START
1) Tammy & Victor (12:27 a.m.)
2) Jaime & Cara (12:31 a.m., 0:04)
3) Mark & Michael (12:46 a.m., 0:19)
4) Margie & Luke (12:53 a.m., 0:26)
5) Kisha & Jen (1:05 a.m., 0:38)
With more than half the original field gone, the five remaining teams of "The Amazing Race 14" were directed to fly from Phuket, Thailand to the capital city of Bangkok. Race leaders Tammy & Victor were forced to wait till airline offices opened at 6 a.m. to make reservations, allowing all teams to become equalized on the departing flight.
Once in Bangkok, mother/son duo Margie & Luke established the early lead though their cab was briefly passed by one carrying sisters Kisha & Jen. The mother & son determined to then follow the sisters only to find both cabs stopped when Kisha & Jen's lost driver asked for directions to the nearby seaport destination.
The sisters departed the scene only for locals to then approach Margie & Luke's driver with a different set of directions. Those directions turned out to be accurate as Margie & Luke would retake the lead while Kisha & Jen's still lost driver had to solicit for more assistance.
ROADBLOCK
Margie & Luke would reach the seaport first to trigger the Roadblock, to properly secure a rod and propeller together on a Thai longtail boat. Margie's mechanical inclinations served her well as she completed the task easily while son Luke loaded the backpacks onto their boat in preparation for their next task.... navigating the harbor to find Peninsula Pier.
Ex-cheerleaders Jaime & Cara reached the seaport in second place with Jaime completing the Roadblock in due time. Unfortunately, the friends had left their backpacks behind in their taxi so they quickly arranged to circle back onshore so Jaime could retrieve the items.
In third place, Tammy & Victor were slowed down when Victor's lack of mechanical inclination cost his team valuable time. Victor unsuccessfully tried to copy Jaime's work to see how to do the task. The opening allowed Mark with brother Michael to claim third place as their own. The brothers also left the seaport though without their backpacks as did Kisha & Jen after Kisha completed the Roadblock.
Victor's propeller work was finally approved by a TAR judge only for the siblings to discover that in practice, their propeller still wasn't operational. Victor had to backtrack and tighten do the task over again to complete the Roadblock for good. Of course, Victor and Tammy then had to backtrack themselves to their taxi to retrieve their belongings.
DETOUR
While three teams had retrieved their belongings, the Mark/Michael and Kisha/Jen teams initially tried to complete leg eight without the items. Jen argued with Kisha that they should go back and retrieve the packs since they contained needed passports, Kisha argued more persuasively though to push on ahead with little sister Jen feeling compelled to give in.
Mark & Michael held a similar (and more heated) argument as the sisters but with a different result. After losing valuable time sailing across the harbor, Michael persuading Mark to hire a taxi to backtrack to their original taxi and retrieve the lost belongings.
Securely on top of the race field, Margie & Luke reached Peninsula Pier to trigger their Detour choice of Broken Teeth (affix five sets of matching dentures to patients) or Broken Record (sing Thai pop karaoke on a 5 mile taxi ride). The mother & son chose the denture task, the only team to do so. While the son mixed up bottom & top teeth, Margie's nursing background helped pull the pair to success.
PIT STOP
Margie & Luke arrived at the Phya Thai Palace Pit Stop in an undisputed first place to win leg eight of "The Amazing Race 14." The mother & son won a trip to Puerto Rico for their efforts, celebrating their win and the vast improvement in the mother's physical condition over the previous leg's fateful run.
With Jaime & Cara's cab slowed down in flooded streets to Jaime's continuing frustration, Kisha & Jen caught up for the start of the karaoke singing. The sisters Detour ended second but having no money due to their lost backpacks, they lost more time trying to persuade a cabbie to take them to the pit stop for free.
Tammy & Victor briefly caught up to Jaime & Cara but with the sibs' taxi driver stopped to ask for directions, Jaime & Cara would reach the Pit Stop in second place. Kisha & Jen beat out Tammy & Victor in a rundown to the mat for third only to find their check-in effort rebuffed by Phil Keoghan, since their travel documents for the next destination were still back at the Roadblock.
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The siblings would get the official third place result while Kisha & Jen backtracked to retrieve their belongings. Meanwhile, brothers Mark & Michael were left trailing well off the pace after their own retrieval effort. The pair would get their belongings only to have no money to pay the taxi driver, Mark gave away his own personal flashlight and compass as compensation.
After completing the party taxi Roadblock, Mark & Michael proceeded to give away a personal watch to compensate a cabbie for the Pit Stop ride. The brothers' effort seemed successful as they reached the Pit Stop in fourth place only to be assessed with two separate two-hour penalties for using personal possessions to settle race debts.
Mark & Michael's four-hour wait would only turn out to be about 45 minutes as Kisha & Ken arrived at the Pit Stop a second time to claim fourth place. The brothers were checked-in as the last team to arrive only to be saved by a (completely undeserved) nonelimination. The remaining three hours and 15 minutes of penalty time would be carried over to the start of leg nine as the brothers attempt to avoid their final fate.
____________________________Labels: recaps, tar 14.8, the amazing race, the amazing race 14
