After they were one of the two teams double U-turned in The Amazing Race 17 Episode 9, Chad & Stephanie were eliminated.
Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.
First: Jill & Thomas – 8:25AM
Second: Nick & Vicki – 1:59PM
Third: Nat & Kat – 4:05PM
Fourth: Brook & Claire – 5:15PM
Jill & Thomas didn’t see any teams in the last leg, and they still haven’t seen anybody, so they are unaware of who was eliminated, if anybody. They are currently a ridiculous 5.5 hours ahead of the second place team. Nick says that Vicki’s calmed him down. If that’s the case, I’d hate to think what he was like before. Brook & Claire are looking forward to facing Thomas, who U-turned them. They don’t blame Jill at all.
Heading from a land of extreme poverty to an ultra-modern urban jungle, teams will now fly more than 3500 miles to Hong Kong. Upon arrival, they will make their way by bus and ferry to Cheung Po Tsai Cave.
The next flight does not depart until 11:55PM, so everybody will be on the same flight, whether they’re 9 hours behind or not.
Jill & Thomas get the first bus ahead of everybody else, but their lead is short-lived as the female teams get on the first ferry with them. Vicki’s asthma kicks in, however, which means that she and Nick must take the next ferry, which comes in half an hour. She apologizes for something happening to her body that she could not control, but he doesn’t care. Then she starts crying, and he just wants her to shut up.
Brook & Claire continue their bickering that we first got a glimpse of last week. Claire says she can’t run because she’s not an athlete, but Brook wants her to try harder. As with last week, it’s ultimately irrelevant.
From the cave, teams will travel by ferry to Cao Lun, where they must locate the Majesty Chinese Restaurant (they went all the way to Hong Kong to go to a Chinese restaurant). The road block involves food, but it’s not a gross eating challenge. Rather, they must use chopsticks to find 1 of 5 items in a buffet that are fake, created for window displays. Any real food they pick up, they must eat. As the fake food items are taken, it’s going to make it that much harder for those who are trailing to finish.
Road block (in order of arrival): Nat, Thomas, Claire, Vicki
Nat and Thomas manage to find their fake food, but Claire’s left behind and still searching. She feels like she’s going to vomit. I’d suggest doing so then. Once you’re done doing that, you can then return to the task at hand. After she’s through in the bathroom, she heads back to the table, where she seems to have no trouble finding the fake food. That leaves just two items for the already there but still behind Vicki. Eventually, Vicki finds herself in the bathroom as well. Nick suggests they should just take the penalty, but Vicki doesn’t want to quit.
The next stop is a statue of Bruce Lee. The detour is a choice between ding ding or sampan. In ding ding, teams board a 100 year old tram system known as the ding ding, then they must ride and search among thousands of signs, looking for three that when put together reveal the location of the next pit stop. If the ride ends before they know where to go, they’ll have to make a return trip and start again. In sampan, teams pick a wooden cage with two parakeets and board a sampan, a water vessel used for trade. Then they must search among hundreds of boats for one with a registration number matching that attached to their bird cage.
Sampan: Nat & Kat, Jill & Thomas (switched from ding ding), Brook & Claire, Nick & Vicki
Neither of these searching tasks is particularly appealing, but the sign searching task seems the most troublesome. Unless they were given some clue we are unaware of, I don’t see how it is even possible. They’re already in last place to begin with, but once they get on the boat, Nick lies down. He doesn’t care. He’d much rather take the 6 hour penalty than participate in this task. Vicki’s on her own if she intends to get through this. When he wakes up, she’d like to keep trying, but he still insists this is all a waste of time. Not wanting to quit but unable to do this on her own, Vicki gives in, and they take the penalty.
The pit stop for this leg of the race is Statue Square (the three signs they were supposed to look for were pit stop, statue, and square, as if they were supposed to figure that out) in the center of Hong Kong.
First: Nat & Kat (win a trip to Rio de Janeiro)
Second: Jill & Thomas
Third: Brook & Claire
Noneliminated: Nick & Vicki
When they arrive at the pit stop, they are given the bad news. This is a nonelimination leg. Great, so that means at least one more leg with Nick and his sorry attitude. In addition to their current last place status and 6 hour penalty, they will also have a speed bump to contend with.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 17 Episode 11 I’m Surrounded by Ninjas, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.