Amazing Race: Sushi & Ducks

01_philducks

Amazing Race
They Thought Godzilla Was Walking Down the Street (Japan/Vietnam)

Each season, there are some good names for teams and then there are a million dating teams. Using their real names are boring so I like to make up new ones for them. Here is what I’ve come up with so far (some of these are what the show uses):

  • Maria & Tiffany – professional poker players – Poker Ladies
  • Marcy & Ron – dating couple met online – eHarmony
  • Meghan & Cheyne – dating (met playing tether ball in grade school) – Tetherball
  • Gary & Matt – father/son with pink hair – Pinky and the Brain (stole that name from someone else calling them that)
  • Flight Time & Big Easy – Harlem Globetrotters
  • Zev & Justin – friends (one with Asperger’s syndrome) – AS Friends
  • Eric & Lisa – Yoga Instructors
  • Sam & Dan – Gay Brothers
  • Mika & Canaan – newly dating Christians – Christians
  • Garrett & Jessica  – on/off dating (much talk of fighting & her Colombian roots) – Fiery
  • Brian & Ericka – interracial couple – IR Couple
  • Lance & Keri – engaged (he’s a lawyer) – Law-Talking Guy

As their personalities come out, I’ll probably change those, but for now, they will do.

01_start

The teams started out in the huge canals of Los Angeles where parts of Grease and Terminator 2 were filmed. There were some introductions of teams, including an interracial couple, professional poker players, Harlem Globetrotters, yoga instructors, gay brothers, guy with Asperger’s syndrome, and a son with pink hair reconnecting with his father. There was a  new twist! Usually, the teams race to their backpacks with some clues and then race off to the airport to start their journeys, but not this time! In the backpacks there was a clue, but it was for a challenge they had to compete before they even left the canals. The one team that finishes last would be eliminated.  Doh!

Clue: Fly to Tokyo, but first search the wall of license plates to find one of only eleven Shinagawa District license plates, which is their first destination.

The Japanese symbol for Shinagawa was printed on the clue, but that wasn’t pointed out. Only teams that noticed that would get that extra hint. The teams that found the license plate would get one of two tickets to Tokyo and the one left without a plate would be eliminated at the starting line.

01_license

Teams started randomly to grab license plates and bring them to Phil to see if they were right. No one was seeing the symbol in the clue right away. Then Justin noticed the symbol on the card. He said he figured the producers would not expect the players to know Japanese so there had to be another clue to help them find the license plate.  A few other teams figured it out around the same time. Poker Ladies were the first ones to Phil with the correct license plate. They ran off to the cars. eHarmony were the second team to get it, followed by Tetherball, Harlem Globetrotters, Pinky and the Brain and AS Friends. Mixed in between those teams were other teams not guessing correctly. After a while, only two teams were left searching for plates–yoga instructors and Law-Talking Guy team. They both knew the symbol and were just looking for that last plate. Law-Talking Guy found it and were the last team to leave for the airport. That meant that the yoga instructors (Eric & Lisa)  came in last place.  We hardly got to know you freaky people!

While heading to the airport, engaged lawyer guy team were making comments about who was stupider for almost being eliminated. He was saying she needed to read the clue and she said she was the one that noticed the symbol, not him. They are quite charming!

The first group of teams that finished received tickets on an American Airlines flight that left at 12:45 pm. The remaining five teams received tickets on a United flight that left at 1:15 pm. At the airport, the teams were getting to know each other. The poker ladies were telling everyone that they worked for an organization that works with homeless kids since they didn’t want anyone not to help them if they found out they made money playing poker. Interesting tactic, I guess? The first flight left with Poker Ladies, eHarmony, Tetherball, Pinky and the Brain, Harlem Globetrotters, and AS Friends.The United plane had the Gay Brothers, Christians, Fiery, IR Couple and Law-Talking Guy.

Tokyo, Japan

01_tokyo

Once teams landed in Japan, they had to find Tokyo Tower Studios, a TV studio at the base of the Tokyo Tower. The first flight arrived at 3:55 pm.  All the teams but the Poker Ladies found the shuttle to get them out of the airport. They found it right after the shuttle left. Maria was freaking out about all the mistakes while Tiffany told her to calm down. Maria said Tiffany wasn’t being realistic. I’m thinking, you missed the shuttle. Freaking out won’t make the next one come any faster. That’s not how you deal with mistakes.  The second flight arrived at 4:03 pm. That’s really close to the first flight’s arrival time. The Gay Brothers were the first one in a cab and while they were headed to the tower, they actually were right next to eHarmony in another cab who were on the first flight. Everyone was all caught up! The Poker Ladies were trying to flirt with the Gay Brothers, while the brothers were just laughing at what the girls didn’t know. The Christians had a taxi driver that was driving on the sidewalk. Well, whatever gets you there faster, I guess!

01_tokyotower

That actually got them to the studio first, so they ran right into a Japanese game show. There was a studio audience cheering away! The Gay Brothers arrived next, followed by Tetherball, eHarmony, Pinky and the Brain, Harlem Globetrotters, and then everyone else since the game show wasn’t going to start until everyone was there. It was a road block.

Sushi Roulette

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Road Block: One team member had to compete in one round of Sushi Roulette. There were multiple sushi rolls on the roulette table and a few wasabi bombs. The team member had to eat whatever roll they landed and had to keep eating it until they landed on a wasabi bomb. Then they had two minutes to eat it before they got their next clue.

The first spin around, Ron and Cheyne got the wasabi roll. They both finished it with about twenty seconds remaining. That meant eHarmony and Tetherball were able to get the clue.

Clue: Take a colored flag and find the people in the audience with the matching visors. They would have to take 20 Japanese tourist with the same colored visors  as the flag through the busy streets of Tokyo, including the Shibuya Crossing, and make their way to Konno Hachimangu Shrine,which was the pit stop for that leg of the race.

01_wasabi

Tetherball and eHarmony made their way with their tourists, while the rest of the teams moved on to round two of Sushi Roulette.  Garrett from Fiery and Justin from AS Friends were up next for wasabi bombs. Tetherball were running through the streets asking if anyone spoke English and if anyone knew where the shrine was located. eHarmony was getting their group excited by yelling “Team Blue!” since they were wearing blue visors.  Back at the game show, Justin finished his bomb with 33 seconds left so AS Friends left before Garrett finished with eight seconds left. Fiery were on their way when round three started. Maria was the only one that got the wasabi bomb in the third round.

01_crossing

Tetherball found a person that spoke English and knew where the shrine was located. She also agreed to show them. eHarmony found a map on the street so they went to see if the shrine was located on it. They couldn’t seem to see it on the map. AS Friends found a guy right away that was going to point them in the right direction. Back at the roulette wheel, Maria was chewing her last piece when the time ran out. She would have to keep going and eat another one to continue! She was staring at everyone in disbelief when the fourth round started.  It landed on Maria again! She was still finishing chewing the last wasabi bomb. She turned to Tiffany saying she couldn’t do another one. You can’t switch in road blocks, Maria. You are going to have to suck it up!

Maria did start eating the second wasabi bomb. Tetherball was running through crazy Shibuya Crossing, eHarmony was still trying to find where the shrine was located and finally found someone to tell them it was two miles away, and AS Friends were dealing with one of their tourists that had a broken shoe so she wasn’t walking so quickly. At the game show, Maria finished her second wasabi bomb with one second left. Poker Ladies were off with their group.

Pit Stop

01_shrine

While the wheel was spinning for the fifth round, Tetherball found the shrine and came in first place with Phil. As the winners, they won trips to both Aspen and Vail. It wasn’t over for the rest of the teams though. For the fifth round, it was Big Easy from the Harlem Globetrotter and Lance from Law-Talking Guy. Big Easy ate his in two bites, but after a lot of chewing and a little dance while he chewed, he finished with 25 seconds remaining. Law-Talking Guy finished with 21 seconds left.

As Harlem Globetrotters and Law-Talking Guy left, AS Friends were finding the shrine and checking in with Phil for second place! The sixth round consisted of Canaan from the Christians finishing his wasabi bomb while the remaining teams were frustrated that they weren’t getting it to land on them at all.  eHarmony finally made it to the crossing around the time that Harlem Globetrotters were making their way to it too, and Law-Talking Guy was finding someone to show them the way to the shrine.

Gary from Pinky and the Brain and Brian from IR Couple finally got some wasabi bombs on the seventh round. Brian was on the verge of puking up his wasabi bomb while Gary was eating his really slowly. Poker Ladies went to a nearby hotel to find where Shibuya Crossing was located. They picked up a map and headed out. Gary finished his wasabi bomb with 24 seconds remaining so Pinky and the Brain was out of there. Brian ran out of time so he would have to go again. That pleased the Gay Brothers who were the last team remaining that hadn’t gotten a chance to eat the wasabi bomb yet.

Back at Shibuya Crossing, Harlem Globetrotters and Law-Talking Guy were crossing while eHarmony was still there for some reason. Why were they still there? They were noticing other teams passing them. After Law-Talking Guy got his tourists across, he went in a different direction from the Harlem Globetrotters, saying they didn’t know where they were going. That seemed to be true since they found the shrine. They came in third place.

For the eighth round of sushi, the Gay Brothers finally got a wasabi bomb so they could try! Brian didn’t get a wasabi bomb so he couldn’t try again. He had to eat more sushi, which he couldn’t stand. Dan was thrilled about the wasabi bomb. He said he eats sushi every day. He finished his wasabi bomb faster than anyone else with 1 minute and five seconds left on the clock. Wow! Gay Brothers took off while IR Couple were the only team remaining. Ericka was telling Brian, she should have done the challenge. If he didn’t like sushi, why was he doing it?

For the ninth round, Brian got the wasabi roll so he was eating it. Gay Brothers caught up to Poker Ladies who told them where they needed to go. The ladies thought the guys were hot so they were pleased to help them, and the guys weren’t telling them anything differently. The guys thought the ladies were cool since they worked for a non-profit based on the lie they told everyone. Haha! Back at the game show, Brian finished his wasabi roll right in time! They took off while eHarmony and Harlem Globetrotters checked into the pit stop in fourth and fifth place.

IR Couple found someone to show them where the shrine was located around the time they had arrived at Shibuya Crossing. Pinky and the Brain found someone to point out where Shibuya Crossing was located so they headed in that direction.  Fiery had some issues since one of their tourists had to stop and go to the bathroom. Brian was carrying one of his tourist that was having a hard time keeping up. After she caught her breath again, he put her done to jog along with everyone else. The Christians were making their way across the Shibuya Crossing looking for someone who knew where the shrine was located.  The Poker Ladies and Gay Brothers were about to head down to a subway when the Gay Brothers noticed another team running by. They decided to split up and follow the other team while the Poker Ladies wanted to continue on with the subway. IR Couple found the shrine with their guide and checked in with Phil for sixth place.

Pinky and the Brain checked in with Phil in seventh place, while Poker Ladies were realizing they were missing two of their tourists. They were assuming they were hanging out with the Gay Brothers when they split, but they were shown on their own hanging out at Shibuya Crossing with no other teams. They decided to keep their 18 tourists where they were and headed off to go find the missing two people. Maria was saying the shrine was close by, but Tiffany was saying they needed all of their tourists. Maria was blaming Tiffany by saying, “I’m not blaming you, but you told me I could keep going and you would keep track.” It also seemed their tourists were following them, which I think is good, since they didn’t need to lose any more.

Fiery was checking in with Phil for eighth place so potty break tourist didn’t kill them! The Christians were running around yelling about the shrine when someone said they knew where it was located and would show them.  The Gay Brothers came into the shrine, very excitedly, and checked in with Phil for ninth place. They said that was “horrible, but we’ll take it,” while hugging each other, very happy they weren’t in last place.

01_carry

The Christians arrived at the shrine in tenth place, but Phil said he couldn’t check them in since they didn’t have all their people. Mika was bringing up the back of the group whenever they showed them, so not sure how they lost one person. They grabbed their tourists and went searching for their last remaining person. The Poker Ladies could not find their missing people and were getting worried about how angry they were making their tourists by dragging them around all over the place. The Christians found their straggler very close to the shrine, walking very slowly. Canaan picked her up and carried her up the steps to check in with Phil in 10th place.

That left Poker Ladies out there. They decided to just go check in without their missing people and see what happened. When they arrived, Phil asked if they had all their people. When they said no, he said they received a two-hour penalty due to not completing the task. He did say they were lucky and it was a non-elimination leg so they were still in the race. The rest of the bad news was they would endure a speed bump in the next leg where they had to complete an extra task no other team had to complete.

The order the teams checked into the pit stop:

  1. Tetherball – Meghan & Cheyne
  2. AS Friends – Justin & Zev
  3. Law-Talking Guy – Lance & Keri
  4. eHarmony – Marcy & Ron
  5. Harlem Globetrotters – Big Easy & Flight Time
  6. IR Couple – Brian & Ericka
  7. Pinky and the Brain – Gary & Matt
  8. Fiery – Garrett & Jessica
  9. Gay Brothers – Sam & Dan
  10. Christians – Mika & Canaan
  11. Poker Ladies – Maria & Tiffany

Leaving Pit Stop

It was a double episode, so here once again is the order and times everyone left the pit stop 12 hours after they checked in with Phil.

  1. Tetherball – 12:19 am
  2. AS Friends – 12:36 am
  3. Law-Talking Guy –  12:40 am
  4. eHarmony – 12:41 am
  5. Harlem Globetrotters – 12:42 am
  6. IR Couple – 12:44 am
  7. Pinky and the Brain – 12:45 am
  8. Fiery – 12:51 am
  9. Gay Brothers – 12:54 am
  10. Christians – 1:03 am
  11. Poker Ladies – 3:22 am

Tetherball opened up the first clue.

Clue: Fly to Vietnam. Once they landed in Ho Chi Minh City, teams had to find a bus station to take a two-hour bus ride to the rural village of Cai Be where they would race on foot for their next clue.

Meghan said that Cheyne’s attitude is “We’ll figure it out when we get there.” She said there is no planning in anything they do so they’ll see how well that works in the race. They headed straight for the airport after getting the clue. When AS Friends took off, they went to check the internet at a nearby hotel. Law-Talking Guy team headed to an Internet Cafe to book their tickets. They talked about how they bicker a lot. When Lance thought Kari was being too slow searching for flights online, he took over. She told the camera that it can be frustrating when she feels he is always “breathing down [her] neck,” which made him laugh and say, “I’m sitting right here!”

When eHarmony left the pit stop, Marcy asked Don where he was headed. He said, “I’m going to Vietnam. I don’t know where you are going!” She said they needed to find a phone or internet somewhere, while they were headed into a hotel. Harlem Globetrotters headed out to a hotel. They said that they were nice and people liked them, so  they were going to use that to their advantage. Marcy commented that a stranger was helping out the Globetrotters and not eHarmony. Stranger guy said, “Hey, they are Harlem Globetrotters.” Easy Times nodded his head as if to say, “Yes, we are.”

IR Couple took off straight to the airport, confused about why others were not getting into the taxis right away. Pinky and the Brain also went straight to the airport, saying they would book when they got there. Fiery went to the hotel and also booked their flights there like the others in the hotel. Gay brothers went to an internet cafe. They didn’t plan on telling the other teams they were gay and flirting with the girls, throwing them off their game while the girls would think they were flirting with the brothers and throwing them off their game, when they weren’t attracted to them.  The Christians went to the hotel to book their flight too and talked about how they were waiting until marriage to have sex. I have no idea what that has to do with the race, but thanks for sharing! The Poker Ladies talked again about not telling anyone what they did for a living. They also went straight to the airport.

Airport Fun Times

Tetherball, IR Couple and Pinky and the Brain were all trying to buy the same tickets that others already booked online. IR Couple were told that economy was full. Brian was asking if there was any room in business class. He asked if they could purchase economy, but sit in business class. Why would an airline want to sell a cheaper ticket so someone could sit in a better class? Also, I know the rules say they have to only buy economy and I wouldn’t want to mess with even trying to sit in another class of seats since who knows what kind of penalty you could have.  The Poker Ladies showed up and were begging to get on the same flight too. Somehow they all got on the same flight. I’m not sure if they got in business or economy class though.

While standing in line, a guy recognized the Poker Ladies from tv. They admitted it and too bad some of the other teams heard it too. Before this, people actually weren’t big fans of them because they weren’t coming off as very nice after convincing the airline to get them on the flight, but now a few of them heard they had lied about what they did. Uh-oh! Speaking of not telling the entire truth, the Poker Ladies told the Gay Brothers they were trying to figure out if they were gay or not since they had matching orange passport holders. The guys just said their sister-in-law bought them for them. The Poker Ladies told the camera that they were falling “a little bit in love” with the guys. Hilarious!

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

01_vietnam

All teams were on the same flight to Vietnam. The Poker Ladies and Gay Brothers shared a big taxi. The guys let the girls know that they knew they were poker players. The girls just laughed it off. The other teams thought the driving in Vietnam was crazy. It was pouring down rain. The streets were practically flooding while most people were on motor bikes and mopeds wearing ponchos. In their taxi, the Globetrotters were talking about how they learned on the plane about the Poker Ladies. They said they felt bad for them the day before when they were almost eliminated, but now they knew they had straight lied, they said, “Game on!”

All teams made it to the lake that used to be the parking lot of Xemien Tay Bus Station. They had to walk through the ankle-deep water to get inside the bus terminal. The first bus was leaving at 3:30pm.  The teams that made it on the first bus were the Poker Ladies, Gay Brothers, Globetrotters, Christians and eHarmony. The bus was extremely crowded when all the teams got on, especially since they had to hold their backpacks in their laps.

While heading to the bus station, Zev was very worried about getting his shoes wet so he was going to take his shoes off and go barefoot. Justin asked him if he was sure about being barefoot, but Zev went for it. AS Friends did not make the first bus though. They were on the next one that left at 4:45pm. IR Couple, Pinky and the Brain, Fiery, Law-Talking Guy, and Tetherball were all on the 4:45pm bus. They were getting on a much bigger bus, but Pinky and the Brain broke the sad news that it was the second bus. They had seen a bus leaving right when they arrived with other teams on it. Ericka started to freak out that they still had to wait an hour before their bus even left. The teams asked if they all gave the driver $100 more each would they be able to leave right then since that would be the amount of the extra tickets that they would sell to fill up the bus. The driver went for it. Before they pulled out, the bus had to stop and put a chicken in the luggage area under the bus, which made the teams laugh. Then a guy jumped on soaking wet. Zev saw the guy really needed a jacket and figured he needed it more than him, so he gave him his jacket! The guy was very appreciative of it.

Cai Be, Vietnam

The first bus arrived at Cai Be and found the boat dock. There was a sign that showed it closed at 5pm so they would have to wait for it to open the next day at 7 am. Oh, the other bus wasted so much money to get somewhere faster when it didn’t matter! All the teams had to camp out near the boat docks over night.

While talking to the camera, the Poker Ladies said that they like to read people as poker players (oh yes, that works well with the Gay Brothers!) and they didn’t like the AS  Friends. They didn’t view them as friendly. AS Friends were telling the camera that they didn’t believe the Poker Ladies worked with homeless kids. They didn’t say they knew they were lying. They just didn’t feel any friendly or helpful vibes coming from them at all, so they didn’t trust them.

The next morning, all the teams races onto the docks to get their next clue.

Clue: Teams had to make their way on the Mekong Delta to the Mud Pits. Teams had to work together to collect the nutrient-rich mud (rich with what? do I want to know?) and carry it to a nearby orchard to fertilize a fruit tree.  Once the tree is covered with mud up to a designated red line, the farmer will hand them their next clue.

Everyone else got in their little boats to head off, while the poker ladies had to finish their Speed Bump.

Speed Bump: They had to find a nearby street stand and order a traditional Vietnamese soup called pho. They would be given the ingredients, take it back to the dock and serve it to the dock master. If it is to his liking (based on how they make it with the ingredients given), he will give them their next clue.

Mud Pits

01_mud

The Poker Ladies found the stand and got their soup ingredients. They were running back to the docks, while the other teams were landing at the Fruit Farm and finding their mud pits. Tetherball docked first. Cheyne jumped right out of the boat and up to his groin in mud. Only one leg was stuck, but it took him a bit to get back out again. He told Meghan to step on the wood. They ran to get their bowls and came back to the mud pit where he jumped into the mud again. Meghan stayed to the side and used a shovel while Cheyne was using his hand. Fiery jumped out and found a tree right next to a mud pit so they were quickly going back and forth.

01_soup

Back on the docks, Tiffany found the dock master. Maria was a big fan of pho and ate it all the time, so she knew how to prepare it. The dock master liked it right away and gave them their clue to send them off to the mud pits. The other teams were just slipping and sliding around in the mud. Tetherball knew they were going to get dirty so they just went with it and had fun. Law-Talking Guy was not having fun. He found it all disgusting. There was a lovely montage of people with their legs stuck in the mud. Ericka was able to stand right on it barefoot without sliding in so she was enjoying it. Both her and Brian had a fun time with the task too. She said it was a bit “sensual.” I’m not sure I would go that far, but if it works for her, then okay!

Tetherball were the first team to arrive at the Fruit Farm and the first ones to finish. They received their next clue.

Clue: Teams had to return their boats to the dock and travel by foot to the Cai Be Field.

Tetherball were leaving right when Poker Ladies were arriving. Fiery were the second team to finish. IR Couple finished in third place, followed by Pinky and the Brain, and Globetrotters. Gay Brothers finished sixth. Tiffany said that girls in mud was sexy. Maybe she should  hang out with Ericka. eHarmony and Law-Talking Guy finished in seventh and eighth place. The Poker Ladies said it was okay since some teams were still there working. Then AS Friends finished in ninth place. Justin fell off the boat and into the water when he was getting his pouch with all their important info in it. Christians finished in 10th place. While on the boat heading back, the AS Friends  realized they didn’t have the clue so they had to go back and get it. They ended up finding it soaking wet and barely hanging onto the side of a boat on the dock. They felt lucky to have found it, but then disappointed  that they saw the Poker Ladies (the last team) finishing up the task.  Maria fell in the water when they got in the boat to head back to the docks.

Tetherball got back to the docks first and started running to the Cai Be Field. They ran through a festival. Cheyne thought it was awesome, especially a woman singing. There were about a million ducks running around and crossing over a bridge that they were being directed to cross by a woman. Tetherball found the next clue, which was a road block.

Wrangling Ducks

01_ducks

Road Block: Who is feeling just ducky? In Vietnam, farmers use hungry ducks to rid their rice paddies of insects. Team would have to learn to get and keep all their ducks in a row. The team member would have to lead and direct 150 ducks from their pen, across a bridge and then back to their pen  within 10 minutes. If they didn’t complete the task in the time limit, they would have to wait for another turn. If they did finish in 10 minutes, they would get their next clue.

Meghan decided to do it. She asked if she had to direct all the ducks and was told yes. Her ducks were running all over the place. Fiery showed up next. Jessica decide to do it. There was another group of ducks so Jessica was able to start trying to get her ducks going at the same time, while Cheyne and Garrett laughed on the sidelines at the all the quacking going on.  IR Couple showed up and Ericka decided to do it, since Brian said, “I knew she could do it. I would probably kill one of those ducks.”  Pinky and the Brain showed up next and Matt decided to do it. Globetrotters and Gay Brothers arrived soon after with Flight Time and Sam deciding to do it.

Meghan was having troubles with her ducks. Jessica was having the same issues. Not all the ducks would go in the same direction. Matt seemed to be having no issues with his ducks. Flight Time got all his ducks over the bridge except for two, so he chased them over. Then both Flight and Matt had to get their ducks back over the bridge in time. Sam got all ducks over, except for one crazy one that ran away as fast as he could. Sam finally got them all over.

Law-Talking Guy, eHarmony and Christians arrived. Keri, Marcy and Mika said they would do it.  Meghan ran out of time and had to stop. Jessica ran out of time soon after. Ericka was yelling at her ducks, but they were eventually going where she needed them to go. Meghan was resting and waiting for another group of ducks to be ready for her to try and wrangle. While she waited for a course to be available, Jessica said she didn’t like herding animals. Sam finished first! The Gay Brothers opened up the next clue.

Clue: Teams had to race on foot to Cho Cai Be, a market at the end of the Mekong River. Once there, they would have to search along the docks for the pit stop, Bassac III Riverboat.

Matt finished up soon after, so Pinky and the Brain took off to the pit stop in second place. Matt said that he had some experience herding animals in Montana. Ericka got all her ducks back over the fence and then was focusing on just a few back in their pen area. She didn’t shut the gate before she went to try to get the rest of them back over so, of course, they all ran back out. The ducks started running across the bridge when the time expired. AS Friends and Poker Ladies arrived. Zev and Tiffany decided to do it.  Tiffany grew up with ducks, so she felt she had an advantage.

Flight Time had his ducks back over the bridge and was herding them back into the pen. Keri was getting her ducks back over the bridge too. Flight Time finished up and the Globetrotters headed off to the pit stop in third place. Keri finished up right behind him so Law-Talking Guy were in fourth place. Mika was wandering around aimlessly, not directing any ducks anywhere. She said she didn’t know where they were supposed to go, even though, they were all fenced in. There was a pen on one side, a bridge, an open area on the other side (that was still fenced in). She just needed them over the bridge, then back again, and back in the pen. There was nowhere else to go!

Zev said when they arrived, he saw everyone freaking out a bit, but he didn’t think that was necessary. Justin said Zev was the duck whisperer since his ducks were just going where they needed to go calmly. They were hardly quacking. It was crazy. Cheyne said Zev was a duck god with an awe-inspiring power. Meghan finally got to try her second attempt at herding ducks. She seemed to pick up some tips from Zev and got the ducks right over the bridge pretty quickly.

Jessica and Ericka started their second attempts too. Jessica had most of her ducks heading over the bridge. Ericka had her ducks all over the place. Some were across the bridge while others weren’t even near it. Canaan was telling Mika she was leading her ducks the wrong way. She was leading them back towards the pen when they hadn’t gone over the bridge yet. She looked like she was about to cry in frustration when her time expired. She didn’t even get her ducks across the bridge. While she was waiting for a course to open back up again, Canaan let her know that they could get eliminated and she needed to try harder, since she wasn’t even running. Mika gave him the death stare in return. Uh-oh!

Pit Stop

01_riverboat

The Gay Brothers were running around lost. They were struggling with both of them trying to lead each other so they were butting heads a lot. They stopped to ask directions finally. Pinky and the Brain got directions right away so they started heading in the direction. Big Easy was asking Flight Time to not run so fast, but Flight Time responded that he needed to “suck it up.”  Globetrotters saw the Brothers and tried to run past them. Pinky and the Brain saw a marker so found the boat first. As the winners, they each won a kayak. The Globetrotters and Brothers found the marker soon after so they came onto the boat in second and third place. Law-Talking Guy got to the boat soon after in fourth place.

Back at the ducks, Zev calmly led his ducks back into the pen so they headed off to the pit stop in fifth place. Tiffany herded her ducks back into the pen too so Poker Ladies were headed off to the pit stop in sixth place.  Meghan finished using Zev’s dusk whisperer technique to finish in seventh place so Tetherball headed off to the pit stop.  On her second attempt, Mika got it together so Christians were headed to the pit stop in eighth place. Marcy had not been shown much, but she finished in ninth place. Jessica and Ericka were still trying to herd their ducks. Garrett was trying to offer tips, but Jessica kept telling him to shut up. He said he always had problems trying to calm her down since she just shuts him out and doesn’t want to hear it. Brian was telling Ericka what she was doing wrong and she yelled at him saying, “Don’t you dare get disappointed in me.” Jessica ran out of time. Ericka was really close to finishing and she ran out of time.

Garrett tried to tell Jessica something, but she said she didn’t want to hear it. She took some deep, calming breaths and then started again with the ducks. She was pretty calm about it and was nicely talking to them while directing them to the bridge. Brian told Ericka to take a moment and take a deep breath. She waved him off and started again with her ducks.

At the pit stop, AS Friends were checking in with Phil for fifth place. Tetherball were running just ahead of the Poker Ladies, when they checked in with Phil for sixth place. Poker Ladies checked in with Phil for seventh place. Christians were in eighth place. eHarmony was right behind them in ninth place.

It was a battle for last place back at the ducks! Jessica and Ericka got some ducks into the pen after getting them back over the bridge, but still had a few more to get in there before they were done.  Ericka got her last remaining duck in right before Jessica got her last few in. They were both headed to the pit stop around the same time.  They were both yelling at their women to run. Garrett knocked over a guy on a moped while running through the market. Not nice! IR Couple got to Phil first for 10th place. That meant Fiery were in last place.  They were eliminated.

The order teams checked into the pit stop:

  1. Gary & Matt – Pinky & the Brain
  2. Sam & Dan – Gay Brothers
  3. Flight Time & Big Easy – Harlem Globetrotters
  4. Lance & Keri – Law-Talking Guy
  5. Zev & Justin – AS Friends
  6. Meghan & Cheyne – Tetherball
  7. Maria & Tiffany – Poker Ladies
  8. Mika & Canaan – Christian
  9. Marcy & Ron – eHarmony
  10. Brian & Ericka – IR Couple
  11. Garrett & Jessica – Fiery

Questions

  1. What did you think of the new twist that eliminated a team before they even left the states?
  2. What did you think of a non-elimination leg so early in the game?
  3. What do you think about the Poker Ladies trying to keep their profession a secret and the Gay Brothers also keeping their secret from everyone?
  4. Do you have any favorites or teams that drive you crazy already?

Some Photo Sources: CBS

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