by Vin Convertito

This week's episode of The Amazing Race starts off in Shanghai and continues throughout the busy streets of China. With four teams remaining and a definite elimination this leg, everyone is fixated with a top-three finish.

Jet and Cord are the first to hit the streets as they head to the Garden Bridge in search of their first clue. Brent and Caite are in hot pursuit unlike Dan and Jordan who can't seem to find their way in a land of language barriers. Their new game includes waiting for Louie and Michael to help them along until the detectives will ultimately be slowed down by their imminent speed bump. And their plan works for the most part as the detectives quickly find their way to the Garden Bridge but only after the cowboys and the models have been there first.

Jet and Cord decide to take a bus to the Longhua Temple seeing that the clue said no taxis can be used. When it came time for Brent and Caite to take the bus, Caite gloated at her navigation skills to an audience that presumably hates her and concluded, "people, go screw yourself." I'm pretty sure that makes her not nice and bad karma all rolled into one.

As for this week's roadblock, a team member is forced to "sum up Buddha" by successfully counting all 523 golden statues in the small Longhua Temple. After three wrong answers and having to wait ten minutes in between each guess, Caite allows her team to fall behind Jet's single count victory. Oh, karma, you move so swiftly!

Louie loses ten minutes when he needs a second time to count, but Dan speeds through the detour with a 523 count on his first try. This happening keeps the detectives right behind Dan and Jordan who are patiently waiting for the speed bump to take them out of the race. But before that can happen, all four teams had to take a motorcycle with a side-car to the Yuyuan Gardens in search of this leg's detour.

Interestingly enough, all four teams chose the same detour; Pork Chops! This includes having to find the Art Stone shop and once inside, the teams would have to look under each stone stamp for the one that bear's their name! It was very much like looking for two needles in a haystack as each team systematically went through every item in the shop.

The cowboys and the models maintained their first and second places and Louie and Michael faced a rather pleasant speed bump. Their chore was to toss one coin each into a towering incense burner. Despite the small opening, Louie scored first and fast but it was several tries later that Michael wrapped up the bump. Dan and Jordan tired to capitalize on this gift of time, but the detectives were hardly inconvenienced with the coin toss.

And so it came down to the taxi race to the pit stop; Brent and Caite took first as the cowboys cruised into spot number two. Meanwhile, Dan and Jordan grew frustrated in their cab at the driver's lack of motivation to help them and worse yet, they were locked in the car! With no way out, it appeared that they were going to lose the race. Just the same, the detectives kept their spirits up as they meandered their way to the Riverside Promenade hurriedly looking for the pit stop. Even Phil was sad to deliver the news upon their arrival; Louie and Michael have been eliminated!

With three teams left, the intensity and adventure is getting better and better.

Tune in to The Amazing Race next Sunday at 8/7c on CBS!

(Image courtesy of CBS)

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