Episode Report Card M. Giant: B | 983 USERS: B- YOU GRADE IT The Phuket List
By M. Giant | Season 14 | Episode 7 | Aired on 2009.03.29
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.The Racers are off to Phuket, Thailand. The only clue they have for their destination is a photo of a gorilla statue, which they have to ask around for the location of. Everyone but the Whites goes straight to Phuket Zoo to get photographed with a tiger and stepped on by elephants, while Mel and Mike go to the beach instead for some reason, and fall to last place. Then everyone goes to a multi-drawered spice shop, where by having multiple drawers opened by trial and error, they learn that the Detour is a choice between a two-mile rickshaw run and a hundred-barrel fishing-boat prep task. Mark and Michael finish the rickshaw task first, after messing with the tire pumps and having their cabbie lead them along the route, both of which are against the rules. So their first win goes out the window as a result of a double penalty. They still have four minutes on the clock when Tammy and Victor arrive and secure their third win, followed by Team Go Team in second place. Third place is still the best finish the Stuntmen have had. When Margie and Luke arrive in fourth, she topples from the heat and the exertion, and Phil proves to be the game show host you most want around when you collapse. Meanwhile, Mike and Mel do the boat-prep Detour smarter than Kisha and Jen, but not fast enough to recover from their early mistake and avoid Philimination. They will be missed, but maybe they should have listened to the people who tried to send them to the zoo.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Phil tells us that This! is Jaipur, India. Surprisingly, it's only 300 years old, which in India means that in terms of history, it's roughly equivalent to a strip mall. However, as Phil says, "It's known throughout India for its beauty." And for its Fargo-like water table, if the b-roll is any indication. But that's not a problem at Jaigurh Fort. "Perched 600 feet above the ground, this sky-high fortress was the sixth Pit Stop in a race around the world." It's not literally hanging in the air, I hasten to add. It's just at the top of a high hill. We'll just have to hope that future seasons will locate a Pit Stop somewhere in Bespin.
Tammy and Victor arrived first, but we don't know at what time. All we know is that they're leaving today at 10:21 a.m. They rip their clue, and are quite happy to learn that they're flying to Phuket, Thailand. Which, apparently, is pronounced "Poo-KET," and not the way it looks to Western eyes. Much to the relief of the FCC, I am sure. Once they arrive in Phuket, they'll have to find a statue of a giant gorilla, directed only by a photograph of said statue that was tucked in with their clue. Luckily, the statue is at the Phuket Zoo, so it shouldn't be too hard to find. As long as nobody randomly lets someone lead them to a beach or something, everyone should be okay. "It's there that they'll find their next clue," Phil finishes, as we see the clues strapped to the statue's back. Victor reads from the clue that they should get their tickets at either a local agency called Riya Travel, or Jaipur Airport. After learning that the travel agency is only 15 kilometers away, Team Family Law goes with that option, and gets into one of the cabs that are waiting in the Fort's parking lot for the Racers. Moments later, they've rejoined the city traffic in their cab. Tammy tells the story of her previous visit to Phuket, with her parents. "Mommy and Daddy wouldn't even let me go to the beach," she says. When was this, last year? She interviews that everyone in her family has always thought of Victor as the one who's always right. Lucky for her, the country now knows better. "I wasn't allowed to walk, like, more than ten feet away from my parents or talk to anybody, so this will be a better experience for me," she laughs. How nice that she gets to revisit the place with a travel companion who's so much less controlling. Lately.
Mel and Mike are leaving in second place, at 10:50, and are following in Tammy and Victor's footsteps. "Phuket, my favorite city," Mel adds in the cab to the travel agency. Mike interviews that they want to do well, "but we don't want to be so competitive and so tunnel-vision about the race that we forget how much fun this is." Mike asks his dad if he speaks any Thai, and Mel deadpans, "Yeah, mai tai." Long pause. "That was a pun," Mel explains. "Yeah, I know," Mike says. For a moment, he thought he might be able to get away with pretending he never heard that.
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