Jaunted

This week, teams are headed to Guilin, China. Once there, they must take a taxi and find Qing Xiu Lu Street and a marked hair salon in order to receive the next clue. Margie and Luke have a nice lead heading into this leg. They end up alone on the very first flight. Most of the teams catch up during the layover, leaving Mark and Michael to bring up the rear.

In Guilin, teams find the hair salon. This is the start of the tension that will plague Luke and Jen for the rest of the episode. Luke bumps Jen out of the way at the clue box, and a feud is born. From our viewing angle, it didn't look particularly dirty or mean, but that's how Kisha and Jen interpreted it. Once the teams head to the next stop, Number 24 Bridge, it happens again, with Jen blocking Luke from the clue box. All of this animosity seems to have started from Kisha and Jen's belief that Margie and Luke tried to mislead their taxi driver in the last leg -- something that didn't actually happen, even though Margie tried. Her cab driver clearly didn't understand what she was saying.

ROADBLOCK
Teams must participate in Guilin's ancient fishing industry. One team member must take a raft out into the river and participate in Cormorant Fishing. In this exercise, team members toss a fish into the river, and the Cormorant will retrieve it -- like playing fetch with a googly-eyed bird and a smelly dead fish. Once the bird has retrieved a fish ten times, teams will return to shore and get the next clue. Tammy and Victor try to use their fluent Mandarin to their advantage, but end up at the end of the pack. Luke gets beaked by one of the birds, and it's actually bad enough to draw blood. Kisha and Jen chalk it up to Race karma.

SPEED BUMP
Once at the hair salon, Mark and Michael are required to shampoo and dry the hair of two little old ladies before they are permitted to move on tot he next clue. Since washing hair doesn't take too long, they move through the Speed Bump with relative ease.

DETOUR
At the Ancient South Gate, teams are confronted with this leg's Detour: Choreography or Calligraphy. In Choreography, teams must locate the Central Island where they will learn a traditional dance, and then perform it for judges who will give them their next clue. In Calligraphy, teams must cross the twin bridges and go to four stations and copy what each instructor writes in ancient Chinese characters. Tammy and Victor, Margie and Luke and Kisha and Jen are all neck and neck during this part of the challenge. We were glad there was no shoving between Luke and Jen during this portion of the competition. Over at Choreography, the cheerleaders, Jaime and Cara, are doing their est to learn the dance steps.

THE PIT STOP
What a doozy! Teams make their way on foot to Banyan Lake and the finish mat in the shadow of the Sun and Moon Pagodas. Though all three teams arrive at virtually the same time, Kisha and Jen land in first and win a five night vacation for two in Barbados. Tammy and Victor take second, with Luke and Margie in third. There is basically a meltdown on the mat between Kisha and Jen and Margie and Luke. All of the frustration, anger and accusations come flying out -- reminding us how tenuous communication can be. It's tough to say whether or not the two teams will patch things up, but there's a long way to go.

OUSTED
It's no surprise that Mark and Michael arrive last and are eliminated. They ran a good race, but let's be honest, for entertainment's sake, they were no Charla and Mirna!

NEXT WEEK
Painful Reflexology = ancient Chinese secret. Also, swimming. Jen must face her fear of the water and is pushed to her breaking point.