Recap: The Amazing Race 14, Episode 10 – “We will bring shame to the Chinese people.”

Episode 14.10: Having a Baby’s Gotta Be Easier Than This
Have the teams forgotten last week’s Pit Stop drama? 
We’ll find out as teams head out on the 10th leg of The Amazing Race

Jen & Kisha set off first and find out that they have to now fly to Beijing, China.
They say they are over the fight and it is no use to harp on things in the past.

A minute later, Tammy & Victor leave the Pit Stop and say they were in Beijing for the Olympics, so they are happy with going there and should be comfortable.
Margie & Luke leave a minute later with Luke saying it’s over, he’s not talking to Jen & Kisha and that they’ll go to end with him kicking their ass.
Jaime & Cara are frustrated never getting first place.



Tammy & Victor get tickets at the travel agent.
Jen & Kisha get into traffic, but Luke & Margie get to the airport first.
They see the sisters walk into the airport and get in line behind them.

Then the agent tells Margie & Luke they can not take international credit cards and direct them to another counter.  The sisters run ahead and get their tickets, prompting Margie to say they didn’t stick to the line order.  Jen & Kisha just smile and laugh.  Luke says if they go final 3, “Game on.”

Jen & Kisha head to the counter to get their boarding passes and Tammy & Victor arrive, going straight to the VIP line and they ask in Chinese to be seated in front of the sisters.
Tammy & Victor end up sitting in row 5 with the sisters sitting in row 8.

While Jen & Kisha are off somewhere else, not caring if the others talk about them, the other three teams are at the gate.  Margie & Luke are telling Jaime & Cara about the drama from last leg and she begins describing Kisha’s laughing at Luke.  Tammy & Victor try to explain though that she apologized and that she didn’t mean it.  Didn’t seem to help any.

Jen & Kisha meet up with the teams and they begin talking about the weather, the two feuding teams, especially mother and son, looking especially uncomfortable.  The plane starts boarding and they get up from their seats and as they go board Jen says “I don’t make small talk, it’s fake.”


8:05pm and the teams arrive in Beijing.  Tammy & Victor’s front seats help them get off first and they grab a taxi and go.

The other three teams scramble to find taxis.  The sisters ask someone, who points them out and as they turn around to run, Luke is there and bumps into the girls.  “Hell no” exclaims Kisha.  They expected it, but all they can do now is get to the clue.

Jaime & Cara bring up the rear as they were in the last row of the plane, but their taxi driver weaves his way past the sisters and Luke & Margie.They arrive first at the foot massage parlor and find the Road Block, Who’s feeling manipulative?


In this Road Block, teams have to take part in a traditional Chinese foot massage.  Teams will drink a cup of medicinal tea before beginning the massage which could border on painful.  After the 10 minute massage, teams will drink another cup of tea to receive their next clue.  If at any time the pain is too much, teams can scream uncle, but will have to start the massage over again.

Cara goes in to do it, but Jaime says she hates massages.  Jen & Kisha arrive next with Kisha deciding to do it.

They don’t like the tea, but that’s the least of their problems.
The massage begins and they are shocked by how painful it is.  Cara starts crying, Kisha gets scared out of her mind until her own painful feet start setting in.



Their partners are outside are laughing and equally surprised by how painful it must seem.  Jaime tells Cara she better not quit or she’ll hurt her herself.

Tammy & Victor arrive next and Tammy decides to do the Road Block, starting out very calm.  She soon says she’d rather massage other people’s feet (which she hates) instead of go through this.

Jaime writhes in pain while Kisha bites on her vest.  It does not look  pretty.
Luke & Margie arrive.  Margie says she will do it, but Luke insists he will.



Cara gets through it and they leave first.  Their clue tells them to make their way to Guangcai Natatorium – Beijing Muxuyuan Sports Technology School.

No one is able to find a taxi that knows where to go.  Tammy & Victor finish and they run outside to join the other two.  The siblings ask the girls if they want to work together to find the Natatorium.

Jen & Kisha finally find a taxi and they leave first.  Right behind them, Tammy asks a cab driver in Chinese if he knows where to go.  He does and she starts to get into the car, but Jaime says “Oh hell no Tammy, I’m going to get in this taxi before you.  Not gonna happen sister.”  So the girls take that cab and Tammy & Victor run to find another one.They don’t want to dwell on it and Tammy says “I don’t want to get in a fight with Jaime though.  She scares me.”

Luke & Margie finish and they head out to look for a taxi.  Jen is already dreading going to a natatorium assuming they’ll have to swim.  And neck and neck, Tammy and Victor hope Jaime & Cara’s driver takes them to the wrong gate since they went straight ahead when the siblings turned.


Tammy & Victor go to the right door and enter to find their next clue, the Detour, Sync or Swim.
In Sync, teams have to perfect the sport of synchronized diving.  A pair of judges will determine whether or not the two team members hit the water at the same time and teams will get their next clue after they get a score of 5.
In Swim, teams will swim a 400m relay in Lazr suits and race against Michael Phelps’ gold-winning time, though they don’t have to beat it.  Each team member must alternate after 4 lengths of the pool, and each must swim 200m.

Tammy & Victor get changed into their Speedos (“This is like skimpyland!!” Victor exclaims) and give it a shot, but Tammy hesitates and arrives in the water later than Victor.

Jen & Kisha, who admit they aren’t good swimmers at all, decide to dive as well, but decide to watch Tammy & Victor first, and after two more tries, still can’t stay in sync.

Kisha & Jen choose Sync.  But when they get up onto the platform, they decide to switch.  Jen can’t do it.

Jaime & Cara arrive and begin their swim.  So TAR uses the magic line to track Phelps’ time and pace compared to the Racers.  It’s pretty obvious they’ll be nowhere near it before the first length of the pool.



Margie & Luke arrive and they do Swim as well.  They seem to have an easy time.  Jaime & Cara are doing pretty well also though they take a little long breather at the other end of the pool.
Kisha dives into the pool but slows down and begins pulling himself along with Jen worrying about doing the Detour.

Jaime & Cara finish the Detour and get the clue to go to the Pit Stop, Drum Tower, once where drums were beaten to announce the time of day in Ancient China.


After Kisha takes a long time finishing her two lengths, they decide to go back to the diving.   Meanwhile, Margie & Luke finish 2nd and head off close behind the girls.

After their “20,000th dive,” Tammy & Victor decide to switch.  Jen & Kisha try one more dive, but can’t get it either.  Both teams go back to the swimming.

Before starting again, Jen breaks down.  She says she wants to go home, her sister tries to encourage her.  Meanwhile, Tammy & Victor finish in 10 minutes, wondering why they didn’t do the swimming in the first place.



Jen finally gets up and Kisha puts her arm around her as they go to get their Lazrs on.

On the road, Jaime & Cara hope this will be the leg they finally get first.  They hope their driver knows where they’re going.  Margie & Luke are happy they just got a swimming challenge, and say “Bye” to Jen & Kisha.

Kisha gets emotional as well and says she is proud of her sister as she finishes.  Outside, Tammy & Victor are running towards a taxi and suddenly, Victor’s leg begins to cramp.  One of those big ones.

He sits in the taxi with the door open, Tammy asks if he can put it inside the car, but he’s trying to stretch it out.  It passes and they’re on their way as Jen & Kisha finally finish.

So it’s about 8:53pm and none of the teams have arrived yet at the Pit Stop.  Jaime & Cara who left the pool 20 TV minutes ago are still driving around in a taxi, though it doesn’t seem that they are lost.  Hmm… very suspicious!

The girls arrive at the North Gate of Drum Tower and run in to see Phil at the Mat by himself. Jaime almost can not contain herself.  Phil tells them they are the first team to arrive and they are ready to jump up and celebrate… but… Phil pulls out another clue and tells them the leg is not over.  Then…

Boom…



Overall
I was definitely expecting a non-elimination this week, but I definitely did not expect a double-leg.  Things got very suspicious already with how Phil talked about the Pit Stop.  But it was very obvious when the girls hadn’t reached the Pit Stop yet and it was almost the end of the episode already.  

I have to say I missed those TBC/To Be Continueds and super-legs.  The last one I believe was TAR10 when the teams just received a clue without any hint of a Pit Stop.

I am glad to have them back and hopefully they can throw one in for TAR15 too.

This leg was pretty tough and while they spent most of it indoors, I always like when the teams are running around in the middle of the night.  I’d love to see them do more stuff in the dark, if only to see what kind of drama can arise from the late hour.

The massage looked absolutely painful, but could be fun and probably very relaxing after you recover.  Probably gets your feet to the best its felt when the initial pain goes away, no?

The swimming and diving were interesting.  I think they overdid the Phelps references, but I can see why TAR wanted to play up the last Olympics which were huge.  Tough challenges though, I guess it was which one you could push yourself through.

One episode left until the finale. It really is anyone’s Race at this point!

Leg Ten Itinerary
DEPARTURE
Sun and Moon Pagodas
Banyan Lake
Guilin, China

DESTINATION CITY
Beijing, China

ROAD BLOCK
Liangzi Foot Massage Palace
Beijing, China

DETOUR
Guang Cai Ti Yu Guan Bei Men You Yong Guan
Guangcai Natatorium – Beijing Muxuyuan Sports Technology School
Beijing, China

PIT STOP
Drum Tower – North Gate
Beijing, China

Departure Times
Guilin, China
Kisha & Jen 1:48pm
Tammy & Victor 1:49m
Margie & Luke 1:50pm
Jaime & Cara 2:12pm

Who Did the Detour?

SYNC
*Tammy & Victor and Kisha & Jen attempted the Sync Detour, but switched to Swim

SWIM


*
*

Road Block Count

In order of completion; Italics indicate who did this week’s Road Block
Who’s feeling manipulative?
5 Cara Jaime 4
6 Kisha Jen 3
5 Tammy Victor 4
5 Luke Margie 4
5 Mark Michael 3
3 Mel Mike 3
3 Christie Jodi 3
1 Amanda Kris 3
0 Brad Victoria 3
1 Linda Steve 1
1 Preston Jennifer 0

Order of Finish
Jaime & Cara arrive first at the Mat, but Phil hands them their next clue and tells them to continue racing.

My Team Rankings for Leg 10
Tammy & Victor Tammy & Victor – It seems as though their advantages of being in China isn’t helping them much, if only to keep them from falling behind even more than they have despite getting out in front at times.  Not a good leg for them and they are breaking their momentum heading into the final leg of the Race (if they make it!).
Cara & Jaime Cara & Jaime – Their frustrations with other cultures and languages look to continue next week.  They were denied their first leg win, which will no doubt add to their frustration.   
Lakisha & Jennifer Kisha & Jen – A big hurdle for them this week and they were spared momentarily with the superleg, but they’ll have to step it up next week if they want to make the final push into the final leg.  I guess they’ll hope for no more swimming tasks in the final leg. 
Margie & Luke Margie & Luke – Despite their continued tension with Jen & Kisha, they continued to Race well and stay focused, which puts them in 2nd when we last saw them.  It really is anyone’s Race now.
Quotes from Episode 14.10
Victor: “This is like skimpyland!!!”

Jen: “It’s patented in China… that ‘dumb look’.”
Kisha: “They should be able to say ‘Me no speak English’.”

Tammy: “Oh my gosh, if we don’t survive the Beijing leg, we will bring shame to our family.” 
Victor: “We will bring shame to the Chinese people.”


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