START
Tammy & Victor (10:21 a.m.)
Mel & Mike (10:50 a.m., 0:29)
Kisha & Jen (11:02 a.m., 0:41)
Margie & Luke (11:03 a.m., 0:42)
Jaime & Cara (11:04 a.m., 0:43)
Mark & Michael (11:11 a.m., 0:50)
Six remaining teams began their seventh leg of "The Amazing Race 14" with the directive to fly from Jaipur, India to Phuket, Thailand. Race leaders Tammy & Victor and most other teams booked the flight with an 8:50 a.m. arrival through a travel agency. Ex-cheerleaders Jaime & Cara did the same at the airport itself, equalizing the field.
THAILAND
Upon arrival in Phuket, brothers/stuntmen Mark & Michael took off in first place, leading a caravan of three others teams to parts unknown. Each team had to ask around for the destination site at which a pictured gorilla statue was located. The Mark/Michael, Jaime/Cara, Margie/Luke and Tammy/Victor teams all learned from locals that the gorilla statue would be found at Phuket Zoo.
On the other hand, father/son duo Mel & Mike hung back at the airport, asking around for the gorilla statue destination first. Mel & Mike were instead told by their taxi driver that the gorilla statue would be found at Patong Beach. After discovering the four other teams were headed in a completely opposite direction, the father & Son realized they would either end up in first place or in last.
It turned out that Mel & Mike would drop to last place as Phuket Zoo ended up as the correct destination. Mark & Michael reached Phuket Zoo in first place but Jaime & Cara found the gorilla statue in the lead to uncover their next task. Teams would get their picture taken with a tiger then each racer would participate in a ceremony in which lying on the ground, an elephant would step and squat over each of them.
With Jaime & Cara losing time looking for the tiger, Mark & Michael would be the first to get their picture taken. The Jaime/Cara and Kisha/Jen teams followed close behind while the Tammy/Victor and Margie/Luke teams next in turn. After participating in the elephant exhibition, Mark & Michael were directed by their tiger picture clue to travel to the old town Phuket, where they would seek the city's oldest herb shop.
Meanwhile, Mel & Mike were left searching the length of Patong Beach for a gorilla statue that was not there. After losing numerous minutes, the duo was told by a local that the statue was instead at Phuket Zoo. Mel noted that "lady luck" was not on his team's side.
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Luck would prove to be the key factor in the next task as Jaime & Cara's taxi arrived just ahead of Mark & Michael at the herb shop. The friends were directed to choose one of 99 herb drawers for the shopkeeper to open, in search of their next clue. With each wrong guess by one team, another team would get its turn.
As Jaime grew more frustrated with each missed guess, the Mark/Michael, Kisha/Jen, Margie/Luke and Tammy/Victor duos would all choose the clued drawers in turn. Jaime & Cara would drop from first place down to fifth after the completion of the task. Mel & Mike still trailed well off the pace, finally completing their tiger picture and elephant exhibitions at Phuket Zoo.
DETOUR
Mark & Michael's departure from the herb shop triggered a Detour choice... 100 barrels (fill 47 barrels with water and move 53 barrels to the top of a boat deck) or 2 miles (move a rickshaw 2 miles with one racer as driver, the other as a seated passenger).
The brothers obviously chose the more physically demanding rickshaws Detour. Their combined strength and lack of body mass made that Detour an ideal for the team. After pumping up a deflated rickshaw tire at the start of the task, Mark proceeded to dump all the tire pumps in a box to slow down other teams.
The brothers also directed their cabbie to lead them to the end destination of the 2 mile course. Tammy & Victor's cab driver offered to do the same but Victor noted correctly that it was against the rule for the task, instead asking the cabbie to draw up the destination on a map.
The Jaime/Cara and Margie/Luke teams chose the 100 barrels boat Detour but with their respective taxi drivers unable to find that site, the two teams decided together to switch to the rickshaw driving. Kisha & Jen's taxi driver had the same difficulty finding the 100 barrels location but the sisters instead proceeded onward.
Mel & Mike finally reached the herb shop but without the benefit of knowing the wrong guesses other teams had made. After finally guessing a correct drawer, the father & son would proceed for the 100 barrels Detour site.
PIT STOP
Mark & Michael's extra help allowed the brothers to complete the Detour first. They were directed to travel to Wat Thep Nimit Temple, the Pit Stop for this seventh leg. Mark & Michael would pit in first place, only to be assessed two separate 30-minute penalties. The first penalty was for tampering with race equipment by dumping the tire irons in a box, the second for using a cabbie to lead them down the Detour path.
The brothers were forced to sit out a full hour before checking in.. The double penalty opened the doors for Tammy & Victor to claim the official first place win for the seventh leg, their third leg win of TAR14. The siblings won a resort trip to the Oahu island of Hawaii.
Jaime & Cara finished the rickshaw driving as well, pitting seconds behind Tammy & Victor for an official second place finish. The brothers' double penalty expired a minute later, allowing Mark & Michael to check in at a chastised third place.
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The richshaw Detour wore down the Margie & Luke team, Margie in particular. With a seated Margie unable to communicate her discomfort with Luke while Luke was driving, Margie proceeded to take on the driving of the rickshaw herself. She grew visibly dehydrated in the Thai heat, subsequently complaining of chills on the taxi ride to the Pit Stop.
The mother & son reached the Pit Stop only for Margie to complain of her fingers being frozen. Soon after Phil Keoghan signed the 4th place result to the team, Margie fainted in her son's arms. She was led away to be seated nearby so she could be subsequently cooled down. Margie declined further medical treatment at the time.
The race to avoid last place developed between the Kisha/Jen and Mel/Mike teams at the boat harbor. Mel & Mike made up part of the deficit on the sisters by doing both the barrel moving and the barrel water filling simultaneously, something Kisha & Jen didn't initially realize they could do. Mike also moved two barrels at a time, instead of the assumed one.
Unfortunately for the father & son, outsmarting the course wouldn't be enough to make up the entirety of the time deficit. Kisha & Jen would pit in fifth place to stay in contention while Mel & Mike's initial bad luck would eliminate them from "The Amazing Race 14."
____________________________Labels: recaps, tar 14.7, the amazing race, the amazing race 14
