TAR15, Recap Leg 9, 11/15/09

Welcome to Leg 9! Last time, on Swedish Roulette II: Biggger, Longer, Haybaleier, teams flew from Amsterdam to Stockholm, Sweden, where Pinky and the Brain get lost and fall into last. (Gary: “Are you pondering what I’m pondering, son?” Matt: “I think so, dad, but me and Pippi Longstocking? What would the children look like?”) There’s lots of dynamite and unrolling of haybales, and Dan starts cussing out his brother. But it’s Gary and Matt who end up last, and find the second non-elimination pit stop. And 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, Malibu Ken & Barbie
3rd – Brian/Ericka, Team Yin-Yang
4th – Sam/Dan, The Hot Boys
5th – Gary/Matt, Pinky and the Brain

Bögs Gård Farm, Upplands Vasby, Sweden

2:23 AM Flight Time/Big Easy (1st)
Clue: Cross the Baltic Sea by ferry over 236 miles to Tallinn, Estonia! Once there, use the provided keys to open the door to the Mustpeade, the secret lair of the Brotherhood of the Blackheads, a medieval technicians guild, in order to get your next clue.

(Auburnium0513: “It's about clogged pores?”)

4:12 AM Meghan/Cheyne (2nd) – Meghan: “We struggled with decisions last round.”
4:37 AM Brian/Ericka (3rd) – Brian: “The only leg that matters is the final one as long as we aren’t last.” True that. (Auburnium0513: “Lassoing taxis...I love it!”)
5:04 AM Sam/Dan (4th) –Sam: “We shouldn’t bicker, we need to beat the Globetrotters.” Uh-oh, I hope this isn’t going where I think it’s going.
6:29 AM Gary/Matt (5th)

Teams drive themselves to Frihemnsterminalen to catch their ferry to Estonia, but find that the only one leaves at 4:45 the next afternoon. And even though this seems like extreme bunching, I researched the ferry and Tallink Silja only runs one ferry a day at 4:45 PM from Sweden to Estonia, probably because it takes 17 hours to cross the sea. (Toyouke: “But notice how spread out the teams are. It's TOTALLY NOT A COINCIDENCE there is massive bunching. Not that I'm really complaining as I like Gary and Matt.”) So everyone makes the ferry and has a great 17 hour trip, and arrive in Estonia and get taxis in the following order:

1- Meghan/Cheyne
2- Sam/Dan
3- Brian/Ericka
4- Gary/Matt
5- Flight Time/Big Easy

Teams then make their way to the Mustpeade. They arrive in the following order:

1- Meghan/Cheyne – who open the door for. . .
2- Sam/Dan
3- Brian/Ericka – who open the door for. . .
4- Flight Time/Big Easy
5- Gary/Matt

However, once they arrive, Gary and Matt find the Speed Bump.

SPEED BUMP:

A speed bump is a task that must be performed by the last place team on a non-elimination leg. Once they complete this task, they may return to the place where the speed bump occurred and continue the leg. In this, the second of three speed bumps on this race, teams must find the SaunaBuss, a sauna on wheels, strip down to a towel and sit in the sauna for five minutes. Once they are done, they may return and get their next clue.

Teams complete the Speed Bump in the following order:

1- Gary/Matt

So, Pinky and the Brain sit in a sauna. What kind of task is THAT? (Toyouke: “Um...yeah. This Speed Bump, as all Speed Bumps, is lame and not difficult.”) And they get their next clue.

Now, if a team didn’t have to do the Speed Bump, teams come to the ninth roadblock.

ROADBLOCK:
Who wants to solve a medieval mystery?
In this roadblock, one team member must descend into the cellar and find a candelabra with a room number on it. The Roadblocker then finds the room to get a scroll from a waiting member of the Brotherhood. Team members must then hold the paper over the candle to display the next clue, written in invisible ink.

(Toyouke: “Oo, using your brain. I think we might fight over this one.” Kmanpat: “Yes, yes we would. I’d probably give it to you though.”)

The following team members complete the Roadblock.

1- Cheyne (78)
2- Sam (112)
3- Ericka (82)
4- Flight Time (78) – who decides it’s a rubbing and colors the whole sheet. (Toyouke: “I thought about laughing at Flight Time but I might have done that too.”)
5- Matt (88) – who can’t seem to find a candle-a-bra. (Billy Mays: “The Candle-a-bra! For all of your drooping candles! Catches wax like a pro! Hurry and order now and we’ll send you a second for free. But wait, order now, and you’ll get this lovely stand with a room number on it!” Toyouke: “Hee, Gary and Matt. Mostly Matt.”)

After much searching and ink revealing (Toyouke: “I'm noticing that no one is actually holding the paper over the candle long enough to read the clue properly.”) (it says Pikk Hermann Tower Garden), teams complete the Roadblock in the following order:

1- Meghan/Cheyne
2- Brian/Ericka
3- Sam/Dan – and Sam keeps pronouncing it Tover.
4- Flight Time/Big Easy
5- Gary/Matt – who only get Pikk Hermann Tower.

Teams race on foot to Pikk Hermann Tower Garden to get their next clue in the following order:

1- Meghan/Cheyne
2- Brian/Ericka
3- Sam/Dan
4- Flight Time/Big Easy
5- Gary/Matt – who totally miss the clue. Gary: "I don't see anything..." (Auburnium0513: “Oh Amazing Camera Men...how we love thee!”)

And we get the Detour Clue.

DETOUR:
Serve OR Sling
In both tasks, teams must take a taxi to Tarsi Talu outside of the village of Keava. Once there, teams follow a marked path to the task.
*Serve: Teams strip to their underwear and play volleyball in the bog against a pair of hot locals. (Toyouke: "There's your eye candy for the week.") Teams must score 5 points against the local team to get their next clue from the scorekeeper. There are only two courts, so if another team arrives, they must wait for a free court in order to play.
*Sling: Teams put on bog shoes and use a sling shot to shoot vegetables at a target with a moose on it. (I could not make this up.) When teams get a good shot on the moose, the table with cabbages on it will collapse and release the next clue.

1-Meghan/Cheyne choose Serve
2-Sam/Dan choose Serve – Sam: “Look! Hot Estonian guys!” (Toyouke: “Lord, why are Sam and Dan's crotches blurred?” Kmanpat: “Well, it doesn’t look like anything is hanging out, so I’m guessing that they got hard in their underwear in the mud staring at the hot Estonian guys.” Toyouke: “Ugh. I guess I asked for that.”)
3-Flight Time/Big Easy choose Serve – Big Easy: "We can spike on volleyball!"
4-Brian/Ericka choose Sling – Ericka: “I don’t want to wear just underwear, I wore a thong today!” (Auburnium0513: “Erika, we already know that you wear stringy thongs...remember the duck herding?”) And they chose this only because they arrived at the same time as Hot Boys and Globetrotters, and it therefore made sense to do the other task. (Toyouke: “At least Brian and Ericka aren't going to stupidly wait for volleyball.”)
5-Gary/Matt choose Sling

Teams complete the detour in the following order:

1- Meghan/Cheyne
2- Flight Time/Big Easy – and then proceed to run the wrong way.
3- Sam/Dan
4- Brian/Ericka
5- Gary/Matt

Teams get their clue and find that they must now travel by foot through the bog to the mat at the top of Keava Rava Overlook Tower, the PIT STOP of the ninth leg of this racearoundtheworld. The last team to arrive MAY be eliminated!

1- Meghan/Cheyne –who win a red cedar sauna. (Toyouke: “Hee, I don't think Meghan and Cheyne know what a red cedar sauna is.”)
2- Sam/Dan – who arrive after a little bit of an incident. They were running to the pit stop, the Globetrotters were running the wrong way, caught up, Big Easy tripped and fell into Dan.
3- Flight Time/Big Easy – who then argue that the boys are out to get them. (Toyouke: “What's messed up? That you can't stay on the path? Please, he didn't do anything to you. Shut up, you are my favorites.”)
4- Brian/Ericka
5- Gary/Matt

And Gary and Matt are. . . eliminated. Darn. Gary got what he wanted out of the race, and is very proud of his son. Matt doesn’t ever want to see another candelabra ever.

ORDER NOW:
1st – Meghan/Cheyne
2nd – Sam/Dan
3rd – Flight Time/Big Easy
4th – Brian/Ericka

Next week: Teams travel to Prague, where Flight Time serenades the teams and gets glares from everyone. Sam and Dan, however, decide to take Brian and Ericka’s taxi, apparently, which, while underhanded (and I’ll mention this next time) COMPLETELY LEGAL. Just saying. Until next time!