After trailing for all of The Amazing Race 19 Episode 10, Bill & Cathi were eliminated.
Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.
First: Andy & Tommy – 3:46AM
Second: Jeremy & Sandy – 4:20AM
Third: Ernie & Cindy – 4:35AM
Fourth: Amani & Marcus – 4:40AM
Dressed as characters from The Adventures of Tintin, which is apparently a famous comic book, they have to figure out who the guy in the picture is and who they are supposed to be. It’s a matter of bumping into the right person on the street, as even an Internet search leaves Andy & Tommy thinking they’re Charlie Chaplin, who is not a comic book character.
After heading by train to Amsterdam, they will fly to Panama City, Panama, more than 4000 miles away. With a flight across an ocean, they’ll all be bunched together. This presents an opportunity for the teams to utilize their knowledge of the local language, with prominence of words like rapido.
Upon arrival, they hop in some canoes to cross the pitch black waterways to a local village. They sign up for 1 of 3 times 20 minutes apart the next morning. Their appointments are for tattoos, which are sending them to San Francisco Bay Towers.
7:00 – Andy & Tommy
7:20 – Jeremy & Sandy
7:40 – Amani & Marcus, Ernie & Cindy
A 40 minute deficit in a leg to determine the final three. Lame.
The road block is to walk a tightrope 35 stories above the city. Participation in this road block is predetermined based on number of road blocks already performed.
Road block (in order of arrival): Andy, Sandy, Cindy, Amani
The detour is a choice between filet or sole. In filet, they will deliver exact amounts of assorted seafood to different vendors in the largest fish market in Panama. In sole, they must make a pair of sandals.
Sole: Andy & Tommy, Jeremy & Sandy, Ernie & Cindy
Filet: Amani & Marcus
The cab drivers have been working together for a while, and Amani & Marcus get brought to the wrong detour as a result. This is the point where you say screw it and switch. Instead, they head back to their cab to go to the other detour, when they’re already in last place. The luck of this is that they end up at what seems to be the simpler detour, allowing them to hop into second.
In Cathedral Square, they have to figure out that the pit stop for this leg of the race is Panama Viejo, which is written on the dress of one of the dancers in the square or symbolized in their necklaces.
Because all of the medallions say Balboa, Andy & Tommy want to head there. So much for that lead. That allows all the other three teams to be bunched together in what amounts to first place for the time being.
The good news for Andy & Tommy is that Ernie & Cindy are headed to Balboa, too, as are Amani & Marcus. Jeremy & Sandy are going to the image he sketched that’s one of the belts, whatever it may represent. This is sufficient for their cab driver to know where to go. Once again, the cab drivers are working together, so what would have been a lost cause for one of these teams looks like it will just screw over Andy & Tommy. Seems it’s acceptable for cab drivers to just drive their passengers to somewhere random without the need for them to actually complete or understand the task.
First: Jeremy & Sandy (win a trip to Turks and Caicos)
Second: Ernie & Cindy
Third: Amani & Marcus
Eliminated: Andy & Tommy
Ironically, the result of their earlier lead and the 20 minute gaps that seemed so unfair to the trailing teams is that they weren’t bunched up with the teams whose cab drivers were helping each other all day. Andy & Tommy, the team that won 6 legs this season, has been eliminated. All the other teams are happy to have beaten Goliath. Aside from Jeremy & Sandy, they didn’t. Their cab drivers did.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 19 Episode 12, where we will find out who The Amazing Race 19 winner is, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.