"The Amazing Race 14" leg ten did not end on episode ten. This week's airing brought a return to the continuation (i.e. to be continued) episode.
Ex-cheerleaders Jaime & Cara believed that they had finally won their first race leg only to be told by host Phil Keoghan at episode's end that the leg was not over. The conclusion of leg ten will instead be shown on episode eleven next week.... You know I'll just love the number confusion on that one.
----
The remaining four teams were equalized (more or less) on the flight from Guilin to Beijing, China. However, Tammy & Victor talked in Chinese to the ticket agent in an attempt to deny front half seating to the Margie/Luke & Jaime/Cara teams. Whether there were really were no tickets in the front or Tammy & Victor got through, the two trailing squads were indeed denied the preferable seating.
Unfortunately for the siblings, the uncontrollable element of a lost taxi driver knocked them out of the lead. For once, Jaime & Cara's drew the favorable taxi ride allowing them to climb from fourth place to first upon reaching the foot massage Roadblock site.
----
The Roadblock task was for one racer from each team to receive a foot massage.... which seem innocuous enough except that the massage was a version more appropriate for detainees at Gitmo during the Bush II administration. Quite frankly, I have no idea how such a spectacle became an Amazing Race Roadblock. I could do without it happening again.
Nonetheless, Cara, Kisha, Tammy and Luke all absorbed the massage for ten minutes without saying "uncle" to complete the Roadblock, not shifting the standings at all. Ironically, confusion over taxi cabs led Kisha & Jen to take the lead on the way out with Tammy & Victor subsequently arriving at the Guangcai Natatorium.
----
The (temporary) order of the race leg would end up being determined though by the Detour task. Given a choice between sync (race partners synchronized dive) or swim (swimming a combined 400 meter individual medley), the two teams that initially chose the sync task dove straight to the bottom of the race standings.
The Tammy/Victor and Kisha/Jen teams both chose the synchronized diving because Tammy & Jen respectively couldn't swim. Neither team's members though could dive in sync after repeated attempts to the satisfaction of the strict judges. Tammy & Victor eventually switched to the swimming task. Despite Tammy's discomfort, the siblings would complete the task in third place.
Kisha & Jen found the Detour to be an absolute fiasco. Unable to complete either the sync or swim tasks, the sisters switched tasks three times.... to the tearful frustration of nonswimmer Jen. With the strong emotional pushing of sister Kisha (and the help of a flotation device), Jen finished her half of the 400 meter swim.
----
The top teams for the half-leg would prove to be the two teams that initially chose the swim Detour in the first place. Though the combined 400 meters exhausted both duos, the Jaime & Cara and Margie & Luke teams finished 1-2 in the Detour task. The ex-cheerleaders would reach Beijing's Drum Tower first, expecting their long-awaited leg win....but only getting a leg continuation instead.
_________________________Labels: recaplette, tar 14.10, the amazing race, the amazing race 14
