Amazing Race Tidbits
CBS' The Amazing Race 13th Edition
Start times were spread way out, due to the Fast Forward, and due to the stragglers trailing way behind. Teams were told to fly almost 2,000 miles from Almaty, Kazakhstan to Moscow, Russia. When they landed, they had to travel by taxi to the Krutitske Podvorye Monastery. They were provided $175 for this leg. All teams took the 6:05 Air Astana flight from Airport Almaty to Moscow. Teams leaving the airport had uneven luck with their cab drivers. Starr asked pointedly, "Do you speak English?" Right question, but the cabbie gave the wrong answer. Possibly the best driver overall was Toni and Dallas' cabbie. Shockingly, the other good driver belonged to the frat boys. Nick and Starr found the worst drivers of the day.
At the Krutitske Podvorye Monastery, Toni gave this different faith, the Russian Orthodox, the respect it deserved. Each team lit a candle. It appeared the women were given bandanas to wear inside the chapel. Also, teams barely whispered while inside.
Teams had to go to the decommissioned Kolosok army camp in a rural area outside Moscow near a small village Nick and Starr's cab driver got seriously lost, and took over an hour, due to his repeated stops.
From the website: For both sides of the Detour, teams had to properly don a military uniform including traditional foot wraps.
The Russian military foot wraps loosely resembled how an ankle would be wrapped and pinned using an Ace bandage or lots of tape..
Borscht
From the website: Teams walked to the mess tent to serve borscht to a company of 75 Russian soldiers. Once each soldier received a bowl of borscht, the teams would receive their next clue.
Only Andrew and Dan chose this relatively easy though time consuming option, and eventually completed it.
Boots
From the website: Teams needed to join a training squad and learn a traditional parade march. When they thought they were ready, teams had to fall in line with a troop and march one full lap of the parade grounds. If the drill sergeant was satisfied with their performance they would receive their next clue. Three of the teams picked this option. All the ones that picked it first finished OK the first time.
Andrew has 6 years experience in marching band, which would have helped if only Dan had marched straight..
Episode Nine Detour |
||
|---|---|---|
Members |
Option |
Notes |
| Nick and Starr | Boots | Da. Good enough. |
| Ken and Tina | Boots | Da, da, da. Done well enough, even with Tina's flair added to the arm motion. Ken thought she looked funny surrounded by all the tall men. |
| Andrew and Dan | Borscht | Comedy of errors as they misread the clue, attempting to serve Borscht in the mess tents without the required uniforms, because they could not get the foot wraps right. They tried the marching, but, Dan looked so awkward trying to march, that they were rejected three times. Finally, they served the borscht to a starving bunch, with the flair and skill of experienced waiters. |
| Toni and Dallas | Boots | Da! Best of all. |
Teams were then directed to travel to the village of Zhokovsky outside Moscow.
Teaser question: Who has a strong back?
From the website: One team member had to unload fifty 55-pound bags of flour from the back of a truck and deliver them into the bakery.
The bags had to be laid horizontally, and the lady behind the case gave the next clue with a refreshing flair. She was alternately tough and correctly polite.
Episode Nine Roadblock |
||
|---|---|---|
Team |
Member |
Result |
| Nick and Starr | Nick | Nick was the weakest guy, but OK. The lady at the bakery observed that "this one" was not physically fit. One bag at a time. |
| Ken and Tina | Ken | The NFL prepared him well. Ken said playing pro football made him ready to accept pain and work through it, and he did! Two bags at a time. |
| Toni and Dallas | Dallas | "Don't pass out!" was Toni's motherly advice. Dallas worked very quickly to finish first. Two bags at a time. |
| Andrew and Dan | Dan | Studly. Andrew reflected that Dan was a real warrior. One bag at a time. |
Nick and Starr made a huge blunder by ditching their first challenging taxi driver in this small village. They wandered the streets, perhaps even winding up in a different small town before getting a cab.
The Pit Stop was at the library building at Neskuchny Sad Park, a popular, fun park or garden. Teams were instructed to enter through Gate 14. However, it was not a straight run to the library from the gate. It appeared that teams had to go through a second, narrow gate to reach the grounds of the library. It appears that the area is a complex of parks, including the famous Gorky Park, which is known for its amusements. Ken and Tina were instructed to go off to the left to reach the library from the straight run in. By the time Nick and Starr got near the Pit Stop area, Starr was freaking out, perhaps thinking of hiking the rest of the way, when they spotted the gate. Nick and Starr got lost in the maze of trails, but found Phil in time to place third.
Dan and Andrew reached Gate 14, possibly in time to snag third over the confused Nick and Starr, but the driver would not accept their money for a very long time. Next week the start times will tell a lot of the story, but it did not seem quite that close watching the setting sun.
Episode Eight Order of Finish |
|
|---|---|
Members |
Place |
| Nick and Starr | 3 |
| Ken and Tina | 2 |
| Andrew and Dan | 4 |
| Toni and Dallas | 1 |
Andrew and Dan face a Speed Bump in Episode 10, which will be a virtual Semi-Final!
The preview notes that one team loses their money and passport. Andrew and Dan cannot dance their way out of the Speed Bump, but did it even matter? Besides the frat boys, the most likely ones to lose something may be Ken and Tina, as they are heard saying something about running out of options. Also, in a prior episode, one of their backpacks broke. The later episodes have shown strong teams having to struggle, even lose as Terence and Sarah discovered. On any given Sunday, anything can happen.
Watch Episode Ten on November 30h, at 8:00 PM Eastern/Pacific, unless delayed by NFL football.
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