One of the teams that had looked the strongest, Azaria & Hendekea, were unable to work together and fell apart in The Amazing Race 12 Episode 6 and were eliminated after accidentally booking business class seats. Nathan & Jennifer hate each other (more) but still came in third.
Due to the football overrun, the show’s delayed about 25 minutes (as usual). A live blog will begin once 60 Minutes is over.
Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.
First: Ronald & Christina (2:19am)
Second: Kynt & Vyxsin (2:55am)
Third: Nathan & Jennifer (3:45am)
Fourth: TK & Rachel (5:37am)
Fifth: Nicolas & Donald (7:06am)
Next stop is Ancona, Italy by ferry via a bus from Split, Croatia.
Ronald says all the Italian he knows is that prego means please. Christina responds, “Isn’t prego a… spaghetti sauce?”
Bus 1: Ronald & Christina, Kynt & Vyxsin, Nathan & Jennifer
Bus 2: TK & Rachel, Nicolas & Donald
The gap between buses doesn’t matter. Everybody’s on the same ferry to Italy.
The next clue is in Empoli. They’ll receive a message by (product placement alert) Blackberry but can’t use it for any other reason. Nathan & Jennifer apparently get the most direct instructions on how to get to Empoli. The other teams get the most known way but perhaps not the most direct. Rachel forgot the route info clue where they stopped earlier, putting her and TK quite a ways behind, but they’re going a more direct way as well. The message on the Blackberry is a message from home.
To make matters worse, the less direct way is also jammed with traffic, and they can’t even go the exit they needed to go on because the road’s closed down. Nicolas & Donald just stop and wait for the road to open. The others decide to keep going. Kynt & Vyxsin get completely lost. Ronald & Christina seem to be doing okay.
Nathan & Jennifer arrive at Empoli first, waiting for it to open at 7am. Eventually behind them are TK & Rachel, also showing up before 7. While they’re in the air for the road block, Ronald & Christina show up, with Nicolas & Donald seconds behind them.
Kynt & Vyxsin are still completely lost, and she’s starting to have a breakdown.
The road block is to look for the next destination while soaring above the city in an ultralight (sneak peak of the road block).
Jennifer wants to do the fast forward (the only fast forward on the entire race). Nate declines. Ronald has no interest in doing the fast forward and gets very vocal about it, which is upsetting to Rachel, who can’t believe how he’s treating his daughter. Nicolas & Donald opt for the fast forward. They must get a permanent tattoo of FF (for fast forward), which is made a big deal, but ultimately they don’t seem overly hesitant and do complete the fast forward.
Road block: Nathan, TK, Christina, Vyxsin
Nathan finishes the road block easily, as does Christina. TK is unable to finish after 30 minutes and must land and then try again. He lands a second time after an hour. At that point, Kynt & Vyxsin show up. TK still doesn’t get it a third time, but Vyxsin gets it on her first try like the others. On his fourth attempt, TK finally gets it.
The next stop is the town of Vinci, the birth home of Leonardo da Vinci.
The detour is a choice between invention or tradition. In tradition, they must create a replica of a crane designed by Leonardo da Vinci. They’ll assemble it and use it to lift a stone, then place a mirror and read a clue. In tradition, they must learn a local flag routine.
Tradition: Nathan & Jennifer, Ronald & Christina, Kynt & Vyxsin (after immediately switching from invention)
Invention: TK & Rachel
Jennifer takes control like she did with the dancing challenge, while Nathan struggles to pick it up but eventually does with her help.
On the way to the detour, Kynt & Vyxsin get into an argument while driving over, well, it’s not really clear why they’re fighting, aside from being frustrated with all the driving they’ve been doing that day. Kynt forces her to get out of the car and let him drive. Too bad he has no clue how to drive a stick and screws up the car. His response is to keep telling her to shut up. They leave the car there and run to the detour, hoping the replacement car will be there when they get back.
TK & Rachel finally catch a break, after having a horrible leg, and they notice they’re no longer in last… then they get a flat tire. When Kynt & Vyxsin finish the detour, they do have a replacement car, which he wisely lets her drive.
The pitstop for this leg of the race is the Boboli Gardens in Florence.
First: Nicolas & Donald (win a trip to Cancun)
Second: Nathan & Jennifer
Third: Ronald & Christina
Fourth: TK & Rachel
Fifth: Kynt & Vyxsin (non-eliminated)
This is the first of two non-elimination legs. The penalty is a new twist in the race, a speed bump, which is a task that only the non-eliminated team must complete (please don’t blow this up into a bigger deal than necessary like with the U-turn). Nathan & Jennifer finally find out that if they work together they do a lot better (memo to Jennifer). Kynt & Vyxsin, however, who have gotten along the entire time, find out what it’s like when a team fails to cooperate, much like the fate Azaria & Hendekea suffered last week.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 12 episode 8 Honestly, They Have Witch Powers or Something, which airs Sunday at 8/7c(ish) on CBS.