The Amazing Race 20: Eps 10 to 12
May. 20th, 2012 02:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spiderbraidsTime to bring this chicken home...
Ep 10:
1. Staying in India this week, everyone gets a blessing from a priest before getting a clue for a Fast Forward (the 3rd this season!) for an Indian good-luck ritual, and a clue leading to a rope and mat factory. Rachel/Dave and Art/JJ are ineligible, Vanessa/Ralph give it a pass, and Big Brother checks out the ritual, which turns out to be shaving their heads (first offered back in season 5 and taken in season 7) and while Brendon is okay with shaving, Rachel says she needs her hair to be pretty :-\ Rope-making it is, then...
2. It's for a Roadblock, where everyone gets to make rope from coconut husk fibers, and then roll some pre-spun rope on to reels. The only exciting thing that happens in this part of the leg is Vanessa(/Ralph) falling over while running to get their rickshaw and hurting her ankle (this will be important later). Next stop is a clue pick-up at a roadside barber for a Detour between decorating an elephant and wheelbarrowing elephant poo (prompting the obvious "Holy manure!" comment from one contestant :-D) and sorting and packing ginger in boxes. Meanwhile, after recovering from the dehydration from the previous leg (Mark is even shown getting an IV!), Mark/Bopper do their Speed Bump: painting a tiger face on to some guy's belly.
3. Decorating elephants and carrying manure turns out to be less tedious time-consuming than packing ginger (especially if you're adept with a wheelbarrow like Brendon), and to add insult to injury (or the other way around?) one of Art/JJ (the only team to do this one) manages to cut his gloved hand on a sheet metal box lid (they even comment that they will never have ginger with their sushi again :-D) Meanwhile, M/B decide to go for the FF, and since Mark is bald, it means only Bopper needs to shave (he even makes a sarcastic comment about getting his bum leg cut off :-D) Incidentally, my mom thought that Bopper was being a bit over the top with his "craziness"...
4. Pit stop is near a bunch of hung fish nets, and R/D win their 6th (!) leg, and $10,000 each. Big Brother beat Vanessa/Ralph in a footrace to take 2nd, before things get ugly between the two teams at the mat, forcing Phil to mediate a la Jeff Probst. I don't really watch the show to see people argue; if I wanted that I'd watch other shows :-P Despite the terrible Detour choice and M/B's FF, Art/JJ edge M/B out of the race (making the latter the first team since season 3's Dennis/Andrew to be eliminated, or even fail to finish 1st, after getting the FF).
Ep 11:
1. For the first time in a while, we get a two-hour finale. First stop, Hiroshima, Japan, where due to delays in buying train tickets, Rachel/Dave end up one train behind the other teams, before missing the last ferry of the night to Miyajima Island, seemingly putting them up to 8 hours behind (!) While R/D spend the night at a motel to resolve a few issues, the others find that their next clue will come with the Rising Sun (see what they did there? ;-)), and since this is the middle of winter, R/D easily catch up with the others the next morning. Next stop, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, where the action more or less stops to allow the remaining contestants to take in the atmosphere and acknowledge the history. Naturally, since Dave's the soldier, he brings up the whole thing about WWII (Pearl Harbor included), and turns out Brendon's also studying about radiation.
2. Back to racing now, and next stop is Osaka, and the studios of Kansai Television (old-school station sign-on from 1979!) Roadblock clue asks: "Who's ready to bring home the chicken?" Since they're in a Japanese TV studio, it's a crazy random game show Roadblock entailing running on treadmills and grabbing rubber chickens (replete with cheesy game show host, music and graphics :-D) Brendon and Vanessa are required to do this Roadblock (something about having equal Roadblocks), and because Vanessa hurt her ankle in the previous leg, it takes much repeated effort for her to finish the Roadblock (Ralph would rather she take the penalty), while somehow, the other teams avoid getting injuries of their own :-)
3. Next stop, some local building, where teams get their Detour clue through touchscreens. On the way, Vanessa fixes her eyelashes, prompting a little snark from Ralph :-D Detour's between getting people to take their photos behind sumo cutouts, and playing bingo with sushi (cue more "game show music" :-)) R/D do the former, everyone else the latter. On their way to their Detour, R/D bicker over Dave's bag being unzipped: Dave: "Silence is golden" Rachel: "Then why don't you shut the (dubbed-in truck whizzing by noise)" Incidentally, sushi bingo also requires the contestants to eat the sushi that makes up the bingo, and Art/JJ no doubt eat theirs without any ginger ;-)
4. Pit stop is at Osaka castle (with some awesome rockers as the greeters... cue the Jimmy Hart version of "Going Japanese"), and R/D finish 1st yet again, this time winning a trip to NZ. The wide grounds of the castle (which probably would have stymied Misa/Maiya ;-)) leads to basically a race between Art/JJ, Big Brother, and Vanessa/Ralph to find the pit stop. Art/JJ and BB find it before Vanessa/Ralph, so Vanessa/Ralph are out, but not before being praised for sticking out the Roadblock.
Ep 12:
1. Final destination is Honolulu, Hawaii, where everyone looks for a pair of twins named Mauka and Makai. This puzzles Art/JJ and their cabbie, and trying to follow the other cabs also proves useless after Big Brother shakes them off, while R/D finds it interesting that their cabbie was a veteran. The twins turn out to be a pair of twin towers, where everyone ascends to the top of one of the towers using ascenders, before looking for their next marker, then rappeling face-down from the building. (Art/JJ, when they finally get there, manage to reference the new Mission Impossible film on the way down :-)) Said marker is a big red-yellow banner in a park on the other side of the bay...
2. ...with a Roadblock about shaving ice: Shave something like 14 qts of ice shavings from a big ice block using a sword, and get the next clue from Taylor Wily (Hawaiian actor, from CBS' revival of Hawaii Five-O... cross-promotion? What cross-promotion? ;-)) Art/JJ not only catch up with Big Brother, but actually overtake them after BB misinterpret their next clue about going to the "outfield" to board a helicopter, and take a cab to a nearby stadium (!)
3. In fact, the "outfield" is actually next to the Roadblock area, and after taking a scenic ride across the Hawaiian skies (R/D: "Better view than Iraq" :-)), they're dropped off near their next task, which involves having one contestant drive a jet-ski and the other hang on to an attached outboard and "rescue" a person floating in the ocean. In the rain, I might add...
4. Next stop, something called the Coral Kingdom Gate. Somehow, R/D manage to stumble upon paddleboards leading to the finish mat on another island (!) and are told by Phil to double back to do a Roadblock (surprising all the previous eliminees). Turns out we have a 2nd Roadblock on this leg for whoever didn't shave ice, involving sledding down a hill ("Is my friend going to die?" "No, he's not" :-D) and rolling a lava stone into a goal. This isn't a normal sled though: this kind of Hawaiian traditional sled is so thin, it provides somewhat of an advantage to the Rachels who have to do it, whereas Art/JJ wipe out over and over. (This also means that for the first time in a while, the final task does not entail memorizing what happened on the race...)
5. R/D make quick work of both halves of the Roadblock while Art/JJ are still wiping out, essentially turning the Roadblock into a less-meaningful race for 2nd (Art/JJ are still at it when Big Brother shows up). R/D paddleboard their way (again) to a record-breaking 8th (!) leg win and the $1m grand prize, with Dave bragging about "Operation Amazing Race" being a success (well, it's better than either of the other teams winning I suppose...) Art/JJ manage to finish before the BB Rachel, and speaking of her, as BB was at the finish mat, my mom said she didn't really like her that much. Agreed.
Ep 10:
1. Staying in India this week, everyone gets a blessing from a priest before getting a clue for a Fast Forward (the 3rd this season!) for an Indian good-luck ritual, and a clue leading to a rope and mat factory. Rachel/Dave and Art/JJ are ineligible, Vanessa/Ralph give it a pass, and Big Brother checks out the ritual, which turns out to be shaving their heads (first offered back in season 5 and taken in season 7) and while Brendon is okay with shaving, Rachel says she needs her hair to be pretty :-\ Rope-making it is, then...
2. It's for a Roadblock, where everyone gets to make rope from coconut husk fibers, and then roll some pre-spun rope on to reels. The only exciting thing that happens in this part of the leg is Vanessa(/Ralph) falling over while running to get their rickshaw and hurting her ankle (this will be important later). Next stop is a clue pick-up at a roadside barber for a Detour between decorating an elephant and wheelbarrowing elephant poo (prompting the obvious "Holy manure!" comment from one contestant :-D) and sorting and packing ginger in boxes. Meanwhile, after recovering from the dehydration from the previous leg (Mark is even shown getting an IV!), Mark/Bopper do their Speed Bump: painting a tiger face on to some guy's belly.
3. Decorating elephants and carrying manure turns out to be less tedious time-consuming than packing ginger (especially if you're adept with a wheelbarrow like Brendon), and to add insult to injury (or the other way around?) one of Art/JJ (the only team to do this one) manages to cut his gloved hand on a sheet metal box lid (they even comment that they will never have ginger with their sushi again :-D) Meanwhile, M/B decide to go for the FF, and since Mark is bald, it means only Bopper needs to shave (he even makes a sarcastic comment about getting his bum leg cut off :-D) Incidentally, my mom thought that Bopper was being a bit over the top with his "craziness"...
4. Pit stop is near a bunch of hung fish nets, and R/D win their 6th (!) leg, and $10,000 each. Big Brother beat Vanessa/Ralph in a footrace to take 2nd, before things get ugly between the two teams at the mat, forcing Phil to mediate a la Jeff Probst. I don't really watch the show to see people argue; if I wanted that I'd watch other shows :-P Despite the terrible Detour choice and M/B's FF, Art/JJ edge M/B out of the race (making the latter the first team since season 3's Dennis/Andrew to be eliminated, or even fail to finish 1st, after getting the FF).
Ep 11:
1. For the first time in a while, we get a two-hour finale. First stop, Hiroshima, Japan, where due to delays in buying train tickets, Rachel/Dave end up one train behind the other teams, before missing the last ferry of the night to Miyajima Island, seemingly putting them up to 8 hours behind (!) While R/D spend the night at a motel to resolve a few issues, the others find that their next clue will come with the Rising Sun (see what they did there? ;-)), and since this is the middle of winter, R/D easily catch up with the others the next morning. Next stop, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, where the action more or less stops to allow the remaining contestants to take in the atmosphere and acknowledge the history. Naturally, since Dave's the soldier, he brings up the whole thing about WWII (Pearl Harbor included), and turns out Brendon's also studying about radiation.
2. Back to racing now, and next stop is Osaka, and the studios of Kansai Television (old-school station sign-on from 1979!) Roadblock clue asks: "Who's ready to bring home the chicken?" Since they're in a Japanese TV studio, it's a crazy random game show Roadblock entailing running on treadmills and grabbing rubber chickens (replete with cheesy game show host, music and graphics :-D) Brendon and Vanessa are required to do this Roadblock (something about having equal Roadblocks), and because Vanessa hurt her ankle in the previous leg, it takes much repeated effort for her to finish the Roadblock (Ralph would rather she take the penalty), while somehow, the other teams avoid getting injuries of their own :-)
3. Next stop, some local building, where teams get their Detour clue through touchscreens. On the way, Vanessa fixes her eyelashes, prompting a little snark from Ralph :-D Detour's between getting people to take their photos behind sumo cutouts, and playing bingo with sushi (cue more "game show music" :-)) R/D do the former, everyone else the latter. On their way to their Detour, R/D bicker over Dave's bag being unzipped: Dave: "Silence is golden" Rachel: "Then why don't you shut the (dubbed-in truck whizzing by noise)" Incidentally, sushi bingo also requires the contestants to eat the sushi that makes up the bingo, and Art/JJ no doubt eat theirs without any ginger ;-)
4. Pit stop is at Osaka castle (with some awesome rockers as the greeters... cue the Jimmy Hart version of "Going Japanese"), and R/D finish 1st yet again, this time winning a trip to NZ. The wide grounds of the castle (which probably would have stymied Misa/Maiya ;-)) leads to basically a race between Art/JJ, Big Brother, and Vanessa/Ralph to find the pit stop. Art/JJ and BB find it before Vanessa/Ralph, so Vanessa/Ralph are out, but not before being praised for sticking out the Roadblock.
Ep 12:
1. Final destination is Honolulu, Hawaii, where everyone looks for a pair of twins named Mauka and Makai. This puzzles Art/JJ and their cabbie, and trying to follow the other cabs also proves useless after Big Brother shakes them off, while R/D finds it interesting that their cabbie was a veteran. The twins turn out to be a pair of twin towers, where everyone ascends to the top of one of the towers using ascenders, before looking for their next marker, then rappeling face-down from the building. (Art/JJ, when they finally get there, manage to reference the new Mission Impossible film on the way down :-)) Said marker is a big red-yellow banner in a park on the other side of the bay...
2. ...with a Roadblock about shaving ice: Shave something like 14 qts of ice shavings from a big ice block using a sword, and get the next clue from Taylor Wily (Hawaiian actor, from CBS' revival of Hawaii Five-O... cross-promotion? What cross-promotion? ;-)) Art/JJ not only catch up with Big Brother, but actually overtake them after BB misinterpret their next clue about going to the "outfield" to board a helicopter, and take a cab to a nearby stadium (!)
3. In fact, the "outfield" is actually next to the Roadblock area, and after taking a scenic ride across the Hawaiian skies (R/D: "Better view than Iraq" :-)), they're dropped off near their next task, which involves having one contestant drive a jet-ski and the other hang on to an attached outboard and "rescue" a person floating in the ocean. In the rain, I might add...
4. Next stop, something called the Coral Kingdom Gate. Somehow, R/D manage to stumble upon paddleboards leading to the finish mat on another island (!) and are told by Phil to double back to do a Roadblock (surprising all the previous eliminees). Turns out we have a 2nd Roadblock on this leg for whoever didn't shave ice, involving sledding down a hill ("Is my friend going to die?" "No, he's not" :-D) and rolling a lava stone into a goal. This isn't a normal sled though: this kind of Hawaiian traditional sled is so thin, it provides somewhat of an advantage to the Rachels who have to do it, whereas Art/JJ wipe out over and over. (This also means that for the first time in a while, the final task does not entail memorizing what happened on the race...)
5. R/D make quick work of both halves of the Roadblock while Art/JJ are still wiping out, essentially turning the Roadblock into a less-meaningful race for 2nd (Art/JJ are still at it when Big Brother shows up). R/D paddleboard their way (again) to a record-breaking 8th (!) leg win and the $1m grand prize, with Dave bragging about "Operation Amazing Race" being a success (well, it's better than either of the other teams winning I suppose...) Art/JJ manage to finish before the BB Rachel, and speaking of her, as BB was at the finish mat, my mom said she didn't really like her that much. Agreed.
