Amazing Race Weekly Wrap-Up

Teams left La Paz in the wee hours of the morning trying to catch a flight to Auckland, New Zealand. Indecently, Phil, the host of the Amazing Race is from New Zealand. Everyone got to the airport very early in the morning, so all teams made it onto the same flight. Ken and Tina were pretty upset at this since they lost their lead – cry babies!

Everyone got to Auckland, hopped into Mercedes Benz (I guess MB is a sponsor, it’d be great if they were our sponsor!). Aja and Ty got a flat on their way to their first challenge, lucky for them they found a Good Samaritan.

All the teams (except for Brooke and Marissa) found and untied a complex knot (I forgot the name and didn’t Tivo it because my Red Sox were on and I don’t want to talk about it). This challenge appeared to be easy, but don’t ask team Blondie.

Once team untied and unrolled the knot the clue sent teams to the highest mountain in Auckland, the Summit of Mount Eden. At the top teams encountered a Road Block: the Maori Warrior Match. Teams must select a card with a tattoo pattern and match it on the face of a Maori Warrior – these men are actually gentle souls, greeting people by touching noses…awwww! Kelly and Christy decided to run up and down the summit (that was a dumb move if they want to win the race).

Oh and there was Fast Forward. Only one team can complete this and when completed that team can immediately advance to the pit stop.  Teams had to scale all 1076 feet of Skytower. (The Empire State Building is 1453 feet to the top of the spire.) Ken and Tina completed this task and were helicoptered to the pit stop.

For every team other than Ken and Tina the next leg lead them to the CityLife Hotel where the had to head to the observation deck, grab a pair of binoculors and find one of many Travelosity Gnome statues hidden throughout Auckland.

Once a team found the kitchy lawn ornament, they also found their next clue telling them to get to the local area landmark known as Kiwi 360. It is here where they find there final challange a Detour.

Detour: Teams must choose either…
1. Matter of Time: crush kiwis to make 12 quarts of juice then each drink a glass of their work. Less techincal, but might take longer.

2. Matter of Skill: assemble a sail-cart and drive it three laps. Teams that lack engineering skills might have a difficult time.

Only Terrance and Sarah and Brooke and Marissa started and finished Matter of Time, while the rest chose Matter of Skill. Starr claimed to have a broken arm, but could bend her elbow. I think and hope that her team will be sliced from the competition.

Summerhill, a sheep farm, was the pit stop. Also, at the pit stop was Phil Keoghan’s dad to greet the adventure racers. Here’s how they finished (I correctly picked with this week’s 1st, 2nd and 4th place finishers)

1. Ken & Tina; 2. Terence & Sarah; 3. Kelly & Christy; 4. Toni & Dallas ; 5. Nick & Starr ; 6. Andrew & Dan; 7. Aja & Ty; 8. Brooke & Marisa are eliminated

Here’s how I think next will finish next week
7. Nick & Starr – Eliminated
6. Kelly & Christy
5. Aja & Ty
4. Andrew & Dan
3. Terence & Sarah – Overall Winners of season 13
2. Toni & Dallas
1. Ken & Tina

Tags: Auckland, Fast Forward, kiwi, La Paz, Maori Warrior, New Zealand, Phil Keoghan's dad, race around the world, The Amazing Race, Travelostiy