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Pedal Fast
or Big Splash!/You Look Funny Stuck on That Wall
July 8
Last time, Darcy got a reprieve when Ben
pulled out of the competition due to illness, and another when Olga lost
in the Elimination game. Who will be the next to leave Toho Studios?
5:15 PM – Majide Set
Darcy returns from her Elimination Game, the others congratulating her
for proving them wrong, though you can tell that they're as surprised as
she was that she won. So, it's back to the house for the night...
The next morning, Mama-san comes in, and everyone greets her warmly. It
seems everyone's getting used to Mama-san and quite enjoy her presence.
She lets them know that she'll be making them traditional Japanese tea
before they head off to the set today. She makes the tea, then teaches
them the proper customs for drinking tea in Japan. Mary quite enjoys
learning the new customs, though the tea on the other hand is quite
gritty and bitter to most of the contestants. Justin compares – on one
side, you have Southern sweet tea, which is a “little piece of heaven”
(and I definitely agree with that...Southern sweet tea is awesome), and
on the other side, you have Japanese green tea, which in this case,
seems underwhelming to him.
12:48 PM – Toho Studios
The contestants gather backstage, ready for their next Team Game.
Donnell is confident, as usual, and both teams huddle up to prepare and
get psyched up. And here we go...they're brought out to the stage, as
the production crew jokes about how messy it's going to get.
And...action!
Everyone together, “Hai, Majide!” And time to send the Americans out!
Rome takes some time to hang out with the contestants before revealing
the Team Game this time:
PEDAL FAST OR BIG SPLASH
In this game, two members of a team will be on stationary bicycles,
while their teammates, one at a time, ride a tricycle on a giant
treadmill. The faster the bicycle players pedal, the slower the
treadmill goes. The tricycle player must stay within the red zone on the
treadmill for as long as possible. The treadmill will speed up as the
game goes along though, and when you fall off, down you go into a pool
of water, thus the Big Splash. The team with the highest combined time
in the red zone wins. And of course, to make things more fun, bring out
the stagehands with buckets of ice to pour into the water tank!
DECISION TIME!
The teams must decide who will pedal the stationary bikes, and who will
ride the tricycles. The teams confer, and here's how it breaks down:
Yellow Penguins:
Tricycles – Bilenda and Cathy
Bicycles – Andrew and Justin
Green Monkeys:
Tricycles – Darcy and Meaghan
Bicycles – Donnell and Mary
And of course, what would be an episode of Majide without everyone's
favorite judge, Judge Bob! How's Judge Bob feeling today? (he makes the
OK circle over his head) And he decides that the team to go first will
be...the Yellow Penguins, so the Green Monkeys head backstage to wait
and watch.
Andrew ready? Justin ready? Cathy's the first on the tricycle, and she's
ready, so...
GAME START!
Cathy takes a few moment to get up to speed, but she eventually gets in
the red zone...1, 2, 3, 4, 5...and she pedals to the end of the red zone
before she falls off the trike, getting stuck in it as the treadmill
starts to pull her back...and the alarms start to sound as she nears the
end of the treadmill, and SPLASH!
GAME OVER!
So far, that gives the Yellow Penguins a total of 5 seconds, and Cathy
is bummed that she did so badly at the game. Bilenda's up now, and she
needs to post a good time to make up for Cathy's fall. She's ready...
GAME START!
Andrew and Justin start pedaling hard to slow down the belt, and Bilenda
wastes very little time getting into the red zone. She stays in for 10
seconds before the belt starts to speed up, bringing her out of the zone
and in danger of going into the pool as the alarms start to sound. But
she quickly recovers, pedaling hard and back into the red zone, racking
up time, until finally, at 33 seconds she comes back out of the red
zone. This time, she's unable to recover and takes a dip in the pool!
GAME OVER!
Total for the Yellow Penguins? 38 seconds. The Green Monkeys need to
beat that time to win. Time for the switch, the Green Monkeys coming to
the stage as the Yellow Penguins head to the green room. Meaghan's first
up, and she needs to put up a good time to keep the pressure off
Darcy...
GAME START!
Meaghan wastes little time getting into the red zone, getting 3 seconds
before she pedals too hard, passing the red zone and stopping the clock.
She eventually slows down enough to start the clock again, pedaling for
a good 18 seconds more before fatigue starts to catch up with the bike
riders, the treadmill quickly gaining speed until Meaghan takes a dip in
the pool.
GAME OVER!
Meaghan got 21 seconds, so all Darcy needs to do is get 17 seconds to
tie, 18 to win. She's on the tricycle, and the clock is set, so...
GAME START!
Darcy easily gets into the red zone to start the clock, and she gets
past 10 seconds...but then at the 13 second mark, she slips a bit,
coming out of the red zone and slowly heading backward...she tries to
pedal as the alarms start to sound, but it's too late...SPLASH!
GAME OVER!
And out comes the Yellow Penguin team to hear the decision from Judge
Bob...
Yellow Penguins - :38
Green Monkeys - :34
YELLOW PENGUIN WIN!
Cathy's so happy she's about to cry...she thought they would lose
because of her. So, for the winning team, a VIP tour of the largest fish
market in the world, Tsukiji Fish Market! And for the losing team? What
goes well with fish? Rice! They'll get to go out to the rice paddies for
the day and plant rice, plus two must be nominated for the Elimination
Game.
So, back to the house, as the Green Monkeys take some time to think
about their strategy for elimination the next day. Darcy's name comes up
early, considering she's already dodged elimination once, and it's
pretty set that she'll go up. It's hard for the team to decide who else
to nominate, until Meaghan volunteers herself, on the condition that
she'll be exempt next time the team has to nominate. Everyone agrees to
this, and it seems that the nominees are set.
The next morning, the Yellow Penguins get ready for their VIP tour, as
the Green Monkeys get a delivery of rice farmer outfits from Mama-san.
They head off in the bus, as we meet the Yellow Penguins at Tsukiji,
where they meet up with Tony and Mako Hattori, their guide for the day.
It's a huge market, the size of 3 airplane hangars, and $20 million
worth of fish are sold every day. That's a lot of fish. The team is
quite amazed at the amount of activity around the market, electric carts
and forklifts passing them every other second as they head through the
aisles. On the other hand...
9:30 AM – NARITA, CHIBA PREFECTURE
The Green Monkeys arrive at the rice paddies, and they think they're
quite pretty, until they realize that they're basically muddy bogs in
which they'll be planting rice. They meet their bosses, who tell them to
start planting. They start to plant, the bosses using their whistles to
let them know when they've done something wrong. Plenty of shots of them
getting stuck in the mud, not planting the rice straight, and just being
whistled and yelled at.
Back at the fish market though, the Yellow Penguins get to watch a
Japanese fish auction, the auctioneer calling off in Japanese as the
buyers simply use hand signals to state their intentions. And of course,
the Americans have no idea what's going on, but they enjoy watching it.
They then meet one of the fish sellers, who shows them a tuna that sells
for 7000 yen/kilogram ($70/kilogram, or about $32/pound, so some
expensive fish). He slices off a piece and eats it, then slices off a
few more pieces of sashimi for the contestants to try. They seem to
enjoy it quite a bit. They get their souvenirs as both teams head back
to the Toho Studios for elimination.
Tony meets the Green Monkeys to ask who they're putting up for
nomination, and Meaghan and Darcy raise their hands. The team talks
backstage, and Donnell wants to go back on the immunity deal with
Meaghan, considering the fact that if they lose next time, it'll
automatically be him and Mary on the chopping block. Meghan doesn't like
this, considering Donnell agreed to the deal the night before, and feels
that Donnell is now her enemy.
Meaghan and Darcy get into velcro suits and wait backstage...and action!
Out they come to the cheers of the crowd. Rome talks to the contestants,
and asks how they felt about being picked. Meaghan then reveals that she
volunteered, and Rome looks shocked, telling the crowd what she did. He
then reminds the crowd that this is Darcy's third Elimination Game. And
now, it's time to reveal that game...
YOU LOOK FUNNY STUCK ON THE WALL!
In this game, the contestants will,
one at a time, run up the ramp, jump on the trampoline, and stick
themselves onto a velcro wall, trying to match their bodies to the
shapes on the wall. Almost like Human Tetris, but with jumping. Whoever
matches their shape best gets a point. First to 3 points wins.
Judge Bob tossed a coin backstage, and the first crash test dummy will
be...Meaghan! They head up to the ramp, and everyone's ready, so let's
get...started!
ROUND 1!
Meghan takes her first jump, and the shape is an easy one...hands and
legs spread. She...nails it, getting her body completely within the
lines. Now of course, to make judging easier, she gets to 'stick around'
while Darcy makes her jump.
Darcy jumps and...she does well also, but she's just slightly outside
the lines. I call the first round for Meaghan, but it's up to Judge Bob
to decide...and Bob gives Meaghan the point! (1-0)
Out come the stagehands to pull them off the wall as they prepare for...
ROUND 2!
Darcy goes first this round, and this time it's a straight line...hands
over your head, feet together. She jumps...and hits it a little low.
Meaghan can pull out to a 2-point lead if she gets this...she jumps, and
pretty much hits it dead on! Judge Bob checks...and Round 2 goes to
Meaghan! (2-0)
And they get to stick around as we head to the last commercial break...
After the break, they get unstuck from the wall as Rome reminds us of
the situation. Darcy is in a must-win situation. If she loses the next
round, she's done.
ROUND 3!
Well, words can't really describe what a picture can better...here's the
shape they need to match here.
Meaghan jumps...and pretty much hits it dead on again, and it looks like
Darcy may be going home unless she pulls out a miracle.
Darcy runs...she jumps...and she's way off. Judge Bob doesn't need to do
much deliberation on this one...Meaghan wins it! (3-0)
MEAGHAN WIN!
They pull Meaghan off the wall to celebrate her win, and leave poor
Darcy stuck to the wall for a little bit. But they finally get her down
and bring them both over to center stage for a little chat with
Darcy...but then of course, the Men In Black sneak up behind her...
SAYONARA!
They grab Darcy and carry her around to the usual chants of Sayonara,
before carrying her off, a couple staying behind to flash the Majide
hand sign before leaving. So, Meaghan stays in the hunt for $250,000
while Darcy takes her second trip out of the Toho Studios. Next week,
big babies, on and off the Majide stage.
And until then, this is Tom Beals. Everyone say it with me! Hai! [slicks
hair back] Majide! [/ | | ' '] |
