Amazing Race: Crazy Hay

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Amazing Race
This is the Worst Thing I’ve Ever Done in My Life

This was the episode with the crazy hay bales that might have been the cruelest road block ever in the show. I thought it was interesting how many people still in the game hadn’t actually seen the previous season that it was in. I also found it funny that those that had seen the season with the task are the ones that let their team member do the task. They knew it was hard! Nice.

The teams left the pit stop in the following order:

  1. Sam & Dan – Gay Brothers – 9:33 pm
  2. Meghan & Cheyne – Tetherball – 9:48 pm
  3. Flight Time & Big Easy – Harlem Globetrotters – 10:32 pm
  4. Gary & Matt – Pinky & the Brain – 11:08 pm
  5. Brian & Ericka – IR Couple – 1:38 am

Clue: Fly to Stockholm, Sweden. After arriving, teams had to travel by train and ferry to Tivoli Grona Lund amusement park and find the tallest ride.

Airport Fun Times

The brothers arrived at the airport first as 12:15 am. They wandered around looking for a ticket counter that was opened. When Tetherball arrived, they saw the airport was deserted so started looking at the departure board. They found two flights leaving to Stockholm–6:55 am and 9:25 am. Tetherball ran into the brothers and told them what they found. Since nothing was opened, they both camped out at the ticket counter that opened at 5:30 am. Everyone else eventually showed up and joined them at the ticket counter to camp out.

The next day, Tetherball, the brothers and Globetrotters were able to get on the first flight, but by the time Pinky & the Brain were at the ticket counter, it was booked. They got on the later flight with IR Couple.

Stockholm

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At the airport, both the brothers and Tetherball ran to the train ticket machine to buy tickets while the Globetrotters ran down the escalators to the platform, saying they would buy tickets down there.  The Globetrotters were still figuring out the machine when the train they needed to get on left with the other two teams on it. After getting off the train, the two teams got on the ferry. The Globetrotters hadn’t shown up by the time the ferry left. The last two teams were finally boarding their flight to get to Sweden. While the first two teams were on the ferry, getting closer to the amusement park, the Globetrotters were finally able to get on the next train.They both got to the clue box inside the park around the same time, which was at the base of the Frit Fall ride.

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Clue: One team member from each team had to ride the Frit Fall. The team member had to look for the arrow pointing them to their next clue while at the top of the ride. It would only be visible for 15 seconds before plunging them down 24 stories in three seconds.

Cheyne and Sam decided to do it. They worked together to find the arrow. Sam found it. They both ran off in the direction of the arrow. Around that time, the Globetrotters were getting on the ferry to the park.

Clue: Teams had to play a game of Roaming Gnome Ring Toss. They would have to try to get rings on  a gnome hat. If it had a gnome underneath, they would be handed their gnome, which would have a Travelocity clue underneath it. They had to keep the gnome with them until they reached the pit stop.

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Dan tried first. After quite a few ring tosses, he finally made one and it had a gnome underneath it. Cheyne tried it and got a gnome on his first successful toss.  The next clue was a detour.

Detour: In Nobel Dynamite, teams had to fill sandbags to create a protective bunker in a rock quarry. Once they were protected, they would set off an enormous explosion, which will unearth a box containing their next clue. In Viking Alphabet, teams had to decode the ancient Viking alphabet. Once teams decoded the message “The Strong Viking,” they would get their next clue.

Both teams decided to blow things up. The Globetrotters arrived at the ride. Big Easy couldn’t ride it since he was too tall so it had to be Flight Time.  He found the arrow right away. Flight Time tried to do the ring toss, but didn’t get any with his group of rings. Then Big Easy got it right away, but there was no gnome under the hat. He got a gnome on the next one. They decided to blow things up too.

The last two teams arrived in Stockholm. IR Couple got on the train while Pinky & the Brain were still buying their tickets so they missed it. They got on the next train 15 minutes later so they got on the train when IR Couple were on the ferry. Ericka was going to ride the ride since Brian was afraid of heights. She saw the arrow right away. She also got the ring toss gnome right away too. They wanted to blow stuff up. Pinky & the Brain arrived at the park and Matt went on the ride. He saw the arrow on the first time too. Gary threw the rings and they got the gnome quickly. They were off to blow things up too.

Blowing Things Up

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While the first two teams were putting on their protective gear at the quarry, the Globetrotters caught up. While teams were using shovels to get the dirt in the sandbags, the brothers figured out it was quicker with their hands. Tetherball were arguing. Meghan said that it was more efficient if they were both working on the same bag while Cheyne said they were wasting time not working on two bags at the same time, which is what the other teams were doing. Meanwhile, the final two teams were lost getting to the detour. IR Couple found someone to lead the way for them while Pinky & the Brain were having an interesting time trying to say the Swedish street names back and forth to one another while reading  a map.

The brothers finished up their bags first and got the go ahead to blow up what they needed to. They ran over to their hole to see if they could find the metal box. They found it and their next clue.

Clue: Teams had to drive themselves to Bogs Gard Farm where they had to unroll huge bales of hay.

Oh no! That task was done in a previous season and probably the worst task ever! One team spent over 10 hours looking for a clue in the bales of hay. I feel so bad for the teams. Tetherball needed one more layer when the Globetrotters finished up. Tetherball thought they were finished, but they weren’t. They were also finding that their bags were falling so they had to get them situated. Then they were able to blow stuff up and they were off.

IR Couple arrived at the detour while Pinky & the Brain were still lost in some small city where they seemed to be driving in circles. The Globetrotters were lost trying to find the farm and the brothers found it first. They had to park and they were running quite a way following clue markers on poles. Tetherball arrived there next and were running to find the farm. The brothers found the clue box first, which was right next to the huge bales of hay. It was a road block.

Unruly Hay

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Road Block: Teams had to unroll up to 186 bales of hay looking for only one of seven race flags. The farm was also the pit stop for the leg of the race.

Sam went running up to the bales of hay. Dan was yelling at him to break the rope so he could unroll it. Sam didn’t believe him and told him to shut up, but he did do it. Then Dan told him that one season a team did it for 8 hours. Sam yelled back at him, “Why would you tell me that right now?” Dan thought he should have done it. Tetherball arrived at the road block. Meghan asked Cheyne if he wanted to do it or if he wanted her to do it. He didn’t say anything so obviously he wanted her to do it. She finally got the hint and did it. While Sam was telling Dan to quit talking to him and giving him “tips,” Meghan asked Cheyne to keep talking to her. The Globetrotters arrived and Big Easy did it since it was Flight Time’s birthday.

Back at the detour, IR Couple were hoping that they would finish up before the last team arrived. They had one more row to complete when Pinky & the Brain arrived. They blew up their hole and took off to the road block. Pinky & the Brain finished up soon after and were off to the farm.

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Dan was berating Sam while he was searching, which wasn’t helping anyone. Cheyne was encouraging Meghan while she was getting tired and Flight Time told Big Easy he had faith in him. IR Couple and Pinky & the Brain showed up around the same time. After unrolling one of them, Big Easy randomly kicked it while he adjusted his shirt and found one of the flags. That meant that their dream of coming in first place on Flight Time’s birthday came true!

Pit Stop

The Globetrotters checked in with Phil in first place. As the winners, they won a trip to some place I never heard of so I don’t know how to spell it either. They proceeded to skip about winning that leg.

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Back at the hale bays, Meghan and Sam were getting tired. The last two teams arrived at the clue box. Brian and Gary decided to do it. Meghan started crying since she had been at it for two hours. Sam was going to kill Dan since Dan’s encouragement was more accusatory than helpful. Meghan found one but instead of shouting for joy, she decided to surprise Cheyne. She went running up to him saying, “I can’t do anymore. I can’t do it.” Then she pulled the flag out of her pocket and ran it by his face, saying “Let’s go!” It took him a few seconds to realize what just happened and they were racing for the mat.

Brian found the next one so they checked in with mat in third place. Dan finally figured out that he should quit yelling at Sam. Maybe he would find one now! It was down between Sam and Gary to find the flag. Sam found it first. Dan’s reaction to seeing it was “Shut up! Shut up!” and Sam said he would race him to the mat. Dan started crying on the mat because he realized how horrible he was being to Sam while he was unrolling the hay.

Gary was still working on the hay for about two hours. He finally found a flag at almost three hours into it and checked in with Phil in last place. Thankfully, it was a non-elimination leg! I thought it would be cruel to eliminate someone after all of that. They would have to complete an extra task in the next leg for coming in last place.

The order teams arrived at the pit stop:

  1. Big Easy & Flight Time – Harlem Globetrotters
  2. Meghan & Cheyne – Tetherball
  3. Brian & Ericka – IR Couple
  4. Sam & Dan – Gay Brothers
  5. Gary & Matt – Pinky & the Brain

Questions

  1. Could you believe they brought the hay bale task back and still kept it a road block?
  2. Are you glad it was a non-elimination leg or do you wish that one of the teams had been sent home?
  3. What do you think about Dan and his yelling? Did he redeem himself when he apologized at the end?

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