But, as Phil says, eight teams remain, blah, blah blah. Is it just me or does anyone else ignore (or fast forward) the recap of the previous episode? So the teams are leaving the floating village (probably a nice place to sleep) with Dave and Connor leaving at — no wait, first a Travelocity commercial — at 9:06 am. They have to get to the Prince Phillip Park and search for the long house. Jet and Cord are only two minutes behind them. Wow, was it that close to the finish line? Didn't seem so.
Let's see. The Afghanimals are next but it seems Dave and Connor got a bad cab and have to go around. So the Cowboys are first to the long house and it's a Roadblock: Who's Gotta Spring in Their Step? The team member has to bounce on a wooden trampoline and grab the flag hanging above. Adjusted to their height, Phil adds. That's for the Globetrotters obviously. Cord goes up just as Dave and Connor arrive.Thankfully Connor doesn't make his dad do it.
Cord doesn't get it so Connor gets his turn. He knows how to use a trampoline and grabs it on his first try. They have to fly to Kuala Lumpur and search for their clue in the shadow of the Pertrona Towers. Seated is limited on the flights. I'm liking these limited seatings. Means that teams that play well don't lose all their advantages at the airport. Again, Cord misses and Leo's on, grabbing it before Cord. He's on his 10th and he continues to miss. Dave and Connor have already booked the first flight out. Meanwhile, Margie and Luke are leaving the mat. They talked about their bond, he talks about coming out at 19 and being accepted by his mom (Well, she already knew). That's all very nice but there's a TAR trend that when the producers edit some backstory of a team, they are eliminated. Hope they aren't using this trope again.
The Afghanimals are the second of three teams allowed on the first flight while Cord keeps jumping and jumping. Trampolines, even wooden ones, are all about timing, and he doesn't get that. Finally, after 36 jumps — 36!? — he gets it. Good thing too cause Margie and Luke have arrived and Luke's gonna do it. The Cowboys get on the first flight, telling us the second flight is 90 minutes after the first one. The Globetrotters are out next, but stop to hang with some kids. Nice going guys, but you gotta race to run. Still, that's their thing, ambassadors to the world, so to speak; can't fault them for that. I don't think they'll have trouble grabbing the flag. It's not very Kafkaesque.
Luke gets his flag, and they're on the second flight. But whoa Big Easy misses his first try, nabbing it on the second. That's okay, they'll be on the flight with Margie and Luke, ahead of the final 3 teams. Speaking of which, the Country Girls are off the mat. Caroline is up but falls on her first try. Jessica and John are off, an hour behind the Country Singers. John talks about not needing to win every leg, just to stay in the race, even if you are at the back. Good plan dude, stay with that, don't be cocky. But still try to improve if you can. Hard when you're 3 hours behind the first place teams, though.
Caroline takes a bit to get the timing right but finally grabs the flag. They are on the third flight, 45 minutes behind the second one, 2 hours and 15 minutes behind the first. Jessica does the jump but keeps falling. Good to see John being supportive this time. Man, the Express Pass Incident has changed him. Brendon and Rachel head out, with Brendon promising if they win, they can have babies. So they need a million? What happens if they don't win? No babies? Yeah right.
But Jessica has a more immediate problem: her feet are suffering because of the jumps. I did a quick rewind to see if other teams were barefoot and they all were. She toughs it out and gets the next one. Good for her. Rachel is up and she falls the first bunch of times. Apparently she's wearing pantyhose — seriously?— which is why she's falling. So off it come and she grabs the next one. I'm a guy and know nothing about hosiery but can't understand why Rachel is wearing it. Is it a fashion thing, that she wants her legs to look good on TV? Or is there some practical reason? Maybe someone can explain that to me. Didn't notice any of the other female racers using it.
Regardless, these three teams are on the final flight. Luckily, though, the second flight is delayed 50 minutes. "The second flight has become the third flight," notes Flight Time. Ohh that's fun, total changeover in team rankings. Now Margie and Luke and the Globetrotters are at the back of the pack. That's gotta suck. Still, it's only 5 minutes between them. That can be made up quite easily. The first flight arrives at 9:42 and teams scramble. The Afghanimals are first to the clue box. A Detour: Mix Master or Master Mix. In Mix Master have to DJ, do a bunch of scratching, fading according to a prepared track. If not, they gotta join the line and wait their turn. In Master Mix, teams must properly poor a pyramid of cocktails without mixing colours. Tough tasks and tough choices. I've done some minor DJing but no scratching. And since Gord and I imbibe from time to time, probably the drink pouring. Also, Gord's an artist so he's pretty solid when doing detailed things, no shakes from him, man. Either way, it sounds like a fun time.
For the Afghanimals, it's a no-brainer. Leo owns a bar so...and the other two lead teams follow the trend. Although Dave and Connor are Mormons and don't hang out in bars. Shame, bars are fun. I met my wife of 20 years in a bar. First attempt by the Afghanimals doesn't work as next two flights arrive. The Globetrotters and Margie and Luke decide to get travel together. Interesting strategy. But it's taking time for the van to come as the other teams grab a cab outside.
Back at the bar, the Afghanimals break their pyramid and the Cowboys and Mormons (Dave and Connor's new name) spill. J & J and Big Brother are first and take different tasks. J & J do DJ and Big Brother do the pouring cause Rachel was a cocktail waitress. Of course, Brendon is PhD student so he's probably done plenty of drinking. The rest of the teams arrive and head to the bar. The lead teams are still pouring but not succeeding. So the Afghanimals change. And just as the Cowboys get their pour on. They are off to the pitstop at Batu Caves. But the Mormons decide to stay at their task and succeed on their 12th attempt. While the Afghanimals are bickering about their DJ skills. The boys are a good team, fun to watch but they just don't have the attention span to stick to a task.
It's also gotta hurt that the Globetrotters, who were 2 hours behind, are heading to the DJ booth ahead of them. Meanwhile the other teams are sucking at pouring. But hearing how the DJ task is done, it sounded like the easier one. It's all timing and rhythm and as drummer, I got that. Gord's also good at following orders (ha!). So maybe the Afghanimals made a good decision to switch cause off to the pitstop with them. Yep it is cause they are done pretty quickly.
Not surprisingly, the Cowboys are first, winning a trip to London, England. Nice, with afternoon tea. Next is Dave and Connor, good leg for them. Third is the Afghanimals. And I also don't get why Rachel is making Brendon do all the pouring. She said this task was made for her but she's doing nothing. The pouring is the task. Margie and Luke aren't doing well and neither are the Globetrotters and J & J at the DJ booth. Teams are getting frustrated. Brendon asks for a beer to calm down and not long after the Country Singers finish the task. Being musical helps.
J & J also finish as Margie and Luke are on their 22 attempt. This is a bit unfair cause he's hearing impaired and can't really do the DJing task. Not really a Detour for them. The Globetrotters get done. And Luke gets so frustrated he tosses a bunch of glasses onto the floor. Not nice, and a bit dangerous. Good on his mom to make him clean up. Although that delay could cost them. But a good example of good parenting. Hope Big Brother saw that. Nice of them to offer support. The Country Singers arrive in 4th, still doing well on their own, followed by J & J (no cockiness and a good move up in the rankings) with the Globetrotters in 6. The Globetrotters may be a physical team but they are consistently in the middle of the pack. Expecting a bit more from them at this time. Maybe a third time is too much. Or maybe they're pacing themselves.
Margie tries to convince Big Brother to take a time penalty but Rachel convinces them not to give up. Good thing too cause Margie and Luke get it done right after that and arrive in seventh. Guess no trope today but it was close. Tough leg for them, not just the delayed flight and the frustration at the pouring but also the fact that one half of a Detour was impossible for them to do. Obviously they picked the teams after picking the tasks. Still, should have changed this one for their sake. It would have been a shame for them to be eliminated because of that. Unless...
Yep, it's a non-elimination. And we find that out after we see that the bar is empty, Brendon (not Rachel who has bar experience) is still pouring and the bartender just wants to go home. So they pray that God will help them get an Amazing Task correct cause this is the hardest thing they've ever had to do. And they want to have babies? Boy, are they in for a huge surprise. After six months of sleepless nights, cleaning up poop and puke and they'll dream of the time when they were only pouring drinks for a TAR task. Finally then finish and Phil tells them the good news. So Big Brother stays in but with a Speed Bump coming up. Doesn't look good but they fought it out as a team.
Next week, Sri Lanka (sorry Twinnies) and Big Brother tries to make a 30 minute connection. Good to take a chance but it can backfire. Let's wait and see what happens.