Following the dumb luck clue in a haystack task in The Amazing Race 15 Episode 8, Gary & Matt came in last but were non-eliminated.
Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.
First: Herbert & Nathaniel – 2:23AM
Second: Meghan & Cheyne – 4:12AM
Third: Brian & Ericka – 4:37AM
Fourth: Sam & Dan – 5:04AM
Fifth: Gary & Matt – 6:29AM
Sam & Dan and Flight Time & Big Easy are looking to get rid of the other team, realizing that the they are each good competition.
Teams will cross the Baltic Sea by ferry to Tallinn, Estonia, where they must figure out how to open a door to a secret lair. The next boat is at 5:45PM. Well, that’s a hell of a lot of time to kill. So much for the Globetrotters’ lead and for Gary & Matt’s 4 hour disadvantage. Meghan & Cheyne and Sam & Dan get into the door first, quickly slamming it shut before Brian & Ericka can arrive. Those two are greeted by the two trailing teams, but Gary & Matt are going to be the ones bringing up the rear after Brian & Ericka and the Globetrotters get through. Before they can proceed with this task, Gary & Matt must first complete their speed bump. They must find a saunabus, strip down, and take a 5 minute sauna with a group of locals.
The lair door leads them to the Brotherhood of the Blackheads. The road block is to join their ranks to uncover a mystery. They will descend into the cellar and find a candelabra with a room number attached. They must locate that room, where they will be given what appears to be a blank scroll (until they hold it over the lighted candle).
Road block (in order of arrival): Sam, Cheyne, Ericka, Flight Time, Matt
Flight Time is the first person to find his scroll, but he starts scribbling on it as if it’s going to uncover something. Cheyne, however, realizes that all they have is the candle, so he uses that. The other two also figure it out right away. It takes a while, but Flight Time eventually figures out what needs to be done. As for Matt, the first trick is to figure out what the heck a candelabra is. “Are you a candelabra?” Once he cracks the code and gets into the room, he also believes that you have to use the crayon to see the message.
The clue takes them to Pikk Hermann Tower Garden, where they find a detour. Well, they find it once they get the clue anyway. Gary & Matt run around and want to climb the tower, rather than just going to the clue box right out front.
The detour will take place in wetlands called bogs and is a choice between serve or sling. In serve, teams will play a game of volleyball submerged in the mud until they score 5 points against a local team. In sling, teams plant themselves in the mud and fire assorted vegetables at a moose target with slingshots. If they wish, they can strip down to their underwear on either detour.
The first two teams hail a cab. It looks as if Brian is closest to it, but he lets Meghan & Cheyne have it, telling the cab driver to call another taxi. Once they have that taxi, rather than being grateful for Brian letting them in, Meghan sabotages him, telling the cab driver to not call for assistance. There’s a fine line between smart gameplay and making enemies for no reason, and she’s flirting with that line. Ultimately, it proves to be a moot point because they find another taxi anyway, but Ericka wants to keep Brian in check so that he’s not giving stuff away.
The next two teams run into a cab problem as well. Sam & Dan try to sweet talk their way into a cab with a fare already in it, but the guy says he can’t walk, so they ask the driver to call for another one. After they tell the Globetrotters to go find their own way, they do. They see another cab approaching and run toward it. In Sam’s & Dan’s minds, this cab is the one the other driver just called for. They agree to get into the cab together, where Sam & Dan whine about how the Trotters are not doing anything for themselves. If they’re that unthreatening, why are Sam & Dan so obsessively threatened by them?
Ultimately, I’m wondering about this whole sharing a cab thing. Say one team finishes first and the detour’s an out of the way place. They may decide to leave the other team behind, which could completely screw them over.
Serve: Meghan & Cheyne, Herbert & Nathaniel, Sam & Dan
Sling: Brian & Ericka (switched from serve because only two teams can go at a time), Gary & Matt
Thanks to Brian letting them have the cab, Meghan & Cheyne arrive first and complete their detour after a tiresome romp through the mud. While they’re finishing, the three trailing teams go off on a wild goose hunt, looking for a marked path. That would be a path with markings, not just something that looks like it may be a path. After they find the path, Brian & Ericka lose the foot race, so they’re forced to do the slingshot detour.
The pit stop for this leg of the race is Keava Raba Overlook Tower, which they will run to as they trudge further through the bog.
In the showdown between the two remaining all male teams that can only heat up from here, Flight Time & Big Easy finish the detour first but go the wrong way. Sam & Dan go the right way, and as Flight Time slips in the bog, they win the foot race. At the mat, it’s looking like they may have to throw down. Dan says Flight Time tried to push him. Flight says he was elbowed, which appears to be what Phil saw as well.
First: Meghan & Cheyne (win red cedar saunas)
Second: Sam & Dan
Third: Herbert & Nathaniel
Fourth: Brian & Ericka
Eliminated: Gary & Matt
In the thoroughly anticlimactic conclusion, Gary & Matt have been eliminated from the race.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 15 Episode 10 We’re Not Working with Anybody, Ever, Anymore! (Czech Republic), which airs Sunday at 8/7cish CBS.