Recap: The Amazing Race 13, Episode 4 – “I hope they don’t eat my mom.”

CLICK TO>>  LEG ITINERARYDEPARTURE TIMESWHO DID THE DETOUR?ROAD BLOCK COUNTTEAM RANKINGSEPISODE QUOTESEPISODE CAPS
EPISODE 13-04: I WONDER IF THEY LIKE BLONDES IN NEW ZEALAND

The Leg
The Pit Stops have been a little more interesting this season as we get the next chapter in the flying sports bra mystery with the two parties discussing more about it before the start of the leg. 

Teams make their way to Auckland, New Zealand and drive themselves to Gulf Harbour.  There, they’ll untie a Gordian knot to retrieve the clue inside.

Before leaving Bolivia, teams scatter around El Alto internatonal airport looking for an internet connection to find the best flight to Auckland.  While there’s only one flight, one that arrives at 3:55am, the tension is still high.  Aja & Ty have a little fight after she gets frustrated with him when trying to look for flights.


The teams board their flight and touch down in Auckland in the middle of the night as they rush outside to find the marked cars.

They drive on the other side of the road into the night towards Gulf Harbour.  Marisa & Brooke, already in last, get lost while Aja & Ty blow a tire.  A Good Samaritan stops and helps them change their tire.

Teams stick close to each other and arrive at the harbor and search the marina for the knot.  Ken & Tina and Andrew & Dan untie their knots first to find the clue saying they must now make their way to the Summit of Mount Eden, a dormant volcano and the city’s highest point, for the next one.


But there is another clue inside the knot; the first of only 2 Fast Forwards in the entire Race.
In this Fast Forward, teams must go to the Auckland Sky Tower, the tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere. There, they will climb the maintenance ladders all the way up to the highest point to pick up “a friend” and their next clue.

Andrew & Dan and Ken & Tina both go for the Fast Forward, but Ken & Tina arrive first with Superbad deciding on moving forward with the rest of the leg.


While Ken & Tina are climbing up the tower, the other teams arrive at Mount Eden, where they drive up the summit to find their next clue, a Road Block.
In this Road Block, teams must match a picture of a Maori tattoo with the tattoo on the face of a Maori warrior.  If they’re right, they’ll get a clue and an Eskimo kiss from the warrior.  If they’re wrong, the warrior will take the picture and run away with the teams having to start  again.

Still just before dawn, Terence searches in the dark for the right tattoo and does in 2 tries.

They get their next clue which tells them to drive to the City Life Hotel and head up to the rooftop for their next clue.

Kelly & Christy, ever the detailed Racers, can’t find the road up to the summit and instead hike up the volcano.  The sun rises with Toni & Dallas moving on in 2nd, while back at the harbor, Marisa & Brooke have just arrived walking past the knot one time.


In the front of the pack, Terence & Sarah are at the hotel with their next clue.
On the rooftop, teams must use binoculars to find our good ol’ friend, the Travelocity roaming gnome doing one of the New Zealand wish list activities.  They’ll then have to figure out its location to get the clue at the bottom of the gnome.

Back to the Fast Forward, Ken & Tina make their way up the swaying top of the tower to find the gnome waiting for his ride down the tower.

At Mt. Eden, Kelly & Christy beat Superbad and run down the mountain first while Dan has absolutely no idea what the warrior is trying to do to him.   

Terence & Sarah find their gnome, Toni & Dallas find theirs quick, and Ken & Tina make their way to their helicopter that will take them to the next Pit Stop, Summerhill.

For the rest of the teams, the roaming gnome tells them to go to the town of Te Puke and the local landmark, Kiwi 360… a giant kiwi.


There, teams find the Detour.
In this Detour, teams will choose between A Matter of Time or a Matter of Skill.
In Matter of Time, teams drive to a kiwi orchard where they must do a Lucy and use their feet to get 12 quartz of kiwi juice.  Then each of them will drink a glass of juice for the next clue.
In Matter of Skill, teams drive to Blokart Heaven and assemble two blokarts and then use them to sail 3 laps around a course for their next clue.

Terence & Sarah choose Matter of Time and finish easily. 
That’s not the story for Toni & Dallas, Andrew & Dan, and Nick & Starr who can’t stand their rocks at the bottom of their bins and the mere trickling of their juice and decide to switch detours.

In the midst of what seems like hundreds of sheep, Ken & Tina descend from their helicopter to meet Phil and a dapper older man at the mat.  He reveals himself to be “Phil’s dad” and they congratulate Ken & Tina for being 1st for the 3rd leg in a row.
They win a 7 night trip to Rio.


Terence & Sarah arrive at Summerhill and check-in 2nd.
Meanwhile, Kelly & Christy smash their way through the kiwis as Toni & Dallas sail through the Detour with them finishing 3rd and 4th respectively.

Andrew gets frustrated as Dan stays calm, while Starr crashes twice and eventually scrapes and seemingly breaks her arm.  They all eventually finish (Starr in pain) and make their way to the sheep on the hill.  Nick & Starr are 5th and Andrew & Dan are 6th.


The last two teams head late into the evening as darkness falls.  Aja & Ty switch from the kiwis to the blokarts while Brooke & Marisa hurry through the kiwis.

It’s a race to the mat as Aja & Ty come out in 7th with the Southern Belles being Philiminated.

Overall
An even more awesome leg than last week.  It was an exciting, non-stop episode.

It was great to see the teams running around at night, which we don’t usually get too much of, thanks to Hours of Operation (real or TAR-induced).  It almost makes it a little more exciting seeing just them running around without any bystanders or anyone wandering out ready for them to be asked to help.

The teams have stayed very close to each other so far this entire Race.  Which in a way is good thing since it keeps things exciting. 

How awesome was it to get to go to New Zealand, Phil’s homeland?  And was the sheep-filled Summerhill Phil’s homeland, literally? 

It was a nice surprise to see a dapper Mr. Keoghan standing next to his son on the mat.  You’d think he would’ve already appeared before the 13th season!  Hehe.

The Maori warriors were fun if not energetic.  They could certainly get your blood going early in the morning.  And the nose touch was a nice… touch I guess.  I was surprised, I definitely didn’t expect that.  

The Road Block isn’t something new, but it was a new take on a familiar TAR task of the past.

 The Detour was an interesting one since either could’ve been an all right choice.  Toni’s Lucy reference made me love them even more. 

It seems like every season I go into my Fast Forward rant.  So just a quick one this time around.  

Bring back the FF to every leg of the Race.  Logistics and cost, I understand, but they could easily come up with something both easy to organize and cost-efficient for every leg.  The FF has become meaningless since it began to pop up once or twice in a Race instead of every leg.  And the FF has always been an amazing source of tension, drama, and happiness when it was a fixture. 
Bring back the real Fast Forward!!
[/rant]

And of course we got a visit from our favorite roaming gnome.  At least it was in a fresh way this time.

Overall, my favorite leg of the TAR13 so far.  The season just keeps getting better and better, I think.

 

         LEG FOUR


DEPARTURE
Mirador El Monticulo
La Paz, Bolivia

DESTINATION CITY
Auckland, New Zealand

ROUTE MARKERS
Gulf Harbour, Auckland, New Zealand
City Life Hotel, Auckland, New Zealand
Kiwi 360, Te Puke, New Zealand

FAST FORWARD
Sky Tower, Auckland, New Zealand

ROAD BLOCK
Mount Eden, Auckland, New Zealand

DETOUR
Blokart Heaven, Te Puke, New Zealand
Kiwi Orchard, Te Puke, New Zealand

PIT STOP
Summerhill
Te Puke, New Zealand

La Paz, Bolivia
Ken & Tina 12:33am
Toni & Dallas 12:59am
Terence & Sarah 1:04am
Marisa & Brooke 1:05am
Aja & Ty 1:06am
Nick & Starr 1:07am
Andrew & Dan 1:08am
Kelly & Christy 1:20am

MATTER OF TIME


MATTER OF SKILL




*all switched from the Matter of Time detour

(as of Leg 4)
2 TONI DALLAS 1
1 AJA TY 2
1 ANDREW< DAN 2
1 KELLY CHRISTY 2
1 KEN TINA 1
2 MARISA BROOKE 1
2 NICK STARR 1
1 TERENCE SARAH 2
2 MARK BILL 1
1 ANTHONY STEPHANIE 0
 0 ANITA ARTHUR 0

italic indicates who did Road Block this week

THE TEAMS
(in order of my rankings for the week, which really don’t mean too much again as I’m pretty much warm on all of them)
Toni & Dallas Toni & Dallas are moving along.  They are doing well now, and they are genuinely having fun with each other.  A good finish for them and the Detour switch ultimately only cost them a place.  I’d love to see them go far, Ron & Chris did a great job of redeeming all parent-child teams of the past last season, hopefully Toni & Dallas can keep that going!
Ken & Tina Ken & Tina have been a surprise to me.  They are racing very very well and the basically maintained their lead even after the flight equalizer.  And good for Tina in overcoming her fear of heights if she made it all the way to the top on that one.  If they keep it up, they can go far.
Marisa & Brooke Marisa & Brooke seemed like they were almost getting on the right track last week, but it seemed over for them at the beginning of the leg.  Too bad for them, they were enjoying themselves, but they just weren’t racing well enough to keep up. 
Kelly & Christy Kelly & Christy… When your bra goes flying out the window and someone targets you for a U-Turn for no reason at all, sure I’d be annoyed too.  So I can understand them.  They stepped up their Race a little this week, so they should keep that up.
Aja & Ty Aja & Ty… It wasn’t a good leg for them.  They start it with drama, they get bad luck and were almost eliminated.  They seem to be far behind the other  teams, but you never know in the Race, they could easily catch up.
Terence & Sarah Terence & Sarah… Well, they’ve moved past being annoying the first 2 legs of the Race.  And they’re moving up as they said, so they’re turning themselves around.
Andrew & Dan Andrew & Dan… We got to see a little more about them and their relationship this week which is always good for a team.  It was a story self-contained in the episode I think.  Dan was being annoying, Andrew felt underappreciated… everything’s resolved at the end of the leg.  They’ve been floundering, so they could be in danger in the next couple of legs. 
Nick & Starr Nick & Starr  How to feel about them?  They’re very competitive, but there are those moments when you just roll your eyes.  They’re okay for me, for now.  Race-wise, if they don’t do anything to fix their Race, it will seem like the 1st leg success was a fluke. 
Quotes from Episode 13-04
Dallas.: “I don’t even know where New Zealand is.”
Toni: “You know… uh, why do I even pay for geography class.”

Toni: “He’s got brains.  I know they’re in there.”
Dallas: “I’m college educated.”

Marisa: “I wonder if they like blondes in New Zealand.”
Brooke: “I’m sure they have blondes, who are not like rare or anything.”

Aja: “I swear, if you say ‘bit us in the butt’ one more time, I’m just going to jump off a cliff.”

Andrew: “This isn’t the Dan Show, this is Andrew & Dan on The Amazing Race.”

Andrew: “Wow, New Zealand.”
Dan: “I know Phil’s from there… I know they’re into kiwis.”

Andrew: “We’re in a Terence & Sarah and Ken & Tina sandwich right now.”

Terence: “Can I have a little love?  Can you just touch me for a little, maybe play with my hair?”

Dallas: “When I saw my mom down with all these Maori warriors, the only thing I was hoping was ‘Please do not eat my Mom.’”

Christy: “Oh my gosh, I’m going to have a nightmare about these guys.  They are scary!”
Kelly: “Rawr!”

Christy: “These kiwis were like exfoliating our legs and the kiwis are like tension releaving balls underneath our feet… it was fun!”

Toni: “Don’t have any wine with him, just take the baby.”

Dan: “I’m mechanically challenged.”

Daddy Keoghan: “Well, I think these two girls deserve a big hug, don’t you.”
Phil: “Are you offering to give them a hug?”
Daddy Keoghan: “Yes I am.”
Phil: “That’s my dad.”

EPISODE CAPS

Caps from episode 4 FINALLY up at
Photobucket: xangatheamazingracecaps

Share your thoughts!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Back to top