by Sandhurst Miggins

After the drama of Hong Kong on The Amazing Race, teams were told to fly to Seoul, South Korea and then drive to the North Korean border at the Demilitarized Zone. Um...Amazing Race says what? Everyone is confused and a little excited by the thought of seeing Kim Jong Il so they immediately head to the airport.

Nat and Kat, Jill and Thomas and Brook and Claire are all scheduled to leave on the 12:35 am flight, which departs 6 hours from the time they arrive at the airport. That's great news for Nick and Vicki who are waiting out a 6 hour penalty but lady luck is not on their side as they arrive at the airport just in time to see it depart. The next flight to Seoul leaves at 9:30am thus turning their 6 hour penalty into a 9 hour set back.

Anyway in Seoul, teams are told that they must white water raft down the DMZ river and then take a military Humvee to the next clue box. You have to admit the Race has definitely taken this season to the next level. Come on, how cool is it that these teams can say "Oh yeah I rafted on the border of North Korea."

When they finally get to the clue box, they are met with a road block which tells them to pick a headband and then try to find the corresponding soldier wearing the same headband in a field of 200 soldiers doing martial arts. Jill and Thomas are the first to complete the challenge followed by Brooke and Claire, Nat and Kat are not too far behind and Nick and Vicki, well, they are getting some much needed rest on the flight over.

The next clue tells them to take the subway to Seoul's World Cup stadium, only Jill and Thomas make the first train leaving the all female teams on the second train. At the stadium they are met with the Detour for this leg. Full Throttle or Full Bottle. In throttle, teams must suit up in speed skating attire and complete a 24 lap relay around the ice. In Bottle teams must transport 6 giant glass jars of Ginseng roots to a holistic store and then drink a full glass of ginseng. All three teams decide to do the Skating task. The clue actually states that teams must either take a subway or walk to the ice rink, which is a rule that Brook and Claire completely forget to read and are off in a cab.

At the ice rink we are taken to a montage of butt slapping and people falling on cold hard ice. Thomas and Jill are the first to finish but are having the usual problems of finding a cab driver that knows where the Pit Stop is, allowing Claire and Brook to beat them to the mat. However, due to them taking a cab instead of the subway, they incur a 30 minute penalty making Jill and Thomas team number 1 with Brook and Claire 2nd and Nat and Kat 3rd. Unfortunately it's time for Nick and Vicki to say goodbye to the race but honestly they made it much further than a lot of people thought they would have so congratulations to them.

Well, the finale is set. Jill and Thomas, Brook and Claire and Nat and Kat will race to the end for the million dollar prize. They are all pretty close together so it really is anyone's game at this point in time. They truly are the three strongest teams of this season so I am excited to see how it plays out. Will an all female team win, what most believe to be the most challenging season of the race since it's early beginnings? You'll have to tune in next week for the grand finale of The Amazing Race 17!

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

(Image courtesy of CBS)


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