Teams leave Germany for Nice. Many flights to that really nice French city so many teams are leaving at different times. The Olympians arrive first at the airport first so they get the best flight arriving around 5. Another group of teams are about 45 minutes behind with two other teams on later flights. Mike and Rochelle are on the latest, arriving around 9 pm. Not good. Luckily, as they are walking through airport, they see the Olympians about to board a flight. So they ask to get on standby. Lo and behold, they get in. Which makes me ask a number of questions: 1. Why did not other teams ask to get on standby? 2. I thought there was a rule that stated that once you've booked a flight, you couldn't change, no matter if you found an earlier one with room. The Dentists mentioned this last season. 3. And does that rule not apply to standby status? 4. And if it doesn't apply to standby, why didn't other teams ask to get on standby for the first flight? This also brings up a nice race strategy: instead of just sitting around after you book your flight, walk around to look for other teams so you can possibly get on a standby flight.
Once teams get into Nice (went there as a high school kid and found the greatest ice cream place in the world. Wonder if it's still there?), they have to find the Westminster Hotel and get fitted into some nice clothes. Sounds like fun. I know this is a dating season but I actually clean up really good. I would like a nice new suit. Another question to come up is do teams get to keep their nice clothes for after the race?
Once teams get fitted (and I must say most of the women look fantastic; the men look pretty good too, although they made Mike look like some kind of university professor, which is a good look for him.) And based on their arrival at the hotel, teams will leave in order, via helicopter to Monaco. Also went there. Knew it was small but had no idea it was that small. I think my neighbourhood is about the size of Monaca, although, there are fewer millionaires living here. Once teams arrive in Monaco, it's a Roadblock. One team member must search for two things: a floral booth to get a bunch of roses and a choclatier to get 9 chocolates while the other teammate gets to relax on a yacht that the other team member must find.
And though Monaco is small, it is hilly. So it ain't going to be easy. Dudes Steve and Mike take on the task although Steve, being an Olympic athelete leaves Mike in his dust. Overall, while Mike looks good, he does get quite sweaty climbing those hills. Other teams arrive and Jenny, Laura and Hayley take on the task. Although I'm pretty sure the heels ain't going to help. Steve finds the roses, then the chocolates and then the yacht. Probably took him longer than it looked but they have to find the Monte Carlo Casino. Mike finds the roses, looks really tired, searches for the chocolates, gets them and then start looking for the yacht. He finds the wrong area but is given the right directions. Jenny and Laura are working together while their blind dates are enjoying the yacht. I'd be the same way; if Gord was looking for roses and chocolates for me, I'd be enjoying the yacht as well. Of course, Gord and I wouldn't be on a dating couple TAR so that takes care of that. Either way, if he was out on a task and I had to wait on the yacht, I'd enjoy myself. I know he'd do the same.
Anyway the roadblock is dones by all teams and at the Casino they have to play roulette. Whatever colour the ball lands on decides which Detour you can get. One is Win by the Nose, where teams have to find a certain church and create a perfume and cologne by measuring various essences. The other is Don't Slack Off and teams must find a place where they will ride a zipline across a canyon and then walk a slack line back. Looks like fun. I'd prefer to do that although the perfume task wouldn't be that difficult.
Let's see, I didn't take notes while watching so I'm reading Gord's recap to get the names right. Good thing he finished his before me. Those off to the Nose task are Mike and Rochelle, Laura and Tyler, Blair and Haley and Steve and Aly. And though Steve and Aly were the first to leave the casino, they don't read the clue and just head to a church instead of the one in the village of Eze. That means Mike and Rochelle get to the Detour first. Mixing happens.
The rest of the teams are at Slack and while it's not as detailed as Nose, it takes some bravery, especially with the wind. Zipline is quite easy but walking across a slack line takes balance and upper body strength, again, especially with the wind. It will take time.
At Nose, teams are mixing although there's a catch. The last four ingredients aren't shown on any of the essence bottles, only numbers. So you have to use your sense of smell to find out. I do a lot of baking and have a decent sense of smell, and would probably be good at this. Gord's another story cause of his allergies. Some of the other teams have difficulty, although Blair and Hayley seem to be getting along well cause they both minored in Chemistry. Hmm, a bit of connection between the two. There was something in both their eyes when they discussed their minors. And I know Blair was looking more closely at Hayley when she was getting fitted for her dress. As Gord says, small steps.
Unfortunately, Mike and Rochelle start to break down a bit. He keeps telling her not to focus on the other teams but I really think he was talking to himself because everytime another team made some kind of move, he was losing his focus. And so, they mess up and have to do the task again. So do Laura and Tyler. The other teams get done first try and are off. In fact, all the teams probably get done all the tasks within 15-30 minutes of each other. But it's how they deal with driving to the pitstop that decides the race.
Jenny and Jelani get completely lost as do Mike and Rochelle and others. But it's the calm chemistry between Blair and Hayley that gets them through the leg and onto the mat first. They win a trip to South Africa. Nice. Other teams arrive, even those who were lost, like Mike and Rochelle and Jenny and Jenali. Coming in last is the only blind date team that seems to have connected, Jeff and Jackie. She thinks he'll be in her life forever. And while I wish them the best, they did seem to move quite fast, sleeping in the same room, talking about passion in the first couple of legs. Might have burned things too early. But who knows.
And thankfully, teams are leaving Europe (I was worried about arriving so soon, especially since they were travelling this season from East to West) and will be in Africa, Namibia to be specific. See ya next week.