Episode 16.07 – Anonymous?
The Leg
The 7th leg of the Race begins and the detectives open their clue first telling them to fly to The Seychelles, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean. There, teams will search on foot for a cluebox where they’ll have to take a number.
All teams will be on the same flight, but at the airport while the cowboys and detectives go have a nice breakfast, Brent & Caite (row 7), Steve & Allie (row 10) and Dan & Jordan (row 15) think to check-in early and get seats at the front of the plane. Carol & Brandy are too late and end up in row 25.
  
Turns out, those seats are pretty important. On Mahe in The Seychelles, Brent & Caite get to the clue first and find out they will be taking a helicopter to the island of La Digue. Only the first three teams can depart as soon as possible while the other three teams will depart an hour later.
Brent & Caite touch down on the island of La Digue first and find the Detour.
In Turtle Toddle, teams will use a banana to lure a 100-year old, 500 lb tortoise across the marked lawn. Then, each team member will take a large bunch of bananas and walk a mile and a half to the harbor where they will deliver it to the fruit merchant who will give them their next clue.
In Ox Trot, teams will pull a cart to a pile of coconuts which they will load onto the cart, making sure to load every single one of them. The handler will attach an ox to the cart and teams will have to guide the ox the same road to the harbor and deliver the coconuts to the fruit merchant who’ll hand them their next clue.
Brent & Caite choose Ox Trot, as do Dan & Jordan. Steve & Allie decide on the turtle. As Brent & Caite are tossing the coconuts into the cart, one of them pops out. Uh oh.
Steve & Allie choose a cooperative tortoise and finish quickly, catching up with Brent & Caite as they head to the harbor, but they leave their bags back at the Detour. Uh oh.
Dan & Jordan finish loading their cart and make sure to have all their coconuts since they noticed some had bounced out. So far so good… until the ox begins taking a crap.
  
The last three teams arrive, the cowboys and detectives choosing ox and Carol & Brandy doing the turtle, but having a not so easy time with their tortoise who would rather go sideways.
Steve & Allie get the next clue first which tells them to take a boat to the waters off St. Pierre Island where the boatman will hand them their next clue. Dan & Jordan are right behind, and it seems Brent & Caite are too… until the fruit merchant tells them they don’t have all their coconuts, to the frustration of the dating models. Meanwhile on the boat, the father and daughter realize they left their bags when they see the brothers loading theirs onto the boat. They have their Race fanny pack with their passports so they decide to keep going, but Brent & Caite have to go back for their missing coconut.
  
Steve & Allie are handed their next clue and it is the Road Block. In this Road Block, teams will swim to a marked buoy, then dive down to retrieve one of seven bottles from a case. They’ll bring it back to the boat then together swim ashore where they’ll empty the contents; a map with puzzle pieces which will lead them to the Pit Stop.
Back at the Detour, the detectives head off as Carol & Brandy decide to switch. Louie & Michael run into Brent & Caite on their way back. The man at the Detour points to their dropped coconut and they grab it and go. The cowboys are ready to go to and make sure they haven’t dropped any. They weren’t that sure though because the cameraman catches their 1 coconut on the ground, but they continue on.
On St. Pierre Island, Steve is ready to go as Allie puts together the map puzzle. But it seems the Pit Stop is pretty easy to find as this island appears to be some kind of resot. They ox trot it along to see Phil, who officially checks them in #1 and tells them about their positively uplifting prize from 7-Up. They’ll have a nice little beach feast, a massage and $7,000 each. Dan & Jordan come in behind them in 2nd.
  
As Louie & Michael and Brent & Caite get on the boats, the cowboys have to go back to get their missing coconut. Back at the Detour, Carol & Brandy make sure they haven’t missed any coconuts but they do and their cameraman catches it too (they are on fire this leg). They head off, but have to go back. They run into the cowboys again.
Brent & Caite get to the island first, put together the puzzle and then allow the detectives to follow them to the Pit Stop. The dating models take 3rd and the detectives take 4th, then proceed to proclaim themselves two of the strongest three teams (with the cowboys) and expect themselves to be in the final 3. Oh brother. They didn’t even put together the baby puzzle!
The cowboys get to shore , but leave their bottle in the boat. They run around until they find Phil who informs them of their mistake. They have to swim back to their boat which a ways away. They spot Carol & Brandy as they come in, swim ashore and then officially check in 5th. The cowboys return, Jet slams the map down onto the Mat (really?) and Phil informs them this is a non-elimination.
  
Episode Thoughts
First off, always awesome seeing Phil doing crazy things on the show!
Are the Seychelles really that obscure? I don’t know where, but I’ve definitely heard of the country before. I definitely wouldn’t have pronounced it SAY-KELLIES even I didn’t.
The Amazing Race 16 continues to be the easiest Race ever I think. The tasks this season have mostly been uninspired and fairly easy and yet the teams have found ways to screw them all up.
“It’s all in the details” as TAR6 Kris said, and it really has become a cardinal rule on the Race. Small mistakes could kill you very easily. Almost as easy as this season’s tasks!
Nonetheless, it was still an enjoyable leg thanks to the apparently not so sharp teams.
A big no thanks to the proclamations of “the strongest three teams.” Not one team has dominated this Race on their own accord. Jet & Cord and Louie & Michael benefited greatly from the lack of equalizers and the easy tasks and the almost blurring of Pit Stops. Road Blocks and Detours are supposed to be those natural equalizers where teams can get ahead or fall behind because of their own doing. But so far, the Race has been lacking that edge of your seat thrill you get when a team makes a critical mistake or you wonder who’s going to get eliminated.
The Race is still fun, but I hope the excitement and real competition comes next week.
|
|
*
Adrian
