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(For the record, I picked doctors Nat & Kat to be eliminated. I may 0-for-2 before the hour is done.)

Jill & Thomas arrive at Heathrow to the unwelcome news that Virgin Atlantic only has one flight to Accra daily, so the great Amazing Race equalizer has evaporated their two-hour lead and the need to show our teams hanging around the airport. Let’s just jump right past the six-hour flight and get to Ghana. Sir Richard Branson may have just saved the bottom-dwelling teams.

The teams land and dash for the taxis and the country of Ghana gets mixed reactions. First Team Tat’s Vicki is in awe of the people, as are Brook & Claire. And what does Captain Multiculturalism Chad muster up, “Wow…look at all that trash.” He is quite the sensitive soul.

Here is what Ghana is filled with based upon the next few minutes: crazy cabbies and people asking tourists for money. For the first that I can recall, every team seems to have hired a cabbie hell-bent on speeding and narrowly missing pedestrians and other vehicles. Good for the teams as they race…bad if you are trying to cross the street in Accra. I love how one close call actually cuts to the puckered/wincing face of the driver as if bracing for impact.

Thanks to a panhandling man begging for money from Jonathon & Connor while they are at a stoplight, who they denied (he paid them back with spit), we hear a nice, choral “Please drive faster” delivered to their cabbie. Father/daughter Gary & Mallory turn down another person asking for money but she is apparently more sweet and apologetic and escapes saliva-free. Big-hearted bio-mom Andie made a deposit in the karma make by giving some cash to a boy. Let’s see if that was an investment.

With no clear lead team and no one embarrassingly lost (i.e. Ron & Tony last leg), we have Team HSN, Chad & Stephanie, Team Tat, the volleyballers, Michael & Kevin, and Jill & Thomas all getting their clue to go to Makola Market within seconds of each other. The others filter in not far behind with Andie & Jenna in last…again.

Nick & Vicki use some keen eyes to be the first ones to spot the clue box in the hectic (which seems to be an extreme understatement) market. Time to see what this leg’s Roadblock is. A team member has to sell $10 worth of sunglasses in a sea of competing vendors. The task seems straightforward sitting on my couch but it’s likely going to be a tough one.

Nick takes the task for his team but virtually every other team is there now and their grasp of first place is tenuous at best. Here’s who will be joining Nick in the market: HSN’s Brook, Jill, hothead Chad, volleyballer Rachel, dad Michael (who says he is used to this type of market growing up in Taiwan), and Dr. Kat. By the time that Jonathan & Connor get done debating who will do the task (Connor relents and takes the Roadblock), a few of the teams have already racked up at least one sale.

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