The Amazing Race, season 25: Legs 8 to 12
Dec. 31st, 2014 10:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spiderbraidsOne last thing to take care of before 2014 is out :-)
Leg 8:
1. Next stop is a new country, Malta, whose most notable contributions are a type of cross and a lead falcon statuette... and some contestants apparently aren't even aware of those, since they wonder where it is. So anyways, after a ferry ride, contestants get their first task at night instead of the half-expected bunching: Carry a tray with two glasses and a bottle of local alcohol up a flight of cobblestone steps to a bunch of knights, with one arm (classic waiter-style).
2. In a case of "Spoke too soon", Beth(/Adam) somehow manages to drop her glasses in the few seconds between being greeted by the knights and putting the tray on the table to actually complete the task, which forces them to a) run all the way back to the pub and get a broom, b) run back to the knights' table and sweep up the broken glasses, c) run back to the pub to get a new tray and glasses, and d) carry that tray back up to the knights :-\ Meanwhile, (Misti/)Jim manages to drop his glasses about as close to the start as Beth was to the finish, which makes the sweeping task much easier at least...
3. Everyone then gets a pendant (shaped as a Maltese cross, natch) with a time for the Roadblock the next morning: "Who's feeling blue?" It involves rappling down into a lagoon called The Blue Grotto, and picking up a clue there. And it really is blue :-) Beth takes this one for her team, leading to the usual oohing and aahing over her awesomeness :-) Kym/Alli are the first to complete this task, and pass Phil on the way to the Detour, which is presented blind, with just the names "Flag" and "Shine". Kym/Alli check out Flag, which turns out to involve running up a greased pole to grab one flag each, and some of the other teams stumble across them doing it. Tim/Te Jay (last in the previous leg) quickly realize this must be a Detour choice and have to find the Detour marker...
4. Said marker also comes with T/T's Speed Bump, which involves... painting :-\ This time though, it's just a simple Maltese cross (of course), so it's much easier for them... Everyone ends up switching to Shine at some point, except for Beth/Adam, the only team that could reasonably complete Flag, but not because they actually do complete Flag, but rather, they still have their Express Pass from Leg 2, and (have to) use it here. Shine involves putting on shining knight armor in the "traditional" way to the judges' satisfaction. Much easier than running up a pole :-)
5. Pit stop at a local fort sees the surfers win $10,000 each, Alli does a lap around the fort roof after checking in :-D, and Phil "signs" the wrestlers' 5th place finish with his pecs (!) T/T end up making 24 (!) attempts on Flag before switching to Shine, and then getting the chop :-\
Leg 9:
1. We haven't been to Asia yet, so time to head to Singapore. We have some ticketing drama, with the first three teams getting a 6:40am arrival in Singapore via Paris (through which the teams have all been pre-booked), and the other three teams (including Kym/Alli) end up getting a 6:00am arrival through Rome. Jim (who got 6:40am) reveals in a confessional that there's a new rule this season that forces them to stick with the first flight they've gotten tix for, which throws a wrench in their plan to use the upcoming Double U-Turn on them :-\ Yes, this leg has a Double U-Turn.
2. First stop in Singapore is a coconut juice stand on one of Singapore's little surrounding islands, and while the 6:00am teams cross in their little ferries, they spot a plane and suspect it's the 6:40am teams arriving (we're not shown if they're right or not) The Fast Forward rears its head, and it involves surfing at the Wavehouse surf simulator, which Kym/Alli decide to take. The other task calls for contestants to head to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel.
3. With the other teams, the surfers decide to read the FF just for kicks, and muse that if they weren't in last, they'd go for it (remember when that was precisely why a team would try the FF?)... and after a bit of consideration, decide to do so anyway.
4. Meanwhile at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, a Roadblock: "Who wants to be a funambulist?" It turns to mean tightrope walking, in this case across a big gap between the buildings 600 ft. above the ground :-O The Asian edition of the race once featured a similar task in one of its season finales... Most contestants have no issue with it, except for Jim, who falls off the rope and ends up dangling from the safety wire while being dragged back in :-\
5. Next stop is Raffles Square, to pick up a clue from a guy with a big sign saying "Onward Singapore" on his back (no, really!) The sign is red and yellow, but it doesn't exactly scream "race clue box", which is why the wrestlers manage to run right past him once :-D + :-\
6. Detour is between extracting 2 lbs of chili crab (the exact same task from the same Singapore finale above), and doing a really painful massage, involving exfoliation and having heated up suction cups put on their back :-O The dentists are only ones to do the former task, which also comes with some musicians and a guy in a crab outfit (HUH.) and Jim decides to join in with his whistle :-D :-D The latter task has lots of screaming, and the Chinese-speaking masseuses quipping about how they don't have much of a threshold for pain :-D
7. Back at the Fast Forward, surfers arrive after the cyclists have had several cracks at it, making them take turns, and although Adam wipes out quickly the first go, surfers get it done the 2nd go around... In fact, the cyclists are so sure about this that they start putting their normal clothes back on with 30 seconds left :-D (didn't they learn anything from Malta?)
8. Detour means that coming up next is the Double U-Turn, and in light of the Fast Forward, a new plan has emerged: U-Turn both the surfers AND the cyclists. Amy/Maya use it on the surfers, but neither of the remaining teams use it on the cyclists :-O On top of that, the wrestlers decide to deliberately mislead them during the next task: Find the next clue at one of the five merlion statues in Singapore, by specifically saying that it's not the one that they've just found it at :-\
9. Pit stop, and the surfers earn themselves a trip to Bali. The dentists' Amazing Save will be going back home as a souvenir, as they finish 3rd, and Phil ends up eliminating the cyclists, a team that many (including themselves) pegged as finalists (!) I'm going to go out on a limb and say this will be TAR's Emmy submission for this season...
Leg 10:
1. Next stop, Manila, Phillipines. The wrestlers have a confessional in which they seem surprised to be final 4, as they're sometimes confused which continent they're on :-D It's a nighttime arrival, but unlike Malta, the contestants do have to wait until morning to get their first clue pick-up, much to the the relief of the dentists, who waited to get tix at the airport and wound up getting a later flight than everyone else :-\
2. First order of business is to ride a Jeepney (a communal taxi, or "baby bus" as at least one contestant calls it) to Rosario for a Detour between carrying fish in the ocean (wrestlers), and assembling a motorbike sidecar (everyone else). But first, some commentary from the racers on the living conditions of children in the Philippines.
3. Actual Detour now, and while the wrestlers power through the rain (!), the dentists keep getting dinged that they're doing it wrong... and it turns out that after looking at many of the smaller details, turns out the shock absorbers weren't installed right. Shocking (David Caruso puts on sunglasses ;-))
4. Next stop is a field in the sticks for a switchback to "My Ox Is Broken", the classic moment from season 5: Drag an ox around a field until it drags up a clue on a rope. This time, the fields are of different sizes, and (a la plane tix) teams are stuck with the one they chose... and despite being in the lead at this point (much to their own surprise), the wrestlers end up taking the biggest of the fields :-\ AND the other teams come in quick succession soon afterwards.
5. This time around, the oxen are more or less well-behaved, and it's a footrace for 1st between the dentists and Amy/Maya (!), with the dentists getting a trip to Vietnam. The surfers also beat the wreslters in a footrace for 3rd, but Phil (not surprisngly) announces that it is non-elimination, under the guise that he couldn't eliminate anyone with such a close finish (HUH.)
Leg 11:
1. Domestic leg again, and dentists and Amy/Maya get off on the wrong foot from the get-go by getting on a jeepney heading in the wrong direction :-\ During their wayward journey, they note their jeepney filling up at a gas station called "RePhil" :-D
2. Meanwhile in Manila, Beth/Adam and the wrestlers (after their Speed Bump) get another blind Detour, titled "This" or "That" (HUH.) Both of them choose "This", which turns out to be basketball. Adam acknowledges that he's like Shaq: Good at lay-ups, bad at free throws :-\ And then he makes a free throw that gives them the score they need :-D Speed Bump for the wrestlers: Transferring goods from a broken street vendor cart to a non-broken cart.
3. When the dentists and Amy/Maya finally get to the Detour clue pick-up, they choose "That", which involves pedalling a bike with sidecar four times (with contestants altering at each lap) around the block in 17:55 or less (probably prompting Kym/Alli to heave at least a heavy sigh :-\) Jim pedals his butt off to give Misti (who apparently hurt her leg during the Ox task previous leg) some cushion, while the scientists plow into a van during lap 2 :-\
4. Next stop is a marked jeepney at a local market for a Roadblock about carrying goods made from the other parts of the coconut tree, but first, Beth/Adam don't have their clue ready at hand, and so have to get to the one street they do remember from the clue, before undertaking a more detail search of their bags to find it :-\
5. The actual task itself does not go very smoothly for anyone: either they miss the little sheet of paper on the side of the jeepney identifying where they're supposed to deliver their goods to :-\ or they miss the number of each item they're supposed to deliver :-\, or in Amy's case, apparently getting very dehydrated during the task and having to use a handcart to deliver the goods :-\ (it's never made clear if that's allowed) and then pouring water on herself after returning the cart, before continuing to complain (within reason) about her dehydration on the way to the pitstop.
6. Wrestlers win the leg despite starting with a Speed Bump (Phil notes that the cowboys did something similar), but in a genuinely shocking double twist, the final leg starts immediately, as teams get a clue envelope, plus a Manila (well-played :-) ) envelope marked "City of Los Angeles", which will be opened later. Plus, after Amy gets a medical checkup at the pitstop after arriving last, she and Maya don't get eliminated as expected, leaving Maya utterly flabbergasted (8-O) Instead, the final elimination will be during the final leg... interesting.
Leg 12:
1. As hinted at the end of the previous leg, final destination is LA. At the airport, the top three are apparently not too happy about Amy/Maya making the finals as well. In LA, the wrestlers soon have another reason to be upset, as they manage to get lost while self-driving (in product-placed Ford cars, of course) to City Hall to deliver the Manila envelope, which (as the Ford car system tells them) has film permits in it. (Meanwhile, while Beth/Adam are asking for directions at a fire station, one of the firefighters recognizes Beth and says that her daughter is a big fan :-D)
2. The film permit ties in to the Roadblock: "Who's ready to become an action hero?" Task involves jumping through a "glass" window, which as Amy/Maya point out, is actually made of sugar (fascinating :-)), prompting Maya to comment that she should have tasted it :-D And as it turns out, the mid-leg elimination immediately precedes the Roadblock, as Phil comes out to do so while the wrestlers are watching the demonstration, under the guise that it was the last shot of the day, and so the wrestlers sign off from TAR (their words) saying that "You will never forget us" (I dunno about that :-\)
3. Maya forgets to take off her stunt outfit before leaving (as it requires in the clue), prompting the scientists to run back to the film shoot to strip down, with Beth/Adam running past them in the process :-\ The rest of the leg involves cab rides, as the next task is a mock Coast Guard rescue, involving swimming out to a dummy and lighting up a rescue flare. Beth comments that this puts them right in their element, and after the rescue, Adam hopes that their dummy will make it :-D
4. Another Roadblock at a bunch of shipping containers: "Who can contain themselves?" :-) And of course, whoever sat out the "action hero" Roadblock has to do this one. It's a pretty complicated task: Look for containers with the names of their destinations, memorize the numbers accompanying the destination names (different ones for each team, no taking notes), and then rearrange them in order of their visit. Like I said, complicated stuff... Lots of footage of the contestants (all girls, incidentally) running around, looking for the containers, amd memorizing numbers (Beth uses a song to do this), as well as Jim commenting that they've been here 4-5 hours (!) Eventually, Amy (yes, as in the scientists) apparently gets it right on the first try (!) while the others take at least two tries to get their finish line clue.
5. Finish line is at a lighthouse, and what do you know? The scientists pull a Kisha/Jen to take the million (and even throw in a victory lap around the mat for good measure :-)) The girls make comments about busting the stereotypes of the typical scientist (yes, goggles included), and Honey Lemon would be proud :-) And Phil doesn't let runner-ups Misti/Jim's teeth go uncommented :-)
Leg 8:
1. Next stop is a new country, Malta, whose most notable contributions are a type of cross and a lead falcon statuette... and some contestants apparently aren't even aware of those, since they wonder where it is. So anyways, after a ferry ride, contestants get their first task at night instead of the half-expected bunching: Carry a tray with two glasses and a bottle of local alcohol up a flight of cobblestone steps to a bunch of knights, with one arm (classic waiter-style).
2. In a case of "Spoke too soon", Beth(/Adam) somehow manages to drop her glasses in the few seconds between being greeted by the knights and putting the tray on the table to actually complete the task, which forces them to a) run all the way back to the pub and get a broom, b) run back to the knights' table and sweep up the broken glasses, c) run back to the pub to get a new tray and glasses, and d) carry that tray back up to the knights :-\ Meanwhile, (Misti/)Jim manages to drop his glasses about as close to the start as Beth was to the finish, which makes the sweeping task much easier at least...
3. Everyone then gets a pendant (shaped as a Maltese cross, natch) with a time for the Roadblock the next morning: "Who's feeling blue?" It involves rappling down into a lagoon called The Blue Grotto, and picking up a clue there. And it really is blue :-) Beth takes this one for her team, leading to the usual oohing and aahing over her awesomeness :-) Kym/Alli are the first to complete this task, and pass Phil on the way to the Detour, which is presented blind, with just the names "Flag" and "Shine". Kym/Alli check out Flag, which turns out to involve running up a greased pole to grab one flag each, and some of the other teams stumble across them doing it. Tim/Te Jay (last in the previous leg) quickly realize this must be a Detour choice and have to find the Detour marker...
4. Said marker also comes with T/T's Speed Bump, which involves... painting :-\ This time though, it's just a simple Maltese cross (of course), so it's much easier for them... Everyone ends up switching to Shine at some point, except for Beth/Adam, the only team that could reasonably complete Flag, but not because they actually do complete Flag, but rather, they still have their Express Pass from Leg 2, and (have to) use it here. Shine involves putting on shining knight armor in the "traditional" way to the judges' satisfaction. Much easier than running up a pole :-)
5. Pit stop at a local fort sees the surfers win $10,000 each, Alli does a lap around the fort roof after checking in :-D, and Phil "signs" the wrestlers' 5th place finish with his pecs (!) T/T end up making 24 (!) attempts on Flag before switching to Shine, and then getting the chop :-\
Leg 9:
1. We haven't been to Asia yet, so time to head to Singapore. We have some ticketing drama, with the first three teams getting a 6:40am arrival in Singapore via Paris (through which the teams have all been pre-booked), and the other three teams (including Kym/Alli) end up getting a 6:00am arrival through Rome. Jim (who got 6:40am) reveals in a confessional that there's a new rule this season that forces them to stick with the first flight they've gotten tix for, which throws a wrench in their plan to use the upcoming Double U-Turn on them :-\ Yes, this leg has a Double U-Turn.
2. First stop in Singapore is a coconut juice stand on one of Singapore's little surrounding islands, and while the 6:00am teams cross in their little ferries, they spot a plane and suspect it's the 6:40am teams arriving (we're not shown if they're right or not) The Fast Forward rears its head, and it involves surfing at the Wavehouse surf simulator, which Kym/Alli decide to take. The other task calls for contestants to head to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel.
3. With the other teams, the surfers decide to read the FF just for kicks, and muse that if they weren't in last, they'd go for it (remember when that was precisely why a team would try the FF?)... and after a bit of consideration, decide to do so anyway.
4. Meanwhile at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, a Roadblock: "Who wants to be a funambulist?" It turns to mean tightrope walking, in this case across a big gap between the buildings 600 ft. above the ground :-O The Asian edition of the race once featured a similar task in one of its season finales... Most contestants have no issue with it, except for Jim, who falls off the rope and ends up dangling from the safety wire while being dragged back in :-\
5. Next stop is Raffles Square, to pick up a clue from a guy with a big sign saying "Onward Singapore" on his back (no, really!) The sign is red and yellow, but it doesn't exactly scream "race clue box", which is why the wrestlers manage to run right past him once :-D + :-\
6. Detour is between extracting 2 lbs of chili crab (the exact same task from the same Singapore finale above), and doing a really painful massage, involving exfoliation and having heated up suction cups put on their back :-O The dentists are only ones to do the former task, which also comes with some musicians and a guy in a crab outfit (HUH.) and Jim decides to join in with his whistle :-D :-D The latter task has lots of screaming, and the Chinese-speaking masseuses quipping about how they don't have much of a threshold for pain :-D
7. Back at the Fast Forward, surfers arrive after the cyclists have had several cracks at it, making them take turns, and although Adam wipes out quickly the first go, surfers get it done the 2nd go around... In fact, the cyclists are so sure about this that they start putting their normal clothes back on with 30 seconds left :-D (didn't they learn anything from Malta?)
8. Detour means that coming up next is the Double U-Turn, and in light of the Fast Forward, a new plan has emerged: U-Turn both the surfers AND the cyclists. Amy/Maya use it on the surfers, but neither of the remaining teams use it on the cyclists :-O On top of that, the wrestlers decide to deliberately mislead them during the next task: Find the next clue at one of the five merlion statues in Singapore, by specifically saying that it's not the one that they've just found it at :-\
9. Pit stop, and the surfers earn themselves a trip to Bali. The dentists' Amazing Save will be going back home as a souvenir, as they finish 3rd, and Phil ends up eliminating the cyclists, a team that many (including themselves) pegged as finalists (!) I'm going to go out on a limb and say this will be TAR's Emmy submission for this season...
Leg 10:
1. Next stop, Manila, Phillipines. The wrestlers have a confessional in which they seem surprised to be final 4, as they're sometimes confused which continent they're on :-D It's a nighttime arrival, but unlike Malta, the contestants do have to wait until morning to get their first clue pick-up, much to the the relief of the dentists, who waited to get tix at the airport and wound up getting a later flight than everyone else :-\
2. First order of business is to ride a Jeepney (a communal taxi, or "baby bus" as at least one contestant calls it) to Rosario for a Detour between carrying fish in the ocean (wrestlers), and assembling a motorbike sidecar (everyone else). But first, some commentary from the racers on the living conditions of children in the Philippines.
3. Actual Detour now, and while the wrestlers power through the rain (!), the dentists keep getting dinged that they're doing it wrong... and it turns out that after looking at many of the smaller details, turns out the shock absorbers weren't installed right. Shocking (David Caruso puts on sunglasses ;-))
4. Next stop is a field in the sticks for a switchback to "My Ox Is Broken", the classic moment from season 5: Drag an ox around a field until it drags up a clue on a rope. This time, the fields are of different sizes, and (a la plane tix) teams are stuck with the one they chose... and despite being in the lead at this point (much to their own surprise), the wrestlers end up taking the biggest of the fields :-\ AND the other teams come in quick succession soon afterwards.
5. This time around, the oxen are more or less well-behaved, and it's a footrace for 1st between the dentists and Amy/Maya (!), with the dentists getting a trip to Vietnam. The surfers also beat the wreslters in a footrace for 3rd, but Phil (not surprisngly) announces that it is non-elimination, under the guise that he couldn't eliminate anyone with such a close finish (HUH.)
Leg 11:
1. Domestic leg again, and dentists and Amy/Maya get off on the wrong foot from the get-go by getting on a jeepney heading in the wrong direction :-\ During their wayward journey, they note their jeepney filling up at a gas station called "RePhil" :-D
2. Meanwhile in Manila, Beth/Adam and the wrestlers (after their Speed Bump) get another blind Detour, titled "This" or "That" (HUH.) Both of them choose "This", which turns out to be basketball. Adam acknowledges that he's like Shaq: Good at lay-ups, bad at free throws :-\ And then he makes a free throw that gives them the score they need :-D Speed Bump for the wrestlers: Transferring goods from a broken street vendor cart to a non-broken cart.
3. When the dentists and Amy/Maya finally get to the Detour clue pick-up, they choose "That", which involves pedalling a bike with sidecar four times (with contestants altering at each lap) around the block in 17:55 or less (probably prompting Kym/Alli to heave at least a heavy sigh :-\) Jim pedals his butt off to give Misti (who apparently hurt her leg during the Ox task previous leg) some cushion, while the scientists plow into a van during lap 2 :-\
4. Next stop is a marked jeepney at a local market for a Roadblock about carrying goods made from the other parts of the coconut tree, but first, Beth/Adam don't have their clue ready at hand, and so have to get to the one street they do remember from the clue, before undertaking a more detail search of their bags to find it :-\
5. The actual task itself does not go very smoothly for anyone: either they miss the little sheet of paper on the side of the jeepney identifying where they're supposed to deliver their goods to :-\ or they miss the number of each item they're supposed to deliver :-\, or in Amy's case, apparently getting very dehydrated during the task and having to use a handcart to deliver the goods :-\ (it's never made clear if that's allowed) and then pouring water on herself after returning the cart, before continuing to complain (within reason) about her dehydration on the way to the pitstop.
6. Wrestlers win the leg despite starting with a Speed Bump (Phil notes that the cowboys did something similar), but in a genuinely shocking double twist, the final leg starts immediately, as teams get a clue envelope, plus a Manila (well-played :-) ) envelope marked "City of Los Angeles", which will be opened later. Plus, after Amy gets a medical checkup at the pitstop after arriving last, she and Maya don't get eliminated as expected, leaving Maya utterly flabbergasted (8-O) Instead, the final elimination will be during the final leg... interesting.
Leg 12:
1. As hinted at the end of the previous leg, final destination is LA. At the airport, the top three are apparently not too happy about Amy/Maya making the finals as well. In LA, the wrestlers soon have another reason to be upset, as they manage to get lost while self-driving (in product-placed Ford cars, of course) to City Hall to deliver the Manila envelope, which (as the Ford car system tells them) has film permits in it. (Meanwhile, while Beth/Adam are asking for directions at a fire station, one of the firefighters recognizes Beth and says that her daughter is a big fan :-D)
2. The film permit ties in to the Roadblock: "Who's ready to become an action hero?" Task involves jumping through a "glass" window, which as Amy/Maya point out, is actually made of sugar (fascinating :-)), prompting Maya to comment that she should have tasted it :-D And as it turns out, the mid-leg elimination immediately precedes the Roadblock, as Phil comes out to do so while the wrestlers are watching the demonstration, under the guise that it was the last shot of the day, and so the wrestlers sign off from TAR (their words) saying that "You will never forget us" (I dunno about that :-\)
3. Maya forgets to take off her stunt outfit before leaving (as it requires in the clue), prompting the scientists to run back to the film shoot to strip down, with Beth/Adam running past them in the process :-\ The rest of the leg involves cab rides, as the next task is a mock Coast Guard rescue, involving swimming out to a dummy and lighting up a rescue flare. Beth comments that this puts them right in their element, and after the rescue, Adam hopes that their dummy will make it :-D
4. Another Roadblock at a bunch of shipping containers: "Who can contain themselves?" :-) And of course, whoever sat out the "action hero" Roadblock has to do this one. It's a pretty complicated task: Look for containers with the names of their destinations, memorize the numbers accompanying the destination names (different ones for each team, no taking notes), and then rearrange them in order of their visit. Like I said, complicated stuff... Lots of footage of the contestants (all girls, incidentally) running around, looking for the containers, amd memorizing numbers (Beth uses a song to do this), as well as Jim commenting that they've been here 4-5 hours (!) Eventually, Amy (yes, as in the scientists) apparently gets it right on the first try (!) while the others take at least two tries to get their finish line clue.
5. Finish line is at a lighthouse, and what do you know? The scientists pull a Kisha/Jen to take the million (and even throw in a victory lap around the mat for good measure :-)) The girls make comments about busting the stereotypes of the typical scientist (yes, goggles included), and Honey Lemon would be proud :-) And Phil doesn't let runner-ups Misti/Jim's teeth go uncommented :-)
