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To the surprise of no one, for the third straight leg, Team Dude Andy & Tommy hit the mat in first place and get rewarded with an additional $5,000 each, which Andy exclaims, “We get to bring our wives on the trips we won.” Phil is 100% correct in this assessment of their leg: “You guys absolutely smoked this course.”

Right behind them is a team I didn’t think could pull out a second place finish with such a wide margin: siblings Justin & Jennifer.

Instead of using the compass provided to ensure they are heading 13 minutes north, Ernie & Cindy are cruising around the Andaman Sea, while Laurence & Zac get their Roadblock clue. Finally, grandparents Bill & Cathi finish the Detour and leave the twins lost in a cluster of overturned umbrellas. Cathi joins Marcus and Sandy in helping the girls with a suggestion to use a shell to dig the holes deeper.

Is it just me or are Liz & Marie the Amazing Race charity case team this season? Are they that inept where the others feel so sorry for them that they risk their own standing in the race by offering help? No, it’s not just me and yes, they are THAT inept.

Zac quickly climbs the Roadblock and gets their clue, while Amani reads the clue and gives Marcus a breather by choosing to do it. On the less supportive side, Sandy immediately volunteers Jeremy for the Roadblock for their team.

Ernie & Cindy are fruitlessly searching for anything that resembles race flag colors, but since they are stuck out in open water, which means randomly pointing out the very few boats out there. They have yet to realize that the medallion is their destination.

The twins explode with anger after noticing that their chairs are misaligned but after three hours of beach work, it is pretty justified. They are the last ones to get out of the Detour.

Amani has overcome some trepidation with the rock climbing height and stays just ahead of Jeremy, who has no issue at all with this Roadblock.

Laurance & Zac’s sailing expertise is their albatross at this point. They overthink the clue beyond merely pointing the driver where they should go. Instead they begin dissecting the map to navigate. They are quickly slipping out of third place.

Pa decides to do the Roadblock and it once again proves to be a simpler task than I expected.

Fueled by animosity, Team Test Drive Jeremy & Sandy hit the mat as team number three. They are still on the mat as Laurence & Zac are checked in as number four. Amani & Marcus don’t see the signs pointing them to the floating stadium, so they slip from third team to get to the village to the sixth team to hit the Pitstop, right after Ernie & Cindy.

The race for last is anticlimactic with the twins so far behind they can only hope for a non-elimination. As expected, Ma & Pa are number seven and the girls are last. Any prayers they may have said paid off as they are spared elimination. That makes two non-eliminations this season that spared undeserving and underperforming teams.

Time for a late-breaking correction: I rescind my power ranking statements about Jeremy. He proved this week that he is still a tool with a short fuse and he & Sandy were the primary arguers this episode.

Well, I will say my own little prayer that this week goes by fast and we get a proper elimination next week when the teams take on Bangkok.

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