Lucky me got to spend a week in the exciting city of San Francisco, home of sourdough bread and Rice-a-Roni. I didn’t do any sightseeing (boo work) but I loved being back in a busy and fun atmosphere. The only downside was the inability to find time to watch TAR and recap for our favorite TV trash-talking site. Anyhoo, here I am and we are getting close to the final leg in a raaace around the world. When we last saw our beloved group of interneties they were getting stretched out in Bali and using the double U-turn wisely to send the strong Frisbee team home.
Last leg mat order:
1. The Boys (Tyler & Korey)
2. Burn Ash (Burnie & Ashley)
3. The Dueling Dancers (Dana & Matt)
4. Heartthrob (Sheri & Cole)
Philiminated: Frisbee (Brodie & Kurt)
At 7:34AM the Boys are off to the city of Shenzhen, the Silicon Valley of China. Phil tells us this city popped up out of farmland in only 30 years, which seems cray cray. Burn Ash is 1 minute behind and is it just me or is Burnie the smartest guy on this race? All teams are on the same flight and from the airport will take a bus and a train to the Eiffel Tower (must be a long train ride, haha). In the airport the Boys try to deceive the other teams into thinking they don’t have their clue, which the others aren’t happy about. Are they forgetting this is a race?
So this particular Eiffel Tower is at the Window of the World, the location for the Roadblock: It’s a Small World, and a theme park with famous global landmarks, on a smaller scale, with informational placards. What a great idea and a cool way to see the world.
A miniature world (or a giant mini golf course opportunity?)
One team member is given a passport with 6 riddles/clues to landmarks which they must identify by going there and getting a sticker. After correctly presenting their stickered passport to the park employee they will receive their next clue. Tyler and Dana arrive at the same time and decide to work together, and while 2 heads are better than 1 the smarter thing to do would be to split up and share answers and directions to the landmarks. The park is large so there is a lot of running around. Dana is all nice-nice “good job baby” with Tyler. Burnie comes in to crush it solo, while Sherri falters a bit not knowing much about anything.
Where am I?
When Burnie sees Tyler he throws some shade for lying about the airport clue. Tyler is dishonest again with Burnie regarding one of the riddles. After Burnie leaves he calls Tyler and Dana Jackasses and it seems as though they heard him since she mentions it later. Still, he’s smarter than they are and finishes first, after Tyler and Dana get a sticker incorrect. Another thing about Burnie: he said he had to do the roadblock. Has Ashley done the majority?
With Sheri still faltering, the remaining 3 teams take the subway to the Moon Bridge at Lychee Park where they run past Phil to grab the clue for the Detour: Commuter Cycle or Master of Arts. The cycle task has teams changing into business suits and learning how to balance themselves on an electric unicycle, used in China as a hands-free way to commute to work. Why carry a briefcase in one hand and a coffee in the other if you could use a backpack and helmet with a straw? What if you’re bringing your lunch to work?
Burn Ash take a risk and go for cycle, the harder-sounding task, thinking it might be faster. Plus they know Heartthrob is behind them. The scooters are hard to master, and they’re learning while watching the local men (and kids) demonstrate with ease, riding on each other’s shoulders or with one foot. Ashley isn’t picking it up so they switch, as they had discussed earlier.
Phil has his wrist guards on but he won’t need them – he’s got this
For the art task the teams carry paintings to a gallery where they will hammer nails into boards to hang the paintings together like a puzzle. Matt, who probably would have also been good on the scooter, is allowed to speak: seems he did some carpentry to support himself when he first arrived in LA to make it as a dancer. However, both the Dancers and the Boys fail on their first attempt due to improper width in between the paintings. After minor corrections both teams are done and headed to the Pit Stop: The Shenzhen Library Terrace.
Just a couple of carpenter jocks
After seeing the Boys hanging their paintings, Burn Ash get to work and complete the task on the first try, making up some of the time they lost. Sheri and Cole go for the cycling, and being the only team there means they can’t switch, since the others would have a head start. They try to master the scooter enough to ride down a busy street and remain (mostly) on the thing, in close proximity to each other, while carrying a briefcase and an empty solo red cup of coffee. It starts raining and Sheri is doing better than Cole, except when she lets this happen:
Runaway electric scooter!
(That would probably hurt if it ran into the back of your leg.)
Everyone is struggling trying to find Phil since the library is next to a museum, which has teams running around large areas aimlessly. The Boys are the first to arrive, winning a spot in the finals. Bitching all-the-way-Dana and pleasant-Matt are a close second, and we’re left waiting to see if Burn Ash, who seemingly finished the task before Heartthrob, can find Phil first.
We get the usual suspenseful CBS editing of the last place teams heading for the mat at the same time. Everyone else is waiting with Phil to see who is coming around the corner … and it’s … Cole? Wow. Burn Ash is Philiminated. Naturally, the remaining teams are psyched.
Yay, we can beat them!
They’re as shocked as we are
Again, wow. And good for them, they seem sweet and certainly were supportive to one another. I thought Burn Ash was a great team (and I just wrote he was the smartest). They took a risk going for the cycle detour and maybe if they stuck with it they could have gotten out quicker than switching. Also, since they were in the front they should have done the same detour as the other teams but maybe they were mad about always coming in second. They’re a cute couple who ran an excellent race and I wish them luck.
Heading to the finals:
1. The Boys
2. The Dueling Dancers
3. Heartthrob
Philiminated: Burn Ash
Did you see that coming? I was rooting for Burn Ash all season, along with the Boys. The editors really got me on this one – I thought it was the classic “let’s make it seem like 2 teams are close” scenario. Are you ready for the finals? Did you remember that the Dancers won the first leg? Seems so long ago. Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below and thanks for reading!
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