And we’re back! We begin the episode with Phil’s reminder that Rachel had a hard time lugging around buckets of water, while Brodie had a hard time putting a kite together. Brodie and Kurt escaped elimination by the skin of their teeth, but it’s a sobering reminder of just how much Kurt has carried the team…and how he can’t do that anymore.
We begin with a bunch-free departure from the same boat that was the last Pit Stop (where they apparently spent the night), but there’s no need for bunching because everyone’s about fifteen minutes apart anyway. The teams start out knowing there’s a U-Turn, and Burnie and Ashley once again start out knowing that they’re the second-place team. Again.
Everyone heads out to a gorgeous bay where the clue is in an underwater clue box rolled up in a waterproof scroll tube. Each clue box is marked with a buoy, but there are only two clues per box, so the teams who get there late get a little confused at opening the clue box and not seeing anything. So confused, in fact, that they stay confused even when they do find a clue, because it’s not in a little waterproof envelope. Those that succeed in their impromptu intelligence test are directed to the Pura Puseh staircase to pick up their next clue. (I don’t want to harp on it, but Kurt is the one who figured out the clue’s location for his team.) (I also don’t want to harp on it, but Dana shouted, “I don’t KNOW! STAHP asking ME!” when Matt tried to talk to her about it.)
At the staircase, a guy dressed like a monkey gives them the clue, which is a Detour. The two options involved are “Haul”, which requires teams to carry 50 coconuts and 4 chickens, by hand, through the streets of Nusa Lembongan (including over an impressive footbridge), and “Harvest”, which involves gathering seaweed by canoe and laying it out to dry on a tarp. It’s not what I’d call the most local-flavored Detour, but it’s definitely hard work on either side. Tyler and Korey, who arrive first, choose Haul, and Burnie and Ashley do the same in second.
There’s a lot of Hauling going on, in fact. I’d like to say this is exciting, but really, the best part is watching everyone try to pick up chickens with varying degrees of success. They also drop some coconuts, too, but it’s the chickens that provide what entertainment there is. (Spoiler alert: Chickens turn out to have more common sense than Matt does when it comes to wanting to spend time with Dana.) Literally every single team chooses Haul.
There is a lot of running back and forth. A lot. A lot a lot. They run and carry and run and carry and run and carry and run and carry and Burnie actually says, “This Is a Tedious One For Sure.” I think I can guess why that wasn’t used as the episode title, but they must have been tempted. There’s very little room to make up any ground, either, because the task is pretty much limited not by foot speed but by arm capacity, and nobody can hold much more than five coconuts at a time so it’s just a matter of making all the trips one after another.
Which means that you guessed it, the U-Turn comes into play hugely here. Because everyone goes out the same order they came in–Team Squee, the Roosters, Team Bravo, the Frisbee Boys, and the Dancers–which means that Tyler and Korey can pretty much pick their target when it comes to U-Turning someone. And hey guess what, there’s a team behind them that’s been dueling with them for first the entire Race. This may be the happy smiley nice cooperative friendly super fun season, but Tyler and Korey are no dopes.
Neither are Burnie and Ashley. They see the Double U-Turn, with one box taken up with the team that everyone knows they have to go through in order to win, and they do what anyone who’s played multiplayer games does…they kick the big guy while he’s down in the sure and certain knowledge there won’t be any repercussions. Meaning that Kurt and Brodie have gone from fourth to last, and have only the Roadblock in which to make up the gap.
I’d like to say that this is where the strategic blunder of front-loading all the Roadblocks onto Kurt comes back to haunt the Frisbee Boys, but in actuality the Roadblock is one of the “simple but terrifying” school. It’s a jump off a cliff into the Blue Lagoon, where they have to watch turtles…um, you know what? Never mind. Just never mind. The point is, it is something that requires absolutely no skill and has almost no chance of shaking up placement, bar an absolute crushing panic attack on the part of one of the Racers. And while the production team tries to play up the idea that Cole’s fear of heights from a few episodes ago is going to become a factor, it doesn’t. They jump in the same order they arrived. They go to the Pit Stop in the order they jumped. The U-Turn pretty much decided the leg this time out, and that’s bad news for exactly one team.
Unsurprisingly, Kurt and Brodie get eliminated. They’re understandably frustrated, but Brodie is already looking forward to seeing Blair. (Um, apparently they’re not still a couple. Oh well.)
And next time, the remaining teams head to China, although confusingly enough there’s a shot of an Eiffel Tower, and we hear Phil say, “You are one of the teams racing for a million dollars,” which is already making me wonder if we’re going to get another four-team finale. Guess we’ll find out next time!
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