Welcome to Thanksgiving Sunday in Canada. I hope all my fellow Canadians had a great feast today but tonight is another amazingf episode of The Amazing Race.
I will be back later after I eat way to much food to recap the episode and as always feel free to discuss the episode below.
Last Week’s Results:
- Chester Pitts II and Ephraim Salaam (The NFLers)
- Leo Temory and Jamal Zadran (The Cousins)
- Brandon Squyres and Adam Switzer (Team Beard)
- Nicole and Travis Jasper (Team ER)
- Jason Case and Amy Diaz (Team Plow)
- Tim Wiyninger and Danny Merkey (Team BFF)
- Ally Mello and Ashley Covert (Team Ice Girls)
- Tim Sweeney and Marie “Reebs” Mazzocchi (Team Exes)
- Nicky Getz and Kim DeJesus (Team Baseball Wives)
Eliminated: Rowan Joseph and Shane Partlow (Team Bingo)
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The NFLers won the last leg and will be departing first. They must fly to Lisbon, Portugal and then make their ways to Martim Moniz Square an ride a tram to the top of a hill for their next clue.
The NFLers head to the travel to a travel agent while The Cousins are happy to head to Portugal to speak the language. Team Beard and Team ER head out first.
The NFLers get tickets first at an agent but The Cousins book tickets right at the airport rather than dealing with the travel agents and they get a ticket that goes via London and arrives at 11am.
Over at the travel agent and Team ER books tickets for the flight that arrives at 7 am that The NFLers thought they had. The NFLers find out they missed out on the flight because the agent made a mistake and tried to book for the wrong day which allowed Team ER to jump ahead. The thing that has me shocked is that the producers actually have a flight that only fits one team. I know you can’t always plan these things but you don’t see it often.
The NFLers end up grabbing a flight that arrives via Sao Paolo at 12pm. Team Beard gets the same flight. The rest of the teams all get started as they head to the airport. Marie from Team Exes plans on dangling the carrot that is the Express Pass for info from other teams even if she won’t actually share it yet.
While at the airport the travel agent makes up for her mistake with the NFLers. Apparently she had been working while they drove to the airport and found a flight that goes via Buenos Aires and Madrid and arrives at 7am. Double Connections are always tricky but with a five hour gap it is a risk worth taking.
At the airport Team Cousins share their flight info with the Ice Girls and then decide to also share with Team BFF to ensure teams are near them on the race. They ask Team BFF to not share the information with any other teams. Instantly Marie walks up to them and dangles the Express Pass.
Team BFF is having doubts of following The Cousins since they didn’t like lying to Marie about having an earlier flight and they know that the Cousins just want them close with them on the race. They make a declaration that they will use a U-Turn on the cousins if the opportunity presents itself.
Back at the travel agent Team Baseball Wives grab a flight that arrives at 12pm. Team BFF will be going via Madrid and arriving at 10am.
There are many different flights. The NFLers get one flight arriving at 7am. That travel agent is earning her fees since she also calls back Team Beard and gets them in the same flight as Team BFF are on that arrives at 10am.
We have Team ER, Team Plow, Team Exes, and the Baseball Wives that arrives at 7am. Apparently the teams will fight it out for a chance to get on standby for the earlier flight. And the last teams to arrive will be Team Cousins and The ice Girls arriving at 11am.
The NFLers have some travel issues as they have issues with a delayed flight out of Argentina. It is delayed for 4 hours so they will need to make something happen.
As the other teams land they rush to try to find an earlier connection to get to Lisbon. The gates are closed so the teams decide to sit around and wait but the Baseball Wives found an Executive Lounge to try to work some tricks. And for some crazy reason the other teams let them go by themselves.
It is just plain laziness. Why would you sit around doing nothing when another team is clearly trying some tricks? At the very least I would have followed them down there.
The Baseball Wives are able to get on a waiting list and are first in line for any possible seats on an earlier flight.
The NFLers get on a flight that should get them in line with the other teams in Sao Pualo when a message is heard that they are delayed again. They just seem doomed now.
Back with the other group there is an argument of how the Baseball Wives got first on the waiting list and it is getting awkward with them being outspoken to ensure they get seats first. No one can understand how they got on the list with the gate closed but they get their tickets to arrive with Team ER at 7 am. Team Plow also gets on this flight while Team Exes are left behind. Marie is pissed since the Baseball Wives pulled a move she would do and she doesn’t like it one bit. They will not be getting the second Express pass.
The NFLers rush for the last flight since their connection was two hours late. The Exes are on this flight but lucky for them the NFLers miss the flight and it looks like they will be at least a half day behind everyone else. At this point it’s not a bad National Lampoons Vacation movie for them. Now they will be heading to London and then hopefully Lisbon.
The first flight of Team ER, Team Plow, and The Baseball Wives arrives and are off to the Tram. Meanwhile The Cousins and Ice Girls are in London and running for their connection.
At the top of the hill Team ER and Team Plow must look at a painting and figure out that a painting of a coach is pointing them to the Museu Nacional Dos Coches (National Coach Museum) for the next clue.
At the museum we get the Detour:
Tiles: Teams must construct a life size puzzle using dozens of fragile pieces.
Miles: Teams must use a giant measuring instrument to find the distance to 10 locations and once they are within 500 miles they get their next clue. (There must be a trick to this because it seems way too easy)
Team ER and Team Plow form an alliance to do the Detour together while the Baseball wives arrive at the museum. I’d like to know how they fell so far behind but they chose Tiles.
Apparently miles is that easy since the two leading teams get it done on the first try. They were smart enough to remember that the earth is round so know he would have kept going in the direction (which would have been other side of the map) rather then turn around to get there. I think this is the trick to the challenge if teams can realize it.
Team ER and Team Plow are now off to the Clube Portugues De Tiro A Chumbo for the next clue.
The next flight with Team BFF and Team Beard arrive in Lisbom while the Baseball Wives start working on the puzzle. I would not of done this challenge because I hate puzzles.
The NFLers are now in London while the front runners are now doing the Roadblock. Teams will need to wear a sheet of metal and use a barista to sling an arrow to hit a shield. The shield they hit will hold their clue. Jason nails it on the first try and the clue sends them to the Pit stop at Castelo Dos Mouros. The last team to arrive may be eliminated.
Back at the Detour the Baseball Wives finish the puzzle and are off to the Roadblock. Team Beard and Team BFF form an alliance to figure out that they need to get to the Museum. We will see if they agree to go the Miles together as well.
Team Plow are driving for the Pit Stop and Jason worries they are driving past it. Team ER then completes the task and is off for the Pit Stop. They really want to win a leg since they messed by the first leg with their mistake of not running to the Pit Stop. Team Plow are driving looking for the sign and apparently the sign points them in both directions. Team Plow is confused and arguing in which way to actually go while Team ER is trying to catch up.
After further investigation Team Plow discovers the direction they took is for walking only which allows Team ER to win the leg. They win a trip for two to Costa Rica. Team Plow knows that the taxi mistake cost them first place but they will settle for 2nd.
Team BFF choses to do Miles and Team Beard goes their own way for Tiles. The Cousins and Ice Girls are now on their way to the Museum when Team Exes arrives on Lisbon. They know that they are behind everyone so will think of using the Express Pass if they feel it is needed. Of course it won’t be since Team NFLers are still in London where their horrible leg continues since their flight to Lisbon is delayed again. Remember earlier when I said I thought taking the flight with two connections was a worthwhile risk since there was a five hour window to play with. Forget I ever said that.
At the Roadblock the Baseball Wives nail it on their second try and are off to the Pit Stop.
Team Beard is happy to be doing Tiles since when living in the woods all you can do is puzzles. Over at Miles Team BFF figures out that the earth is round as well (although one of them slips and tries to figure out how to get to the last location. He also forgets to put a zero at the end of the number and is off on the first guess. They quickly realize the mistake and are off for the Roadblock.
Team Beard also finish off and are off to the Roadblock while the Baseball Wives are 3rd.
And we get people who do not realize that the world is round and try to reverse course. The Ice Girls decide to switch tasks while the Cousins seem to stay behind. They do eventually switch while Team BFF finish 4th and Team Beard are 5th.
Ice Girls and Cousins are working when The Exes arrive. The Ice Girls finish and are off. Meanwhile Leo and Jamal try to freak out The Exes by telling them that it took a long time to do the puzzle and then they read the clue out loud to make it seem like the are off for the Pit Stop next. The lie seems to have worked since they start panicking and they seem to break a few tiles while putting together the puzzle. Tim wants to use the Express Pass while Marie wants to wait and see what happens. Personally I would have used it the moment I walked in and saw two teams working on the puzzle. Definitely would have used it when the Ice Girls left.
They finish the puzzle and are off for the Roadblock. Ice Girls and Cousins are slinging arrows. The Cousins hit it first but Allie is right behind as they are off to the Pit Stop. The Exes complete their Roadblock right behind.
The Cousins and Ice Girls arrive together as they finish 6th and 7th respectively. The Exes reach the Pit Stop next and Phil tells them that they are the last team to arrive … expect for one. Their frowns turn to celebrations as they are 8th.
The sad advantages of the NFLers ends as Phil meets them at the Airport to tell them that they have been eliminated. They were so late that they didn’t even get to do the challenges for the leg and they get to turn around and find a flight home. Phil wishes them well finding a flight.
I cannot remember the last time a team had so many delays on the same leg. The NFLers were so unlucky on this leg that there was no way this would be a non-elimination leg. On the luck side Team Exes benefitted from the NFLers being so far behind because they were able to not be forced to use the Express Pass. They would have been eliminated with both Express Passes in their pockets and I still think there is a chance Marie refuses to use it and gets Team Exes eliminated.
There was also two much travel in the early parts of the episode that the challenges seemed rushed. I’m not a fan of the episodes where travel time takes up a large portion of the episode.
Next Week teams have to jump from a bridge into water and while driving Team ER tries to get the second Express Pass in exchange for help finding a clue. Team Exes seem hesitant to give it up so it looks like Team ER will take off without helping them. Seems like more drama involving Marie.
