Kicking off this leg of the race, the top three teams – Natalie and Nadiya, Trey and Lexie, and Jaymes and James –  left close together and began the race working in an alliance. Sigh. I hate alliances on The Amazing Race but it’s become par for the course. The rest of the teams

So far, I’m rooting the most for Josh and Brent. They’re nice, but also funny, and I like their observations. Though I also like Caitlin and Brittany for quoting one of my favorite movie lines of all time, “There’s no crying in baseball.”

Roadblock – You Got Served!

For the Roadblock, one team member had to deliver twenty plates of Padang food without dropping anything – taking them ALL at once! That’s hard.

The Chippendale was actually really quick at it, and Josh and Brent made up some time. Somehow, Natalie and Nadiya only arrived at the Roadblock in sixth place, even though the left in first place. Of course, Gary and Will were even farther behind – and the sub teachers were the first to admit that so far they deserve an ‘F’. They were so out of it throughout the whole leg.

Training Day

The next clue required teams to get on a train, and the clue would be on the train. Most teams caught a train shortly after 7:30 a.m., but Natalie and Nadia just missed it – leaving them at the very back of the pack with the blondes, the monster truckers and Gary and Will.

On the early train, the teams all made an agreement not to U-turn one another. Of course, that didn’t mean people would stick to their promises.

Detour: Lion’s Head or Egg Head?

I frequent a bar called the Lion’s Head on Friday or Saturday nights for karaoke. This was not the Detour.

In Lion’s Head, teams had to dress in a heavy costume and parade down the street and stop to perform a small dance. In egg head, teams cooked eggs over a flame that would be in a coconut on top of their head. Weird, but it sounded easy. WAY easier than Lion’s Head. The choice sounded easy as pie. Yet, some teams went for the Lion’s Head option.

I guess Chippendales aren’t hired based on their IQs, so I shouldn’t have been surprised that Jaymes and James went for what sounded like the more time consuming, tiring option. So did Abbie and Ryan, who’ve yet to stand out to me as a team in any way, and their Texan counterparts Trey and Lexie.

Josh and Brent continued to endear themselves to me by choosing the more logical option, but it ended up looking like perhaps the challenge took longer. It was certainly easier, and they got breakfast at the end.

Double U-Turn and Pit Stop

All the leading teams chose not to U-turn, which was smart. There’s no need to cause bad blood when you know there are four teams on a train three hours behind you. No one was in danger. The standings were as follows:

1. Abbie and Ryan

2. Trey and Lexi

3. Jaymes and James

4. James and Abba

5. Josh and Brent

For the group on the later train, things were much more cut throat. Everyone was ready to use the U-turn if needed.

Detour, Part II

All four teams at the back of the pack went for the Lion’s Head Detour. Things started out slow for Gary and Will, who are generally clueless, and for Caitlin and Brittany, who argued over taxi fare. That put Natalie and Nadiya in the lead for their group. They got to the Double U-turn and didn’t use it, but commented on one of their competitors being “cute”.

The Monster Truckers got their next, and chose to U-turn Gary and Will. It would all come down to whether those guys could make it to the U-turn before the blondes. Nadiya and Natalie came in sixth, Rob and Kelley in seventh.

The blondes had more taxi trouble and got lost, which meant Gary and Will did get to the U-turn first. But they didn’t know who was definitely behind them – the blondes or the monster truckers? They chose wrong, U-turning Rob and Kelley. It was too bad, but Gary and Will haven’t been racing well all along. The blondes actually ended up at the Egg Head Detour with Gary and Will, because they were so lost. It was a big rush to see who’d end up getting eliminated. The blondes had a few ugly American moments, complaining “It’s so frustrating when a guy from this country cannot speak English.”

They really did have a terrible time with the taxi though, and it made all the difference. Gary and Will, despite all their fumbling, managed to come in eighth place. Poor Caitlin and Brittany were eliminated, and they didn’t even really do anything wrong.

Another team bites the dust thanks to a bad cab driver. Them’s the breaks on The Amazing Race, but it’s still frustrating. Next week the teams head to Bangaldesh, which is sure to be a stress fest. So far I think this season is shaping up OK, but it’s frustrating to see teams that could be good eliminated thanks to inadequate cab drivers.