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

The options are Ding Ding, which involves riding a old train system’s route to search for three signs that will point to the pit stop (red and yellow signs read “Pit Stop,” Statue” and “Square”) but they have to repeat the route if they don’t get all three, and Sampan, which involves picking up a bird cage and riding a boat into a harbor to find the boat with the same number as the cage. Our surgeons go for Sampan.

Back at the Roadblock, Thomas has finally picked a fake shrimp correctly and gets the clue. At Bruce Lee, Jill & Thomas opt for Ding Ding. My taste would have been for the Sampan task but to each his/her own.

Claire continues to gorge on food and Nick & Vicki have caught up to her. Brook then tells the camera that Claire has been on a diet for her upcoming wedding. Yikes. This is totally the wrong task for her, then. The Amazing Race then devolves into Fear Factor with Claire sprinting to the restroom to make room for more food. Thankfully, the cameraman didn’t catch it on video but the sound guy came through for us.

The first attempt at the Ding Ding task proves unsuccessful for Jill & Thomas as they pass all three signs without noticing.

Apparently, all it took was some upchuck, because Claire finds her fake food soon after getting out of the lavatory. This means Vicki is the last one there. Meanwhile, the Ding Ding ding dongs (sorry) give up and head to the Sampan. They pass the doctors in the harbor still looking for their birds’ owner.

The utter failure of the train task is negated by Jill & Thomas quickly finding their boat. It’s too bad that this doesn’t carry over for them on finding a cab in the middle of the night, which allows Nat & Kat to reclaim first place at least for the time-being en route to the Pitstop.

Quick cuts between cabs create the illusion that it is very tight but Nat & Kat end up on the mat first again. I believe this is the fourth first place finish for them. That puts Jill & Thomas in second and they are probably regretting not U-Turning the doctors last week.

Vicki follows in Claire’s footsteps to the restroom and Nick suggests they take the penalty, which is four hours. This is only acceptable if this is a non-elimination leg but if not, there isn’t that much distance between them and the third place. Vicki vows to not quit. It pays off for her and they are now on their way to the Detour, which they select Sampan.

Team HSN is still searching when Nick & Vicki arrive. Nick is still singing the same song of wanting to quit. Vicki now has to deal with completing the task alone because Nick is sleeping on the deck of the boat. Team HSN completes the Detour while all the drama is unfolding on the anti-Love Boat and they head to the Pitstop. Of course, they get there as team number three.

At this point, I notice that Phil hasn’t congratulated any of the checked in teams on making it the final leg, so this has got to be a non-elimination, which would be good news for Vicki, who wants to stay, but bad news for Nick, who is taking a million dollar nap. Ultimately, Nick wins out and they take a six-hour penalty, so they can bail on the Sampan task. Phil confirms my suspicion that this is a non-elimination leg. But he points out that not only do they have a Speedbump and time-penalty but they are already several hours behind the leaders.

Next week, we have the leg that determines who will be in the finals and I will now revise my prediction. I think that the finals will be Nat & Kat, Jill & Thomas and Team HSN with Nat & Kat taking it all. Their hot streak is reminiscent of Meghan & Cheyne from last fall, who took first place several times throughout their season before claiming the top spot.

I hope you had a great November and see you next week.

Continued:       1       2       3