by Sandhurst Miggins

 

On last night's episode of The Amazing Race, teams left St. Petersburg, Russia for the Middle Eastern Sultanate of Oman. As everyone congregates at the travel agency to find flights to Oman, all the teams realize that Chad and Stephanie have slept in. Due to their earlier release Nat and Kat and Brooke and Claire manage to book the first flight arriving in Oman, leaving Nick and Vicki, Mallory and Gary and Jill and Thomas to arrive later on the second flight.

It's two hours after their release time when a flustered Chad and Steph finally arrive on the mat to be let go. They aren't able to get on the second flight but they do manage to get on a flight arriving ten minutes after the second.

 

In Oman all the teams are on the ground and must drive to a fort where they will receive one of three time slots, giving them the go ahead to climb up the fort for their next clue. Nat and Kat and Brooke and Claire receive the 7:30 time slot, while the couples Jill and Thomas and Chad and Steph get the 7:45 slot with Nick and Vicki and Mallory and Gary bring up the rear with 8am. Since the all arrived pretty early in the morning it's a long wait but it's the perfect time for Chad to pop the "big question" to Steph. Aww how romantic.

 

Anyway back to the race. It's 7:30 and teams must now drive to the tallest mountain in Oman where one team member must repel to the bottom, search for a lamp with Aladdin's ring in it among hundreds of bejeweled lamps then pass it on to the attendant for their next clue. The task seems simple enough but getting there is proving to be more difficult than most thought. Nick becomes upset with Vicki when she asks for directions from a local then proceeds to tell Brooke and Claire where to go.

 

Ironically the first to arrive at the mountain is Chad and Steph, gentlemen take note, popping the question can change your fortune. Chad quickly repels and finds a lamp with a ring, only to be followed closely by an even faster Jill, making this a two horse race to win this leg. At the back of the pack it really becomes a case of "The first shall be last and the last shall be first" with Nat and Kat the winners of the previous leg and Mallory and Gary both hopelessly lost in the desert of Oman.

 

It's time for the Detour and teams must choose between pumping and delivering water to a local address in "Water Table" or find local ingredients and preparing a tradition meal in "Wedding Table." Both Chad and Steph and Jill and Thomas decide to do the water task and the race for first continues to get heated. In a stroke of luck Jill and Thomas manages to ask a random stranger for directions to the address and it turns out that the person living in the house is actually his cousin. Chad and Steph are not that fortunate but manage to stay in close second to Jill and Thomas.It is quite clear that the battle for 1st and 2nd is between the couples, for third however it's a scramble between the rockers Nick and Vicki and the tv host Brooke and Claire.

 

Though Nat and Kat are just finishing the Road Block Mal and Gary still have them in their sites and believe that they still have a chance.The final challenge of this leg is the run through the maze that is the local market place to find Ali Baba, so that he can give the teams the final clue. It actually seems to be a fairly easy find for the teams with Jill and Thomas retaining their miniscule lead over Chad and Stephanie. However in his haste to maintain the lead in the final leg of the race Thomas offers to pay a cab driver to lead them to the final Pit Stop, which is a "no, no" on the Amazing Race. Their joy of arriving first is quickly dashed when Phil informs them of their mistake and they must now wait out a 30 minute penalty.

 

As if the day couldn't become even more perfect for them, Chad and Steph arrive just in time to claim the top spot winning a trip for two to Belize. Though they fought a valiant fight, Mallory and Gary were the last team to arrive and were eliminated from the race. I am actually sad to see them go but we really are coming down to the last few legs. I'm definitely surprised at some of the teams that are still in this thing, well maybe only one but we will see who's eliminated next week when the teams fly to Bangladesh on The Amazing Race.

 

 

The Amazing Race airs Sundays at 8/7c on CBS.

 

(Image courtesy of CBS)

 

 

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