Haven In Hell - NightHeaven's Blog » season-15

The Amazing Race 15: Finale Recap

Nightheaven — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:49:12 +0000

So this is it, the final leg of the race, the winner will get $1 million.

The first clue tells the teams to fly to Vegas and go to a wedding chapel on the strip, where they’ll get their next clue from an Elvis impersonator. It’s obvious that all teams will end up on the same flight, so everyone’s back to the biginning line.

It’s only when Brian and Ericka arrive at the airport that we know the other two teams don’t know they are the third team. Interesting, wonder how the production team has kept all of them in the dark. Anyway, Ericka’s very excited, saying “When I see that finish line…I’m just gonna run like I don’t have any common sense in my brain.”

If we judge from previous legs’ results, Meghan and Cheyne are the couple to win, but anything could happen.

All teams get to the chapel at the same time, while they have to wait to sing “Amazing Grace” with the fake Elvis to a newlywed.

The next stop is the Mandalay Bay hotel, a Roadblock, where one member must rappel 600 feet down the side of the hotel face-first. Meghan and Cheyne arrive first, but Cheyne is caught up and beaten by Ericka. Sam and Dan’s taxi gets lost and they are falling hehind. However Sam’s quick rappelling has made up some grounds for them.

Now the race is getting a bit different than previous legs, the clues they get don’t tell them exactly the place to go. First clue, : “This desert only has one mirage.” Not a hard one for all the teams, everyone makes their way easily. They then have to join the cast of “Love”, the Beatles-based Cirque du Soleil show, and launch one harnessed member high enough in the air so that he/she can grab a suspended bouquet of flowers.

Brian and Ericka are the first team to arrive, however the task seems not that easy for them. Ericka’s tension tightens after a couple of fails. Then, Meghan and Cheyne show up, making her much more nerve-racking. Her motion gets worse when Sam and Dan get there. Ericka starts kicking at Brian every time she comes down with failure. Soon, she ask Brian to switch, but he doesn’t. Ericka’s response, “Don’t piss me off, now!” So they switch, only to get things worse.

Meanwhile, Meghan and Cheyne and Sam and Dan get their flower within this time frame. The next clue, “Go to the most popular casino in Monaco.” Both teams don’t what it is. So it takes them some time to figure out where they should go.

Meghan and Cheyne’s taxi driver thinks that it should be the Venetian, though they doubt it’s true, they go anyway. Sam and Dan’s driver doesn’t know what it is. So they end up following Meghan and Cheyne’s taxi at first. But they soon find out they should go to Monte Carlo after asking people through phones. Good job.

Brian and Ericka finally finish their task, they know where to go right away.

Sam and Dan get to the poker room of the Monte Carlo first, their task, to count out $1 million in poker chips. (Oh, I really wish the poker girls are here!) Brian and Ericka are next, while Meghan and Cheyne are the last to arrive. The never-stop-arguing Sam and Dan make slow progress, Ericka’s still emotional.

All teams submit their chips almost at the same time. But it’s Meghan and Cheyne who get it right with their first try. The other two teams pay their price, they have to retry.

Next clue, they have to find Mr. Las Vegas. This is a easy one, as every taxi drivers know who he is.

While the other two teams are strugglling to find out what they did wrong, Meghan and Cheyne walk in to the Suite in the MGM Grand and find Wayne Newton (aka Mr. Las Vegas). They are told to go to his house to find the finish line. By the time they get down and hop in their taxi, Sam and Dan just arrive. They don’t recognize Wayne Newton when they see him, and they say it to his face.

Meghan and Cheyne’s taxi driver take them to the ranch, but they don’t know which gate is the correct one. It looks like Sam and Dan are catching up with them (thanks to the editors). But then we see all the teams line up at the finish line, and it’s Meghan and Cheyne that arrive first. Sam and Dan are second, while Brian and Ericka thrid.

That’s all for this season. Until next race!

The Amazing Race 15: Episode 11 Recap

Nightheaven — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:47:40 +0000

All teams are still in Prague for this leg, which is a bit disadvantage to Brian and Ericka, as they have to do a speed bump.

Meghan and Cheyne are the first team to set out. They are asked to go to a museum, which has a room filled with ringing phones. A Roadblock. In this Roadblock, one teammate has to pick up phones which have a person on the other end, and there are only five phones that are correct. Each time they will receive a letter when they pick up the right phone. After the team member gets five letters, he will have to unscramble them into “Franz”, which stands for Franz Kafka, a Czech author.

Meghan solves the word with only a few tries, making her team quickly leave the museum, just right before Sam and Dan arrive. The Globetrotters get to the museum shortly after. Big Easy finds out Dan is struggling to unscramble the word, he offer to work together and Dan agrees.

Meanwhile, Meghan and Cheyne has reached their next clue, a cryogenic chamber. Teams must spend two minutes in the space’s giant freezer, which reaches -180 degrees, in just their underwear. No cameras or microphones in the freezer, so we don’t know what’s happening inside.

While Dan and Big Easy are still trying to solve the word, Brian and Ericka begins their Speed Bump. They have to go to a local pub to learn how to make a shot of absinthe, then drink it. Brian doesn’t drink alcohol, but he still manages to drink it up.

By then, Meghan and Cheyne are out of the freezer and head to their next destination, Charles Bridge.

Dan finally gets the answer right. But when Big Easy asks him the answer, he tells him the first letter only. Not a good karma for Dan to do that, but I do think the Globetrotters derserve it after they trash talked to Mika and making her give up the task.

Brian and Ericka arrive right after Dan and Sam leaves.

Meghan and Cheyne get to the Charles Bridge and meet the Detour: Legend or Lager. In Legend, teams have to build a golem. They have to put clay on a hay frame, then transport the statue down the street to the synagogue for examination. In Lager, teams have to deliver 30 glasses of beer on foot using only a serving platter to a local pub full of football fans.

Meghan and Cheyne go for the Legend, as they start to build the golem, Sam and Dan just enter the freezer.

On the other side, Brian gets the five letters and starts to anagram them on a paper. While Big Easy is still struggling. Is it really that hard to get five letters into logical combinations? No. There is less than 100 combinations, (with the first word given, it’s down to dozens only,) even a ten year old child could figure it out within an hour.

Meghan and Cheyne build their golem very fast, at this point, I don’t think any team will catch up with them. While Sam and Dan just head for the bridge. Brian picks out one of his combinations that he thinks make sense, and gets their next clue. Big Easy gives up the task frustratingly, and they take a four-hour penalty. I doubt he will figure out the word with another four hours.

Sam and Dan start building their golem, while Brian and Ericka go into the freezer. On the other hand, Meghan and cheyne are having trouble getting their golem to the synagogue. Cheyne keeps complaining how heavy the golem is, which makes him look weaker.

Dan knocks their statue over when building, breaking its arm. But they keep on and finish it. Right after they get the golem down the street, the two start arguing like non-stop.

Brian and Ericka reach the bridge and pick Lager, because Brian used to be a server. But they shatter most of their beers on their first trip. I’d fire Brian if he’s working for me, lol.

Meghan and Cheyne head for the pit stop, while Sam and Dan keep on yelling and arguing with each other. Lucky for them, the synagogue accepts their golem with the broken arm.

Brian and Ericka are having big issue too, all drunk people on their way try to get their beers and one lady succeeds, making them quite pissed.

Meghan and Cheyne are the first team to check in, Sam and Dan the second.

Brian and Ericka manage to finish their task and check in third. When Big Easy and Flight Time finally make to the freezer, they only get a clue asking them to go to the pit stop, where they are eliminated.

The Amazing Race 15: Episode 10 Recap

Nightheaven — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:58:18 +0000

The first stop for this leg of the race is Prague, Czech Republic, teams have to find a vintage Praga (a old car). Apparently, no one knows what a Praga is, so they are all left in the dark. After arriving at the airport, Meghan and Cheyne and the Globetrotters both check up on the Internet and find out the Praga is a car, but they keep it a secret. Everyone’s on board the same flight, so they are back to the same pace.

Brian and Ericka decide to take a bus because they were told on the plane that it would be faster. Seriously, taking taxi is slower than bus? Well, if the taxi driver takes you on some detours. Anyway, they are left far behind by the other teams.

Sam and Dan’s taxi arrives right after Meghan and Cheyne’s, they see Meghan and Cheyne are running for the car and follow them, saving them time. The Globetrotters are just right behind them. While Brian and Ericka’s bus is stuck with traffic jam.

All teams are now asked to head to Kayaky Troja, where they face the Detour: Fast and Furious or Hangman. In Fast and Furious, teams have to kayak across a whitewater rafting course while getting a clue on the way. If their kayak tips over, they will have to get back to the start of the course and do it all over again. In Hangman, teams have to travel along a hanging ropes course directly over the rapids.

Sam and Dan choose Fast and Furious first, while the others all opt for the Hangman. Both tasks are not easy, but the kayak is much tougher for Sam and Dan. Each of them tries to get control and fails miserable. After a few failed attempts, they decide to switch. By then, Meghan and Cheyne have already finish, and the Globetrotters are right at the finish line. Even worse, Brian and Ericka just arrive.

The next clue they get is two ribbons with words inscribed on them, teams have to figure out the place they are going is Estades Theatre. Meghan asks the Globetrotters to follow them to take the train, but Cheyne ditched them when he saw a taxi, making Meghan quite mad at him.

Sam and Dan finish the detour ahead of Brian and Ericka, they starts to bargaining with Brian and Ericka’s cab driver to take them instead. Brian tries to fight back, but fails, game on!

Next task is a Roadblock, each one has to search an 800-seat theatre for a mini-mandolin and present it to the man who was on stage singing opera. There are also many big instuments and empty mandolin cases hidden around. Patience is the key.

Cheyne finds the first one, and Meghan and him check in first again, winning a trip to Lanai, Hawaii. Dan finds the second one, and they leave the theatre right when Brian and Ericka arrive. Feeling guilty, they dare not look at Brian and Ericka. Big Easy finds the thrid one, and they almost beat Sam and Dan on their foot race to the pit stop (again).

Brian and Ericka finish fourth, but good news is that they are guarded by an angel, this is a non-elimination leg. So they are safe. And next week is the last chance for all the teams to get their shots at winning $ 1 million.

The Amazing Race 15: Episode 9 Recap

Nightheaven — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:30:15 +0000

Firstly, we were fooled by the producers to believe that all teams had finished the hay bales task very close. (Well, except Gary and Matt). It turns out that the first team, Flight Time and Big Easy, is indeed almost two hours ahead of the second team. And Gary and Matt is four hours behind.

The first team leaves at dawn, so the time gap is not going to matter that much. And indeed it doesn’t matter at all. Their next stop is Tallinn, Estonia, which they have to take a ferry to. There’s only one ferry a day, and it leaves at 5:45 pm. All teams are on the same board again.

Once they arrive in Tallinn, teams are instructed to find the secret cave of the Brotherhood of the Blackheads, a secret society of merchants. (Now that it is revealed to the world, there is no secret any more.)

Teams have to find a key to open the door when they reach the building. There is a loud alarm when the door open. (I wonder why no one call the police, lol.) Once inside, teams encounter a Roadblock. One member of each team has to go into the cellar and find a candelabra with a room number on it. Then they’ll find an empty scroll when they go into that room, and they have to use the scroll to find their next clue. The twist, the scroll has to burn a little to reveal the words on it, because it’s written in invisible ink.

Cheyne quickly finds out what the secret of the scroll is, and he and Meghan leaves the building quite ahead of the others. Everyone else is struggling, Flight Time even tries to use a crayon to decode the scroll. Meanwhile, Gary and Matt head off for their Speed Bump, they have to find a sauna bus and take a five-minute sauna. Sounds more like a reward than punishment. What’s more, there is a nice-looking, blonde, attentive Estonian girl sitting with them. What a reward. After the Speed Bump, Matt takes the Roadblock task. But it takes him sometime to figure out what is a candelabra. And he does not get all the message written on the scroll.

The next stop is Pik Hermann Tower Garden, where they find a clue to their Detour: Spike or Sling. In Spike, teams have to play volleyball in the muddy swaps of Estonia (I really don’t know they are famous for this, sorry). They may proceed once they manage to score five points. In Sling, teams have to throw fruits at a moose sign. Once they hit the sign hard enough, the table with melons on it will collapse, giving them their next clue.

It’s very clear at this moment that Gary and Matt are quite left behind. They are running around the tower to search for their clue, because Matt didn’t get all the message. Later, the driver of their taxi tries to help them by calling his friend, who has Meghan and Cheyne as passengers, to slow down, but fails.

Meghan and Cheyne picks up Spike, and finish it with ease. They earn a sauna after they check in first.

The other three teams arrive at the same time, and all want to play the volleyball. But Brian and Ericka have to do Sling instead, because only two courts available. Both Sam and Dan and the Globetrotters are having troubles, though they get through eventually. The Globetrotters finish right ahead of Sam and Dan, but they take the wrong direction, making Sam and Dan in the lead for the pit stop. The Globetrotters try to out-run Sam and Dan, resulting in Dan and Big Easy taking a tumble, and are edged out by them. (Both teams exchange words in the course, tension between them is quite high now. ) Brian and Ericka arrive fourth.

Then we see Gary and Matt arrive at the Detour in last place, and do the task lonely. They are the last team to check in, and have been eliminated. Sad, but they messed up themselves.

Next week, if I have it right, should be the last non-elimination leg of this race, let’s see.

The Amazing Race 15: Episode 7 Recap

Nightheaven — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:00:27 +0000

Sam and Dan are first team to set off, their next stop, Stockholm, Sweden. At first, it looks like everyone’s on the same boat again, as all teams have to wait for the ticket counter to open at 5:30. However, Gary and Matt and Brian and Ericka are a bit slow to get in line, and couldn’t get on the first flight. They are more than one hour behind the other three teams.

When they get to Stockholm, they then have to get on a train and a ferry to get to their first location, a theme park. The automated ticket booths in the train station seem to not function well, every team’s taking some time. Flight Time and Big Easy are held back for about 15 minutes. So is Gary and Matt.

At the theme park, one member has to brave the Frit Fall, a tall drop tower. On their way to the top, they are given 15 seconds to look for an arrow poiting to their next clue box. Then they’ll spend the next few seconds plummeting to the ground.

Sam and Cheyne work together and find the arrow quickly, Flight Time also has no trouble at all. Next task is a ring-tossing booth inside the park, each team gets the Travelocity gnome that they have to bring to the Pit Stop.

Next up, is the Detour: Nobel Dynamite or Viking Alphabet. In Nobel Dynamite, teams have to go to a rock quarry and build themselves a bunker so they can explode dynamite while hiding in a safe spot. In Viking Alphabet, teams have to decipher a message on a runestone in Ancient Nordic for their next clue.

All the teams choose to blow something up, who wants to take their precious time in eciphering? Bad arrangement for the producers. (I’d really like to see how the decipher goes, damn.)

Sam and Dan and Meghan and Cheyne both arrive at the quarry at the same time, the Globetrotters catch up with them not long after. Though nervous to get caught up, Sam and Dan manage to finish first. Meghan and Cheyne struggle to fill all the sand bags, and are passed by the Globetrotters. Brian and Ericka are next, but Ericka’s not wanting to get her hands dirty cost them some time. Gary and Matt, after wandered around for a while, reach the quarry at last, and they manage to fill the sand bag quickly, saving them times.

The next task is a switch back of Season 6′s Roadblock, one member of each team has to search for one of 7 flags hidden in 168 hay bales. In Season 6, Lena and Kristy spent 8 hours and found nothing.

Sam and Dan are the first to start this exhausting task, and soon they begin to break down. Sam’s unrolling the hay bales, while Dan tries to control him of doing the right thing he believes. Results? Yellings and fingers. Cheyne doesn’t want to do the task, which pisses Meghan a bit, and soon we finds she’s in an emotional state.

It’s someone’s B-day, so the Globetrotters are really lucky to find the flag after a few tries. And they check in first.

On the field, Sam and Dan are getting more mad at each other. The arrive of Brian and Ericka and Gary and Matt makes the situation worsen. The pressure’s on.

Meghan finds the flag next, followed by Brian. Then, after yelling at each other for hours, Sam finally finds the flag. Dan appologize to Sam later.

Gary and Matt check in last, but this is a non-elimination leg, they are safe. Next week, they’ll face a Speed Bump though.

The Amazing Race 15: Episode 6 Recap

Nightheaven — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:49:03 +0000

This week, teams are leaving the Palm, which turns out to be man-made island larger than 800 football fields. Their next stop, Amsterdam. Since it’s a very long flight, everyone ends up on the same plane.

At the airport, while waiting for the plane, Sam and Dan reveals that they are gay, which does not surprise everyone that much. Ericka’s the only one flipped out about this truth.

Teams have to find Afsluitdijk and get to a monument when they arrive in Amsterdam. Everyone gets there at almost the same time, except Brian and Ericka, Brian could not figure out how to turn their car’s engine on.

Then teams drive to Groningen, for the Roadblock. They have to going up a bell tower and count how many bells are in this carillon. It’s very dark and the player keeps ringing the bells, making it hard for them to count. Meghan and Dan work together and they count the right number. Dan tells Tiffany the number on his way down, so she literally doing nothing on this task. (I’m a bit concerned about this being cheating or not though). Everyone finishes the task without much difficulties, except Ericka. She count the right number on the forth try, which making them quite left behind.

Next is a Detour in Vierhauzen, Farmer’s Game or Farmer’s Dance. In Farmer’s Game, teams have to play three holes of farmer’s golf, which is just golf with a huge golf ball and a club with a clog. There is a twist though, they have to finish each hole in 8 strikes. In Farmer’s Dance, teams have to first hit the bell on top of a high-striker, then learn a traditional Dutch fold dance. If the trainer is satisfied with their performance, they’ll have to eat a herrings before they get the clue. In both ways, they all have to put on Dutch costumes.

Meghan and Cheyne and Sam and Dan both go for the golf, only then they find out it’s harder than they thought. It take them sometime to learn how to strike the ball, and the windy conditions make it harder for them to hit the ball to the right direction. Sam and Dan learn it much faster, and they finish it first. They win a dune buggy for this leg. Meghan and Cheyne are right after them.

Gary and Matt go to the dance first, but when they find out they have to eat fish, they swith. Because Matt doesn’t eat. Meanwhile, Flight Time and Big Easy finish the dance easily and take up the time that Gary and Matt left, they finish third.

Maria and Tiffany, who are the third to arrive at the detour, are having big troubles of finishing the tasks. They first go for the dance, but fail to hit the high-striker for dozens of tries. Then they switch to the game, only to find out it’s much much worse. They go back to the dance again, however, after almost 50 tries, they still can’t hit the high-striker. Switching again, still struggling. (Quite a lot of bad moves here, they should have stick to the dance and try hit the high-striker harder. There at some point Tiffany almost gets it, so they should have got past it if they keep on trying.)

In the meantime, Brian and Ericka catch up to them, they go for the dance and finish it with ease. Though they have to take a 30-minute penalty because they did not take the bikes to the detour, they are still number five.

Maria and Tiffany, after struggling in the windy and cold weather, decides to quit the race. Another dumb move, what if this is a non-elimination leg? (I am 90% confident that it is. ) Anyway, the only all female team of this season is eliminated.

The Amazing Race 15: Episode 4 Recap

Nightheaven — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:51:07 +0000

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.

The Amazing Race 15: Episode 3 Recap

Nightheaven — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 17:06:35 +0000

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.

The Amazing Race 15: Episode 2 Recap

Nightheaven — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 16:48:16 +0000

All teams set out from the Mekong Delta on moving boat, on the way to find a puppet theather in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. All teams try to find taxis except Lance and Keri, they just run around trying to find the theater as they think they’re in Ho Chi Minh City. My doubt of Lance being a lawer grows much higher now. Has he won any case?

Flight Time and Big Easy are the first to reach the theatre, where they have to pull small clues from the mouths of dragon puppets, darting back and forth in the water. There is a bullet in each clue, containing a stamp of a building, their next stop. Each team has their own creative way of getting the clues, teasing with the puppet, attacking it, etc. And everyone quickly finds the stamps inside the bullets, except Lance and Kerri, again. They wasted time going around asking for clues.

The building’s a post office, where they find their first detour: Child’s play or Wor Play. In Child Play, teams have to move a animal figurine from one side of the park to the other, gathering five balloons on the way. For Word Play, teams have to go to the top of a hotel and look down on the busy crossroad, searching for six letters on various transportations going around it. Then they’ll have to unscramble the letters to form “doc lap”, a Vietnamese word for “independence”.

Everyone opts for Child Play, only Marcy and Ron go for the Word Play.

Sam and Dan try to help Maria and Tiffany when they hit a snag with their dolly, nice guys. Though Maria and Tiffany ask them to move on without them, good competitors. Zev and Justin chooe the giraffe statue, the largest of all, and end up smashing it. Lance, loses one of the balloons, almost loses his emotions as well. Marcy and Ron are doing quite well at first, then they have some trouble getting the last letter. By the time they get all six letters, most of the other teams have left the park for their next stop. Instead of asking the locals, they try to unscramble the letters by themselves, thinking the word could be on a sign nearby.

The clue they get after finishing the detour lead the teams to a chop shop at a busy intersection, there a Roadblock awaiting. Each team is given 2 VCRs, they have to break it down and sort the parts into piles. Flight Time and Big Easy, Meghan and Cheyne are the first two teams to arrive and get to work neck and neck. Back to Marcy and Ron, they are still looking around all the signs with the word on it, to no avail. Finally, a local helps them decode the word. By then the two first two team at the Roadblock already finish their chopping and heading for Reunification Palace, the pit stop.

One after another, teams reach the chop shop, and no one seems to beat others in the process. Lance and Kerri are still quarelling which way to go, and they become the second last team to arrive. However, Lance decides to simply rip the VCRs with his hands, tearing every pieces out, which make them catch up a lot of time. Meanwhile, Marcy and Ron are still on the way. While Flight Time and Big Easy and Meghan and Cheyne are neck and neck on their way to the pit stop, Flight Time and Big Easy outrun the couple by a few seconds, earning them a first place of this leg and a trip to Aruba. Other teams finish the leg by the following order, Mike and Gary, Brian and Ericka, Sam and Dan, Maria and Tiffany, Mika and Canaan.

Marcy and Ron get to the Roadblock after both lance and Kerri and Zev and Justin leave. It’s another footrace between the two teams, and Zev and Justin win. Good news is both teams are safe. Marcy and Ron are the last team to arrive, and they are eliminated from the race. It’s a pity to see them go, I think they have the potential of going far in the race, the detour eats up too much of their time. Anyway, best wishes to them.

The Amazing Race 15: Episode 1 Recap

Nightheaven — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:25:40 +0000

The Emmy-winning (seven times in a row) reality show, the Amazing Race is back for its fifteenth season. This is the first time that we saw an interracial couple in this show, and two professional poker players.

And the show began with a big twist! One team will be eliminated right before they start to travel around the world. The teams are given a task to find a license plate with the name from their first stop in Japan. It take some of them quite a few minutes to realise that the Japanese characters on the clues are clues to this task, eventually the others figure out as well. Married yoga teachers Eric and Lisa missed the last plate when they are searching from left to right, and is the first team eliminated. ( This new twist was a great idea, it added a lot of suspense to the opening seconds of the show. But, I felt very pity to Eric and Lisa, a trip of a lifetime like this was taken away before they even got in the car, it really sucks. I don’t know what I would react if I were them. )

Hilariously, the 11 teams got in a reality show in Japan, the first Roadblock they took. All teams had to stand around a sushi roulette and ate whatever landed right before them. Anyone who got to eat a wasabi roll (lots of wasabi in it, it’s no fun) and finish it within two minutes could continue. To make the show a bit funny, there was Godzilla pictures and some funny voices everywhere. Maria (one of the poker player) and Brian (husband of the interracial couple) were the only two that had to eat the roll twice, poor them.

But the funnier part was the next task they took. Each team had to lead 20 Japanese people through the most busy crossroad in Tokyo to a shrine, the pit stop. At first, it doesn’t seem to be difficult to finish after Meghan and Cheyne first checked in, however some teams didn’t have that kind of luck of having help from other people. Maria and Tiffany lost two of their team mates, and after searching for quite some time, they gave up and took the penalty. They were lucky that this was not a elimination leg, but they would face a Speed Bump on the next leg. (I don’t remember that there had been any non-elimination leg in the first trip in previous seasons, though I might be wrong. It seems that this was because of the new twist. But I have a feeling that the producers wanted to keep the only female team in this game for sometime, and changed the plan at the last minute. )

The second leg started right away. They were to fly to Vietnam. Some of them booked their tickets through Internet, smart moves. While the rest went straight to the air port and were told there were no economic seats available, however, Brian managed to persuaded the clerk to make seats for them. Wow. So all teams were on the same plane.

At the airport, everyone learned that Maria and Tiffany lied about their professions, making them a big target for the other teams. (It’s really a dumb move to lie, you have to come out with 100 more lies to cover it up. And to lie that they were working with homeless children, that was silly. My dislike to poker players widens.)

Many of them managed to get on the first bus and left for their next clue. A few teams were left behind, but they bribed the drivers some more money and had the bus leave earlier. (Which made me wonder, this kind of act should be considere illegal and the teams should receive penalty at the end of the leg. While apparently they were fine. )

The dock were to open in the morning, so they got grouped again. The task is to cover a tree’s roots in mud, an easy job? No. The mud was very thick, and everyone was struggling. While the Speed Bump that Maria and Tiffany had to do was a really easy one, they just had to carry some food for the guard near the dock. So they caught up with some of the teams.

After that, the teams faced their final task (Roadblock) for the leg, herding ducks. Each team had to herd a group of ducks out of the pen, moved them across a bridge, then back over the bridge and into their pen. Both women of the couples, Ericka and Jessica, were having troubles.

Matt finished it really quick, and together with Gary they checked in first. Zev was also quite good at this.

Jessica managed to get through on the third try, but it was too late for them. They were the second team being eliminated from the Race.