Sunday, November 24, 2013

Amazing Race 23 - November 24, 2013 Episode Recap

Part Like the Red Sea

Last week, Doctors Nicole & Travis played their Express Pass and U-Turned the Afghanimals (they were utilizing all the tools at their disposal) and Pinky & No-brains, Marie & Tim also utilized the U-Turn on the Baseball Wives Nicky & Kim, which ultimately proved their final undoing as they were sent home.

United Arab Emirates: Travis & Nicole were the first team to head out at 12:38am - they get the clue to fly to Bandung, Indonesia and once there find the Ram Arena to get their next clue.
-And we find out they're holy rollers, they want to be a beacon of God's light on the Race and show you don't need to lie, cheat or steal to do well... and they are praying.
-Jason & Amy are next out at 12:52am - they want to continue to work with Travis & Nicole, they have respect for them and that is the kind of game that they want to play.  Jason asks Amy what kind of people are in Indonesia, are they like Chinese or Indians? (Oh, Jason.)  Amy just laughed at him, "Oh, dear lord."
Tim & Marie, 1:15am - their weakness is definitely decision making - Marie always thinks she's right... and she goes off on a rant in the car about how she is right 99% of the time and she doesn't want to give in to him because he's yelling at her... (Seriously lady?  She also does 99% of the yelling... these two are a nightmare.)  Even the cab driver looks like he cannot believe this chick.

Nicole & Travis get to the airport and the ticket agent tells them they have to take three connecting flights to get to Bandung... the first flight is leaving at 8:40am... so everyone will be on the same flights.

-Leo & Jamal overslept and missed their scheduled start time (by a few minutes) so they ended up leaving with Ally & Ashley at 2:06am.  Jamal is excited to run into Travis & Nicole, he wants to question them about why they U-Turned them - he says there is no playing nice anymore, it's just going to get worse. (Uh oh, their sanctimony may just backfire.)

8:00am: Travis & Nicole tell Jamal & Leo that they U-Turned them because they lied about U-Turning Brandon & Adam - again Travis tells the camera they are not going to live their lives like that for any amount of money.  Jamal thinks trying to run the race that way is going to break them, they won't be able to handle the pressure.

Bandung, Indonesia: they hit the ground running, all teams are in cabs and slowly navigating through the extremely heavy traffic.
Travis & Nicole are the first team to the clue box and it's Route Info that tells them they have to find two head-butting rams in a truck, unload the rams, lead them to a traditional festival, wait until the rams butt heads, then take them back and load them back on the truck to get their next clue (Oh, it's always tricky having to lead animals in this race - especially ones that just want to bash their heads together.)
-Ally & Ashley are right behind them - they all get their rams to the festival pretty quickly and then cheer on the ramming action (how crazy is that?) Once they take the rams back to the truck they get the next clue, again Route Info telling them to go to the train station, take the train back to Bandung and find the next clue on the train platform.
-Nicole & Travis leave as Jamal & Leo arrive and Ally & Ashley are trying to lead their now brain damaged rams back to the truck (they said the rams weren't injured, but that's gotta scramble some eggs, just saying.)
-Ally & Ashley take off the the train station, Leo & Jamal are leading off their rambunctious rams and Tim & Marie have arrived.  Jason & Amy, still in their cab, pass Ally & Ashley going the other way which really excites the Ice girls, to be ahead of that strong pair.
-Jamal & Leo's rams really seem to have it in for each other... and the boys themselves are acting like idiots cheering for their rams.  The boys get their next clue as Tim & Marie's rams are butting heads and Jason & Amy are leading their rams to the festival (things are moving quickly...)

-Ally & Ashley's cab passes Travis & Nicole's getting the girls to the train station first - but both teams get on the same train.  The girls are saying how cool it is for them, having never caught up to them before... Travis & Nicole are somewhat less enthused.  Travis says, "And we'll tell you the truth." (Hmm, not sure how godly that little dig was.)

-Tim & Marie jump in their cab and are yelling at the guy to go but he is having car trouble which allows Jason & Amy to take off for the train station before them - Jay & Amy feel like it's payback for when they stole their cab on the Vienna leg. (Yup, couldn't have happened to a more deserving couple.)

-Ice girls and Travis & Nicole are waiting for their train to leave... but with 3 minutes to spare, Leo & Jamal jump on. "Shoot!" 
-Now all three teams are anxiously hoping the train leaves before more teams arrive - Jason & Amy get to the station but the Afghanimals start making noise, "My wife's pregnant." "I'll pay extra."  Travis mutters under his breath, "No need to lie." (Ugh, he's getting tiresome.) And the train finally takes off, leaving Jason & Amy at the station, which means they'll likely be on the next train with Marie & Tim (that will be fun.)  Next train is not for 1 hour.

-Bandung train platform - they get the clue to the DETOUR: For the Elephants or For the Birds.
-For the Elephants: they have to visit the market and pick up 8 watermelons, two bunches of banana, a dozen sweet potatoes and 5 stalks of sugar cane before heading to the Zoo - transporting all the provisions on a hand cart at the zoo, they have to feed the elephants to get their next clue.
-For the Birds: they have to pick up two peach-faced love birds from the market then take them to a bird song competition at an arena.  Once there they have to enter the arena and encourage their birds to sing - once they've been scored, the judge will hand them their next clue.
Afghanimals - Elephants
Ice girls - Ally want to do elephants, Ashley thinks the birds will be easier but she folds and they're doing elephants.
Doctors - are doing the birds.

-The Ice girls get in their cab and it takes them to the zoo first (huh?) they are running around looking for their marked trollies (didn't they have to go to the market first?)  The Afghanimals go to the market and start collecting their watermelons and putting them in the cab (oh, boy, I wish I could read the clue - are the trollies at the zoo?)

-Travis & Nicole get to the bird market and Nicole is just searching for someone who speaks English... they find the bird stall first and get their matched pair - then head to the arena, hoping those caged birds will sing!

-At the Zoo the girls are still trying to find the main entrance to find their marked trolly - they find the elephants but still no trolly.
-Leo & Jamal have loaded up their taxi complete with 8ft sugar cane stalks hanging out the windows and are heading to the zoo.

-Travis & Nicole get to the Bird Grand Prix - hang their bird cages in the arena and now have to try and make them sing... which is easier said than done apparently. (Never work with kids or animals, they are unpredictable and will steal the show... it appears the Indonesia leg was made to prove this statement.)

-Back at the Bandung train station - Marie & Tim and Jason & Amy know it is just them duking it out to stay in the Race.  They all seem a bit dejected but resolute... and they board the train.

-Ally & Ashley finally find the marked entrance and see the trollies but where's the market - they finally re-read their clue and realize that they were supposed to go pick up the fruit first then bring it to the zoo. (Yup, the boys had it right and the girls just wasted a lot of time.  If in doubt, always re-read the clue!)
-Meanwhile, Jamal & Leo get to the zoo and prove to be resourceful, using their head scarves from Abu Dhabi to tie the watermelons into a package and keep them on the hand cart... they head in to feed the elephants.

-Back at the birds arena, Travis & Nicole were having a great time with the crowd of bird lovers cheering on their birds... when finally they started singing and they got their next clue to head to Suang Angkung Udjo?? Or something like that - to find the next clue.

-Ally & Ashley get to the market and tell their cab to go - then realize they need something to put the fruit in so now they have to try and flag down another cab (way to think that through.)

2nd train finally arrives and the final two teams get the clue for the Detour - both teams want to see the elephants, so they are doing the elephants.  They are pretty sure they are in last place but they hope someone has screwed up and maybe they can catch up.

-Cue the Ice girls - they have a cab and are loading up the fruit but it all falls apart when they see the size of the sugar cane - Ashley freaks out that it won't fit in the cab and she wants to switch.  (She wanted to do the birds from the beginning).  Ally wants to stick with it so Ashley says fine but leaves the sugar cane behind... (Uh, you need that.) In the cab, the fight continues as they yell at each other over who wanted to do what, essentially Ashley is saying this is all Ally's fault. "Fine, let's do the birds then!" (Wow, that's the first time we've seen these two fight light that - spending too much time with Marie maybe?)

-The Afghanimals have finally started feeding their elephant - after wrestling the sugar cane back from the over eager pakiderm so it could be counted - they get the next clue to head to the Ujdo.

-Ally & Ashley are now trying to transport the watermelons on the handcart and they haven't used their heads for one minute this leg so, yeah, watermelons rolling everywhere.
-The Afghanimals are leaving and see the girls, they give them one of their scarves to tie up the watermelon and feel really bad about their sugar cane dilemma - well not that bad - as they still take off on them.

-Travis & Nicole have made it to the Ujdo and get the clue to the ROADBLOCK: Who has an inkling for Angklung?  This requires them to assemble a traditional Indonesian instrument called an Angklung, made of bamboo - they have to arrange the notes in the correct order to play an octave to get their next clue. (Uh oh, this could be trouble for someone with a tin ear.)  Nicole is going to do this one, eventhough Travis thought he might do better on a music challenge... there's no one around so he's okay with her doing it (hmm.)

-Jason & Amy and Marie & Tim are at the market gathering their elephant food - Amy used a blanket to wrap up the watermelons and yams to make it easier to take to their cab - Tim & Marie are just yelling at each other, as usual.

-Jamal & Leo get to the Roadblock and Leo is going to do this one.
-The pressure appears to be getting to Nicole inside as the local kids are laughing at her and she rebukes them, "Don't laugh. You have to help the lady." (No they don't, they can laugh all they want.)
-Leo & Jamal are enjoying the music and start dancing and playing to the crowd, which just makes Travis tell Nicole she has to hurry (these two, why always so serious? They're not going to have any fun memories of this race if they don't loosen up a little, sheesh.)

-Ally & Ashley have delivered the food they brought but now have to head back for the sugar cane... which is unfortunate because here come Jason & Amy and Marie & Tim with their full loads... of course they are all running and watermelons start a rolling.

-Back at the music thing, Jamal is reminding Leo that it's just like a puzzle, Leo's looking for an example he can follow.  Travis meanwhile is telling Nicole to hurry up but sees she only have 4 notes, when an octave is 8 (so why not yell that at her?)

-Jason & Amy finish the elephant feeding and head out of the Ujdo - Tim & Marie are right behind them so they are running (they don't know the Ice girls still have to come back with the sugar cane.)  But Tim seems to know, so maybe they're not so rushed after all.

-Nicole & Leo have both completed their instruments but Leo's got to grandstand for a bit - Nicole gets her's judged first but she doesn't have 8 different notes, two of them are repeating - she fails and has no idea why.  Leo's octave is correct and he thinks he's got it, but the stand is not correct (say what?) Alright, they are both still working on it.
-Amy & Jason get to the Roadblock and Amy is going to be putting the instrument together - Travis is wound even tighter when another team shows up.
-Tim & Marie get the Roadblock clue and everthough they have a system of alternating the Roadblocks, Tim has a musical background and Marie feels like he'd do better at this one - he finally agrees and Tim is assembling the Angklung.

-The Ice girls finally finish feeding the elephants and are heading to the Raodblcok - where all the other teams are still trying to get this thing assembled correctly.
-Nicole has her's judged again and it's even worse this time.  Leo passes on his next judging and Jamal yells for him to destroy his as Nicole runs over to try and get a look at it... so much for running the race honestly.  He can't believe how much of a hypocrite she's being and they do a keep away dance until he can dismantle his angklung and she goes back to working on hers. (That was desperation on her part plus the silent disapproval of 'Travis the perfect' over there.)

-Leo & Jamal read the clue to head to the Pit Stop, the Bosscha Observatory.

-Tim is the next one to complete the instrument and they take off right on Leo & Jamal's heels (wow, seems like that was the right call for them.)  Of course, Marie also rubs that in Tim's face - instead of telling him he did great, she says, "So I was right, wasn't I." (Really, lady?  How has he not strangled her in her sleep?)

-Travis is quietly having kittens, "It's not about the length, it's about the sound..." He needs to be yelling that at her but oh no, that would be cheating.
-Meanwhile Amy completes her angklung and the ice girls show up... Nicole still can't figure it out, so before they leave Jason tells Amy to go help Nicole, they don't want to leave them behind.  Amy quickly tells her she has this upside down, put them in order... she tries to leave before the girls see her helping but Nicole is fried, she begs her to help more... and now Jason is yelling at Amy to leave (well make up your mind, bud.)
-In the cab he's mad she took so long to help Nicole, and Amy points out that he told her to help and then Nicole was begging her - he's worried their cab could get lost or break down, then they'd be last... (she handles it calmly, but really, he deserves a bit of a smack.)

-Finally Nicole completes her instrument and they get in a cab for the Pit Stop.  In the cab, instead of direct confrontation, Travis passive aggressively tells her he's embarrassed, "40 minutes to figure out what an octave is.  If we continue to perform like this, time to hang out with the babies." (Oh, that is worse, he's saying 'we' but you know he's berating her... and she can't even respond directly because he's not being direct... Is that WJWD? [What Jebus would do])

 Here's How They Finished:
1) Leo & Jamal - They win $7500 each. "Travis & Nicole are going down.  Karma is a bitch."
2) Tim & Marie - came in right on their heels.
3) Jason & Amy - they dropped one spot from their norm.
4) Nicole & Travis - Nicole hugs Amy and tells her she will love her forever.  Travis is speechless, the leg was a hard miserable day.  He's got to look in the mirror and fix it, pray about it and hopefully they can stay together (whoa, what now?)
5) Ally & Ashley - **ELIMINATED** Travelling to seven countries was a dream come true and they're crying because they don't want it to end.  However, they are proud that they made top five and have shown how tough they really are.

So, with Ally & Ashley's elimination, that takes the last all girl team out of the race and also: Lois & Dave L, Karen S., Nenad M., Jessica C. and Alexis G. out of the pool.

Next week: Marie meets her match, having to eat snake - they have to apply heavy make up to both boys and girls (Jason is quite pretty - Travis, looks like Dennis Rodman) and Leo & Jamal may meet their downfall in a rice field.

Have a great week everybody,

Coleen.

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