Tuesday, February 22, 2011

The Amazing Race 18 Recap: Unfinished Roadblocks and U-Turn Business

The new season of The Amazing Race premiered on Sunday night under the title of "Unfinished Business" that saw eleven previous teams from The Amazing Race compete for a second chance at the million dollar prize. The season kicked into gear in the desert outside Palm Springs, California where the eleven teams waited for their instructions from host Phil Keoghan.

The Amazing Race 18 contestants on tap in Palm Springs were Gary and Mallory - Season 17, Lakisha and Jennifer - Season 14, Jet and Cord "The Cowboys" - Season 16, Amanda and Kris - Season 14, Jaime and Cara - Season 14, Herb and Nate "Globetrotters" - Season 15, Ron and Christina - Season 12, Kent and Vyxsin - Season 12, Zev and Justin - Season 15, Margie and Luke - Season 14, and Mel and Mike - Season 14.

New twists were revealed when Phil explained how the first team to give him the correct airline from a field filled with paper airplanes would receive the Express Pass, which debuted last season and works like a Fast Forward to bypass any task in the season. However, the last team to give him the correct clue would be hit with a U-Turn and start The Amazing Race 18 at a disadvantage. Interestingly, the first U-Turn of the race stipulates that the penalized team will have to complete both sides of the first detour they encounter on the race.

As it turned out, Mel and Mike won the Express Pass by selecting QANTAS, which meant that the teams were headed to Australia. However, Amanda and Kris finished last and will have a double Detour to complete at some point on the race. Although two flights were bound for Australia, Gary and Mallory, Jen and Kisha, and Amanda and Kris were relegated to the second plane that left 90 minutes after the first with the other eight teams onboard. For Amanda and Kris, it was yet another disadvantage.

In a rare moment on The Amazing Race, a passenger aboard the first flight suffered a heart attack and the first eight teams were forced to touch down in Honolulu, allowing the teams on the second flight to touch down in Sydney, Australia first. However, Sydney served as an unexpected equalizer due to challenges of the first roadblocks on The Amazing Race 18.

While in Sydney, the teams were mostly confused after competing in a shark infested aquarium roadblock in which one contestant walked underwater in SCUBA gear in search of a compass that contained nautical clues to a message that would lead them to a sail boat and a second clue on a buoy in the Sydney harbour. It was the buoy clue that appeared to be the destination of the final Pit Stop of the leg. Having gained ground on the second flight, Gary and Mallory hit the mat first on Shelly Beach in front of Phil Keoghan who handed them their next clue and informed the teams that they were all still in the race. Everyone, that is, except "The Cowboys" who were still struggling to decipher the nautical message at the first roadblock before fans saw the words, "To be continued ..."

At the end of the first episode, The Amazing Race 18 order of teams broke down in the following order:

1 - Gary and Mallory

Can "The Cowboys" overcome the first roadblock, or will they get stuck like "The Globetrotters" on the Kafka roadblock in Season 15?

Source: http://www.thedeadbolt.com

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