Sunday, February 25, 2018

TAR 30, Recap Leg 11, 2/21/18


Welcome to Leg 11! Last time, on Elephants and Bullfrogs and Scorpions, Oh My!, 4 teams raced from Bahrain to Thailand. Teams had to either catch bullfrogs or measure elephants, and then eat scorpions. And everyone was fairly successful, except for Yale, who were slow and finished last. But it was the last non-elimination leg, so they are still in the race. Who will be eliminated. . . next? (click for more)


Arrival at the pit stop last episode:
1st – Alex and Conor, The Race Car Drivers, #TeamIndyCar
2nd – Cody and Jessica, Team Reality Show YDC, #TeamBigBrother
3rd – Kristi and Jen, The Freestyle Skiers, #TeamExtreme
4th – Henry and Evan, Beauty and the Geek Take 2, #TeamYale

Wadi Chedi Luang, Chiang Mai, Thailand

6:45 AM Alex/Conor (1st)
Clue: Fly 1000 miles to the Pearl of the Orient, Hong Kong! Once there, make your way to Victoria Peak and find the photographer at Lion’s Pavilion to get your next clue.

6:47 AM Cody/Jessica (2nd)
7:15 AM Kristi/Jen (3rd)
7:44 AM Henry/Evan (4th)

So, teams make their way to the airport. They arrive in the following order:

1- Alex/Conor
2- Cody/Jessica
3- Kristi/Jen
4- Henry/Evan

All teams get the same flight to Hong Kong (of course). So teams get on their flights, and the Amazing Orange Line gets them to Hong Kong International Airport in the following order:

1- Kristi/Jen
2- Alex/Conor
3- Cody/Jessica – who force their way in front to get a cab. (Toyouke: “Did they push? I'm not saying they didn't, because they totally would, I just couldn't tell what was going on.”)
4- Henry/Evan

Teams get taxis and make their way to Victoria Peak. They arrive at Lion’s Pavilion in the following order:

1- Alex/Conor
2- Cody/Jessica
3- Kristi/Jen – whose cab driver tries to drive all the way up the peak, which doesn’t work. So they run back to where they need to be to get to the top.
4- Henry/Evan – who find a taxi driver named Henry, and our Henry can speak Mandarin, so that’s helpful.

Teams arrive, and Henry and Evan find their Speed Bump. (Toyouke: “This leg seems designed to screw whoever has the Speed Bump. But I guess that's true no matter who is in that spot.”)

SPEED BUMP:
A Speed Bump is a task that must be performed by the last place team on a non-elimination leg when the non-elimination leg is not immediately followed by the next 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, the team must light and hang forty paper lanterns in order to continue racing.

Teams complete the Speed Bump in the following order:

1- Henry/Evan – and are cheered on by Taxicab Henry.

After much lantern lighting, they continue with the rest of the teams.

Teams find the photographer at Lion’s Pavilion. He then takes their picture with the Hong Kong skyline. (Toyouke: “This is terrible. Also how did they manage to take a picture that is clearly on the edge of a walkway but it looks like a crappy backdrop?”) When the pictures print, the teams get their clues in the following order:

1- Alex/Conor
2- Cody/Jessica
3- Kristi/Jen
4- Henry/Evan

Teams are now instructed to travel by taxi to the Hong Kong Harbour and find their clue on the Aberdeen Promenade. Teams arrive at the Promenade in the following order:

1- Alex/Conor
2- Cody/Jessica
3- Kristi/Jen
4- Henry/Evan

Teams search the Promenade and find the clue in the following order:

1- Kristi/Jen
2- Alex/Conor
3- Cody/Jessica
4- Henry/Evan

Teams open their clues and we get the Detour Clue.

DETOUR:

Hairy Crab OR Grub Grab

*Hairy Crab: Teams must travel by water taxi to the Aberdeen Floating Village where they must tie 50 hairy crabs to get them ready for market. To make things harder, a fake typhoon will occur during the challenge. Once all 50 hairy crabs are tied correctly, teams will get their next clue.
*Grub Grab: Teams travel by water taxi to Jin Bao Seafood Restaurant on Ap Lei Chau Main Street. Once there, one team member must wait on a table of eight and take their orders in Cantonese. They must then relay the order to their teammate who must correctly fill the order. Once all the orders have been received correctly, teams get their next clue.

(Toyouke: “Are you serious. A fake typhoon. See, that HAS to be fake added difficulty. Because no one is going to try to speak Chinese, so everyone is going to take the crab side of the Detour, so they had to try to make it harder. As if they could make it so hard people would choose to try to speak Chinese.”)

1- Alex/Conor choose Hairy Crab – and quickly Bald Snark to Grub Grab, because apparently Conor can’t tie crabs. And then one pinched him.
2- Kristi/Jen choose Hairy Crab – Jen: “I’ve always wanted this life skill!”
3- Cody/Jessica choose Hairy Crab
4- Henry/Evan choose Grub Grab – because Henry speaks Mandarin. (Toyouke: “I mean hopefully Henry can speak well enough. It may be a Goats/Ray and Deana situation. Team Indy Car notwithstanding.”)

Much crab tying and food serving ensues. So, teams complete the detour in the following order:

1- Henry/Evan
2- Alex/Conor
3- Cody/Jessica
4- Kristi/Jen

Teams are now instructed to make their way to the roof of Central Pier # 4 to get their next clue. Teams arrive in the following order:

1- Henry/Evan
2- Alex/Conor
3- Cody/Jessica
4- Kristi/Jen

When they rip open the clue, teams get the eighth roadblock.

ROADBLOCK:

Who wants to get smashed?

In this roadblock, one team member must create “Rage Art” by using a baseball bat to destroy electronics. Inside two of the electronics are halves of a clue. Once roadblockers find the whole clue, they throw a gallon of paint on the masterpiece to complete the challenge. In the meantime, their teammates have a briefcase locked to their wrists.

(Toyouke: “I kind of like how the Roadblock is relatively uncomplicated, compared to two difficult Detour options.”)

The following teammates take the Roadblock:

1- Henry
2- Conor
3- Cody
4- Kristi - who can’t really smash things. And then forgets to read the clue and doesn’t look for the halves until the very end.

After much electronics smashing, teams complete the Roadblock in the following order:

1- Henry/Evan
2- Alex/Conor
3- Cody/Jessica
4- Kristi/Jen

Teams are now instructed to travel by taxi to Lan Kwai Fong. Once there, they must search the busy street for clues to help them figure out the code for the briefcase. The clues are signs with pictures that remind them of various legs (1 – Washington Square Park Arch, 3 – Fez, 5 – Bull). (Toyouke: “It's early for a memory task.”) Once teams have all three numbers, they must try all six combinations until they find the one that works with their briefcase in order to get the handcuff key and their next clue.

Teams arrive at Lan Kwai Fong in the following order:

1- Henry/Evan
2- Alex/Conor
3- Cody/Jessica
4- Kristi/Jen

Teams find signs, but most teams only find two of the three, and some of the formatting seems odd to me (the fez is a neon sign, and not print like the other two; the Washington Square Park sign is white and green and not red and yellow). (Toyouke: “This task is really poorly designed. There's nothing to indicate if something is even a sign in the first place, let alone what leg and what order the numbers go in. “) Anyway, most teams figure out enough to open their briefcases in the following order:

1- Henry/Evan
2- Cody/Jessica
3- Kristi/Jen
4- Alex/Conor – well, they should have anyway. . . (Toyouke: “I don't think helping Indy Car was a problem. "Go back up", yelled as you run full speed in the opposite direction in first place, really isn't hurting you at all. It's the last three teams that need to not help each other.”)

Teams find now that they must make their way to the intersection of Johnston Rd. and Wan Chai Rd., the PIT STOP of the eleventh leg of this racearoundtheworld. The last team to arrive WILL be eliminated!

1- Henry/Evan – who win business class tickets to their final destination city. (Toyouke: “OK I still don't like this "on the last leg we'll just give you a flight and upgrade you to business class". But that's because we haven't had ANY airport drama this season and it's BORING. “)
2- Cody/Jessica – who win business class tickets to their final destination city.
3- Kristi/Jen – who win business class tickets to their final destination city.
4- Alex/Conor

And Indy Car has Phil visit them in Lan Kwai Fong to let them know that they have been eliminated from the race. Conor: “It’s a shame to go out like this.” Conor now has a month to move out.

ORDER NOW:
1st – Henry/Evan
2nd – Cody/Jessica
3rd – Kristi/Jen

Next week: San Francisco! Kayaking! Plane Building! Jumping off bridges! And a winner! Until next time!

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