Brothers/stuntmen Mark & Michael were essentially eliminated by the events of leg eight before they ever got to leg nine. The four hour combined penalties for using leveraging their personal property to pay racing cab fares left the brothers needing an equalization to stay in the race.
The equalization simply was not to be this leg. The brothers were stuck behind all other teams on the final flight to Guilin, China and throughout the course of the next day's racing. Michael would complete the fish retrieval Roadblock but there just wasn't a way left to catch up.
There's no doubt in my mind that the combined five hours of penalties over two consecutive legs had more than Mark & Michael an elimination. I'm not saddened to see them go. The best that can be said though is that they didn't race with any sense of malice towards their competitors. The rules violations were errors of judgment, not harbingers of evil.
_________________________Labels: mark and michael, tar 14.9, tar14 teams, the amazing race, the amazing race 14
