Max and Katie on The Amazing Race

This week’s episode of The Amazing Race picked up from last week’s cliffhanger in an anti-climactic way – David didn’t quit, no one got eliminated, and all the teams headed off to Bali.

The double leg obviously exhausted the teams – one of the derby moms mentioned as they neared the end that they’d been on the leg for about four days.

Once in Bali, the teams had to get a monkey to open a coconut for them. Yep, that’s a sentence I never expected to type. A sentence I never expected to hear is “Her pet flying squirrel died of loneliness because she kept it in her bra. What???

Sandy Bottom vs. Fruity Top

The Detour was a classic decision between a physically demanding task and a tedious, detail oriented one. Strong teams should have opted for sandy bottom, which required them to carry sand up a hill, because it could be done quickly. But weaker teams (and ones on crutches) are often better off trying to ace the detail-oriented task – in this case, create a towering hat from a bunch of fruit. (It was a traditional offering, but a person did wear it on her head, it was nuts.

Pam and Winnie killed the fruit hat and moved into first place. In fact, more teams than I expected went for this task. I was impressed that the derby moms went for the strength challenge.

Jessica and John really struggled with the offering, and eventually got frustrated and switched Detours. I was surprised they went for the fruit option in the first place, but I think they should have stuck it out longer. I mean, it didn’t look that hard. Pam and Winnie seemed to sneeze and put it back together.

Surfin’ in the B-A-L-I

For the Roadblock, one team member had to locate a surfboard with an image of guy who’d blessed them (or married them, I guess) in a previous leg. After a bunch of craziness, David and Connor managed to take the lead away from Pam and Winnie and check in at the pit stop in first place. Pretty impressive for a guy on crutches, although it’s unlikely that they’ll be able to keep it up. Pam and Winnie came in second, and Max and Katie were a close third.

The clue was a little vague, and one of the blond country singers ended up choosing the wrong surfboard. Phil turned them away at the pit stop twice, and Caroline started to cry. After almost four days on one leg, I think exhaustion played a role in how she performed in the challenge. But they also seem a bit ditzy. By chance, she grabbed the right board on the third try and they still ended up in fourth place.

Team YouTube came in fifth, and when the derby moms realized they had the wrong surfboard, YouTube showed them the right answer. Alliances, guys. Still don’t love ‘em. The derby moms came in sixth, and did not spread the love – mullet & wife did not have the right board, and no one helped them. The hockey bros came in seventh.

Jessica and John’s poor performance in the Detour landed them in last place, and even though they had an Express Pass, John tried to complete the challenge. Chuck and Winona found the right board and finished in eighth place. John was stubborn and kept trying, even though Jessica told him it was over. I don’t know why he wouldn’t just use the Express Pass, other than moronic stubbornness. It took him an hour and fifteen minutes to complete the challenge, but they didn’t have to be eliminated.

Jessica and John seemed like a strong team, but they made a couple huge mistakes in this leg.