Category: amazing race 13

Despite some major mistakes from other teams, Anthony & Stephanie were the last team to arrive and were eliminated in The Amazing Race 13 Episode 2. Ken & Tina continued to be a strong team, as did Mark & Bill and Terence & Sarah, although the latter team still looks like it’s on the verge of a breakdown. Having screwed up on not one but two clues, Kelly & Christy’s literacy is coming into question.

Kelly & Christy are still upset at Starr about a sports bra mishap, or at least that’s their story anyway.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Ken & Tina – 12:51AM
Second: Mark & Bill – 12:52AM
Third: Terence & Sarah – 1:13AM
Fourth: Aja & Ty – 1:14AM
Fifth: Toni & Dallas – 1:15AM
Sixth: Nick & Starr – 1:17AM
Seventh: Kelly & Christy – 1:18AM
Eighth: Andrew & Dan – 1:22AM
Ninth: Marisa & Brooke – 1:22AM

Ken & Tina know they both need to work on how they treat each other. Mark & Bill plan to be analytical and take some extra time to think about things if needed. Sarah realizes this is not a popularity contest, which is a good thing for her and Terence. Marisa & Brooke think they’re being underestimated, which may have to do with the always coming in next to last.

The next destination is 1200 miles away in La Paz, Bolivia, where they will first go to the statue of Simon Bolivar. There are apparently two different flights, but it doesn’t seem to matter which one they get on, as they’ll be sleeping outside for the night. The altitude of 13,000 feet may make breathing difficult.

Nick approaches Kelly & Christy to see why they’re being hateful. He says he’d like to get along and receives a response that they don’t care if people don’t like them.

When the morning paper arrives, it’s time to search for the first clue, an ad which tells them to go to Narvaez Hat Shop. It’s a detour. The detour is a choice between musical march or bumpy ride. In musical march, teams must make their way on foot and collect musicians and form a band then deliver them to a bandleader. In bumpy ride, they’ll ride locally crafted bicycles on the rough roads. A U-turn is ahead.

Musical march: Andrew & Dan, Marisa & Brooke
Bumpy ride: Mark & Bill, Ken & Tina, Kelly & Christy, Aja & Ty, Nick & Starr, Toni & Dallas, Terence & Sarah (switched from musical march after realizing their taxi error)

Even though the clue says travel by foot, Terence & Sarah hail a cab, forcing them to turn around and start over after they realize the mistake. Mark & Bill also take a cab.

Mark & Bill think they’re far enough ahead that they don’t have to use the U-turn. Marisa & Brooke also choose to not use the U-turn, as do Terence & Sarah and Ken & Tina. Andrew & Dan follow suit. Nick & Starr pass Kelly & Christy going down the hill, and Nick says they don’t want to U-turn anybody, though Starr’s not so sure. Since they’ve only got one U-turn the whole game, though, they’d rather save it. Aja & Ty also don’t use it, despite Starr’s request for them to use it on Kelly & Christy. Kelly & Christy think they’re in last place, so they don’t use it either, nor do Toni & Dallas.

The next destination is Los Titanes Del Ring, where the road block is fighting cholitas (female pro wrestlers). When they successfully execute all six wrestling moves, they’ll be able to move on. Much comedy ensues. I’m not real clear why Sarah chose to pick a fight instead of Terence. While they’re waiting for their partners, Aja tells Christy that Starr wanted her to U-turn them. Ken’s surprised he has to fight a girl but does well. Dallas finds this task easy and is able to make up a lot of time. Nick, Ty, and Dan also get by quickly. Mark’s struggling with the altitude and has to get some oxygen to get through it. After three tries, he gets through, and Marisa finishes on her second try. Sarah also gets through on her second attempt. Kelly gets through, knowing they’re the last team.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is Mitador El Monticulo, a hilltop park. It turns into a mad dash with the cabs, jockeying for position. On the way there, Mark & Bill are reading the clue from earlier and realize they took a cab to the detour when they should have travelled by foot. They’re hit with a 30 minute penalty on arrival.

First: Ken & Tina (win a trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico)
Second: Toni & Dallas
Third: Terence & Sarah
Fourth: Marisa & Brooke
Fifth: Aja & Ty
Sixth: Nick & Starr
Seventh: Andrew & Dan
Eighth: Kelly & Christy
Eliminated: Mark & Bill

Because of the penalty, Mark & Bill have been eliminated, while Kelly & Christy will live another day, meaning we can look forward to more bitterness from them.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 13 Episode 4 I Wonder if They Like Blondes in New Zealand, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

The Amazing Race returned for its 13th season last week. In The Amazing Race 13 Episode 1, there were a few teams toward the bottom of the barrel, but it ultimately came down the beekeepers Anita & Arthur being eliminated. Toward the top of the ladder we had allies Nick & Starr and Ken & Tina, along with soon to destruct dating couple Terence & Sarah, who appear to have already decided the two team alliance are their enemies.

60 Minutes is running over, something we’ll probably have to get used to. A live blog will begin when the show starts, around 8:30.

At the pitstop, Terence & Sarah continue their meltdown. He gets jealous when she talks to… anybody with a pulse.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Nick & Starr – 4:07AM
Second: Ken & Tina – 4:13AM
Third: Terence & Sarah – 4:18AM
Fourth: Mark & Bill – 4:24AM
Fifth: Kelly & Christy – 4:44AM
Sixth: Toni & Dallas – 4:57AM
Seventh: Andrew & Dan – 5:03AM
Eighth: Aja & Ty – 5:05AM
Ninth: Anthony & Stephanie – 5:11AM
Tenth: Marisa & Brooke – 5:13AM

As they depart, Terence & Sarah continue to argue, and she just hopes for some way to reduce the drama. It’s becoming apparent that we’re going to hear every 5 minutes about how Kelly & Christy both got divorced but are over it now (oh really?).

Teams will fly 640 miles to Fortaleza, Brazil. There appear to be two flights: 6:45 and 11:30. The best they can hope for on 6:45 is standby, but they eventually switch to a larger plane and free up some seats. Tina takes credit for getting the bigger plane, which all teams manage to get on, but nobody’s impressed by her. Tina moving up to the front row of seats rubs Terence the wrong way, but Ken kisses Terence and makes up.

When they arrive, teams will go to the seaside town of Combuco, where they’ll start off with a dunebuggy ride to the detour. The detour is a choice between beach it or docket. In beach it, teams must choose a traditional Brazilian boat and drag them using logs 100 yards across the sand. In docket, teams will search for a container by finding the code on their clue in a database.

Beach it: Terence & Sarah, Kelly & Christy, Toni & Dallas, Nick & Starr, Ken & Tina, Andrew & Dan, Aja & Ty, Marisa & Brooke (after trying docket, but not really), Anthony & Stephanie
Docket: Mark & Bill

At the challenge, Kelly & Christy want Sarah to smack Terence upside the head for bossing her around.

The next stop is Parque de Vaquejada, but the first trick is to find a taxi (paying attention to the arrow to taxi parking may help). Mark & Bill decided to play to their strength of computers, and finding the needle in the haystack proved to be not too difficult, putting them in first place. Terence & Sarah finished ahead of them but got lost finding a taxi. Nick & Starr, however, rushed through their task and are on the right track. Kelly & Christy are looking for a container, the container from the other detour. Multiple teams pass them as they go on their wild moose chase, digging in the sand for something that’s not really there.

Multiple other teams drive right by Terence & Sarah because they couldn’t care less they were stupid. Toni & Dallas, however, stop and tell them where to get a cab. When they get back, they’re very close to last. Would have been smarter to let them get eliminated because, despite all their problems, Terence & Sarah are one of the strongest teams.

After being passed by almost all the teams, Kelly & Christy finally decide to stop searching for the container that doesn’t exist.

The road block is searching for a clue hidden in plain sight (somewhere on a 600 foot wall). Bill (I think it’s Bill anyway) has a way to solve this mystery: just write down every single thing on the wall and keep saying names until the painter finally gives him the clue. Tina observes him doing this and takes the same path, which proves to be quite a good idea. Proving that they haven’t learned their lesson from before, Kelly & Christy fail to read their clue and don’t bother to tell their taxi to stay, not realizing that the producers instructed him to stay anyway. One of the blondes is worried she doesn’t know Spanish… it’s a good thing the entire wall is in Portuguese. Nick tells Andrew he swears he’ll help him out if he gets the answer… then gets the right answer and just leaves.

Cidade da Crianca, built as an oasis for the city’s children, is the pit stop for this leg of the race.

First: Ken & Tina (win offroad vehicles)
Second: Mark & Bill
Third: Terence & Sarah
Fourth: Aja & Ty
Fifth: Toni & Dallas
Sixth: Nick & Starr
Seventh: Kelly & Christy
Eighth: Andrew & Dan
Ninth: Marisa & Brooke
Eliminated: Anthony & Stephanie

I didn’t see anything that Anthony & Stephanie could have done better that would have saved them in the race, but they have been eliminated. In the end, though, their brief stay on the race put things into perspective, and let them know they have a lot to be thankful for.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 13 Episode 3 Did You Push My Sports Bra off the Ledge?, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

CBS decided they’d had just about enough of The Amazing Race and relegated it to once a year status while leaving it off the fall schedule last year. It took all of about two weeks to realize that was a really stupid idea, and this year the show’s back right where it should be after an 8 month hiatus. We ended last year with TK & Rachel as The Amazing Race 12 winners, in a less than climactic finale, though at least the best team won for a change.

The Amazing Race 13 cast is a new group of 11 teams racing around the world for the $1 million prize. Tonight’s one hour premiere should be every bit as confusing as every other time they’ve tried to jam way too much into one hour, but it should still be entertaining nonetheless.

The LA Coliseum in Los Angeles, CA is the departure point for the race. Ken & Tina are trying to use this race as a way to see whether they should get divorced or not, meaning they’ll probably be fighting the whole time. Anthony & Stephanie, likewise, are a big risk to be the bickersons. Mark & Bill view this as just a game on the biggest game board you can imagine.

8 of the 11 pitstops are elimination points. It’s time to start with a mad dash up the LA Coliseum steps. When the get to the top, they find out that their first trip will be Salvador, Brazil, and they will only be able to travel on one of two flights.

Anita & Arthur believe they’ll be seen as old hippies. Yeah, well, pretty much.

Tina has Ken driving very aggressively. It gets them pretty close to the front of the pack, but this type of aggressiveness has a tendency to backfire eventually. Aja & Ty don’t get aggressive… they just get smart and take the carpool lane.

The concept of a marked counter proves too much for Aja & Ty, though, which allows a bunch of other teams to get ahead of them. Other teams have the same problem.

First flight: Mark & Bill, Ken & Tina, Terence & Sarah, Nick & Starr, Aja & Ty, Kelly & Christy
Second flight: Toni & Dallas, Andrew & Dan, Anita & Arthur, Marisa & Brooke, Anthony & Stephanie

Teams on the first flight via American are expected to arrive three hours prior to teams on the second flight via United. Typically, on the first leg of the race, anyone on the first flight is safe, while the others battle for elimination. The good news, though, is that the American flight has been delayed by about an hour and a half, but it’s still quite a gap.

Starr pitches an alliance to Ken & Tina, a “loose alliance” for “two legs.”

When they arrive in Brazil, teams will make their way through the busy streets to find a sandwich shop, O Rei Do Pernil, where they will become baristas. They’ll take their carts through the streets and deliver them to a waiting local, without anything falling off. The next trick is to figure out that they’re speaking Portuguese rather than Spanish. Lucky thing the two languages are close enough because nobody seems to get this.

They’ll spend the night outdoors at a military base, where they’ll get one of three departure times upon arrival. Nick’s just happy to be in front of Ken & Tina, their alleged allies.

Andrew & Dan are the lucky team to not still be stuck with the second plane, the rest of whom get the last time slot.

9:00 – Terence & Sarah, Nick & Starr, Mark & Bill, Ken & Tina
9:30 – Aja & Ty, Kelly & Christy, Andrew & Dan
9:45 – Toni & Dallas, Anita & Arthur, Marisa & Brooke, Anthony & Stephanie

Dallas takes his shirt off, which leads Starr to want to jump his bones. Terence, meanwhile, appears to have issues with his girlfriend not paying enough attention to him and gets jealous about her talking to other teams, including the old hippies.

The next destination is Pelourinho, the historic center of Salvador. The next clue is located at a church. On the way there, Sarah decides she hates Nick & Starr. I’m not really sure why. Apparently she thought they were ignoring her or something (because they’re in a race or something).

The detour is a choice between hard way up or soft way down. In hard way up, teams make their way to a stairway that they must climb on their hands and knees. When they reach the top, they must answer the mystery question correctly, or walk around the city streets back to the bottom of the stairs and try again. In soft way down, they must climb down a cargo net to the street 240 feet below, an easier task if they can overcome the fear.

Soft way down (in order of arrival): Nick & Starr, Ken & Tina, Mark & Bill, Terence & Sarah (having wasted some time looking for the staircase), Kelly & Christy, Toni & Dallas, Aja & Ty, Marisa & Brooke, Anthony & Stephanie, Anita & Arthur
Hard way up: Andrew & Dan

The mystery question turns out to be: how many steps have you climbed? Most times contestants have difficulty with that even when they’re climbing standing up. Andrew & Dan are wrong the first time, but they get it right on the second go. This doesn’t look like quite as dumb a decision as I thought initially, but it was still silly to pick hard way up.

The pitstop for this leg of the race is Forte Sao Marcelo, which once defended the city from pirates.

First: Nick & Starr (win a trip for two to Belize)
Second: Ken & Tina
Third: Terence & Sarah
Fourth: Mark & Bill
Fifth: Kelly & Christy
Sixth: Toni & Dallas
Seventh: Andrew & Dan
Eighth: Aja & Ty
Ninth: Anthony & Stephanie
Tenth: Marisa & Brooke
Eliminated: Anita & Arthur

I wasn’t expecting a lot from Anita & Arthur, but I expected them to make it past the first leg.

Nick & Starr look like they’re going to be a strong team, and Ken & Tina will be as well, particularly if they stick with Nick & Starr. Terence & Sarah should also be strong, but they are showing the most potential to implode. Mark & Bill were more impressive than they may have appeared at first glance.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 13 Episode 2 Do You Like American Candy?, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

Toni & Dallas
Mother and Son

Toni Imbimbo
51
Accounting Consultant
Woodside, CA

Dallas Imbimbo
22
Student
Woodside, CA

CBS Bio
Toni and Dallas have always been there for each other and will let nothing come between them. They are hoping the Race will provide them with some quality family time they’ve been missing out on since Dallas has been away at college – and maybe even a million dollars.

As a single mother, Toni sacrificed quite a bit to give Dallas a great childhood. Now Dallas is in college and living on his own.

Dallas can be very persuasive and enjoys getting people to do what he wants. His pet peeve about his Teammate is that she tells very long-winded stories. He describes himself as outgoing, persistent and passionate.

Toni considers herself a leader, but knows that she’ll need to lean on her son a bit more by relying on Dallas’s strengths rather than telling him what to do. Her biggest accomplishment has been raising her son. She currently works for herself as a corporate accounting consultant.

With Dallas’s constant flirting and sarcasm and Toni’s laughter and personality, they are sure to be one of the most entertaining Teams on the Race.

Terence & Sarah
Dating

Terence Gerchberg
35
Running Coach
New York, NY

Sarah Leshner
31
Investment Analyst
New York, NY

CBS Bio
Terence and Sarah have been dating for almost a year, but they couldn’t be more different.

Sarah has an MBA from Wharton and is often the only woman in meetings during her long days working on Wall Street, while Terence sells real estate to pay the bills and satisfies his true passion by coaching runners.

Sarah claims that the biggest difference between the two is that she is lower maintenance and Terence is more emotional. However, she believes they share a competitive spirit and they’re smart, energetic, adventurous as well as fearless.

Terence describes himself as witty, sensitive and driven. One of his proudest accomplishments is finishing the last two New York City Marathons in under three hours.

This Team is determined to prove to themselves whether they belong together while on the Race. They hope that being well-traveled, physically fit, and highly competitive will help them win the $1 million. They think their biggest weakness could be the tendency to become too intense, fighting amongst themselves, or their dietary restrictions. Regardless of whether they win or not, this adventure will definitely be a journey that could make or break them.

Nick & Starr
Brother and Sister

Nick Spangler
22
Actor
New York, NY

Starr Spangler
21
Former NFL Cheerleader
Fort Worth, TX

CBS Bio
This brother/sister team will stop at nothing to win the Race. Both are extremely driven and competitive, especially with one another. They admit to being over-zealous when a prize is involved – even if it’s only bragging rights. They’re excited to use this to their advantage on the Race.

Nick and Starr could practically be twins, and consider each other best friends, even though they rarely see each other due to distance. They hope to strengthen their relationship on this adventure, but do worry that since they haven’t spent much time together in several years that they could get on one another’s nerves. After all, in high-school they were bitter enemies.

Nick claims that the biggest difference between them is that Starr can be a bit reckless – she leaps into a situation without thinking about the repercussions – while Nick thinks everything through before acting. Starr claims that she is simply more spontaneous and figures everything will work out in the end.

Nick and Starr have both accomplished their life-long dreams. Nick performs on the New York stage in an Off-Broadway musical called The Fantasticks, while Starr was a cheerleader for the Dallas Cowboys for the past three seasons.

They’re anxious to bring a new approach to the game and are motivated to strengthen their relationship. They believe that their charisma, wit and relentless spirit will make for a dangerous combination.

Mark & Bill
Best Friends

Mark Yturralde
41
Comic-Con Treasurer
San Diego, CA

Bill Hahler
42
Student Aid Administrator
San Diego, CA

CBS Bio
These comic book aficionados are determined to be the most strategic team ever to compete in the Race. Mark and Bill, friends for over 23 years, first met at a science fiction club and have been bonding over their love for comics and games ever since. Mark says that he “wears geek like a badge of honor.”

Mark describes himself as outgoing, funny and smart. He is willing to go anywhere and isn’t afraid of adventure. His last vacation was to Vanuatu in the South Pacific where he climbed a volcano.

Bill is the opposite of Mark — he describes himself as cautious, easygoing, goofy, yet competitive. When asked how the Race could change their friendship, Bill says that the Race might present them with some bad situations, but in the end, they’ll finish with a deeper respect for one another.

These masterminds are ready to see what they are made of and are convinced that they can be one step ahead of the competition if they play their cards right.

Marisa & Brooke
Southern Belles

Marisa Axelrod
22
Student
Spartanburg, SC

Brooke Jackson
24
Graphic Designer
Columbia, SC

CBS Bio
These charming southern belles are best friends and are up for any challenge. They want to prove to the world that they’re not just cute blondes and that they can be athletic, cut-throat competitors.

Marisa is currently a broadcast journalism student at the University of South Carolina. She describes herself as ambitious, witty and spontaneous. Her extensive dance training has taught her to be focused and determined, skills that could help her to do well on the race.

Brooke is fascinated with other cultures and can’t wait to try out some of the Spanish she learned while living in Spain. She works as a graphic designer and enjoys traveling, painting and being outdoors. She believes that her take-charge attitude will be enough to get them through the rigors of the Race.

She and her best friend are certain this adventure will make them even better friends. And if they have to do a little flirting along the way, they’re not opposed to that either – whatever it takes to cross the finish line in first place.