I apologize for the long delay in getting my weekly Amazing Race blog out. I didn’t get to watch the show for a few days but I assure you that this blogging is still a fresh reaction to what was seen on the previous broadcast of The Amazing Race 14. Until watching this broadcast (recorded via DVR) I have had no knowledge of what happened or who was eliminated. I avoid all media and talk about the show until I see for myself. My having a very busy work week allows for this.
So by the time anyone reads this there will have been TWO broadcasts of The Amazing Race and a new twist to the game will have been revealed. The BLIND U-TURN which allows a team to force a team into a delay anonymously.
Anyway picking up where I left off, there were EIGHT teams. The last team to be eliminated made a huge mistake by making a very risky airline reservation that turned into an overnight delay leading to their elimination. Also we saw a team fall from first to last mainly due to their collapse in teamwork.
IN Romania, the nine remaining teams had to travel to a Hydroelectric Dam in Siberia. Teams were required to travel through Moscow Russia. The teams departed the pit-stop over a three hour spread and split over four different flights and connections from Romania to Moscow. Five teams found themselves stuck in Moscow because of a delayed flight while three teams made the same flight together into Siberia.
The departures from the pit-stop were in the following order. Mel & Mike left at 10:49pm, Amanda & Kris at 10:43, Kisha & Jen at 10:45,Maggie & Luke at 11:03pm, March & Michael at 11:05, Christie & Jodi at 11:08, Jaime & Cara at 11:29pm and Tammy & Victor left the pit-stop two hours later at 1:30am.
Upon leaving the pit-stop teams tried to make their airline reservations by using their taxi driver’s cell phones. But Mark & Michael somehow called Jaime & Cara’s taxi and as that team realized what happened, they seized the opportunity by pretending to be travel agents. It was a funny joke that could have really screwed Mark & Michael up but both teams still managed to make their airline reservations later at the airport. The joke would eventually be on Jaime & Cara as Mark & Michael was one of the three teams to make the connecting flight to Siberia. Jaime & Cara was one of the five teams left behind in Moscow.
The three teams that made the first flight to Siberia arrived overnight and had to wait for the facility to open in the morning. The remaining teams waited in the Moscow Airport overnight and arrived in Siberia in the morning.
Once at the hydroelectric dam teams were given the clue to travel to a church for the detour task choice of either “Stack” where teams would have to stack firewood in precision like wood blocks or a house of cards. Or “Construct” where teams would have to build and install wooden window shutters.
Mark & Michael were in first place but had a mishap while stacking the firewood then they gave up and went to the other task. This allowed Kisha & Jen to finish first quickly followed by Christie & Jodi. While Mark & Michael were searching for the location of their “detour” task, the remaining five teams arrived to work on the firewood stacking “detour” and most of those teams had mishaps where their stacks fell. Some of them had their stack fall just as they reached completion.
Margie & Luke and Tammy & Victor each completed their stacks of firewood. Mel & Mike had a complete collapse of their stack and Amanda & Kris and Jamie & Cara had a partial collapse. Mel, Mike, Amanda and Kris each decided to give up and complete the other “detour” task but one team would find themselves surprised later.
At this point teams faced the new version of the “Amazing Race” “U-Turn”, now called the “Blind U-Turn” where teams could anonymously impose a “u-turn” on another team. The “U-turn” requires a team to return to complete the opposite of their “detour” selection. The fastest and most capable team, Amanda & Kris were selected for the “u-turn” anonymously by Margie and her deaf son Luke. Their reasoning for this was to give Jaime & Cara a chance to complete their stack and stay in the race.
Jaime & Cara managed to finish stacking their wood and moved on to the “roadblock”. The other teams that chose the wood shutters “detour” either struggled to assemble their shutters or to locate a house to install them. The teams worked together during the “detour” but one of them admitted accurately that it was a “caravan of idiots” like the blind leading the blind. One of those teams not yet knowing they were doomed to repeat the task they had given up on.
After the “detour” teams travelled to an amusement park and the “roadblock” task having one team member ride a bobsled at a high rate of speed and while doing so they must look for and memorize letters posted along the course then unscramble the letters to create a word at the end of the ride. The word would be the name of a Russian Playwright.
Luke struggled to complete the roadblock task and became discouraged but with the other teams running slow he had plenty of time to keep trying and finish the task.
After the “roadblock” teams were led to the next pit-stop, The Krasnoyarsk Theatre in Siberia Russia.
It was a race to make first place. Kisha & Jen finished the roadblock FIRST but Christie & Jodi made it to the mat first. For their first place arrival, they each won a motorcycle. Kisha & Jen arrived SECOND.
The rest of the arrivals were….
THIRD: Tammy & Victor returned to the top half of the pack from last place to third
FOURTH: Margie & Luke
FIFTH: Jaime & Cara
SIXTH: Mel & Mike, the team I predicted for elimination survived another leg of the race thanks to the blind u-turn and for their making no mistakes on this leg of the race. But if not for a faster team being sent back to repeat a task I am not sure that Mel & Mike would rank as high as they did.
SEVENTH: Mark & Michael ran out of money to pay their taxi but bargained with their driver and still made it to the mat before the next team and avoided elimination.
EIGHTH: Amanda & Kris assumed that they were selected for the U-turn by Kisha & Jen or Christie & Jodi because of those teams making an earlier flight or being “untrustworthy”. Then Kris commented that Mel & Mike or Margie & Luke would be more compassionate. But it was Margie & Luke who helped keep Amanda & Kris in last place. And Amanda & Kris were eliminated.
The elimination of Amanda & Kris leaves this season of the race with NO strong young athletic male on the race. When things reach a point of needing extreme physical ability, Kris would have easily been one person who could stand up to the challenge. Their elimination also means the end of any married or dating couple on the race. It’s all siblings, friends or relatives. No romantic relationship issues to get in the way of competition.
As for my lame assed predictions for elimination, I think it is a tossup between the current last place teams. In this case you have the oldest competitors in the race with what appears to be a considerable amount of time that could be a problem for them catching up. The previews for the next broadcast show teams having to go for a run in the cold. That could be a problem for those who are out of shape or have limitations. So I will go out and predict again for MEL & MIKE for possible next elimination. I don’t mean to pick on them as they are a team I like but Mel is not the strongest person on this race. He has shown signs of struggle and if another u-turn is used against a stronger team that may be the only thing that keeps him and his son alive a little longer in the race. But for now I predict Mel & Mike for next elimination.
Again, sorry for my very late posting of what is supposed to be a weekly blog. In less than 24 hours we will have seen another Amazing Race broadcast and this time I will be home to watch it on schedule. I expect to post my remarks shortly after.
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