Category: amazing race 14

Having missed their connecting flight in The Amazing Race 14 Episode 3, Brad & Victoria were eliminated.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Mel & Mike – 10:49PM
Second: Amanda & Kris – 10:53PM
Third: Kisha & Jen – 10:55PM
Fourth: Margie & Luke – 11:06PM
Fifth: Mark & Michael – 11:07PM
Sixth: Christie & Jodi – 11:08PM
Seventh: Jaime & Cara – 11:29PM
Eighth: Tammy & Victor – 1:30AM

Teams will fly to Moscow and go to Krasnoyarsk, deep in the heart of Siberia. Based on the departure times, we should see all the teams bunched at the airport (even Tammy & Victor, who did ridulously poorly last time). Then they’ll head via taxi to the Soviet era hydroelectric dam on the back of the 10 ruble note.

Mark & Michael have learned their lesson from before. They ask their taxi driver for his phone. He dials… another taxi. Jaime & Cara’s taxi. They play along and pretend to work for Lufthansa.

Christie & Jodi are hoping their flight attendant experience will start to pay off, and they go to an Internet cafe, where they believe they’ve found the best flight.

It turns out that the teams have all kinds of options, perhaps too many. They can catch all kinds of flights via cities throughout Europe. Regardless of which of the four flights teams have chosen, they are all scheduled to take the same flight from Moscow to Krasnoyarsk, so it really doesn’t seem to matter. If it does matter, it’ll come down to dumb luck.

5 of the teams get unlucky. Jaime & Cara, Amanda & Kris, Margie & Luke, Tammy & Victor, and Mel & Mike miss their scheduled flight and will have to try to get another one. The other three teams, meanwhile, are greeted by an hours of operation. They don’t have to worry about catching another flight, but they won’t be going anywhere any time soon. At 8:30 the next morning, the top three teams (Mark & Michael, Christie & Jodi, and Kisha & Jen) are allowed to go with no sight of the others. The point of that wait? To get a clue telling them to go to a church.

The detour is a choice between stack or construct. In stack, teams travel to the river bank and use a traditional method to stack a pile of firewood. In construct, teams will build a set of wood shutters and install them on a house.

All teams choose stack, at least initially. Mark & Michael are doing well, but their stack collapses and takes out the back stack as well (if they take out the back stack, they have to rebuild both). They switch to construct. Kisha & Jen and Christie & Jodi pass the task without much trouble. Mel & Mike’s stack collapses. Jaime & Cara have a minor stack collapse but still seem to be in it. Amanda & Kris (or rather, just Kris) have their stack collapse as well. Mel & Mike aren’t even going to bother finishing with everybody else’s collapsing, so they switch to construct. Mark & Michael have been walking around for a while looking for the house in need of repair, which they can’t find, so they opt instead to finish the construction first and find the house after. Margie & Luke have completed their detour, as have Tammy & Victor. It says they’re in fourth, which means that Mark & Michael’s lead has evaporated. Amanda & Kris opt to switch to the other detour. The three construct teams are all working together: Mark & Michael, Amanda & Kris, and Mel & Mike. Mark & Michael stick around with the others because they couldn’t figure out where the house was. Jaime & Cara have completed their stacking task. That leaves the other three teams in last, all bunched up together. Mel & Mike finally figure out that the house is right near them. Mel & Mike finish, with Mark & Michael close behind. That leaves Amanda & Kris in last.

A U-turn is ahead. The new twist is that it’s a blind U-turn. They don’t have to post their picture when U-turning someone else.

Kisha & Jen aren’t going to bother making enemies unnecessarily, and opt instead to not use the U-turn. Even if they’re safe, it would be a nice chance to eliminate a threat like Amanda & Kris. Christie & Jodi have the same philosophy and do not U-turn. Margie & Luke have decided to do what I would have done: they U-turn Amanda & Kris.

Amanda & Kris, who bailed on the stacking in the first place, now have to go back and do it again, and it’s pretty obvious they will finish last. They believe Kisha & Jen are to blame. Either them or the untrustworthy blondes. Margie & Luke aren’t even suspects.

The road block is to ride a bobsled in under 4 minutes while looking for 7 letters on the course. They’ll then have to unscramble the letters to come up with the name of a famous Russian playright, Chekhov (good luck spelling that without Google).

Road block (in order of arrival): Kisha, Christie, Victor, Luke, Jaime, Michael, Mel, Kris

Kisha does her first run in time but only gets 6 letters. Christie hits 4 minutes exactly. Kisha is successful on her second try. Kisha figures out the puzzle. Christie eventually figures it out as well. Victor knows immediately what it is (apparently everybody does). Luke is just making random guesses, like the first two teams had done. He’s very quickly getting frustrated, but he figures it out eventually. Jaime just guesses and is right on her first try. Mel gets the answer without trouble. Michael misses a letter the first time but gets the answer quickly after riding down again. Kris doesn’t have any idea but ends up guessing like everybody else.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is the theater of musical comedy. Good luck sleeping in there. Mark & Michael are unable to pay their cab driver, leading to a last bit of drama, but it’s obvious Amanda & Kris are too far behind to overcome it.

First: Christie & Jodi (win motorcycles)
Second: Kisha & Jen
Third: Tammy & Victor
Fourth: Margie & Luke
Fifth: Jaime & Cara
Sixth: Mel & Mike
Seventh: Mark & Michael
Eliminated: Amanda & Kris

Because of the U-turn and some dumb luck at the airport, Amanda & Kris are eliminated. They were a strong team, or at least Kris was a strong competitor anyway.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 14 Episode 5 She’s a Little Scared of Stick, but I Think She’ll Be OK, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

Having dragged behind the pack for both episodes, Steve & Linda were eliminated in The Amazing Race 14 Episode 2.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Tammy & Victor – 10:13AM
Second: Mel & Mike – 12:01PM
Third: Amanda & Kris – 12:12PM
Fourth: Margie & Luke – 12:30PM
Fifth: Brad & Victoria – 12:53PM
Sixth: Jaime & Cara – 1:17PM
Seventh: Kisha & Jen – 1:51PM
Eighth: Mark & Michael – 2:00PM
Ninth: Christie & Jodi – 2:42PM

Teams will travel by train to Munich, then fly over 700 miles to Bucharest, Romania. Upon arrival, they will go to the gymnastics hall where Nadia Comaneci trained. Tammy & Victor have opened up a surprisingly large gap on the other teams.

Tammy considers her brother Victor super smart… but his problem is that he doesn’t want to be wrong. Luke doesn’t like that he has to rely so much on his mom to communicate. Kisha & Jen believe they need to communicate better.

Tammy & Victor stop at a travel agent before taking the train. They get put on standby for the earliest flight. The group on the second train is having the locals call around, and it looks like they’ve got about 30 minutes from the time the train arrives to make the 4:45PM flight. They’re told the next flight after that is 9:30PM, which is more than 6 hours after the first flight departs. When they get to the airport, some more options do open up, but there’s still a gap.

First flight (3:20PM – forced to turn around after takeoff): Tammy & Victor
Second flight (4:45PM): Mel & Mike, Margie & Luke, Amanda & Kris
Third flight (7:30PM – delayed and with a tight connection): Brad & Victoria
Fourth flight (9:30PM): Tammy & Victor (no other alternative after their plane turned around for repairs), Jaime & Cara, Michael & Mark, Kisha & Jen, Christie & Jodi

Brad & Victoria knew they were taking a risk by staying on the 7:30 flight, and it didn’t pay off. Their flight already left, and because of the fog, there are no more flights that day. They will be on the 9:15AM flight the next morning. Disastrous.

The road block is to perform gymnastics: balance beam, parallel bars, and floor exercises. They will need to perform the moves correctly and in the right order. It’s not readily apparent who actually performed the road block because I still can’t tell the all male/female teams apart. Perhaps the most critical thing that happened at the road block is that Tammy & Victor first got lost, then she froze up and took a long time when they did get there.

From there, teams will travel by train to Brasov, Transylvania. The earliest train is 6:30AM, about 6 hours after the 9:30 flight lands. This should bunch up everybody except Brad & Victoria. On the ride over, Jaime & Cara are bonding with Luke.

The detour is a choice between gypsy moves or vampire remains. In gypsy moves, teams will load belongings on to horsedrawn carts, then navigate them to the new encampment and unload the belongings. In vampire remains, teams will drag a coffin to the clearing, unlock and open it to reveal antique frames inside, and impale the frames on a stake to find a hidden flag.

Gypsy moves: Amanda & Kris, Kisha & Jen, Mel & Mike, Mark & Michael
Vampire remains: Christie & Jodi, Tammy & Victor, Jaime & Cara, Margie & Luke, Brad & Victoria

Mel & Mike have picked the physical task, which they know is dumb. Victor insists that he’s following the right marked path, even though he’s just following some random path. Tammy corrects him, but he insists to just keep going. Jaime & Cara (and Margie & Luke who are following them) get lost on the way to the detour. While they’re unloading, Kris says he doesn’t have his fanny pack, but Amanda tells him not to worry and that they’ll get it. This could potentially be a worse mistake than Brad & Victoria made. Tammy & Victor? They’re still walking and walking and walking. He has no plans to listen to her. After running around for a while, Amanda & Kris have found the fanny pack, which cost them first place but still keeps them in the game. Now that they’ve walked up the mountain and found nothing, Victor finally agrees to listen to Tammy. When they finally find the coffin, they lose the key on the way down the hill and have to crawl around on the ground to find it. Nicely planned task.

First: Mel & Mike (win a trip to Costa Rica)
Second: Amanda & Kris
Third: Kisha & Jen
Fourth: Margie & Luke
Fifth: Mark & Michael
Sixth: Christie & Jodi
Seventh: Jaime & Cara
Eighth: Tammy & Victor
Eliminated: Brad & Victoria

The sun has set, and Brad & Victoria keep going and have finally arrived at the mat, unsurprisingly being eliminated.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 14 Episode 4 It was Like a Caravan of Idiots, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

It was pretty obvious Preston & Jennifer were going to be a disaster when they said they were both control freaks, although I wasn’t expecting them to be the first team eliminated as they were in The Amazing Race 14 Episode 1.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Margie & Luke – 2:56AM
Second: Tammy & Victor – 2:57AM
Third: Mark & Michael – 2:59AM
Fourth: Mel & Mike – 3:18AM
Fifth: Amanda & Kris – 3:47AM
Sixth: Brad & Victoria – 3:56AM
Seventh: Jaime & Cara – 3:59AM
Eighth: LaKisha & Jennifer – 4:02AM
Ninth: Steve & Linda – 4:04AM
Tenth: Christie & Jodi – 4:12AM

Victor believes he’s the leader of his team, so his baby sister will have trouble breaking through that. Jennifer is going to have the same trouble with LaKisha. Mel injured his groin in the last leg climbing up that hill. Steve & Linda are just happy to not be the first ones eliminated. He admits he was an asshat for treating her like he did. Most of the teams are smart enough to use the phone from their taxi drivers. Margie & Luke didn’t prebook but get on the flight. Mark & Michael try to book when they get to the airport but are told there aren’t any seats. Christie & Jodi were smart enough to call, but they’re leaving so much after everyone else that there’s only one seat left.

Teams will fly to Munich, Germany.

First flight (7:10AM): Jaime & Cara, Kisha & Jen, Steve & Linda, Margie & Luke, Mel & Mike, Brad & Victoria, Amanda & Kris, Tammy & Victor
Second flight (8:45AM): Mark & Michael, Christie & Jodi

When they land, they’ll drive themselves to Rupholding, racing down the Audubon with matching Mercedes.

The road block is to run off the mountain and take a flying leap, paragliding in tandem with their instructor to the ground 6000 feet below. In the event of unsafe wind conditions, they can either wait for things to get better or hike down the mountain 60 minutes. Tammy opts to run down, and she’s got about a 15 minute lead over the others. Victoria’s the first one of the group of five that arrive next to decide to make a run for it. Kris and Margie decide to make a run for it. Mel can’t go down the hill because of his injury. He’s stuck up there for as long as it takes. Linda knows she’s not the best runner but is going for it. Having waited for a long time, Cara finally decides to run. With the people from the last flight arriving, Mel & Mike are getting more concerned. Mark leaves, and Jen and Christie go shortly behind him. That puts Mel alone at the top of the hill. He refuses to pray… God is busy enough without worrying about who is eliminated from this race. Finally, the wind calms down, and he’s allowed to head down.

Road block: Tammy, Kris, Margie, Cara, Mel, Victoria, Linda, Jen, Christie, Mark

Tammy completes the run first. Margie is next. Kris follows. Victoria is fourth. Mel lucked out and landed in fifth. Everybody else now knows it’s a footrace. Mark and Cara are next. Linda seems completely lost. Jen is eighth. Christie is ninth, and Linda is afraid Steve will hate her. She has run into the highway and decides to hitchhike, surely against the rules.

Teams must drive themselves 25 miles to the Schonau am Konigsee. Jen & Kisha get lost again, and Kisha doesn’t seem to want to know what Jen has to say.

The detour is a choice between balancing dolly or Austrian folly. In balancing dolly, teams must ride a Segway Transporter along a 2 mile obstacle course. In Austrian folly, teams must throw pies at a target (their partner’s face) until they find a pie with a cherry filling. The balancing task probably is a lot less fun, but the dumb luck task has been the downfall of many a team.

Austrian folly: Tammy & Victor, Amanda & Kris, Margie & Luke, Brad & Victoria, Christie & Jodi, Steve & Linda
Balancing dolly: Mel & Mike, Jaime & Cara, Kisha & Jen, Mark & Michael

The next stop is woodcutters. Once they get the wood, it will be stamped with their next clue. Then they will have to drive themselves to Salisburg, Austria and find Schloss Hellbrunn, which is the pit stop for this leg of the race.

First: Tammy & Victor (win hybrid go karts)
Second: Mel & Mike
Third: Amanda & Kris
Fourth: Margie & Luke
Fifth: Brad & Victoria
Sixth: Jaime & Cara
Seventh: Kisha & Jen
Eighth: Mark & Michael
Ninth: Christie & Jodi
Eliminated: Steve & Linda

Steve & Linda were an elimination waiting to happen, but Mel & Mike clearly should not be in this race any more if the injury is so bad that it will make them unable to complete many of the race’s physical challenges. Despite the fighting during the race, Steve & Linda say they wouldn’t have wanted to do the race with anyone else.

It’s looking like Jen’s frustration with Kisha is going to get hateful on a future episode, and although Tammy claims she’s used to Victor being bossy, she doesn’t look like she’ll be able to put up with it for much longer either. Christie & Jodi, who probably are not a bad team (if only they’d get a chance to prove it without always being on the last flight/train), keep cutting it pretty close.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 14 Episode 3 I’m Not Wearing that Girls Leotard, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

The Amazing Race 13 ended on a high note when the strongest team brother and sister Nick & Starr were the winners. Now a new group of contestants will be racing across 40,000 miles and nine countries in 22 days. The Amazing Race 14 cast of 11 teams of two includes the first ever deaf contestant (at least in the US version… The Amazing Race Asia 2 winner included one deaf contestant), Harvard law graduates, a father who realized he was gay when his son (who is his teammate who is also gay) was 11, brothers who are stuntmen, former NFL cheerleaders, and at least one couple using this race as a way to prove their relationship (which never works).

The good news about midseason TAR: at least it’s starting on time (more often than it does in the fall anyway).

Teams will depart from the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alimitos, CA, home to the CA national guard and army reserve.

The flight attendants believe their knowledge of airports will work to their advantage. Tammy, the sister in the brother/sister lawyer team, feels left out, probably because she usually is. Luke doesn’t even read lips, so he’ll need to communicate by using sign language. Linda & Steve realize they’re hicks. LaKisha & Jen were college athletes, which could come in handy, if only they can get past the fact that they have “issues.” Jennifer & Preston both want to be in charge, a disaster waiting to happen. Brad & Victoria say they’re in better shape than you may think. Mark and Michael, standing at 4’9″, stunt double children. Cara & Jaime are perfectly willing to be this season’s bitches. I hate them already.

From LAX, the teams will be heading to Switzerland on one of two flights.

First flight (via Zurich): Tammy & Victor, Christie & Jodi, Jaime & Cara, Mark & Michael, Brad & Victoria, Margie & Luke
Second flight (via Milan): Kisha & Jen, Mel & Mike, Amanda & Kris, Preston & Jennifer, Steve & Linda

The decision on which flight to pick seems relatively random. They’ll be taking the train to Locarno from the city they take the plane to. The train station in Zurich is right in the airport. Jennifer & Preston have already missed their train, not the best start. They’re also already fighting. On the way to Switzerland, Christie & Jodi meet a local who wants them to go with her, which they believe will save them 13 minutes.

With that and the fact that they’re in the first group, Christie & Jodi arrive first. That puts plane one ahead of plane two.

They must now head to the Church of San Antonio, where they will sign for departure times. For the night they will be camping out.

7:15 – Christie & Jodi, Tammy & Victor, Margie & Luke, Mark & Michael
7:30 – Brad & Victoria, Jaime & Cara, Mel & Mike (first from plane two)
7:45 – Kisha & Jen, Amanda & Kris, Steve & Linda, Preston & Jennifer

Steve’s already arguing with Linda for being too slow. And he keeps harping on it until she’s in tears.

Using the provided picture, teams must now race to the Verzasca Dam. Christie & Jodi struggle to get a cab, which allows Brad & Victoria to pass them. Jaime & Cara also struggle to get a cab, so the teams in last catch up to them.

At the dam is the road block, a 70 story bungee jump, the second highest in the world.

Road block (in order of arrival): Victor, Michael (I think), Luke, Mike, Victoria, Jodi, Kris, Jaime, Preston, Jen, Steve

The next stop is Interlaken via train. Tammy & Victor are trying to act sneaky (not overly convincingly) already, pretending they’re taking a train on the advice of some lady, a train that they claim may or may not be correct.

When another group arrives at the train station, Christie & Jodi opt for the earlier train, but Brad & Victoria take the one that leaves over an hour later but arrives earlier (but lie to Christie & Jodi and tell them they’ll take the earlier one). It’s unclear what train order anybody’s in.

Upon arrival, teams will join the local workforce, transporting 200 pounds of cheese downhill. The biggest trick appears to be to get these cheese holders to not break. Nobody is having any luck, and the result is cheese rolling down the hill and/or people falling down. Apparently, though, if the cheese rolls down the hill and you’re able to find it, it still counts. Logically, why not just fling the cheese down the hill and then run down? Mel just slides down the hill on his butt. On their second trek down, Luke & Margie follow his example, which puts them in the lead. Only a couple people in the first group are actually successfully able to use the cheese holders. All the remaining teams arrive after the first four are finished, and it looks like a fairly close race. The only exception is Christie & Jodi, who are on that train they just made by one minute, which was not the right train to take. Steve ain’t as dumb as he looks. Instead of trying to carry the cheese on his back, he ties his cheese to the wood and slides it down the hill, allowing him to take 150 pounds at once, while most people struggle with just 50, which should allow them to get up from their previous tenth place.

The pitstop for this leg of the race is Stechelberg. They’ll have to follow the sound of the yodelling.

First: Margie & Luke (win a trip to Puerto Vallarta)
Second: Tammy & Victor
Third: Mark & Michael
Fourth: Mel & Mike
Fifth: Amanda & Kris
Sixth: Brad & Victoria
Seventh: Jaime & Cara
Eighth: LaKisha & Jennifer
Ninth: Steve & Linda (after wandering around for a while)
Tenth: Christie & Jodi
Eliminated: Preston & Jennifer

In the mad dash to the finish, Christie & Jodi outrun Preston carrying Jennifer on his back, and Jennifer & Preston are eliminated. I’m not sure that Jennifer & Preston were necessarily the weakest link, although they did have more than their share of mistakes and bickering, but I’m glad to see Christie & Jodi weren’t eliminated just based on their train choice, as they are a fairly strong team.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 14 Episode 2 Your Target Is Your Partner’s Face, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

The Amazing Race 14 begins Sunday February 15 at 8/7c on CBS. Phil Keoghan returns as host. The 11 teams of two who will be racing around the world for $1 million this season are:

Amanda Blackledge & Kris Klicka
23 & 24
Dating

Brad Hunt & Victoria Hunt
52 & 47
Married

Cara Rosenthal & Jaime Edmondson
26 & 29
Former NFL Cheerleaders

Christie Volkmer & Jodi Wincheski
37 & 40
Flight Attendants

Jennifer Hopka & Preston McCamy
26 & 28
Dating

LaKisha Hoffman & Jennifer Hoffman
28 & 24
Sisters

Linda Cole & Steve Cole
52 & 43
Married

Margie Adams & Luke Adams
51 & 23
Mother & Son

Mark Munoz & Michael Munoz
48 & 51
Brothers / Stuntmen

Mel White & Mike White
68 & 38
Father & Son

Tammy Jih & Victor Jih
26 & 35
Siblings & Lawyers

“Heading into our 14th season, I wanted to pull out all the stops. We have extreme climates, intense roadblocks and less time in airports, which adds up to an exhausting course for the Racers. Whether you’re a screen writer, a Harvard graduate, a jockey or a carpenter, this Race will test your stamina, your heart and your will to win,” said Bertram van Munster, executive producer/co-creator of The Amazing Race.

TAMMY JIH
Hometown: San Francisco, CA
Age: 26
Occupation: Lawyer

VICTOR JIH
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Age: 35
Occupation: Lawyer

Relationship: SIBLINGS/LAWYERS

If they can manage to set aside sibling rivalries long enough to use their most valuable attribute – their intelligence – this brother/sister duo, both with Harvard Law degrees, might just have what it takes to outsmart the competition and be a force to be reckoned with.

MEL WHITE
Hometown: Lynchburg, VA
Age: 68
Occupation: Writer/Clergyman

MIKE WHITE
Hometown: Santa Monica, CA
Age: 38
Occupation: Writer, Producer, Actor

Relationship: FATHER/SON

Mike and Mel had a pretty typical family life until Mike was 11 years old, which is when Mel told the family that he was gay. Mike works as a writer, director and actor in Los Angeles. His writing credits include the feature films “Nacho Libre” and “School of Rock,” in which he also starred opposite Jack Black. Mel, a gay rights activist, has worked as a writer, professor, filmmaker and a pastor and is eager to have a once in a lifetime experience with his youngest child.

MARK MUNOZ
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Age: 48
Occupation: Stuntman/Jockey

MICHAEL MUNOZ
Hometown: Maui, HI
Age: 51
Occupation: Stuntman/Actor

Relationship: BROTHERS/STUNTMEN

This Team of brothers has been competing – against everyone else and each other – their entire lives. Standing at 4′ 9″, they chose similar paths in their lives and after years of surfing big waves and racing horses around a track, they’re eager to run the Race of a lifetime with one another.