"The Amazing Race 14" episode two was noted by scenic excursions through the European Alps, three teams making major mistakes and a high stakes gamble that paid off for one team en route to a top tier finish.
On a side note, I suppose that I should count major mistake #4 as Mel & Mike trying to climb an unclimbable Pit Stop gate instead of... opening the unlocked gate door. Phil's raised eyebrow said it all on that one already though.
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The first team to make a major mistake were the brothers/stuntmen Mark and Michael. Their mistake was one of omission. While every other team was attempting to phone in advance reservations for a flight to Munich, Germany at the start of the leg, the brother/stuntmen decided instead to 'chill.'
While Mark and Michael were chillin', every other team except for the delayed Christie and Jodi managed to get tickets for the top flight out ahead of them. The end result was that the brothers would fall from 3 minutes behind the pace in third place to more than an hour behind the leaders in a tie for ninth.
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Both the high stakes gamble and the second major mistake came from different racers on the Roadblock task, a task that had the winds been light wouldn't have shaken up the race order at all.
One member of each team was required to paraglide 6000 feet down with a tandem partner, literally to take a flying leap. Okay, one member of each team would have been required to do that task had the winds not been so strong and gusty stopping racers from getting the needed clearance.
All Roadblock racers except one took the alternative tact to take an hour long hike down again instead of waiting for the winds to die down. Only Mel of the father/son team decided to wait out the winds due to a groin injury suffered on the previous leg.
Had the winds not died down at all, Mel & Mike would have departed the race. By a ministerial miracle though (or a meteorological one), the winds died down enough to let Mel make the paraglide trip and complete the Roadblock in fifth place.
The father and son eventually rose up the standings for a second place leg finish. The lesson in this at least to me is for racers to always check the weather forecasts in advance. As a degreed meteorologist, I'm really surprised more racers don't do that.
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Major mistake number two was made by Linda of the Virginia-based married team on the way hiking down the hill in substitution for the Roadblock. When husband Steve said that Linda sometimes wasn't good with directions, he wasn't kidding. Linda simply missed a route marker and went down the wrong path, placing the Virginia couple down in last place.
Of course, major mistake number two was almost overcome by major mistake number three as upon completing the later Detour, flight attendants Christie and Jodi misinterpreted a clue and wasted time attempting to cut a piece of wood. The actual clue called for the pair to walk to a pair of local woodcutters who would cut a piece of wood themselves to reveal the Pit Stop destination.
The so-called blonde moment didn't stop Christie & Jodi from reaching the Salzburg, Austria Pit Stop in ninth place to avoid elimination. Steve and Linda took the tearful elimination out.
All credit in the world goes to Steve for not placing the blame on his wife for the force out, even if it was her mistake. True love is about forgiving and forgetting innocent errors. True cynicism lies in pointing out such errors for all the world to see. Since clearly I come down on the wrong side of that ledger, let's just move on.
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The flip sides of sibling dynamics came through at race's end. Siblings Tammy & Victor led through most of the leg. After going through the bizarre Detour task of throwing pies at each other's heads until uncovering one with a cherry filling, the lawyers won leg two going away.
The brother/sister tension also resolved for the moment with Tammy deciding to accept her older brother as the leader of the team. It wasn't the most politically correct decision but when each player came in with completely opposite strategies for success, one had to give way to the other for the team to succeed.
On the other hand, sisters Kisha & Jen were going in the completely opposite direction on leg two with younger sister Jen growing increasingly annoyed with competing in the shadow of allegedly inattentive older sister Kisha. After getting lost several times during the course of the leg, the seventh place finishers had their own issues to work through this race.
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As already mentioned, one of the Detour tasks involved each racer throwing a pie at his/her partner's head until uncovering a pie wih a cherry filling. The other task involved riding Segways through an obstacle course. Maybe it was the prospect of Christie & Jodi throwing pies at each other that gained the team support in last week's fan support poll.
I have to feel sorry for Luke though as I simply can't imagine throwing a pie at my own mother. If my brother was a teammate though, I'd throw two pies at a time. :)
____________________________Labels: recaplette, tar 14.2, the amazing race, the amazing race 14
