herring...and onions? no thank you!

Windy weather and swinging clubs prove difficult on The Amazing Race.

The teams are now flying to Amsterdam and it’s a fight for the best flight at the airport. Looks like all of the teams are catching a midnight flight. And while all the teams sat down in the airport and chatted, Sam & Dan decided to come out to the rest of the teams. No one seemed too surprised and everyone took it well.

When the teams arrived, Brian & Ericka couldn’t get their car to start. But all of the other teams made it to the dam at the same time. From there, they had to travel to Martinitoren for their next clue. Once they got there, one member had to climb all of the stairs in the spire and count all of the bells. When they had their final number, they would get the next clue.

Father-son team, Gary & Matt made it down first and made their way to Vierhuizen de Marne for their next clue. However, they got stuck while getting directions, so Sam & Dan and Meghan & Cheyne made it out before them. All of the teams got the number of bells right on the first try except for Brian & Ericka. This was just not their leg of the race!

Sam & Dan made it to the Detour first and they had to choose between: Farmer’s Game, where they had to swim across a creek and play a version of croquet/golf, or Farmer’s Dance, where they had to hit a bell, learn a traditional dance, and then eat some traditional herring and onions! I would totally choose the golf one to avoid the herring and onions!

Turns out, Sam & Dan are really good at golf and were the first to leave for the Pit Stop. Meanwhile, Meghan couldn’t get a handle on the game and Brian & Ericka were still at the spire counting bells! Haha, and then Gary & Matt changed their minds and switched to golf after their realized they needed to eat herring!

On her fourth attempt, Ericka correctly counted 62 bells and made her way to the windmill, while Sam & Dan reached the pit stop and came in first place! Maria & Tiffany had over 30 attempts at the bell and still couldn’t ring the bell at the top, so they headed to gold. Not surprisingly, the Globetrotters hit it on the first try and made their way to the dance. Brian & Ericka finally caught up but forgot to get the bikes so they were walking to the dance! Haha!! I loved watching the Globetrotters dance! Maria decided to give up on the golf and they went back to the dance and continued with the bell. Oh my gosh! And then they decided to go back to the golf because they couldn’t ring the bell! And now, Brian & Ericka made it to the dance and rang the bell on the first try and succeeded in the dance. But I think they are going to be in trouble for not using the bikes.

And it did get them in trouble. They incurred a 30-minute penalty while they waited for the girls to finish with the gold challenge. After waiting 30 minutes, Maria & Tiffany still couldn’t complete their challenge and Bryan & Ericka took the last place on the race.

a slide worth its weight in gold

A spot in the Amazing Race could be worth its weight in gold.

Meghan & Cheyne were the first to depart and headed toward the Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club for their next clue. The clue instructed them to row an inflatable dinghy to a yacht to meet a sheikh who would give them a watch, per traditional Arab custom. The time on the watch would be the combination to open the briefcase they chose before departing for the Yacht Club. Inside the briefcase was their next clue.

Meghan & Cheyne rowed to the yacht and back before any of the other teams caught up with them. And they were smart enough to realize that the time on the watch was the combination, so they lost no time finding their next clue in the briefcase, instructing them to head to Abra Station, a water taxi station.

The next eam to arrive was Brian & Ericka and they should maintain a pretty good lead over the other teams, especially since the Globetrotters arrived at the wrong Yacht Club! So, father-son team Gary & Matt were able to move ahead a bit with the absense of the Globetrotters. And when they got their, Big Easy couldn't figure out how to row the boat!! Instead of using the oars, he decideed just to use his oversized arms! Too bad he couldn't figure out the combination and I felt so bad for him! In fact, all of the teams made it out before them.

Upon arriving at Abra station, the teams faced their first detour: Gold or Glass. In Gold, the teams would need to weigh out exactly $500,000 worth of gold by paying attention to the exchange rate, which is constantly changing every few seconds. In Glass, the teams would need to assemble 12 hookahs from a crate. Meghan & Cheyne chose the Glass challenge. While Meghan was struggling with the Hookah's, Brian & Erika headed to the Gold station and realized that the challenge seemed harder than it looked. This detour seemed to get all of the teams in a panic, causing Brian & Erika to change their plan and go with Glass.

At the Gold station, the math skills of Maria & Tiffany combined with Dan & Sam's calculator caused them to easily pass through the round and head to the Atlantis Palm Resort for their next challenge. They had to go down the large waterslide at nearly a 90˚ angle and travel through a tube that went through a shark tank. After making it down the slide, the teams had to race to Dolphin Bay Beach for the Pit Stop.

After nearly 3 different attempts, Brian & Erika finally completed the Hookah challenge and made it the Pit Stop behind Meghan & Cheyne (who made it first), Maria & Tiffay, and Sam & Dan. Arriving 6th a the water slide, Mika & Canaan met their worst challenge yet. Mika is afraid of both water and heights so this was literally this worst challenge for her. Now, I do think that she was being a little childish and she had to wear some water floaties, Canaan was acting very rude to her. He actually tried to throw her down the slide! It was horrible and I bet her parents and fmaily and not going to be too hard to see that little skirmish on TV!

Once the Globetrotters arrived at the slide, Mika & Canaan had 2 minutes to complete the challenge and the time passed. So, the Globetrotters, who didn't help matters by making Mika more afraid, made it down first. Mika decided not to complete the challenge and they were the last team to arrive, thus being eliminated. Hmm, not sure how that relationship is going to pan out after the show!

dubai is a land of contrasts

The countries on The Amazing Race prove to be lands of contrast for the competing teams.

Sam & Dan headed off first since Justin & Zev were eliminated at the last leg for not having Zev’s passport. They were the first to leave for their newest destination, the world’s tallest building in Dubai. However, they weren’t told that Dubai was the country and the teams had to figure that out on their own.

All of the teams made the same flight through Bangkok and it was a race to the water fountain at the Address Hotel for their next challenge. The teams were split into two groups of four and made their way to the 125th floor! I thought they would have to repel down the building or something but all the clue said was that they needed to find a marked car in a parking garage next door! Well, there was the option of the Fast Forward, but still! Nothing like what it could have been.

Stupid Lance & Keri got lost again while looking for their car. They get lost doing the stupidest things sometimes. I want them to just leave.

Meghan & Cheyne took the risk of going for the Fast Forward and they were the first team to arrive. So, if they complete it, they can skip all other tasks and go straight to the Pit Stop. In order to complete the task, Cheyne needed to drive in a racecar and complete an entire lap on a racetrack in under 45 seconds! Luckily for Meghan & Cheyne, he completed the track in 40 seconds! So, they headed straight for the Pit Stop at Souk Madinat Jumeirah, an Arabian-style resort.

The other teams headed to the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve and drove 4x4s to some awaiting camels. Once they found the camel, they needed to search for water in the desert in some select urns throughout the desert. Oh man, this looks so hard! This would be such a nightmare for me because you could so easily get lost!

Back in the desert, Brian & Ericka completed the water search first and they showed such grace by telling the other teams where the water was. I hope it just doesn’t come back to bite them in the butt later because they are so nice! The teams that completed the water search they headed to Ski Dubai, a huge indoor ski resort!

Oh, but as they were leaving, Maria & Tiffany drove over a stake and broke their radiator. Sam & Dan decided to wait with them since the girls helped them get water when their ladle was broken. Since their car was considered inoperable, a replacement car was sent for them.

Upon arriving at Ski Dubai, the teams hit a Detour. They could choose to Find a Snowman, where they search in a huge snow mound for a tiny little snowman, or Build a Snowman, where they needed to bring snow to the heat and build a traditional snowman. All of the teams chose to find a snowman and it seems so impossible! Brian & Ericka found the miniscule snowman first and headed to the Pit Stop.

Yay! Lance & Kerri were eliminated from the race. I know I shouldn’t rejoice in other peoples’ misfortune but in the case, I can’t help it!

passport lost

It’s off to Cambodia on The Amazing Race!

Once the teams make it to Cambodia, they needed to make their way to the Foreign Correspondents Club to meet an Editor and whisper to them for their next clue. All of the teams left around 6:00pm Vietnam time and found out that there were no more flights that night to Cambodia. So, they had to spend all night in the airport until their flight left the next day at 12:25pm!

However, the last two teams had to wait until 2:15pm for their flight. And those last two teams were Lance & Keri and Justin & Zev. Now, I really like Justin & Zev but not so much for the other team. After waiting on standby for the early flight, both of the other teams made it on the same flight, pitting everyone against each other once again. But of course, Lance decided to be a jerk about it! Ugh, I hate him.

Wow! And Justin & Zev were the first team to arrive to at the FCC. But Sam & Dan were the first to get the clue from the assignment editors. Their clue had a photo of Jackie-O and they needed to use that photo to figure out their next destination, which was the Royal Hotel. Oh my goodness! So many of the people didn’t know that it was Jackie-O in the picture! They all thought it was some Queen! Haha.

Once the teams got to the Royal Hotel and found Jackie-O’s suite, they got their next assignment – a Detour. Their two options were Cover, where they had to sell 4 helmets to a family of four on a motorcycle, or Wrap, were they needed to find a shopkeeper at the Russian Market who would give them an intricate scarf and they would need to find a woman wearing an identical scarf somewhere in the market.

Justin & Zev were the first to make it to Royal Hotel and I’m so glad for them! I thought most people would choose the Cover choice but almost everyone chose Wrap! And Justin & Zev made friends with their cab driver so he was helping them the entire time. They found their scarf lady and then made their way to Wat Toul Tom Pong, a beautiful looking palace, for their next clue.

At the palace, the team had to complete a Road Block, where one team member had to dress like a monkey and act like one!! Zev was a pro at this! I love that he is not letting his disability get in his way. He’s so cute. But he seemed to have some trouble with the last task and kept falling off the log. Dan & Sam ended up completing the task a little fast and were the first to leave for the pit stop at Wat Phnom, a Buddha shrine.

Oh yay! Justin & Zev are Team #1!! But oh no, they lost Zev’s passport! And after overcoming last place and making it to first place, it’s just such a bummer! Luckily they made such a good connection with their driver because he met them to find Zev’s passport. The only way they could stay in the game was for them to find the passport and make it back before the last team arrived. Unfortunately, that did not happen and they were eliminated. I really wanted this team to win the whole thing!

broken giraffes and vcrs

The race around the world continues on this week’s The Amazing Race.

Gary & Matt, the father and son team, were the first to leave for Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Once they made their way there, they needed to get find the golden water dragons for their next clue.

Okay, some of these teams are clueless! They thought they were already in Ho Chi Minh City. Um, if that were true then your clue wouldn’t tell you to make your way there!

The Globetrotters got to the dragons first. Once they retrieved their flag, they got a bullet with a stamp inside. The stamp was the clue of their next destination, the Ho Chi Minh City Post Office. After getting to the post office, they arrived at the first Pit Stop.

Haha, stupid Lance & Keri couldn’t figure out that their clue was inside the bullet!

The Pit Stop had them choose child’s play or word play. In child’s play, the teams would need to take a cement animal and carry it through a park and collect 5 balloons throughout the park. In Word Play, teams had to head to a sight deck of a hotel to look on a large roundabout and identify 6 Vietnamese characters on the moving vehicles. Once they got the right characters, they needed to get someone to unscramble the letters to spell out the Vietnamese word for independence.

Flight Time & Big Easy went with child’s play and were doing pretty good with it. It seemed to be the popular choice for all teams, except Marcy & Ron. They chose word play and did pretty well with it but they are just a little slow. Justin & Zev made the mistake of going with the giraffe, the tallest animal. Oh no! Their giraffe fell over and it broke! That meant they needed to pick up all the pieces in order to continue.

After the Pit Stop, teams had to head to Dien Co 008 for their next clue. Once there, it was time for a Road Block. The chosen team member would need to break down two VCR’s and separate them into two piles. The Globetrotters finished first, followed by the San Diego team! The crowd was just loving Tiffany since she was the only girl to take on the challenge.

The Reunification Palace was the site of their Pit Stop and it was a foot race to the mat. Flight Time & Big Easy just barely outran Meghan & Cheyne. Aww, and in the end, the newly dating couple Marcy & Ron came in last. They were certainly cute but just not nearly as fast as they needed to be for this race.

and they're off!

While dance crews battled for the top prize, contestants embarked on the first leg of The Amazing Race.

The teams this year range from teammates from The Globetrotters, a former Miss USA, plenty of couples in varying ranges of their relationships, and some family ties.

Wow! The teams found out that one team would be eliminated during the first challenge and wouldn’t even get to leave the starting point. The first clue had the teams searching hundreds of license plates for only 11 plates with the correct Japanese symbol to get them to Japan.

Eric and Lisa, the married yoga teacher couple, came in last place and didn’t even make it on a plane to Tokyo.

Maria & Tiffany, professional poker players, decide that they are going to tell people that they work with a homeless organization in LA because they think people won’t help them if they know that they make a lot of money playing poker.

Nashville couple Mika & Canaan got to the Tokyo Tower first and found themselves on a Japanese game show!!! Haha, oh how stereotypically Japanese!

HAHAHA and they had to play a game called Sushi Roulette! The game required one player from each team to sit at a table and eat whatever dish of sushi was in front of them. But, some of the teams got a Wasabi Bomb which is basically just a roll of wasabi!!! And they needed to eat it in just 2 minutes. Once they ate a Wasabi Bomb, they get to leave the show and move-on. But they have to keep playing until they eat the Wasabi Bomb. Once the teams finished the game show, they had to take the flag in front of them and lead 20 Japanese audience members through Tokyo’s busiest city crossing.

Surprisingly, most of the teams did well with their Wasabi Bombs except for Maria. She failed during her first attempt, just barely missing the 2 minute time limit. The other teams were frustrated with her because she was taking away the chance for them to win. The Yellow team also had some trouble getting the Wasabi Bomb down.

San Diego couple Meghan & Cheyne were Team #1 on this leg! Aww, and all the Japanese women from the audience were loving the Globetrotters, especially Big Easy. He was just so big. But at the same time, they were having some trouble getting their team to the pit stop. In fact, so did some other teams who had been leading their teams much longer.

Mika & Canaan were the 10th couple to arrive and they were missing one of their audience members. Luckily, she was just around the corner. Maria & Tiffany also were missing two of their audience members and decided to check-in without them. Lucky for them it was a non-elimination leg so they just incurred a 2-hour penalty and they must perform a speed bump in their next leg.

For the next leg, the teams needed to go to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. The teams seemed to be divided on their approaches to getting flights. Some chose to go to the hotel first to buy tickets online or go to the airport. Turns out there was no advantage to either way because all teams got on the same flight.

While at the airport, the other teams found out that Maria & Tiffany are poker players because someone else in the airport recognized them.

Once the teams landed in Vietnam, they had to get on a bus to Cai Be. There were two buses and the teams on the second bus paid extra for their bus to leave early and catch up with the first bus. Regardless of when they left, both buses missed the dock time so they had to wait until morning. Looks like those teams on the second bus paid extra money for nothing!

During their next challenge, the teams needed to gather mud to fertilize a tree on a fruit farm. Maria & Tiffany had to perform their Speed Bump of creating the traditional dish of Pho. They succeeded on their first try and then made their way to the mud. All of the teams were having trouble with the mud because it was so thick.

Meghan & Cheyne finished first and made their way to the Cai Be field for their next challenge. When Justin & Zev finished with their tree, Justin fell into the river and possibly lost his clue. This error made it possible for Maria & Tiffany to catch up.

During the Road Block, one member from each team needed to move a group of 100 ducks over a bridge and back in just 10 minutes. But if they didn’t make it during the time limit, they had to relinquish their space and wait for another team to finish first.

Brothers Sam & Dan, finished the duck challenge first and headed toward Masaac III, the boat that would be their next pit stop. Father-Son team, Gary & Matt, were Team #1 on this leg.

Jessica & Garrett came in last place on this leg. I think this couple has a lot of problems and I’m not so sure that this helped them in their quest to determine whether or not they are marriage material.