by David McAlpine

 

Last time on The Amazing Race, the teams traveled to Sweden where the encountered a familiar roadblock: the hay bales. You know, the one that Lena and Kristy spent several hours at, from sun up to sun down, looking for a flag in hundreds of piles of hay. Teams didn’t have as much of a hard time with it this time around, but Gary and Matt screwed up enough that they finished last—only to find out it was a non-elimination leg.

 

First off, props to the Amazing Race people for excellent editing, because I thought everyone was a lot closer than they actually were. Flight Time and Big Easy started off almost two hours ahead of the second team, Meghan and Cheyne, and Gary and Matt had a more than four hour lag time behind the Globetrotters. Still, they’re all leaving at the crack of dawn, so I’m not really sure it’s going to matter that much.

 

The teams get their next destination: Tallinn, Estonia, which they have to take a ferry to. The only ferry? 5:45 pm. Like I said, not going to matter that much.

 

Once in Tallinn, teams have to go find the secret cave of the Brotherhood of the Blackheads, a secret society of merchants. I mean, I may be wrong here, but if you’re given the clue about the lair…is it really that secret anymore? Really?

 

It gets even more complicated, though. Once teams get to the building, they have to find a key to open the door. And, once they open the door, they get shocked by a really loud alarm. Once inside, the teams encounter a Roadblock—one member has to go into the cellar and find a candelabra with a room number on it. Once they go to that room, they’ll find an empty scroll, which they have to use to find their next clue. The secret: they have to let the paper burn a little, because it’s written in invisible ink.

 

Meghan and Cheyne rocket out of that task, while everyone else is kind of stuck behind (including Flight Time, who tries to use a crayon to decode the message). While this madness is all happening, Gary and Matt are off doing their Speed Bump: they have to find a sauna bus and take a five minute sauna. Not only is it relaxing, but they’re surrounded by nice-looking, blonde, attentive Estonian girls—doesn’t sound like much of a punishment to me. However, when they get back to the Roadblock, one of Matt’s first questions to one of the workers is, “Are you a candelabra?” He eventually got what that was.

 

The message leads them to the Pik Hermann Tower Garden, where teams find their Detour: Spike or Sling. In Spike, teams had to play volleyball in the muddy swaps of Estonia (who knew they had them?). Once they got five points, they won. In Sling, teams had to throw vegetables at a moose sign. Once the table with melons on it collapsed, they could move on.

 

At this point, though, it’s pretty evident that Matt and Gary are too far behind to catch up. Apparently it took them forever to find the sauna truck, and Matt failed to get the entire clue from the Roadblock, so they only know to go to the Pik Hermann Tower, not necessarily the garden. Not to mention their taxi driver called another taxi driver to ask for help—but that other taxi driver had Meghan and Cheyne as passengers, so that didn’t help, either. Meghan and Cheyne end up checking in first after they breezed through the volleyball task, earning them a sauna.

 

The other three teams all want to play volleyball, too, but there’s only two courts, so Brian and Ericka have to do Sling, instead. Both Sam and Dan and the Globetrotters have issues getting five points, but they do, and it’s a footrace to the Pit Stop. Dan and Big Easy both take a tumble, they exchange words, and continue running. Sam and Dan edge them out, taking second; the Globetrotters take third and then Brian and Ericka fourth.

 

Now we see the sad montage of Gary and Matt, who we all know is leaving, talking about finishing the task at all costs, seeing them finish the last task in stride (they picked Sling), then checking in last. Yes, it was sad, but let’s be honest, they really had it coming.

 

Tune in to the Amazing Race next week to see the teams travel to Prague. Will it be a non-elimination leg, or will the final three teams be decided? Find out next Sunday at 8/7c on CBS!

 

(Image courtesy of CBS)

 

Follow David at: @DavidMcAlpine

 

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