The teams flew from Bombay, India to Osaka, Japan. The Roadblock required one team member to don a taxi-driver hat and drive locals five miles to a post office, then drive back to the station they started.
The Detour was a choice between “smell”, sniffing out a scented real flower from among thousands of odor-free artificial ones, and “touch”, using a cellphone remote control device to guide robot soccer players to score a goal in a table soccer game with each player having to score a goal. Really good tasks. Here’s how each team did.
RON AND CHRISTINA: A great, great leg for these two. From a personal standpoint, there was a tiny bit of frustration as they took the flower detour but otherwise the two worked together great. Chris did have to tell him to shut up a couple of times but otherwise, she was very happy with her dad. Chris did the road block and was fine with it despite not being a great driver. But what really won it for them was Chris’ knowledge of Japanese which enabled them to get a cab to the pit stop quickly while Nate and Jen struggled. They were rewarded with two electric vehicles (I guess those cars that go, like, 10 MPH). If Ron continues to keep it cool, they should survive next week.
NATHAN AND JENNIFER: They are so determined to finish first in a leg and had it in their grasp. They arrived in Japan and left the airport first. Jen did the road block and was lost a couple of times but their lead allowed her to still finish it first. They got to the flower detour first and finished first just ahead of Ron and Chris. However, they had no luck getting a cab driver who knew how to get to the pit stop until a local helped break the language barrier for them. Should have been first but is easily the most competitive team left.
NICOLAS AND DONALD: The previews were right. The 68-year-old dynamo is slowing down. Nic helped him carry his bags on a couple of occasions and cheered him on whenever he could. Nic also got to do yet another road block (I’m beginning to wonder if the rules on road blocks is being bent for them?). However, Nic had trouble getting back to the station and lost about 10 minutes. They lost a bit more time on the soccer detour but while Nic had no trouble with it, Don’s lack of video game prowess hurt them. But they were so far ahead of TK and Rachel that there was no danger.
TK AND RACHEL: While the others took an 8:30 flight from Bombay that had only one stopover, they caught a 6:55 flight that had two. Game over. They arrived just at the time the others were completing a detour. So at the end of the show, we saw them speeding through the tasks, laughing, loving, re-iterating how much they love eachother. Then they got the good news that it’s a non-elimination leg. But being three hours behind and facing a Speed Bump, they have a lot of work to do next leg.
‘Till next week.
