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James & Abba are the first ones done and off to an actual challenge…I hope. It looks like there will be at most 10 minutes separating teams as they finish that bullsh…sorry…bull race task. This next clue reveals the Roadblock that asks the question, “Who likes to party?” For the Roadblock, the person has to operate a pedal-powered children’s ride (think the mini carousel outside the grocery store) with four kids on it, while making eight different balloon shapes (a hat and an animal for each kid). This one could be difficult for any team that hasn’t mastered patting their head and rubbing their belly at the same time.

Megadeth’s James accepts the task for this team and Amy & Daniel shows up next. Amy eagerly takes the task. And one-by-one the other teams arrive and none of them seem to be particularly excelling at the balloon shape making portion of the Roadblock.

Here’s the breakdown of who else is attempting the Roadblock: Abbie, Longhorn Lexi, Jaymes, Nadiaya, Brittany, Josh, Will and Rob. The order of arrival is thrown out the window here because the females are far and away more adept at this task. Lexi leapfrogs past the other teams and finishes first with Amy and Nadiaya right behind her. Then Megadeth James and mega-buff Jaymes are the next two done with Abbie following shortly after.

With Brent making up some time at the Roadblock, there appears to be some validity to Brent’s assertion that “There are some things that gays are naturally better at and balloon animals is one of them.” With their departure, the remaining three teams of the blondes, substitutes and the monster truckers are all making slow to no progress with the balloon animals, thus guaranteeing their decline letters from clown colleges across the country.

Team Longhorn and twins Natalie & Nadiaya are the first to arrive at the next location and the first Detour of the season: Ice by the Pound or Fish by the Barrel. For Ice, they have to transport ten 65 pound blocks of ice to a truck and then deliver it to a market. For Fish, they go immediately to the same market, get to two barrels of fish and prep a fish stand properly before getting their clue. This one comes across as a brawn versus attention to detail scenario as the Fish setup could be overly tedious and a pain to complete. I would go with Ice but that’s just me. Let’s see what the actual competitors choose.

The two teams on site go with different tasks: Longhorns on Ice and twins on Fish. Lexi explains that they hope to use Trey’s strength to get through the Detour quickly. Whether they are trying to convince us or themselves, the twins say multiple times that they are not divas and aren’t afraid of having to get physical in challenges. All I want is to hear from other teams at this point.

Back at the Roadblock, blondes Caitlin & Brittany and Rob & Kelley finish up their balloon animals, while Will is struggling more than any one person should. He has officially completed zero of eight animals and they are the only ones left at the Roadblock. If only the substitute could have another substitute fill in for him. With heat-induced sweats and tremors, Will seems on the verge of a seizure but he says it was more of a meltdown. With the encouragement of Gary and heeding his advice to take a breath and a break, Will starts to make progress.

So far, we still only have two teams at the Detour and a pair of perplexed cabbies giving Amy & Daniel and Rob & Kelley unwanted tours of Indonesia. No word on the other half dozen teams at this point, though.

The Longhorns have finished the loading portion of Ice and are off to the market, while the twins are attempting to get their stand set up. It appears that I was accurate in describing the Fish task as tedious based upon what Natalie & Nadiaya are going through.

Well, we can add James & Abba to the count of bad cabbies this leg, as their driver tries to drop them off at a place called Wijaya Tire instead of Wijaya Motors. Unsurprisingly, Team Beefcake and Abbie & Ryan both recognize that strength would be a big advantage and they opt for Ice, making relatively short work of the loading.

Sub Will has powered through, making the requisite number of balloons, and finally gets their clue but it may be too late, unless the lost teams are really, really lost. Fortuitously, that is the reality facing Amy & Daniel and Rob & Kelley so far. Both of these teams seem to be getting farther and farther from the Detour spot.

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