Amazing Race update – Chad proposes in Oman

Teams start up in St. Petersburg and need to make their way to Muscat, Oman. Chad and Stephanie – whom I've dubbed "Team Bickering Young Couple" – oversleep by two hours and miss their starting time. No matter: all teams arrive in Oman and they are bunched up at some landmark waiting for it to open. As the dawn breaks, Chad drops to one knee and proposes to Stephanie, who accepts. The Amazing Race changes their description from "Dating" to "Engaged."

Next teams go up a mountain where they need to rappel down 500 feet to a canyon then find a ring among a bunch of "Aladdin lamps." Chad finishes first and they head off to their next clue at some big stack of books. Meanwhile Team Surgeons and Team Kentucky are way lost. Mallory starts praying to Jesus which is probably frowned upon in Oman.

At the stack of books, it's the Detour. Teams must chose between two tasks: Water Table or Wedding Table. Teams must either pump up some water and deliver to a house, or prepare a chicken soup for a wedding meal. Everybody picks the water which seems to be the better choice since there's a driver for the truck and basically the teams just need to direct the truck to the right location. Jill & Thomas finish first and head to the next clue which is just searching around a large bazaar. They complete their task and now it's off to the Al Alam Palace and the Pit Stop.

You can tell by the position of the sun in the sky that Team Kentucky is going to finish in the dark. Meanwhile, at the mat, Jill & Thomas arrive first and they're told they're the "first team to arrive" and not "team #1." It turns out they violated a rule about getting a taxi driver to guide them so they've incurred a half-hour penalty. In the interim, newly engaged Chad & Stephanie arrive and they are dubbed Team #1. Jill & Thomas then check in as Team #2. The Amazing Race producers try some creative editing to suggest the race is close but Team Kentucky arrives in last place and they're eliminated from the Race.

Final standings:

#1 – Team Bickering Young Couple – Chad & Stephanie
#2 – Team Faceless Young Couple – Jill & Thomas
#3 – Team Vegas – Nick & Vicki
#4 – Team QVC – Brook & Claire
#5 – Team Surgeons – Nat & Kat
#6 – Team Kentucky – Gary & Mallory - PHILIMINATED

Next week: Bangladesh.