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Subscribe via RSSAmazing Race 3 – Leg 5: Lisbon to Fez
The racers continue on to Spain and Morocco, but apparently still can’t read English as several teams fill their Diesel trucks with Unleaded Gasoline. Oh, and Flo goes bezerk while hanging on the side of a mountain. Get it together girl.
The racers leave the Torre be Belem in Lisbon and head for Cabo da Roca, “the western most point of continental Europe.” After a Detour offering them a choice of “Ropes or Slopes”, the teams hope in the provided SUVs and head for to Algeciras to catch the ferry. Along the way, several of the teams fail to notice their vehicles take diesel and find themselves stuck on the side of the road.
Eventaully, the teams make it to the city of Fez where the Roadblock sends them to the Tannery to look for their clue. Finally, it’s on to the pitstop at the Borj Nord where Michael & Kathy are eliminated.
The race begins with all the teams leaving the Pit Stop headed for Cabo da Roca, the western-most point of Europe. Some teams decide to take the train, some decide to take a taxi. Which is the better choice? The taxi is clearly faster as both Aaron & Arianne and John Vito & Jill arrive first. But at what cost. I’m sure the 30km drive in the taxi cost more than the train tickets. And ultimately, it didn’t help Aaron & Arianne in this leg. They again finished in last. It will be interesting to see how there cash holds up.
Upon arriving at Cabo da Roca, the teams are faced with the detour, and all initially go for the repel. But when Flo freaks out, she forces Zach to take the long stroll down the mountain. It pushes them back into the middle of the pack, but due to later bunching it ultimately doesn’t matter to the outcome.
From Cabo da Rocca, the teams must drive to Algeciras, which Phil says is “more than 250 miles away”, to catch the ferry to Morocco. Along the way the teams are forced to stop and refuel the trucks. And apparently, only half the teams can read the label on the fuel door stating that these are diesel trucks. The diesel breakdown incident highlights the differences among these teams and gives some insight into who might be around come the final two legs.
When Aaron & Arianne find themselves stuck on the side of the road, Aaron “takes charge” of the situtation by waving at passing cars trying to get someone to stop. When no one is willing to stop, he ends up sitting on the side of the road crying. It looks to me like he may be reaching the end of his rope with this whole race thing. Maybe he expended too much energy in the earlier legs “hunting” the twins. Aaron & Arianne are saved by the “Luck of the Evil” when the police stop and inform him that the rental company is sending a tow truck out to fix their vehicle. But only just barely as they straggle into the pit stop in next to last place, saved again only by someone else’s misjudgment.
Michael & Kathy somehow managed to break down in a parking lot across the street from a 4 star hotel. After trying unsuccessfully to breathe life back into their truck, they decide to get a room at the hotel and get the truck fixed in the morning. This is their critical mistake. By waiting till morning, they put themselves hours behind all the rest of the teams. Their hope that other teams were having the same problem turned out to be justified, but they failed to capitalize on it, sealing their fate. I’ll miss these two. They were really starting to grow on me. And Michael finally took the non-wimpy detour. Way to go Michael!!
Flo & Zach find themselves stuck on the side the road, just like Aaron & Arianne. But unlike Aaron, Zach takes charge of the situation and sets off for the nearest gas station with Flo in tow, whining all the way there. They are able to get the truck towed to a mechanic who get it running again, but at what cost? How much of their limited funds did they have to spend getting the truck fixed? And will this unexpected expenditure come back to haunt them? Only time will tell. Ultimately though, the unleaded vs diesel mishap only cost them an hour as they make the 8:00 am ferry, only an hour behind the lead teams.
I found Terri & Ian’s response to the whole debacle to be the most unexpected. The single most astounding scene in the whole leg was Ian admitting that he had made a mistake without trying to blame it on Terri, something we have never seen before. Furthermore, he takes charge of the situation, hiking to the gas station, buying a gas can of diesel, draining the gasoline out of the truck and filling it back up with diesel. He is definitely resourceful, and this was a situation where his determination saved them when Terri was ready to give up. And like Flo & Zach, the only fell about an hour behind. These two moved up a few notches in my book, which is something I would never have expected to say before tonight. And based on Ian’s determination, I would expect these two to be around for a while. Maybe even to the final three.
There is very little suspense once the teams hit Morocco. When Aaron & Arianne leave the ferry and Michael & Kathy are nowhere in sight, its painfully obvious who’s going to be eliminated tonight. The roadblock in Fez is simply a stepping stone to the finish line with little changing in terms of the standings. I’m sure we’ll find next week that within the ferry groupings, the teams are separated by 10-15 minutes at most.
Goodbye Michael & Kathy. I enjoyed watching you race. While there are other teams I would rather have seen go, fate and free will conspired to eliminate you from the race. I hope all works out well for you in your life ahead.
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