Amazing Race: Backpack Drama!

kentuckybackpackdrama

The teams stayed in China where they had to assemble a kid’s car and play hacky sack with a feather ball. Among all of this there was both backpack and Express Pass drama! Continue on to read what Amy, Steve and I thought about the second Amazing Race All-Star episode, “Baby Bear’s Soup.”

Before the episode began, we made our picks for who we thought would be eliminated. I thought it would be the Country Singers,  but hoping it would be YouTube. Amy was picking Kentucky, but also hoping it was YouTube. Steve went with Express Pass Freakout.

They started the race at an award-winning opera house, which caused Amy to ask, “There are Opera House Awards?” The teams had to go to the Chen Clan Academy and get a stamp of Chinese characters on their head. They had to figure out what it said to find their next clue. The Cowboys left in first place, but when they were asking a local how far the academy was located, they misunderstood 50-minute walk for a 15-minute walk. Other teams took the subway or a taxi over there while the Cowboys jogged for quite a while before they realized they should take a taxi. All teams had moved onto the next task by the time the Cowboys arrived to the academy. They showed up at the same time the last-place team, Country Singers arrived. They went from first to last before the race even began!

While most teams just jumped into taxi cabs and asked their drivers to take them to whatever was stamped on their head, it threw Brendan and Rachel for a loop. They said they couldn’t just point to what was on their head in a foreign land and expect the taxi driver to know where to go. She does realize they speak the same language that is on their head, right?

headstamp

The next task took place inside a mall that had some crazy kid land. It was a road block where one team member had to put together a motorized kiddie car. There were tons of parts, some pictures of how to assemble it, but all the instructions were in Chinese. Amy said, “It’s like a Christmas Eve nightmare!” There were kids running around everywhere. Amy asked, “What if a kid runs up and steals a piece?” I said, “That would be awesome.”

Even though Brendan & Rachel left the head stamp master first, they showed up fourth at the road block. Achilles and Margie & Luke were the first two teams that arrived at the road block. Dave decided to do it since he had put tons of kid toy’s together over the years. Margie did it because she had put together a propeller and a dinosaur in previous seasons of Amazing Race. Luke knew she could build anything. YouTube was the 7th team to arrive after Afghanimals, Brendan & Rachel, Kentucky and Globetrotters. We were hoping that Joey would do it because he would have started crying like he did the last time he was on the race and couldn’t figure something out. Unfortunately, Meghan decided to do it and she’s calmer.  Flight Time had some issues with one little girl that was messing with him the entire time he was trying to build the truck. She would pick up his pieces, tell him he was sweating and just get in his way. Big Easy helped by laughing at him.

globetrotterkidtruck

When all the teams were there working on the road block, they wondered where the Country Singers and Cowboys were. The Cowboys showed up at the academy last, but since the Country Singers were trying to flirt with the Cowboys instead of finding a cab, they ended up arriving at the road block in last place.  No one seemed too concerned that the Cowboys showed up last since they usually flew through challenges once they showed up. What the teams failed to realize is that they should have been worried about Kentucky. Even though they were the fifth team to arrive, Mark put his truck together faster than any other team. They were always so freaky good at things! Mallory was super shocked. She must not have paid attention to previous seasons with Mark and Bopper.

kentuckytruck

The teams had to get a packing kit and take that and the truck to a kid’s center in a taxi. Teams had some fun trying to figure out how to transport the taxi to the next location. Most used the rope they were given to tie it to the taxi trunk. Margie & Luke tied it to the roof. Only a few teams were left by the time the Country Singers finally arrived. When they read the clue about who was a mechanic, Jennifer pointed to Caroline and said, “You are!” Caroline responded that she hated putting stuff together, but Jennifer convinced her that she did love it. She told her she said it once and Caroline said, “Are you sure I said that?” I’m thinking, “Why do you need to ask someone else what you think?”

As soon as Caroline started doing the task, she started complaining saying it was the worst thing in the world, she didn’t know how to assemble things and generally just whining. She kept getting up to complain right to  Jennifer. I was wondering what she expected her to do since she couldn’t switch who was doing the task.  She was trying to ask other teams how to do things, probably wishing the hockey guys were there to just do tasks for her.

assemblingnightmare

Jennifer started asking the Cowboys for the Express Pass.  The Cowboys were still trying not to be in last place, so we didn’t see how they would give the Country Singers the Express Pass when the Cowboys could still be eliminated. On the other hand, the Country Singers did make a good point that they didn’t want to give it to a good team. They might as well waste it on the Country Singers that were usually in last place. The other teams that were still at the road block heard what Jennifer was trying to do and were not pleased. Even though the Cowboys came in after almost all other teams and finished building the truck before the Globetrotters, YouTube and Express Pass Freakout that had been there for a while already. The other teams were all busy being shocked at how the Cowboys finished so quickly that they continued to be shocked when they saw them give the Express Pass to the Country Singers. That meant the Country Singers were able to go right to the detour and skip the road block. I think it would make sense to use an Express Pass when the next step is the Pit Stop, but that’s just me.

The last two teams left building the trucks were YouTube and Express Pass Freakout. Meghan figured out how to get her truck running before John got his truck assembled. She could have left, but decided to help him since the two teams were friends  the season they were both on the race together. After helping him, YouTube took off in a cab and Express Pass Freakout had trouble finding a cab so they were in last place.

In the process of carrying the truck and  Mark left his backpack in the middle of the road. They were halfway to the next stop when Mallory asked him where his backpack was and he thought she was carrying it since she had carried it out of the last task while he carried the truck. It had been left in the middle of the street. Mallory didn’t want to waste time by going back to get it when Mark said he had borrowed a friend’s backpack so he couldn’t just leave it behind. She had their passports with her and said she would pay for new clothes and a backpack for him after the race was done, but he wanted to go back. She said she wouldn’t have gone back for it.

I think if she was racing with her dad, he could have convinced her to keep racing. I think if the roles were reversed and Mark had left her backpack there, she would have gone back for it. Steve said he would have kept racing and try to get it after checking into the pit stop. I was wondering if they were able to go look for it after checking into the pit stop or if they had to stay there. I don’t know the rules! Both Amy and I did think that Mallory was being very rude about it though. She was in charge of his backpack, but she was acting like it was all his fault that he didn’t have it. She was taking no responsibility and just trying to guilt him into continuing to race.  This is where it was no fun because they had no previous relationship like all the other teams.

Meanwhile, other teams had moved onto the detour. Teams had the choice to play feather ball or getting cupping done to them. Feather ball was like hacky sack where they would be on a team and had to kick the feather ball 10 times without it hitting the ground. Cupping was where a heated cup was placed on the back to draw toxins out. I’ve had cupping done. I think it takes about 10-15 minutes. No one chose it. I am guessing they thought it would take too long, but after watching so many teams struggle with the feather ball, I think they would have gone through the cupping faster. I also said it takes no effort. You just lie there. Amy said it sounded scary.

By the time Kentucky arrived back at the detour, all teams were there except YouTube and Express Pass Freakout. Mallory was not aware of this and was continuing to give Mark shit for going back to get the backpack. She needed to calm down since she already forgot how freakishly good he is at things, but the way she was wound up, you know they weren’t going to be able to work together on the detour.

featherball

As for the rest of the teams, it wasn’t too exciting to watch. No one got it at first, but then they finally did. The Country Singers were surprisingly good at it and finished in second place. All other teams took a while before they got it. The Cowboys caught on fairly quickly and Cord even went sliding after one in order to keep it in the air. It worked. Kentucky were still going when all other teams left and YouTube and Express Pass Freakout showed up. Mallory started to second guess and wanted to switch. Mark didn’t want to so they stayed.

Besides those three teams, all the other teams showed up at the general area of the pit stop around the same time. It ended up being a race between Brendan & Rachel and Margie & Luke. Brendan & Rachel came in first place by running faster. The pit stop was at some island name that I didn’t catch, but was filled with tons of creepy statues. Since all the teams really did arrive around the same time, that meant that soon the mat was filled with the Country Singers, Achilles, Globetrotters, Cowboys and Afghanimals. Since they were all there, they all got to hear that Brendan & Rachel won $2,500 each.

creepystatues

When the Country Singers got there, they said that they had to get the Express Pass because building a car is a guy thing. Ugh. Meghan made a comment to the camera during the leg that she was insulted that the blondes needed guys to do things for them and they couldn’t do it for themselves. They gave girls a bad name. I agree. That’s why I don’t like the Country Singers.

Back at the feather ball, YouTube and Express Pass Freakout finished around the same time and were off to the pit stop. Kentucky was super close to getting it, but still took a bit longer to get it. When they got to the mat, all the other teams were there so it was so very close, but they did come in last place and were eliminated. Half the other teams were crying. Amy said, “Holy crap, everyone’s going to cry. This is the most depressing leg ever.”

What did you think about the whole backpack situation? Did you side with Mallory or Mark? What did you think about the Express Pass being given to the Country Singers? Do you think the Cowboys should have kept it and used it to their advantage or was it smart to get rid of it now to a weak team so they would be the only team left with an Express Pass to use?

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