Amazing Race update – Clowning around

We're still in Russia and teams start out in St. Petersburg where they must find a circus on the city outskirts. This is the Detour: Circus Band or Circus Clown. Teams may either learn to play an accordion or spin ten plates on a stick. Everybody appears to try to spin plates except Team Surgeons and Team Kentucky. A lot of the plate-spinning teams can get up to eight or nine plates, but can't get to ten. Brook & Claire of Team QVC finish first and head to the next clue at Bank Bridge. Nat & Kat learn their accordion song and head off next. Jill & Thomas, last week's #1 team, give up on plates, then give up on the accordion to go back to the plates.

At the bridge, teams find a clue indicating they must walk to a tower where a small figurine indicates they need to go to the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. They are instructed to walk but not use a taxi; therefore, one team (Michael & Kevin) follow a cab which sets them up for a penalty at the Pit Stop. At the church, the next clue directs teams to the Peter and Paul Fortress where Peter the Great is buried. Nick & Vicki can't find a cab. Brook & Claire discover that they were supposed to walk from the tower to the church so they turn their taxi driver around so they can complete the leg properly. At this point, I can't figure out who's in the lead, although Chad & Stephanie are still at the tower trying to find the next destination.

Nat & Kat arrive first at Roadblock where one team member must play a bowling-type game; you whip a stick at a bunch of logs and knock them off a framed area. They finish this very quickly and head off to the Pit Stop in first place. Meanwhile, Michael of Team YouTube can't seem to get past this Roadblock. Nick & Vicki arrive third which makes me wonder: weren't they supposed to do a Speed Bump for coming in last the previous leg?

A couple teams complete the Roadblock then go back to their taxis to retrieve bags. But they must pay the taxi drivers who, it seems, are demanding rather large amounts for a fare. One asks for 10,000 rubles which is like $325 to go across town; they end up paying $60 in American dollars. Chad & Stephanie try to check in without their bags but Phil sends them back to pay their driver. In the interim, Michael & Kevin try to check in at the Pit Stop but they broke two rules and incurred an hour time penalty. Chad & Stephanie broke only one rule, so they get a half-hour penalty, and they're automatically checked in as team #6. Team YouTube might have pulled it out if they had read their clues, but instead they're eliminated.

Final standings:

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

Next week: A team sleeps late.