Jaunted

THE RACE
Our favorite travelers head to the Netherlands in this leg of the race. From the Atlantis, The Palm, Dubai, the racers go to Dubai International Airport, where they have to catch a flight to Amsterdam. Thing is, the flight leaves at midnight. So the teams get a chance to spend some quality time while waiting for their plane. The racers kick back, with the Globetrotters recounting their fakeout on the God squaders. The hot guys then decide it's time to reveal their own fakeout on the group "We are the token gays," they say. Everyone warmly receives the news...except for maybe the poker pals. "Gay or straight, it doesn’t matter," Tiffany says. "They’re still the most sweet and adorable and gentlemanly guys on this race with us. Who they choose to date, we could really care less. There's a little teardrop it's not us." Mr. America jokes that it explains the matching Baywatch swim trunks the guys were sporting.

The bonding is cut short, because the teams have to go to Afsluitdijk, a 19-mile causeway that connects North Holland and Friesland, where they must find the Lely Monument for their next clue. The beautiful blonds get to the monument first, keeping their winning streak alive. The Globetrotters also stay in the front of the pack. "Guess who's bizzack?" Big Easy says.

Mr. and Mrs. America start off this leg badly. Mr. America can't get the Mercedes to start. "These kids aren't used to luxury cars," Tiffany jokes upon seeing the couple's car probs. The bickering commences. "I don't know if i'm becoming a nagging wife," the former beauty queen says. In a separate interview, Flight Time reveals how much nagging goes on: "If we don't know anyone else's name in the race, we know Brian, because of 'Brian! Brian!'"

ROADBLOCK
The clue at the monument instructs the teams to drive to the city of Groningen and find its tallest building, Martinitoren. There they have to perform a roadblock, where they have to climb up the winding stairs and count the 62 ringing bells in the tower. The task proves to be a breeze for all of the teams. Pinky is the first to successfully count all of the loud bells.

The hot guys seem to forget their poker pals alliance when Sam join forces with Meghan to ensure proper counting. But he still looks out for his favorite ladies, as he whispers the correct number to poker pal Tiffany so she can avoid counting. Mrs. America has some counting issues. She's off by almost 20 and has to go back to recount a second time. Then a third time. Then a fourth time, which is finally the charm. Instead of telling Mrs. America she should go rewatch some Sesame Street to brush up on numbers with the Count, Mr. America shows her some love. "I'm so proud of you baby," he says. The Americas are way behind when they hit the road for the town of Vierhuizen De Marne to find a windmill for their next clue.

DETOUR
At Vierhuizen De Marne, the racers must choose between farmer's game or farmer's dance, both of which are activities that locals do to unwind after a long day's work. In both detours, they must don traditional Dutch costumes—one man and woman's outfit for each team—and ride bikes to the activity. For farmer's game, racers must strip to their Dutch long johns, swim across a lake and then play a round of golf. At each of the three holes, teams must use eight strokes or less, otherwise they have to start over.

For farmer's dance, racers must find a country festival, where one team member must use a mallet on one of those strength-testing carnival-type games and get the bell to ring at the top. Then they have to learn and correctly perform a Dutch dance in front of a crowd. And after getting down, they must eat an unappetizing-looking salted herring with onions.

The hot guys choose golf and finish first. The beautiful blonds also go for putting, but Meghan struggles to golf in the windy spot, though Cheyne, ever the good boyfriend, cheers her on. "Nice, baby!" he screams.

The rest of the teams put on their clogs and go dancing. Pinky and the Brain initially choose dancing, but when fish-hating Pinky find out that they have to eat a herring afterward, the father-son duo decide to hit some golf balls. The Trotters think they are pretty hot to trot, so they go dancing. The ballers really get into it, shaking their tail feather and adding their own oomph to the traditional dance. "Once we got it, it was Soul Train," Flight Time says. The crowd gives them a hearty applause, but the party's short-lived when the bonnet-and-dress-wearing Flight Time sees the herring. He has a hard time swallowing it. "I don't want to talk about it," he says looking serious after the challenge, then he gyrates and busts out with, "but did you see me get down, though!"

The poker pals have a hard time hitting the carnival-like high striker. They whack it 30 times, but no dice. Since they are unable to muster the strength to hit it hard enough to get a ring, the poker pals go for another round of golf. But they don't fare too well with that, so they return to the high striker, where they attempt to hit it more than 70 times. The weakened and tired ladies flip-flop and go back to the golf course. As the girls try for some holes-in-one, Mr. and Mrs. America go for some Dutch dancing, but they ignore the instructions on their clue and fail to notice the bicycles outside of the windmill. Instead, they take a looong walk to the festival in blister-inducing wooden clogs. Although the couple is in last place and fell behind in every part of the race, they reconnect and have fun showing off their Dutch moves.

PIT STOP
Teams must bike through town to Zoutkamp Harbor, the pit stop for this leg. Breaking the beautiful blonds' winning streak, the hot guys arrive there first and do a leprechaun dance by clicking their clog heels. Phil asks if they like dressing up like that. "We're not that kind of gay guys," Sam answers. But the cross-dressing was worth the prize of sand buggies. The beautiful blonds come in second and Trotters snag third.

OUSTED
The cold, harsh wind proves to be too much of an obstacle for the poker pals on the golf course, so Mr. and Mrs. America come in fifth. But surprise! They didn't use bikes, as instructed on the clue, so they incur a 30-minute penalty. The couple nervously wait for the poker pals to show up, but the physically intensive challenge is too hard for the girls and they give up. "We don’t want to give up on the race, but we do not foresee that we will be able to finish this challenge with this weather," Tiffany says. "We are quitting the race and as a result understand that we will be eliminated." Mr. and Mrs. America get a save.

NEXT WEEK
The teams blow up stuff in Stockholm and TAR brings back season six's dreaded bales-of-hay challenge, which famously took one contestant eight hours to complete.

RECENT RACER'S RECAP by Kelly Crabb

Kelly Crabb competed in Season 13 of The Amazing Race, taking 6th place with her best friend, Christy. Coined as "America's Divorcee," this freelance writer and travel enthusiast lives life to its fullest in Houston, Texas and remains "bitchy with a heart of gold." This is her take on the show:

Teams flew to Amsterdam and explored the Netherlands and engaged in some Racer Camaraderie at the airport, which Creator and Executive Producer Bertram Van Munster, truly loathes. Brothers Sam and Dan “came out of the closet” to the other teams as the gay guys of the Season.

Married couple Brian and Ericka had an all in all bad leg, which began with Brian’s inability to start their car, a lot of bickering, followed by Ericka’s several failed attempts to successfully count bells in the tower during the Road Block. It reminded me of spotting and counting tiny tags in that dusty Indian market the day Christy and I got eliminated. Sometimes simple tasks like counting can get very overwhelming! Their bad leg continued with failure to read the clue carefully and ride bikes to the challenge. Despite their 30 minute penalty, this couple remains in the Race.

The episode included token comical costumes and dancing tasks. The globe trotters were cracking me up all night in their clogs and costumes. Their dance skills were dynamite! I was impressed. I was happy to see Sam and Dan scored a first place mat finish, but what the heck is a Sand Bucket? After switching detours from Farmer’s Game to Farmer’s Dance 4 times, Poker playing Maria and Tiffany quit in 6th place. I would by no means say “finished.” And so, the saga continues. Yet, again, a female-female team has never won The Amazing Race.

The Race is filled with of stress, luck, physical and mental challenges and patience-testing activities...In general, Season 15’s Slew of quitters is simply a disgrace. I hope Meghan doesn’t lose it next week and want to quit too! I’m really rooting for she and Cheyne!

Related Stories:
· The Amazing Race [Official Site]
· Amazing Race Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photos: CBS]