Snakes and Liars. Where's the snake and who is this liar? There are actually lots of snakes with 2 liars in a doorway.
The teams set out from Tofino full of excitement as they open their first clue to find out they
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| Jinder is overstimulated. Again. |
are on their way to Hong Kong. Jinder - who seems to have just got over his excitement of being on the Amazing Race Canada, now has to deal with the fact they are on their way to China. He's so excited he has to stop to tell the cameraman. I would tell him he needs to calm down, but he is way too fun to watch. They must make their way to the Tian Tan Buddha perched high atop a peak on Lantau Island and are given $440 spending money for this leg on their Scotia Bank card.
Here are the departure times:
Meaghan and Natalie 11:01 AM
Alain and Audrey 11:14
Mickey and Pete 11:46
Cormac and Nicole 12:06
Pierre and Michel 12:13
Sukhi and Jinder 12:53
Ryan and Rob 1:25
Laura and Jackie 1:26
Rex and Bob 6:14 PM
Looking pretty bad for Rex and Bob, seven hours behind the lead team, right? Wrong. There is only one flight per day from Vancouver to Hong Kong...it IS Air Canada after all. How very convenient for nullifying that pesky penalty. At Vancouver airport, just as Audrey mentions they still don't know who the eliminated team in Tofino was, when lo and behold, in comes Rex and Bob. Rex even does a little pirouette thing. Drats! The one thing they didn't show, and what a lot of people were wondering, is how the teams traveled from Tofino to Vancouver. They took the ferry from Victoria and its a shame this wasn't shown, it would have been beautiful.
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Climbing the million 268 steps at Tian Tan. |
Its night when they arrive in Hong Kong. Most of the teams have a hard time figuring out how to get from the airport to the cable car which will take them across to Lantau. Except Rex and Bob who used a payphone in Vancouver to inquire. But this little advantage was all for not, for the Buddha is closed until 8 AM the next morning. Instead, they must sign up for three groups for the blessings from the Monks. Natalie & Meaghan, Rex & Bob and Laura & Jackie are in the first group. Alain & Audrey, Cormac & Nicole and Ryan & Rob are in the second, while Sukhi & Jinder, Pierre & Michel and Mickey & Pete are the last group. After the morning blessings, the teams have to climb the 268 steps up to the Buddha itself. Rex and Bob marvel at the hockey girls' ability to take two steps at a time. The clue tells them to find the Golden Dragon at Causeway Bay in Hong Kong. So its back on the cable car they go.
Here they find a Detour. It's "Kung Fu Master" or "Masterchef". In Kung Fu Master, they must learn a complex routine. In Masterchef, they are given a list of ingredients by Masterchef Canada's Alvin Leung at his restaurant, Bo Innovation. Laura & Jackie and Sukhi & Jinder choose Masterchef, while everyone else picks the Kung Fu routine. At first
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| Alain & Audrey fail. But still manage to look awesome. |
Rex and Bob want to do Masterchef. An argument ensues. Of course, Rex has to comment that he has a star on the Walk of Fame,
holds the Order of Canada, and blah, blah, blah, so the Kung Fu should
be easy. Probably the wise choice because Alvin Leung, AKA the Demon Chef, can be a real ball-buster. Only it didn't really work out that way. They still have a hard time with it. Natalie and Meaghan show up, only to hand over their Express Pass to the Kung Fu Master. Their reasoning is that if they can use it to get ahead of it on this leg, it will give them an advantage in the next. Probably not a good idea. I have a hunch they don't believe they can handle anything resembling a dance move or a set routine like this. I still don't know why they didn't try the Kung Fu...all they had to do was think of it as high-sticking with some fancy footwork. All joking aside, the girls probably knew there was a U-Turn and didn't want to risk it, knowing there was a huge target on their back.
All the teams seem to struggle with the Kung Fu routine except Cormac and Nicole who find
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| The Demon's list. |
that yelling with each move seems to help. They jump into second place behind the hockey girls. Alain and Audrey on the other hand, just can't get the moves down despite Alain saying how it should be easy because he is an actor and a stuntman. They still look pretty awesome though. They fall way behind here, but I think it was still a better choice for them. Meanwhile, the teams doing the Masterchef challenge are having a far worse go of it thanks to one of Alvin's ingredients - Canadian Maple Syrup. Try finding that in Hong Kong. Laura and Jackie bring Alvin fresh chili peppers instead of Sichuan peppers and he sends them back after grilling them for it. This puts them in last place.
[Note: There was a double U Turn here that had to be edited out due to production errors. Rex and Bob U Turned Natalie and Meaghan who had already jumped ahead of the guys because they used their Express Pass. This could have easily been corrected, but then another mistake was made. Anyways, its rather disappointing, and a big fail by production who weren't on their toes during filming.]
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| Aaah. They went thataway, Doc. |
The next task is a Roadblock at Shee Wong Restaurant with the clue reading, "There's a snake in my soup." This can't be good. They must down a local delicacy of snake gall bladder bile mixed in with a bit of wine, then have a bowl of snake soup. Of course they had to show the snakes getting cut open with each team that arrives. Why? Why? Why? Nasty. Surprisingly, none of the teams had much trouble downing this concoction, not even the vegans. There has been a bit of a reaction to CTV showing this practice on TV, with some claiming animal cruelty. Perhaps these people are looking at this the wrong way. None of these people would have even known about this delicacy had they not seen it on CTV. It just sounds like they would rather have turned a blind eye to it like it didn't exist, like they had never known about it, and maybe it will go away. Well, now CTV has given you a new cause.
Meaghan burps (and politely excuses herself) while leaving the restaurant. Perhaps we should nickname this team 'Burps and Barfs". Just kidding.
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| Please, Sir...may I have another? |
Nicole downs it like a champ, but only after scolding Cormac for interrupting her concentration. Pierre and Michel get the clue but don't want to tip off Ryan & Rob and Mickey & Pete who can't find the restaurant. So they hide in a doorway alcove. Mickey and Pete wonder where "the Frenchies" went, but then find the twins hiding and ask them where it is. Michel points them in the opposite direction. Reminded me of a Bugs Bunny "They went thataway" routine. But with a French-Canadian accent of course. Mickey and Pete eventually figure out they really shouldn't trust 2 guys hiding in a doorway in Hong Kong. Lesson learned. Mickey seems to enjoy the snake stuff so much he asks for another. Rex stood outside in shocked disbelief as Bob took the fall on this task. Sukhi was by far the most amusing, first getting squirted by snake guts in the face and then asking if the soup was glutten free. Laura and Jackie are the last to arrive behind Sukhi and Jinder, proving that Masterchef challenge was a bad idea.
The last task was for a Route Marker. They had to go to The Avenue of the Stars and recreate several of Bruce Lee's famous poses, under the direction of a "local Movie Director". This was no biggie at all, the teams were in and out quickly. From here it was on to the pitstop located at the Kowloon Walled City Park. They had to search the extensive grounds for Jon. Here is the finish order.
Natalie and Meaghan 1st. Is this getting a bit monotonous to you? Jon of course has to call their third win a hat trick. They were "assisted" on this one by that Express Pass. They win 2 return tickets to anywhere in China that Air Canada flies and another $2,000.
Nicole and Cormac 2nd. That Nicole is some kind of terminator-beast-supermom being.
Pierre and Michel 3rd. They are developing a reputation as the team that can't be trusted. But this is Amazing Race, right? Someone has to do it.
Mickey and Pete 4th. Kind of gullible, but still a threat. I'm stoked just waiting for their game to kick in.
Ryan and Rob 5th. Looking good guys. I think you're finally getting the hang of this Amazing Race thing.
Alain and Audrey 6th. Was this leg just a little hiccup or are they going to eventually self-destruct?
Rex and Rob 7th. Too much bickering, guys. Love the one liners but there is only so much of the arguing the average viewer can take.
Sukhi and Jinder 8th. Close call. You guys need to calm down a bit.
Laura and Jackie. 9th and eliminated. I am really sad to see these girls leave. I think their downfall was choosing a Detour challenge (Masterchef) because they like to cook and thought it would be cool meeting Chef Leung. The "shopping-list-in-a-foreign-country" challenge has led to the downfall of so many teams on Amazing Race, and there is always one item that's wrong. Another lesson for future TARC applicants.
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| Bye-bye girls, we hardly knew you. |
