Last week’s episode ended with Team Kickass being told that the race would be continuing right away with no breaks. It left the team wondering if they could continue right away with David being on crutches and sore with his torn Achilles. None of the other teams had reached the Pit Stop although some teams were on there way from finishing the detour.
Since the other teams did not finish the leg by the end of the episode these rankings may not be exact but they are as close as I could figure out:
- David O’Leary and Connor O’Leary (Team Kick Ass)
- Jessica Hoel and John Erck (Team Young Love)
- Pamela Chien and Winnie Sung (The Besties)
- Caroline Cutbirth and Jennifer Kuhle (The Stealing Angels)
- Chuck McCall and Wynona McCall (The Old Timers)
- Joey Graceffa and Meghan Camarena (Team YouTube)
- Mona Egender and Beth Bandimere (The Derby Moms)
- Max Bichler and Katie Bichler (The Newlyweds)
- Bates Battaglia and Anthony Battaglia (Team Hockey)
There hasn’t really been a team to be a straight forward front runner this season as the lead has changed based on what challenges are there during each episode. It’s still anyones game but if the Newlyweds outlast Team Hockey I’ll be pissed.
Come back later for my recap and feel free to discuss the show below.
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We start off were last week’s episode left off. Team Kickass is informed that the race is still going and are given the next clue. Teams are now flying to Bali, Indonesia where they will make their way to the Monkey Forest and get their next clue from a monkey.
Team Kickass are followed by Young Love and somehow Team Hockey arrives in third followed by the Besties in fourth, YouTube in 5th, Stealing Angels in 6th, Derby Moms in 7th, the Newlyweds in 8th and the Old Timers are in last but have not yet reached the pit stop.
Not sure what happened because I was under the impression that Team Hockey arrived at the detour last but somehow made up a lot of ground to reach the pit stop third while the Old Timers fell far behind.
The Newlyweds showing some smarts by not only asking for directions but borrowing a phone to reserve tickets before driving to the airport. Chuck is disappointed that they are in last but glad to be racing.
Team Kickass and the Besties get on the 8:30 flight. Team Hockey and Derby Moms go straight to the airport but are turned back to the travel agent. There ends up being three sets of teams.
Flight one connects through Perth and scheduled to land at 8:30am. This flight includes the Newlyweds, Team Kickass, Stealing Angels and the Besties.
Flight two connects through Kuala Lumpur and scheduled to land at 12:05pm. This flight includes Team Hockey, the Old Timers, and the Derby Moms.
Flight three connects through Singapore and is scheduled to land at 12:05pm as well. This flight includes Young Love, and Team YouTube. In Singapore both teams find a different flight that is scheduled to land at 10:35pm. It is also a risk to switch flights so we will see if it pays off.
The first flight lands on time and the teams are off to the Monkey Forest. Apparently they have to give a coconut to a monkey and follow it to their clue. We are treated to Stealing Angels singing to their cabbie and they actually sound really good. I had meant to listen to some of their music before the season started and I just haven’t gotten around to it. Thanks to @windmillsmusic country is slowly growing on me so I’ll check it out soon.
The front four teams are all running toward the monkeys together. David is doing a good job of keeping up with the teams. They must give the coconuts to the monkeys who are crazy cute. Caroline says she has always wanted a monkey since she has had all types of pets including a flying squirrel. Sadly Jennifer lets us know that the flying squirrel died of loneliness from living in Caroline’s bra. These two are really growing on me.
It’s a slow process but eventually Team Kickass is able to get the clue for the detour.
- Sandy Bottom: Teams must collect sand from a river bottom and transport it 200 yards uphill to the brick maker. Once they fill a container to a designated line they will get their next clue.
- Fruity Top: Teams must create an elaborate spiritual offering and carry it to a temple where it will be blessed. Once they place it at the temple they will be given their next clue.
All four teams choose Fruity Top. It seems like the easier challenge but the detour is always misleading.
Young Love and Team YouTube arrive in Bali on time for their flight and are off to the Monkey Forest. At the detour the teams are working on their offerings. The final flight is finally arriving at the airport and are off to see the monkeys. Team Hockey is the first team to have cabbie issues this season as their driver gets lost while going to the Monkey Forest and must stop for directions.
Team YouTube seem like really nice people but their voices drive me crazy but both them and Young Love are off to do Fruity Top.
With the first set of teams the Besties finish first followed by Team Kickass. The Besties are off to temple. It was funny seeing the teams struggling to carry the offering while the local easily carries it on their head.
The Besties finish the detour first and are now off to the Uluwatu Surf beach to search for the next clue. They are followed by Team Kickass. Meanwhile Young Love and Team YouTube are just about to start the detour as the Newlyweds and Stealing Angels are off to the temple. Unfortunately Young Love somehow end up at the young place and see some random guy so they start copying what he is doing as he give them strange looks. It is things like this that make me love this show. After sorting out the confusion they realize that they are at the wrong place and are sent in the right direction to start the detour at the same time as Team YouTube.
Back at the Monkey Forest Team Hockey has finally arrived and is waiting for the monkey to give them the clue. It seems that Derby Moms choose to do Sandy Bottoms. John says this task plays to his strength of being Anal Retentive. The Old Timers show up at Fruity Top as the others are working,
Back at the forest Team Hockey finally get their clue. They initially choose Sandy Bottoms but when their driver says he only knows how to get to Fruity Top they switch.
At the beach it is time for the roadblock:
- Find A Surfboard: They must find a surf shop and pick a board that has an image they have seen before. The image is of the priest who blessed them in Bora Bora. Once they pick a surf board they must find the pit stop and check in. If they have the wrong surf board they must run back to get the right one. The last team to arrive may be eliminated.
The Besties are there first and Winnie is off. For Team Kickass Conner does it. At some point they will run into issues since David has to do at least half the roadblocks if the rules are the same.
Winnie is able to find the correct board and is off. Conner is looking for the boards when the Newlyweds and Stealing Angels arrive. Max and Caroline choose to do the challenge.
At the Sandy Bottoms challenge the Derby Moms deliver their first loads and must go for more. Over at Fruity Tops Young Love are told their first attempt is not good enough. Team Hockey arrives at the challenge and are happy that other teams are still there.
Back at the beach Winnie is having a hard time to find Phil. She returns to the Surf Shop and Conner sneaks a peek at her surf board to see her picture rather than working with her and allowing the Besties to finish first. For his part Max quickly picks the right board.
Team Kickass arrive first and do have the right board. For winning the leg they each win $5000. They are followed by The Besties in second and the Newlyweds in third. Caroline is having a harder time finding the right board.
Back at the Fruity Top challenge Team YouTube finish and are off while Young Love is having a lovers quarrel on how to create the blessing. They choose to switch to the other challenge while the Old Timers are finishing.
Team YouTube are off to the beach where Caroline chooses the wrong board. The Derby Moms finish the Sandy Bottoms and are also off to the beach where Caroline is informed she had the wrong board. She gets back and is told that the second board is also wrong.
Team YouTube end up at the wrong beach while Derby Moms is lamenting how tired they are on this leg and Caroline is frustrated with trying to choose the right board. Old Timers pass Team YouTube as they are running to the correct beach. Chuck and Joey both choose to do the roadblock.
Caroline chooses a random surf board but she is lucky as she chose right and Stealing Angels finish in fourth. Young Love arrives at Sandy Bottoms and since it looks easy they choose to do the challenge rather than use the express pass. Over at Fruity Top Team Hockey finish the detour and are off to the beach. It would be awesome if they are eliminated with an Express Pass in their pocket.
Chuck chooses the wrong board and is off to the pit stop. Anthony chooses to do the road block. He picks the right one but he is unsure and puts it back. Team YouTube finishes fourth and the Derby Moms picked the wrong one but Team YouTube showed them the right one when they were heading back since they have the alliance.
Young Love finish the detour and are off to the beach. Antony runs past the arrow cut off twice and even when two other teams run past him he still misses it. He finally sees Phil and turns back. The Derby Moms arrive and finish fifth followed by the Old Timers who choose wrong and are sent back. The Derby Moms are not sharing any information as Chuck and Wynona are off again.
Team Hockey arrives in seventh as both John and Chuck are searching boards. Chuck chooses a board but they don’t show which one. Chuck made the right choose and are team number eight. As it is getting dark John arrives without a surf board and starts mumbling about not seeing a board he recognized and wanting to play strategic by looking at something since he thinks there is a team behind them When Jessica informs him that all the other teams checked in he says that is disappointing but runs off to find the surf board.
John arrives with the wrong surf board and wants to look at the other boards but Phil denies him even though they are in last. If this is a non-elimination round I will be pissed.
They finally arrive with the right surf board but are eliminated from the race. Phil informs them that they are the first team to be eliminated while holding an express pass. John plays it off with laughs and saying no regrets but Jessica looks pissed and I’m not sure this relationship will last much longer.
I don’t think I’ll ever understand why they wouldn’t use the express pass. It seems like John had too much pride to use it this early but when your backs are against the wall like Young Love you have to play that express pass or get eliminated. It may go down as the biggest blunder in Amazing Race history.
The season is starting to get exciting. This episode was action packed with lots of excitement as the teams were separated. I am looking forward to how the show handles Team Kickass. Usually teams are not informed of who has to do the Roadblock until close to the end of the season because teams are smart enough to split them up along the way but Conner has been building up a huge lead in Roadblocks and since roadblocks are usually physical challenges he will need to keep doing them until the show tells them that David has to do some.
Next week we get the Double U-Turn and the other teams seem to be ganging up on Team YouTube and the Derby Moms. It seems the other teams may have discovered their secret alliance. The excitement continues.
