In spite of Nick being a whiny quitter in The Amazing Race 17 Episode 10, Nick & Vicki were nonetheless not eliminated and lived to fight another day (and hopefully not any more than that).
Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.
First: Nat & Kat – 4:37PM
Second: Jill & Thomas – 4:47PM
Third: Brook & Claire – 5:26PM
Fourth: Nick & Vicki – Last to depart
Teams will now fly 1300 miles to Seoul, South Korea. When they land, they will drive themselves to the North Korean border, where they will hopefully not be shot at (they are warned: do not cross the border). Rather than going to the airport, Brook & Claire just book a flight from the hotel, while wearing their very pink outfits. It looks like they will get on the same flight as the first two teams, who do book at the airport. Even though Phil no longer mugs people at the pit stop, that’s not stopping Nat & Kat from begging for money to buy a travel book.
We are only provided a thoroughly cryptic description that Nick & Vicki are the last to depart (gee, I didn’t know that). In spite of the glimmer of hope from the airport agent, it’s safe to assume they are the only team not getting on that first flight. The first flight that they missed left at 12:25AM, so they will be getting the 9:30 flight instead, putting them more than 9 hours behind, with no realistic hope of anything but elimination. As much time as the other teams had to kill, if Nick had just made an effort rather than laying down and dying, they would all be on the same flight. Nick promises that he will start treating Vicki right. I heard that lie before.
Their first stop is the Seungil Bridge. Any time you see a bridge on this show, you’d better be prepared for something adventurous. They don’t have to jump off it, though. They just have to do some white water rafting underneath it, which will take them to a Humvee, which will bring them to the US Army Base at Camp Casey.
The road block is to find a soldier with a headband that matches the one they have, while trying to not get hit by the people practicing martial arts. If they are incorrect, they will have to go back and get a different one.
Road block (in order of arrival): Thomas, Brook, Kat
From there, they will travel via subway to Seoul World Cup Stadium. Jill & Thomas grab the first subway, with the two female teams grabbing the next one.
The detour is a choice between full throttle or full bottle. In full throttle, they will speedskate a two person relay for 24 laps. In full bottle, they will deliver 6 giant ginseng roots, then drink bottles of ginseng tonic.
Full throttle: Jill & Thomas, Nat & Kat, Brook & Claire
Luckily for Jill, Thomas knows to read the clue, because he makes sure they do not take a cab (subway or walking only). Brook & Claire, still bickering over which detour they wish to take, are not so quick to do that, and they take a taxi. They arrive at the rink first, but the penalty should more than compensate for that. It does cause Jill & Thomas to obsess about how they were passed, and it quite quickly gets under their skin.
The thing about the full throttle task is that nobody’s going to do it gracefully, but so long as they can fake it, they’re all doing fine.
Teams must now make their way to Han Riverside Park. On the way, Thomas says that you can’t ask old people for directions. The only point in going to the park is so they can get a clue telling them where the pit stop is.
The pit stop for this leg of the race is the Temple of Heaven, a shrine built for the first and only emperor of Korea.
Brook & Claire are the first team to arrive, but they receive a 30 minute penalty for taking a cab when they were not allowed to do so. This penalty is the only thing remotely resembling drama in the standings, although it’s all moot since we know who the final three are already.
First: Jill & Thomas (win a trip to Argentina)
Second: Brook & Claire
Third: Nat & Kat
Eliminated: Nick & Vicki
Several hours behind everybody else, in the most obvious outcome in the history of the race, Nick & Vicki have been eliminated.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 17 Episode 12, where we will find out who the Amazing Race 17 winner is, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.