The Lotus grows in a big pond and contestants are given plastic pants, gloves and some shoes to wear. The pants do not really help as the water is fairly deep. It is also very muddy and there are catfish swimming around in it. The bottom is so muddy that multiple racers loose at least one of the provided shoes in the mud.

The judge is very picky. The bulbs must be:
 * Of similar size
 * Placed 3-4-3
 * Wrapped in leaves
 * Tidily tied with bamboo ties

The judge tries to convey what people are getting rejected for but there is a big language barrier so this task turns out to be surprisingly difficult. For example to Rob she points to the bulbs to convey that they are not in a 3-4-3 configuration. But Rob interprets that as "So the leaves were too loose, too wobbly, so I have to make them tight and snug".

The boat trip to the task looks really amazing. But it is also a bit disconcerting as the non participating team members are left by the clue box, which means that they can not even see where the task takes place.

This is another task which gets harder for the teams towards the back of the pack as the Lotus buds close to the work area have already been picked by the time they get there so they have to walk further in the mud.

 "Let me see... Yes, you have green thumbs", Joel checks Garrett's thumbs
 "You don't see that at home", Rob gets the title when spotting a private temple in somebody's back yard along the canal

In the boat Lena talks about hoping there are no crocodiles in the water. And then we get a shot of a swimming giant lizard.

 "The water is really really muddy and I think my feet are sinking in. Alright, I think I'm stuck", Jocelyn manages to get free though

 "She will do much better than me, and she will enjoy it", Morgan on how much Lena enjoys working with flowers
 "Ohh, that's a spider", Lena looks very uncomfortable in the water picking Lotus buds
 
 "To be honest with you, I'm just kind of winging it at this moment", Ashlie has a hard time figuring out what she is doing wrong

Meanwhile back at the dock the waiting team members are given fish food and are enjoying themselves feeding the catfish and getting to know each other.

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):

1(+0)	Jocelyn* & Victor	(1-1)	On her 12th attempt
2(+0)	Rob* & Corey	(2-0)	On his 5th attempt
3(+2)	Greg* & John	(2-0)	On his 2nd shown attempt
4(-1)	Morgan & Lena*	(1-1)
5(+1)	Steve* & Anna Leigh	(1-1)	On his 12th attempt
6(-2)	Todd & Ashlie*	(1-1)	On her 15th attempt
7(+0)	Joel & Garrett*	(1-1)	On his 6th  attempt
8(+0)	Joe & Ian*	(1-1)	On his 5th attempt
9(+2)	Liam & Yeremi*	(1-1)	On his 4th attempt
10(+2)	Elizabeth* & Iliana	(1-1)	On her 10th attempt
11(-2)	Andrea & Malaina*	(1-1)	On her 11th attempt
12(-2)	Robbin* & Chelsea	(1-1)	On her 16th attempt

           

Route info: "Travel by taxi to Wat Rai Khing. When you arrive find the marked elephant and place one coin into the coin slot. Then walk under the elephant three times for good luck to receive your next clue."

After having ridden for a while Joel & Garrett realize they do not have their fanny pack.
 "Where is the fanny pack?", Garrett
 "I am supposed to be wearing it, but I'm not", Joel
They manage to get their driver, who does not speak English, to turn around and have no problems finding the pack once they get back. But they did loose some time. Apparently Iliana noticed that they forgot their fanny pack but she choose to not say anything, which is smart.

Teams find the elephant (17km) in the following order:
  1(+0) Jocelyn & Victor
  2(+0) Rob & Corey
  3(+0) Greg & John
  4(+0) Morgan & Lena
  5(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh
  6(+0) Todd & Ashlie
  7(+1) Joe & Ian
  8(-1) Joel & Garrett
  9(+0) Liam & Yeremi
 10(+0) Elizabeth & Iliana
 11(+0) Andrea & Malaina
 12(+0) Robbin & Chelsea, saw the two teams in front of them here so they are not far behind

Detour: Stock Up or
Scoop Up

Stock Up: Shop at a
market for food items
needed by a local
restaurant to receive
your next clue.

Scoop Up: Retrieve
pomelos from the
irrigation canals of a
local orchard to receive
your next clue.

In Stock Up teams receive a shopping lists which reads:

• 12 khai bpet
• 2  luuk kha noon
• 1  khaa muu thawwt
• 1  braawk khoh lee
• 2  sap pba roht
• 1  luuk thoo riian
• 1  ped yang
• 2  nam tarn ma frow 1kg

The shopping detour takes place at the Donwal market.
 "Is it just that easy?", Todd realizes that "braawk khoh lee" means Broccoli

In Scoop Up teams must ride a boat and collect enough pomelos to fill five baskets. The boat will not fit that much fruit so they will have to make multiple trips. This task takes place at Ton Som O Farm 3.

Steve & Anna Leigh are a bit too optimistic about how many pomelos they can fit in their boat so their boat sink and all the fruit floats away.
 "This is not good... we're going down", Anna Leigh
Luckily for them the canal is not deep so they can lift up their boat, empty it and resume the task.

Elizabeth & Iliana have seen the show before so they do not want to do shop. They show their driver the address to the pomelo detour, but he instead follows Andre & Malaina's driver to the market. After looking for the fruit task there for a short while they realize they are in the wrong location and that they do not want to waste the time to go to the other detour so they decide to do the shopping detour anyway.

Tension is high for Elizabeth & Iliana and Andrea & Malaina as they assume they are fighting to stay in the race. Elizabeth & Iliana go to get checked first but they are told their stuff is no good. They have to figure out for themselves what they are lacking which is nontrivial given that the shopping list only lists the phonetic versions of the Thai words. After a while they figure out that they did not get a Durian (Luuk thoo riian). In the meantime Andrea & Malaina get approved.

Teams complete the detour in the following order:
  1(+0) Jocelyn & Victor, shop
  2(+0) Rob & Corey, fruit
  3(+0) Greg & John, fruit
  4(+0) Morgan & Lena, fruit
  5(+1) Todd & Ashlie, shop
  6(-1) Steve & Anna Leigh, fruit
  7(+0) Joe & Ian, fruit
  8(+1) Liam & Yeremi, fruit
  9(+2) Andrea & Malaina, shop
 10(-2) Joel & Garrett, fruit
 11(+1) Robbin & Chelsea, fruit
 12(-2) Elizabeth & Iliana, wanted to do fruit but got driven to shop

Route info: "Race to your next Pit Stop at Suan Sampran. Hurry, the last team to check in will be eliminated!"

Teams reach Phil at the mat in the following order:
  1(+0) Jocelyn & Victor, win $2,000 each
  2(+0) Rob & Corey
  3(+0) Greg & John
  4(+0) Morgan & Lena
  5(+0) Todd & Ashlie
  6(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh
  7(+0) Joe & Ian
  8(+0) Liam & Yeremi
  9(+1) Joel & Garrett
 10(-1) Andrea & Malaina
 11(+0) Robbin & Chelsea
 12(+0) Elizabeth & Iliana, are eliminated

In an interview Joel & Garrett tell us that they did actually race Andrea & Malaina to the mat but this was not shown in the episode.

 "I'm just so happy that I got to do this with my mum",  Iliana

[maf]

Racing report
Amazing Race Season 35, Episode 3, "No sleep and a million dollar dream"
Film date: 2023-06-18 - 2023-06-19

The last Pit Stop was at Suan Sampran, outside Bangkok. For this leg team are released from Santi Chai Prakan Park in Bangkok. Teams are released in the following order:

1.	Jocelyn & Victor	05:24
2.	Rob & Corey	05:54	+0:30
3.	Greg & John	06:41	+1:17
4.	Morgan & Lena	07:08	+1:44
5.	Todd & Ashlie	07:29	+2:05
6.	Steve & Anna Leigh	07:49	+2:25
7.	Joe & Ian	08:30	+3:06
8.	Liam & Yeremi	08:45	+3:21
9.	Joel & Garrett	09:00	+3:36
10.	Andrea & Malaina	09:01	+3:37
11.	Robbin & Chelsea	09:08	+3:44

Route info: "Fly to Vietnam. When you arrive travel by bus to the city of Can Tho"

Morgan & Lena tells us that they must use the express pass before the end of leg #4 and they aim to use it during this leg.

Teams must first make their way to a travel agency named Thailand Tour & Travel 2. Here they will need to book their flight to Ho Chi Minh city. The travel agency turns out to open at 7, which is about 30 minutes after the first team arrives. This is according to what Victor says in the episode. But there is something strange with this. The travel agency is only 800m from the start and as the first team left at 05:24, how could it take them an hour to get there?

The travel agency is a bit on the basic side. They do not have any computers instead the agents call around to some other parties and book the trips over the phone. And either one of the guys were better than the others or some seats opened up during the day because some of the later teams got a much better flight than the ones before.

Eventually teams are booked on these flights:

VU130  BKK-SGN  ~15:00 - ~16:40  (scheduled 13:45 - 15:25)
  Jocelyn & Victor
  Rob & Corey
  Greg & John
  Morgan & Lena

VJ804  BKK-SGN  14:34 - 16:51  (scheduled 13:50 - 15:20)
  Joe & Ian
  Joel & Garrett

VJ806  BKK-SGN  20:17 - 22:24  (scheduled 19:55 - 21:25)
  Todd & Ashlie
  Steve & Anna Leigh
  Liam & Yeremi
  Andrea & Malaina
  Robbin & Chelsea

At the airport Joel & Garrett run into Todd & Ashlie and they talk about their flights. Ashlie is not happy that they got a flight 6 hours before them even though they got to the travel agency after them.
 "I think my hair caught on fire, I was mad", Anna Leigh when she heard about the earlier flight they did not get on
 "This is old school Amazing Race, this is suffering in the airport Amazing Race", Chelsea

Also teams on flight #1 are not happy when it is delayed so they will not be the first to arrive. But they take solace in the fact that bunch of teams are on a much later flight.

Once teams land they jump into taxis and make their way to the West Coach Station (12km). Here they buy bus tickets on FUTA bus lines and end up on the following buses:

Bus #1 18:30 - 22:30
  Joe & Ian

Bus #1 18:31 - 22:31
  Joel & Garrett

Bus #3 19:30 - 23:30
  Morgan & Lena
  Jocelyn & Victor
  Greg & John
  Rob & Corey
 
Bus #4 01:00 - 05:00
  Todd & Ashlie
  Steve & Anna Leigh
  Andrea & Malaina
  Liam & Yeremi
  Robbin & Chelsea

The buses seem to be fairly comfortable sleeper buses. Which is good as the trip takes 4 hours.

Once in Can Tho teams make their way to a dock where they must pick up tickets for sampan departures the next morning. There are three departure times and teams end up on these times:

* 05:45 departure
  Joe & Ian
  Joel & Garrett
  Rob & Corey
  Steve & Anna Leigh

* 06:00 departure
  Jocelyn & Victor
  Morgan & Lena
  Greg & John
  Todd & Ashlie

* 06:15 departure
  Liam & Yeremi
  Robbin & Chelsea
  Andrea & Malaina

It turns out that there was a 5:45 ticket hidden in the box holding the 6:15 tickets and Anna Leigh was the only one looking at all of them so she got it.
 "We had ten minutes to wash up, clean some armpits and we were out there. Running on no sleep and a million dollar dream", Anna Leigh gets the title

Teams must now travel by sampan to the Cai Rang floating market and deliver fruit to three marked vendors. Each vendor will give them a third of a photograph which, when put together, reveals the location of their next clue.

Each vendor accepts only one type of fruit. The task is made a bit more intense by the fact that each team must deliver 3-7 baskets of fruit to each vendor. But they can not just give them the baskets, instead they must hand them the fruits one by one (or in one case two at a time). And this takes a lot of time. Each vendor can accept delivery by at most two teams simultaneously (one per side of the boat).

The first teams have a great advantage here as they do not need to wait for any free spots by the vendors. The later teams will have to spend a lot of time waiting. This frustrates Morgan & Lena so they use their express pass.

Joe & Ian make a crucial mistake when they forget to collect their clue from one of the vendors. They go back but two boats are already unloading and instead of waiting in line they go to their last boat before going back. When they come back there are still two boats unloading but now there are also two boats waiting in line so they just have to wait even longer.

Greg & John are frustrated with their boat driver who seems to always take the longest route. This could also just be a misunderstanding from their part and him following the local traffic rules.

Once teams have all three parts of the photograph they can show it to their captain and he will take them to the shown dock. There they will find a fisherman handing them their next clue. Teams reach the fisherman by the dock after this task in the following order:
  1. Joel & Garrett
  2. Morgan & Lena
  3. Steve & Anna Leigh
  4. Rob & Corey
  5. Todd & Ashlie
  6. Joe & Ian
  7. Liam & Yeremi
  8. Jocelyn & Victor
  9. Robbin & Chelsea
 10. Greg & John
 11. Andrea & Malaina

Detour: Paper or Plastic

In paper teams must create sheets of rice paper. Each sheet is made by pouring a mixture onto a steamer, let it cook for 30 seconds before using a wicker bat to pick it up and placing it on a drying rack. Each team must create 12 flawless sheets.

In plastic teams must cut, apply, heath and smooth out vinyl over one moped body part.

The detours are located close to each other but teams need to travel there by taxi. Production has made sure a bunch of taxis are waiting by the dock.

The vinyl task turns out to be really difficult and time consuming.
 "Slow and steady wins this race", Lena applying vinyl

There seems to be limited stations at both detours. The paper one can only accommodate five teams at any one time. All of them are busy when Andrea & Malaina arrive. But the girls are smart so while they wait for a station to become available they look at the demonstration and what the judge is saying to the other teams.

Jocelyn & Victor have a hard time making rice paper and they start to get a little snappy with each other.
 "It's not sticking, I do not know why it is not sticking to my thing", Victor fails to pick up the cooked rice paper

Teams complete the detour in the following order:
  1(+2) Steve & Anna Leigh, paper
  2(-1) Joel & Garrett, paper
  3(+1) Rob & Corey, paper
  4(+1) Todd & Ashlie, paper
  5(-3) Morgan & Lena, plastic
  6(+3) Robbin & Chelsea, paper
  7(+4) Andrea & Malaina, paper
  8(-2) Joe & Ian, plastic
  9(+1) Greg & John, paper
 10(-2) Jocelyn & Victor, paper
 11(-4) Liam & Yeremi, plastic, just after #10

The next clue tells teams to travel by taxi to the Pit Stop at Trúc lâm phu'o'ng nam Zen monastery.

 "This was a long challenging leg", Yeremi

Teams reach Phil at the monastery in the following order:
  1(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh
  2(+0) Joel & Garrett
  3(+0) Rob & Corey
  4(+0) Todd & Ashlie
  5(+1) Robbin & Chelsea
  6(-1) Morgan & Lena
  7(+1) Joe & Ian
  8(+1) Greg & John
  9(-2) Andrea & Malaina
 10(+0) Jocelyn & Victor
 11(+0) Liam & Yeremi

 "However, you are still racing and I have your next clue", Phil to the teams

We can see that teams also filmed interviews at the Pit Stop monastery. I can see two possible explanations for this. One is that the Pit Stop for the next leg is at the same or a nearby location. Another, and IMHO much more probable, is that teams had to stay for a given period of time before they could continue racing. This gave production time to feed them and film interviews, and the camera crew could get some well deserved rest.

Route info: "Travel by taxi to Cafe dû Turk and ask the person behind the counter for a clue. You have 5,500 Vietnamese Đồng for this leg of the race."

[maf]

Racing report
Amazing Race Season 35, Episode 4, "The Day Keeps Rockin’ Here in Vietnam"
Film date: 2023-06-19

The last leg ended with teams meeting Phil at the Trúc lâm phu'o'ng nam Zen monastery, but instead of being checked in to the Pit Stop they each got a new clue. Teams leave the mat in the following order:

1.	Steve & Anna Leigh	08:56
2.	Joel & Garrett	09:00	+0:04
3.	Rob & Corey	09:12	+0:16
4.	Todd & Ashlie	09:32	+0:36
5.	Robbin & Chelsea	09:44	+0:48
6.	Morgan & Lena	09:48	+0:52
7.	Joe & Ian	09:49	+0:53
8.	Greg & John	09:50	+0:54
9.	Andrea & Malaina	09:51	+0:55
10.	Jocelyn & Victor	09:54	+0:58
11.	Liam & Yeremi	09:56	+1:00

The first clue tells them to travel by taxi to Café Tu Đięc.

 "The day keeps rockin' here in Vietnam", Corey gets the title

The last few teams are hopeful that they can stay in the race. They are all pretty close and feel that they should be able to beat at least a couple of other teams.

Teams get their clue at the cafe (12km) in the following order:
  1(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh
  2(+0) Joel & Garrett
  3(+0) Rob & Corey
  4(+0) Todd & Ashlie
  5(+0) Robbin & Chelsea
  6(+0) Morgan & Lena
  7(+0) Joe & Ian
  8(+0) Greg & John
  9(+0) Andrea & Malaina
 10(+0) Jocelyn & Victor
 11(+0) Liam & Yeremi

Detour: Stand or Deliver

In Stand teams need to setup the display for a fish vendor at the Cho Tân an market. The trays are already in place so all they need to do is to fetch fishes from a distributor and arrange it correctly in the trays.

In Deliver teams must pick up four mattresses from a truck and carry them, through a street closed off to cars and trucks, to a nearby hotel and deliver them to a room on the third floor. Of course the mattresses are big, unwieldy, heavy (66lb or 30kg each) and teams may not use the elevator. The hotel is located 275m from the truck (if you take the closest route). The rules said that you could not leave a mattress anywhere along the route. So you could not bring two to the hotel and then bring them up one by one.

Both detours are located in the same area. In fact the delivery route passes in front of the fish stand. Teams seem to make their way on foot from the cafe to the detour (~350m).

Anna Leigh is smart and pick the stand closes to the example.

 "This is so cool, I'm collecting octopus, pusses. How do you say that word? Octopie?", Anna Leigh

Joel & Garrett are the first to the deliver task. They pick up two mattresses and start walking, unfortunately in the wrong direction. Eventually they stop and ask another local for directions and are dismayed when they point back the way they came and tell them to walk half a kilometer. On their way back to the hotel they pass the truck and decide to leave one of the mattresses there as they think trying to bring two up the stairs at the hotel may be overdoing it a little.

When Joel & Garrett come back to the truck after having delivered their first mattress they find Todd & Ashlie and Rob & Corey. Joel & Garret realize that the others will just follow them so they offer to lead the way if they can go first.

Steve & Anna Leigh think they are done and call for the judge. But she gives them the thumbs down. After a while they spot that they have misplaced two of the boxes of fish and they try again. This time the judge gives them a big smile, and thumbs down. It takes them a while more until they notice that they have missed the big vat of eels which should be placed next to their stand.

 "Eels, they look like snakes and I hate snakes, I don't want anything to do with snakes or eels. But I wasn't gonna stop", Robbin

Joe & Ian and Liam & Yeremi are the only ones who deliver two mattresses in one go.
 "Strength and endurance like in an air-conditioned gym and strength and endurance running around the chaotic streets of Vietnam, not the same", Ian
 "We were at the absolute edge of our physical exertion", Liam
Joe & Ian bring the next two mattresses one by one while Liam & Yeremi bring the last two in one go. At least they bring them to the hotel and then they bring them up the stairs one by one. Supposedly this was against the rules and they may have received a penalty at the pit stop, but we were not shown this.

 "We're obviously in first place right now and we will take no other answer as an answer", Liam knows they are last
 "They look like snakes", Lena does not like handling the eels
 "You wanna hug? Just kidding", Ashlie after the detour (she is drenched in sweat)
 "I know my fish", Victor turns out to know the species names of the fishes they are displaying

The stand side of the detour did not get easier due to the fact that many of the fishes were still alive.

During this task we learn that Liam & Yeremi did not go well together a few years ago but now they want to be there for each other.

Teams complete the detour in the following order:
  1(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh, stand
  2(+0) Joel & Garrett, deliver
  3(+0) Rob & Corey, deliver
  4(+0) Todd & Ashlie, deliver
  5(+1) Morgan & Lena, stand
  6(-1) Robbin & Chelsea, stand
  7(+0) Joe & Ian, deliver
  8(+0) Greg & John, stand
  9(+2) Liam & Yeremi, deliver
 10(+0) Jocelyn & Victor, stand
 11(-2) Andrea & Malaina, stand

The next clue tells teams to make their way on foot to the Ong Pagoda where they must make a wish. They must write their wish on a piece of paper which is the fastened to a long incense spiral, which is lit and hung from the ceiling. The clue also mentions that they may not run within the temple.

This leg was raced on fathers day and Joel & Garrett are carrying letters from their families. During the post leg interview we get to see them open and read them. Joel gets a bit emotional when reading it and he uses his beard to wipe away his tears.

Teams reach the pagoda (1km) in the following order:
  1(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh, wish to be #1 today
  2(+0) Joel & Garrett, wish for their families to have it good at home
  3(+0) Rob & Corey, Corey wants to see one country for every year of his life
  4(+0) Todd & Ashlie, wish for world peace
  5(+1) Robbin & Chelsea, wish to win the race
  6(+2) Greg & John, wish to win a million $
  7(+0) Joe & Ian, wish for 1st place
  8(-3) Morgan & Lena, wish to have a great trip
  9(+0) Liam & Yeremi, wish to race to the end together
 10(+0) Jocelyn & Victor, wish to win the race
 11(+0) Andrea & Malaina, wish to win this leg of the race

Route info: Travel by taxi to the Hųng Kings Temple to find your next clue.

Teams reach the Đền thờ các vua Hųng temple (9km) in the following order:
  1(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh
  2(+0) Joel & Garrett
  3(+1) Todd & Ashlie
  4(-1) Rob & Corey
  5(+0) Robbin & Chelsea
  6(+1) Joe & Ian
  7(-1) Greg & John
  8(+0) Morgan & Lena
  9(+0) Liam & Yeremi
 10(+0) Jocelyn & Victor
 11(+0) Andrea & Malaina

Road block: Who wants to play matchmaker?

The pathways to this temple are lined with thousands of decorated red tiles. Each team must find the one and only tile which matches the photo in their clue. Once they get a thumbs up from the docent they can reunite with their partner and run up to Phil and the mat.

    Additional information

For The Non Participant

  * Wait in the designated area

For The Participant

  * Marked columns indicate the bounds of the search area

  * When you think you have found your unique tile, choose any available temple
    guide, located near the clue box, and ask them to follow you. Lead the temple
    guide to your tile.

  * There are 2 temple guides available. Temple guides are first come, first served.

  * One guess per attempt at matching your tile. If you are incorrect, the temple guide
    will return to the waiting area. You may try again; however, you must go to the
    end of any line that may have formed.

You are not allowed on the grass or any areas with plants. Your tile will not be on a
wall that has grass or plants below the tiles.

Many racers think they have found the right tile right away, only to be told no by the judges. It is then they realize that they need to look carefully at the details.

 "Man, I'm going nuts", Anna Leigh realize that there are many tiles which look almost the same

 "I think I saw Todd's, but I'm not telling him", Anna Leigh
Slightly later Anna Leigh wants to work with Chelsea, but Chelsea is not interested. Anna Leigh is not happy about this.

John searches one area multiple times with increasing desperation before he looks up and realizes there are more than marked area.

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):

1(+4)	Robbin & Chelsea*	(1-2)
2(+1)	Todd* & Ashlie	(2-1)
3(-2)	Steve & Anna Leigh*	(1-2)
4(+2)	Joe* & Ian	(2-1)
5(-1)	Rob & Corey*	(2-1)
6(+3)	Liam* & Yeremi	(2-1)
7(+4)	Andrea* & Malaina	(2-1)
8(-1)	Greg & John*	(2-1)
9(-7)	Joel* & Garrett	(2-1)
10(-2)	Morgan & Lena*	(1-2)
11(-1)	Jocelyn & Victor*	(1-2)

           

Once he get approved Todd starts to look around for his next clue. This allows Steve & Anna Leigh outrun them to the pit stop.

Greg mentions that it is nerve wrecking to see so many teams complete the task and check in. The pressure on the fewer and fewer remaining teams only increases for each team completing the challenge. Specially as they can see the pit stop so there is no taxi trip where you might make up time.

The mat is just there so nobody gets lost. Teams reach Phil in the following order:
  1(+0) Robbin & Chelsea, win enough Expedia points for a trip to Madrid, Spain
  2(+1) Steve & Anna Leigh
  3(-1) Todd & Ashlie
  4(+0) Joe & Ian
  5(+0) Rob & Corey
  6(+0) Liam & Yeremi
  7(+0) Andrea & Malaina
  8(+0) Greg & John
  9(+0) Joel & Garrett
 10(+0) Morgan & Lena
 11(+0) Jocelyn & Victor, are eliminated

The first five teams are all together at the mat so we can assume they were fairly close. After that teams 6 to 8 are also there together.

 "We have no regrets and every moment was super super special", Jocelyn

[maf]

Racing report
Amazing Race Season 35, Episode 5, "Yessir, The Pink City"
Film date: 2023-06-21 - 2023-06-22

The last pit stop was at the Đền thờ các vua Hųng temple outside Can Tho in Vietnam. This leg starts on the street outside Sheraton Can Tho. Teams depart in the following order:

1.	Robbin & Chelsea	07:00
2.	Steve & Anna Leigh	07:01	+0:01
3.	Todd & Ashlie	07:02	+0:02
4.	Joe & Ian	07:03	+0:03
5.	Rob & Corey	07:09	+0:09
6.	Liam & Yeremi	07:17	+0:17
7.	Andrea & Malaina	07:18	+0:18
8.	Greg & John	07:19	+0:19
9.	Joel & Garrett	07:24	+0:24
10.	Morgan & Lena	07:36	+0:36

The first clue is a route info which tells them to fly to the Pink City Jaipur, India. For some reason racers are told to enter through gate D1 of the international terminal of Ho Chi Minh city (they travel there by taxi, 165km).

All teams are on the same flight (and they are seen on an Malaysian Airways plane). Once they land in Jaipur they are all released form the airport at the same time. For some no so mysterious reason there is just the right number of marked taxis lined up on the street outside the airport. Teams jump into them and tell the drivers to drive them to the Amber Palace.

 "Yessir, he pink city", Liam gets the quote while on the plane

This is the first time since the start of the race that all teams have been equalized. A bunch of them feel stressed as they have no buffer at the moment.

 "Neither of us have been to India before", Morgan
 "But we do like Indian food", Lena tries to come up with something positive
 
At the palace teams will need to pick up a bundle of sugar cane and carry it up to the palace courtyard where they need to hand it to a Mahout (elephant handler) to receive their next clue.

Teams will pick up their sugar cane from the Ram Bagh Garden. Then they have to make their way on foot to the actual fort. The bundles of sugar cane are not that big so the do not really hinder the racers. A bigger obstacle is the rather steep path up to the palace. This is about 550m long and has an elevation gain of 55m.
 "The "run" up that hill started as a run, then quickly turned into a speed walk and then ultimately fell into a regular walk", Joe

Teams deliver their sugar cane in the following order:
  1. Joe & Ian
  2. Todd & Ashlie
  3. Robbin & Chelsea
  4. Rob & Corey
  5. Steve & Anna Leigh
  6. Joel & Garrett
  7. Andrea & Malaina
  8. Morgan & Lena
  9. Liam & Yeremi
 10. Greg & John

Road block: Who's feeling balanced?

In this road block contestants must learn a short choreographed routine. The tricky part is that they must performing it while balancing three pots on their heads. They will do the dance together with four locals who make it look easy while balancing 5-6 pots on their heads.

Memorizing the steps and hand movements seems to be fairly simple, it is performing it while balancing three pots on the head which is difficult. Specially as the last part includes a step where they have to lower themselves a bit. The road block takes place in a pavilion in the Amber fort so it is close.

I am not sure what the pots were made of but they do not break when the racers drop them. Which is good because otherwise they would have needed an awful lot of spare pots.

 "If you're not first you're last", Anna Leigh
Anna Leigh quickly learns the dance and then goes up to the judging area. She manages to make two attempts in a row before Andrea arrives. Soon more teams start making attempts and a line forms.

John forget two of the pots when making his first attempt so he gets stopped immediately. Ashlie spends a lot of time practicing and Todd can't see why she doesn't make any attempts. But she may be on to something, she can spend her time practicing rather than waiting in line.

 "My head, I think, is a little funny shape", Ian on why he struggled

When he gets approved Garrett twists his mustache and the judge, who has an even more impressive mustache, also twists his. I.e. they are having a small moment together here.

We learn that Rob used to be head coach for a football team for the deaf. There he learned to stay optimistic in front of the players, to show them that anything is possible. He uses the same technique in front of Corey as he struggles at this task.

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):

1(+4)	Steve & Anna Leigh*	(1-3)	On her 3rd attempt
2(+8)	Greg & John*	(2-2)	On his 2nd attempt
3(+5)	Morgan* & Lena	(2-2)	On her 2nd attempt
4(+3)	Andrea* & Malaina	(3-1)	On her 6th attempt
5(-2)	Robbin & Chelsea*	(1-3)	On her 3rd attempt
6(+3)	Liam & Yeremi*	(2-2)	On his 5th attempt
7(-5)	Todd & Ashlie*	(2-2)	On her 3rd attempt
8(-7)	Joe & Ian*	(2-2)	On his 4th attempt
9(-3)	Joel & Garrett*	(2-2)	On his 7th attempt
10(-6)	Rob & Corey*	(2-2)	On his 15th attempt

           

The next clue send teams to Panna Meena Ka Kund where they can find they next clue. This is a famous well where there are lots of stairs leading down to the water (it has been used in other iterations of the race). It seems as if teams make their way there on foot.

Todd & Ashlie are trying to find the clue box when Robbin & Chelsea ride past in their rickshaw.
 "Don't say anything", Robbin
Todd asks if this is this way but gets no response.
 "Ohh, they didn't help", Todd is not happy

Teams arrive to Panna Meena Ka Kund (900m) in the following order:
  1(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh
  2(+0) Greg & John
  3(+0) Morgan & Lena
  4(+0) Andrea & Malaina
  5(+0) Robbin & Chelsea
  6(+0) Liam & Yeremi
  7(+0) Todd & Ashlie
  8(+0) Joe & Ian
  9(+0) Joel & Garrett
 10(+0) Rob & Corey

Detour: All Dolled Up or The Big Picture

In All Dolled Up teams must build two marionette dolls. The dolls are made up of a wooden torso, arms filled with straw, decorative robes and head wear. All the needed materials is provided buts teams will have to do some hammering and a little bit of sewing (which turns out to be unexpectedly dangerous). Once their dolls have been approved they must help the puppeteer to dangle two existing dolls for a short while (this is just as simple as it sounds).

In The Big Picture teams must help bring a life sized mural to life. They must dress up in costumes, pick the right accessories and take the correct stances. The murals are also missing a bunch of secondary characters and they must pick the right cutouts for these and hang at the appropriate places. This is way trickier than it sounds as there are a bunch cutouts to choose from for each character and they all have minute differences. There is a small version of the picture which shows teams what it is supposed to look like, so this is basically a game of spot the differences.

Both detours take place at the Jaighar Fort (8km), to get there teams must use one of the marked rickshaws parked outside. Even if the locations are both within the fort they are sufficiently apart that teams have no idea what is happening at the other detour.

For the mural task there are multiple places where teams can find cutouts and it takes a while for some teams to realize this. Teams are also only allowed to bring one cutout or prop at a time.

For the dolls there is an ongoing demonstration.
 "I haven't done any arts & crafts in a log time", Steve
 "Your hitting it awfully hard, I really don't want you to break him", Anna Leigh is anxious while her dad is hammering in nails
The hammering ends with him hitting her thumb.

There are only six stations available for the mural task. There is a footrace between Todd & Ashlie and Joe & Ian for the last station. The men are about equally fast but Ashlie quickly falls behind. In the end Joe & Ian claims the last station and Todd & Ashlie have to do the dolls instead (which turns out to be a blessing in disguise).
 "Augh, son of a biscuit", Ashlie when the last mural gets taken

As they have to build two puppets most team split so they did one each. Joel & Garrett did the opposite and worked together on both of them. Some steps of the making did benefit from an extra hand or two so this may have helped them.

We learn that Morgan & Lena have made a rule to not spend more than 25 minutes at a detour before switching. Here they break it by staying for over two hours but then they make one last check and when the judge said no they switch to the dolls detour. I have seen a  lot of race episodes and this did feel like a really bad decision, switching detours when you are among the last and have already spent 2+ hours on one side is rarely a good idea.

At the dolls detour Morgan completes her doll first and then leans it to help Lena. This is just as Lena is sewing the clothes so she almost pokes Morgans eye with the needle. Fortunately she hits the forehead instead.
 "You can't help somebody who has a huge needle and thread", Lena
 "Well, you're sewing in a stupid way Lena", Morgan brings out the really good arguments(tm) against her sister.
And after that the camera cuts to showing some quarreling monkeys.

The doll detour seems to be much quicker than the murals. The only team shown getting their dolls rejected is Morgan & Lena and they are shown what is wrong and can go back and fix just that detail.

Teams complete the detour in the following order:
  1(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh, dolls
  2(+0) Greg & John, mural
  3(+6) Joel & Garrett, dolls
  4(+0) Andrea & Malaina, mural
  5(+2) Todd & Ashlie, wanted to do mural but had to do dolls
  6(+4) Rob & Corey, dolls
  7(-2) Robbin & Chelsea, mural
  8(-2) Liam & Yeremi, mural
  9(-1) Joe & Ian, mural
 10(-7) Morgan & Lena, started mural but switched to dolls

Route info: Take your rickshaw to your next pit stop at Gatore Ki Chhatriyan. The clue also states that the last team to arrive will be eliminated.

Normally the editors try to make it look like it is a close race between the two last teams while they ate making their way to the Pit Stop. This time it actually is a close race and we do get to see both teams in the same shot multiple times. Morgan & Lena have reached their rickshaw and are convinced that they are last when they see Joe & Ian emerge from the fort.
 "We're not last, go, go", Lena turns frantic
Initially the road is narrow so it is hard to pass but once they get down into the city Joe & Ian's driver manages to pass the girls. The race is then decided when the girl's driver turns into a side street which he claims is a shortcut. Meanwhile the boys get caught behind a red light for close to two minutes.

Teams reach Phil and the mat (9km) in the following order:
  1(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh, win $3,000 each
  2(+0) Greg & John
  3(+0) Joel & Garrett
  4(+0) Andrea & Malaina, just after #3
  5(+0) Todd & Ashlie, just after #4
  6(+0) Rob & Corey, just after #5
  7(+0) Robbin & Chelsea
  8(+0) Liam & Yeremi
  9(+1) Morgan & Lena, while #8 are still on the mat
 10(-1) Joe & Ian, are eliminated

 "I do need to tell you that sometime before the next leg of the race, there's going to be that U-turn vote", Phil to the teams
It will be mandatory to vote and the votes will be anonymous.
 "We know it's coming", Anna Leigh is sure they will get some votes

As they did not see the other detour many teams have no idea what position they are in when they reach the mat. Joel & Garrett were pretty sure to be at the end of the pack so they are surprised when Phil tells them they are #3. And Todd & Ashlie are certain they will be eliminated.
 "Don't do it Phil, don't do it to us", Todd does not want to be eliminated
Phil has fun with the teams and asks Joel & Garrett to tell Andrea & Malaina which place they are and so on for the teams arriving close to each other in the middle. Eventually teams #3-5 gets to tell Rob & Corey that they are #6.

Phil also tells the last three teams that they all arrived within seconds of each other. I am not sure that actually says that much, you can be 3600 seconds behind and that is only seconds but is also still an hour.

 "I couldn't ask for something more fun, more amazing, more incredible to do, specially with Ian, it was so cool", Joe

[georgiapeach]

WOW!!

Amazing work Maf!!!   




 

[ianthebalance]

I've been reading these for many years and continue to enjoy them 

[maf]

Racing report
Amazing Race Season 35, Episode 6, "Driving head on into scooters"
Film date: 2023-06-24

The last pit stop was at Gatore Ki Chhatriyan in Jaipur, India. During the pit stop teams get to vote for the upcoming U-turn. The vote is anonymous and at this time we only get to see what a few of the teams voted for. We will get to see the results later.
 "I can't see them as a team that's gonna be willing to help us in the future", Yeremi about Robbin & Chelsea
 "A better long term plan is somebody who's gonna hurt us in the finale", Joel
 "Initially I wanted to U-turn Greg & John, but they are too likable and we don't want to disappoint their mother", Chelsea

Teams are released from Gatore Ki Chhatriyan in the following order:

1.	Steve & Anna Leigh	08:48
2.	Greg & John	09:45	+0:57
3.	Joel & Garrett	09:55	+1:07
4.	Andrea & Malaina	09:58	+1:10
5.	Todd & Ashlie	10:03	+1:15
6.	Rob & Corey	10:09	+1:21
7.	Robbin & Chelsea	10:29	+1:41
8.	Liam & Yeremi	10:42	+1:54
9.	Morgan & Lena	10:44	+1:56

Route info: "Race by taxi to Famous Nagra Shoe store #32 on Hawa Mahal road road and ask the shop owner for a clue. You have a thousand Indian rupees for this leg"
The clue also points out that the store is located opposite the Hawa Mahal, which is a very famous palace. This palace has been used in the race before.

 "Andrea doesn't snore so I'm getting my sleep", Malaina

Steve & Anna Leigh get dropped off at the wrong location so they have to run for more than half a kilometer to get to the shoe store.

Teams arrive to the shoe store in the following order:
 1(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh
 2(+0) Greg & John
 3(+1) Andrea & Malaina
 4(-1) Joel & Garrett, just after #3
 5(+0) Todd & Ashlie, before #4 has left
 6(+0) Rob & Corey
 7(+0) Robbin & Chelsea
 8(+0) Liam & Yeremi
 9(+0) Morgan & Lena, just after #8

Route info: "Use a telescoping monocular to search the windows of the Hawa Mahal for your next location."

Teams will get one telescoping monocular (aka spyglass) from the shop owner and must then search the windows of Hawa Mahal, which is right across the street, for their next location. The Hawa Mahal is a very famous palace which has 953 windows. One of the windows holds a discrete sign which reads "Udai poll no2 at Jalebi Chowk". The sign is actually very easy to spot but you must use the telescope to be able to read it.

The telescoping monocular is hard to use, some teams need to figure out which end to look in and some take a while to realize you can extend it. The hardest part is to get the text into focus, which you do by extending the front part a bit.
 "Give it to me, we're wasting time", Anna Leigh
Even if it looks complicated to operate the spyglass all teams figure it out pretty quickly, so teams find the text in the same order they arrived.

The clue told teams that when they think they have found their next destination they need to make their way there on foot. The location is 500m away and teams reach it in the following order:
 1(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh
 2(+0) Greg & John
 3(+0) Andrea & Malaina
 4(+0) Joel & Garrett
 5(+1) Rob & Corey
 6(-1) Todd & Ashlie, just after #5
 7(+0) Robbin & Chelsea
 8(+0) Liam & Yeremi
 9(+0) Morgan & Lena

The clue here is a route info which tells teams to find a marked electric rickshaw in the parking. The rickshaws they need to find are from the Pink City Rickshaw company which only employs women. The rickshaws are parked within a giant mess of rickshaws and racers must manually push other rickshaws to the side so that their rickshaw can exit the mess. Once the rickshaw is free teams must use it to travel to the SD Masala Spice Shop no 49 where they will find their next clue.

There are only 9 marked rickshaws so the latter teams will have a harder time to find one. And teams may not know it yet but they will have to keep their chosen rickshaw for the rest of the day. This will frustrate some of the teams since some drivers drive very slowly and also have a very hard time finding the locations.

Rob & Corey decide to work together with Todd & Ashlie to release their rickshaws. This leads to a fun scene where Corey and Todd both try to push the same rickshaw in opposite directions.

Teams leave in rickshaws in the following order:
 1(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh
 2(+0) Greg & John
 3(+1) Joel & Garrett
 4(-1) Andrea & Malaina
 5(+1) Todd & Ashlie
 6(-1) Rob & Corey, just after #5
 7(+0) Robbin & Chelsea
 8(+1) Morgan & Lena
 9(-1) Liam & Yeremi

 "Out of towners", a phrase much used by Andrea & Malaina during this leg
 "This rickshaw goes like 2-3 mph", Yeremi
 "This is soo not the rickshaw we need to be doing this in", Liam

Liam & Yeremi draw the short straw when it comes to rickshaws. Their driver is slow and has a very hard time finding things. As they are on their way to the spice shop they are passed by Andrea & Malaina who are halfway through their flower detour.

Teams reach the spice shop (1.8km) in the following order:
 1(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh
 2(+0) Greg & John
 3(+0) Joel & Garrett
 4(+0) Andrea & Malaina
 5(+0) Todd & Ashlie
 6(+0) Rob & Corey, just after #5
 7(+1) Morgan & Lena
 8(+0) Robbin & Chelsea
 9(+0) Liam & Yeremi

Here teams find a sign saying that Steve & Anna Leigh have been U-turned. We as viewer get to see how the teams voted:
 Steve & Anna Leigh voted for Robbin & Chelsea
 Greg & John voted for Steve & Anna Leigh
 Joel & Garrett voted for Steve & Anna Leigh
 Andrea & Malaina voted for Steve & Anna Leigh
 Todd & Ashlie voted for Robbin & Chelsea
 Rob & Corey voted for Steve & Anna Leigh
 Robbin & Chelsea voted for Steve & Anna Leigh
 Liam & Yeremi voted for Robbin & Chelsea
 Morgan & Lena voted for Robbin & Chelsea
So the end result was five votes for Steve & Anna Leigh and four for Robbin & Chelsea. Word is that if there had been a tie production would have U-turned all the "winning" teams. This could in theory have lead to a situation where everybody is U-turned (if everybody voted for a different team). Steve & Anna Leigh are not surprised to see themselves on the board but both Greg & Jon and Robbin & Chelsea are relieved that they are not on the board as both teams seemed to suspect they might.

Detour: Bundles or Bricks

In Bundles teams must bundle up flowers like the locals do. The flowers have already been placed in big pieces of cloth and the racers just need to do is tie them correctly. Then they need to load them into their rickshaws and transport them to two temples. They need to collect a receipt from each temple and then go back to the flower market and give the receipts to the flower vendor get their next clue.

In Bricks teams must pick up 50 bricks, a bag of sand and two bags of gravel. This must be loaded onto a cycle rickshaw and delivered to a nearby construction site. Teams must then return with their receipt to the brick supplier to get their next clue.

The flowers detour starts at Janta Bazaar by Sanipul Bandar no79 (2.3km). The bundles of flowers are heavy (approximately 60lb each) and they do fill up the rickshaw. The second temple they need to deliver flowers too is hard to find as it looks like a bus stop in the middle of the road.

 "I had been hoping for a cycling related challenge", Joel choose bricks as it involved a bicycle

As Steve & Anna Leigh are one their way to do their first flower delivery we see them pass the shoe store and Robbin & Chelsea are there, and they started 1 hour and 41 minutes after them.

Steve & Anna Leigh start by doing the flower detour. But once they have delivered their flowers they decide that as they have to do the other detour as well they do not need the next clue yet so they skip going back with the receipts (apparently she did ask a producer if this was ok). But when they arrive at the brick detour (just after Rob & Corey) a man comes up and say that they must complete the other detour first. As the detours are a bit apart this costs them extra travel time.

The bricks detour starts at Vivek Enterprises on Shiv Marg.

 "Those streets were hectic", Greg & John about pushing their bicycle
 "There is a stark difference between my road bike and that rickshaw bike", Joel
 "Right, she's slow as hell", Andrea about their rickshaw driver
 "Lena, let me watch", Lena is frantic at the flowers detour and just wants to get it done while Morgan wants to watch the demonstration

Joel & Garrett have a hard time finding the place where they are supposed to drop off their building supplies.
 "I'm so thirsty and I'm so hot and I don't know where I'm going", Joel
Joel realize he is getting dehydrated so they take time to stop and buy a couple of bottles of water.
 "It was almost an immediate relief, the tunnel vision stopped and my spirits started lifting", Joel about drinking that water

On their way from the brick detour Anna Leigh is pedaling the rickshaw while her dad rides in the back. You can also see two bricks, which means that they brought extra bricks, which probably was a smart thing to do if allowed.

As Andrea & Malaina return their receipts after the flower detour they see Liam & Yeremi studying how to tie their bundles. The boys asks them if they have any tips on how to tie the knots. They get a couple of not so helpful responses like "Follow them" and "Criss cross".

The boys then have a really hard time getting to the temples where they need to deliver their flowers. According to interviews this took hours, mostly because their driver drove really slow and kept getting lost.

Teams complete the detour in the following order:
 ---- Steve & Anna Leigh, flowers (just as Morgan & Lena arrive to start the task)
 1(+1) Greg & John, bricks
 2(+4) Rob & Corey, bricks
 3(+2) Todd & Ashlie, bricks
 4(-1) Joel & Garrett, bricks
 5(+2) Morgan & Lena, flowers
 6(-5) Steve & Anna Leigh, bricks
 7(-3) Andrea & Malaina, flowers
 8(+0) Robbin & Chelsea, bricks
 9(+0) Liam & Yeremi, flowers

The next clue tells teams to travel by rickshaw to Garg Textile Wholesale fabric shop where they must pick up a bolt of fabric and a clue from the owner.

Teams arrive to the textile shop (~2km from the end of both detours) in the following order:
 1(+0) Greg & John
 2(+0) Rob & Corey, just as #1 are leaving
 3(+1) Joel & Garrett
 4(-1) Todd & Ashlie, just after #3
 5(+0) Morgan & Lena
 6(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh
 7(+0) Andrea & Malaina
 8(+0) Robbin & Chelsea
 9(+0) Liam & Yeremi

Route info: Travel by rickshaw to Jaipur Mahal

Teams arrive to Jaipur Mahal (2.2km) in the following order:
 1(+0) Greg & John
 2(+0) Rob & Corey
 3(+1) Todd & Ashlie
 4(-1) Joel & Garrett
 5(+0) Morgan & Lena
 6(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh
 7(+0) Andrea & Malaina
 8(+0) Robbin & Chelsea
 9(+0) Liam & Yeremi, after all others have left

Road block: Who likes to play with blocks?

In this road block contestants must do block printing on fabric. They must print the national bird of India, a peacock. Each print is made up of four colors which must be applied in the correct order and be perfectly aligned. They do not need to make one sheet with exact nine approved birds but can instead make many attempts per sheet and when they reach a total of nine approved prints they get their next clue. The judge has a big red X which he stamps over the rejected prints to really show that they are bad.

This task is actually fairly difficult. Not only do you need to apply the colors in the right order, and align the stamps perfectly. You must also use the right amount of ink, not too much and not too little.

 "This is fun, I've never done art like this before", Greg
 "This one looks like it was murdered", Lena about the effect when she used too much red ink

While her dad is playing with the blocks Anna Leigh asks each of the non participating team members if they U-turned them. Garret and Corey both confess to U-turning them while Andrea lies and says they did not.

 "He's just X-ing one after the other. He gets done and I'm like sweet, he's done. No, he left to go re-dip his X to get more ink on it to X more", Todd
 "They don't like my murder themed one", Lena
 "Andrea's is like the positive reinforcer 'casue I can go nuts real quick", Malaina about getting positive comments from Andrea

We also learn that Andrea was there for Malaina when her husband to be cheated on her, so they do have a strong bond.

Joel gets really happy when he gets approved so he gives the judge a big hug.

 "Tough crowd", Robbin when the judge reject all of her prints in her first check
 
Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):

1(+0)	Greg* & John	(3-2)	After making at 25 stamps
2(+2)	Joel* & Garrett	(3-2)	After making at least 25 stamps
3(-1)	Rob* & Corey	(3-2)	After making at least 53 stamps
4(+1)	Morgan & Lena*	(2-3)	After making at least 39 stamps
5(-2)	Todd* & Ashlie	(3-2)	After making at least 35 stamps
6(+0)	Steve* & Anna Leigh	(2-3)	After making at least 50 stamps
7(+0)	Andrea & Malaina*	(3-2)	After making at least 40 stamps
8(+0)	Robbin* & Chelsea	(2-3)	After making at least 44 stamps
9(+0)	Liam* & Yeremi	(3-2)	After making at 25 stamps

           

The next clue is a route info which tells teams to race to the pit stop at a traffic circle named Badi Chaupar.

Teams reach Phil and the mat in the following order:
 1(+0) Greg & John, win Expedia points for a trip to New Zealand
 2(+1) Rob & Corey
 3(-1) Joel & Garrett, just after #3
 4(+0) Morgan & Lena
 5(+0) Todd & Ashlie
 6(+1) Andrea & Malaina
 7(-1) Steve & Anna Leigh
 8(+0) Robbin & Chelsea
 9(+0) Liam & Yeremi, are eliminated

 "This has been the toughest day so far", Joel
 "It would be an understatement to say that this was the adventure of a lifetime", Liam

[smiley]

Crazy that Morgan & Lena made up 2 hours and passed Steve and Anna-Leigh!

[maf]

Racing report
Amazing Race Season 35, Episode 7, "Like two cats fighting in a car"
Film date: 2023-06-26 - 2023-06-27

The last pit stop was in a traffic circle named Badi Chaupar in Jaipur, India. Teams are released from the same place in the following order:

1.	Greg & John	06:42
2.	Rob & Corey	07:25	+0:43
3.	Joel & Garrett	07:28	+0:46
4.	Morgan & Lena	07:36	+0:54
5.	Todd & Ashlie	07:54	+1:12
6.	Andrea & Malaina	08:02	+1:20
7.	Steve & Anna Leigh	08:03	+1:21
8.	Robbin & Chelsea	09:18	+2:36

The first clue tells them to fly to Frankfurt, Germany. Teams must first go to a travel agency to pick up their tickets. Which means that production has arranged the tickets.
 "Everybody is on the same flight to Germany, which means that our first place is kaputt. And that's okay as we'll just gonna have to earn it back.", John
Teams also learn that they will need to self drive on this leg.
 "I'm so excited to drive", Rob
On the way to the airport we learn that Todd & Ashlie have lived in Germany. Robbin also lived there for three years and going back brings up some memories of her deceased husband, she thinks this is the best country they could go to right now.
 "Now the claws are out", Steve & Anna Leigh did not appreciate being U-turned in the last leg

Once they land in Frankfurt teams run to the cars, which turn out to be automatics. They must now drive themselves 73km to Fähre-Kaub. Here they must use the ferry to cross the Rhine, and while on the ferry they must exchange 5€ for a bag of historical coins. Once on the other side they must drive themselves to Burg Rheinsten (13km).

Corey explains that they have a system where he writes down two copies of the step by step directions. One set he gives to his dad, who is driving, and one he keeps for himself to assist with the navigating.

This is the first time teams get to self drive in this season, which causes some friction within some teams.
 "I'm just trying to have you not snap at me right now", Chelsea
 "I'm just trying to have you give me the directions", Robbin

Todd & Ashlie, Joel & Garrett, Lena & Morgan and Steve & Anna Leigh all make the first ferry. Shortly after this departs Robbin & Chelsea pass it but fails to realize that this is the ferry they need to be on. Then Greg & John arrive and notice Todd & Ashlie on the ferry.

 "I don't know where I'm going", Malaina is lost

Robbin & Chelsea gets on the wrong ferry, once on the ferry they ask and realize their mistake. They travel back to the east side of the Rhine and get directions to the place they need to be at. Once they are on the right ferry and are exchanging their euros for Witten Robbin tries to peek into the money changer's purse to see how many bags of Witten he has left.

Andrea & Malaina get lost on the way to the ferry. And once they get on a ferry it is the wrong one. But they still manage to exchange a 5€ notes for 5€ in coins so they happily proceed to the castle.

Teams reach the clue box at Burg Rheinstein in the following order:
 1. Todd & Ashlie
 2. Joel & Garrett
 3. Steve & Anna Leigh
 4. Morgan & Lena
 5. Greg & John
 6. Rob & Corey
 7. Robbin & Chelsea
 8. Andrea & Malaina

Road block: Who's ready for change?

In this road block teams must pay off a robber baron with some of the Wittens they got on the ferry. Once they have paid the correct amount they can enter the castle and then rappel down to their partner and continue racing.

The trick here is to figure out how much to pay the robber baron. He wants 5 Groschen and on the ferry teams got a bunch of Wittens. The following exchange rates are posted on a sign:
 1 Groschen = 24 Heller
 4 Heller = 1 Rappen
 2 Rappen = 1 Witten

This is fairly simple math, 1 Groschen = 24 Heller = 6 (24/4) Rappen = 3 (6/2) Witten. And as the he wants 5 Groschen they need to pay 15 (5*3) Wittens.
 "The math was kind of difficult", Todd

The first four teams arrive more or less simultaneously. Morgan blows through the task and then Todd, Garrett and Anna Leigh start working together on the math part.

 "I didn't have the time or energy to figure out that math puzzle", Chelsea
Chelsea is the only one at the robber baron task when she gets there so she decides to use brute force. She starts with three Wittens and then just add one after another. She has to run back a few meters before she can try again but it is still a fairly quick process.

Once confronted with the task Andrea realize she have the wrong coins. They go back the same ferry and complain to the fare taker that he gave them the wrong coins. Eventually they figure out that they are on the wrong ferry. They are about 10km away from where they need to be, of course they start driving in the wrong way so when they stop to ask for directions again they are even further away from where they need to be.

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):

1(+3)	Morgan* & Lena	(3-3)
2(+1)	Steve & Anna Leigh*	(2-4)
3(-1)	Joel & Garrett*	(3-3)
4(-3)	Todd* & Ashlie	(4-2)
5(+1)	Rob & Corey*	(3-3)
6(-1)	Greg & John*	(3-3)
7(+0)	Robbin & Chelsea*	(2-4)
8(+0)	Andrea* & Malaina	(4-2)

           

 "Before they could read what they were supposed to do I was gone", Morgan was really quick

 "I'm not sure what rappelling is supposed to look like, but she is doing something", Lena about her sister
 "Was it that easy?", Lena after Morgan completed the task
 "Lena, I went to the number one MBA school in the world. I know how to do math", Morgan

The next clue tells teams to drive to the city of Cologne (aka Köln) and find their next clue at Gürzenich Köln.

As Robbin & Chelsea leave the castle they see that Greg & John just finished getting directions so they simply decide to follow the boys.

Teams are instructed to park their cars in Parkhaus am Gürzenich in Cologne, and this turns out to be hard to find.
 "I though that with self driving driving we would be lost less, but we've been lost quite a bit", Joel

Morgan gets frustrated with Lena when she turns right when Morgan asked her to go left. And after this continues for a while Morgan decides to drive instead.
 "You can't read a map and drive and I can't read a map", Lena is very stressed

And Steve & Anna Leigh also get spicy with each other.
 "I'm sorry for being so passive listening to your smart ass mouth", Steve has reached his limit
Later when they reach the parking garage they are still not really on the same level
 "Dad, are you running or are you walking?", Anna Leigh
 "I'm trying to get my backpack on, don't freaking talk to be like that no more", Steve

Teams reach Gürzenich Köln (164km) in the following order:
 1(+5) Greg & John
 2(+5) Robbin & Chelsea
 3(+1) Todd & Ashlie
 4(+1) Rob & Corey, get to the task as #3 is leaving
 5(-3) Steve & Anna Leigh
 6(-5) Morgan & Lena
 7(-4) Joel & Garrett, just as #6 have completed the task
 8(+0) Andrea & Malaina, long after all others are gone
 
Route info: It's time to horse around.
Here teams must join a local carnival. They must dress up and one of them must ride a bicycle which looks faintly like a horse along a marked course while the other team member walks behind them and throws roses to the crowds. Phil calls it a short obstacle course but nobody has any problems with this.

This task seems to be very fun and no problem at all so teams really enjoy themselves here.
 "It was a fever dream, but one that I'd like to dream again", Greg

This is a good break for Steve & Anna Leigh where she has time to actually look at her dad and realize that things are not going well when they are both stressed.
 "When I get stressed at home, he's the one I call to like calm me down. And so, when we are on a level playing field and he is just as stressed as I am and we start like bickering back and forth then it goes absolutely nowhere", Anna Leigh

 "For 90% of our drive today we were like two cats fighting in a car and then it was you're gonna get on this giant bike and smile and have a good time", Lena gets the title

Teams complete this task in the following order:
 1(+1) Robbin & Chelsea
 2(-1) Greg & John, just after after #1
 3(+0) Todd & Ashlie
 4(+0) Rob & Corey
 5(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh
 6(+0) Morgan & Lena
 7(+0) Joel & Garrett

Route info: Make your way on foot to the Hohenzollernbrücke to find your next clue.

Teams reach the clue box by the bridge (900m) in the following order:
 1(+1) Greg & John
 2(-1) Robbin & Chelsea
 3(+0) Todd & Ashlie, while #2 are still doing the task
 4(+0) Rob & Corey
 5(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh
 6(+0) Morgan & Lena
 7(+0) Joel & Garrett, just as #6 are leaving


Road block: Who's feeling locked in?

This road block takes place at one of those bridges where couple put locks to symbolize their love for each other, and also their complete faith in bridge engineers (do you know what a bunch of padlocks weigh?). Contestants much each must find a marked lock among hundreds of thousands of lock on the bridge. The locks are combination locks and the combination is the name of the oldest Cologne produced in Cologne. The answer, 4711, seems to be easy to google for any passers by which the racers ask.

The locks teams have to find are fairly large and clearly marked. But things get a little bit harder by the fact that the German flag includes the colors black, red and yellow.

The clue also says that whoever did not do the previous road block must do this one.

When Robbin find her lock she immediately rushes to the judge. On the way she passes Ashlie who asks what the marked ones look like. Robbin is competitive and just responds "Back there". This is not really appreciated by Ashlie.

Rob could have had a really hard time here as the task basically required you to ask some locals for help. But he spots Ashlie asking for help and gets over to her to ask for help. He is a bit surprised when she just gives him the answer.

 "We just wanted the beard brothers to feel that they could not catch up with us", Morgan
Morgan also realize that they are towards the back of the pack so any remaining locks should be towards the far side of the bridge, which is good thinking.

 "How do I prevent myself from getting despondent here", Joel has a hard time finding a marked lock
 "Many people would have gone insane by now", Joel still hasn't found a marked lock
 
Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):

1(+0)	Greg* & John	(4-3)
2(+0)	Robbin* & Chelsea	(3-4)
3(+0)	Todd & Ashlie*	(4-3)
4(+0)	Rob* & Corey	(4-3)
5(+0)	Steve* & Anna Leigh	(3-4)
6(+0)	Morgan & Lena*	(3-4)
7(+0)	Joel* & Garrett	(3-4)

           

Detour: Just for kicks or a matter of taste

In Just for kicks teams must play darts with velcroed footballs. They have four shots (two each) to hit a giant dart table and get exactly 66 points. There are four giant dart boards available and the task takes place on the roof of the German Sport and Olympic museum (1.2km).

In Matter of taste teams must taste nine different flavors of mustard. There are signs with the names and staff which can help with the pronunciations. Once they think they know their mustards they can go to the judging table where they must taste the same nine mustards and correctly say which one is what. This task takes place at the Hafenterasse (1.2km). We see that there are four tasting tables and two judging tables.

The detour locations are fairly close to each other and both detours have a limited number of stations available. But teams are so spread out that this is not a problem.

The tasting task gets easier if one know German as the names are basically just the names of the tastes in German; like Knoblauch (garlic) and Honig (Honey).

Todd & Ashlie initially go for the football detour. But after making a few attempts they realize that it is too hard for them and they switch. This was probably the right choice for them as the other detour is really close and there are still lots of teams behind them. Initially when Todd wanted to do this he only envisioned himself kicking the balls. He forgot that his wife had to do half of them "Husband fail" as he expressed it. When they leave they run into Rob & Corey who are arriving and when they arrive to the tasting detour they pass Robbin & Chelsea who have just completed the task.

Here we also get an interview segment where Rob & Corey argue about who is the better dart player.

Joel & Garrett are convinced that they are last when they get to the detour so they decide to just enjoy themselves.
 "Knowing that we were eliminated, knowing that we were the last team out there. The stress kind of melted away and we just started having fun", Joel
Consequently Joel & Garrett is the only team who actually eat their sausages before making their way to the pit stop.

Teams complete this detour in the following order:
 1(+0) Greg & John, taste on their second shown attempt
 2(+0) Robbin & Chelsea, taste on their third shown attempt
 3(+0) Todd & Ashlie, started kicks but switched to taste which they completed on their first shown attempt
 4(+0) Rob & Corey, kicks on their 6th attempt
 5(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh, taste
 6(+0) Morgan & Lena, taste
 7(+0) Joel & Garrett, taste

When teams get approved on the tasting task they get a voucher which they have to exchange for their next clue and two plates of sausage in a nearby kiosk.

The next clue tells teams to race to the Pit Stop at the top of the Chocolate museum (which is very close).

Teams reach Phil in the following order:
 1(+0) Greg & John win $4,000 each
 2(+0) Robbin & Chelsea, as #1 are leaving the mat
 3(+0) Todd & Ashlie
 4(+0) Rob & Corey, just after #3
 5(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh
 6(+0) Morgan & Lena, just after #5
 7(+0) Joel & Garrett

At the mat Phil leans into Joel & Garrett's conviction that they are last right until he tells them that they are team #7.
 "Are you kidding me?", Garrett
 "Don't mess with us", Joel

By this time the observant reader may have noticed that Andrea & Malaina have stopped appearing in the lists of teams reaching various points. That is because when they get to the carnival task the locals have left and Phil is there.
 "Germany got us", Andrea & Malaina when Phil ask what happened to them
Phil then proceeds to eliminated them on the spot. So Andrea & Malaina get to join the small and exclusive list of teams who got eliminated out on the race course.

 "This has been an amazing journey for both of us, specially at this time of our life", Malaina

[maf]

Racing report
Amazing Race Season 35, Episode 8, "A planes, Trains and Automobiles day"
Film date: 2023-06-28 - 2023-06-29

The last pit stop was at the top of the Chocolate museum in Cologne, Germany, and teams depart from the same location in the following order:

1.	Greg & John	10:14
2.	Robbin & Chelsea	10:23	+0:09
3.	Todd & Ashlie	??:??	+?:??
4.	Rob & Corey	??:??	+?:??
5.	Steve & Anna Leigh	??:??	+?:??
6.	Morgan & Lena	??:??	+?:??
7.	Joel & Garrett	??:??	+?:??

Route info: Race to Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Teams must drive themselves to Frankfurt airport (179km) and then fly to Vienna and then travel by train from Vienna to Ljubljana.

Before they can leave teams must pick up their tickets from Teddy Travel (500m). It seems production have made reservations for them but they are free to make other arrangements if they want. This is something we have not seen for a long time on the race and it is a, IMHO, very welcome return.

The tickets team are given are for a flight which departs 19:30. Greg & John get the last available tickets on the 16:15 flight. When told that the earlier flights are full Ashlie asks if they are on the same airline so they can go to the airport and ask to be placed on standby, which is smart.

 "Today's a planes, trains and automobiles day", Todd gets the quote

 "Were you'll going the speed limit", Ashlie wonder how Rob & Corey got to the airport before them
 "It's the Autobahn baby", Corey

At the airport some (probably most) teams go to the gate of the earlier flight to get onto the standby list. Two teams make it so teams are split on these flights:

  OS212  FRA-VIE 16:43 - 18:04  (scheduled 16:15 - 17:40)
 Greg & John
 Rob & Corey
 Todd & Ashlie

  OS216  FRA-VIE 20:09 - 21:18  (scheduled 19:30 - 20:55)
 Robbin & Chelsea
 Steve & Anna Leigh
 Joel & Garrett
 Morgan & Lena

When the first flight lands the teams look for a faster train and they find one which leaves the airport at 18:33 and with connections in Vienna and Graz will get them to Ljubljana at 00:58. This is seven hours ahead of the others. The catch is that they have a five minute layover in Graz. And the train to Graz is delayed, and it gets more and more delayed as it is inching its way there. Eventually the teams on it decide to get off and get back to catch the other train.

The other train, which ends up carrying all teams, leaves the Vienna airport at 22:01 and via a connection in Salzburg teams arrive in Ljubljana at 08:09 the following morning. There are sleeper compartments on the train but the racers seem to be traveling in the normal coaches. Which means nobody will get a good nights sleep.

When teams arrive to Ljubljana they find their first clue box just outside the station (this is not shown in the episode). The clue here tells them to make their way, on foot, to Kongress Square and find the parking garage there (1.3km) where they can find their cars and drive themselves to Lesce sports airfield.

The cars turns out to have a manual transmission. But nobody is shown really struggling with it.

 "I know it's over, there's absolutely no way we can come back from this", Anna Leigh is getting defeatist when they have issues finding the airfield
 
Teams arrive at the airfield (52km) in the following order:
 1. Joel & Garrett
 2. Rob & Corey
 3. Todd & Ashlie
 4. Greg & John
 5. Robbin & Chelsea
 6. Morgan & Lena
 7. Steve & Anna Leigh, after the first four teams have left

I assume that if the train to Graz had not been late and the first three teams had made it to Ljubljana at 1 in the morning they would have encountered an hour of operations here (or at the parking garage). So they would still have a lead but nowhere near 7 hours.

Road block: It's time for an Expedia experience. Who wants a bird's-eye view?

In this road block contestants will be taken up in gliders. They will fly over a lake where they need to use binoculars to read the four digits located on four boats anchored together with a fifth one holding the Expedia logo. Once back at the airfield they must use the digits to correctly answer a question.
The question turns out to be "What year did Slovenia gain its independence?", and the correct answer is 1991. If they give the wrong answer they have to go to the back of the line and make another flight before they can make another guess. There seems to be three gliders available so there will be a line.

Due to height and weight restrictions Ashley must perform this road block. The flight looks gorgeous. The weather is sunny and the landscape picture perfect. Reading the numbers turns out to be difficult. The plane is shaking a bit and you need to get the focus of the binoculars just right.

 "So I see four numbers 1-9-9-1. But I'm not sure what order the numbers go", Rob
 "The parachute is making me nervous but other than that this seems exciting", John on the fact that they have to wear parachutes

 "My dad is a history nerd, and I'm very happy about it", Corey after Rob got it on his first try
 "I'm not gonna enjoy it, I'm so upset", Anna Leigh wants her dad to do the task
 "Be positive, it's not over until you get to that mat", Morgan consoles Anna Leigh while they wait for their partners

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):

1(+1)	Rob* & Corey	(5-3)	On his first attempt
2(+1)	Todd & Ashlie*	(4-4)	On her first attempt
3(+1)	Greg & John*	(4-4)	On his first attempt
4(+1)	Robbin* & Chelsea	(4-4)	On her first attempt
5(-4)	Joel & Garrett*	(3-5)	On his second attempt
6(+0)	Morgan & Lena*	(3-5)	On her second attempt
7(+0)	Steve* & Anna Leigh	(4-4)	On his first attempt

           

The next clue tells teams to drive themselves to Planica Nordic Centre and search for their next clue.

Robbin & Chelsea finish not long after Greg & John and they see the boys getting directions so they decide to just follow them.

Teams arrive to the Nordic centre (44km) in the following order:
 1(+1) Todd & Ashlie
 2(-1) Rob & Corey
 3(+0) Greg & John
 4(+0) Robbin & Chelsea
 5(+0) Joel & Garrett
 6(+0) Morgan & Lena
 7(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh

Here teams find a regular clue and an express pass clue. To win the express pass all teams have to do is climb 1100 steps to the top of the ski jump. The first team to get to the top will get the express pass and can ride a zipline back down.

Todd & Ashlie make for the express pass, but they have their race blinders on so they run straight past the marked start of the climb. While they are looking for he marked start they just ran past, Rob & Corey arrive and start climbing the stairs. Eventually Todd & Ashlie find the stairs and see that Rob & Corey have a head start. After hesitating a bit they also start climbing, hoping they will be able to catch them. After  while Ashlie loses her steam and they decide to give up and turn around. As they exit the stairs they meet Greg & John.
 "You guys can beat them", Todd encourages Greg & John (very smart move IMHO)
 
Greg & John start making their way up the stairs but after a while they also come to the conclusion that they will not catch Rob & Corey so they give up and climb back down. This might have been a mistake because although Rob & Corey was almost of the top of the slope, what Greg & John did not see was the additional set of stairs waiting behind the top of the landing slope.
Eventually Rob & Corey reach the top and they get the express pass, which is good until the end of leg #10.

Steve & Anna Leigh also decide to go for the express pass (after they got the clue at the end of the skiing). They miss the sign which says "Taken" at the start of the stairs so they climb them all.en they reach the top they are told that the express pass has been taken. At least they get to ride the zipline down, but that was a lot of work for nothing.
 "Come on dad, let's just enjoy this, we're going home", Anna Leigh about the zipline

Teams must now enter a nearby circular parking structure, which in the summer is turned into a giant freezer so that people can practice cross-country skiing inside. Teams must latch on skis and ski to the top of the structure where they will find their next clue.

Cross country skiing is not trivial and specially not on the upwards ramps which feel relatively steep. We do get to see a bunch of racers fall.

Teams reach the clue box at the top in the following order:
 1(+2) Greg & John
 2(+2) Robbin & Chelsea
 3(-2) Todd & Ashlie
 4(-2) Rob & Corey
 5(+0) Joel & Garrett
 6(+0) Morgan & Lena
 7(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh

Detour: Field work or House work

In Field work teams must place cut hay on a drying rack. It is not particularly difficult but just a lot of hard physical labor and lots of hay.

In house work teams must assemble beehives. This is a set of 16 beehives with brightly pained fronts. The basic structure comes in a few parts which just need to be latched together and then they need to paint the fronts of the beehives.

 "Just drive away, I just really don't want them following us", John does not want Robbin & Chelsea to follow them to the detour

Initially Greg & John want to do House work but they feel that Todd & Ashlie will do Field work and they want to compete directly against them so they decide to do that instead.

Greg quickly realize that he and hay do not get along very well as he starts to sneeze a lot. When Todd arrives he asks Greg & John what the trick is and gets the response "Labor".

When Rob & Corey arrives to the hay they ask if you really need to fill the racks to the top. The response they get is "Read your clue".

 "It's an IKEA beehive", Joel when he notices that they do not need tools to assemble the beehives

Teams complete the detour in the following order:
 1(+2) Todd & Ashlie, hay
 2(+2) Rob & Corey, hay
 3(-2) Greg & John, hay
 4(+2) Morgan & Lena, hay
 5(-3) Robbin & Chelsea, hay
 6(-1) Joel & Garrett, beehive
 7(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh, beehive

Route info: Drive to the Nebotičnik skyscraper.

The Skyscraper is located back in Ljubljana and teams must park their cars in an underground garage by Trg Republike. From here it is ~500m to the skyscraper. Once they reach it teams must climb a spiral staircase 13 floors to the top where they will find their next clue.

As they leave the beehive task Joel left their notebook with all their notes from the previous legs. He realizes this after driving about 5km and they decide to go back and get it.
 "We're planning to make it to the end and if we are going to make it to the end we need that notebook", Joel

Teams reach the top of the skyscraper in the following order:
 1(+0) Todd & Ashlie
 2(+1) Greg & John, just after #1
 3(-1) Rob & Corey
 4(+2) Joel & Garrett
 5(+0) Robbin & Chelsea
 6(+1) Steve & Anna Leigh
 7(-3) Morgan & Lena, had navigational issues

The clue here tells teams to make their way on foot to Phil and their next pit stop at the Dragon bridge.

Teams are unsure if they are allowed to ride the elevator down as the clue says to travel on foot. The only team actually using the elevator is Steve & Anna Leigh, and this was permitted so no penalty for them.
 "Do we tail them and then take over?", John wants to just follow Todd & Ashlie

Teams reach Phil on the Dragon bridge (650m) in the following order:
 1(+1) Greg & John, win Expedia points for a trip to Namibia
 2(-1) Todd & Ashlie, just after #1
 3(+0) Rob & Corey
 4(+0) Joel & Garrett
 5(+0) Robbin & Chelsea
 6(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh
 7(+0) Morgan & Lena, are eliminated (while team #6 are still on the mat)

 "We wanted to spend time with each others as sisters and work through our differences and work together. And that's what we got to do here", Lena

[maf]

Racing report
Amazing Race Season 35, Episode 9, "In the belly of the earth"
Film date: 2023-07-01

This leg starts exactly were the last leg ended, by the Dragon bridge in Ljubljana Slovenia. Teams are released in the following order:

1.	Greg & John	09:56
2.	Todd & Ashlie	09:57	+0:01
3.	Rob & Corey	10:07	+0:11
4.	Joel & Garrett	10:29	+0:33
5.	Robbin & Chelsea	10:38	+0:42
6.	Steve & Anna Leigh	10:42	+0:46

Route info: "Travel on foot to Congress Square for your next clue. You have 0 Euros for this leg of the race"

 "Hopefully we keep the running to a minimum today, but I doubt it", Ashley

Teams reach the clue box at Congress square (600m) in the following order:
 1(+0) Greg & John
 2(+0) Todd & Ashlie
 3(+0) Rob & Corey
 4(+0) Joel & Garrett
 5(+0) Robbin & Chelsea
 6(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh

Road block: Who can deliver the goods?

In this road block contestants must pick up a carrier and make their way to Trubarjeva cesta 13 (450m). Here they must attach a dozen given wooden utensils to their carrier as per the example. Finally they must carefully carry the everything to Stari Trg (650m) where a judge will check that they brought everything. When approved they get their next clue and can go back to their partner who is waiting at the start of the task (400).

Teams are not get told that they needed to make their way to Stari Trg, instead they just get a picture of the fountain there and have to ask locals for directions.

 "You're faster and you're better with directions", Greg on why John should do this

The carrier is not made for moving quickly. Once all the wooden utensils have been inserted/hung it feels very rickety and everybody realize that if you try to move quickly stuff will start falling off. So most of the racers try to power-walk to the judges. The rules also stated that you had to strap the carrier to your back, you could not carry it not put in on their front (where you could hold stuff with your hands).

 "It's not that heavy but it feels pretty delicate", John tried to run but gave up immediately
 "It goes against every fiber in of being not to run right now", Todd also realize he can not run

John asks a passerby, probably a German tourist, for directions and get told that his destination is in Germany.
 "Okay, I'll think about that", John when he gets told his destination is far away

As Corey is carrying his stuff he passes Joel who is asking some locals for directions. Corey tells us that as they are down to six teams there is no room to spare so no more helping other teams. Thus he quietly keeps moving hoping that Joel does not see him.

Anna Leigh arrives to the packing area as Joel is leaving and Chelsea is packing her stuff. Anna Leigh is quick and she completes her packing before Chelsea who leaves a couple of minutes later. On their way to the judges we get a bit of drama where first Anna Leigh's load falls apart and she has to stop and fix it. While she is fixing this Chelsea walks by and is happy for passing Anna Leigh, only to have her own load fall apart shortly thereafter.

Joel has a hard time finding the end of the road block, while trying to get there he ends up back at Congress square.
 "Use the power of the beard", Garrett

When Chelsea gets to the judges she is told that something is missing and she has to go back. Back at the packing area she checks and realizes that she forgot to attach a rolling pin.
 "I'm sorry" Chelsea when she gets back to Robbin after completing the task
 "Nothing to be sorry about", Robbin is supportive

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):

1(+0)	Greg & John*	(4-5)
2(+0)	Todd* & Ashlie	(5-4)
3(+0)	Rob & Corey*	(5-4)
4(+0)	Joel* & Garrett	(4-5)
5(+1)	Steve & Anna Leigh*	(4-5)
6(-1)	Robbin & Chelsea*	(4-5)	About an hour after #5

           

Route info: Drive to Pivka Jama

Teams must now drive themselves to one of the caves which Slovenia is known for. They get the same cars they drove in the last leg.
 "This is us, and all of our hay", Greg & John find their car from the last leg

In the episode it looks like Robbin & Chelsea are the only team who are having issues finding Pivka Jama. In reality almost every team ended up at Postojnska Jama.

Todd missed the, well signed, turnoff from the freeway and there is a long way to the next exit.
 "Our family has a name for this, I do this a lot, we call them dad detours", Todd

Robbin & Chelsea seem to have a really hard time finding the right cave.
 "I wish Phil would just take us out of our misery at this point", Robbin
They also missed the freeway exit and had to do the looong detour.

Teams reach Pivka Jama (56km) in the following order:
 1(+0) Greg & John
 2(+1) Rob & Corey
 3(+2) Steve & Anna Leigh
 4(+1) Joel & Garrett
 5(-3) Todd & Ashlie
 6(+0) Robbin & Chelsea, after all the others have done the task and left

The clue told teams that they could find their next clue deep within the cave and that they can pick up headlamps at the top of the stairs leading down into the cave. There is only one path in the cave and the clue is in a normal clue box so it is hard to miss, but it is a bit of a trek to get there. Nobody gets passed on their way through the caves.

Route info: Descend deep into Pivka Jama and assemble a dragon.

Teams must now continue into the cave until they get to a large chamber. Here they will find a wooden 3D puzzle which, when assembled, will become a dragon which is over 2m tall. There is a completed sample they can look at.  The race has done similar tasks in the past and they are typically a bit cumbersome to assemble. This time the teams each get a rubber mallet they can use to gently apply some force to the pieces.

 "We knew it was going to be pretty complicated so Johnny and I decided that we would build from the ground up", Greg
 "He builds all our IKEA furniture with no instructions", Corey on why Rob led the building
 "Oh my god, we're building a dragon, in a freaking cave in Slovenia", Anna Leigh is excited
 "This is a lot trickier than it looks, there are a lot of pieces here and they are all pretty different", Corey

 "This dragon will never fly", The dragon master to Greg & John when they make their first check

Team #5 reaches the dragon building area before any team has completed their dragon so the first five teams are all here together.
 "The true test of marriage is if you can assemble furniture together without getting a divorce", Ashley
 "We were building this dragon in the belly of the earth", Joel gets the title
 
Teams complete their dragons in the following order:
 1(+0) Greg & John
 2(+0) Rob & Corey
 3(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh
 4(+0) Joel & Garrett
 5(+0) Todd & Ashlie
 6(+0) Robbin & Chelsea

Route info: Drive to Fonda fish farm to find your next clue.

 "It hasn't had an ugly side, that's the thing; City... charming, mountains... mountainous, caves... cavernous", John about Slovenia
 "As much as I love Todd & Ashley, I would almost rather seem them eliminated today over Robbin & Chelsea because I am scareder of Todd & Ashley", Joel
 "The hope of this race is that when you suck some sucks a little bit more than you", Todd knows they are behind
 "Winning the Amazing Race is harder than a natural child birth", Robbin

Teams reach the fish farm (80km) in the following order:
 1(+0) Greg & John
 2(+0) Rob & Corey
 3(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh
 4(+0) Joel & Garrett
 5(+0) Todd & Ashlie
 6(+0) Robbin & Chelsea, after the other teams have left

Detour: Scrape off or Swap out

In scrape off teams must pick up a set of chains and then use them to scrape off barnacles from two flotation rings surrounding a fish pen. They must use kayaks to get to where he flotation rings are.

In swap out teams must use a kayak to locate two discreetly marked buoys in a field of hundreds. They must replace the buoys for new ones (which they had to bring) and must bring the old buoy and the mussels which hung below it back to the base. The kayak will only fit one buoy at the time so they will have to make two trips.

Both detours start from a platform out in the water and there are boats which will bring teams there and back.

 "And when you're in first place for a needle in a haystack, there are more needles to choose from", John on why they choose swap out

Rob & Corey did not read the additional information carefully. They just paddle out, find a marked buoy and bring it back. They did not bring the mussels nor replace the buoy. They get told that their options are to go back and bring the mussels which were hanging form the buoy (and place a new one there) or switch detours. Unfortunately for them they can not recall exactly where they got the buoy from so even though they try they can not find the mussels. Eventually they give up and switch to scrape off.

Todd & Ashlie reach the platform as Rob & Corey are leaving. They jump into the kayak and make for the fish pens, but forget to bring their chains. They paddle over to another nearby platform and Todd gets out to look for the chains. They are not there but what is there are the drone pilots who are getting shots for the race. They do their best to ignore Todd. Todd searches the platform but eventually gives up. Ashlie comes up with the idea to check the platform where they got the kayaks, and there the chains are waiting.

 "I expect after this challenge... to be as buff as Arnold Schwarzenegger", Ashlie find the scraping to be hard work
 
Teams complete the detour in the following order:
 1(+0) Greg & John, swap
 2(+1) Steve & Anna Leigh, scrape
 3(+1) Joel & Garrett, swap
 4(-2) Rob & Corey, started swap but switched to scrape
 5(+0) Todd & Ashlie, scrape
 6(+0) Robbin & Chelsea, swap

Route info: "Drive to the next pit stop at Scoerb Grad and find Phil on the mat. The last team to check in will be eliminated."

At this point Robbin & Chelsea are convinced that they are way behind the other teams so after they are done with the task they jump in the water for a quick swim. It is getting dark when they reach the pit stop.

Teams reach the mat (39km) in the following order:
 1(+0) Greg & John, win $5,000 each
 2(+1) Joel & Garrett
 3(-1) Steve & Anna Leigh
 4(+0) Rob & Corey, just after #3
 5(+0) Todd & Ashlie
 6(+0) Robbin & Chelsea, are eliminated

 "The race is just another notch in our friendship belts", Robbin

[maf]

Racing report
Amazing Race Season 35, Episode 9, "Everyone loves a comeback story"
Film date: 2023-07-02 - 2023-07-03 (probably)

The last leg ended at Scoerb Grad. Teams are released from a wooded area somewhere in Slovenia.

1.	Greg & John	06:40
2.	Joel & Garrett	07:01	+0:21
3.	Steve & Anna Leigh	07:19	+0:39
4.	Rob & Corey	07:29	+0:49
5.	Todd & Ashlie	09:28	+2:48

ROUTE INFO

Fly to Stockholm,
Sweden.

When you land travel by
taxi to the city of
Gryttjom and find
Stockholm
Fallskärmsklubb. Once
there take a number for
a special introduction
to Sweden.

From Greg & John's podcast we learn that teams traveled by bus to Vienna and then flew from there to Stockholm.

At the airport Todd & Ashlie googles Stockhom Fallskärmsklubb and find out that it is a skydiving club.
 "I'm having a hard time breathing right now", Ashlie is not fond of skydiving
Ashlie immediately gets extremely anxious while Todd gets pumped by the thought of skydiving.

Teams land at 18:45 and there is the typical race to the taxis. During the taxi race we get an interview from Rob & Corey where they talk about how they have to use the express pass during this leg of the race.

Anna Leigh talks to their driver and arranging to pay him before they arrive to save some time, smart thinking. Meanwhile Greg reads from some notes where somebody has translated "We are in a race" into Swedish. He would probably had better luck speaking English to the driver as his "Swedish" is next to unintelligible.

Teams arrive to the skydiving club (90km) in the following order:
 1. Greg & John
 2. Joel & Garrett
 3. Steve & Anna Leigh
 4. Todd & Ashlie
 5. Rob & Corey

Greg & John think they see a clue box at the airfield so they run for it. While doing this they miss the small numbered tickets taped to the gate. Garrett also runs past them but Joel spots them in the corner of his eye. Shortly thereafter Todd & Ashlie and Rob & Corey also run past the numbers. This then turns into a needle in a haystack task for the three teams who missed the numbers.
 "Guys, I really want to help you right now but my better judgment kicks in", Joel to Greg & Jon who are still looking for the numbers
 "If it wasn't for your dominance I would tell you something right now", Joel again

There is another small sign on the gate which says that the airport opens at 5am.

In the end teams grab the following numbers:
 1(+1) Joel & Garrett
 2(+1) Steve & Anna Leigh
 3(-2) Greg & John
 4(+0) Todd & Ashlie
 5(+0) Rob & Corey

Teams spend the night in the small cabins next to the airport. They got fed in the evening and as it was quite late when they arrived they got very little sleep. Early the next morning teams are released and run into the airport. Once inside they find a clue box. This clue tells them that everybody will tandem skydive from 10,000ft into Stockholm.

 "I'm not pumped to skydive, I'm extremely nervous", Ashley

Everybody boards the same plane and they jump in the order of the picked numbers. The only one shown being hesitant is Ashley, but she overcomes her fears and jumps out of the plane.
 "I felt like I wanted to claw the sides of the plane", Ashley before the jump
 "As soon as we fell I see why people do this. I'll probably do this again", Ashley

When teams land (probably next to Manillavägen on Djurgården) they find their next clue. This tells them to make their way to the island of Tynningö. The clue also tells them to travel on foot to the boat dock behind Villa Källhagen (1.6km). The tricky part of this part is that it is very early morning so there is next to nobody to ask for directions. Even so teams reach the boats in the same order they landed.

 "Feels pretty great to be in first right now, specially at this stage of the race. This must be how Greg & John always feel", Joel

At the island teams find a midsummer party in full swing, and their next clue box.

Road block: Who wants to party?

In this road block contestants must each complete one large flower ring. Once approved they can attach it to a maypole and, with the help of some locals, raise it. Then they get to join the others in dancing around the maypole before they get their next clue. The only difficult part here is making the flower ring and the trick is that it must be decorated with the correct number of flowers.

The weather during the parachute jump was really nice but now it is taking a turn for the worse. A typical Swedish summer day in other words. So it will be cold, windy and raining for most of the day.

Anna Leigh kills this task and completes i very quickly.
 "I'm being way to particular about my flowers because she did not take as long as I am taking", Garrett when Anna Leigh leaves

The only one who seems to struggle i Ashlie, or it may just be that they arrived late. In any case they get left behind when the others leave.
 "I do feel the anxiety building, everyone is gone and it's just me. This whole bringing up the rear is not fun", Ashlie

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):

1(+4)	Rob & Corey	(5-4)	Used their express pass
2(+0)	Steve & Anna Leigh*	(4-6)
3{+0)	Greg* & John	(5-5)
4(-3)	Joel & Garrett*	(4-6)
5(-1)	Todd & Ashlie*	(5-5)

           

Route info: "Travel by boat to Nybrokajen and then make your way to the Royal Dramatic Theater".

Teams arrive to the shore in the same order they left the island and they can see the Royal Dramatic Theater from where the boat drops them off so finding the theater is easy. Once at the theater teams must search the auditorium for a violinist to receive their next clue. Finding her is easy, the hard part is finding the way into the auditorium. At least it seems to be hard for Rob & Corey, they get into the theater through the front door (as the clue said they should) but when they are unable to find a way into the auditorium they go back out to look for a different entrance.
 "We can't find the main entrance so we don't really know where we're supposed to go", Corey
Eventually Corey & Rob get back to the main entrance and there they meet Steve & Anna Leigh who are just exiting, Anna Leigh tells them that this is the right entrance.

Teams get the clue from the violinist in the following order:
 1(+1) Steve & Anna Leigh
 2(-1) Rob & Corey
 3(+0) Greg & John
 4(+0) Joel & Garrett
 5(+0) Todd & Ashlie

Route info: "Travel by subway to the Solna Centrum station to find your next clue."

The clue also tells them that they have to catch the subway from Kungsträdgården (350m). Outside the Theater Anna Leigh gets on a bus to ask for how to get to Kungsträdgården. When the driver says it is here she assumes they need to be on the bus. Then they see Rob & Corey getting closer.
 "Please don't let them get on", Anna Leigh to the driver
But Rob & Corey come aboard ask ask if they are sure they are in the right place as the clue says subway. The driver points where they need to go.

Todd & Ashlie are not that happy as they are in last. This time it is Ashlie who is really down and talks about how she hates losing and Todd is more upbeat and happy to be here at all.
 "What's a good comeback story without trailing? Everybody loves a comeback story", Todd gets the title

There is a direct train from Kungsträdgådren til Solna Centrum so as long as you board the right train you should have no problems getting there. And all teams see to manage this. They find the next clue box on the platform at Solna Centrum station in the following order:
 1(+1) Rob & Corey
 2(-1) Steve & Anna Leigh, seconds after #1
 3(+0) Greg & John
 4(+0) Joel & Garrett
 5(+0) Todd & Ashlie

Detour: Sort or Serve

In sort teams must make their way to the Bromma Recycling center (4km). Here they will be given an amount of trash to sort. This includes a fridge, five tires, a toilet, a sink a bicycle, some furniture, some clothes, a suitcase, a TV, a rug and a bunch of other stuff. They must place/throw all the trash in the correct bins. One tricky part is that all signage is in Swedish. It seems racers have to look at what is already in the bins to see where their stuff fits. It is not clear if they are allowed to ask the, very abundant, staff.

In Serve teams must make their way to Stockholm city hall (6km) here they must serve food to actors dressed up as past Nobel winners. Each team will get a table with four guests who each won the price at different years (there are signs saying who they are and which year). At the entrance there is a big menu showing which appetizer, entree and dessert the winners from each year should get. One person, the server, will need to relay, relying only on memory, which courses are needed to the other, the runner, who will need to pick them up from a big table holding lots of labeled courses. The server must then give each guest the correct plate. After each course (appetizer, entree and dessert) the head waiter will check that they gave the right plate to the right person).

For example the menu for 1938 reads:

• Filet de sole, froid ā la norvégienne
• Poularde rôtie ā la châtelaine, Sala de saison
• Glace au four a lá pralinée

The serving takes place in a restaurant called Stadshus källaren (literally The City hall cellar, guess where it is located).

Teams must travel to their chosen detour location by taxi.

 "Oh, it's in French", Greg realizes that the course names are in French, a language he speaks
Greg & John kills this task. Not only does Greg speak French, John also realizes that it is enough to memorize one or a few key words from the name of each dish.

Teams at the recycling find it kind of satisfying to smash stuff into the bins.
 "What was fun about this detour tough is that we got to get out some aggressions", Ashlie

Teams complete the detour in the following order:
 1(+0) Rob & Corey, sort
 2(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh, sort (still seconds after #1)
 3(+0) Greg & John, serve
 4(+0) Joel & Garrett, sort
 5(+0) Todd & Ashlie, sort

Route info: "Travel by taxi to the Pampas Marina and search for your next clue in front of the Alba II boat"

Teams find the clue at the marina in the following order:
 1(+0) Rob & Corey
 2(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh, seconds after #1
 3(+0) Greg & John
 4(+0) Joel & Garrett
 5(+0) Todd & Ashlie

Route info: "Race to the pit stop. Travel by subway to Strömparterren and find Phil at the mat. The last team to check in will be eliminated."

Fun fact, teams are getting on the same subway line they traveled to Solna on and once in Stockholm they need to exit at Kungsträdgården, the same stop they started the trip to Solna from.

The additional info also tells teams to make their way on foot to the subway station named "Västra Skogen". Rob & Corey gets directions from their taxi driver and Steve & Anna Leigh follow them. Greg & John arrive just as they are leaving so the boys decide to follow the other teams. Their motivation was that they felt sure they could beat the others in a footrace. Which feels like a safe bet and a fairly good strategy for staying in the race.

Joel & Garret arrive not long after the previous three teams and they ask a local for directions. They get better directions because meanwhile the first three teams are busy getting lost. Eventually Greg & John ask a local and get to see where they and the stations are on Google maps.

During the run to the subway station Steve is having a hard time to keep up. Anna Leigh does her best to motivate him but he is older and slower than the others.

Editing tries to make us think that Todd & Ashlie manage to get on the same train as some other teams but I'm not buying it.

Eventually teams find Phil in the following order:
 1(+3) Joel & Garrett, win Expedia points for a trip to the Galapagos islands
 2(+1) Greg & John
 3(-2) Rob & Corey
 4(-2) Steve & Anna Leigh
 5(+0) Todd & Ashlie, are eliminated

Joel & Garrett had no idea they were in first so they are very surprised when Phil tells them.

The first four teams arrive fairly close so they are all on the mat at the same time and Phil tells them that they are the final four.

 "It was every single emotion that you could possibly feel. The highest highs, the lowest lows. I would do it in a heartbeat again", Ashlie

[maf]

Racing report
Amazing Race Season 35, Episode 10, "Finding our pot of gold"
Film date: 2023-07-04 - 2023-07-05

The last pit stop was at Strömparterren in Stockholm, Sweden. Now we get to see that at the pit stop Phil let the teams book their own flight and hotel accommodations via the Expedia app. They all book the same flight and a hotel night in Dublin 5-6/7. Or at least that is what is shown, in reality they did not book anything through the app.

Teams are released from Stockholm Mälarstrand in the following order:

1.	Joel & Garrett	19:38
2.	Greg & John	19:41	+0:03
3.	Rob & Corey	19:42	+0:04
4.	Steve & Anna Leigh	19:43	+0:05

Route info: Fly to Dublin, Ireland. Once there drive to 40ft Sandy cove and take the plunge.
The clue also tells them that they will have to swim out to a buoy in the Irish sea to get their next clue, and that they get 0€ for this leg of the race.

 "There's only one goal in the penultimate leg and that is; Don't get eliminated", Joel
 "If we can get far enough ahead in the challenges or detours and not have to rely on our speed and get in a footrace I think w will be okay", Anna Leigh

The next morning everybody travels on the same flight:
  SK535  ARN-DUB  07:57 - 09:38  (scheduled 07:25 - 09:20)

 "We'll find our pot of gold at the end of this leg of the race", Corey gets the title as they are boarding the plane.

Once in Dublin teams make their way to parking C and their cars. These turn out to not only to be built for left side driving (the driver sits on the right) but also have manual transmission. To make this leg a little bit easier production has provided a map for each team.

 "We though that we were even on road blocks, but I actually did 6 and shes at four", Anna Leigh

Steve & Anna Leigh are the only ones shown having issues to find the next location.

Teams arrive to the 40 ft Sandy cove (25km) in the following order (they park at Castle Park School):
 1. Rob & Corey
 2. Joel & Garret
 3. Greg & John
 4. Steve & Anna Leigh

Joel & Garrett are offered life vests as they are about to enter the frigid waters. Their next clue is attached to a buoy floating a little bit out in the water and both team members must touch the buoy before they may take their clue.

 "I'm no stranger to cold water, I like to take ice baths", Rob

Teams complete this task in the same order they arrived. The first three teams are very close but Steve & Anna Leigh are trailing a bit.

Route info: Drive to the Gaiety theater to find your next clue

The additional information tells them to park at Drury Street parking.

As Steve & Anna Leigh are on their way back to the cars they pass Greg & John who have stopped to ask for directions. Greg & John do their best to drive away quickly so that Steve & Anna Leigh will be unable to follow, but they are not quick enough.
 "I hate following them, but at this point being so far behind and have to get out and ask questions and then wait for everything else. We just don't have time for it", Anna Leigh (alluding to the time it takes people to sign the release form)

Unfortunately for Steve & Anna Leigh this time Greg & John do get lost so everybody have to go out and ask for directions together. Eventually Steve & Anna Leigh feel that they do not want to tail Greg & John any more so they stop and get their own directions, which turns out to b a wise move.

Teams reach the theater (14km) in the following order:
 1(+0) Rob & Corey
 2(+0) Joel & Garrett
 3(+1) Steve & Anna Leigh
 4(-1) Greg & John

Road block: Who wants to get their steps in?

In this road block contestants must join th Riverdance troupe and do a 30 second routine with them. This is a very quick dance and the producers have taken a few steps to make it easier. Firstly the trainers tell the contestants what the judge will be looking for and they will also join them on stage and are heard giving instructions during the performance.

The clue also say that Steve and Corey must perform this road block.

 "I took a dancing class i college... to meet girls. And all I tried to do was meet girls and not how to dance", Joel is questing some of his life choices

The judge for this task is Padraic Moyles who is an executive producer for Riverdance. Steve tells us he is used to dancing, but that is Country Western dancing with a lot of sliding your feet. That was not much help in this task where the dance is just hopping around a lot.

 "My confidence is waning", Joel after having made his first attempt

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):

1(+0)	Rob & Corey*	(5-5)	On his 2nd attempt
2(+2)	Greg & John*	(5-6)	On his 2nd attempt
3(+0)	Steve* & Anna Leigh	(5-6)	On his 9th attempt
4(-2)	Joel* & Garrett	(6-5)	On his 8th attempt, about 30 minutes after #3

The counts here are a bit suspect. Joel & Garrett checked their journal and according to that Joel made more attempts than 8.

Route info: "Drive to Croke Park. Once there make your way to the top of the stadium to find your next clue"

The above (read by Anna Leigh) is the only trace in this episode of a cut task. Once teams got to Croke Park they had to make their way to the roof and then abseil from there down to the inner field where they would find their next clue box.

Teams arrive to the clue box on the field of Croke Park (4km) in the following order:
 1(+0) Rob & Corey
 2(+0) Greg & John
 3(+1) Joel & Garrett
 4(-1) Steve & Anna Leigh (got lost on the way)

Road block: Who's got the swing?

In this road block contestants get to try Hurling. They must pass the ball, catch it when it is sent back, balance it on their stick and finally hit a goal.

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):

1(+0)	Rob & Corey*	(5-6)	On his 2nd attempt
2(+0)	Greg* & John	(6-6)	On his 2nd attempt
3(+0)	Joel & Garrett*	(6-6)	On his 6th attempt
4(+0)	Steve* & Anna Leigh	(6-6)	On his 2nd  attempt

As Joel & Garrett leave the stadium they see Steve & Anna Leigh arrive. They are surprised but happy about this as it means they are not last any longer.

Route info: "Drive to Toners Pub. To earn your spot in the final three, a literary scholar you must be."

 "Every single day has been my favorite day so far", Rob
 "I'm going to have a heart attack. This stress is too much for me to handle", Anna Leigh (trying to find the pub after they got lost)

Teams arrive to the pub (4km) in the following order:
 1(+0) Rob & Corey
 2(+0) Greg & John
 3(+0) Joel & Garrett
 4(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh

At the pub teams must memorize two quotes from James Joyce's Ulysses (one each) and then recite (or in the case of Corey sign) them in the pub. The two quotes are:

• "Each imagining himself to be the first last and only alone, whereas he i neither first last nor last nor only not alone in a series originating in and repeated to infinity."
• "Every life is many days, day after day. We walk through ourselves, meeting robbers, ghosts, giants, old men, young men, wives, widows, brothers-in-love, but always meeting ourselves."

One nice image we get from this task is Garrett with his fingers in his ears while Joel recites his text next to him.

One small detail here, teams are not told what they did wrong so both of the teams who had to redo the task included the author and title during their second attempt. Just in case that was the mistake they did (it was not).

Teams complete the text recitation in  the following order:
 1(+0) Rob & Corey, on their 1st attempt
 2(+0) Greg & John, on their 2nd attempt
 3(+0) Joel & Garrett, on their 2nd attempt
 4(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh, on their 1st attempt

The next clue tells them to make their way on foot to the park next to St Patrick's cathedral to find their next pit stop. On the way there teams will pass the Gaiety theater where they did the Riverdancing task.

As usual we get scenes of the next to last team having issues finding the mat while the last team seems to fly ahead. But we never get both teams in the same shot so we know it is not as tight as they make it out to be.

 "When there's three other teams and they are all ahead of you it is really hard to be positive", Anna Leigh

Teams reach Phil and the mat (1.4km) in the following order:
 1(+0) Rob & Corey, win Expedia points for a trip to Fiji
 2(+0) Greg & John
 3(+0) Joel & Garrett
 4(+0) Steve & Anna Leigh, are eliminated

 "This is the adventure of a lifetime", Anna Leigh

[elthemagnifico]

According to Joel and  Garret in Justin' Racer Recaps, Joel spent 15 attempts to pass the Riverdance RB

[maf]

Racing report
Amazing Race Season 35, Episode 12, "A Sunset, Seattle scramble"
Film date: 2023-07-04 - 2023-07-05

The last leg ended outside the St Patrick's cathedral in Dublin, Ireland. This leg starts at exactly the same spot and teams are released in the following order (we are not given departure times):
 1. Rob & Corey
 2. Greg & John
 3. Joel & Garrett

The first clue tells teams to fly to their final destination Seattle, Washington. Teams are given tickets for this leg.
 "If the road block is to find the best piece of Pizza in Seattle, I'm winning!", Rob

The clue also told them to pick up their car at a specified parking at the Seattle airport.

All teams are on the same flight to Seattle. According to Joel & Garrett's podcast the flight they were supposed to go on was canceled. Originally they were supposed to arrive in Seattle early in the morning instead of late in the afternoon as they did now. If true then production really had to scramble to pull this leg together.

Once in Seattle teams released just around the corner from their cars. There are no clues in the cars. Instead there is a small model of the Space Needle on the dashboard, everybody realize they need to make their way there. At the space needle teams find numbers and a clue box. They arrive to the numbers in the following order:
 1. Rob & Corey
 2. Greg & John
 3. Joel & Garrett

Route info: "Walk around the rim on the Space Needle 500ft above Seattle to find your next clue."

Teams must now walk on the roof of the Space Needle. Only one racer at a time can do the walk. Fortunately the producers first let one person from each team do the walk before the second person from each team can do it. This way the separation between the teams is kept as small as possible.

Nobody is having any issues with the walk and as it is a linear task there is no way to pass any other teams. But it does look awesome.
 "This race just gets cooler and cooler", Corey

Once done teams must make their way back to the ground and to the Chihuly glass house where they will find their next clue. This is next to the Space Needle and teams reach this in the following order:
 1(+0) Rob & Corey
 2(+0) Greg & John
 3(+0) Joel & Garrett

Route info: It's time for a Seattle Scramble

Teams now get titles and locations of three tasks and they get to decide in which order they want to complete them. The three tasks are:

• Grunge, here teams must become roadies for a Grunge band and set the stage for them.
• Grab, swing from a high trapeze.
• Glass, blow a glass float.

The Glass task is the closest to the Space Needle while the Grab is the furthest and Grunge is between them. Rob & Corey start with Grab as they think that Glass is the closest to where they are going after the scramble. The other teams start with Glass. Everybody do Grunge in the middle.
 "A sunset Seattle scramble", Corey gets the title

Glass takes place at Seattle Glassblowing Studio. They have three separate stations set up so teams do not have to wait for each other. Each team get a private instructor who can demonstrate the task which is to blow a sea-float which has a diameter of 4in or more.
 "Our demonstrator made it look so easy", Greg
 "Give us a demo and emphasize what we did wrong", Joel to their instructor
Joel & Garrett arrive here shortly after Greg & John but leave before them.

Grab takes place at Emerald City Trapeze Arts. Here they must perform a knee hang catch. That is they must launch themselves from the platform hanging by their hands from a bar. Then they must swing their legs up to they  hang from their knees instead. If they manage to do this without loosing too much speed a professional will catch them and they are done.
 "Trapeze was never on my list of things I was ever going to do.", Joel

Greg & John arrive while Joel & Garrett are making their attempts. While they get rigged and get their instructions Joel & Garrett have time to make two more tries each, and this is enough for them to complete the task.

Both team members must do the trapeze task. They complete it in the following order:
 Corey, on his 1st attempt
 Rob, on his 8th attempt
 Joel, on his 3rd attempt
 Garrett, on his 3rd attempt
 John, on his 1st attempt
 Greg, on his 2nd attempt

Every team takes Grunge as the middle task and they arrive there in the following order:
 1. Joel & Garrett
 2. Rob & Corey
 3. Greg & John

Grunge takes place at The Showbox. Each team must bring in the boxes of equipment from the street and then use the provided stage plot to set the stage. There are two difficulties with this task. The first is that the power cords for the amps is located within the amps, you just have to lift the lid or look at the back. The second is that there is a small extra unit which needs to be placed on top of one of the amps, this unit is actually attached to the underside of the lid of the amp so all you need to do is to flip the lid. But all teams struggle with finding this, some more than others.
 "That was tricky", Joel when he finds the missing unit
Greg & John are the ones really having a hard time finding the small unit. We even see them lift the top of the amp a number of times but they fail to notice the unit attached under the lid.

 "I'm not musically inclined by any sense of the word", Corey
 "Good catch, be quiet", Corey to Rob when he points out the small unit

Once teams are approved the judge tells their band, which is a real existing band, to come out and do a sound check.
 
Teams lave Grunge in the following order:
 1(+0) Joel & Garrett, set the stage for Smokey Bright
 2(+0) Rob & Corey, set the stage for The Black Tones
 3(+0) Greg & John, set the stage for La Fonda

One nice touch is that the lead singer of the Black Tones signs "Good Luck" to Rob when she hands him the clue.

For each task they complete each team get a part of a toy airplane (body and two wings). When assembled the text on the wings reads "6321 NE 175th Street, Kenmore, WA. 96028.

Joel & Garrett head for a gas station and find a couple. They quickly realize that the boys are on the Amazing Race and lend them their phone.
 "We're living the underdog dream right now", Joel think they may be first

Teams arrive in Kenmore in the following order:
 1(+0) Joel & Garrett
 2(+1) Greg & John
 3(-1) Rob & Corey, got lost on the way there

Here they find a memory challenge. Each team is given a pile of kayaks which each bear the title of a road block or a detour. Teams must now place the kayaks on the racks in the order they encountered the road blocks and detours during the race. They also had to assemble paddles, one end would show a picture of the pit stop and the other bore the name of the country (this was not mentioned in the episode).

Joel & Garrett are smart and start by laying the kayaks out on the ground and once the have placed all of them they lift them up on the racks.

The trickiest part of this is the road blocks "Who wants a bird's-eye view" (glider flying in Slovenia) and "Who wants to be above it all" (tightrope in Los Angeles) which are easy to confuse for each other.

Joel & Garrett quickly complete their wall of kayaks but they have placed the tricky ones wrong. And of course they do not get told what their error is. So they desperately start moving kayaks around.
 "We have no clue what's wrong", Garrett

While Joel & Garrett are struggling to find their error Greg & John get their approved (on the first shown check).
 "Do we need to flip "Who wants a bird's-eye view" and the other one that has to do with the air?", Garrett

Teams complete this challenge in the following order:
 1(+1) Greg & John
 2(-1) Joel & Garrett
 3(+0) Rob & Corey

The next clue tells teams to make their way to the finish line at Clise mansion.

Teams reach Phil and the mat (29km) in the following order:
 1(+0) Greg & John, win the $1,000,000
 2(+0) Joel & Garrett, just 120 seconds after #1
 3(+0) Rob & Corey

 "8 countries, 19 cities, more than 23,000 miles", Phil sums it up
 "I really couldn't have done  this without him", John about his younger brother

[maf]

My apologies for the late post of the latest episode report. Family life interfered.