The Amazing Race 19: Eps 7 to 9

[spiderbraids]

Ep 7:
1. We stay in Malawi for a bus ride to Salima. Instead of a cluebox, the next clue (and the Speed Bump sign!) is carried in the crowd at the bus station. Roadblock this week involves delivering fish via bike taxi to a given house, and then head back. Speed Bump for Amani/Marcus is a slide puzzle for the flag of Malawi, probably the hardest Speed Bump that's ever been given.
2. In a nice touch, the caption for each contestant gets a different font from the usual, along with a drawing of fish that changes to $$$ when it's sold :-) Most deliver without much incident (other than the usual getting lost, Laurence working with Sandy and the snowboarders getting their pedals repaired a la Ernie/Cindy in Indonesia), but Jennifer delivers her fish, realizes she has no idea what she's supposed to do because the clue is with Justin, and instead of doing the logical thing and ride back to the start (which is actually what she's supposed to do), decides to wait for another racer... Not surprisingly, no one shows up :-\
3. Next stop, Lake Malawi, where the Detour is between dugout (paddle canoes) or lugout (carry stuff and people on shoulders). Everyone except Amani/Marcus take the canoes, while Ernie/Cindy use their Express Pass (that they won in the first leg) to skip ahead to a Double U-Turn (now with touchscreen!) Which not only do they have a hard time finding, but they also don't even use. As it turns out, no one gets U-Turned to the other task as L/Z thought that A/M were lost on their way to the U-Turn... as it turns out, A/M were so awesome at lugout, they've moved up to 4th (!) with L/Z in 5th.
4. Pit stop is at the Livingstonia beach hotel, with a weirdo with things sticking out of his head as the greeter :-D In a very rare footrace for 1st, after a long run down a road to the hotel and through the hotel to the beach (and a commercial!), Andy/Tommy (Olympic snowboarders!) overtake Ernie/Cindy (average Joe/Jane!) on the beach leading up to the mat, to take 1st and $15k from Discover Card. Phil seems impressed that they've won 5 of the 7 legs (albeit 3[!] of them by default), while E/C will probably be kicking themselves for not U-Turning the snowboarders, as they point out that that this is the 3rd leg that a bad decision cost them first... And speaking of bad decisions, so will Jennifer for getting her and Justin eliminated.

Ep 8:
1. Next stop is some church tower in Copenhagen, Denmark, and since we're in deepest Africa, everyone's been provided tickets via Amsterdam (giving me a chance for a little bit of deja vu as they show places I sort of recognize :-)), but they may still make their own arrangements. Laurence/Zac get into Copenhagen (which they pronounce with a "HAH" than a "hay" :-D) via London at 8:30pm, and other teams get a better flight out of Amsterdam landing at 11:00pm or thereabouts, which is just as good as L/Z's because the tower doesn't open until 7:30am. Amani/Marcus stick with default and get in at 8:25am.
2. Contestant also have to drive themselves, leading to an amusing scene in which the snowboarders think that the R on their manual transmission (but of course) means "Really Fast" :-D :-D (Incidentally, no one has any of the usual problems driving stick :-)) Clue requires them to look at one flag on the tower, and another flag placed on a building below to get the next destination, some castle. Jeremy/Sandy (dating couple) jump to conclusions from the flag on the tower and go to the wrong castle, so they have to head back to the tower, and guess what? Amani/Marcus have caught up.
3. Castle, and L/Z drive right up to the clue lady to get their next clue :-D Roadblock: "Who's ready to take a few steps into the past?" Basically, team members get to dress up in old-fashioned outfits and learn an old-fashioned dance. Bill reminisces about meeting Cathi at a dance to Cindy, who responds that she met Ernie at a bar :-D Snowboarder Andy in old-fashioned outfit :-D Mom thought that the games they come up with for the race are getting weirder and weirder :-)
4. Next stop is some farm in the countryside for a Detour, between churning butter and setting up a steeplechase for bunnies and racing a bunny through it. Everyone except (once again) Amani/Marcus choose to churn butter. Mom thought it was dirty to allow the contestants to handle the butter with their hands... turns out Cindy had the same ideas: "No one's going to eat my sweaty butter" :-D Meanwhile at the bunny track, Marcus gets a little too excitable about their bunny running through the course :-D :-D
5. For the 2nd time in as many legs, we have a double U-turn. This time, E/C make no mistake in U-Turning the team right before them, in this case Bill/Cathi, and Bill/Cathi also U-Turn Laurence/Zac. (And once again, there's been discussion about whether the victims of the 1st U-Turn should be able to use the 2nd U-Turn before doing their 2nd Detour.) This is followed by the pit stop at some boat back in Copenhagen, and this time, E/C finally take their 2nd leg win, and a trip to Fiji. Incredibly, Amani/Marcus finish in 4th (again), leaving L/Z and J/S to race to avoid elimination. L/Z actually finish their (2nd) Detour before J/S (who got lost on their way to the farm), so you'd think it'd be a foregone conclusion, but then L/Z get into a traffic jam, end up driving on the hard shoulder, and find themselves wondering why there aren't any road signs to Copenhagen (because here it's called København), and J/S finish in 5th, eliminating L/Z.

Ep 9:
1. First stop this week, the statue of Hans Christian Andersen, for another "memorize without writing down" Roadblock: "Who wants to take a fairy tale ride?" Memorize inscription on plaque placed at the statue, bike to some theater (map provided on front wheel), and recite it to some guy (with dramatic poses to boot :-)). 2 of the 5 get it first go, Cindy and Amani, while the snowboarders have problems with the posing part (apparently). Amani jumps from 4th to 2nd after this task (even with Marcus deliberately shouting random words at her :-)), and Marcus compares it to taking the opening kickoff for a TD :-) Amani even gets her own American football metaphor in by comparing Marcus to Peyton Manning (get well soon :-))
2. Next stop, Legoland Billund. Bill/Cathi get so lost they have to get directions from the airport hotel. Snowboarders say about guys with big maps that they have many places to go :-) Task at Legoland: put together picture of next destination from Lego pieces... while riding a whirly ride :-D Amani: "I should've taken a doggone sickness pill" :-D That turns out to be Hamburg train station, which they have to drive to (thus possibly marking the first time contestants have had to drive themselves across an international border; Liechtenstein Roadblock notwithstanding). Andy/Tommy brag they don't get motion sickness, and it works to their advantage against Jeremy/Sandy, especially since J/S lose a piece at some point...
3. At Hamburg train station, contestants run up to a "traditional" clue box (first one we've seen all season!) and find they're riding to Brussels, Belgium by train, transferring via Cologne. Everyone catches the same train(s), and Ernie/Cindy lose their Brussels tickets somewhere, but since no conductor ever comes to check, it's all good (or is it? Many forum-posters are speculating that they might get a penalty for it...)
4. Next task: Bodybuilding. In Speedos :-O Phil even does a bit of posing in the introduction :-) We may be rid of L/Z, but we still got B/C to contend with :-P Amani describes one of the poses as getting on an escalator and slapping some guy in the head :-D Pit Stop is at Parc Elisabeth. While Cindy seems to be glad that she can finally get some rest after the leg... Amani/Marcus get 1st place and a trip to Panama... but not the expected downtime before the next leg :-)
5. Another point of interest this week was that while Amani/Marcus are asking for directions to Parc Elisabeth, one can clearly see Amani holding a Detour envelope, thus leading to speculation that the bodybuilding may have originally been half of a Detour, and it's even been suggested the other half was eating fried mussels, that way the Detour could be introduced as Muscles or Mussels :-D