New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

To prove that the producers love to torture the teams, when Sam, Meghan and Matt are all at the top of the tower, the operator begins playing the few dozen bells that are mere feet above their heads. Awesome. Matt finishes his count and is correct.

Dad and son now drive to their next clue in another town but they stop to ask for directions and get very detailed and long, drawn out directions that allow Meghan and Cheyne and Sam and Dan, who have together hired a cab to follow, to pass them. Let's back up a minute. As Sam and Meghan are leaving the tower with their next clue, Sam tells Tiffany that 62 is the answer. If I was Meghan, I would be quite displeased because she didn't enter an alliance with team poker face, so why should they coast through on her efforts? Sam did this to solely keep Tiffany and Maria in the race longer because they are a physically stronger team, if it comes down to that.

Tiffany locates the operator and gets her clue, thanks to Sam's assist, and is followed by Flight Time. Ericka is the only one left at the bell tower. Her first guess is wrong. I am feeling shades of last week's Big Easy-briefcase debacle. The upside is that they weren't eliminated but that was more to do with Mika lack of performance than their actual performance.

Sam and Dan get to the Detour first and have to choose either Farmer's Game or Farmer's Dance. For either option they must put on traditional Dutch costumes, including wooden shoes. One is a man's outfit and the other is a woman's. After getting gussied up Holland-style, they ride a bike to their selected task. The Game option requires the teams to strip down to their Dutch skivvies, swim across a creek and then complete three holes of a variation of golf in eight strokes or less. The golf clubs are essentially Dutch shoes on a stick and they are hitting what looks like a miniature soccer ball. For the Dance, they have to hit a high striker (the carnival game to test your strength by using a sledgehammer/mallet to ring a bell), perform a dance and eat herring with onions. If not for the swimming, I would go with the Game but given the obvious wind, I would be busting out my best Amsterdam moves.

Meghan and Cheyne arrive and start getting ready, at the same time as Sam and Dan. Both the brothers and Meghan and Cheyne opt for the Game. Matt and Gary show up and choose Dance. Meghan expresses extreme uneasiness with the golf option but Cheyne insists she will be fine.

Back at the bell tower, Ericka is still struggling but Brian tells the camera that he really believes she is doing her best. Maybe that tension is subsiding but we were promised an emotional breakdown in the previews and I want them to deliver.

Tiffany and Maria are now at the Detour. Sam and Dan and Meghan and Cheyne are neck and neck at the tee box but the brothers take a quick lead. They sail through the first hold easily when Meghan and Cheyne restart the hole.

Continued:       1       2       3       4       5