Amazing Race update – Survival of the fittest in Darwin


The final four teams started out from Perth, Australia where, in the middle of the night, they needed to find the Swan Bells (above). This bell tower doesn’t open until 8 a.m., so everybody’s bunched up again. The tension is starting to get thick as Team Mojo is very brusque with the hippies. Meanwhile, Ray & Yolanda are pretty much steering clear of the others. Just before the bell tower opens, all the teams call to reserve a taxi so that after they retrieve the clue and rush to the next stop. Eric & Jeremy then call back the taxi service and cancel both Ray’s & Tyler’s taxi (Joseph & Monica were in on the subterfuge).

Morning arrives and teams race up to get the clue: fly to Darwin, Australia. Team Mojo gets their taxi right away but Karma intervenes and Team Frat Boys’ cab is nowhere to be found. BJ & Tyler and Ray & Yolanda call for two more taxis and figure out that somebody cancelled their reservation. Tempers flare up a little at the airport and this underhanded move. Team Burning Man decides to stir the pot by suggesting that Eric has his sights set on Barbie girl Monica. Joseph is not amused.

Once in Darwin, teams race to Crocodylus Park where they walk through crocodile pens and pick up the next clue. This directs them to an airfield in the town of Batchelor – caution: Yield ahead. Both the hippies and Mojo have been threatening to yield each other and they both totally break the speed limit to get to the Yield first. At the airfield, it appears as if Monica & Joseph arrive first, but – what? – there’s Team Burning Man and they are yielding Team Mojo. Joseph is not amused again.

The airfield is, no surprise to TAR fans, a skydive Roadblock and one member from each team must jump from a perfectly good plane (in tandem, of course). BJ is first, followed by Eric, then Ray and finally Monica. The next clue directs them to Litchfield Park where they must search among these amazing Magnetic Termite Mounds. This clue is the Detour: Wet or Dry. Teams may either swim down river about a mile (while avoiding enormous spiders) or search in the forest for a didgeridoo player and then play a couple notes. The Hippies and the Frat Boys go swimming while Team Volcano and Team Mojo head into the forest. The “Dry” detour appears to be much faster and Ray & Yolanda, then Monica & Joseph finish first and start to head to the Pit Stop at Lake Bennett. Of course, the yielded Team Mojo is still way behind and Team Volcano arrives at the Pit Stop first as Team #1.

What occurs next is that rarity that makes The Amazing Race an amazing race. The remaining three teams all end up on the same road to the Pit Stop, driving in a line. All agree: this is going to come down to a footrace at the Pit Stop. The Frat Boys pull in first, the hippies next, and Mojo last; surely the guys can outrun a girl, right? Astoundingly, instead of just following the gangplank down to the pier, BJ decides to try a shortcut down the embankment and falls back just enough so that Monica arrives ahead of him (teams can only “check in” at the Pit Stop in pairs). Joseph is amused now and taunts them: “You yielded us!” However, this is another non-elimination leg and Team Burning Man is spared a second time although they must start the next leg with “the clothes on their back.” The camera pans down: BJ is barefoot.

Final standings:

#1 – Team Volcano – Ray & Yolanda – Prize: a Mercedes SUV (nice!)
#2 – Team Frat Boys – Eric & Jeremy
#3 – Team MoJo – Monica & Joseph
#4 – Team Burning Man – BJ & Tyler – NON-ELIMINATION LEG

Next week: Monkeys in Thailand. Monica is whining.

Extra – This space reserved for recaps by Kris (poetic version!) & Pat.