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Episodes September 30 - Leg 1 October 7 - Leg 2 October 14 - Leg 3 October 21 - Leg 4 October 28 - Leg 5 November 4 - Leg 6 |
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| Eleven teams of two, joined by family or relationship, follow a path of twists and turns in a frenetic race around the world for $1 million...and, quite possibly, even TWO million! Who will be the first to cross the finish line? Recaps by Chris Wolvie, GSNN
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Off to See the Wizard Previously on THE AMAZING RACE...seven teams escaped Bangladesh (much to their DEEP relief) and headed for Istanbul, Turkey...though not before James & Abba (Team Hair Metal) lose their Leg stipend and have to beg in the streets of Dhaka for funds. Once in Turkey, Josh & Brent (Team Beekman Boys) had to down some Turkish ice cream (twice) in a SPEED BUMP. All teams transported bagels or took the Turkish bath of a LIFETIME before selling "Turkish sherbet" in Istanbul's largest covered marketplace. In the end, Trey & Lexi (Team Texas Two-Step) scored their first won Leg while Rob & Kelley (Married Monster Truckers) - owing to a poor transportation decision upon landing in the city - ended up eliminated. Five teams are left to Race for a million...and one team still Races for TWO million...who will be impeached NEXT?! PIT STOP #6MV SAVARONA INSTANBUL, TURKEY 1235 LOCAL TIME In front of the luxury yacht where they won the previous Leg, the two Texas daters rip open the first clue of the seventh Leg of the twenty-first Race:
Trey & Lexi are happy
to have come on this Race; their relationship could not be stronger.
The other teams' (local) departure times are: Abbie & Ryan are certain
that Natalie & Nadiya and "latching on" to Trey &
Lexi so that they can have an "alliance" to U-TURN the
divorcees at the next possible opportunity...because, after all,
they're the ONLY ones who can win two-mil. But, this motivates them
to push harder. James & Abba admit not being 100%, but they
push harder as well (and keep a better eye on their cash). The twins
get some nosh from their driver en route to the airport...but they
think they need to "step it up" in the Race. Josh &
Brent are still in last...but overcoming the SPEED BUMP gave them
a lot of confidence that they can keep going. ISTANBUL
ATATURK INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT Team Texas Two-Step arrive at the airport and ask an information booth about flights to Moscow. The agent sends them to Aeroflot, the Russian-owned airline. But...they can't seem to FIND the counter as they forgot the name almost immediately. They go to Alilalia (Italy's airline) and Air France without luck...so they go to the food court to eat some American-processed chicken and think about it. Menawhile, when Team Dating Divorcees arrive, they check out an internet terminal and find a Turkish Airlines flight with a one-hour layover in Frankfurt, Germany arriving in Moscow at 3:40am. They feel the tight schedule is worth the risk of arriving uber-early so they book it. When Team Hair Metal arrive, they go to a KLM booth and book an Istanbul-to-Amsterdam, Netherlands-to-Moscow flight, arriving at TWO in the morning. After getting their protein fix, Trey & Lexi run into Team Jersey Twins and inform the girls that they are flight-less. The two teams go to Turkish Airlines and get a similar flight as Abbie & Ryan...only THEIR flight connects through Munich instead of Frankfurt and the Aeroflot flight arrives in Moscow at roughly 4am. When Team Full Monty! arrive, they book the same flight as James & Abba. And Team Beekman Boys go to a travel agent in the airport. They don't think they can make the layover in Frankfurt...but the next possibility is connecting through Athens, Greece and arriving 80 minutes later. So they do the only thing they can think of to make a choice: they flipped a coin. It was heads...so they go through Frankfurt. As they await their flights, Team Texas Two-Step pass by Team Dating Divocees...and Abbie give Lexi what Lexi describes as "crazy eyes". It was all they needed to know that the competetiveness of this Race was "changing" Abbie & Ryan. FLIGHTS
TO MOSCOW: But...you know the old saying: ANYTHING can happen on the Race. And the flight to Frankfurt has been DELAYED...for an HOUR! There goes the layaway time, pushing the divorcees and the goat farmers to the back of the pack when they arrive at... FRANKFURT
INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT Out of the plane and straight to the ticket counters go the two teams...with just THREE MINUTES to make their connection. They run like crazy through the terminal to the Aeroflot gates...but to no avail. The last flight to Moscow is outta here...and Abbie & Ryan and Josh & Brent are stuck until the next morning. They go to a "last-minute tickets" counter and find that the earliest flight will be via Warsaw, Poland and will arrive at 3:10...in the AFTERNOON! They're gone from 100 minutes behind...to over 13 HOURS behind! Ryan claims, "This isn't fun anymore." SHEREMETYEVO
INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT Flew in from old Amsterdam on Aeroflot...didn't get to bed last night...but the Ja(y)mes Boys and James & Abba are back in the former USSR. The two all-male teams hop into cabs and head straight to... ZURAB
TSERETELI SCULPTURE PARK Mr. Tsereteli is still alive and well and making sculptures...but that hasn't stopped the people of Moscow from honoring this controversial artist with an outdoor museum of his works. Team Hair Metal and Team Full Monty! arrive at the entrance...but the gate is locked, not to open until 9:30am. Still plenty of time for the other teams to show up...which, sure enough, Team Texas Two-Step and Team Jersey Twins do as the sun rises over the former Soviet capital. The teams feel that the others missed their flight (or, at least, they HOPE so). At 9:30, the majestic gates open and the teams jog into the park and look around the maze of large sculptures for the Clue Box. Once found, they grab the clues to find:
While James & Abba take a cab, the other six Americans decide to save money and jog to the bridge, comfortable in their "alliance". MOSKVORETSKY
MOST Team Hair Metal gets dropped off in front of the Kremlin and (without even a wave to President Putin) run out onto the bridge (which is "most" in Russia) once they spy two men dressed in red from a distance. Sure enough, these are the guards for the much-hated Tsar of Russia in the 16th Century. The men give the rockers the next clue, which is the next:
While SYNCHRONIZE may have music involved, Abba's not sure he can swim well with his hurt knees. So they choose ALPHABETIZE and find that the library is within walking distance across Red Square. As they head off, the other three teams arrive. While Trey & Lexi choose ALPHABETIZE, Natalie & Nadiya and the Ja(y)mes Boys choose SYNCHRONIZE. The Texas team walks, the Chippendales get a cab and the twins...well, they might as well be in the rain because nobody is stopping for them. RUSSIAN
STATE LIBRARY James & Abba trudge up the steps into this ginormous library (and, yeah, that's an actual word now) and get the list from a librarian. The books are listed by author, title and year of release. Of course, the Cyrillic alphabet is a fair bit different from the English one, with the infamous backwards "R"s and "N"s and something that looks like the symbol for "pi". So...needless to say, there's a lot of "O, moy Bog" muttered by Team Hair Metal. "I'd rather drown," say Abba.. TRUD
SPORTS COMPLEX Speaking of which, up come Jaymes & James to the nadatorium (fancy word for "swimming and diving complex"). We are treated to some highlights of a six-woman team (aquaphilia overload) before the boys - in Speedos, flowery head caps and their signature Chippendale bowtie collars - show up at the pool. They have to remove the collars by order of the instructor. A paper on the poolside shows that the two must join six others in an eight-person routine. They think it's breeze...up until the in-pool moves. the arm movements, the underwater rolling, the spins...this might be a BIT much for these guys to handle. Team Jersey Twins FINALLY get a cab...but they claim to be "an hour behind". They contemplate using the EXPRESS PASS they won in Leg 2, as this is the next-to-last Leg they can use it in. They could have a huge time lead...or they could blow it anyway since the PASS is only for ONE TASK, not the rest of the Leg. We are live at the 2012 TAR-lympic Games. First up in synchronized swimming is the Russian team, anchored by Jaymes & James. The instructor has them and the six ladies lined up on the poolside and is on the side with a brass pole stuck in the water. The pole will be struck to the time of the beat and is submerged so that it can be heard underwater as well. The music starts, the quick above-water routine is complete...and the whole thing is stopped as they dive in incorrectly and get out of formation. The second take goes fine until the underwater flip, which one of the boys does prematurely...twice. Then the FINAL flip is out of synch as well. But they're confident they can get it the next time. Back at ALPHABETIZE, James & Abba are still struggling with the card catalouge when Team Texas Two-Step arrives at the library. As they're handed their list, they're given advice by James: "Run for your lives." But luck was on the couple's side; they stumble upon the authors' set of catalouges and some more English-looking characters on their list. Unfortunately, that seems to be the ONLY luck; they still can't find the right one. They start matching up shapes instead...and manage to get one correct book on the list. As they write it down, James & Abba decide to do a "self U-TURN" and do SYNCHRONIZE instead. WARSAW
CHOPIN AIRPORT In the "capital" of the Eastern Bloc that lorded over half of Europe from the 1950s to the 1990s, Josh & Brent and Abbie & Ryan wait for their flight into Moscow. Ryan starts to think that it's no longer worth Racing because they're so far behind. But the two teams decide instead to just run the Leg together...and let the chips fall where they may. So, as they board, there's a sense of comeraderie instead of competition. Back at SYNCHRONIZE, Natalie & Nadiya arrive and start to practice THEIR routine (same one but with all girls) as Jaymes & James try once again to finish THEIRS correctly. The girls have trouble, though, as their instructor only speaks and understands Russian. Still, they practice as best they can and try the routine. Despite being a LITTLE out of synch, at least they weren't TOTALLY out like Team Full Monty! was. But one of the girls missed the final flip and, so, they're sent back to the start. Again, they ponder using the EXPRESS PASS. But, instead, they likewise "self U-TURN" head out of the water and to the library, waving to the boys on the way out. But Jaymes & James convince the girls that they're still in the front pack and that changing tasks would just waste more time...so Team Jersey Twins stay. Back at ALPHABETIZE, Tery & Lexi find their four books and are ready to find them physically amid the millions of bound-paper implements. It looked daunting at first but, once they figured out the way the shelves were set up and how they were numbered, finding the first book was relatively easy. They get the four books and bring them to Olga. One by one she checks them against the list...and, with a shrug and a smile, she hands them this clue:
As they leave, Team Full Monty! try the routine again...and THIS time they go off without a hitch. They are second to leave the DETOUR, though they give Natalie & Nadiya encouraging words before departing. LUZHKOV
MOST The "Trees of Love" are trees with locks in them that lovers apparantly love to smooch by. There seems to be an inordinate number of couples in tuxedos and bridal gowns. Team Texas Two-Step find the trees on the bridge and the clues in a treasure box amid them. And it's their next:
Trey decides to give the locksmith thingy a whirl. He unlocks the first with ease...but the "domino effect" he was hoping for was not happening. Lexi admires all the wedding couples that seem to be around the bridge...though Trey tells her not to get ANY ideas. As he continues, Jaymes & James arrive and ask about the task before ever grabbing the clue. James opts to do it this time. Aaaaaaaand James & Abba are lost en route to the nadatorium. At said nadatorium, Team Jersey Twins finish the routine and get the thumbs-up from the judge. They leave the DETOUR in third and head for the Trees of Love. As they leave, Team Hair Metal arrive. They choose a coach and get to work. the judge says (in Russian), "I'm already scared." Trey gets the tenth and final lock undone and pulls the ribbon out of the tree. He & Lexi find a small metal cylinder in the ribbon and open it to find...a paper money note? Ah, I see. It must be saying this:
They leave (and show the cabbie the note for reference)...and Natalie & Nadiya arrive (much to the Ja(y)mes Boys' happiness). Natalie does the ROADBLOCK and gets to unlocking. As she gets her first, James gets his seventh. And now to the comedy portion of our show: two aging rockers with shoulder-length hair in ponytails and Fu Manchu beards in flowery caps trying to swim in rythym. They do OK...until they pop up from the roll too soon. PIT
STOP #7 At the 19th-century theater, Trey & Lexi's cab pulls up. The greeter (once he stops doing his "Weird Al" impersonation) wishes them "Zdravstvuyte" (hello) and Phil tells Team Texas Two-Step that they are Team # 1 again! Their trip from Travelocity this time is a 5-night stay in Maui, Hawai'i, including a luau, a scuba trip and a sunset dinner on the beach. Oh, they are SO in love with each other (of so Lexi says). Trey admits that they're stronger than they thought as a team. A little Russian jig to the accordion and it's off to rest for a while. Back at the ROADBLOCK, married couples are dancing and celebrating on the bridge as James and Natalie work. James gets #10 unlocked and Jaymes & he get out the 100-ruble note, signalling their PIT STOP location. Nadiya (for perhaps the first time in the Race) actually BERATES her "twinnie" for wasting time. They call each other "the worst partner ever". Ah-HAH! THERE's the last plane into Moscow...and there're Teams Beekman Boys and Dating Divorcees. The BBDD INTERSECTION (a throwback to a rarely-used Race gimmick) take off in cabs to the sculpture park together. They find the Clue Box together. They head for Ivan the Terrible's guards together. There's an issue with the DETOUR, though; the library is now closed. So they are FORCED to do SYNCHRONIZED...together. Team Full Monty! is Team # 2. Much rejoicing. After at least ten times in the pool, James & Abba are getting worn out. But they go for it again...and even the judge seems impressed by the entry. When they finished, Abba says, "We GOTTA have that one." And...they DO! They leave the DETOUR in 4th...and wants two of the swimmers to join them at the Trees of Love. At said trees, Natalie gets the tenth lock undone and get the money and the clue...and make up as sisters are want to do. Unfortunately, the coaches will NOT allow the INTERSECTION to perform as half of an eight-person squad; each team must choose a coach and do their own. Abbie wasn't nervous; having been a dance instructor, she's used to chroeography. Josh is not used to swimming and doesn't think he has what it takes. Ryan thinks having the national team nearby helps perk them up. Natalie & Nadiya...they are Team # 3. They'll take it...begrudgingly. They did crappy...but they STILL have the EXPRESS PASS...and they intend to use it in the next Leg. They get a "do svidaniya" (good-bye) from the greeter before getting out of the cold. Abba choose to do the ROADBLOCK since a) it's not that tough on the knee and b) James is more wiped from the swimming than his partner. Abba suggests to James that they should release thier cabbie as this might take some time. They abandon the task to look for the cabbie...and it appears the cabbie released HIMSELF; he's nowhere to be found! And all their stuff (save for some money) were in the taxi...including their ! Ut oh...not again... They decide to continue with the task...and hope the cabbie returns. After some time, Abba finishes the task. They decide to try to check-in at the PIT STOP. To say Abbie & Ryan CRUSHED the DETOUR is an understatement. The adrenaline experienced helped them power through the routine and leave the DETOUR in fifth. But they decide to "watch the boys" instead of take off. Josh & Brent are horrible. Well,...JOSH is, anyway. Team Hair Metal arrive at the PIT STOP looking thoroughly defeated. Phil says they're the fourth team to arrive...but they need their passports to be checked-in. Otherwise, it's "Zev & Justin" all over again. They have no choice but to find that cabbie! TO BE CONTINUED...
To see this episode in its entirety, or to apply to be a contestant on "The Amazing Race", visit the official website at www.cbs.com/amazingrace. |
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