Episode Report Card M. Giant: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT I'm Ghana Git You Sucka
By M. Giant | Season 17 | Episode 2 | Aired on 10.03.2010
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Everyone files en masse to Accra, Ghana, where they face perilous traffic, persistent beggars, and a chaotic marketplace where they have to sell sunglasses. Lots of teams have to deal with some real characters, and then the Detour is a choice between installing TV antennas or transporting novelty coffins across town. The home shopping hosts unsurprisingly ace both the selling and the TV tasks and win the leg. Jonathan and Connor switch tasks, while doctors Nat & Kat, Andie & Jenna, and Gary & Mallory get lost on the way to the Detour, and the whole back of the pack encounters terrifying traffic and even more terrifying remedies for it. Andie and her biological daughter Jenna are Philiminated, so they'll be doing the rest of their bonding at the Elimination Station.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Phil welcomes us back to England's Eastnor Castle, and all we learn about the place tonight is that it's a "massive estate," and the first Pit Stop of this season's race. We did learn from a credit card promo during last week's episode that it was built in the 1800s, which in British terms means it's new enough to still be under warranty. Jill and Thomas, who won the last leg and thus the coveted Express Pass, are leaving at 11:55 AM. Thomas rips the clue and reads that they'll be flying to Accra, Ghana. Phil tells us that's more than 3,100 miles, and also it's pronounced "acCRAH." From the airport, they'll proceed to Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, which features a towering mausoleum that dominates a fountain two city blocks long. There's also a bronze statue of the great man himself (Kwame Nkrumah, that is, not Phil)-- whom Phil describes as "the father of Ghanaian independence," and who am I to argue -- and yes, a clue box.
Jill and Thomas drive away from Eastnor Castle. Thomas says they're happy about having won the previous leg, and Jill adds in an interview that although Thomas was in charge the last leg, she wants to do more in the second. Sitting next to her, Thomas opens his mouth to say something, but the editors have Jill's back on this one. Driving from the castle, Thomas declares that Accra is in Africa, "so, pretty sweet." And there went Jill's first chance to make a contribution this leg.
Nat and Kat are leaving at 12:00 PM, so we have time to learn a little about them. Apparently they're both anesthesiologists (and shouldn't CBS have put them on Big Brother instead if their specialty is putting people to sleep?), but they're very different. Nat explains that if they were both boats, Kat would be an ocean liner, while she would be the dinghy. That's a reflection of their respective dispositions, not their weight. And Nat may have been more accurate than she intended when her description of herself included the word "dinghy."
Connor and Jonathan are leaving in third place, at 12:20, and we learn that they get $137 for this leg. They run off to the path and decide to wait for Brooke and Claire, since they're right there anyway. They say it's to pool their resources, but I suspect them of wanting to use the Cousin Oliver mojo they displayed last week to take out yet another team. Brook and Claire get going at 12:21, in fourth place. During a quick pre-leg interview, Brook is optimistic about winning this leg. "I'm thinking if there's no watermelons in this leg, it's ours." Don't count your watermelons before they splatter into your partner's face, Brook. They join the singers on the path, and they all decide to wait for Katie and Rachel as well, who are opening their clue at 12:22. The volleyball players run up to the waiting pack asking, "Do you know where you're going, guys?" "No," Jonathan says. See? Even their combined resources make for a pretty shallow pool.