Episode Recap: Amazing Race 10, Week 6

Episode: Maybe Steven Segal Will See Me and Want Me to Be In One of His Movies Original Air Date: October 22, 2006 Our episode this week begins with the teams receiving their instructions from Phil via video on cell phones that are left for them in their instruction envelopes. Phil tells them they are to find a travel agency, book a flight to Kuwait City, Kuwait and locate Kuwait Towers (the Kuwaitis are not big on thinking up new names for things). But Phil doesn't tell them the name of Kuwait Towers, but only shows them a picture of what the towers look like. Phil then ends the message with, "This cell phone will self-destruct in 10 seconds." No wait, wrong show. Peter and Sarah, who were in first place on the last leg of the race, are the first to leave. Humbly, Peter tells us, "On our worst day we are still better than some of the teams that are in the back." Well, maybe Sarah is, anyway. Doublemint Twins Dustin and Kandice are second to leave. Kandice reflects on their place near the lead, "I don't think anyone wants to be beaten by a couple of blonde girls." Yeah, well, Kandice, if you find any actual blonde girls, let us know. It's only the sixth episode, and the old brown roots are already beginning to show. Once at a travel agency, Peter tells the agent, "We need help urgently! It's a medical emergency for her leg!" Then Peter lifts poor Sarah's leg up so the agent can see it. The agent doesn't seem impressed. The Doublemint Twins arrive at a different agency and tell their agent, "Just tell them it's Miss California and Miss New York that need seats on the plane." The agent laughs in disbelief. "We really are!" All of this is for nothing as, once again, all of the teams ultimately end up on the same flight to Kuwait. Even last place Kentucky Couple David and Mary, who leave the Pit Stop five hours after Peter and Sarah, manage to catch the same flight. These two were the last to arrive at the Pit Stop during the last episode. Since it was a non-elimination leg of the race, instead of being eliminated, they were given a 30-minute penalty. In other words, if they are not the first to arrive at the next Pit Stop, they will have to arrive at least 30 minutes before the last team to arrive in order to avoid elimination. The Brainiacs, the Single Moms, and the Kentucky Couple are still in an alliance. One can't help but notice that these teams are also behind everyone else. Talk about the blind leading the rednecks. But holding true to the alliance, the Braniac Brothers help the Kentucky Couple at the travel agency, telling the agent, "Give them the same tickets, everything." All of the teams arrive in Kuwait City at the same time the next day. All the teams also seem to have figured out that the picture they've been given is of Kuwait Towers. On the way to the towers, Pretty Boy James asks Tyler, "So, they got a lot of oil out here?" I guess you don't need to be smart to be a model. However it begs the question, why would people almost completely ignorant of any country other than the U.S. want to go on a race around the world? The Amazing Race often seems to have contestants who probably couldn't locate Canada on a map of North America, even if they were given three guesses. The producers probably purposely look for ignoramuses when choosing contestants for the show, "Hey, this guy thinks that South America is part of the Unites States. Let's get him!" Meanwhile, Dustin, or maybe it's Kandice (does it matter?), reflects on her dad fighting in Kuwait. Suddenly, I feel very old. Once at Kuwait Towers, which don't open until 11am (in case you ever feel like visiting), the teams find small key chains with numbers waiting for them. Bickering Couple Rob and Kimberly and the Pretty Boys are the first and second teams to arrive and snag numbers 1 and 2. The Doublemint Twins are next to arrive, followed closely by Peter and Bionic Sarah. Peter quickly runs past the Doublemint Twins to pick up number 3. The Doublemint Twins are not pleased. "Peter and Sarah got number 3. That is so annoying." Of course, the Doublemint Twins would never do anything like cut in front of someone else. The Kuwait Towers open for business and the teams find out that in addition to the Road Block (a challenge that only one team member may perform), a Fast Forward challenge is available. The first team to complete a Fast Forward will be able to skip the rest of the leg and go directly to the next Pit Stop. The gamble is that if a team chooses to go for the Fast Forward, but is not the first to complete it, they have to come back and complete the Road Block, possibly resulting in a lot of lost time. Both the Fast Forward and the Road Block on this episode seem almost suicidal. The Fast Forward involves putting on a flame-retardant suit and running around a simulated oil field fire while trying to find the next clue. The Road Block entails climbing up the ladder that goes up around the top globe of the Kuwait Towers (which reaches over 400 feet above sea level) to retrieve puzzle pieces. Once assembled, the puzzle will tell the teams the name of the street where they will find their next clue. This Road Block requires a lot of climbing, so logically Peter decides his one-legged girlfriend should do it. Meanwhile, last place David and Mary are trying to decide if they should try the Fast Forward. Gee, we're in last place and marked for elimination. We're barely hanging in this race by a thread, do you think we should take this short cut that would put us in first place? It's such a hard decision! I wonder if it's just coincidence that this Fast Forward comes just as the Kentucky Couple need it. The Doublemint Twins have already decided to try the Fast Forward. In an effort to buy the Kentucky Couple time, however, the Brainiac Brothers Erwin and Godwin bluff Dustin and Kandice into thinking that they are going to try the Fast Forward, too. Not wanting to risk losing time, the Doublemint Twins change their mind(s) and decide to do the Road Block instead. In the mean time, the Kentucky Couple finally get a clue and decide to try the Fast Forward. The Brainiac Brothers send them ahead and go back to do the Road Block. This selfless move puts the Brainiac Brothers in second-to-last place at this point in the race. What makes this act even more selfless is that both Erwin and Godwin are deathly afraid of heights. But since they're skipping the Fast Forward, one of them will have to do a Spider-Man routine on the outside of this skyscraper. While driving on the streets of Kuwait trying to find the oil field, Mary offers her usual words of encouragement to David, "You're goin' the complete opposite!" "Well you got a map," David yells back, "tell me where to go!" They stop to ask someone for directions. This person happens to have a car. "Can I foller you?" David asks. Evidently, the Kuwaiti man understands what it means for someone to "foller" him, and agrees. As David is walking back to the car, Mary can be heard yelling, "David, come on! We ain't got all day!" At this point, David's only hope is to sell Mary to a rich sheik. Back at Kuwait Towers, Kimberly and Tyler have both ascended the outside ladder and retrieved the puzzle pieces. Bionic Sarah is next. While waiting, the other teams are whispering about how wrong it was for Peter to make Sarah do this challenge. Even Dustin/Kimberly (I've given up trying to tell them apart) sheds her usual nastiness and says encouragingly, "There you go, Sarah. Good job, Babe." Surpringly, Sarah has an easy time with this part of the task. Confronting his fear of heights, Erwin also climbs the ladder without incident. Meanwhile, David and Mary are getting suited up to face the oil field fire. Mary says she's afraid, but "maybe Steven Segal will see me and want me to be in one of his movies!" Maybe, if he's making a movie set in a circus. By the way, this is the fourth episode out of six named for something Mary said. This is why the producers must keep the Kentucky Couple in the race. Otherwise, how will they name the episodes? David and Mary complete this task and are given instructions to drive to the next Pit Stop. Let's see if they can manage this without screwing it up. Back at Kuwait Towers, the teams are working on their puzzles. The Pretty Boys finish first while the Brainiacs finish last. Everyone takes their puzzles, which contain a name written in Arabic, and ask for directions. The name is a name of a street where the teams must locate a bead shop. The shopkeeper in the bead shop will have instructions for their next Detour. The Single Moms Lyn and Karlyn get directions from a Kuwaiti man and then tell him not to help the Doublemint Twins who are following close behind. As one of the Doublemint Twins comes running up trying to ask the man for directions, one of the Single Moms starts pushing him along, saying, "Go, go, go. Do not help her." The man actually obeys and refuses to help the Doublemint Twins. Another man standing close by offers to help and even jumps into the car with the Doublemint Twins. Afterward, Dustin/Kandice complains about the Single Moms telling the Kuwaiti man not to help her. "The 'sistas' are being pigs right now," she says. I guess you're only allowed to fight dirty if you're pretty. The Brainiac Brothers are the last to finish their puzzle. They ask a policeman in a patrol car for directions. The cop agrees to lead them in his car and even turns on his flashing lights while escorting them to their destination. Pretty Boys Tyler and James are the first to find the bead shop and read the instructions for their Detour (a choice between two tasks). This time, the Detour is a choice between "Manual" and "Automatic". In "Manual" the teams must load feed bags with camel feed, carry them 100 yards, and stack them correctly on a pallet. In "Automatic", the teams must go to a camel race track and attach a robotic jockey to a camel. The robot jockeys are controlled by a voice-activated remote control and are designed to lightly whip the camels. By using this remote-control, the teams must make their camel run a certain length around the track. (This is just as weird as it sounds.) The Pretty Boys choose "Manual". Everyone else get lost trying to find the bead store. Meanwhile, David and Mary make it to the Pit Stop and avoid the 30-minute penalty. Their prize for being first is an all-expense paid trip to a resort in Jamaica. Good for them. Mary tells Phil they owe it all to the Cho Brothers (Brainiacs). Hopefully for the Brainiacs, this good deed will go unpunished. Eventually, the remaining teams find the bead store. Peter and Bionic Sarah are the second to find it. When they pass the Brainiacs, however, Peter acts like they don't know where the store is and tells them that he has to go move his car because it's parked illegally. In contrast, once the Brainiac Brothers find the store, they tell the Single Moms where it is. Rob and Kimberly, the Doublemint Twins, and the Brainiac Brothers reach the "Manual" challenge site and finish the challenge in that order. In the mean time, the Single Moms, who were dead last, find the camel race track and finish their challenge. The Doublemint Twins are the first to make it to the Pit Stop, putting them in 2nd place. Both the Pretty Boys and Peter and Bionic Sarah lose their lead by getting completely lost in the desert. While the Pretty Boys are driving circles around Kuwait City, Peter believes they've found the camel race track when they see an Amazing Race arrow. Unfortunately, they discover they've found themselves at the Fast Forward site. After driving around some more, they end up back at Kuwait Towers. Peter decides to stop for directions. Meanwhile, the Pretty Boys stumble upon the camel race track and finish their challenge. Peter and Sarah don't find their destination until after dark. Even Phil looks tired like he's been waiting on that mat all night for them to show up. After telling Peter and Sarah that they have been eliminated, he asks them about the status of their relationship. Talk about rubbing salt in an open wound. They both agree that they should just stay "good friends", but not continue to date. Well, that means at least one good thing has come out of this entire ordeal for Sarah. Next week - The Single Moms and the Doublemint Twins feud at a ticket counter, the Doublemint Twins get into a traffic accident.