For the first four legs of The Amazing Race, there has clearly been a top tier consisting of Art and JJ from the Border Patrol, and Dave and Rachel, the Army couple. Will a leg through southern Germany be enough to bring these teams back to earth?
Through the Alps
The day begins with Border Patrol getting their clue which tells them that they will be traveling through Austria, with a final destination in southern Germany. Just like that, my jealousy meter is on high alert. One by one, the teams receive their clues, with team Kentucky getting theirs about eight hours after Art and JJ. Not only are they very far behind, but they will also have to complete a road block along the way. The Border Patrol is so far ahead of everyone else that they are the only team on their train. Behind them, Team Jersey and the Army couple share a train, with the other teams only falling further behind.
Due to delays in reaching train connections, all the other teams are together. The front three teams all enter their destination at the same time and receive their clues. They can choose to either sculpt a German guy’s beard or collect gingerbread and finish the roof of a gingerbread house. The first three all choose to get wrist deep in facial hair.
Broken Compass
The rest of the teams arrive to their cars, and all take off to retrieve their clues. The cousins immediately show a lack of navigation skills and fall behind the rest of the pack. The second group arrives to get their clues with the Divorcees and the Female Feds choosing to do the beard challenge.
Team Big Brother decides to do the gingerbread house because Rachel seems to not know what a beard is. I wish that was a joke, but she literally says that she doesn’t know what a beard is. I … just … sigh … The cousins also decide to go on the gingerbread challenge. Team Kentucky must yodel for their speed bump and make relatively quick work out of it. They choose to do the gingerbread house.
At the beard house, Border Patrol, Jersey and the Army couple get to work, with Border Patrol quickly finishing first. They get their next clue which points them towards Sleeping Beauty’s castle for their next clue. The Army couple are the next to finish, leaving the cocky Jersey team in their dust. It seems that there is a difference between style beards and putting gel in your faux hawk. The Female Feds and Divorcees arrive, just as Jersey finally gets the job done. At the trail to collect gingerbread pieces, both the cousins and Big Brother can’t seem to find where to get their baskets, which allows Kentucky to get a small lead ahead of them.
Hoofing It
Border Patrol arrives at the castle, but soon learns that there are two in the area. They choose the right one to go to and do the smart thing of taking the horse carriage ride to the top of the hill it sits on. They retrieve their next clue which tells them that they will be playing curling with model gnomes. The Divorcees and Jersey are not far behind, and both decide to run up to the castle. At one point, Vanessa even asks whether they should take the carriage, only to be shot down. This causes a fight to start between the two while Jersey cheerfully runs up the mountain ahead of them.
At the gingerbread challenge, the cousins finish first, followed by Kentucky. This leaves Big Brother as the last team there, and after a Rachel mini-breakdown they too get their next clue. I want to personally congratulate Rachel on crying only once on this leg. Problems occur when the Army couple and the Female Feds go to the wrong castle. They buy tour tickets and wait with a group of tourists only to find out that they went to the wrong place. Kentucky and the cousins nearly do the same mistake but change course in the last second.
Still the Best
As the teams slowly start to retrieve their clue in the castle, the Border Patrol hit the bulls eye while curling and are given the clue to the next pit stop. They make it in first again, and are clearly a dominate force in the race. Jersey is the next team to start curling, and quickly finish putting them in second place. As they finish curling, the Divorcees start and end up coming in third.
Kentucky is the last team to get their castle clue, and start working towards the ice rink. As they leave, the Female Feds begin their curling exercise. They are the only team in the rink, and seem to have fourth place locked up. Slowly, more teams start to arrive, and they all start to pass them. The last two teams curling are the Feds and the Cousins. The Cousins finish first and head out in their car. The feds are close behind, so it looks like a dead heat to the pit stop. Unfortunately for the cousins, they are terrible with directions and need to stop. With their training in maps, the Female Feds beat them out and cross the finish line ending the race for the cousins.
And just like that, it looks like the European tour of the race is coming to a close. While the Army couple finally finished outside of the top two, the Border Patrol are clearly in control of this game. Of course, the snowboarders from last season looked to be the same but fell apart at the end, so everything is still up in the air.
Chase Gamradt
Contributing Writer
(Image courtesy of CBS)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
