In a slightly less predictable outcome, Michael & Kevin were eliminated in The Amazing Race 17 Episode 7 after penalties resulting from failure to read their clues.
Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.
First: Nat & Kat – 1:06AM
Second: Brook & Claire – 1:28AM
Third: Nick & Vicki – 1:29AM
Fourth: Gary & Mallory – 1:46AM
Fifth: Jill & Thomas – 1:53AM
Sixth: Chad & Stephanie – 2:45AM (they’re sleeping, though)
Nat was worried about her diabetes, but things are going okay. Claire is just trying to keep up with Brook. Nick does not have any intention of meeting new people on the race, and doesn’t care how friendly (or unfriendly) he comes off.
From Russia, teams will fly more than 4,000 miles to Muscat, Oman, where their first destination is Bura Al Mubkharah. Considering where they’re going, my assumption was that everybody would be on the same flight. How many flights could there possibly be to Oman? But everybody has to go through a connecting airport, and that’s where it gets dicey.
Already behind by over an hour, Chad & Stephanie sleep in 1 hour and 52 minutes past their start time. Lucky for them, they’re only about ten minutes behind the trailing teams, but they realize they’re in a downward spiral and not working together very well.
First flight via Amsterdam (arrives at 8:55PM): Nat & Kat, Brook & Claire
Second flight (arrives at 10:35PM): Nick & Vicki, Gary & Mallory, Jill & Thomas
Third flight (arrives at 10:45PM, but landing early): Chad & Stephanie
Upon landing, they will receive an ingot with an inscribed time, meaning first come, first served. They land in Oman at night, but it’s over 90 degrees and humid. Everybody’s going to be camping out for the night because they’ve got plenty of time to kill as they wait for the next morning.
7:30 – Nat & Kat, Brook & Claire
7:45 – Jill & Thomas, Chad & Stephanie
8:00 – Gary & Mallory, Nick & Vicki
Having recovered from their disaster of the evening before completely unscathed, Chad & Stephanie are now 15 minutes ahead of two teams. Perhaps now things are turning around. In spite all of the mean-spirited bickering, Chad still wants to marry her, so he proposes that morning before the task begins.
Gary & Mallory are relying on their map. Nick, however, feels that asking locals is a much better idea than reading a map. There’s potentially a flaw in each philosophy. Combining the two would be smarter. Eventually, realizing the map has led them astray, in spite of praying to God, Gary & Mallory decide to give up on it and just ask the locals.
When she stops and asks for directions, Vicki gets what she needs, then passes it on to Brook & Claire. Nick’s response is that he’s going to go home the next time she talks to anybody from another team. Good. Go home then. He hates people. I get it. At least be civil with your partner.
The road block for this leg of the race is to rappel 500 feet off Jabal Shams, the tallest mountain in Oman, and from there they must search hundreds of lamps for one containing a magic ring. Even those without a fear of heights find themselves getting nervous, except for Vicki who’s up for this kind of stuff more than anyone else on the race.
When they finally arrive, Mallory says they have been driving for almost 9 hours. I think that about spills the results of the episode right there then.
Road block (in order of arrival): Chad, Jill, Vicki, Claire, Kat, Mallory
After completing the road block, Nick & Vicki find out that one of their tires is leaking, and they have a flat. Time for another temper tantrum from Nick, although at least he knows what he’s doing and has a spare, so it’s not as bad as his whining would suggest.
From there, they will drive themselves to Nizwa to a giant stack of books. Well, I guess it’s easy to spot.
The detour is a choice between water table or wedding table. In water table, teams pump water from an ancient well, fill up a water truck, and take the truck to a designated house for delivery. Their driver is there only to drive, based on the directions they give him. In wedding table, they will go to an Arab market, purchase 25 frozen chickens and other ingredients for a traditional wedding soup, and present the soup to the bride and groom. This second task has no takers.
Everybody is having success with locals who not only are helpful but also speak decent English. Somehow, Jill & Thomas even stumble into the cousin of the guy they’re delivering water to, a clear sign the lead is theirs for the taking.
Water table: Chad & Stephanie, Jill & Thomas, Brook & Claire, Nick & Vicki, Nat & Kat, Gary & Mallory
Teams will now drive themselves to Muttrah Souq, a market where their task will be to search for Ali Baba.
The pit stop for this leg of the race is Al Alam Palace. At this point, the only question is finish order of the first five teams because we know who’s going to be last. Although Gary & Mallory do get a glimmer of hope when they see Nat & Kat drive by, no amount of editing will make me believe they can come from behind. Nat & Kat must have screwed up pretty badly to make it this close, though.
Jill & Thomas arrive first. However, they have incurred a 30 minute penalty for paying a taxi driver to lead them to the pit stop. Must be a new rule. If teams are wise about their spending and have enough to pay a taxi, that should be an option available to them. It’s not as if it’s a no risk proposition, as we’ve seen plenty of times where taxi drivers lead people astray.
First: Chad & Stephanie (win a trip to Belize)
Second: Jill & Thomas
Third: Nick & Vicki
Fourth: Brook & Claire
Fifth: Nat & Kat
Eliminated: Gary & Mallory
As the last team to arrive, Gary & Mallory have been eliminated from the race. They ran a pretty decent race but just had one bad leg.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 17 Episode 9 There’s a Lot of Nuts and Bullets, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.