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Phil gives them the hint “Queensland and Northern Territories Aerial Services” (which the viewers find out is the acronym for QANTAS airline). He points them to a field with hundreds of paper airplanes staked in the ground with different airlines written on them. Away they go.
A few teams strike out immediately and at merely ten minutes or so into the race, dad Gary is already exhibiting signs of frustration to Mallory. Mel & Mike, Zev & Justin and Jet & Cord are the first three out of there with their clues and en route to LAX for a flight to Sydney, Australia. Fast and furious, the first flight is filled up by the Goths, Ron & Christina, the Globetrotters, Margie & Luke and their former alliance Jaime & Cara. With all the spots on flight number one sewn up, the stragglers are fighting to avoid the automatic U-Turn. Kisha & Jen escape that fate and get their clue and seats on flight two.

Clearly, Amanda & Kris’ strategy of just randomly selecting planes isn’t paying off and neither is Gary’s exasperation. Looks like a good time for a commercial break to manufacture tension because as soon as we are back both teams figure out QANTAS as the clue and dash to Phil. Unfortunately, Amanda & Kris can’t blame Luke & Margie for a U-Turn because the engaged couple have essentially U-Turned themselves by being last.

Both flights take off as scheduled but the Amazing Race is completely vulnerable to outside forces. For the first time, a flight has to make an emergency stop in Honolulu because a passenger had a heart attack. As Zev points out, the 90 minute lead has evaporated but Big Easy has perspective on the ordeal, in that at least they were able to land to make sure the passenger is getting the help he needs. That may not be the competitive killer instinct some would display but it shows that he understands that life is life and the game is a game.

The second flight touches down at 10:20 a.m. and teams have to head to a ferry to Oceanworld. The back of the pack is now thrilled to be the front of the pack, with Amanda & Kris eyeing the Express Pass to counteract their impending U-Turn. As they are making their way across the harbor, the other flight lands nearly 30 minutes later. Most of those teams get on the train to the ferry, except Ron & Christina, Mel & Mike and Jet & Cord.

As the first teams get to the Roadblock, the producers decide to kick it up a notch instantly. The team member must get a decoding compass from the floor of a 1.5 million gallon tank filled with sharks and stingrays. Then they have to use the compass to decode a message in nautical flags. The producers must think making racers soil themselves or lose limbs is the way to get back into Emmys’ good graces.

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