Terri & Henry were last in The Amazing Race 2 Episode 8, but they survived due to a lame second non-elimination in a row. It’s like David & Mary from The Amazing Race 10. Just put them out of their misery already.
Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.
First: Rovilson & Marc (2:17am)
Second: Adrian & Collin (2:24am)
Third: Ann & Diane (2:40am)
Fourth: Paula & Natasha (3:10am)
Fifth: Vanessa & Pamela (4:17am)
Sixth: Terri & Henry (10:35am)
Teams must travel by train to Prague and find Petrin Hill, where they must climb the 60 meter observation tower and correctly count the 299 steps to the top. The next train is at 4:20am, enough to create some bunching.
Train 1: Rovilson & Marc, Adrian & Collin, Ann & Diane, Paula & Natasha
Train 2: Vanessa & Pamela
Train 3: Terri & Henry
The teams have a new plan to foil Ann & Diane. Refuse to work with them at the intersection.
The next hours of operation are at 9am. More bunching, this time enough for Pamela & Vanessa to catch up. Rather than waiting around aimlessly, Adrian & Collin and Ann & Diane go on Google and figure out how many steps are on the tower. Well played. While this gives Adrian & Collin the lead, though, Rovilson & Marc don’t need the answer beforehand and still place second on this task. Vanessa & Pamela also get it right, followed closely by Ann & Diane. Paula & Natasha, however, guess 311. They get confused the next time on the 52nd step and end up guessing 300. They finally get the right answer after that.
Strelecky Island on the Vltava River is the next destination. It turns out that Adrian & Collin’s foreknowledge of the number of steps did pay off after all. They catch the train before everybody else and are on the island apparently before anybody else leaves for it, though it doesn’t seem like a particularly long distance away.
Once on the island, teams will use a marked row boat to row 140 degrees southeast using the compass provided. A fairly simple task, but it has the potential to confuse some. The rowing could be bad enough, but when the compass is added to it, chaos could ensue. This is another one of those tasks that Rovilson & Marc have absolutely no problem with, while everybody else struggles.
The next clue is located at Prague Castle, the biggest ancient castle in the world. At the castle is the intersection, where each team must team up with another team. Adrian & Collin are first to arrive, and they plan to team up with whoever comes second. Pretty obvious who that will be, and these four together is even more unfair than the rest of the race has been. Shockingly enough, Rovilson & Marc are the next team to arrive.
They will head to the Ice Hockey Arena Letnany in Letnany. Each team member must score one goal from three different points on the rink (no goalie).
As the boys are leaving, Ann & Diane show up. Too bad for them, since Adrian & Collin are the only team particularly willing to actually work with them.
On the cab ride there, Rovilson & Marc tell us about the plan. If Paula & Natasha and Pamela & Vanessa team up, Ann & Diane will have to wait for Terri & Henry, putting them so desperately far behind they have no prayer of catching up any time soon. I didn’t get it before (and it appears to me they’re just realizing it, too), but this is absolutely brilliant strategy considering that point.
Too bad they didn’t think of this earlier. Vanessa & Pamela readily agree to work with Ann & Diane. Generally a very good idea, but given the circumstances, there was much strategy to be had with this. They totally forgot about Terri & Henry (who we haven’t seen this entire episode), and like Marc & Rovilson, they didn’t think about it until the cab ride. While they had discussed the yield with the boys, and the boys have discussed the intersection with Paula & Natasha, nobody filled Vanessa & Pamela in on the plans for what to do in the event of an intersection.
Paula & Natasha know they’re screwed. It’s at this point that we finally figure out just how far behind Terri & Henry are. They’re departing over 8 hours behind the first and second place teams. Even with the hours of operation bunching, we’re still looking at a wait time of at least a few hours. This is the same absolutely hideous planning that we saw in the US version (intersection on the leg after a non-elimination leg is almost certain defeat), with the added complication of the last place team being ridiculously far behind. Paula & Natasha are killing time to the extent that it’s just silly.
The detour is a choice between snap or roll. In snap, teams must find and take photos of three historical monuments and bring them to the statue of Josef Manes for verification. In roll, teams must collect two 50 liter beer kegs from a restaurant and deliver them to Admiral Botel.
Roll: Adrian & Collin and Rovilson & Marc, Ann & Diane and Vanessa & Pamela (after trying snap and being unable to either find anything or work together)
Snap: Paula & Natasha and Terri & Henry
After the detour is over, they are released from the intersection. Rovilson & Marc and Collin & Adrian worked together quite well as expected. All four other teams did okay until they got to the detour, where they failed miserably to be cohesive foursomes. They’ll head to the swimming pool in Prague 4.
The road block is a ten meter dive. That’s it? Yep, just as poorly planned as the US one. This will take no time at all. If there were any question before, it’s clear based on this that Terri & Henry are toast considering their 30 minute penalty. Granted, as little time as this did take, Vanessa says she’s delusional and can’t remember what she’s doing afterward. She doesn’t know what she just did or that they’re going to the pitstop. She was bleeding, so it would seem that the impact has caused some momentary short-term memory loss.
Road block (in order of arrival): Rovilson, Collin, Vanessa, Ann, Henry, Natasha
On the way to the pitstop and in a mad dash for last (only not really since the penalty negates any prayer Terri & Henry may have had), Terri & Henry are unable to get a cab, so they walk away. This very same cab picks up Paula & Natasha. Henry comments, “They just were nice to the guy.” It’s here we find out how long Paula & Natasha are behind the other teams: 5 hours. Terri & Henry’s poor performance has the potential to continue impacting the race, as we’re probably heading to an airport leg. 5 hours could mean nothing in that case, but it could mean an even larger gap. The plane here in the first place is what put Terri & Henry so far behind.
The pitstop for this leg of the race is Vrtbovska Garden in Mala Strana.
First: Rovilson & Marc (win Sony HD Handycam SR7)
Second: Adrian & Collin
Third: Ann & Diane
Fourth: Vanessa & Pamela
Fifth: Paula & Natasha
Sixth: Terri & Henry (eliminated)
It’s about time. I don’t know if it would have been possible for Terri & Henry to actually get any further behind than they were this leg. At least they’re going out in good spirits, though.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Amazing Race Asia 2 episode 10, and don’t forget our live blogs of The Amazing Race 12.