Watching Reality TV

To catch up on last week’s action, I suggest you read this post over here.

Can I just say how glad I am that Shana and Jennifer were eliminated?  The whining was legendary.  So we kick things off from the windmill in Lithuania.  Where will we go tonight?  TK and Rachel get to leave first (at 1am, ack) and they’re going to Croatia.  And I’m not spelling the city out either, so just use your imagination.  Kynt and Vyksin are right on their heels.  The other teams duly follow.   Some teams make reservations on the internet and others wait at the airport for the ticket agents to open up.  And some people choose to visit travel agents so they can check multiple agents at one time.  There’s much hubub about lines and losing places in lines and tempers are pretty much flaring.  It’s really hard to blog the ticket-furor, so just know that a bunch of teams are on the first flight.  And a few are not.  A&H accidentally purchase business class when that’s strictly verboten in the game.  Nathan and Jennifer sprint to the plane with Ron and Christina and Kynt and Vyksin and make it on board.  A&H get left behind.  Boo hoo.  Except they may be well and truly screwed this time.

They learn, however, from the travel agent that the teams flying through Prague will be delayed.  The teams flying through Frankfurt, however, don’t have totally smooth sailing.  They miss their connecting flight and have to get new tickets.  BAH!  TK and Rachel get on a flight but Nic and Don get on a slower flight.  Nathan and Jennifer, as it happens, get are in first place, closely followed by the Goths.  But Ron and Christina get to the clue first!  Wee!  They have a Road Block where they need to find a particular stone that fits in a particular wall.  Gah.  They finish, and now must make their way to the roof of the Fort of St. Lawrence.  The views are spectacular.  Ron and Christina do a zipline task that looks absolutely amazing.  How fun!  Now they have a Detour.  Short and Long or Long and Short.  Say what?  First they rapel and climbing a rope ladder, followed by some complication navigating.  The other is ziplining to the water and rowing a boat.  It basically depends on how much you want to get physical.  But Long and Short definitely sounds much better to me.  Most of the teams pick that particular Detour as well.  Ron and Christina have some difficulty rowing until Ron puts his foot down concerning rowing technique.  The Goths have trouble with their stone for a minute, before catching up with N&J.  Who, meanwhile, are bickering like it’s going out of style.  As usual.  Can these two agree on ANYTHING? The Goths choose the rapelling Detour because “it sounds faster”.  Gah.  At the same time, N&J hate each other.  There’s a news flash.  Ron and Chris make it to shore, closely followed by Team Dysfunction.  Somehow, N&J get the clue first and need to get to the pit stop at the “Stone Cross”.  However, they also must take a taxi.  Which they don’t.  They pay a local to drive them.  Ron and Chris get the pitstop clue and they do take a taxi.  (Of course, N&J tried to get in a taxi but the driver wouldn’t take them because they were wet from the boat.)  Jen freaks out.

She is extrapolating this difficulty into greater meaning about their deteriorating relationship.  WTF?  TK and Rachel FINALLY land in Croatia, they’re just WAY behind.  Ron and Chris make it to the pit stop FIRST and are completely blown away.  They’ve won a 12 1/2 foot catamaran.  Just what they always wanted!  N&J arrive, only to find out they get a penalty for not following the rules.  They have to go ALL the way back to the clue box and take a taxi back to the pit stop.  Jen sulks.  Meanwhile, the Goths take a taxi (imagine that) and get to the pit stop in second place.  Jen is practically in hysterics.  TK and Rachel are powering through the tasks with their usual grace.   N&J finally finish and you’d think they were just eliminated, the way they’re acting.  Nic and Don finally land and worry they’re at the back of the pack.  A&H land and hope they’re not at the back of the pack.

TK and Rachel take a cab to the pitstop while Nic and Don do their first zipline and see A&H getting their clue below.  Very close, this one!  But not that close.  I think A&H are screwed.  TK and Rachel check in fourth as A&H zipline.  Nic and Don are rowing their butts off (which is to say rather slowly).  A&H are right on their heels.  A is a much better rower than Nic.  But Nic makes it to shore first and they hurry to the clue box.  They rush to find a taxi and have a hard time finding one.  A&H are breathing down their necks.  Nic and Don get their taxi at last and are on their way.  A&H also get a taxi.  They run into some traffic so there are nails being bitten.  And?  It’s Nic and Don in fifth place at the mat.  They’re still in it.  A&H, however, are last and out of the race.  That’s too bad.  They were really good racers, but they just had some really bad luck with that whole business class fiasco.  BOO!