Amazing Race: Another Duo Out

Published: December 10, 2007 at 01:58 AM GMT
Last Updated: December 10, 2007 at 01:58 AM GMT

By Libby Pelham

The teams on this week’s installment of CBS’ Amazing Race left Vilnius to fly to Dubrovnik, Croatia. It would seem that flying would be one of the easier parts of this competition, but as we have seen before, that is not always the case. Much of this episode focused on teams trying to get a flight or get where they needed to be rather than the actual Roadblocks or Detours.

Ronald and Christina smartly called and reserved seats on a Polish airlines flight leaving at 6:25 a.m. The other teams lined up at the airport, waiting for the office to open. Kynt and Vyxsin decided to try a travel agent. Ronald and Christina altruistically told Azaria and Hendekea about the Polish airlines flight, but when they tried to contact the airlines, they couldn’t. Azaria and Hendekea bickered over having given up their place in line.

They did get a seat on one of the flights out. The only problem was that when they arrived at the check-in counter, they were told their tickets were business class. Hendekea knew that was a violation of rules, so they ran back to get economy tickets. The only problem was there weren’t any. So Azaria and Hendekea were thrown on one of those flights that was so far behind everyone else, that we didn’t see them again until the end of the episode.

But it’s not like they were alone in being behind. TK and Rachel, and Donald and Nicolas got an early flight out, but missed their connecting flight. Each took separate connecting routes, with TK and Rachel getting into Dubrovnik a bit earlier.

Tonight’s Roadblock was “Who has a builder’s eye?” One team member had to search through 150 rocks to find one that might fit in one of eight slots in the wall. This roadblock was rather sad as the wall needed to be rebuilt after the Croatian war of the 1990s damaged it. It was here that Ronald and Christina managed to get a jump on the other two teams as Kynt and Vyxsin, and Nathan and Jennifer got lost looking for the clue.

After completing that task, the teams took a tandem zip line to their next clue. That looked very scary, but very beautiful as the teams flew high above the water.

Next they encountered a Detour–Short and Long or Long and Short. They had to reenact attacking the city by either rappelling down the Fort of St. Lawrence, then scaling the city wall, or take another tandem zip line from the fort to a rowboat and row around the city wall. Either way, their next clue was waiting for them at the plaza. While the first option may sound easier, there was a lot of navigating through the city to reach the plaza, so if the teams could endure the physical rowing, they would be better off. Nathan and Jennifer came to blows in the rowboat, with Jennifer actually saying, “I hate you.” That seems par for the course, but I think this leg of the trip might have truly killed their relationship.

After finishing the Detour, the teams were to take a taxi to Stone Cross, the pit stop for this leg of the race. Ronald and Christina finished first and won a catamaran. Christina credited it all to teamwork. Again, a team ran into trouble, as taxi drivers would not take Nathan and Jennifer because they were wet from being in the row boat. Jennifer began whining as usual, but when Nathan told her it would be okay, she said, “Our relationship sucks.” They finally found someone to take them to the pit stop, but he wasn’t a taxi driver.

Once at the pit stop, they were told by Phil they had to go back down and take a “legal form of transportation” back up. Had they taken a taxi the first time, they would have finished second, but Kynt and Vyxsin snuck in front of them. Sadder still, when Nathan and Jennifer were told they finished third, they shook hands. Phil noticed and Jennifer said that their relationship status was “unpredictable.”

TK and Rachel finally showed up, finishing fourth. We finally saw Azaria and Hendekea, and Donald and Nicolas again. Both teams were a bit freaked out, not knowing their status until they both spotted each other and realized the race was still on. Donald and Nicolas were slightly ahead of Azaria and Hendekea and remained that way, putting the brother and sister team in last place.

At the beginning of the season, Phil mentioned there would be two non-elimination pit stops, but when are they going to occur? I was really hoping last night would be one of them. Azaria and Hendekea were one of the strongest teams, but like Rob and Amber last season, they were eliminated before the finale.

I thought they were the favorites to win, but now I have no idea. Kynt and Vyxsin have been fairly strong the whole season. TK and Rachel are all over the place–on the top, on the bottom, in the middle. I think next week, if it is an elimination stop, will see Donald and Nicolas leaving unless they just really put it into gear. When Ronald and Christina can get along and work together, they prove to be a fairly strong team. And what about Nathan and Jennifer? Despite the fighting, they are a pretty strong team when Jennifer doesn’t just totally fall to pieces, so they may prove to be contenders as well.

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