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No airline delays means that the Afghanimals are gleefully the first teams in “the mother country…sort of” as they call it and heading to the Sheikh Zayed Mosque for the next clue. As they travel to the mosque, the other plane also lands on time; this is going to be one fast and close leg.

The cousins are the first ones to the clue and directed to Irani Souk but they pass Jason & Amy who arrive next.

All the teams marvel at this truly, magnificent looking setting and, in accordance with the Muslim customs, the female racers have to cover their heads and remove their shoes before entering the mosque. Surprisingly, Marie minds her manners and doesn’t insult an entire populace, which is what I expected from her. Tim evens offers that he likes this more subdued Marie much more and requests the rest of the race be held on the grounds of the mosque. If only, Tim…if only. Every team is now heading to the next clue, which is the Detour.

The choices this week are Sort It Out or Sew It Up. For Sort It Out, the teams have to recreate an elaborately set up tray of dates, which includes various types of dates. The date supply from which the teams can choose are placed on a few marked tables around the area. For Sew It Up, they have to build a traditional wire fishing net that has a base of about five feet and a dome over the top.

After Leo & Jamal arrive first and pick Sort, the order of teams becomes a non-factor. They have all converged on the clue box. For some strange reason, Ally & Ashley seek the opinion of Tim & Marie about the task they are going with. This makes me think that the girls are a bit more co-dependent on the Race than I thought. I suspected it was just allegiance to the Afghanimals but, basically, asking the exes for approval on the task seems weak.

On the other hand, the same conversation between Jason & Amy and Travis & Nicole fits their Race relationship, since they have been working together for several legs now and had no secret of their alliance. This duo of duos is going to Sew. With Nicky & Kim also opting for Sort, the New Englanders and doctors will be the only ones sweating out the fishing net task in the sweltering 110 degree heat.

Over at Sort, the cousins are now joined by the others and, unbeknownst to them, they encounter their first mistake of the leg. Foolishly, Leo insists that the dates they need are only at this one spot at the market and doesn’t seem to bother looking for the any other tables. Jamal feels the dates aren’t correct according to the example but he doesn’t push the objection, which is surprising. They continue to work on the display, in vain.

Apparently, all the repressed oppressive behavior at the mosque has come to a head for Marie because not two minutes into the task, her yelling at Tim to hurry reaches an unholy volume. To his credit, he is finally no longer a shrinking violet when it comes to her behavior. When she begins to ask/demand for him to tell her what the order for the side he was memorizing, Tim shoots back, “I don’t know because you were yelling at me.” He stands his ground and doesn’t waver in his insistence that she needs to dial it down. He even resorts to the childish yet hilarious tactic of ignoring her demands and just commenting on how beautiful the skyline is. Later, after revisiting the example previously, Tim feels he knows how it should be arranged but Marie questions it and asks him to go look again. This prompts him to say, “I don’t need to because I know what you are doing is wrong.” While humorous to the viewer (at least *this* viewer), the other teams aren’t so amused.

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