Sep 18 2006
By: Katie Lee
The Places We'll Go
The 12 teams of 2 meet host, Phil Keoghan, in Seattle, WA to begin the race. After a brief explanation of the rules and a warning that new surprises and twists await them, the teams are off to Beijing, China.
Harvard Doesn't Teach You That!
Brothers
Erwin and Godwin, who portray themselves as highly educated (Erwin attended Harvard for his graduate degree), somehow thought it was a good idea to bring water pistols to the airport – and use them.
Security wasn't amused.
Sometimes the Hardest Part of a Roadblock is Finding It
One team member must eat fish eyes at a restaurant in Beijing called The Gold House. None of the teams seem have any problems completing this task, but two teams – brothers Erwin and Godwin and beauty queens Dustin and Kandice have trouble locating the right restaurant.
Surprise!
In the first of several promised surprises for the race, there is a non pit stop elimination. Bilal and Sa'eed, Muslim friends, find themselves the last team to arrive at this leg's midway point in the Forbidden City. Greeted by Phil and the pit stop mat, they are told that the first surprise of the race is their elimination.
Would You Rather Pave a Sidewalk or Do Some Tai Chi?
The Detour requires teams to either pick paving a section of a sidewalk ('Labor') or performing a new exercise known as Tai Chi Bilong ('Leisure'). The paving is hard work but if teams can figure out the sidewalk pattern (consisting of concrete blocks and red bricks that must be placed in a certain way – similar to a jigsaw puzzle), it can be done quickly. The Tai Chi Bilong involves performing tai chi movements while holding a racket-like object and balancing a ball on it. Teams must complete an exercise routine without dropping the ball. If teams aren't coordinated, this could take them a while. Teams that picked paving have trouble with the sidewalk pattern. Only Tyler and James (male models who met while recovering from drug addictions) figure things out early and not surprisingly, completes the Detour first.
We Were Here First!
Tyler and James are the first to arrive at the pit stop at the Great Wall, which requires teams to literally scale a section of the wall with a rope in order to reach Phil and the pit stop mat. For winning this leg of the race, Tyler and James won $20,000.
We'd Still Be Here If Only We. . .
Had a map. Vipul and Arti, married Indian-Americans, are eliminated from the race when, on their way to the Detour, get lost and realize they don't have a map to help them navigate. After wasting a significant amount of time trying to find help in the form of someone who knew where to go and could speak English, they finally arrive to the sidewalk paving task hopelessly behind and stymied by the somewhat tricky sidewalk pattern.
Moment That Made Us Roll Our Eyes
Dating couple Rob and Kimberly, who fought pretty much throughout this leg, are fighting yet again at the Detour, causing Rob to comment that, "99.5% of the time, I'm in love with this relationship. The one percentage that I'm not is when we take tones with each other." First of all, Rob, your math is off. And only 1%?
Toughest Competitor So Far
Sarah, an amputee who uses a prosthetic leg and is racing with her boyfriend, Peter, discovers midway through the leg, that her artificial limb is leaking hydraulic fluid. And at the Great Wall, she struggles to find a foothold with her prosthetic, spending quite a bit of time slipping around. Toughing it out, Sarah/Peter manage to be the third team to reach the pit stop.
Team That Surprised Us
The father/daughter team of Duke and Lauren, who explained in their introduction that when Lauren revealed that she was a lesbian, her relationship with Duke underwent a period of estrangement. Duke also announced that while he loved his daughter, he was a little 'disappointed.' Yet they demonstrated surprising rapport and teamwork, which allowed them to finish second in this leg.
