Off to. . .
. . .Amsterdam, Netherlands.
The Usual Jockeying
Teams jockey for position on the earliest available flight out of Ireland to Amsterdam. Due to a flat tire, which they seemed to fix with surprising ease, Nicolas/Donald (grandson/grandfather duo) just barely lose out on a seat on the connecting flight from Dublin to Amsterdam and are forced to go on standby.
Zigged Instead of Zagged
The sisters team of Marianna/Julia are the last to arrive at the airport because they took a wrong turn and ended up lost, although they did manage to find their way back to the airport. They end up on the last flight out, along with Kate/Pat (married lesbian ministers) and Ronald/Christina (father/daughter).
The 'Mind Your Own Business' Award. . .
. . .goes to Ronald, who's racing with his daughter Christina, for jumping all over Nicolas/Donald because he thought Nicolas was 'abrasive' to the ticket agent when checking on their standby status. First, it's not your place, Ronald, to lecture other people about their manners. Second, if Nicolas is abrasive and rude to the ticket agent, that will work in your favor since last time we checked, you were competing with them for position on the standby list. Let Nicolas be as rude as he wants, which would only work in your favor if he gets booted from the standby list as a result. And finally, it's none of your business how other people conduct themselves. Getting into their faces and lecturing them about 'positive energy' only shows what a jerk you are.
Moving Day, Amsterdam Style
The Detour presents teams with the option to either Hoist It or Hunt It. In Hoist It, teams must move furniture the way it's normally done in Amsterdam, namely, by tying it to a pulley system and then hoisting it up the side of the building. Teams must hoist five pieces of furniture in order to complete the task. The teams who selected this task struggled with tying knots that were secure enough so that the pieces of furniture could actually be hoisted up.
Color-Coded Bicycles
In the Hunt It part of the Detour, teams must search for two bikes that have color coded patterns attached to them amid hundreds and hundreds of bicycles. About half the teams chose this task, which proved to be rather time consuming.
Sexism, Amazing Race Style
Nathan/Jennifer, the dating duo with an adulterous history, displayed a unique brand of sexism when Jennifer yelled at Nathan during the Detour that as a guy,'[he] needs to know how to do these physical things!'
We May Be Evil. . .
. . .but we laughed at the Roadblock, which required a racer to partake in the Netherlands sport of ditch vaulting. Basically, it is pole vaulting but instead of going over a high bar, you must vault across a wide, muddy ditch. Much to our amusement, racer after racer, in unpredictably acrobatic ways, went down into the mud over and over again.
Crouching Daughter, Hidden Jerk
Who knew that Ronald, the soft-spoken, white-haired Asian who preached positive energy and karma last week, would turn out to be this leg's undisputed jerk but that's exactly what happened as we (uncomfortably) watched him berate, demean and harangue his poor daughter Christina for the entire leg. Anything and everything that Christina did was wrong and did not meet his expectations, and Ronald took every chance to remind her, all in the name of telling her 'the real truth' which he likened to telling someone they had boogers in their nose. Ronald then capped off his relentless criticism of Christina by declaring that she needed to lose weight.
We Didn’t Need to See That!
Donald stripped down to his skivvies while trying to complete the Roadblock, although we are still wondering how that helped him with the ditch vaulting. None of the other racers needed to strip in order to complete the task. We do give Donald credit for toughing it out though.
Not That Kind of Facial
Shana, racing with her friend Jennifer, remarked at the beginning of the leg that the race was a 'shock to the system' for her because she hadn't been able to get a facial or manicure. So we had to chuckle when she went face down into the mud on the Roadblock. We're thinking that's not the facial she had in mind.
Teamwork Gets Rewarded
Lorena/Jason apparently figured out how to work as a team this leg (as opposed to last week's leg when getting lost sent her off on a hissy fit), and they come in first. They each win a sports bike.
Ride On By
One of the funnier moments of the show was watching TK/Rachel (dating couple) ride their cargo bikes not only past the bike drop-off sign at the pit stop, but right by Phil, who was standing there patiently waiting for them to check in! Luckily for them, they were in the middle of the pack so their error didn’t cost them much.
God Was in the Tub
This week's elimination was anti-climatic as Pat/Kate were last for pretty much the entire leg. The married lesbian ministers did exit with grace, however, by remarking that God didn't really care about the race, and their elimination didn't mean anything in the grand scheme of things, which is a refreshingly honest perspective to have.
