Amazing Race update: Rappelling teams and one repelling team

With the father-daughter team of Gus & Hera eliminated last week, it’s now an all-couples race. Six teams started out in Budapest and picked up clues at a wine cellar, instructing them to head to Corsica, the birthplace of Napoleon. (Note: after Sweden, Norway, Germany and Hungary, this is the fifth stop in Europe – wasn’t this supposed to be a race around the world?) All teams arrive at Napoleon’s birthplace, but it doesn’t open until the morning so they're all bunched up again.

Adam and Rebecca must have queued up early because they’re the first inside to take a clue from a Napoleon impersonator. Fast Forward!?! Didn’t we have one just last week? A & R sprint off to do some deep sea diving and skip all remaining tasks. Rebecca, who is a certified diver, dons an old diving suit and walks over to a lobster trap to retrieve the clue while Adam flounders on the surface. Once again, Adam whines and repeats those magical words that every girl loves to hear: “Tell my Mom I love her” (which, for the record, is the title of tonight’s episode.) Rebecca resurfaces but the rules of the Fast Forward dictate that both team members must perform the task. Adam is told he must go back down and touch the lobster trap to complete the challenge. Once he stops invoking his mother’s name and figures out how to operate the air valve, he finishes up quick. Adam & Rebecca fly off to the Pit Stop as Team #1.

Meanwhile, all the other teams head to the Detour at the training center for the French Foreign Legion, which appears to be some kind of French military group. The teams must choose between 1.) climbing up a steep wall then rappelling down the other side or 2.) taking a boat to find submerged clues attached to buoys in the sea. Everybody chooses to climb except for Team Dysfunctional (Jonathan & Victoria) who head down to the water after Jonathan looks at the wall and declares: “I’m not going to do something I’m not good at.” Victoria stayed on the boat while Jonathan was pulled behind on a raft; in my mind, I could see myself throwing buckets and buckets of chum into the ocean – oh, it was delightful.

Anyway, everybody’s battling wall and water except for Hayden & Aaron who suddenly develop directional dyslexia. They’re driving all over and arrive last to the Detour. Freddy & Kendra finish the climb and rappel first followed soon afterwards by the repellant Jonathan and the woman who should just change her name to “Hurry up, stupid!”

Off to the Roadblock where teams must stomp grapes a la “I Love Lucy” and make five bottles of, um, grape juice. Freddy & Kendra finish quickly and head off to the Pit Stop as Team #2. Team Dysfunctional, Team Wrestling (Lori & Bolo), and Team Kris & John are all stomping away together and the yelling is incessant among the first two teams. Kris & John are cool, calm and collected – could it be that they realize that bickering only wastes time and energy? Maybe the other teams should take a cue from the team that has finished #1 most often, eh? Anyway, these three teams finish up and head to the Pit Stop before Hayden & Aaron even arrive at the vineyard. However, as the teams read the clue for the Pit Stop we hear that ole provisional verb “may” as in “The last team to arrive may be eliminated.” The wife and I turn to each other knowingly: this will be a non-elimination leg where the final team to arrive won’t be eliminated from the race.

Sure enough, Hayden & Aaron arrive last but are not eliminated, and they hand over all the cash they’ve acquired so far as punishment. The final results:

1. Team Androgynous - Adam & Rebecca (Fast Forward)
2. Team Models - Freddy & Kendra
3. Team Wrestling – Lori & Bolo
4. Team Mellow – Kris & Jon
5. Team Dysfunctional – Jonathan & Victoria
6. Team Actors - Hayden & Aaron (Non-elimination leg)

Note on previews for next week: It looks like the teams get out of Europe and head back to Africa. This should make Kendra happy.

More at the Amazing Race 6 home page.