Recap: The Amazing Race 16, Episode 8 - You’re Like Jason Bourne, Right?

The Amazing Race

April 5, 2010

Episode 16.08 – You’re Like Jason Bourne, Right?

The Leg

Steve & Allie depart the Pit Stop resort and open their clue telling them to fly to Penang, Malaysia where they’ll make their way to the Snake Temple for their next clue.

All teams will take a 2am ferry charter to the island of Mahe and the Seychelles Airport where they all end up on a the same flight through Dubai.

In Malaysia, the teams run for taxis. Dan & Jordan, leaving the airport in 5th, have their teksi driver speed past the first four teams to arrive first at the Snake Temple where they find the Detour.

In this Detour, teams choose between Buddhist Tradition or Chinese Custom.
In Buddhist Tradition, teams carry 12 incense sticks (four 10-ft, two 8-ft and six 6-ft sticks) up 150 steps to the top of a Buddhist Temple where they’ll place them in the holders and light them all to receive their next clue.
In Chinese Custom, teams will choose a pair of enormous flagpoles known as chingay and balance the 32-foot poles on their forehead, walk 120 feet across the park.

The brothers decide on Buddhist Tradition, but realize they should’ve have let their “best taxi driver in all of Malaysia” go. Brent & Caite are 2nd but can’t find a teksi. Steve & Allie decide to follow the detectives and the cowboys decide on doing the balancing.

Carol & Brandy get to the Temple first and start up the steps as Brent & Caite catch up in 2nd. Meanwhile, Dan & Jordan, Steve & Allie, and the cops are stuck in traffic. Steve & Allie ask their driver if the Temple is still far away, but he tells them 4-5 minutes on foot so they take off and tell their driver to meet them there. Dan & Jordan follow suit while the cops stay in their teksi. The two teams end up not knowing where to go, allowing the cops to pass them in their teksi. They try to follow them but get left behind.

Jet & Cord arrive at the flags and are literally blown forward by the wind and finish the Detour quickly. They get the next clue telling them to head to the village of Teluk Bahang for their next clue. They jump into their taxi and arrive at the Temple in the village where they find their Speed Bump.

In this Speed Bump, Jet & Cord will head to the Tropical Spice Garden where they will find a woman preparing spiced teas. She’ll hand them a bowl of crushed spices and then use their sense of smell to figure out which one of the three teas has been made from the spices. When they think they’ve gotten the right one, they’ll find the meditating guru, serve him some tea and get their next clue.

They finish and head back to the cluebox and find the Road Block.
In this Road Block, teams will smash coconuts until they find one that’s colored inside. They’ll then use local materials and a piece of their broken colored coconut to make a traditional Hindu offering known as a float. When finished, they’ll set it off to sea and get their next clue.

Steve & Allie and Dan & Jordan are still running around and realize they’ve got to get into a taxi again. Steve & Allie’s teksi driver still doesn’t know where the Temple is, but knows the park for the flags so they go there. They attempt the Detour, but give up immediately. They become very frustrated.

Carol & Brandy see the cowboys leave the Road Block and are shocked. The cops and Brent & Caite who get lost are close behind them. Dan & Jordan meanwhile get to the incense and get started before Steve & Allie finally arrive.

Jet & Cord, after getting saved by a Non-Elimination last week, claim first this week, the first Speed Bumped team to do so, and get a romantic trip to Maui.

Carol & Brandy finish the Road Block and finish 2nd. The detectives are 3rd. And Brent & Caite are 4th.

Dan & Jordan finish the Detour first and head to the Road Block as an increasingly frustrated Steve & Allie stay in last.

The brothers eventually check in 5th as the father and daughter end up eliminated.

Episode Thoughts
After the literally quiet legs so far, it was nice to finally see the teams in the middle of a busy city. They may just stay in Asia the rest of the Race, so it will be interesting to see how these teams who have so far Raced in the countryside and remote islands will respond to the bustling Asian communities. It showed this leg that the teams may not be so used to having to deal with traffic and lots of people around them. And I definitely welcome the new challenge (when in the past, busy cities were on every leg).

One wrong move can cost you the Race and that was the case for Steve & Allie and almost for Dan & Jordan. I guess with all their driving around and being driven around so far this season, the teams don’t know the importance of a good taxi. But it was the quick decision to get out of their taxi in traffic to run to the Route Marker that did it for them. I guess it came down to trusting their driver who told them it was only 5 minutes away. And they weren’t moving at all then.

The Detour was definitely the hardest part of the leg. The heat made the Detour even more physical than it needed to be. As long as you had a taxi that knew where they were going, like the Cowboys did, the leg should’ve gone by pretty fast. The Road Block, though a nice ceremonial task, was very easy. It would’ve been better if they had another Road Block and then just made the offering a mandatory task for all the teams. It was just too easy, even in the sun.

A great leg, if only because the teams finally had to work with the colorful local culture instead of traipsing around vineyards and countrysides and island resorts. Usually calm teams were a little more frantic this Leg and that is great to see.

Leg Eight Itinerary
CASH
$128

PIT START
Island of Praslin
Seychelles

STOPOVER
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

DESTINATION
George Town, Penang, Malaysia

ROUTE MARKER
Snake Temple
Bayan Lepas, Penang, Malaysia

DETOUR
Tien Kong Than Temple
George Town, Penang, Malaysia

Padang Kota Lama Park
George Town, Penang, Malaysia

SPEED BUMP
Tropical Spice Garden
Teluk Bahang, Penang, Malaysia

ROAD BLOCK
Sri Singamuga Kaliamman Temple
Teluk Bahang, Penang, Malaysia

PIT STOP
Pinang Peranakan Mansion
George Town, Penang, Malaysia

Departure Times
Island of Praslin
Seychelles

Steve & Allie 7:22pm
Dan & Jordan 7:36pm
Brent & Caite 9:15pm
Louie & Michael 9:16pm
Carol & Brandy 10:19pm
Jet & Cord 10:22pm

Who Did the Detour?
In order of completion

BUDDHIST TRADITION *	CHINESE CUSTOM
* Steve & Allie attempted Chinese Custom but switched to Buddhist Tradition.

Road Block Count
In order of completion; Italics indicate who did this week’s Road Block

Who’s Life Could Use a Splash of Color?
3 Jet Cord 4
3 Carol Brandy 4
4 Louie Michael 3
4 Brent Caite 3
3 Dan Jordan 4
4 Steve Allie 3

2 ~~Jordan~~ ~~Jeff~~ 3
2 ~~Joe~~ ~~Heidi~~ 2
1 ~~Monique~~ ~~Shawne~~ 2
1 ~~Jody~~ ~~Shannon~~ 1
0 ~~Dana Adrian~~ 0

Order of Finish
1st Jet & Cord /
2nd Carol & Brandy /
3rd Louie & Michael /
4th Brent & Caite /
5th Dan & Jordan /
Eliminated Steve & Allie /

My Subjective Team Rankings for Leg 8

	Dan & Jordan – As soon as they let their best taxi driver in Malaysia go, I was face palming-it too. I have no idea why they let him go after going from 5th to 1st to the first Route Marker. They were very lucky because it could have easily been them eliminated instead of Steve & Allie. Without the father and daughter, they are now my lone pick to win it all, but they haven’t had that one game changing move to get them to the top.
	Steve & Allie – Last week I said barring one misstep, they could fly into the Final 3. Well, they had a lot of missteps this leg and unfortunately the otherwise strong team couldn’t recover. They’ve had excellent teamwork and have never been affected by stress or tension… until this leg from hell for them. It was a domino effect starting with the decision to get out of the taxi. I would’ve loved to have seen them in the Final Leg, but it just wasn’t meant to be I guess.
* GAP*
	Jet & Cord – They coasted through this leg. They made it seem like nothing, and that was with the Speed Bump! The Detour saved them lots of time, and really if you got the hang of that Chingy, it could only take a few minutes as opposed to the other side of the Detour. After the Detour, it was pretty much smooth sailing for them. Their cockiness comes out in spurts so that minus points for them, but they have a very good shot at Final 3, especially if this Super Cowboy Race of theirs is back for good.
	Carol & Brandy – When they don’t bicker (like it is for any couple team), they Race better. And it was that way this leg. They pushed through the Detour and stayed calm which allowed them to not make mistakes and capture 2nd. They really just need to watch their bickering because otherwise they are a solid team that can do very well.
SMALL GAP
	Brent & Caite – Solid leg for them other than their lost taxi driver. I still don’t see why the hostility against the lesbians other than the apparent hearsay of the detectives in leg 1. They’ve been getting just enough luck to stay in the Race this entire time, just enough to push them to the next luck. It is possible for that luck to run out, or to take them all the way to the final 3.
BIG GAP
	Louie & Michael – No one wants to see you changing out of your clothes or flexing baby!