The Amazing Race 25 - Episode 4 Recap
Thinly sliced anchovies
By Daron Aldridge
October 22, 2014
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Three episodes in and three teams gone, we are looking at just eight teams still striving for the million dollar purse. But if history tells us anything, this week or next will be a non-elimination, thus stalling out progress.
Before we delve into this week's Race festivities, let's remind you that the dentists Misti & Jim still have the Save and the surfing duo of Adam & Bethany still have an Express Pass.
In lieu of a formal (read: exhaustively verbose) power rankings, here is my quick summation of the remaining teams:
1) Team DDS Misti & Jim: See the aforementioned Save and the fact that they have either been first or second in the last three legs.
2) Team Hang Ten Adam & Bethany: Positive, competitive and holding onto an Express Pass, which isn't as omnipotent as the Save but still quite a nice advantage to have.
3) Psycho Cyclists Kym & Alli: Probably renaming them Quicksilver (see: 1980s Kevin Bacon bike messenger movie for more info). A fun team that isn't taking themselves or the Race too seriously.
4) Survivor's Keith & Whitney: He's setting himself up as this season's resident jerk but that hasn't exactly hurt them yet.
5) Tag Team of wrestling couple Brooke & Robbie: They may be equal to the cyclists on the fun-loving meter, if Brooke could not step so close to the edge of meltdown.
6) Candy Crush scientists Amy & Maya: I like them and they have held their own on some tasks but I think they might be in over the heads if the tasks get too physical.
7) Team TNT Tim & Te Jay: The guys started the season strong and were shaken pretty badly last week, mainly with the sheep. Not sure they can recover.
8) Super Fannies Shelley & Nici: Too emotionally fragile and ready to cry to be seriously considered as contenders.
Teams are roused from their Pitstop slumber, which this time was in tents on a sandy bank, and once again, Misti & Jim leave in first.
The teams will have to take a 13-hour ferry ride to Aberdeen, Scotland, and then to get airfare to Copenhagen, Denmark. With news from the ferry ticket agent that the ferry doesn't leave until the afternoon, the dentists know everyone will be on the same schedule, at least until the airport.
The ticket agent tells the married couple that there are no travel agents where they are but they could use the Internet in the library. They head to there to see what is available before just sitting around the ferry dock.
Before the others arrive and make the same realization about the absence of a travel agent, Team DDS has found and purchased tickets for a flight that will land in Copenhagen, Denmark at 4 p.m. Of course, Jim spouts off his mantra that no team is going to get a better flight than them.
A great Amazing Race drinking game would be to drink every time Jim claims that whatever they just did couldn't be done better by any of these teams. And you have to finish that drink when he is proven wrong. You would be guaranteed a healthy buzz before the second commercial break.
The other teams start arriving at the ferry, but none of them bother with going to the library (much like the majority of the general non-Race public) but instead just will hit up a travel agent after the ferry ride or head straight to the airport.
As the teams jockey for position on the ferry in the [product placement HERE] car, Kym & Alli get the enviable first spot. Instead of messing with an agent, they head directly to the airport and it pays off for them. The cyclists will now be landing at 2 p.m. or in two hours because of "the best flight ever" that the dentists secured. Finish that drink, viewer.
The results of airfare Roulette come flying in with varying degrees of success at the airport and travel agency. Aside from Team Chompers and Quicksilver, the others are scheduled to land around 5 p.m. Oops, sorry, also aside from super Fannies Shelley & Nici who are slated to hit Denmark an hour later.
Best laid plans don't quite pan out for Tim & Te Jay because their flight gets delayed and won't land until after 5:30 p.m. now. But for the daters and the mom and daughter, the two tasks could easily make up the time difference.
There are no delays for Kym & Alli, who have landed and spy their marked fuel efficient vehicle from the same product placement company. The fuel efficiency is a key to this task. The teams have to drive to Malmo, Sweden, about 25 miles away, and only use .10 gallons of gas. The car monitors the usage and tells how to be more fuel conscious. If they keep their usage down, they get the clue in Malmo but if not, then they have to got to the nearby square and answer a geography question.
The cyclists insist they are all about the environment and being ecologically responsible. Let's see if they can walk the walk, since they are talking the talking.
The girls cruise into Malmo and can see that they...DID...keep their gas usage below the tenth of a gallon strength. Their new clue points them to drive back to Copenhagen. And away they go.
The realization that they are no longer in first because of the later flight doesn't make Dr. Jim happy but he is hopeful the girls have trouble. Remember, he not only wants to win but to go down as the most dominant team in Amazing Race history.
Back to the team actually in the lead, Quicksilver has returned to Copenhagen and must choose between this week's Detour options: Parking Space or Wedding Cake.
For Parking Space, the teams have to recreate an outdoor lounge setting called a "parklet" (think a parallel parking space for stoners and other lounge-inclined folks to hang out). They have 30 minutes to do so or they have to start again. The need for attention to detail on this one is astronomically high. For Wedding Cake,...deep breath...the teams head to a bakery, finish assembling a 13-tiered cake with icing as the adhesive affixing the layers and flags sticking out, deliver it via a "bullet" bike (an elongated bike with a platform in the middle for someone to sit and hold the cake) to a restaurant, get the hostess to sign for it, AND then finally return to the bakery for their next clue.
As expected, cyclists select the task that involves some sort of bike.
The Chompers have landed and you had better be prepared to drink because Jim is confided they will just get their clue since they won't exceed the fuel usage. And drink again because they are wrong again. They get a thumbs down and directed over to the square. The question is pretty basic stuff: Name the capitals of the three Scandinavian countries shown in red on the map.
Jim asks for help from a smartphone-wielding local, who he simply asks to follow him to the square. The answers are correct and they find out they must return to Denmark. For the record, the answers are Copenhagen, Denmark; Oslo, Norway; and Stockholm, Sweden.
The girls have found the bakery and are intimated by the bullet bike. It's not nearly as cool looking as the Bullet Bike you can select on Mario Kart, I must say. If your professional bike messengers and bike racers are leery of this two-wheeled contraption, I am afraid for the other teams that pick this task.
Kym & Alli quickly finish the cake (clearly the simple part of the task) and as they head out the door, Kym has the stroke of genius to grab a tube of icing in case they "have to do triage" on their cake.
Based upon the balance issues they immediately have and the toppling of a few layers, this brilliant grab could be a life-saver. They get the hang of balancing the cake by Alli and Kym masters the pedaling and balance of the bike. Driving along, they find the restaurant and deliver the cake but alas, they dropped the delivery receipt somewhere. Without it, they have to go all the way back to the bakery for another one.
Maybe it's the time cushion speaking but I am impressed that even in the face of a flub, both of them remain pretty calm. They head out and back to their bike and find it the receipt on the ground. Rushing it back into the hostess, Team Quicksilver maintains their sizable lead.
While they head back to the bakery, the other teams have started to land and the dentists have opted for Parking Space. The two set-ups to pick from are an outdoor/park-esque setting and a faux living room. Each appears to have several dozens pieces that need to be correctly placed.
Both the husband and wife proclaim that attention to detail is crucial to their jobs, so they should get this one right quickly. As they plug away, the cyclists have their next clue and a couple of free cookies for the road. Next stop is a restaurant called Ida Davidsen's.
The fuel efficient driving isn't quite as easy as the smart car is probably supposed to make it. Now Tag Team Brooke & Robbie, surfers Adam & Bethany, Candy Crush Amy & Maya and Tim & Te Jay all have to answer the additional question. Locals are their salvation, except for TNT, who rattle off the answers like geography savants.
In this batch, Survivor's Keith & Whitney get their fuel in check and gain a little ground as the lead team heading back to Denmark.
The time on Team DDS' first attempt is about to expire and they can't pinpoint the problem area. The producers show the home audience exactly the issue: the flower pot in their park bench setting is turned the wrong way with a seven-pedaled daisy showing instead of the correct eight pedals.
Time's up and they get evicted from their spot by the parking meter monitor. The frustration mounts for the dentists as Candy Crush shows up.
Over at Wedding Cake, the surfers, survivors and suplex-ors all get their cake together and try to master their bike. Keith appears to be trying to get run over. None of these teams had the same idea to take the icing with them, so we get a lot of footage of cakes toppling over like Jenga.
Bringing up the rear in placement but taking the lead in overall frustration are the Super Fannies Shelley & Nici. It's mainly Nici on the angry front, as she insists the marked car for them is located in the garage, which it isn't. Finally, checking the upper deck, they find it and Shelley is putting up a wall until the daughter apologizes for her outburst. Awkward family drama, party of two.
It doesn't take long for Keith & Whitney and Adam & Bethany to bail on the Cake and head to Space. As soon as they saw the bikes, the surfers should've known this challenge would be an issue, since Bethany would be unable to balance the cake with only one arm and steering the bike could be quite difficult.
Back at Space, the scientists plow through the task and TNT is now there much to the chagrin (get it, grin...smile...dentists...never mind) of Misti & Jim, who are still stumped. Jim begins to wonder if the oversight is based on something they can't even see in the photo example. Yeah, that's the problem, Jim. Surely it's not just you overlooking something. Oh wait, it is.
Over at Ida Davidsen's, it's Roadblock time and the team member has to remember four different sandwich order numbers and then memorize and recite the number and all the ingredients to Ida. Kym steps up and proclaims to Ida that she's about to be her worst waitress ever. Despite an initial flub, Kym seems to have taken a very measured and careful approach and it pays off. They get their clue punting them to the Pitstop at VM Houses.
The cyclists are heading to Phil before any of the others have finished the Detour. That, kids, is the benefit of not only getting on the first flight but running a near flawless leg. Phil rewards them with a first place finish and a pair of new cars.
Super Fannies have caught up somewhat and joined the others at Parking Space. Amy & Maya successfully recreate their living room parking space and get their clue. Nearly simultaneously, Brooke has given her arms quite the workout by balance the cake all the way to the restaurant. They get their receipt signed and then their clue from the bakery.
At this point, we are treated to the clip of Jim's proclamation of desired dominance, which is then followed by them getting denied again and then deciding to bail on the task and switch to Cake. Maybe that bakery sells humble pie.
The Survivors have now finished and it's clear that the living room setting was the less tricky one. Both Team TNT and the surfers keep getting denied for the same flower pot problem as the dentists.
At the Roadblock, Maya is peppily trying to memorize the ingredients when Robbie and Whitney join the task. Robbie explains that he's not sure how this is going to go since wrestling inherently comes with a lot of hits to the head. But, as we've come to expect from him, he is having fun with each dramatic and /or comedic delivery of the ingredients, even though he's wrong.
Maya, on the other hand, is simply a distraction to Whitney because the candy girl's audible muttering is throwing the blonde off.
Back-to-back-to-back, the Super Fannies, Adam & Bethany and Tim & Te Jay all conquer the Parking Space. The light bulb moment for TNT and Hang Ten came at the right time, because they need to get to the Roadblock soon as the three teams there are about to leave.
Maya's innocent look of confusion when the customer pretends that the order is wrong was just adorable. I really don't know if she and Amy and make it to the end, but I am rooting for them as the underdogs this season. Goofball Robbie finally gets it, as does Whitney. It's a battle for second through fourth place.
And running to the mat in second place is Tag Team. I hope Brooke & Robbie stick around, because I am enjoying this couple that I initially thought I would hate. In third we get Keith & Whitney (who were surprisingly low-key this week) and Amy & Maya in fourth.
Misti & Jim are making progress on the cake delivery but lose a flag on the way. That'll gonna cost them even more time that they really don't have to spare. They luckily get it together and are finally heading to the Roadblock firmly in last place. The best case scenario is that they have to use the Save. The worst case scenario is that it's a non-elimination and they get to keep it which means that we will have to hear from Jim for a minimum of two more weeks.
At the Roadblock, Te Jay jumps at the chance. Why? Because he's a waiter in the real world. As such, he blazes through the task and they leave to claim fifth place at the Pitstop.
That leaves Nici and Adam taking on the Roadblock. The dentists catch up with them and Misti tries her hand and memory at the Roadblock.
Misti employs a sing-song memorization technique that should work out but she is getting denied over and over. Meanwhile, Nici gets it on her first try and Adam on his second. It's now only a question of elimination or non-elimination leg because the dentists will be last this week.
But there's still time to revisit the in-fighting of the Super Fannies. They are now bickering again about the directions and not communicating with one another. Shelley even surrenders the driver's seat to let Nici do what she felt was right. While it seems kid of childish on mom's part, Shelley explains that she is just not willing to contribute to Nici's meltdown. As they are about to check in as number six, Nici has to be told not to walk away by Phil, who then tells her that this is the time to be an adult and talk through this.
On the mat, Phil tells Bethany to dry her tears because the surfers are number seven and still racing.
At the restaurant, Misti finally decides to review the clue instructions and realized that she wasn't giving the sandwich number with her ingredients. On her ninth attempt, she gets her clue. Disappointment is splattered all over their faces, and for a team that has been pretty careful with the details, this was an epic failure of a leg.
Of course, Team DDS is last and Jim hands over the Save but Phil tells them they can keep it because this is a non-elimination. Yup, my worse case scenario occurs. Jim says that it was humbling and all the confidence they had has been shaken because the tasks did match up with their skills and they failed. Let's see if that newfound humility is fleeting or not.
Next week: The double U-turn is in play and Chompers think they are a target, which they should be. Jerky Keith tries to muscle his way in front of Shelley and then says "if you push me again I'll..."
Shelley: "You'll wait?!?" Exactly, Shelley, he'll wait?
We shall see this week.