Episode 18.09 – We’re Good American People
The Leg After selling a few more Ford Focuses, Zev & Justin get their clue telling teams to take a train to Feldkirch, Austria where they’ll take a taxi and cross the border into Liechtenstein at Schaanwald. All teams get onto the same train and as soon as they get into Feldkirch, they scramble for taxis.
Zev & Justin luck out with a “crazy” taxi driver that gets them the lead while Gary & Mallory fall behind with a clueless taxi driver.
Teams cross the border and arrive in Schaanwald and find the Road Block. In this Road Block, teams will hop on a motorized bike known as a Solex and with a provided map, measure the length of the entire country of Liechtenstein using an attached odometer. After riding the bike down 22km from Schaanwald to Balzers, teams must present their guess to Olympic ski racer Marco Büchel who’ll hand them their next clue and point them to Castle Gutenberg up the hill where they’ll reunite with their teammate. However, if their guess is incorrect, they must ride back to Schaanwald and measure the country again.
As the first five teams head out, Gary & Mallory bring up the rear and before getting the Road Block, must complete the Speed Bump. For their Speed Bump, Gary & Mallory must figure out the correct mixture of gas and oil to power the Solex using the ratio of 25 parts gas : 1 part oil (or 2 liters of gas). They finish and Gary sets off.
The ride down Liechtenstein should be straightforward enough, but teams are encountering plenty of problems. Jet and Flight Time take wrong turns, Jen loses her map, and Vyxsin has no idea what she’s doing.
Gary catches up to Jet and he decides to follow him. Jen runs into a lost Justin and she offers to read the map and guide them if he lets her see it. They get to Marco first. Justin gives his answer of 22 and he gets the next clue. Jen asks Justin if the answer is 22, just to make sure and she is right behind him.
Jet arrives 3rd, but has 35km as his answer. He has to go all the way back. Gary, whom Jet leaves behind, meets up with Vyxsin and they work together
Justin and Jen collect their partners at the castle and they read their next clue telling to take a bus and train to Zermatt, Switzerland. They go to wait at the bus stop when Flight Time stops and tells them he doesn’t want to have to go back after getting lost. They freely give him the correct answer and he drives off.
He runs into Gary and he gives Gary the right answer too. They and Vyxsin finish the Road Block and head onto the same train together, leaving the Cowboys in last place. Jet finishes his 2nd ride and meets back up with Cord.
Couple of hours later, Jen & Kisha and Zev & Justin arrive in Zermatt and find the next clue, the Detour. In Cheese, teams make their way to a restaurant where they’ll have to finish a whole pot of cheese fondue. When finished, they received an empty pot with their clue printed inside. In Wheeze, teams will have to walk around Zermatt delivering 20 pieces of luggage from the train station to at least five different hotels, from which they will collect luggage tags which they will present to the porter who’ll hand them their next clue.
Both Jen & Kisha and Zev & Justin choose Cheese first, but Kisha’s stomach isn’t cooperating so they immediately switch. Justin whines before they even get started but Zev pushes him to stick with it.
The next three teams, Gary & Mallory, Kent & Vyxsin, and the Globetrotters, arrive and all choose the luggage.
As Jet & Cord get to town, Justin whines and hurls himself through the Detour, but they finish first and get the clue telling them to head for Hinterdorf near the Inderbinen-Brunnen for their next clue. Jen & Kisha are right behind them and there, they find the Double U-Turn. Neither team decides to use it and they take the next clue telling them to head to the Pit Stop at Moos Restaurant via electric taxi.
Zev & Justin claim another leg win while Kisha & Jen take 2nd.
Kent & Vyxsin finish next, but Kent is exhausted so Vyxsin tells him to get onto the cart so she can pull him. The Globetrotters think they’re done, but they find they’ve brought two pieces of luggage to the wrong hotel. They think they’re done again, but they head back to the porter to hand him the tickets, but they only have 18 of the 20.
Kent & Vyxsin and Gary & Mallory choose not to U-Turn anyone and they check in to the Pit Stop 3rd and 4th respectively. Phil gets a huge laugh from Mallory’s crazy faces.
That leaves the Globetrotters and the Cowboys fighting for last (yes!) and a chance at the U-Turn. The Globetrotters arrive there first and U-Turn the Cowboys to ensure their safety.
They officially check in 5th leaving the Cowboys in last and officially eliminated.
 Episode Thoughts It was a very interesting episode. While I was pleased with the ending, the leg itself was pretty poorly designed.
Too many long train trips in one leg caused unnecessary equalizers. The Road Block measuring Liechtenstein was great, fun and creative. But having to hop on another train to the next destination eliminated a lot of excitement. This leg was probably a good example of when equalizers are not executed well.
That left the U-Turn at the END of the leg which eliminates any possibility of the U-Turned team from catching up and ensures their elimination.
The Speed Bump too seems to have reached new lows of irrelevance. TAR may have to go back to the drawing board to come up with a new non-elimination penalty otherwise just go to the double/super legs/virtual Pit Stops instead.
It was fun however to see the teams Racing around at night. TAR needs more running around in the middle of the night legs. How about a Finish Line at night?
And about the Road Block. It has always been annoying when teams find ways around actually finishing a task or finding a way around the actual directions. Not sure about penalties needing to be assessed, but TAR does need to take a look at how to enforce the directions and rules they set out.
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