Haven In Hell – NightHeaven's Blog

This week, teams are still in Dubai, seems the producers wanted the world to have a more thorough look at it. First stop, the Dubai Creek Yacht Club, where a Roadblock awaits. Meghan and Cheyne are the first to depart, more than one hour prior to the second team. Considering that they did the Fast Forward last leg, it’s not much time that they’ve saved. For this task, one member has to row to an anchored yacht offshore to ge a watch, then row back and open the suitcase (they are asked to bring) with a combination based on the watch.

The watch is stuck at 8:35, and almost everyone figure the answer out right away, except Big Easy. Even Mika and Canaan pass the Globetrotters, though they leave the start nearly one hour after them.

The clue inside the briefcase tells them to go to the Abra station, to take water taxis to the next stop they choose. Yes, a detour: Gold or Glass. In Gold, teams have to weigh in $500000 worth of gold, while the price of gold is changing every few minutes. In glass, teams have to assemble 12 hookahs. To me, the hookahs task seems to be more complicated.

And I’m right, it takes each team about 1-2 hours to finish them all. Brian and Ericka try the Gold task first, but soon switch to Glass because they couldn’t outpace the speed of the price change. On the other hand, Maria and Tiffany, with the calculator they borrow from Sam and Dan, finish the task (together with Sam and Dan) with only two tries, gaining them quite a lot of time ahead of the other teams.

Meanwhile, Meghan and Cheyne assemble their hookahs without much trouble, but everyone else’s been struggling a lot. Eventually, Brian and Ericka, followed by Gary and Matt, finish them. The Globetrotters then decide to switch, leaving Mika and Canaan striving under the hot sun.

Next stop, the Atlantis Resort, where they must each slide down the Leap of Faith, a six-story water slide that’s almost 90 degree. Meghan and Cheyne are first to arrive, followed by Maria and Tiffany, Sam and Dan, Brian and Ericka and Gary and Matt. Then come Mika and Canaan.

We are all very well-known of Mika’s fear of heights, but you’d never think that it would cost them one million dollars. She’s standing at the top of the slide refusing to do the task, even when Canaan tries to threat her. The Globetrotters arrive not long after, and they are giving a two-minute warning. But after Flight Time and Big Easy trash talk to her, Mika lets it expire. (Seriously, if I am the Globetrotters’ boss, I’d fire them for that. Where the hell’s your sportsmanship? NBA doesn’t need such piece of crap to perform for them!) Knowing that they are the last team, Canaan slide down alone. And Mika gives up the task at last.

The teams finished as follows:

1st: Meghan and Cheyne

2nd: Maria and Tiffany

3rd: Sam and Dan

4th: Brian and Ericka

5th: Gary and Matt

6th: Flight Time and Big Easy

7th: Mika and Canaan

Mika and Canaan are eliminated.

The teams are told to fly to the Persian Gulf, but they have to figure out where the world’s tallest building is for the exact city that they need to go. Most of them go straight to the airport while some of them go to Internet Cafe first.

Sam and Dan thinks the Persian Gulf is a country, because they kept referring to it, but don’t know what it is. Canaan is making fun of Mika’s fear of heights on their way to the airport, and gets a icy glare back. Lance and Keri begin to meltdown as well. When they try to book ticket via Internet, the filght fills up. Keri says it’s a glitch, while Lance just blames Keri for the fault.

Brian and Ericka is the only team that knows where the building is, it’s in Dubai. Brian tells everyone in the airport where they’re going. He is really kind, but this is a race, if you come in last, you still lose. Eventually everone’s on the same flight to Dubai.

Their first task in Dubai turns out to be doing nothing. Teams are divided into two groups, and go up to the top of the building one after another one. There, they get their clues and are told to go back down to the parking lot. Lame!

Inside the clue, there’s also the only one Fast Forward of the season. Meghan and Cheyne decide to go for it, while other teams think it’s too risky to compete with another team. The two head to an race track where one of them has to drive a F3 racing car and complete a lap around the track in less than 45 seconds. The track’s very straight forward one, Cheyne has no trouble in completing it. The two then head to the Pit Stop in a Maserati, and arrive first.

Next up for the other teams is a Roadblock, one member of each team has to wander around the desert (which is very hot) to find urns buried in the sand containing water, then fill their bags.

Sam’s paddle breaks, and Maria lends him hers. Then soon after they are leaving the Roadblock, Maria and Tiffany skewered their car tire on a spike. Sam and Dan stay with them to wait for the replacement car. How sweet of them, but I wonder Maria and Tiffany would do the same if Sam and Dan were in this situation.

Mika and Canaan are lost on their way to the Roadblock, Brian is kindly to tell them where to go when he sees them. Canaan gets another glare from Mika when he says he couldn’t handle the heat, then he reluctantly says he could right after she looked at him.

Lance’s dramatics make them fall farther and farther behind the other teams. They arrive at the Roadblock just right before Canaan finishes filling his bag. Lance smashes every urn he finds on the ground.

The teams then go to Ski Dubai, from hot to cold, for the Detour. The choice: Build a Snowman or Find a Snowman. In Build a Snowman, teams have to build a snowman outside (where it’s 120 degrees) to the attendant’s satisfaction before the snow melted. In Find a Snowman, teams have to take the ski lift up to the top, then sled down the artificial mountain and looking through large piles of snow for a tiny snowman toy. Almost every team choose Find a Snowman first. But not all of them are lucky, except Brian and Ericka, Flight Time and Big Easy. Eventually, the other teams lose their patiences and go to do Build a Snowman. Lance, after finishing the task, wants to kick the snowman they build. His temper sure has gone up to quite high a point at that moment, because they are behind the other teams the whole leg.

The teams arrive at the Pit Stop in the following order:
1st: Meghan and Cheyne
2nd: Brian and Ericka
3rd: Flight Time and Big Easy
4th: Gary and Matt
5th: Sam and Dan
6th: Maria and Tiffany
7th: Mika and Canaan
8th: Lance and Keri

Lance and Keri are eliminited from the race.

After twelve hours’ rest, all teams learn that their next stop is Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The first flight leave at 12:45, while the second’s about two hours later. All teams get their tickets for the first flight, except Zev and Justin and Lance and Keri. But at the last minute, they manage to get on the first flight. So all teams are even again.

They are asked to go to the Foreign Correspondents’s club, and ask their editor for their next ASSIGNMENT. They are given a black and white picture of a woman and are told to find a suite named after her. The woman is Jacqueline Kennedy, but many of the teams could not recognize her. Some even thought she might be Queen Elizabeth.

After asking around, they learn the suite is in the Hotel Royal. Here, teams face a detour, cover or wrap. In cover, teams have to sell four motorcycle helmets to a family of four. While in wrap, teams have to go to the Russian Market, and find a scarf seller who’s wearing the scarf of the same color that each team have. Only Lance and Keri choose cover, other teams all set up for the market. (I’d think that selling four helmet for 10 dollars is a much easier job, and it proves to be. )

The next clue leads them to Wat Tul Tom Pong and a Roadblock awaits them. One member must try to act like a monkey, to perform three monkey moves successfully. Zev and Justin and Sam and Dan are neck and neck at this point, but Sam and Dan manage to finish first, and moving ahead.

Then it’s time to head to the pit stop, Wat Phnom, a Buddhist temple. Zev and Justin go by taxi, which giving them quite an advantage, and they arrive first. However, after checking in, they find out Zev’s passport is missing. According to the rules, any team can not move on the race if they don’t have passport, thus will be eliminated. Throughout the whole episode, I don’t get to see that they have dropped anything on the road. So I’m as confused as them where could they lose that passport. Anyway, after going over all their staff, they call their taxi driver and start their search.

So the teams that finish from 1 to 7 are as follows, Sam and Dan, Flight Time and Big Easy, Brian and Ericka, Gary and Matt, Meghan and Cheyne, Lance and Keri, Mika and Canaan.

Tiffany and Maria are the last team to check in, however, as Zev and Justin are still out there searching for the missing passport, they are saved, again. (Three times’ a charm, let’s see if they will be lucky a third time. )

So, in this shocking turn of misfortune, Zev and Justin are eliminated. It’s really sad to see them go, I believe they have a very good chance of winning this race. But that’s life, you never know what’s in store next.