TAR: It All Comes Tumbling Down

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Amazing Race
It Was Like a Caravan of Idiots

I am impressed with the challenges this season. I would think that after so many seasons, they would start to seem repetitive, but they aren’t! They seem tougher this season and they don’t really remind me too much of what I have seen from past seasons. I also like that the tasks are a mix of brawn and brain so you can’t just have one type of person that will be so heavily slanted towards winning the competition.

Order teams left the pit stop:

  1. Mel & Mike – 10:49 pm
  2. Amanda & Kris – 10:53pm
  3. Kisha & Jen – 10:55 pm
  4. Margie & Luke – 11:06 pm
  5. Mark & Michael – 11:07 pm
  6. Christie & Jodi – 11:08 pm
  7. Jaime & Cara –  11:29 pm
  8. Tammy & Victor – 1:30 am

Clue: Teams had to fly through Moscow to Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. Once they landed, they had to make their way to the structure on the back of a 10 ruble note, which was a hydroelectric dam, to find their next clue.

Airport Fun Times

While heading to the airport, Christie and Jodi’s driver said he could take them straight to the airport or an internet cafe. They decided to go to the internet cafe first. Mark & Michael asked to borrow their cab driver’s phone. The NFL cheerleaders did the same. When the NFL cheerleaders picked up the phone, it was Mark & Michael on the other end. Someone must have hit a button to call the other cab driver by mistake. They decided to act like they were Lufthansa airlines and told them when there was a flight leaving, but it only had business class available. They then acted like they lost connection so Mark & Michael were none the wiser on the goof. It didn’t do any harm but will it come back to bite the cheerleaders in the butt later on?

Meanwhile, the flight attendants were at the Internet cafe finding a good flight on Lufthansa. They figured their experience has flight attendants would give them an advantage in finding the best flight. They booked it there. Everyone else eventually arrived at the airport. There were flights going through Frankfurt to Moscow, Bulgaria to Moscow and Munich to Moscow. Even with all the different flights, everyone would meet up in Moscow to get that final flight into Krasnoyarsk. It didn’t matter how anyone got there. They all got on the same flight and arrived in Siberia at the same time. So much for advantages!

Krasnoyarsk, Siberia

1404siberia

The teams arrived in Sibera at 5:40 am. The stuntmen brothers left the airport in first place after showing their cab driver the back of the ruble for the picture of the dam so he knew where to take them. It turned out that only the sisters and the flight attendants were in Siberia. The other teams missed the flight in Moscow so they had to wait for another one. Interesting! The stuntmen made it to Siberia while the NFL cheerleaders who messed with them were stuck in Moscow. Karma! The stuntmen arrived at the dam and found a sign that said it didn’t open until 8:30 am. They said they really didn’t need to be in such a big hurry. The flight attendants and sisters joined up with them soon. Even though they had to wait until 8:30 am, that didn’t really affect them since the later teams hadn’t arrived from Moscow yet. At 8:30 am, all three of them ran in to get their clue.

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Clue: Teams had to go to Church Saint Innokenty to find their next clue.

The teams jumped into their cabs and made their way down the road a bit until they came upon the church. The next clue was a detour.

Detour: Teams had to choose between two tasks that the locals used to keep themselves warm during the bitter Siberian winters. In Stack, teams traveled to the river bank where they had to use a traditional method to stack a pile of firewood. Once the wood was stack to the satisfaction of a local expert, they would get their next clue. In Construct, teams had to build a set of traditional wood shutters. After they were done, they had to install them on a house with a sign saying they needed repairs done. After they installed them, they would get their next clue.

The stuntmen arrived first to the detour and they chose to stack. The flight attendants and sisters also chose to stack the wood. The stuntmen were wandering for a while, but didn’t see any signs or markers. The flight attendants saw the two signs and headed off to the wood. They got there and picked their pile. Nearby locals were singing, drinking and playing accordions. The sisters arrived at the wood soon afterward and picked their pile of wood. One of the sisters said it was like Jenga with some wood pieces being flat and others being triangle. The stuntmen finally arrived. Jen was stacking while Kisha was handing her pieces. Kisha would hand her one and Jen would say, “Not that big!” a few times before Kisha would finally hand her the right size. Michael informed Mark he was stacking it wrong and they had to work together.

While they stacked, the second flight arrived in Krasnoyarsk. The rest of the teams headed to the dam. While they were driving, the flight attendants were close to halfway done with their huge wood pile. The sisters decided they needed to work faster to catch up. The stuntmen were figuring out that they were building it so it might start leaning. They wanted to make sure it wouldn’t be too weak as they built it up. The flight attendants thought their wall was more stable. I’m not sure if they were comparing to the sisters or the stuntmen or both. It might have been the stuntmen since right after Michael put a wood piece on his pile, it fell over and knocked over part of the demo wall. They had to stack the demo wall as well as their own. Oh no! They decided to switch detour tasks. They were off to the construct one. The flight attendants and sisters were about two-thirds of the way done with their piles.

The last place teams were arriving at the dam. They all got their clue about the church and drove down the road to get to the detour clue. The stuntmen got to the place with their shutter materials. They took the materials outside, but didn’t want to lug them around looking for the house so they went searching for a house that needed shutters. They couldn’t find one right away. The sisters and flight attendants were almost done with the detour. The sisters liked that they were taller so it was easier to finish up the top of the tall wall. The sisters finished first and received their next clue.

Clue: Teams had to make their way to the Museum of the Novel “The Last Bow,” and enter through the marked door to find their next clue. There was an added note of a U-Turn being ahead. The twist with the U-Turn this season was that it was blind. Teams did not have to post their picture up so no one would know who stopped the other team. What a U-Turn meant was that the team that was picked had to go back and do the other detour choice they didn’t pick or finish before moving on.

The sisters took off. The flight attendants finished soon after. The local guy said they were cute and did the best job. He got a hug from Jodi, which I’m sure he appreciated.  The sisters arrived at the U-Turn and decided not to use it since they knew five teams were on a later flight and were not catching up any time soon. They opened up their next clue.

Clue: Teams had to take a taxi to Bobrovy Log Park, a local amusement park and search for their next clue.

The flight attendants arrived at the U-Turn and decided not to do it. They headed off in the taxi. The other teams were finally catching up with Amanda & Kris arriving at the detour. They picked the stacking option. Mel & Mike also chose stacking. The last three also decided to go with stacking. While those teams were off stacking, the sisters arrived at the amusement park to find a road block clue.

Bobrovy Log Park

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Road block: One member had to ride in a bobsled and complete a bobsled course in under four minutes. They would also have to look for seven letters posted along the way. Once they finished, they would have to unscramble the letter to correctly spell the name of a famous Russian playwright, Chekhov. When they got the right answer, they would get their next clue.

I’d want to ride in the bobsled! Kisha decided to do it. She took off in her bobsled when the flight attendants arrived.  Christie jumped in the bobsled. Kisha finished her bobsled run in under four minutes, but she only saw six letters. She had to do it again. Jen made a good face in response to Kisha running back to do it again.

Over with the wood stacks, Amanda & Kris were about three-fourths done with Mike & Mel not too far behind. Mike warned his dad how he was stacking them since he saw the pile jiggling. The NFL cheerleaders were freaking out about Mike & Mel being more than halfway done. Tammy & Victor learned from the last leg and were not focused on how the other teams were doing. They were just stacking the wood. They were about halfway done. The cheerleaders seemed to be too busy watching what everyone else was doing. They thought Amanda was doing nothing while Kris built the wall. She was handing him the pieces, which is what half the teams did.The cheerleaders probably should have just concentrated on themselves, since they seemed to be way behind the other teams.  Margie & Luke were telling each other to be careful with stacking.  What were the stuntmen doing at this time? I had forgotten about them! They were still searching for a house to be fixed. They hadn’t even started to build their shutters yet! They read their clue again where it said the house was nearby, but they had wandered way into a neighborhood. They decided to go back to where they picked up the shutter to find the house.

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Back at the road block, Christie made the bobsled run just in time with exactly four minutes. She saw all the letters and confirmed them with the person they were correct. Then she went to go play with the letters. Kisha was back on the bobsled looking for the last letter she missed the first time. Jodi told Christie to just guess on the name. Christie said there was no way since she had no clue.  Back at the wood stacking, Amanda was finding some unstable parts of the wall. She kept trying to push the wood in but it was making their entire wall of wood sway. Mike & Mel were almost done with their wall of wood when it came crashing down. Then Cara pushed too hard on one side and half of the cheerleader’s wall came down. Amanda & Kris were just a few pieces away from being done when their wall just fell over the side. At least it was more than one team? Does that make it any better?

After the wood piles fell, the teams were deciding if they wanted to stay and build the wood piles again or move to the other detour option. Mike & Mel decided to go build some shutters. The other teams stayed behind to build. The stuntmen decided to quit looking for the house and to actually go build their shutter first before looking for the house.

Back at the bobsled, Kisha was going down the bobsled again and got all the letters. She said she didn’t know anything about Russian either so she seemed to be in the same boat as Christie. Around the time they were trying to unscramble letters to make a Russian author’s name, Margie & Luke finished up their wood pile. They headed off to the U-Turn. After Margie & Luke left, Amanda & Kris decided to switch and go build some shutters. Tammy & Victor  finished up their wood pile next and headed off to the U-Turn. At the U-Turn, Margie & Luke were making a decision to use it. Luke wanted to win the race really bad so he wasn’t going to let feelings get in the way. They felt that Amanda & Kris were a strong team so they were going to try to stop them with the U-Turn. They also wanted to give the NFL cheerleaders a chance to not get eliminated.

Soon after Margie & Luke were off to the bobsleds, Tammy & Victor were at the U-Turn thrilled to not see their picture there. They headed off to the bobsleds. After a few tries at the roadblock, Kisha got the name right so she got her next clue.

Clue: Teams had to travel by taxi to the pit stop, Krasnoyarsk Theater, the theater of musical comedy.

Soon after the sisters left, Christie figured the name out so her and Jodi were headed to the pit stop in second place. Back at the detour, the stuntmen were back outside about to wander around some more after building their shutter, when they saw Mel & Mike come up. They decided to help them build the shutter and then they would look for the house together. At the roadblock, Margie & Luke and Tammy & Victor arrived at the same time. Victor and Luke decided to go on the bobsled. Tammy & Victor jumped out of their cabs and ran to the clue box the fastest so Victor got to go first. Amanda & Kris arrived at the construct detour and got in on the plan to build the shutter and then look for the house.

Pit Stop

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The sisters arrived at the theater building, but the clue said to go to the main entrance. The sisters found a door inside the building, but they didn’t think it was the main entrance. They really didn’t think so after finding some people backstage. They went outside and wandered to find another door. The flight attendants arrived and started to look for the main entrance too. The flight attendants ended up finding Phil first. They both won a motorcycle for coming in first. The sisters came in as a close second. They were still pleased, even though they missed out on first place.

Back at the road block, Victor finished the bobsled and got all the letters. Luke was on the bobsled. Victor breezed through putting the letters together and got the clue to the pit stop. Tammy & Victor were headed to the pit stop in third place. Luke arrived at the bottom and got all the letters. He was struggling with the name though. He tried once, but got it wrong so he had to try again.

Mel finished the shutter. Mel & Mike and the stuntmen decided to go looking for the house. Amanda & Kris weren’t done, but decided to take their shutters with them to help find the house and just finish it up once they found it. They found some ladders to help carry their heavy shutters around. The stuntmen said they had been all up and down the road without finding anything. Mel said they just had to try again and “keep their eyeballs peeled.”

At the woodpile, the cheerleaders had only five pieces left. Luke was on his third try with the name and getting very frustrated with not knowing the name. The cheerleaders finished the wood pile while screaming, “with no help from boys!” Well, okay then! The ladder group was wandering around lost with their shutters. Luke tried another name and it was wrong again. Luke really wanted to give up but his mom kept encouraging him to keep at it.

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The shutter brigade was pondering the existence of the secret house of missing shutters while they were about two houses away from it, oblivious to its existence. So glad the camera man showed us! The stuntmen were giving up and walking away when Mel decided to go in the opposite direction and he found the marked house! It was right there! And there was much rejoicing. Yeah! They started to put the shutters on the house and Amanda & Kris started to finish putting their shutters together so they could attach it to the house.

Luke finally got the name correct! They were leaving as the cheerleaders were arriving at the bobsled. Jamie decided to go down the bobsled. Mel & Mike finished putting their shutter on and headed off to the bobsled. The stuntmen finished right after. Mike & Mel felt very bad when they saw Amanada & Kris were U-turned. The stuntmen also felt bad when they saw it. Amanda & Kris finished their shutter and came to find the U-Turn. They ran off to finish their wood pile. At least it was partly done before it fell!

Tammy & Victor arrived on the mat in third place. Jamie got all the letters from the bobsled run. She was apologizing for not knowing any Russian playwrights when she managed to put all the letters in order correctly the first time. She did not believe her luck when she got the clue. They were off to the pit stop in fifth place.

Mike & Mel and the stuntmen arrived at the bobsled when Margie & Luke came in fourth place on the mat. Michael was going down the bobsled and didn’t see all the letters so he had to go down again. Mel went down on the bobsled next while the cheerleaders arrived in fifth place on the mat. Amanda & Kris finished their wood pile so they were off to the road block. They were trying to guess who would U-Turn them. They thought it was the sisters or the flight attendants. They were guessing that Mel & Mike felt sorry when they saw their picture on the board. They also thought Margie & Luke felt bad. Oh, if only they knew of Luke’s evil plan to win!

At the roadblock, Mel finished up the roadblock and they were off to the pit stop in sixth place. The stuntmen finished up at the roadblock and were headed to the pit stop in seventh place when Amanda & Kris arrived at the bobsleds. Kris went down the bobsled. Mike & Mel checked into the mat in sixth place. The stuntmen arrived at the theater while Kris was trying to put the name together. He got it right and they were headed to the pit stop while the stuntmen were arguing with their taxi driver since they didn’t have enough money for cab ride. They were trying to give him their watches, but the cab driver had a Rolex. Well, well, well! He finally just took what they had so they were able to go in and check in. That left Amanda & Kris to finally come in last place. They were eliminated from the race.

The order teams arrived at the pit stop:

  1. Christie & Jodi
  2. Kisha & Jen
  3. Tammy & Victor
  4. Margie & Luke
  5. Cara & Jamie
  6. Mel & Mike
  7. Mark & Michael
  8. Amanda & Kris

Questions

  1. What did you think of the U-Turn? Did you like that it was now blind or should they have kept it so the teams could see who did it?
  2. Should another team have been U-Turned besides Amanda & Kris?
  3. Were you sad or glad that Amanda & Kris were the team to go? Would you have rather seen another team go or wished it was a non-elimination round?
  4. Are Margie & Luke smart to be helping out the cheerleaders or do they not see them as a threat?

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