Amazing Race: Play & Destroy

Posted On October 8, 2009

Amazing Race
It’s Like Being Dropped on Planet Mars

While the teams were resting at the pit stop, the river boat took up anchor and went to another location away from Cai Be. The teams left the pit stop in the following order:

1. Gary & Matt – Pinky & the Brain – 5:45 am
2. Sam & Dan – Gay Brothers – 5:55 am
3. Flight Time & Big Easy – Harlem Globetrotters – 5:56 am
4. Lance & Keri – Law-Talking Guy – 5:57 am
5. Zev & Justin – AS Friends – 6:04 am
6. Meghan & Cheyne – Tetherball – 6:10 am
7. Maria & Tiffany – Poker Ladies – 6:11 am
8. Mika & Canaan – Christians – 6:14 am
9. Marcy & Ron – eHarmony – 6:15 am
10. Brian & Ericka – IR Couple – 6:29 am

Clue: Teams had to travel by taxi to Ho Chi Minh City. Once there, they had to search for the Golden Dragon Water Puppet Theater where their next clue had to be grabbed from the mouth of a water dragon.

The first three teams knew they needed to find taxis right away. Pinky & the Brain and Globetrotters got in a couple but Gay Brothers couldn’t find one. When Law-Talking Guy team left, Lance let Keri lead the way. He said they needed to go to Ho Chi Minh City, but she said they were already in Ho Chi Minh City and she was looking for the theater. Oh dear.  AS Friends asked some locals if they knew where the theater was located, so maybe they thought they were in Ho Chi Minh City too? The local told them it was two hours away so he asked if they could call a taxi. Tetherball and Poker Ladies were right there too. Those three teams left while the Gay Brothers were still looking for a taxi somewhere and Law-Talking Guy was looking for the theater. The Gay Brothers finally found a taxi after eHarmony left the pit stop, making them head to Ho Chi Minh City in sixth place. Law-Talking Guy finally asked a local for help and they let them know the city was two hours away. They found a taxi. Soon after eHarmony and the Christians found one too. IR Couple found a taxi right away when they left.

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

When Pinky and the Brain hit the city, they also hit traffic. The Harlem Globetrotters found the theater right away.  Flight Time was leaning into the water, trying to get the clue, but the water dragons would spit water at him and spin around right when he was in reach. Big Easy said he would do it, but wasn’t having much luck either.  Big Easy finally got it.

Clue: The clue was a bullet with a postage stamp inside. There were no words, but they were supposed to find the building that was pictured on the postage stamp, which was the Ho Chi Minh City Main Post Office.

The Globetrotters ran out of the theater to ask a local if they knew the building. He told them it was a post office, but when they asked if he knew where it was located, he said, “Ask taxi!” Pinky and the Brain arrived at the theater next and got the clue.  They ran outside and asked the same guy. I wonder if that’ll be his job all day long. They asked him how far away it was and he said about one kilometer. Matt said they should run it since they didn’t have that much money left. AS Friends arrived at the theater and saw Pinky & the Brain outside talking to Mr. Answers.  They quickly got the clue and were on their way.

Pinky & the Brain were running somewhere, but not really sure where the building was located. The Harlem Globetrotters arrived at the post office and got their next clue, which was a detour.

Concrete Jungle

Detour: Teams had to choose between a busy playground or a busy city street. In Child’s Play, teams had to go to a local park and choose a concrete animal from a kiosk. Then they had to transport the animal statue along the bumpy park while also picking up five balloons from vendors.  When they delivered the statue and balloons to the children’s playground, they would get their next clue. In Word Play, teams head to a nearby hotel and go up to the observation deck. Then scanning the traffic below, they would have to identify six Vietnamese letters moving in the congested traffic. Once they checked with the security guard that they had the correct six letters, they needed to leave the hotel and get help from the locals to unscramble the letters to spell Doc Lap, the well-known Vietnamese word for “independence.”

The globetrotters picked Child’s Play and took off. Pinky and the Brain ran by their old taxi so they just got in since it was apparently farther away than one kilometer. At the park, the Globetrotters chose a bighorn sheep since it was low to the ground and seemed fairly easy to maneuver. They got it up on a rolling cart-type device and started out. They were arguing since Big Easy told Flight Time to hold on to the top of it to make sure it stayed on the cart. Flight Time said he needed to shut up and pull it since it was still a race. Big Easy said they didn’t want it to fall over, break into pieces, and take forever to pick it all up. Then, they arrived at the first balloon lady. They had to cross a crazy, busy street to get their second balloon, but did it without getting hit.

Back at the water puppet theater, Tetherball had arrived. While they were leaving with their postage stamp clue, Poker Ladies, Gay Brothers, eHarmony and Law-Talking Guy were arriving.  One person from each team was trying to get the clue. Tiffany thought if she flirted with the puppet, it would work. I am clueless about how the Poker Ladies think they are so attractive to others, but she figured out it didn’t work with the puppet. The Gay Brothers got the clue first out of the group. Then Poker Ladies, eHarmony and Law-Talking Guy got the clue. The other teams figured out the postage stamp and took off in their taxis. Law-Talking Guy were confused that they didn’t have a clue, even though they were holding it. How is he a lawyer?  They went back inside, handing the bullet to very confused workers who handed it back to him. They kept asking where the clue was located.  Keri finally told Lance to open up the bullet. He said that it was nothing but a stamp. She said that maybe they had to find that. Oh wow. While brilliant team was leaving, the Christians arrived. Mika was just dancing in front of the puppets, but not trying to grab any clue. Canaan took over and also tried to dance without trying to grab anything. IR Couple were stuck in rush hour traffic.

Back at the park, the Globetrotters had three balloons. While they were cruising through the park, one lady was doing some kind of exercises, but was swirling her hips around as if she had an invisible hula hoop. One of the guys said, “Work it, girl, work it!” I think she might have understood since she looked their way after they passed.

AS Friends, Pinky & the Brain and Tetherball arrived at the post office. They all chose Child’s Play. Pinky & the Brain almost stole Tetherball’s cab, but when they heard they had paid the driver to wait, then got their own. eHarmony showed up and picked Word Play. AS Friends’ cab driver didn’t know where the park was located, but a local did. He got in the cab with them to tell the driver. Back at the park, the Globetrotters were getting their fourth balloon. Easy was telling Flight that he was pushing it too fast and he was about the lose the balloons. Flight slowed down as they got closer to their final balloon pick up. The Gay Brothers and Poker Ladies arrived at the post office. They both picked Child’s Play. The Christians finally figured out they had to grab the clue from the water dragon’s mouth instead of dancing. They ran out of the theater and up the road, passing the last place team, IR Couple who did get the clue quickly once they got inside the theater.

The Globetrotters got their last balloon and were pushing their animal into the stall at the park so they could get the clue from the lady. Tetherball were arriving at the park around that time to start their detour.  They also went with a short sheep that was easier to move and headed for their first balloon. The Globetrotters finished up and got the next clue.

Clue: Team had to find Dien Co 008 at a very busy intersection to find their next clue.

Law-Talking Guy team never fail to disappoint! They arrived at the post office and ran right by the clue box to the inside of the building. While they were looking around for it, the Christians and IR Couple arrived to get it. They both picked Child’s Play. Law-Talking Guy finally figured out the clue box was outside when Lance saw the other teams. They also picked Child’s Play. eHarmony arrived at the hotel and headed up to the observation deck. Tetherball were getting their fourth balloons at the park. eHarmony were on the observation deck and Ron found a letter right away. They found all six letters quickly, but the last one they saw wasn’t correct. They wrote it down wrong, but they didn’t know which one was wrong when they showed it to the guard. They went back to look some more.

The AS Friends were arriving at the park as the same time as Pinky & the Brain. They didn’t arrive right next to the animals though since Poker Ladies and Gay Brothers got to them first. The Poker Ladies got a wolf and the Gay Brothers had a leopard. They were taking off when the other two teams arrived. Pinky & the Brain got a zebra and AS Friends got a big, unwieldy giraffe. I’m not sure why they picked such a big one to move. Zev started to yell at Justin right away saying he was going too fast and the giraffe was falling off the dolly. They stopped to get it situated. The Poker Ladies and Gay Brothers grabbed their first balloons. Maria and Dan ran up to get the balloons, leaving their team members to try to drag the animals on their own. The Poker Ladies dolly’s wheel broke. Dan went to go back to help, but Tiffany told him to just go on. She didn’t want him to lose helping them. That was nice of them! The Gay Brothers took off them while the Poker Ladies went back to get another dolly. Pinky & the Brain had their first balloon too, but it wasn’t red like everyone else’s. It was blue. I think they had to get them in order. I’m not sure what would happen with that.

While still fiddling with getting the giraffe stable, Zev lost control of it and it fell to the ground with part of its ear coming off. Justin wished they had picked a better animal, but went with the closest choice to them when they ran into the area to get their animal. Zev remembered reading in the clue that if part of the statue broke, they would have to pick up all their pieces in order to get their balloons so he made sure it was all on the dolly before they started out again with it. The Law-Talking Guy and IR Couple arrived at the park, while AS Friends picked up their second balloon. IR Couple got the zebra, while Law-Talking Guy was picking the hyena. The Christians arrived at the park.  Tetherball were just finishing up the detour and heading to the busy intersection in second place.

Back at the hotel, eHarmony finally got the last letter correct, so they now had to take their letters and go ask a local to unscramble it for them. While they headed down in the elevator, Pinky & the Brain were finishing up the task in third place. Tiffany was shown pushing the animal on her own while Maria’s job was to hold balloons and not help. Tiffany was asking if she could slow down, but Maria said no.  Other teams had one person push from behind, while the other person pulled from the front with a rope while holding the balloons. That wasn’t Maria though! It was too hard for Lance to hold onto balloons since Law-Talking Guy lost his balloon. He told Keri to go back to get another one while they left their animal in the middle of the street blocking traffic. Nice! Keri got the balloon and they finally quit holding up traffic. eHarmony were looking around at stores to get an idea of how to unscramble the letters. Gay Brothers finished up in fourth place.

Over at the one-woman show, Tiffany was dying while she alternated pushing and pulling her animal with Maria just running around with balloons. Tiffany made a comment later that every other team had a man to lean on, but they didn’t. Uh, it would have been nice if you had a teammate to lean on, but you didn’t! Does she not notice Maria not doing anything besides telling her, “Come on, fast, Tiffany!” Christians finally got the animals and picked a baby elephant.  Poker Ladies were getting into the park area after getting all their balloons and IR Couple had caught up to AS Friends. I’m not sure what the Poker Ladies were doing, but they hadn’t put their animal in a stall yet. AS Friends and IR Couple got their last balloons. IR Couple breezed past the other two teams to finish and get their clue in fifth place. Poker Ladies finally finished and headed out in sixth place. AS Friends finally found the stall but took them a bit to find the balloon lady to get their clue. They headed out in seventh place. Law-Talking Guy had shown up at the park, but couldn’t find anything. Keri had wandered quite far away with the balloons when Lance finally found the lady. He started to scream at her to get back over to where he was located while almost knocking things over. They finally got the animal in the stall and got the clue for eighth place.  Christians finished up right behind them in ninth place.

eHarmony were looking around at signs, hoping one of them would make a word out of the letters they had written down. I don’t know if the clue told them to ask a local. If it didn’t, it didn’t occur to them to do it.

No Disassemble

The Harlem Globetrotters arrived at the busy intersection to find a road block as their next clue.

Road Block: It asked who was ready for a complete breakdown. One team member had to disassemble two VCRs with provided tools (hammer, pliers, electric screwdriver) and put their parts into various, separated piles. Once they did it correctly, they would get their next clue.

Big Easy decided to do it. Flight Time started to yell right away to watch the guy doing a demonstration. Tetherball arrived next. Cheyne decided to do it. Cheyne asked Meghan if he looked sexy in his protective eye wear. Pinky & the Brain arrived and Matt decided to do it. Matt was cruising along. He told the camera later that he took apart VCRs when he was younger out of curiosity. Back at the detour, eHarmony tried one combination of letters at random, but it wasn’t correct so they had to figure it out again. At the road block, Easy had finished one VCR and threw it in its piles. Gary told Matt that he was being too nice with the VCR. Flight told Easy to beat it up while he started on the second one. Cheyne and Matt both started on the second VCR around the same time. eHarmony finally asked for some local help and they got it figured out right away for them.  At the road block, Big Easy finished up his VCR first so Harlem Globetrotters were headed to the pit stop in first place.

Clue: Teams had to make their way across town to Reunification Palace, which was the next pit stop.

They were running around asking if people knew where it was located. IR Couple and Gay Brothers arrived at the road block.  Brian and Sam  decided to do it. Matt was fast, but still not faster than Cheyne since Cheyne finished in second place. Globetrotters still hadn’t gotten very far since they hadn’t found anyone that knew where the palace was located. Matt finished up soon afterward. Meghan and Cheyne found a cab right away. The Globetrotters decided to quit asking around and just get into a cab and follow them. They knew they could win in a foot race. Pinky & the Brain got into a cab around the same time while Matt said he had about seven cuts in his finger. eHarmony finally made it back to the hotel to see they had the correct word. They got their clue for the road block.

To continue on being the rudest person in the world, Maria got out at the road block and slammed the cab door in Tiffany’s face. Tiffany decided to do it. Tiffany was trying to figure out how to get the electric screwdriver to work when Sam finished up. Tiffany said, “These power tools are bad ass!” Brian finished up soon after Sam. IR Couple and Gay Brothers found cabs and were on their way.

Pit Stop

Tetherball and Harlem Globetrotters arrived at the palace gates at the same time. Cheyne actually made it there faster than the Globetrotters, but Meghan couldn’t keep up so both of the Globetrotters arrived in first place. As the winners, they won a trip to Aruba. Tetherball checked in second place.

Back at the road block, AS Friends arrived. Justin chose to do it. Justin was also figuring out the power tools, when Tiffany finished up her first VCR. Christians arrived and Canaan decided to do it. Law-Talking Guy got let out near an intersection by their taxi driver who pointed them in the direction to go. They wandered into some office building that wasn’t where the road block was located. The people there told them to keep going down the street.

At the pit stop, Pinky & the Brain were checking in with Phil in third place. Lance was yelling at Keri because he was frustrated that they couldn’t find the place. She said she was doing the best she could and he had to quit yelling if he wanted a teammate. He just kept yelling and saying he was done with her. They found another cab and got back in it. He finally apologized to her in the cab. IR Couple checked in with Phil at the pit stop in fourth place.  eHarmony were still headed to the road block. Law-Talking Guy finally arrived at the road block and Lance decided to do it. Tiffany finished and headed to the pit stop. Gay Brothers checked in with Phil in fifth place.

Lance was crazy with the VCRs. He decided that instead of removing screws, he would just rip it apart, which seemed to work. He got through one VCR really fast while Justin and Canaan were just getting started on their second VCR. eHarmony got let off at some intersection, but it was not the busy one. They went running down some street to see if they could find it. Canaan finished so the Christians headed to the pit stop. Lance finished up right after. Justin asked if they were last and Zev said they were. He had no idea eHarmony was out there somewhere. Justin finally finished and they were on their way. They were both looking for taxis when eHarmony found the road block. They realized they were in last place. Ron decided to do it. It took a while for AS Friends and Law-Talking Guy to find taxis, but they finally did. Ron looked almost done with his first VCR when they found taxis.

At the pit stop, Poker Ladies were in sixth place. Ron was working on his second VCR when the Christians were checking in. Ron finished so eHarmony headed to pit stop. The last three teams were all in taxis thinking they were probably the last team to arrive at the pit stop. Law-Talking Guy and AS Friends were dropped off at the palace, but on different sides so they were both running. They couldn’t find where Phil was located right away though so they were running around. eHarmony were getting dropped off outside the gates. Lance and Justin saw Phil so they both yelled to their teammates and ran to Phil. AS Friends got there just before Law-Talking Guy. They were relieved when they learned they were both in the race. A short while later, eHarmony showed up at the pit stop in last place.  They were eliminated.

Order the teams came in at the pit stop:

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

Questions

1. Do you think that Tiffany is oblivious to Maria’s selfish side or does she just want to explain away the bad behavior so they get along?
2. Watching the Elimination Station, Garrett said that he thought Tetherball were wound too tight and would crash soon. I thought they were calm. Do you think they are wound up too much or just competitive?
3. Do you believe that Lance is actually a lawyer? How did he pass the bar exam?

Some Photo Sources: CBS