Episode Report Card M. Giant: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Build Me Up, Buttercup
By M. Giant | Season 19 | Episode 9 | Aired on 11.20.2011
Jeremy and Sandy have finished their Lego-building, and get in their car to drive to Germany. Bill and Cathi get there in last place, board the ride, and get going. "It's gonna be a treat," Cathi gripes.
Andy and Tommy arrive at the Hamburg train station in second place, having passed Team NFL somewhere along the way. Bill and Cathi finish the Lego-building. "Okay, we got our money's worth," Bill grumps. Leaving the park, Bill wants a hot dog while Cathi wants a Slurpee, so clearly their stomachs are recovering rapidly. "Let's go, kiddo," she says on the way to their car. Bill mocks them both a little for their previous big talk about motion sickness. "My crackers were about ready to come out," he admits after the fact. Good thing everyone got through that. Vomit is surprisingly hard to get out of Legos, especially the long skinny ones. I suspect.
Amani and Marcus have finally reached the Hamburg train station. They must have taken their time getting there, because they're not even inside when Jeremy and Sandy pull up in their car. Team Pre-Owned gets their clue in fourth place.Ernie and Cindy have finally realized that they're missing some tickets. It's about 8:35, going by the time on the big station clock, as they go back to the ticket office to look for the missing slips, and Cindy explains that they don't have their Cologne-Brussels tickets any more. Worse yet, at the electronic ticket kiosk, they're discovering that replacing them would cost 77 Euros, which they don't have. Ouch. Walking away, Cindy starts to get choked up, but Ernie sweetly tells her it'll be okay. "We're toast," she says. Hey, people have survived worse this season. Not for long, but they survived it.
Bill and Cathi are at the ticket counter when they're ambushed by Sandy and Andy, who distract them a bit with some teasing and the news that everyone's getting on the same train out. When the train arrives, they all pile on, and are pretty happy to find sleeping compartments waiting for them. Except Marcus, who's not sure he'll fit, and Cindy, who's worried about talking to the conductor. "I hope my coffin's bigger than this," Marcus says with his feet hanging over the bed. Like he'll care. The train pulls out, and as the conductor makes her way down the passage, Ernie and Cindy explain their situation to her, but there's nothing she can do to help them. "So we go from a four-hour lead to having no tickets," Cindy says. "It's insane. This could be a game-ender." Ernie agrees that they "screwed up big-time." Well, again, they're certainly not the first team to do so.