Amazing Race: Learn to Read

Teams were thrown for a loop when they found out this leg would be a double elimination. One team even said they wondered what other twists were coming their way. Too bad they didn’t pay attention when one did and tripped them up.  Teams were supposed to give all the money on them to an orphanage but it wasn’t the most obvious clue in the world that they were supposed to do that. It cost almost all the teams extra time and really benefited those that can read. But before we move onto the recap, let’s ponder the lack of safety on the trains in Indonesia….

The teams had to fly off to Jakarta, Indonesia. I found it interesting that the teams had no clue if the farmers had been eliminated or not. I know way back in the first few seasons, the teams used to talk in between legs, but now they keep them all separated. I guess I didn’t know they weren’t even told who was eliminated until now. They were surprised when they saw them show up, but they weren’t sad about having another team. Since they learned there would be a double elimination at the end of the day, teams were happy there was someone else there that could possibly be one of the eliminated teams.

Everyone ended up on the same plane trip to Indonesia and then everyone got on the same train to Yogyakarta, Indonesia. While waiting for the train to show up, the brother and sister team started arguing about nothing. It was pretty ridiculous and made me root for them to get eliminated soon.

Spelunking

After the train trip, the teams went to the Goa Jomblang Cave. It was a roadblock. One team member had to spelunk down into the cave to pick up a tribal mask and dagger. Then, the team member had to climb up a big ladder to get out of the cave. The farmers ended up at the roadblock first, but they ran into their Speedbump. They had to untangle a knotted rope. Bill called it like a huge mess of Christmas lights.

While they were untangling that the Control Freak and Twins get in front of them. When Marcus showed up, he decided to do the task, but he had no idea what spelunking meant. After getting down into the caves, Bill managed to pass up the Control Freak and one of the twins since the bamboo ladder was really meant for people with longer legs so he moved up it faster than they could.

The rest of the teams came and went through the roadblock, leaving the last three teams to be the flight attendants, showgirls and father/son team. No skill really got another team in front of the other one. It was just the order of the taxis and they were all doing it around the same time. The flight attendants end up being the very last one to leave, but it was just behind the other two. One of them was ready to give up the race thinking that the leg was over, but they just started! A leg doesn’t start and end with a road block. Have they never watched the show before?

Freaky Masks Everywhere

The next task was a detour where the teams could dress in goofy outfits and dance for tips on the streets of Indonesia or they could be valets and park scooters for tips. At the end of each detour, the teams had to go to an orphanage and give all their money to the orphans. The clue makes it sound like you just give the tips they have earned during the task, but there is a sign on the table at the orphanage that said they had to give all the money they had on them to the orphanage. Tricky! You know some teams are going to fall for not reading.

The first three teams to leave the roadblock were the twins, farmers and control freak. The twins got to their dancing detour first while the other two teams went to park scooters. The farmers were a bit slower about it since they stood in the middle of the area trying to get people to come part their scooters while control freaks stoop up ahead of them a bit so they were the first group that people saw. The snowboarders and brother and sister team showed up next to park scooters. The control freaks were the first team to finish the detour task so they headed off to the orphanage. The NFL and dating divorcees did some freaky dancing. While dancing, Marcus said he had the kind of tips that jingles but he needed the kind that folds. The twins and farmers finished up their tasks around the time that Survivor showed up to start dancing.

Teams started to show up at the orphanage to turn in their money. The control freaks, twins and farmers did not turn in all their money. They didn’t notice the sign. The snowboarders were the first team to show up to the orphanage and read the sign so they gave them all their money. After turning in their money, teams had to head to the pit stop. The control freaks were the first ones to check in, but were not happy when Phil told them that they did something wrong. Cindy started crying on the run back to the orphanage and looked like she was on the verge of a mental breakdown. The snowboarders were funny when they left the orphanage. One of them asked if they should walk or take a taxi before he remembered that they had no money so walking was the only choice!

Back at the detour, other teams had finished and moved on when Survivor finished dancing. When they found a cab and got in, Ethan realized they didn’t have their clue. They freaked out a bit but went back to find it where they dropped it and then headed on their way. All the teams had finished the detour tasks and the only teams that gave the orphanage all their money on the first try besides the snowboarders were the father/son and showgirls. No one else noticed the sign. While running towards the pit stop the first time, Jennifer from the brother/sister team would not run. Justin tried to get her to do it and she was yelling that she was going to pass out if she did. Unfortunately, they did not show her freak out after Phil told her they had to go back to turn in all their money before they were checked in.

Trickery

That little trick with the money really affected the outcome of the game so I enjoyed it! It didn’t take physical strength or a lot of knowledge. It just was based on if people kept their wits about them and observed everything around them. Due to that, the first team to be officially checked into the pit stop was the snowboarders. They won a trip to Ireland. The next two teams were the father/son and showgirls. What was funny was that the showgirls would have been in 10th place without that little twist.

The middle of the pack teams to check in with Phil after going back to the orphanage were the twins, dating divorcees, farmers, brother/sister and NFL team. They were the last of the teams to keep racing in the next leg. That meant that both the Survivor and flight attendants were eliminated. If Survivor hadn’t dropped their clue or if they had read the sign the first time at the orphanage, they would have still been in the race. It looked to be pretty close with everyone checking into the pit stop so there wasn’t a lot of time between the last two teams and the rest of them. The NFL team did seem to check in just before the Survivor team so either not dropping the clue or reading the money sign could have kept them in the game. I’m not too sad about Survivor leaving but I did like the flight attendants. They were last the entire leg, but they probably would have come in before the NFL team if they had given all their money to the orphanage. I don’t think I would have wanted to lose the NFL team on the race though. I would have much rather had the brother/sister team go out of any other team.

Questions

  1. Do you think the Speedbump in this episode and the Hazard in the first episode were a bit too easy? Were there harder tasks that other teams had to complete in the past? Some Fast Forward tasks have been harder and I think that a Speedbump should go along that same level of difficulty.
  2. Did you enjoy the trick at the orphanage that really messed up a lot of teams? The sign did have a red border around it, but do you think it should have been red and yellow like other race markers? Or do you think people still would have missed the sign?
  3. Were you sad about the two teams eliminated? Do you wish another team or teams left instead?

Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.