Eliminated Tonight: Team Fierce (Caitlin and Brittany)
Let’s start with last week’s rankings. I took some advice from commentators Miz and boffothewondersheep who asked that I include the cast names with the teams for a quicker reference since I use the team names in my recaps so I won’t need to remember names myself. I’m horrible with names so it’s easier to use 11 team names then try to keep straight 22 names especially in the first few episodes when you are getting to know the teams.
Team Twin (Natalie and Nadiya)
Team Longhorn (Trey and Lexi)
Team Chippendale (Jaymes and James)
Team Ego (Abbie and Ryan)
Team Goat (Josh and Brent)
Team Rocker (James and Mark)
Team Fierce (Caitlin and Brittany)
Team Monster Truck (Rob and Kelley)
Team Sub (Gary and Will)
Team Extreme (Amy and Daniel) (Eliminated)
So far this season the teams are actually fairly close. There is no clear front runner amongst the teams which I really enjoy. I expect either Team Sub or Team Monster Truck to get eliminated this week. Team Sub has tended to fall behind on more physical challenges thus far and Team Monster Truck continues to fail to follow proper instructions.
But there is a U-Turn this week which can cause another shocking elimination like Team Fierce last week. I doubt we will be seeing the U-Turn used on Team Sub or Team Monster Truck. Personally I wouldn’t mind seeing Team Ego eliminated but on the other side of the coin the show needs teams for people to root against as the season goes on.
As for my Pre-Season pick for Team Twins I see them surviving to at least top 4-5 teams. I think they are good enough to outlast any of the teams but you never really know with this show because after watching the premiere I thought Team Extreme would go further and now they are gone because of a bad taxi driver.
I’ll be watching the episode after the West Coast feed so by the time I get the recap to MJ she’ll probably get it up in the morning so I look forward to your comments in the morning. Again if you have any ideas or suggestions or just want to talk Amazing Race or Survivor you can hit me up on Twitter @nericmitch
Recap:
I’ll start by saying that the end of the episode was intense and so much was going on that I had to re-watch the last 15 minutes of the episode twice to make sure I didn’t miss anything for the recap. So much went on between the last two teams.
But let’s go back to the start.
Team Twin leave first heading to Antika Jaya Radang Restaurant. They start going the wrong way and are sent back when they make the weird decision to just wait for the first few groups and all travel together to the Restaurant since they have no clue where to go. This is a huge mistake as they really could have just grabbed a taxi and taken off with the few minute head start they had. Instead they get to choose a bad taxi driver who gets them lost and they end up getting past by Team Longhorn, Team Ego, Team Chippendales, then Ego, and eventually Team Rocker.
As the teams get to the restaurant they get the episodes Road block which requires one team member to balance 20 plates of food and deliver them all at once. Team Longhorn starts off and Lexi proceeds to drop plates on her first attempt. This pleased me because watching the people clap as the plates dropped reminded me of being in a University cafeteria. I loved clapping at people who dropped plates or their entire tray. I’d like to say I have grown out of this but I am sure if I saw someone drop a plate in public I’d have the strong urge to clap.
Team Chippendales and Team Ego finish first and are off to Surabaya Gubeng Train Station. They are quickly followed by Team Longhorn and Team Goat. During the train trip teams must keep their eyes open for the next clue. This seems like it may be hard but the clue is not hidden at all as a guy walks up and down the aisle with it. I’d be surprised if any of the teams missed it.
The Twins finally show up at the restaurant as Monster Truck is leaving pit stop. Team Fierce reached the restaurant and start doing the challenge as Nadiya drops some plates. They both finish and are on their way for the train as Rob from Team Monster Truck surprisingly does the task easily.
7:36 trip on train Teams Chippendale, Team Goat, Team Ego, and Team Longhorns all make the 7:36am train and luckily for Team Rocker they make the train just as it is leaving. Team Twin does not have such good luck as they just miss the train and must get the next one.
I love the Ominous music that starts to play as the first group find out that there is three hours between trains. This is why this show wins the Emmy. It also amazed me that the producers used a method of transportation that allowed for such a wide gap of time between departures. Of course this means the next challenge will either have a flight delay so the back teams can check up or they will need to visit a building that is not open until the following morning so teams can even out.
As the first train is traveling the teams easily locate the clue as the guy walks past with them. The clue includes the Detour.
- Lion’s Head: Teams must make their way to a park, dress in costume with mask that weighs 40 lbs. and follow a precision doing a sequence of steps
- Egg’s head: Have head put on fire to fry an egg. Must run to get eggs and then have a local magician place coconut on head and set on fire to fry up eggs. Teams must then eat the eggs to get the next glue.
All the teams except Team Goat decide to do Lion’s Head and Team Goat goes what appears to be the easier route with Egg’s Head. It actually surprised me because from the description Egg’s Head seemed easier. Of course I should have known better because while the other teams finish the Lion’s Head detour Team Goat falls behind doing the Egg. The Lion’s Head Detour did have one memorable moment when Team Chippendale talked about having years of Indonesia Culture in their mouths and it wasn’t pleasant. I’m not sure if that is insensitive but it made me laugh and also want to throw up in my mouth.
The teams also all agreed not to U-Turn each other and just let the back four teams fight it out since they had such a huge lead. It is also a Double U-Turn and the teams using the U-Turn are kept anonymous .
At the Detour Team Ego finish first and teams must now travel to Perliman Pos. 1. They flash through a lot of signs so I’m hoping the place is hard to find and we get some drama. This proves not to be the case as teams find the stop easily. Team Ego is followed by Team Chippendales, Team Longhorns, and Team Rockers. As Team Goat starts having their eggs cooked we cut to the other tribes finally leaving for Bengil, Indonesia on the second train.
Team Ego arrive at Perliman Pos. 1 first and decided not to use the U-Turn. The next clue sends teams to the next pit stop at Sma Negeri 1 Bangil School were the last team to check in may be eliminated.
Team Ego finish first and win the trip for two to Figi Islands. This makes me kind of jealous of them because I have always wanted to go to Figi. They are followed by Team Longhorn in second, Team Chippendales in third, Team Rockers in fourth, and Team Goat in fifth. All the top five kept their promise and did not use the U-Turn.
As the top five are finishing the second train of teams all decide to do Lion’s head. As the teams take off Team Sub quickly fall behind as they cannot figure out how to get to the park. They finally ask for help and are directed to take a drive in the rickshaw beside them.
Team Twins finish the detour quickly followed by Team Monster Truck. Team Twins reach the U-Turn first and decide not to use it. They then quickly travel to the Pit Stop and finish sixth.
Team Monster Truck on the other hand unnecessarily use the U-Turn on Team Sub. I can kind of support this as it is a race and they didn’t know the Pit Stop was next but it just really seemed unnecessary at the time. Clearly Team Sub will be the team going home unless it is a non-elimination round. Team Monster Truck head off and finish seventh.
Team Sub reaches the U-Turn and on the discovery that they have been U-Turned they decide to U-Turn Team Monster truck due to not being sure who is behind them. This decision seemed so stupid since they mentioned that they thought that Team Fierce was behind them and instead decided that Team Monster Truck may also be behind them. Personally I think Team Monster Truck rubs the other teams the wrong way and that partly helped make the decision to choose them to be U-Turned. Luckily for Team Sub this is the season of the bad drivers and Team Sub has a driver who has no clue where to go. Somehow they end up back at the park as Team Sub starts cooking the eggs on their heads and they start looking for eggs before taking off and finally finding the last clue before Team Sub get back there.
So clearly Team Sub is out of luck and start taking a leisurely drive toward the pit stop. This character trait pisses me off as it is the second leg in a row that they assumed they lost and slowed down rather than go full force. Little did they know that Team Fierce’s driver had no clue what he was doing and they were quietly closing in and passing them. Then as they asked the driver to speed up to keep up with Team Fierce their driver stayed at the slower pace.
This driver must have known the story of the Tortoise and the Hare because he drove nice and slow and watched as Team Fierce’s driver took another wrong turn and drove them in the wrong direction. By the time Team Fierce realized the other team went the over way it was too late. Team Sub finished eighth. Team Fierce arrive moments later and are told that they have been eliminated. They looked pissed as Phil gave them the news.
I do understand that they should be upset with the driver but they also should have either had the driver just follow Team Sub to the school since they knew he was horrible at finding the stops or they should have ditched that driver and grabbed another rickshaw. Had they simply followed Team Sub to the school I am sure they would have outrun them and still been in the race. Instead another promising team was eliminated due to a poor driver although this one was also some bad decision making on their parts. Until next week you can send me any questions or comments on Twitter or just comment below.
