TAR15, Recap Leg 4, 10/11/09

Welcome to Leg 4! Last time, on Super Smash Brothers: Vietnam, teams took a short trip down a long river from Cai Bei to My Tho, Vietnam, from where they traveled to Ho Chi Minh City. Teams reminisced and Lance and Keri flailed like no one’s business, but it was Marcy and Ron who took a Detour risk that put them behind and eventually eliminated. Who will be eliminated. . . next? (click for more)


Arrival at the pit stop last episode:
1st – Flight Time/Big Easy, The Globetrotters
2nd – Meghan/Cheyne, The Preschool Sweethearts
3rd – Gary/Matt, Pinky and the Brain
4th – Brian/Ericka, Team Yin-Yang / Zebra / Jungle Fever (pick a nickname, people!)
5th – Sam/Dan, The Hot Boys
6th – Maria/Tiffany, Team Poker
7th – Mika/Canaan, Team Bathtub
8th – Zev/Justin, Team Duck Whisperer
9th – Lance/Keri, Team Street Lawyer

Reunification Palace, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

6:53 PM Flight Time/Big Easy (1st)
Clue: Fly to Phnom Penh, Cambodia! Once there, find the Foreign Correspondence Club. Sitting in the club will be the assignment editor. Ask for your next assignment in a whisper to get the next clue. (Auburnium513: “Hmm..I predict that this line of the instructions will get skipped by many of the racers and will cause problems.” Toyouke: “I hope Lance fails in a spectacular fashion.”) You have $91 for this leg of the race.

Flight Time: “You don’t realize how close you get so close to someone when you’re cleaning his underwear.” Ew. (Toyouke: “HA they are wearing their uniforms!” Auburnium513: “Loving the uniforms!”)

6:54 PM Meghan/Cheyne (2nd)
6:58 PM Gary/Matt (3rd)
6:59 PM Brian/Ericka (4th)
7:06 PM Sam/Dan (5th)
7:16 PM Maria/Tiffany (6th)
7:25 PM Mika/Canaan (7th)
7:31 PM Zev/Justin (8th) – who have decided that they are travelling to Sean Penn, Cambodia. Is that like Chevy Chase, Maryland? (Auburnium513: “I don't know how I feel about that.”)

7:32 PM Lance/Keri (9th) – Lance: “The Race puts you through five years of marriage stress. We’ll just everyone else do the leg work.” (Toyouke: “Yes, let everyone do the leg work and leave you with nothing.”)

Teams get taxis and travel to Tan Son Nhat International Airport to arrive in the following order:

1- Flight Time/Big Easy – who arrive only to find that the first flight to Cambodia is on Vietnam Air at 12:25 PM the next afternoon. So we’re all bunched up again. Except. . .
2- Meghan/Cheyne
3- Gary/Matt
4- Brian/Ericka
5- Sam/Dan
6- Maria/Tiffany
7- Mika/Canaan
8- Lance/Keri - . . . find out that they can’t get on the flight. And so they go on the standby list but get tickets for the 2:15 PM, as do. . .
9- Zev/Justin – (Toyouke: “I'm torn. On the one hand, ha on Lance. On the other, boo for Zev and Justin.”)

At the last second, both teams get on the flight to Phnom Penh. So now the Amazing Red Line flies from Vietnam to Cambodia.

So, teams arrive in Phnom Penh and make their way to the Field Correspondence Club in the following order:

1- Zev/Justin - who make quick friends with their cabbie, Terry. This is good.
2- Meghan/Cheyne
3- Sam/Dan
4- Brian/Ericka
5- Flight Time/Big Easy
6- Gary/Matt
7- Maria/Tiffany
8- Lance/Keri
9- Mika/Canaan

Teams arrive in the FCC in the following order:

1- Zev/Justin
2- Meghan/Cheyne
3- Sam/Dan
4- Brian/Ericka
5- Flight Time/Big Easy
6- Gary/Matt
7- Lance/Keri
8- Maria/Tiffany
9- Mika/Canaan

Teams wander about the club looking for the Assignment Editor. Teams “whisper” to the correspondent in the following order:

1- Sam/Dan
2- Meghan/Cheyne
3- Zev/Justin
4- Brian/Ericka
5- Flight Time/Big Easy
6- Gary/Matt
7- Lance/Keri
8- Maria/Tiffany
9- Mika/Canaan – who get their wording wrong and get the Loser Gong every time they ask. Oh, and Canaan is REALLY loud.

Teams are then handed a newspaper with a dossier that contains a copy of a picture of Jackie Kennedy on her only official visit to Vietnam in 1967. Teams are told that the photo is hanging in a hotel that has a suite named after her. This should tell them to go to the Hotel Le Royal, where their next clue is waiting next to the picture. (Toyouke: “If there was a hotel suite here that was named after someone famous, I don't know that I would know what hotel that was.”) As a side note, this hotel was the Pit Stop for the fifth leg in the seventh season of the Geometry Amazing Race. I recognized it immediately. (Toyouke: "It pains me how many people don't recognize Jackie Kennedy.")

Teams arrive at the Hotel in the following order:

1- Zev/Justin
2- Sam/Dan
3- Meghan/Cheyne
4- Flight Time/Big Easy
5- Mika/Canaan
6- Maria/Tiffany
7- Brian/Ericka
8- Gary/Matt
9- Lance/Keri

And we get the Detour Clue.

DETOUR:
Cover OR Wrap
*Cover: Teams travel to a nearby helmet stand to get four motorcycle helmets from a vendor. Teams must sell them to a family of four for $10, and the family must include two adults and two children. Then teams can return the money to the vendor who will give them their next clue.
*Wrap: Teams travel to the Russian Market and find stalls 980 and 981. Teams will then be given a scarf and must wander through the market and find a woman wearing an identical scarf. (Kmanpat: “Ooh, it’s like the Masquerade in Season 4!”) Teams then take the shopper back to the stall for verification with the shopkeeper, who will give them their next clue.

1-Zev/Justin choose Wrap
2-Sam/Dan choose Wrap
3-Flight Time/Big Easy choose Wrap – Flight Time: “He’s 6’ 9” and ugly, and I’m 6’3” and gorgeous!”
4-Mika/Canaan choose Wrap
5-Meghan/Cheyne choose Wrap
6-Lance/Keri choose Cover
7-Brian/Ericka choose Wrap
8-Maria/Tiffany choose Wrap
9-Gary/Matt choose Wrap

Teams complete the detour in the following order:

1- Zev/Justin
2- Sam/Dan
3- Brian/Ericka
4- Flight Time/Big Easy
5- Meghan/Ericka
6- Gary/Matt
7- Lance/Keri
8- Maria/Tiffany
9- Mika/Canaan

Teams are then instructed to travel by foot to Wat Toul Tom Pong to search for their next clue. Teams arrive at the clue box in the following order:

1- Zev/Justin
2- Sam/Dan
3- Flight Time/Big Easy
4- Brian/Ericka
5- Meghan/Cheyne
6- Gary/Matt
7- Lance/Keri
8- Maria/Tiffany
9- Mika/Canaan

And teams come to the fourth roadblock.

ROADBLOCK:
Who’s ready to go bananas?
In this roadblock, one team member must pretend to be a monkey by performing three monkey tasks that include doing hand over hand, balance beam, and squat pull correctly. Once the members are done, teams will get their next clue.

(Toyouke: “I like these tasks, but there isn't a lot to say about them.”) The following team members complete the Roadblock.

1- Zev
2- Dan
3- Flight Time
4- Ericka
5- Meghan
6- Gary – (Auburnium513: “Aww...Pinky didn't do the monkey thing...I wanted to see that hair behind the mask.”)
7- Keri – (Toyouke: “Aww, I wanted Lance to do it.”)
8- Maria
9- Canaan

After much monkey see, monkey do, teams complete the Roadblock in the following order:

1- Sam/Dan
2- Zev/Justin
3- Flight Time/Big Easy
4- Brian/Ericka
5- Gary/Matt
6- Meghan/Cheyne
7- Lance/Keri
8- Mika/Canaan
9- Maria/Tiffany

Teams get their clue and find that they must now travel to Wat Phnom, the largest Bhudist Shrine in the city and the PIT STOP of the fourth leg of this racearoundtheworld. The last team to arrive MAY be eliminated!

So, Zev and Justin find their way to the pit stop and arrive first. But don’t get a prize.

1- Sam/Dan – who probably won a prize. (Toyouke: “I wish we could have seen Sam and Dan find out they were team number 1.”)
2- Flight Time/Big Easy

Right about now, the boys realize that they don’t have Zev’s passport. (Auburnium513: “How do you lose your passport? Have they not watched enough seasons to know that you need to keep track of them at ALL TIMES??”) So, they go back to Phil, who states that they can no longer be checked in until they have all of their travel documents. So, they head back out. (Toyouke: “I like to imagine that kills Phil to say as much as it kills them to hear it.”) Luckily, they have Terry’s card, so they call him up and have him help them look.

3- Brian/Ericka
4- Gary/Matt
5- Meghan/Cheyne
6- Lance/Keri – Phil: “Oh man, you’re scaring me now.” (Toyouke: “Yeah, shut up Lance.”)
7- Mika/Canaan
8- Maria/Tiffany
9- Zev/Justin

And Zev and Justin are eliminated. They love each other, and are kicking themselves for losing the passport. And this is only our second first to worst at the mat, the first being Heave from TAR3 for about as stupid as a reason.

ORDER NOW:
1st – Sam/Dan
2nd – Flight Time/Big Easy
3rd – Brian/Ericka
4th – Gary/Matt
5th – Meghan/Cheyne
6th – Lance/Keri
7th – Mika/Canaan
8th – Maria/Tiffany

Next week: Teams make their way to Dubai. There are extreme heights! Extreme Speed! Extreme Heat! Oh and a winter wonderland? Until next time!