"5
Continents, 25 Cities and More Than 40,000 Miles - Leg 11"
-
May 10
PIT STOP: POTTER'S FIELD PARK, LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED
KINGDOM
After 11 teams started off from Long Beach, California four
survived nearly 40,000 miles of travel by plane, train,
automobile, rickshaw, camel, elephant and on foot to head
for jolly ol' England. After playing Sherlock Holmes,
hauling boats and parking double-decker buses, Rob & Amber
(Team Survivor) once again emerged as Team # 1. Ron & Kelly
(Team American Beauties), despite being YIELDed and have
more and more problems with their relationship, came in
second. Uchenna & Joyce (Team Will Race For Food) wound up
in third... and Meredith & Gretchen (Team Socially Secure) -
the oldest team to ever make the Final Four - finally
subcummed to the pressures and were Philiminated.
The race back home begins at 0247 GMT at the famous park
with a BEAUTIFUL view of London Bridge. That's when the
four-leg winners, Team Survivor, open their first clue:
ROUTE INFO: |
Fly to Kingston, Jamaica (more than 4600
miles away). Once there, travel to Port Antonio (about
90 miles away) and find the beach known as Frenchman's
Cove to find your next clue.
You
have $630
for this leg of the Race. |
Rob & Amber, who ALREADY have another TV special once
they get back, are confident that they can turn the CBS
Reality Exacta. They head for Heathrow Airport and look for
the flights to the Caribbean. After careful study (as
always), they find that the Great Equalizer has struck
again! The earliest flight out was a 12:40pm flight on Air
Jamaica. No connecting flight will keep the other two teams
from showing up. They book the flight... and pray for
traffic at this hour.
It's 4:26am when Team American Beauties get their clue and
head for the airport... though they aren't exactly "I-2-I"
right now (were they EVER?!) and are looking to clear the
air. 15 minutes later, Team Will Race For Food depart, happy
to have done this Race as it, indeed, brought them closer
together. Both teams reach the airport and book the same
flight as Rob & Amber.
So... nothing to do but wait for noon, I guess. The teams
could sleep, they could plan, they could shop... or, in the
case of Ron & Kelly, they can discuss their relationship in
tears. She wants to get married... he thinks it'll be just
like when he was a prisoner. She cries about this... he gets
over it. This is gonna be a LO-O-O-O-ONG trip to...
KINGSTON, JAMAICA
When they land, it's already late in the evening.
Still, the teams find cabs that do NOT smell like 'ganja' on
the inside and make their way to the beach. After Rob
berates a country that can kick our ass at bobsledding, the
teams start to arrive at Frenchman's Cove. Team Will Race
For Food are the first to the beach... where they see an
amassment of limbo sticks and a....:
ROAD BLOCK (How low can
you go?) |
One team member must perform a typical Jamaican party
game: the limbo! Each limbo station has five heights to
it. Each height corresponds to a time when you can leave
the beach (which you'll be spending the night on). The
lower you limbo, the sooner you leave in the morning.
You have eight attempts to get the lowest height. Aftet
the eight attempts, you will receive the clue to your
next destination. |
Joyce decides to go for it and gets under the 9am bar
easily. As she continues, Team Survivor arrives. Since Rob
is at his six-BLOCK limit already, Amber will have to go
low. As she passes the 9am bar, Joyce passes 8:45... and
then 8:30. That's when the beleaguered Team American
Beauties arrive. Kelly decides to limbo. One by one, the
limboing ladies lunge to limbo lower, loathing to leave the
lovely luau later. Joyce manages to get under the 8:30 bar
as the lowest of their eight attempts, but Amber ducks under
each level every single time and, thus, she and Rob get to
leave earliest. Kelly needs a few MORE attempts before
ducking under that low bar, but SHE gets HER team to leave
early as well.
8:15am DEPARTURE: Team Survivor and Team
American Beauties
8:30am DEPARTURE: Team Will Race For Food.
Now that the times have been set, what about the
destination?:
ROUTE INFO: |
You will leave at your designated time
from this beach and make your way to Grant's Level (11
miles away) high in the hills outside of Port Antonio.
On the banks of the Rio Grande, you'll find your next
clue. |
Well, at least they get to relax,
sip a cocktail or two and rest to the sounds of the waves...
snuggling... relaxing... zzzzzzzzzzzzz....
*DING-ING-ING-ING-ING-ING-ING-ING-ING-ING-ING* Rise and
shine! It's butt-whoopin' time! Rob & Amber and Ron & Kelly
(the former American Survivor Alliance) hop into cabs at
8:15am and head off. It's the longest 15 minutes of the Race
for Uchenna & Joyce... but THEY finally leave and make their
way to...
GRANT'S LEVEL, OUTSIDE OF PORT ANTONIO, JAMAICA
The front two teams arrive almost at exactly the same
moment. As you may have guessed, they hit a:
DETOUR - Raft It or Build
It? |
RAFT IT - Take one of the traditional
bamboo rafts and paddle down an eight-mile course down
the Rio Grande. Like most bamboo rafters, you will only
be given a pole to steer and paddle. Once you reach the
end of the course and lift the raft to the shore, you
will be given your next clue.
BUILD IT - Take the bamboo, tools and ropes you see and
BUILD a bamboo raft. Once a helper deems it built
correctly, use a pole to paddle ACROSS the river. The
next clue awaits you at the top of a hill on the other
side. Once you get it, head down the hill and paddle
back across. |
Both teams feel that eight miles
down a river is just WAY too long... so they decide to BUILD
IT (Kelly, at first, thinks they should do opposite of what
Team Survivor does, but Ron overrules). They start building
the raft, Rob & Amber working like a well-oiled machine...
while Ron & Kelly work like a well-oiled racetrack! As they
continue the process, Uchenna & Joyce arrive and, likewise,
BUILD IT. They, too, do not bicker and work quickly, passing
Team American Beauties...and making them bicker at each
other MORE.
Rob & Amber ALMOST have their raft done... but they have to
make a small adjustment. Therefore, Uchenna & Joyce are the
first team out on the river, saying, "Gilligan should have
been watching this." (No... the guys playing Gilligan on
that TBS reality show should have been watching this.) Team
Survivor are right behind them, though, and the pole-swaying
is FURIOUS as they leave Ron & Kelly behind.
The two teams hit the beach at just about the same time and
start the climb up the hill to the clue box. Uchenna and Rob
reach the box, pull out their clue and, once reunited with
their significant others, read it:
ROUTE INFO - PIT STOP: |
Make your way by taxi to the next PIT
STOP: Round Hill, a
100-acre coconut and spice plantation in Montego Bay.
Find Villa 16 to get to the PIT STOP. |
The row back is just as tight as the row towards. And
only NOW do Ron & Kelly get THEIR raft into the water,
pretty sure they'll be last... but at least they're not out
of it... yet. They make up a fair bit of ground as they grab
the clue, but it's Uchenna & Joyce who get a cab first and
get the driver to "haul ass, mon"! Rob & Amber are RIGHT
behind them... and Ron & Kelly aren't THAT far behind.
After a REAL "pit stop" for refeuling, Team Will Race For
Food and Team Survivor continue to bolt towards Montego
Bay... until...
"A'ight, mon! Pull over to da side!"
Team Survivor gets pulled over for some reason (possibly
speeding through traffic) and they actually SEE Team
American Beauties pass them. They are QUITE worried now...
and Team Will Race For Food is quite happy... until...
*BANG! HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSsssssssssss...*
Ain't that just Uchenna & Joyce's luck?! Their cab caught a
flat! Has they and the driver work to get it changed, both
former ASA teams are on the road towards...
PIT STOP: ROUND HILL PLANTATION, MONTEGO BAY,
JAMAICA
It's a foot-race between the engaged reality-show pros and
the miles-apart POV and beauty queen to the PIT STOP.
Finding the plantation is easy... but finding Villa 16 is so
very not. In fact, the married unemployed couple catch up to
them and likewise search.,
Phil Keoghan and the local "greeter" wait in the back of
Villa 16. Suddenly, four Americans rush to the mat... and
the two in front stomp on the mat and hear Phil say...
"Ron & Kelly, you're Team Number One!"
No reward this time... just a request to let Rob & Amber be
checked-in as Team # 2.
Uchenna & Joyce hit the mat in third a few minutes later. As
they have guessed already, they are the last team to arrive.
But, as they probably ALSO knew, this was the last of three
non-elimination legs... so they're still in the running for
the million. Of course, they should ALSO know by now that
they have to surrender everything but their passports and
the clothes they currently are wearing and will be broke on
the journey home. But at least, as Uchenna says, they didn't
take "our hearts and our minds." (Well, guys, you may need
to give up THOSE as well just to get home.
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