By  Arthur Perkins
 
The start of this episode is a continuation of the action from Leg 10 in Beijing. Jaime/Cara thought they will getting a first place finish, but discovered that they must Keep On Racing. Since it was not a pit stop Phil handed them  their next clue. The same logic follows for Margie/Luke, Tammy/Victor, and Kisha/Jen based primarily on when they ended the DETOUR at the natatorium. We know from following the Ep. 10 tasks that the TBC meetings with Phil occur around 1030pm for Jaime/Cara and Margie/Luke, around 1050pm for Tammy/Victor and maybe 1115pm for Kisha/Jen. There is no indication of how we get to the next task at sunrise in Beijing (705am for that day of the year). Since team arrive to find a clue for getting a Travelocity Roaming Gnome at different times, that indicates that Hours of Operation are not involved. I think that there was an 8 hour pit-stop-equivalent for each team in a hotel, but cannot say for sure.
 
Finding the roving gnomes takes place at Bei Hai Dong Men shopping mall. It is not too difficult, but since this is a random task the first team to find one of presumably 4 gnomes can do so much easier than the fourth of the teams. Next is a trip to Gu Gong Xi Bei Jiao. There teams must get an electric bicycle and ride it past Tiananmen Square to Dong Dan Di Tie Zhou, the Dong Dan subway to search outside it for the next cluebox. That provides a clue for a DETOUR of Beijing Opera or Chinese Waiter. Beijing Opera is at Hu Guang Hui Guan where teams get into appropriate costumes, one for the gentleman and one for the princess, and have the other team member apply makeup to them.  Then it will be checked by the master who has the clues. Beijing Opera gives a significant advantage to Jamie/Cara since in their former Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders stint they learned a lot about professional makeup. Margie/Luke, Jamie/Cara and Kisha/Jen all elect this option since the other one will be difficult for them. The Chinese Waiters option is tailor-made for Tammy/Victor. They have to get to the Hu Guang Hui Guan restaurant (which must be very close to the Opera House) to take single menu selections from each of 5 diners in Mandarin Chinese and repeat them back to the chef in understandable and correct Mandarin. Those orders were for good luck fish, vegetarian noodles, fried chicken, new taste beef, and golden pork spare ribs. With their understanding of Mandarin Chinese, they should breeze through this one, right? Wrong. They did very well, but their first attempt was rejected by the chef for one minor error. They had to do it again, which was without difficulty.
 
Back at Beijing Opera it was taking longer, then Kisha/Jen, Margie/Luke and Jaime/Cara finished. All teams have to find the U-turn cluebox, which it turns out is in the same building as the Beijing Opera. It was here that Tammy/Victor did the best work for this entire leg. They had to go on foot to Wen Change Ge to locate the Opera House portion where the U-Turn cluebox. They did so very rapidly and are first there. They have already decided that if this is available they will U-Turn Kisha/Jen because of their concerns about beating them in a footrace. One of them leaves a note below the posted photo of Kisha/Jen saying "Sorry, but we did not think we could beat you in a footrace." All the other teams had a difficult time searching for the U-Turn box since it has their next clue. Jaime even exclaim that they had been doing so for 3 hours before they found it. It was right in the building they started from. There is no question that Tammy and Victor's knowledge of Mandarin was very helpful in them finishing Chinese Waiters DETOUR quickly and getting to the U-Turn station.
 
The next task is trip from Wen Chan Ge at the Dong Hua Men Yi Shi Street Market and a covered stall.  Victor is chosen for this ROADBLOCK "Who's got A Taste for Adventure?" to eat scorpions, grasshoppers, beetle larvae, and starfish tentacles. He crunches through them without difficulty, they get the clue to the pit stop outside the famous Niao Chao Bird's Nest stadium used in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. They find Phil and the greeter on the mat for first place and a guarantee that they are in the final leg.
 
Margie/Luke found the U-Turn box next and they went on to the ROADBLOCK and Margie eats for the team. She does OK and they go to the pit stop to finish 2nd. Kisha/Jen finally find the U-Turn box and see the nice note left for them. They now have to do Chinese Waiter, which is very difficult since they speak no Chinese. I am certain that the chef applied different standard for them than for Tammy/Victor or they would still be there now attempting to finish this. They are given the clue after their 3rd attempt and they head for the ROADBLOCK. Jaime/Cara lag behind as a result of having the most difficulty in finding the U-Turn box. They arrive after Jen started eating and Cara takes it. Jen has to drink a lot of water to get the food down. Kisha comments on this and asks her to minimize it, but Jen rightly tells her that it is necessary. Cara plows through and they leave minutes behind.
 
At Niao Chao Bird's Nest Stadium (a site of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games), Kisha/Jen arrive and cannot quickly find the pit stop. Jen really needs to pee and they take a minute or two at a convenient porta potty. Jaime/Cara are more effective at finding the pit stop and they get there seconds before Kisha/Jen. Kisha/Jen accept that they are out of AR14 with more equanimity than I would have expected.
 
So the Final 3 are Tammy/Victor, Margie/Luke and Jaime/Cara. Anyone can win, although I think Tammy/Victor and Margie/Luke have a slightly better chance than Jaime/Cara. One thing you can count on in the finale is a lot of bunching so that all teams are in the race for the beginning of the critical task or tasks.

(Photo courtesy of CBS)

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