Another obvious elimination followed the first, as Andie & Jenna were eliminated in The Amazing Race 17 Episode 2.
Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.
First: Brook & Claire – 7:34AM
Second: Katie & Rachel – 7:35AM
Third: Michael & Kevin – 7:45AM
Fourth: Chad & Stephanie – 7:52AM
Fifth: Jill & Thomas – 7:58AM
Sixth: Connor & Jonathan – 8:01AM
Seventh: Nat & Kat – 8:02AM
Eighth: Nick & Vicki – 8:04AM
Ninth: Gary & Mallory – 8:06AM
Teams will now drive to the neighborhood of Jamestown, where they must find the Akotoku Boxing Academy. So pretty much they’re stuck on land. All teams are bunched up enough that one little mistake could be game ending. The road block is to properly wrap their hands, suit up in training gear, work on a speedbag for 60 seconds, and jump rope for 60 seconds.
On the way there, Connor & Jonathan continue to sing their way through the race, which seems to be working. They may be a little too nice, but they’re playing the social game quite well, both with the contestants and the locals. Meanwhile, Nat & Kat get a clueless cab driver. They ask the teams behind them for directions. After they receive directions, their cab driver appears to be kidnapping them because he refuses to stop or turn around and go the right way, or at least that’s what the cliffhanger pre-commercial break would like us to believe.
Road block (in order of arrival): Brook, Chad, Katie, Connor, Kevin, Thomas, Gary, Vicki, Nat
Phil’s explanation of the task takes longer than the task itself. The teams are quickly blowing through the road block. The assumption that this task would be particularly difficult is a tactical error on the part of most of the teams, who send up their strongest members.
From there, they will travel by taxi to the Dodowa district to locate a market supply depot. There, they will load up on construction supplies for the Asedi D/A Primary School. This is easy enough if the teams are paying attention to their shopping list, which is not the case for Brook & Claire. Their flaw is simple, which Rachel insists makes them idiots. They only took one wheelbarrow, although the clue very clearly says a pair. Michael & Kevin do the same, and both pairs of female teams just keep their mouths quiet when they pass them. Katie & Rachel may have gotten the correct number of wheelbarrows, but they overlook something else. Nick & Vicki bring one too many bags of cement, and here we see Nick starting to become an ass. In spite of how much the other teams are struggling on this task, Nat & Kat’s taxi woes continue, and they’re still nowhere to be found.
Since they are in Africa, now would be a good time for a pop quiz on African geography, something that most Americans would fail miserably, possibly being able to identify South Africa and maybe Egypt. Hopefully at least they can identify Ghana, the country they’re in now. Perhaps not. Luckily, the kids will choose a country, then the teams will have a guess at where Ghana is, so through process of elimination, they’ll get there eventually. Even if they have to wait for the whole rest of the map to be filled in like Nick & Vicki.
The detour is a choice between bicycle parts or language arts. In bicycle parts, they must use a stick to roll a bicycle rim, which is apparently a children’s game. They will have to go all the way down the soccer field and back without letting their rims fall. In language arts, they choose a proverb containing eight highlighted phrases, each of which has a corresponding symbol in a native visual alphabet. They must then find all the symbols on a decorative cloth, like a word search.
Bicycle parts: Gary & Mallory, Katie & Rachel (switched from language arts), Chad & Stephanie (switched from language arts), Nick & Vicki, Katie & Rachel (switched from language arts), Nat & Kat (switched from language arts), Brook & Claire (switched from language arts), Jill & Thomas (switched from language arts), Michael & Kevin (switched from language arts)
Language arts: Connor & Jonathan
It’s here that Nick continues his temper tantrum. Not until Vicki’s asthma kicks in does he stop yelling at her. As much as I thought Nat & Kat were done for, they show up when the other teams are stumped on language arts, making things interesting for a change. The struggle on the word search task is simple. None of the teams are able to locate the decoder key, located on the other side of the building with the map. For all the time they’re wasting here, surely they could have walked around the corner. Even when she’s looking backward at her partner while they’re running away from the task, though, Jill still doesn’t notice the decoder key that’s right in front of her. Connor & Jonathan notwithstanding, every other team that tries this task gives up, but Kevin does not feel his father is able to do the other task. Eventually, though, they, too, opt to switch. Kevin’s concern proves to be warranted because his father is barely able to get across once, let alone twice, leading to the need for medical assistance. After that, he still has a point to prove. No matter how long it takes, he wants to finish the task.
The pit stop for this leg of the race is the home of Awusa Ntso, a local villager. During this pit stop rest, they will use the supplies they delivered to renovate the school.
First: Connor & Jonathan (win $5,000 each)
Second: Gary & Mallory
Third: Chad & Stephanie
Fourth: Katie & Rachel
Fifth: Nick & Vicki
Sixth: Brook & Claire
Seventh: Jill & Thomas
Eighth: Nat & Kat
Noneliminated: Michael & Kevin
In spite of the eldest member of the cast struggling with the African heat, Michael & Kevin have been noneliminated. As much as I can appreciate Michael’s fight to not quit something he’s started, at some point we get to where they should be put out of their misery. The next leg, they will have a speed bump to complete.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 17 Episode 4 We Should Have Brought Gloves and Butt Pads, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.