Injured and sick, Bopper & Mark were non-eliminated in The Amazing Race 20 Episode 9.
Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.
First: Rachel & Dave – 6:53AM
Second: Brendon & Rachel – 7:20AM
Third: Art & JJ – 7:28AM
Fourth: Vanessa & Ralph – 7:32AM
Fifth: Bopper & Mark – 10:38AM
They will stick around India to obtain their next clue, and they have $25 for this leg, so I’m assuming they aren’t going anywhere else. Bad news for the last place team, just like the last time there was a non-elimination.
Mark’s got an IV in his arm 3 hours before pit start, trying to recover from his prior day in the heat.
The fast forward is head shaving. We’ve seen this before. The models in season 5 bowed out of this task, while Joyce from season 7 opted to shave her hair that it was such a mess she was just better off starting over anyway. Unable to do a second fast forward, Rachel & Dave skip it. That leaves second place Brendon & Rachel, about 15 minutes ahead of the others, as the team that go to the fast forward. Brendon doesn’t care, but Rachel isn’t about to shave her head, so they turn back.
Rachel & Dave give up a lot of ground, about 45 minutes from the looks of it, just with transportation issues heading to the road block. That puts the three leading teams neck and neck. Brendon & Rachel, who gave up some time with the fast forward, are still not far behind them. Meanwhile, Bopper & Mark are about 3 hours behind.
JJ has this theory. If Bopper & Mark for some reason decide to go to the fast forward, these four teams that are now bunched together are in a battle for last place. Why would they? I guess they have nothing to lose, so perhaps they might.
Before they can get to that choice, Bopper & Mark must paint a tiger on the belly of a dancer as their speed bump. After that, since they’re so far behind anyway, Bopper & Mark decide to take a chance and hope nobody has done the fast forward yet. I don’t think this will get them first, but it might make things interesting. Mark’s head’s already shaved, and for Bopper, he’s game to join him.
The road block has them spinning 40 feet of rope and spooling it on a spindle.
Road block (in order of arrival): Ralph, Dave, Art, Brendon
The detour is a choice between pachy-derm or pack a box. In pachy-derm, they’ll decorate an elephant, then shovel and transport elephant manure. In pack a box, they will fill pack, seal, and stencil 10 boxes with ginger, then deliver them.
Pachy-derm: Rachel & Dave, Vanessa & Ralph, Brendon & Rachel
Pack a box: Art & JJ
It seems the elephant task is simpler, leaving Art & JJ bringing up the rear, as they complain about nobody else in the race having a brain to use the fast forward.
The pit stop for this leg of the race is the site of the Cheena Vala fishing nets.
The ferry there doesn’t seem to have an actual schedule. Rachel & Dave pay the guy to rush out of there minutes before the other two teams arrive, preventing a foot race to the mat.
Upon arrival at the mat, Vanessa starts bickering with Rachel, telling her she did not count right at the manure task. Granted, Phil deliberately stirred the pot, one that’s a little too easy to stir.
First: Rachel & Dave (win $10,000 each)
Second: Brendon & Rachel
Third: Vanessa & Ralph
Fourth: Art & JJ
Eliminated: Bopper & Mark
They gained some time, but it wasn’t enough to make up for the gap. Bopper & Mark have been eliminated. I guess that means I have to root for Brendon & Rachel then, as the least objectionable of the teams that remain.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 20 Episode 11, where we will find out who The Amazing Race 20 winners are, which airs Sunday at 8/7cish on CBS.