Amazing Race update – It’s nobody’s business but the Turks

Teams started out from Jodhpur, India and had to make their way to Istanbul, Turkey. All teams make the same travel arrangements and all start out on a plane to Delhi. Once there, Uchenna makes a phone call to a travel agent and finds an earlier flight to Istanbul; Team Africa and Team Codger take seats on a flight that arrives at 6:20am. Meanwhile, Team Survivor and Team America go to Turkish Airlines (sounds logical) but are told the earliest flight arrives at 8:20am. Later, we get to chuckle at Boston Rob as he calls the teams on the earlier flight “stupid” and “the blind leading the blind.”

The first two teams arrive in Istanbul and make their way to Kiz Kulasi – an island lighthouse. There we get a product placement as teams must search the island for a Travelocity gnome that they must carry to the Pit Stop. Uchenna & Joyce, then Meredith & Gretchen finish 1-2; later we see a shocked Rob discover that two teams beat him to the lighthouse. “Unbelievable, Ambah!” Team America is bringing up the rear and Kelly all but accuses Ron of getting out of the military by becoming a prisoner of war. (Ron, you should have wore a dress!) After the lighthouse, teams needed to make their way to a tower in the middle of Istanbul for the next clue.

Detour: Columns or Kilos. Teams must either travel to an ancient Turkish well and search among columns for numbers that open a locked trunk, or head to a public square and weigh people on bathroom scales. Everybody decides to take Kilos, except for Ron & Kelly who actually finish up Columns pretty quickly. Not much to note here except a couple of the people who agreed to be weighed on the street objected to the results, proving that people are the same all around the world. After this teams needed to head to a castle fortress in the center of Istanbul, overlooking the Bosporus.

Roadblock: “Storm the Castle” – one team member must climb up a rope ladder to the top of the fortress, find a key, then rappel back down. Team Africa arrives first and Uchenna flies up the ladder then back down to a waiting (and bald) Joyce. A guard opens the fortress door and, inside the compound, they find Phil to arrive as Team #1.

Team Codger arrives outside and, for some reason, Gretchen opts to perform the Roadblock. I’ll admit, she’s been pretty annoying in the Race so far, but she somehow found the energy to make it up that ladder. Team Codger is funny: they always seem to arrive about third from the bottom on every leg and in this case, with four teams left, they’re an impressive Team #2.

There’s really nothing complicated about this Roadblock so when Team Survivor arrives ahead of Team America, it looks pretty likely that Ron & Kelly will be in last place. Sure enough, Rob is rappelling down the castle wall just as Ron is making his way up and Team Survivor arrives as Team #3. Team America finishes up and – good news – this is a non-elimination leg so they get to compete in the next leg of the Race. Bad news: they lose all their accumulated money and must make their way with only the clothes on their back. But then good news again: that gnome they’ve been carrying has a plane on the bottom and Team America wins a $20,000 travel package from Travelocity. Which is nice.

Final standings:

#1 – Team Africa – Uchenna & Joyce
#2 – Team Codger – Meredith & Gretchen
#3 – Team Survivor – Rob & Amber
#4 – Team America – Ron & Kelly – NON-ELIMINATION LEG

Extra – Of course, as usual, here’s Kris’ excellent Amazing Race 7 recap: “If last week's episode was all about the frenzy of India, tonight's episode was all about the hubris of Rob.” And BTW Kris – I would also love to go to Istanbul someday.

Bonus - And here's Brainster's take.