The Amazing Race 23: Legs 1 to 4
Oct. 31st, 2013 10:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spiderbraidsBeen busy these past couple weeks, but here we go again with TAR...
Leg 1:
1. This season, besides the usual couples, friends, and semi-obligatory parent/child team (Hoskoti/Naina), we have: a pair of cousins from Afghanistan (Leo/Jamal) known as the Afghanimals, three teams representing three of the major league sports in the US (NHL ice crew [Ally/Ashley], former NFL teammates [Chester/Ephraim], MLB wives [Nicky/Kim]), and to fill out the unusual occupation quota, a pair of theater performers (Rowan/Shane). We're starting in southern California (as usual :-\), this time at some Wild West soundstage set thingy, and teams will get their first clue from one of the product placed cars in the parking lot. Oh, and this leg's prize is the same as last season's opener, 2 Express Passes (one of which must be given out before leg 5)... I suppose that they saw how much a bust it was last season and decided to give that gimmick another shot...
2. First stop, Iquique in Chile, with a 7-4 split between the first flight and the 2nd. First task of the race is a Roadblock, and similar to the one from the season 20 premiere, one guy paraglides down to a beach, and the other teammate follows them there in a cab. Other than the usual fear of height issues for some contestants, the most notable thing to happen is Leo/Jamal's cab getting stolen...
3. Next stop, some small harbor, where we have another Roadblock where the other contestant has to get some fish from one of three given boats, and because each boat has a limited number of fish, some of the teams have to row to more than one boat. As usual, the one who didn't participate in the first Roadblock is to do the 2nd, but because of how both contestants particpate in the first Roadblock, Leo/Jamal and Hoskoti/Naina both initially misinterpret which one has to do the task (though the clue, as printed, apparently makes it clear that it has to be the one who did the jumping). Thankfully (though not really for one team), both realize their error before either team picks up any fish. We get an ironic cut about Hoskoti saying that he could do the task better than Naina, and it turns out that Hoskoti is the one who's supposed to be doing it :-)
4. Pit stop is a local theater that's also a national landmark, and Travis/Nicole (married ER doctors) are the first to arrive, but they're given a 30 minute penalty for taking a cab there, as the clue tells teams to walk. And so, Tim/Marie (exes) are the winners of the first leg and the two Express Passes (Marie is all giddy that her yelling got them first place :-\), while Travis/Nicole have to settle for second, mentioning that their occupation requires them to be more careful than they were here. Hoskoti/Naina don't finish the leg until nighttime, making them the first parent/child first boot since season 2 (and interpreting the 2nd Roadblock clue right the first time probably would not have helped :-\)
Leg 2:
1. Time for an all-Chile leg, where the first stop is a boat to pick up their first route marker. Since everyone is leaving at night and the boat doesn't open until morning, we get to see little things like Nicole saying that it's her 40th birthday today and trying to suck up to Tim/Marie for the Express Pass, and teams having some argument over queueing up for the boat in the morning. So anyways, in the morning, everyone has to look around (or for some teams, ask around) for something that a famous local war hero of Chile famously said, and tell it to the cluegiver en espanol.
2. Next stop is a local salt mine. While on the way there, we see that Afghanimals are apparently considering the NHL ice crew their wives :-D Detour is between splitting a salt rock, or pouring a bunch of bags of salt into water, enough to make them float (and read the paper :-D) NFL decides to do the rock splitting because they'd need a lot of salt to float themselves :-D Both detours call for a bike ride, and Travis' birthday girl isn't exactly very good with the biking, and we get a bikecam shot of her wiping out :-) One of the players doing the rock splitting says "Hulk smash" during the task :-) while with the salt pouring task, Tim/Marie bicker a lot (so what's new? ;-)) as Tim tries to compare the task to mixing lemonade :-D
3. After the Detour, everyone goes to the Iquique bus terminal for a 24-hour (at least) bus ride to Santiago. Leo/Jamal get their tix and ask if there are chicas on the bus and if they are muy bella :-D Rowan/Shane (aka Team Bingo), already in last place due to delays in getting to the salt mine, pass up a 2pm bus arring in Santiago at 6pm for a 4pm bus, thinking it to be better. Turns out that bus ends up getting into Santiago at around 7pm (oops!) During their bus ride, the MLB wives ask Tim(/Marie), a former baseball player himself, if he's heard of David deJesus. Turns out one of them is David's wife :-)
4. Santiago, and Roadblock at Plaza de Armas: Who's got the knack to pack? Shine shoes (at a marked stall) and pack up the stall properly, and deliver it to a given address. The main issue is trying to keep the packed-up stall from coming apart while dragging it there, and then satisfying the inspection at the given address. The first bus teams don't really have much of an issue other than that...
5. Pit Stop is at a local animal preserve, and Chester/Ephraim and Leo/Jamal get to the destination at pretty much the same time, but after Phil turns the Afghanimals away to pay their cabbie, NFL gets first place, and a trip to the Turks and Caicos, while the Afghanimals bicker in front of Phil over the cabbie payment issue. The rest of the first bus teams finish before the 2nd and 3rd bus even arrive in Santiago. Team Bingo's bus is only 20 minutes behind, so they're in reasonable striking distance.
6. However, while everyone else goes off to the marked stalls to do their shoeshine, Team Bingo does the task at a stall that's actually doing it for a living (!) and even get as far as packing it up and delivering it to the given address (!!) where after realizing their error and briefly trying to beg with the shoeshiner who actually owns the stall (in pretty good espanol to boot), Team Bingo leaves to look for their marked stall, but not before sniping that the other contestant in front of him es un diablo :-D And she understands it perfectly :-D Nevertheless, el diablo and everyone else finishes ahead of them, so it's exit stage left for Team Bingo (see what I did there?)
Leg 3:
1. Next stop, Lisbon, Portugal. There's a whole tangle of airplane connections to sort out, involving Buenos Aires and Sao Paolo on one side of the Atlantic, and Madrid and London (cue "Rule Britannia" on the soundtrack!) on the other. Nicky/Kim manage to get themselves on the standby list for their flight ahead of Tim/Marie (ultimately making it on at their expense) by talking with someone at the Executive Lounge, and of course this does not please her at all :-) while, after having their original travel arrangements screwed up by their travel agent, NFL's flight from Buenos Aires to Sao Paolo gets delayed :-\
2. First stop, some guys singing fado music on top of a roof, to pick up a painting of a coach (the horse and carriage kind mind you), with which everyone asks around to find out that their next stop is the National Coach Museum, leading to a Detour between Tiles and Miles. One has teams putting together a bunch of ceramic tiles into a picture, the other has them using giant calipers and a giant map (apparently also being swarmed by tourists) to measure the length of Magellan's journey around the world to within 500 miles. In Sao Paolo, NFL get a flight to London, and start calling themselves Beakman Boys Part 2. I wouldn't get your hopes up :-\
3. With Magellan, Nicole/Travis and Jason/Amy do it together without problem, Tim/Danny (best friends) manage to screw up the first time by leaving out a zero, but that's nothing compared to Afghanimals and NHL, who think about the possibility of Magellan going through the Panama Canal and nautical miles being different from land miles, and not the simple matter of measuring to the edge of the map and resuming again on the other side :-\ Brandon/Adam (wilderness friends) take the tiles detour, because out in the wilderness, what else is there to do except putting together puzzles (really, that's what they said! :-D)
4. At the Tiles detour, Afghanimals try to trick Tim/Marie into using their Express Pass by saying they've been working on it for two hours and NHL three, which flusters Tim somewhat, and they end up breaking a few of their tiles, but Marie stays the course to finish the Detour without taking a pass. Meanwhile in London, NFL arrive making observations about the way the British talk (well, stereotypically anyway), with one of the teammates throwing an Aussie "G'day" in :-D and end up getting yet another delay for their flight to Lisbon (arriving at 21:15 :-\ In comparison, everyone else is running the leg in broad daylight [!])
5. Roadblock at a local archery club: Who has a hand for slings and arrows? Task involves shooting arrows at shields 150 feet away using a traditional cranked crossbow. Turns out Danny(/Tim) is part-Indian, and Ally(/Ashley) had a grandpa who was born in Portugal who taught her archery (aww...). Not much incident to be had here, but after Tim(/Marie) gets it in one shot, he muses that he was "born in this era" :-D
6. Pit Stop is at a local castle, and although Nicole/Travis are about 7 minutes behind Jason/Amy (dating) coming out of the Roadblock, road sign confusion on Jason/Amy's part leads to Nicole/Travis finally winning a leg, and a trip to Costa Rica. Tim/Marie are briefly tricked (by Phil no less!) into believing they're last to arrive ("...except one" :-)), but that "honor" goes to NFL, who run into Phil and get eliminated right at the Lisbon airport (ouch!) even managing to quote Ricky Bobby (Talladega Nights) on their way out :-)
Leg 4:
1. This week, we head to Svolvaer in Norway (cue a few clips of the name being butchered :-D), for an all-nighter that doesn't feel like an all-nighter, because Land of the Midnight Sun and all (to make the point, their 11pm arrival in Svolvaer, plus each segment coming out of an adbreak, shows a timestamp). Contestants manage to get some Titanic references in during the ferry ride from the airport :-D while Tim/Marie explain who they'd rather not give their extra Express Pass to, like Afghanimals and NHL (who they say "might as well be in their backpacks" :-) )
2. Detour involves heading to a factory (some are lucky and get cabs, others have to hoof it, but Brandon/Adam don't mind the scenery :-)) and either retrieving some dried fish from a rack and beating the fish up enough to make 1kg of fish jerky (cue a few racers confused at how much that is :-D), or stringing together 6 sets of 10 fish heads (Tim/Marie think they're supposed to put 8 heads at first :-\) and hanging them on a marked pole. Tim/Marie are told they're doing it wrong, but it takes them seeing Nicole/Travis doing it to figure out their error: Not putting them on the marked pole :-\
3. At the other Detour, Tim/Danny turn out to be utility workers who are used to climbing things :-) Most of the teams doing this particular Detour use wheelbarrows to carry the fish (though Afghanimals end up having to carry their wheelbarrow too after it springs a flat :-\) while Tim/Danny and MLB carry the fish on their bodies :-D putting the latter team in dead last :-\
4. Roadblock at a bridge: Who's the biggest swinger? It involves hanging from a rope and pulling a release to drop into the water, before swimming to a red-yellow buoy to pick up the actual clue. Jason(/Amy) has issues just getting up to the release... Eh, moving on.
5. Next task involves using (product placement incoming!) a Ford Ranger to drag a rock off of a pile, and picking up a bag of Viking coins (that will be used later) and their next Pit Stop location underneath. It requires contestants to chain the rock to the truck, and needless to say, it's practically second nature for the wilderness friends, though it turns out Tim(/Marie) also does a job requiring this skill as well. Ally/Ashley have to take turns driving stick (yes, more follies with stick driving) to avoid falling into the ditch :-\ Tim/Marie only take the coins, which could prove to be trouble...
6. Pit Stop is at a Viking longhouse with a traditional party going on inside, and (despite Jason/Amy hoping for the leaders to get lost on the way just like they did last leg) Brandon/Adam take the leg and $5,000 each, for which they're shown claiming in a post-leg(s) interview they can survive on it for 10 years :-) ...and we'll see how everyone else finishes next week, because this is one of those back-to-back leg things...
Leg 1:
1. This season, besides the usual couples, friends, and semi-obligatory parent/child team (Hoskoti/Naina), we have: a pair of cousins from Afghanistan (Leo/Jamal) known as the Afghanimals, three teams representing three of the major league sports in the US (NHL ice crew [Ally/Ashley], former NFL teammates [Chester/Ephraim], MLB wives [Nicky/Kim]), and to fill out the unusual occupation quota, a pair of theater performers (Rowan/Shane). We're starting in southern California (as usual :-\), this time at some Wild West soundstage set thingy, and teams will get their first clue from one of the product placed cars in the parking lot. Oh, and this leg's prize is the same as last season's opener, 2 Express Passes (one of which must be given out before leg 5)... I suppose that they saw how much a bust it was last season and decided to give that gimmick another shot...
2. First stop, Iquique in Chile, with a 7-4 split between the first flight and the 2nd. First task of the race is a Roadblock, and similar to the one from the season 20 premiere, one guy paraglides down to a beach, and the other teammate follows them there in a cab. Other than the usual fear of height issues for some contestants, the most notable thing to happen is Leo/Jamal's cab getting stolen...
3. Next stop, some small harbor, where we have another Roadblock where the other contestant has to get some fish from one of three given boats, and because each boat has a limited number of fish, some of the teams have to row to more than one boat. As usual, the one who didn't participate in the first Roadblock is to do the 2nd, but because of how both contestants particpate in the first Roadblock, Leo/Jamal and Hoskoti/Naina both initially misinterpret which one has to do the task (though the clue, as printed, apparently makes it clear that it has to be the one who did the jumping). Thankfully (though not really for one team), both realize their error before either team picks up any fish. We get an ironic cut about Hoskoti saying that he could do the task better than Naina, and it turns out that Hoskoti is the one who's supposed to be doing it :-)
4. Pit stop is a local theater that's also a national landmark, and Travis/Nicole (married ER doctors) are the first to arrive, but they're given a 30 minute penalty for taking a cab there, as the clue tells teams to walk. And so, Tim/Marie (exes) are the winners of the first leg and the two Express Passes (Marie is all giddy that her yelling got them first place :-\), while Travis/Nicole have to settle for second, mentioning that their occupation requires them to be more careful than they were here. Hoskoti/Naina don't finish the leg until nighttime, making them the first parent/child first boot since season 2 (and interpreting the 2nd Roadblock clue right the first time probably would not have helped :-\)
Leg 2:
1. Time for an all-Chile leg, where the first stop is a boat to pick up their first route marker. Since everyone is leaving at night and the boat doesn't open until morning, we get to see little things like Nicole saying that it's her 40th birthday today and trying to suck up to Tim/Marie for the Express Pass, and teams having some argument over queueing up for the boat in the morning. So anyways, in the morning, everyone has to look around (or for some teams, ask around) for something that a famous local war hero of Chile famously said, and tell it to the cluegiver en espanol.
2. Next stop is a local salt mine. While on the way there, we see that Afghanimals are apparently considering the NHL ice crew their wives :-D Detour is between splitting a salt rock, or pouring a bunch of bags of salt into water, enough to make them float (and read the paper :-D) NFL decides to do the rock splitting because they'd need a lot of salt to float themselves :-D Both detours call for a bike ride, and Travis' birthday girl isn't exactly very good with the biking, and we get a bikecam shot of her wiping out :-) One of the players doing the rock splitting says "Hulk smash" during the task :-) while with the salt pouring task, Tim/Marie bicker a lot (so what's new? ;-)) as Tim tries to compare the task to mixing lemonade :-D
3. After the Detour, everyone goes to the Iquique bus terminal for a 24-hour (at least) bus ride to Santiago. Leo/Jamal get their tix and ask if there are chicas on the bus and if they are muy bella :-D Rowan/Shane (aka Team Bingo), already in last place due to delays in getting to the salt mine, pass up a 2pm bus arring in Santiago at 6pm for a 4pm bus, thinking it to be better. Turns out that bus ends up getting into Santiago at around 7pm (oops!) During their bus ride, the MLB wives ask Tim(/Marie), a former baseball player himself, if he's heard of David deJesus. Turns out one of them is David's wife :-)
4. Santiago, and Roadblock at Plaza de Armas: Who's got the knack to pack? Shine shoes (at a marked stall) and pack up the stall properly, and deliver it to a given address. The main issue is trying to keep the packed-up stall from coming apart while dragging it there, and then satisfying the inspection at the given address. The first bus teams don't really have much of an issue other than that...
5. Pit Stop is at a local animal preserve, and Chester/Ephraim and Leo/Jamal get to the destination at pretty much the same time, but after Phil turns the Afghanimals away to pay their cabbie, NFL gets first place, and a trip to the Turks and Caicos, while the Afghanimals bicker in front of Phil over the cabbie payment issue. The rest of the first bus teams finish before the 2nd and 3rd bus even arrive in Santiago. Team Bingo's bus is only 20 minutes behind, so they're in reasonable striking distance.
6. However, while everyone else goes off to the marked stalls to do their shoeshine, Team Bingo does the task at a stall that's actually doing it for a living (!) and even get as far as packing it up and delivering it to the given address (!!) where after realizing their error and briefly trying to beg with the shoeshiner who actually owns the stall (in pretty good espanol to boot), Team Bingo leaves to look for their marked stall, but not before sniping that the other contestant in front of him es un diablo :-D And she understands it perfectly :-D Nevertheless, el diablo and everyone else finishes ahead of them, so it's exit stage left for Team Bingo (see what I did there?)
Leg 3:
1. Next stop, Lisbon, Portugal. There's a whole tangle of airplane connections to sort out, involving Buenos Aires and Sao Paolo on one side of the Atlantic, and Madrid and London (cue "Rule Britannia" on the soundtrack!) on the other. Nicky/Kim manage to get themselves on the standby list for their flight ahead of Tim/Marie (ultimately making it on at their expense) by talking with someone at the Executive Lounge, and of course this does not please her at all :-) while, after having their original travel arrangements screwed up by their travel agent, NFL's flight from Buenos Aires to Sao Paolo gets delayed :-\
2. First stop, some guys singing fado music on top of a roof, to pick up a painting of a coach (the horse and carriage kind mind you), with which everyone asks around to find out that their next stop is the National Coach Museum, leading to a Detour between Tiles and Miles. One has teams putting together a bunch of ceramic tiles into a picture, the other has them using giant calipers and a giant map (apparently also being swarmed by tourists) to measure the length of Magellan's journey around the world to within 500 miles. In Sao Paolo, NFL get a flight to London, and start calling themselves Beakman Boys Part 2. I wouldn't get your hopes up :-\
3. With Magellan, Nicole/Travis and Jason/Amy do it together without problem, Tim/Danny (best friends) manage to screw up the first time by leaving out a zero, but that's nothing compared to Afghanimals and NHL, who think about the possibility of Magellan going through the Panama Canal and nautical miles being different from land miles, and not the simple matter of measuring to the edge of the map and resuming again on the other side :-\ Brandon/Adam (wilderness friends) take the tiles detour, because out in the wilderness, what else is there to do except putting together puzzles (really, that's what they said! :-D)
4. At the Tiles detour, Afghanimals try to trick Tim/Marie into using their Express Pass by saying they've been working on it for two hours and NHL three, which flusters Tim somewhat, and they end up breaking a few of their tiles, but Marie stays the course to finish the Detour without taking a pass. Meanwhile in London, NFL arrive making observations about the way the British talk (well, stereotypically anyway), with one of the teammates throwing an Aussie "G'day" in :-D and end up getting yet another delay for their flight to Lisbon (arriving at 21:15 :-\ In comparison, everyone else is running the leg in broad daylight [!])
5. Roadblock at a local archery club: Who has a hand for slings and arrows? Task involves shooting arrows at shields 150 feet away using a traditional cranked crossbow. Turns out Danny(/Tim) is part-Indian, and Ally(/Ashley) had a grandpa who was born in Portugal who taught her archery (aww...). Not much incident to be had here, but after Tim(/Marie) gets it in one shot, he muses that he was "born in this era" :-D
6. Pit Stop is at a local castle, and although Nicole/Travis are about 7 minutes behind Jason/Amy (dating) coming out of the Roadblock, road sign confusion on Jason/Amy's part leads to Nicole/Travis finally winning a leg, and a trip to Costa Rica. Tim/Marie are briefly tricked (by Phil no less!) into believing they're last to arrive ("...except one" :-)), but that "honor" goes to NFL, who run into Phil and get eliminated right at the Lisbon airport (ouch!) even managing to quote Ricky Bobby (Talladega Nights) on their way out :-)
Leg 4:
1. This week, we head to Svolvaer in Norway (cue a few clips of the name being butchered :-D), for an all-nighter that doesn't feel like an all-nighter, because Land of the Midnight Sun and all (to make the point, their 11pm arrival in Svolvaer, plus each segment coming out of an adbreak, shows a timestamp). Contestants manage to get some Titanic references in during the ferry ride from the airport :-D while Tim/Marie explain who they'd rather not give their extra Express Pass to, like Afghanimals and NHL (who they say "might as well be in their backpacks" :-) )
2. Detour involves heading to a factory (some are lucky and get cabs, others have to hoof it, but Brandon/Adam don't mind the scenery :-)) and either retrieving some dried fish from a rack and beating the fish up enough to make 1kg of fish jerky (cue a few racers confused at how much that is :-D), or stringing together 6 sets of 10 fish heads (Tim/Marie think they're supposed to put 8 heads at first :-\) and hanging them on a marked pole. Tim/Marie are told they're doing it wrong, but it takes them seeing Nicole/Travis doing it to figure out their error: Not putting them on the marked pole :-\
3. At the other Detour, Tim/Danny turn out to be utility workers who are used to climbing things :-) Most of the teams doing this particular Detour use wheelbarrows to carry the fish (though Afghanimals end up having to carry their wheelbarrow too after it springs a flat :-\) while Tim/Danny and MLB carry the fish on their bodies :-D putting the latter team in dead last :-\
4. Roadblock at a bridge: Who's the biggest swinger? It involves hanging from a rope and pulling a release to drop into the water, before swimming to a red-yellow buoy to pick up the actual clue. Jason(/Amy) has issues just getting up to the release... Eh, moving on.
5. Next task involves using (product placement incoming!) a Ford Ranger to drag a rock off of a pile, and picking up a bag of Viking coins (that will be used later) and their next Pit Stop location underneath. It requires contestants to chain the rock to the truck, and needless to say, it's practically second nature for the wilderness friends, though it turns out Tim(/Marie) also does a job requiring this skill as well. Ally/Ashley have to take turns driving stick (yes, more follies with stick driving) to avoid falling into the ditch :-\ Tim/Marie only take the coins, which could prove to be trouble...
6. Pit Stop is at a Viking longhouse with a traditional party going on inside, and (despite Jason/Amy hoping for the leaders to get lost on the way just like they did last leg) Brandon/Adam take the leg and $5,000 each, for which they're shown claiming in a post-leg(s) interview they can survive on it for 10 years :-) ...and we'll see how everyone else finishes next week, because this is one of those back-to-back leg things...
