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Subscribe via RSSSeason 12, Leg 5: Left. Right. What’s the Difference?
With our visit to Burkina Faso reaching an end, the remaining teams struggle to find flights to Lithuania while dealing with uncooperative travel agents and intra-team bickering. Once in Vilnius, the race is decidedly more unpredictable than usual as the Roadblock takes its toll on Nick & Don, and teams practice walking on stilts or counting pickets. Or both, in the case of some of the teams. In the end, my prediction from last week comes true as Shana & Jennifer wallow in self-loathing about the U-turn and drag themselves into last place.
Much of the first half of the episode plays out in the confines of a small internet cafe in Ouagadougou. With the ticketing offices closed, hitting the Internet to look for flights was clearly the best way for the lead teams to spend their extra time in the morning. But it appears as if there is only the one cafe on the way to the airport which led to some very tight quarters as each successive team arrived. However, The real fireworks didn’t start until everyone hit the ticket office for tickets.
Ron & Christina’s communication problems continue. While I appreciate Ron’s concern about Christina wanting to take the first flight given, his attempt to express his concern again brought to mind the stereotypical motivational speaker he was channeling in Amsterdam. In this case, he was right to press for better flights, but he needs to continue working on his communication skills. I’m kinda hoping these two get eliminated just so they can work on their communication skills in Sequesterville instead of in front of millions of people on national television.
In the end, all of the teams end up on one of three flights, all arriving within an hour of each other.
The shuffling started immediately out of the airport as teams tried to navigate through Vilnius looking for St Anne’s church. It was clear as teams hit the intersection and made differing decisions on which way to turn that the teams were starting to sort out. And in case you didn’t know which way was the right way, the Sound Effects Guy is on hand to point it out for you. Back off Sound Effects Guy. Let the suspense build until a team arrives at the location. Then you can make fun of everyone else choosing the wrong way.
Shana & Jennifer get the gong of idiocy as they take off in the wrong direction. But they are so busy bickering with each other, that they don’t take the time to stop and ask for directions. In fact, there so busy arguing with each other that they almost get hit by a bus. Get it together girls.
Nick & Don hit the Roadblock first, but Nick had the misfortune of ending up with one of the tougher locations to find. Seems plenty of people knew where the restaurants were, but no one had ever heard of the hair salon. I guess Lithuanians don’t take time to get their hair done at salons. Or something. With Nick wondering around lost, every other team caught up and passed them, including Shana & Jennifer, who had taken the long route via near death experiences.
With everyone finished with the Roadblock, country driving ensued, ending at a local mid-summer festival. Reminds me a lot of Fasching, what with all the costumes. The diabolical detour this week involves a choice between walking on stilts, or counting pickets in a fence. If you’re tired, neither of these tasks would seem ideal.
I would have gone for the counting. With two of you counting independently getting the right number should be a snap. Just don’t have both people counting out loud. Or, as Mrs. Cosmic suggested, have one person counting the pickets by tens while the other makes tick marks. When you get to the end, count up the tick marks and you have your total.
The award for clearest thinking things goes to Nick for hitting the end of the fence with a count of 737, but, after rereading the clue and realizing he shouldn’t have counted gates, had enough sense to go back and figure out which gate he had counted, and subtract the 20 pickets located on it, ending up with the right number. Good job! Have I mentioned that I like these two. They are keeping a steady pace and level heads.
Anyway, having chosen the stilts, Ron & Christina manage to finally finish the course and hit the mat in first place, hernia intact. Jennifer & Nathan take some time to emotionally self destruct while trying there hand at both halves of the Detour before landing in second place. And, with their emotions raw from bickering with one another, Shana & Jennifer arrive last and are eliminated.
From here, I expect Jennifer & Nate to self destruct and be out within 2 legs. Ron & Christina are probably gone next week, especially with the hernia continuing to act up. The rest of the teams are a toss up.
