Off we go to the next episode of Season 28. Teams stay in the French Alps where it looks cold and white, kind of like home here in Edmonton. Although our snow melted early and we're enjoying nice weather of 11 degrees. That's celsius for those you who still don't use the metric system. We also see (possibly for the first time) teams being supplied with winter clothing. Gord and I always wondered if teams had to bring along their own winter clothing in their backpacks. We figured they didn't but never really got confirmation like we did in this episode. Which also begs the question: If you don't have to bring winter clothing, then what the heck are some teams carrying in their giant backpacks? Some of them are huge, look stuffed to the gills with...well... stuff. Got to think minimalist on the race.

Anyway, teams have to find a car with a certain plate and then use that car to head to Mont Blanc gondola. Team Frisbee are out first quickly followed by Tyler and Korey. T & K are tired of coming in second and hope to hit the mat first. Although I don't know what the big deal is; they already hit first on the second leg, don't know why they had to make a big story of them struggling in second for so long when it's only been a couple of legs. Oh well.

Teams find cars, then the gondola, grab a guide and head to the top to find their next clue. Although the clue is  hanging from a precipice, and the only way you're gonna get there pulling yourself along a line hanging over nothing but a huge drop into the jagged snow covered rocks below. Loads of fun. No doubt, I'd take this cause Gord claims he isn't afraid of heights but height tasks are usually mine. The teams do this pretty much very quickly, although Sheri struggles for a bit. She had to do it cause Cole is unlike Gord and afraid of heights. Good for her to get through that. And wow, did you see old guy Scott hand pull himself across that like no tomorrow. Be proud of your dad Blair, cause without him, you'd be lost.

Although Blair does have smarts (I'll get to that later). After teams get the clue, it's a detour. On one side, they have to traverse a skinny ridge, and bring dynamite and lunch to the ski patrol. On the other side, you have to set up a survival camp. It's obvious which one will take less time. I wish the US version will stop doing that, having one task be, in the end, a lot easier to do than the other. Sure, the climbing along with ridge would be a bit tough, specially for those scared of heights, but not as time consuming as setting up a camp. I like detour tasks that are different but the same in difficulty and time. This is so obvious that all the teams, save for Burnie and Ashley, take the dynamite side. Even Cole, who seems deathly afraid of heights knows the difference and chose dynamite. Thus, Burnie and Ashley, who have been in the top echelons of the pack, dropped down to sixth, two spots away from elimination

Team Frisbee and T & K lead the way, get the task done and head off. It's nice to see a friendly rivalry between these two teams but the fact they are always ahead is getting kind of boring. Probably why they used the "we finally want to come into first" storyline when it really wasn't needed. But the game changing event of the race came from Blair. For a brief second, her dad wondered where they had to get the lunch for the ski patrol. Blair said it was the baguettes, so they moved on.

But as Erin and Josyln came down to find the dynamite, Blair offhandedly says "Don't forget the lunch." Which was a brilliant move. Some may complain that Blair wasn't playing fair but to me it was great. This goes to show that you should never listen to another team during the race. Read the clue and do your own thing. So by listening to Blair, Erin and Joslyn spent too much time looking around for lunch when it was right there on their backs. And thus, they were put in a position where they were in a race for last place. There was a strong possibility that if they didn't listen to Blair, they might have moved up and not be put in the tenuous position at the end of the leg where one mistake can cost you the race. 

And the final roadblock was a perfect spot for mistakes to happen. Racers had to paraglide from the top of one mountain, find the Yeti and then give a correct answer at the bottom. It was obvious that who ever landed first would win and who landed last would be last. Brodie took on the task and was very excited. Although I still think these guys are trying way too hard to be excited, playing too much for the cameras. But to get a paraglider off the ground, you got to build thrust through running so the wind can pull you up. Unfortunately, Brodie can't run fast enough and boom, they land face down in the snow.

Which gives Korey the chance to pass them and finally, after two legs of coming into second, T & K get a first place. Again, after only 2 legs since their last first place. Yeah I'm being sarcastic cause that was a totally contrived storyline. Other teams make it and we're left with three racers at the top: Rachel, Sheri and Erin (or was it Joslyn?). With all the winter gear on, it was hard for me to tell who was who at times. 

Seeing those teams at the top, waiting for the wind, was some really nice stuff, probably the best dramatic moment all season. And then one team takes off but we hear another paraglider say "It's back wind, not good." And he's right. Racer face down in snow. Then Rachel heads out and she's off, followed by Sheri and another fall. So now we already know the ending. Erin and Joslyn are out. And Phil  confirms it on the mat.

No more race for a few weeks, probably some kind of sporting event, or is it politics? Geez, USA, elect a President already, this damn election of yours has been going on too long. See you then. 

Finally, away from Colombia we go, off to Geneva, Switzerland, which is a country completely on its own. Yes that's right. All teams are on the same flight so it's Even Steven from the get go. Even Steven will make another appearance in this leg but that comes later.

Find a giant water fountain, then off to the Chocolate shop where teams have take a number. Although it's not a number like you have to take in a deli, the shop is closed (no surprise there) and won't open till 10. Yep, that's right, 10 am. No wonder the Swiss are good at banking if their shops open at 10. Surprising, it's not one of the lead teams that gets #1, it's actually Burnie and Ashley. Actually, these guys have been near the top for most of the race, not winners but up there. I'd watch out for them, they've been pretty solid, no major meltdowns, no huge mistakes. Other teams get their numbers and off to the basement they go for a huge sleepover. Kind of fun, but I guess there are sparks flying between Brodie and Blair, promoting the hashtag Blodie. Lots of time is spent on this budding romance, and while it's kind of nice, it's probably not the first time people have hooked up on the race. And I'm not just talking about the Blind Date version, which was an attempt to get people to hook up that totally failed. Pretty much like most blind dates.

But the big story of the episode is not the romance but all the help the teams are giving each other. Like at the chocolate shop. A bunch of teams were running past it and I think it was Cole who shouted at them to come the correct way. Similar thing happened at the Detour, at least on the Bench side of it. Teams had to figure out how many people reading a newspaper could sit on a massive bench in a park. It was a bit annoying (and funny at the same time) watching teams move up and down, making their way across the bench, bothering various Swiss folks who were trying to enjoy themselves. I especially like the surliness of the dudes playing chess. "Come on you crazy American reality show types, I got him in Check and then you knock my board?" Probably my fav part of the entire episode were those two dudes. Sign them up for Season 29.

I'm not entirely sure what the clue said, so I have no idea if folks actually had to physically move across the bench. The smart way, and I know Gord would get this cause his wife is a math teacher, is to measure the width of the newspaper, then divide the entire length of the bench by that number. Odds are, you'd get pretty close to the range. Let's see the Aaverage broadsheet is about 630 or so millimetres wide when opened (I used to work in journalism) and the bench is 120 meters long which is 120,000 millimetres. 120,000/630 = 190.4. That's how it's done, thank you very much.

But instead of using their noggins, teams use the opposite side of their bodies over and over again. Again, I have no idea what the clue said about the procedure for the task, but the math way would have been faster. Surely, they left it open so teams could figure out an easier way?. And it takes many tries for one team to get done and it's the Frisbee Dudes, so stop calling me Shirley. And instead of taking their clue and going, they decide to tell everyone else the correct number. Not something Gord and I would do if we got finished this kind of task before everyone. It's a race, remember, you want to get ahead of everyone else and win. Well, they tell everyone except for the models and one other team, I think? To be honest, I was getting a bit bored with this. As well as with the other side of the Detour which was to build a swiss army knife. Takes a lot of patience to do but also takes a lot of patience to watch. Not a lot of drama in that. At least teams weren't helping each other.

So after the Detour, teams have to find the Broken Chair (awesome piece of public art Geneva, very cool) and the UN building. At the Roadblock, they have to find flags of 10 founding nations. Sorry I'm going to be terrible at describing this task, but you saw it, right? Get a book of all the flags of the nations and find the 10 that's listed on the board. I don't know about any of you, but as soon as I saw Phil describe the task, I could see that the board listing the countries was the map of the lines of flag poles. Anybody else get that early? Sure, it's a bit crazy on the race but man, it was right there in front of you. The key to the whole task you were looking for, the map that you were trying to find so you could do something instead of guessing. Right there, in front of you.  

Finally, the teams figure it out, but man, it took them long enough. And again, instead of just doing it on their own so they could get ahead, they all form into helpful groups. But this time, it sort of makes sense for this task. I could see Gord and I working with another team with this if someone asked. Of course, once we'd figured out the flags, I wouldn't see us going around telling the other teams what the answer was. No siree.

Well, not all the teams are working in a team. The Models, who got lost a number of times and arrive at Roadblock last, can't find someone to help them. And they're annoyed that no one is helping them, especially the other girl teams. But hey, if no one's going help, then too bad, suck it up and move on. Don't walk through the task like you're on a catwalk with a pout. Get a move on, do the task fast. And that's why they lost. 

Sure, there was a bit of drama when teams had to change and wait for trains in order to get to the pitstop in France (Holy cow TAR, you actually hit three different countries in the same leg; when's the last time that happened?). And this train situation brought up another Even Steven event, where all the teams, save for the models, were on the same train to that town in France. Race to the pitstop it's the Frisbee Dudes with their second win followed by Tyler and Korey. And no meltdown from the Dancers.

But the Models could have caught up with everyone, but it seemed like she was walking through the flag task. And instead of running from their train across the station to grab the one everyone else was on, they were walking. Total lack of motivation from them, very similar to the Mensa Brothers and their stroll through the airport. If you want to continue in the race, you can't walk while doing tasks, or to catch a train, you have to run your butt off. And thus, they missed that train by a few seconds and ended up in the back of the pack.

Next week, we're stuck in France. Zut Alors!