TAR26, Recap Leg 8, 4/17/15

Welcome to Leg 8! Last time, on I Don’t Know Where Namibia Is, teams flew from France to Namibia.  There was much interaction with local tribes and animals, and a REALLY long drive to the Pit Stop.  Since there isn’t much to do in Namibia, there weren’t that many placement changes, except that the Olympians started to fall apart in the most civilized way possible, ended up last at the mat, but were saved by nonelimination.   Who will be eliminated. . . next? (click for more)

Arrival at the pit stop last episode:

1st – Matt/Ashley, Team Best Friend YDC, #The Hairstylists

2nd – Laura/Tyler, Team Clueless YDC, #TeamSoCal

3rd – Hayley/Blair, Team Mismatched YDC, #RxForLove

4th – Jelani/Jenny, Team Intelligent YDC, #TheLegalTeam

5th – Mike/Rochelle, Team Smalltown Sweetheart YDC, #TruckStopLove

6th – Aly/Steve, Team Olympian YDC, #SochiLove

Spitzkoppe, Namib Desert, Namibia

We learn that Laura and Tyler got Date Night for the third time, and apparently it was massages.  But no one talks about it because everyone is about to spend the night in tents on Spitzkoppe.

6:47 AM Matt/Ashley (1st) – who dislike the lawyers because they actually decided to race on leg 4 instead of helping Matt and Ashley.  So, of course, they must be stopped.  (Toyouke: “OMG are you STILL bitter about that?! That was a million years ago!”)

Clue: Return to your vehicles to be driven to the town of Swakopmund.  Once there, find the Swakopmunder Buchhandlung, and purchase a copy of Allgemeine Zeitung.  Search the newspaper for your next clue.  CAUTION: U-Turn Ahead!

6:48 AM Laura/Tyler (2nd) 

7:08 AM Hayley/Blair (3rd)

7:35 AM Jelani/Jenny (4th) – and we learn that they still have the Express Pass from the first leg, but they must use it by the end of this leg or lose it.

7:54 AM Mike/Rochelle (5th)

8:12 AM Aly/Steve (6th) 

Teams are driven into town and arrive in the following order:

1- Matt/Ashley

2- Laura/Tyler

3- Hayley/Blair  

4- Jelani/Jenny 

5- Mike/Rochelle

6- Aly/Steve

Teams purchase their newspaper and quickly find the clue, an ad written completely in German with driving directions to their next location.  Teams figure out the clue and start driving in the following order:

1- Laura/Tyler

2- Matt/Ashley

3- Hayley/Blair  

4- Jelani/Jenny – and promptly get a nail in their tire that needs repair.

5- Mike/Rochelle

6- Aly/Steve

From the newspaper, the teams decipher that they need to make their way to the Skydiving Place of the Swakopmund Skydiving Club in order to get their next clue.  Teams arrive at the club in the following order:  

1- Laura/Tyler

2- Matt/Ashley

3- Hayley/Blair  

4- Mike/Rochelle

5- Jelani/Jenny

6- Aly/Steve

And once Aly and Steve arrive they find their 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 speed bump, teams must make an airplane toy out of recycled soda can and bottle parts.  Once each team member has made a toy, they receive their next clue from the kids.

Teams complete the Speed Bump in the following order:

1- Aly/Steve

After much construction, they continue with the rest of the teams.

And teams get the sixth Roadblock clue.

ROADBLOCK:

Who has always wanted a skydrop?

In this roadblock, roadblockers must watch as the Travelocity Roaming Gnome drops a briefcase out of an airplane and then run to where it landed.  Roadblockers pick up the briefcase, and travel to a nearby hill where they retrieve the Gnome before returning to their partners.  Once reunited, teams can open the briefcase and get their next clue.

The following teammates take the Roadblock:

1- Laura

2- Ashley

3- Hayley

4- Mike

5- Jelani

6- Steve – who set the compass on his watch instead of watching the box fall from the sky.  Oops.

After much running in the desert, teams finish the Roadblock in the following order:

1- Matt/Ashley

2- Laura/Tyler

3- Hayley/Blair  

4- Jelani/Jenny 

5- Mike/Rochelle

6- Aly/Steve

Teams are now instructed to drive themselves to Snake Bend Pan in Dorob National Park to find their next clue.  Teams arrive in the following order:

1- Matt/Ashley

2- Laura/Tyler

3- Hayley/Blair  

4- Jelani/Jenny 

5- Mike/Rochelle

6- Aly/Steve

And we get the Detour Clue.

DETOUR:

Work OR Play

*Work: Teams hook up five tires with chains to their cars and drag them along a road to smooth out five miles of unpaved highway.  Once complete, teams get their next clue from their foreman.

*Play: Teams get a quick overview of a sand skiing course from Henrik May, a professional sandboarder.  Teams then cross country ski to the top a of a sand dune, pick up a sled, and sled down the sand dune to get their clue from Henrik.

1- Matt/Ashley choose Play

2- Laura/Tyler choose Work

3- Hayley/Blair choose Work

4- Jelani/Jenny choose Play – and promptly use their Express Pass.  (Toyouke: “Good use of the Express Pass. I think they just got the "worse" choice out of the way, assuming they'd be U-Turned. “)

5- Mike/Rochelle choose Work

6- Aly/Steve choose Play – because, Olympians.

Teams complete the detour in the following order:

1- Matt/Ashley

2- Laura/Tyler

3- Jelani/Jenny  

4- Hayley/Blair 

5- Mike/Rochelle

6- Aly/Steve

Teams are now instructed to walk down the road to their next clue, which happens to be the U-Turn Board.

When they arrive, teams find the U-Turn. 

This is a Double U-Turn. Teams may choose to U-turn any team they wish (well, the team has to be behind them), but they may only use the U-Turn once during the race. If a team is U-turned, they must go back to the Detour choices and complete the Detour that they did not complete. This U-Turn is doubled, meaning two teams may U-Turn two other teams.  Phil, during his explanation, does not say how many U-Turns there will be on this race.

1- Matt/Ashley choose to U-Turn Jelani/Jenny

2- Laura/Tyler choose to U-Turn Aly/Steve – (Toyouke: “Why waste a U-Turn on Aly and Steve? They already had a Speed Bump. Is it because you remembered the Express Pass and knew that U-Turn is basically wasted?”)

3- Jelani/Jenny have been U-Turned

4- Hayley/Blair choose not to U-Turn

5- Mike/Rochelle have previously used the U-Turn

6- Aly/Steve have been U-Turned

So now both the Lawyers and the Olympians return to Work and complete the other task.  Once that is done, teams get the U-Turn clue in the following order:

1- Matt/Ashley   

2- Laura/Tyler

3- Hayley/Blair 

4- Jelani/Jenny

5- Mike/Rochelle

6- Aly/Steve

Once they U-Turn (or are U-Turned) teams are now instructed to drive themselves to Moon Valley Landscape and find Goanikontes Oasis, the PIT STOP of the eighth leg of this racearoundtheworld.  Once there teams should choose an animal (camel, donkey, oryx, zebra) to lead to the mat.  The last team to arrive may be eliminated!

1- Laura/Tyler – who win a trip for two to New Zealand, that includes skydiving and a glacier tour.

2- Matt/Ashley  

3- Hayley/Blair

4- Jelani/Jenny

5- Mike/Rochelle

6- Aly/Steve

And Aly and Steve are the last team to arrive.  Again.  And this time, this is an elimination leg.  Aly is convinced the others knew they would win and they wanted to get rid of them.  OK. . .

ORDER NOW:

1st – Laura/Tyler  

2nd – Matt/Ashley

3rd – Hayley/Blair

4th – Jelani/Jenny  

5th – Mike/Rochelle

Next episode: Teams are off to the Netherlands!  Apparently in addition to the prerequisite wooden shoes, there are also hot tub boats?  And Hayley and Blair are . . . well, shut up Hayley.  Until next time!