Mike quit and blamed his dad in The Amazing Race 18 Episode 3, leading to the all too obvious elimination of Mel & Mike.
Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.
First: Zev & Justin – 8:44PM
Second: Gary & Mallory – 9:29PM
Third: Ron & Christina – 9:38PM
Fourth: Kisha & Jen – 9:50PM
Fifth: Flight Time & Big Easy – 10:01PM
Sixth: Jet & Cord – 10:34PM
Seventh: Kent & Vyxsin – 11:33PM
Eighth: Margie & Luke – 11:52PM
Ninth: Jaime & Cara – 12:42AM
Teams must now travel 2700 miles to Lijiang, China and make their way to Jade Dragon Mountain. Due to limited availability, all teams will get on the same flight from Tokyo to Kunming, China, and from there they will make arrangements to get to their destination.
Ron & Christina have both been to Lijiang, and they speak Chinese. Last time they were in China, Jen called Luke a bitch. Jaime was in a miserable mood last time they went to China, although I couldn’t tell the difference between that and her normal miserable mood.
Kent & Vyxsin are already arguing just to find their car and get it open. She continues to crumble as they look for the airport. Seeing as the flight is not until 9:50AM, that gives them about 10 hours from their departure to find it. After the sun rises, she realizes they have been going the wrong way. The other eight teams are boarding, wondering where the heck Kent & Vyxsin are, since they had enough time to walk there if they needed to. With the “required” flight having already taken off, they are left having to board the “alternate” one at 3:30PM. The first flight lands at 7:17PM; the second flight lands at 1:35AM.
They have the option of plane or train. The flight leaves at 7AM. Trains leave at 8:50 or 10:16, and everybody opts for that. By the time they arrive, Kent & Vyxsin are left with no option other than taking the plane. They just need to find Vyxsin’s passport first.
First Train (departs at 8:50PM): Ron & Christina
Second Train (departs at 10:16PM): Zev & Justin, Gary & Mallory, Kisha & Jen, Flight Time & Big Easy, Jet & Cord, Margie & Luke, Jaime & Cara
Flight (departs at 7AM, arrives at 8:15AM): Kent & Vyxsin
Bus transfers begin at 8AM, which puts the people who took trains on even footing. Kent & Vyxsin are not too far behind.
Their task on the mountain is to saddle a yak and ride it across the river. From there, they will ride a gondola even higher up the mountain to Spruce Meadow. This takes them from 10,000 feet up to 14,783 feet up, making even remotely physical tasks difficult.
The road block is to search among thousands of zodiac charms for the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac. Once they find all the animals, they must put them in the correct order.
Road block (in order of arrival): Luke, Cord, Jaime, Mallory, Big Easy, Jen, Zev, Christina, Vyxsin
Luckily for her, Christina knows all the animals, in both English and Chinese. Other teams are not so lucky. Cord is left making chicken clucking noises. As for Big Easy, he’s asking the local livestock whether they have seen anything.
As Jet & Cord make their way back down the mountain, they see Kent & Vyxsin for the first time in 2 days. This is particularly bad news for Zev & Justin, as Zev struggles to complete the road block. Justin realizes that they did not take the flight that they were supposed to take, and there’s a question of whether there’s some penalty for not taking a mandatory flight. After much struggle, Zev finally realizes a goat is not a small horse. Meanwhile, Vyxsin continues to struggle, as she has since the pit start. A crying Vyxsin has no clue what’s going on. They had a chance to catch up, but if she’s going to waste time having a breakdown, they may as well just quit.
Marked buses will take them to Old Town Lijiang. Ron & Christina view this as a direction to just get on the first motor vehicle they see. When they do realize they’re not on a bus, they have to turn around. After Ron has one of his meltdowns, they manage to get the bus to stop and let them on, as Flight Time & Big Easy tell the driver to stop. This hardly seems like it’s not a rule violation, taking something other than a bus part of the way.
Each teammate will have to locate their sign and make a wish to receive their next clue. This leads to amusing comments like “I am a snake.” Flight Time’s wish is he knew what his zodiac sign was, so he just tries them all.
The detour is a choice between hammer or horn. In hammer, teams must pulverize and prepare candy using hammers. In horn, teams must lead a procession of dancers to the palace while carrying a long horn.
Hammer: Margie & Luke, Gary & Mallory, Ron & Christina, Jet & Cord, Kisha & Jen, Jaime & Cara
Horn: Flight Time & Big Easy, Zev & Justin
Christina is left having to babysit her father. He wants to stop to eat, and he wants to take the tram. If she says no enough, maybe he’ll focus on the task at hand. Or maybe he’ll stop to snack on the candy, all the while serving as a distraction to her.
The pit stop for this leg of the race is the Eternal Tower, rising high above the old town.
First: Margie & Luke (win a trip to Aruba)
Second: Jet & Cord
Third: Gary & Mallory
Fourth: Ron & Christina
Fifth: Kisha & Jen
Sixth: Flight Time & Big Easy
Seventh: Jaime & Cara
Eighth: Zev & Justin
Ninth: Kent & Vyxsin
Once again, the leg isn’t over. They’re still racing. This is lucky for Kent & Vyxsin. Not only did they have a disastrous leg, but adding insult to injury, they lost their fanny pack on the gondola. Most importantly, it contains their passports. We leave with Vyxsin begging their driver to stop and turn around… and being ignored.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 18 Episode 5, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.