Episode Report Card M. Giant: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT The Sprint of Our Life
By M. Giant | Season 19 | Episode 2 | Aired on 10.02.2011
Jeremy is now heading down, as are Justin, Tommy, and Ethan. Good thing there are plenty of ropes. Down below, Cindy, Marie, and Grandparent Bill emerge into daylight to find an enormous bamboo ladder reaching all the way to the surface, easily wide enough for half a dozen people to climb at once, or else two giants, or one colossus. A titan would be screwed, though. Jeremy, Justin, Tommy, and Ethan are down in the cave, which Ethan describes as "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Jakarta." Yeah, no. Kaylani's on her way down, loving every minute of it, as are Zac (who pronounces the scene "pretty sweet") and Flight Attendant Bill. Meanwhile, Sandy, Grandparent Bill, and Cindy, who all started up the ladder at the same time, are drawing further apart as the distance between rungs begins to slow down Cindy with her short little legs. Jeremy and the other guys reach the masks on sticks down below, marveling at how crazy and amazing it is that there are masks on sticks. Grandparent Bill is the first to return to the waiting racers up top. "63 and still running!" Cathi yells, leading the other waiting racers in a round of applause as he gets their clue. Whatever their other failings may be (and I'm not forgetting last week), at least they're good at getting the other teams to root for them.
Suddenly Phil's back in downtown Yogyakarta, telling us that this Detour is all about the streets, and the options are called "Shake Your Moneymaker" and "Be a Ticket Taker." For "Shake Your Moneymaker," the teams have to get to a certain intersection and earn tips from passersby. "One team member must learn a traditional dance while the other accompanies them on a gamelan." Phil just drops that word like we all know what those little metal drums are called. In between dances, they'll shake down passing motorists, aiming for a total of 30,000 rupiah. Which sounds like a lot, but at the current exchange rate it's about three and a half bucks. Time to drop a zero or two, Indonesia, damn. For "Be a Ticket Taker," they head to a mall and work as motorcycle parking attendants, until they've parked enough to earn 15,000 rupiah, or about a dollar sixty-eight, if you've been paying attention. For both options, they'll then have to go to an orphanage (where the children all sing "Helloooo" endearingly to the camera) that houses kids orphaned by the "devastating 2010 eruption of Mount Merapi". Photo of eruption, which does indeed look devastating. At the orphanage, they're supposed to hand over the money they earned during the Detour. But how will the orphanage ever spend this windfall of eighteen to thirty-seven dollars? Well not to worry, because the racers are also supposed to give them all the cash in their possession as well. The "tricky" part is that nobody's going to tell them that; it'll just be on a sign on the donation table that is clearly worded, in English, which reads in part, "you MUST give all the money in your possession to help the orphans." Looks like it's the orphans' lucky day. Or at least a better day than October 26, 2010.