Amazing Race 14 Tidbits Episode 11

Amazing Race

Thoughts on Episode 12, the Season Finale

Start -- No Airport Shuffle

All teams waited until 6AM to buy tickets on the same flight from Beijing to Maui. Traveling over 5,000 miles, the flight lasted 18 hours. Once there, they have to find Beach Access 118 on the island of Maui in the state of Hawaii.

Route Info -- Carry the Pig to the Luau

Teams had to prepare, then carry a 145 pound pig 200 yards down a beach to a fire pit. Then they had to correctly cover the pig for roasting for a traditional luau. With the pole, each team member had to lift and carry roughly 75 pounds. Cara and Jaime had the most trouble with this one. Tammy also struggled. Even Margie and Luke seemed to be switching front and rear, but finished first. Margie and Luke correctly piled the sand on the pig, while the other teams first put the nearby palm branches over the pig first, incorrectly. That caused the other teams to fall behind.

Route Info -- Get the Clue If You Can

They were to travel to the beach at McGregor Point and use jet skis to find a Race clue hidden underwater among 100 buoys. Margie and Luke had a hard time doing this one, but did not seem to lose a lot of time, despite both falling off the jet ski among the buoys. Once teams found the clues, they had to return to the beach and then they learned they had to take a taxi to the location of a fence made of surfboards. Cara and Jaime eventually got the location for the place name in the clue from the police. The taxi dispatcher did not know it was mile marker 16 on the Hana Highway.

Roadblock

Teaser: Who is ready to build something from memory?

From the website: One team member had to overcome three weeks worth of physical and mental fatigue and remember everything they had done on the race. Teams had to search through a pile of over 300 vintage surfboards to find 11 that have pictures related to the things theyï¿½ve encountered on the prior 11 legs of the race. Then, they had to create a surfboard fence by standing the boards up in the correct order according to their pictures.

This was yet another brainiac challenge like the last couple of editions, or the flag challenge of Race 9. It was actually harder than the flag challenge, as the pictures were hard to relate to the events and those team members also had to do a lot of running and handling the surfboards. Below is the list of correct images needed to complete the surfboard fence, by episode.

Church of San Antonio, Locarno ï¿½Saint Christopher with the Christ child, patron saint of travelers
Gondola at Ruhpolding
Woman doing gymnastics in Bucharest, Romania
Krasnoyarsk dam depicted on the 10 ruble note
Lada car used in Novosibirsk
Nose flute player at the Pit Stop in Jaipur
Esso the tiger at the Phuket Zoo
Thai longboat in Bangkok
The fishing cormorant at the Roadblock in Guilin
Colorful soles of feet, symbol for the foot massage in Beijing
Scorpion skewers from the Roadblock in Beijing ï¿½ angled to resemble a heraldic threesome of spears

Episode Twelve Roadblock
Members	Teammate	Notes
Cara and Jaime	Jaime	Arrived last. Seemed to be way behind, At first, she was convinced that none of the boards depicted anything to do with the Race. Then she also started to recognize the images on the surfboards. After Victor finished, she needed one board. Margie suggested that she and Luke work together. Luke pointed out the picture from the churchï¿½but she said she didnï¿½t remember seeing Jesus there.
Margie and Luke	Luke	He got eight boards up before Victor started, but he got stuck on the last two, and eventually fell behind as he got more and more frustrated. Could he have looked at the scorpion skewer picture and not realized what it was, perhaps even thinking it was something else? After Jaime finished, she showed Luke her boards, revealing the picture of the angled scorpion skewers. He still had to look through most of the boards to find the very last correct one after Jaime left.
Tammy and Victor	Victor	Victor started with a furious effort, moving each good surfboard once he found it to the area to build the fence--he was very efficient. Once Luke got seriously stuck on the last two boards, he began gaining ground. Victor correctly and quickly identified the tough boards for Leg 1 and for the legs in Beijing. Victor mentioned reflexology--the graphic on the board may have been a reflexology chart, as shown in a Wikipedia article.

Margie suggested that Jaime and Luke work together. He pointed out the image Jaime was missing, the more cooperative side of Luke. After Jaime finished, she was kind enough to help Luke in turn.

Finish Line

King Kamehameha Golf Club, 2500 Honoapiilani Highway (Route 30), Wailuku, Maui, HI 96793, right outside the smaller town of Waikapu.

Order of Finish
Members	Place
Cara and Jaime	2
Margie and Luke	3
Tammy and Victor	1

It was not close as searching at the Roadblock, followed by the teams helping each other, delayed the second and third place teams quite a bit after Victor finished. Luke was heartbroken that he had let down Margie, but Margie gave him motherly comfort. Jaime was disappointed as well, but was consoled by Cara.

At the Finish Line mat, Tammy commented on how the Race has changed her relationship with her brother and her view of herself. Cara and Jaime were happy for their strong showing against the competition. Margie and Luke explained that not all parents sign with their deaf kids, and that makes them unique. Almost gushing, Victor commented that doing the Race lowered artificial barriers for him, a nice tag line to conclude this edition, entertaining as it was, if not the most competitive or challenging.