The Amazing Race Recap
Episode 1 - Part 2
By Daron Aldridge
October 1, 2014
This Roadblock sets people up with a complicated task straight out the chute on season 25. They must select a bottle with unique coordinates and starting point (barrels, bell, anchor, wheel), and then use the shovel with one yard marked on its handle and an old school floating compass to ascertain the location of a treasure chest with their next clue. The other catch is that this compass doesn't work like a traditional one that always points north. Whatever direction is facing you is the direction you should be heading. So there is a huge margin for error on this task. Tim and Adam take the task for their teams and immediately flub the task. At least Adam makes the expected mistake of reading the compass like it’s a normal one, but Tim just goes straight to the bell and starts digging. Coordinates be damned for Tim, apparently.
By now, the first flight's teams have all completed the climb and jump with the dentists and cyclists now approaching the beach and Dennis & Isabelle with the bottle in hand.
Back at the plaza, the scramble to sign up is getting ugly. Survivor's Keith & Whitney get the first spot and mom/daughter Shelley & Nici take the other spot on seaplane four.
The scientists of Team Candy Crush Amy & Maya slip into the next plane and the real estate sisters decide to play dirty. As firefighter Michael is in the process of writing his team’s name on the board, one of the indistinguishable blonde sisters actually takes the grease pen out of his hand and steals that spot on plane five. That leaves Team Office Fire and the wrestlers Brooke & Robbie on the last seaplane.
Michael & Scott are justifiably angry about the way the girls played that and hope that karma comes back around. Sadly, karmic payback isn't usually this immediate on the Amazing Race so they may not be around to witness their comeuppance.
On the beach, dentist Jim and biking Alli are the chosen ones for the Roadblock, as well as dater Dennis. Jim's wife beans with pride as she explains that he is the smartest man I have ever met. I pegged them to annoy me, but they surprisingly haven't been overbearing yet. It's still early, though.
While the first group struggles (such as Alli starting at the wrong point altogether because "a bell can also be an anchor”), Jim shows off his big brain and compares what the compass in his watch is saying to how he is reading the provided compass. Bingo! He figures out how to read the compass and even passes along this insight to Adam. The fact that he doesn't get cocky or rude about it and shares even though it wasn't necessary or expected shows that maybe he is a pretty decent fellow.
Even though he shares the knowledge, no one can seem to measure correctly. So that puts the dentists way out front as Jim finds his treasure first. The clue directs them to the Pitstop at Fort Christian. Short of a catastrophe, the Save will be in the hands of Team DDS.
Continued:
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