In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.
In the middle of the night, five teams hit a St. Petersburg travel agency, while one team -- Chad and Stephanie -- oversleeps and misses their start time by two hours. Which ends up making zero difference thanks to an intentional overnight bunching in Muscat, Oman. Before the day's challenges begin, Chad proposes to Stephanie, and she says yes. Then it's up to Jebel Shams, the tallest mountain in Oman, to rappel down a sheer cliff face and look for a ring in a lamp. For the Detour, they have to either deliver a truckload of water or nearly as much wedding soup, but let's just say some brides and grooms will be going hungry. While Jill and Thomas are lucky enough to meet the cousin of the person they're delivering water to, other teams have problems like flat tires (Nick and Vicki) and getting lost (Gary & Mallory, Nat & Kat) and going the wrong way on a one-way street (Brook and Claire). After the Detour, it's a hunt through a busy marketplace for Ali Baba and his clue directing them to the Pit Stop. Jill and Thomas, having stolen an early lead from Chad and Stephanie, get to the mat first but have to sit through a 30-minute cab-following penalty while watching the newly engaged couple win their first leg. In the end, it comes down to who got the most lost, as Gary and Mallory get Philiminated.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!"This is St. Petersburg, Russia," Phil says, as though this isn't our third consecutive Sunday of looking at this place. He adds that it was "founded as a military stronghold by Peter the Great," who really sounds like a modest sort, and is an "imperial city renowned for its majestic architecture and massive seaport." That's a lot of info to pack into an introduction. Phil speaks to us from the narrow beach on the water side of the seventh Pit Stop, the Peter and Paul Fortress, whose name makes me wonder whether Phil is ever going to tell us anything about its other namesake, Paul the Pretty Good. Dude must have been the Peter Scolari of eighteenth-century Russia.
Nat and Kat, who won the leg, are leaving at 1:06 AM, even though the northern sky in the background is an eerie periwinkle. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, given that they're still far enough north to require winter jackets in June. Nat reads that they'll be flying to Muscat, Oman, which Phil says is more than 4,000 miles away. Phil says that when they get there, they'll need to find a place called Burj Al Mubkharah, which looks like an old hilltop fort. There, they'll find a man who will give them a silver ingot with a time stamped on it. This intro is filmed in the dark, but since we clearly see that the ingot he's holding is stamped 08:00, it takes a lot of the suspense away from what follows. The time on each team's ingot is when they can climb the steps to the fort and get their clue. Team @ hurries away from the mat, making "Oh, man" jokes about Oman already.
In an interview, Nat gives us an update on how racing with diabetes is going: she's been "crafty" about working on their schedule. Well, okay, then. The world's diabetics will certainly be able to use such detailed and specific advice. Very inspiring. Kat says they'll be stopping off at a travel agency to get tickets before proceeding to the airport. You know, St, Petersburg is famous for its all-night travel agencies. That was also the case when the city was called Leningrad, but all you could get then were one-way train tickets to Siberia.
Brook and Claire are starting the leg at 1:28 AM, and it's not much darker outside. It's a little freaky. Also freaky: the amount of makeup Brook's wearing this morning. Or maybe she just looks so different because her mouth is closed. Claire interviews that she knows she'll never be as fast as Brook, but she doesn't want to disappoint her (and the "little neon backpack" that always seems to be zipping around ahead of her). And all this time I thought Claire was hanging back to try to get away from the sound of Brook's voice.
Nick and Vicki leave one minute later, at 1:29 AM. Nick interviews that he's "constantly, like, stressed out of my mind." I don't know if he's telling us this to allow us a little peek into his psyche or to explain why he acts like a dick so often. We see him being impatient with their cabbie and with Vicki, and he interviews, apropos of nothing, "I don't like to make new friends." Which is understandable; I don't like doing things I'm bad at either.
Nat and Kat arrive at a travel agency and sit down, requesting tickets to Oman. The agent tells them the fastest connection is through Amsterdam, which will get them into Muscat at 8:55 PM. Or, in other words, almost twelve hours before at least one team will get to enter the fort. See what I mean about killing the suspense?
Gary and Mallory rip their clue at 1:46 AM, Mallory making some very strange noises. In a pre-leg interview, Mallory says she has three siblings, so she doesn't get to spend much time with just her dad. Of course, her siblings are spending even less time with him now. In the cab, she hopes the travel agency is still open. I'm thinking the clue just sent everyone there, and they're staying open at this ungodly hour just for them. I have nothing to back that up, of course. Speaking of the all-night travel agency, Team QVC arrives there just in front of Nick and Vicki, who have to wait for an available agent.
Here go Jill and Thomas at 1:53 AM. Thomas interviews that they're not happy to be in the back of the pack (they're fifth out of six), "so we definitely need to make less mistakes." Don't you mean "fewer," Notre Dame? thing we know, all of the teams are milling around in the travel agency -- except one. And after an ominous shot of the empty mat, we find ourselves looking at the subtitle "Chad & Stephanie -- Last to depart, 2:45 AM." Except above the subtitle is a closed hotel room door with snoring coming from behind it. Oooops.
Team @ and Team QVC both get their itineraries to Muscat, showing them arriving at 8:55 PM -- and those were the last available seats on that flight. The other three teams in the room shake their heads as they learn that they'll be arriving at 10:35 PM instead, as though those hundred minutes will make a lick of difference. They're at least happy to have gotten the last seats on that flight. Especially since Chad and Stephanie are still AWOL. How about an update on those two? Well, a red subtitle in front of that snoring hotel room door informs us that they're "58 Minutes Late to Pit Start." Maybe, but sleep is important too.
At Pulkovo Airport, everyone's still wondering where they are, and are beginning to suspect they slept in. "Like, our worst nightmare," Claire remarks to Brook, who doesn't even want to talk about it. You know something's bad juju when even Brook shuts up about it. The Snoring Hotel Door tells us they're now 1 hour and 52 minutes late, and from inside we hear Stephanie saying, "Oh my God, Chad." She opens a door to the camera crew as they're hurriedly getting dressed, informing us, "We just woke up." Got that, thanks. I've kind of always wondered if the producers ever help roust racers out of bed, so I guess I have my answer now. They run out of the hotel and get to the mat in time to rip their clue at 4:45 AM, when it's full daylight outside. "Let's just not talk about this," Stephanie suggests as they walk to a cab. Which tells me right there that this was Chad's fault, because if it had been Stephanie's none of us would ever hear the end of it. She interviews that the race has taken a toll on their relationship, and we're treated to some flashbacks to special moments like their argument over the musical task here in St. Petersburg, and her quitting the sledding task in Sweden. And we see them getting bad news at the travel agency, vis-à-vis the lack of any seats left on any of the flights the other teams took. Chad interviews, "No one has outright beat us. It really has been us being careless." In other words, "Nobody is as good as the amount we suck."
Down at the airport, Team @ and Team QVC take off on the first flight, for all the good it will do them. The other three teams take off on a second flight. Back at the travel agency, Stephanie and Chad -- whose hair still looks as though the pillow was the last thing that touched it -- learn that they can get on a flight that arrives in Muscat at 10:55 PM, meaning that extra two hours of sleep cost them precisely ten minutes in the race. I know they're embarrassed and panicked right now, but dude, that was worth it. They take off, hoping to catch up, probably not even appreciating the fact that they're so much better rested than all the other teams right now.
So now an Amazing Green Line and an Amazing Yellow Line zip straight down to Oman, a small country on the Arabian Peninsula that through some bizarre coincidence is right to the Gulf of Oman. An Amazing Red Line hurries to catch up, and I think it's odd that none of those Lines stopped at Amsterdam. Not so Amazing, that. Whatever, we're there now. It's dark outside, and Brook and Claire are the first to get a cab and ask to be driven to "Burg Alan Sharah," like a 4,000 mile flight didn't afford them enough time to learn to pronounce the name of the place. Team @ also mispronounces it, and in the cab Kat remarks that it's over 90 degrees and humid. "I can just imagine what it
's like in the daytime." we catch up with the group of three teams who were on the second flight, who comment on the heat and the persistent absence of Chad and Stephanie while riding the shuttle bus across the tarmac to the terminal. Ironically, Chad and Stephanie have landed in Muscat early enough to catch up with them at Customs. "We were surprised to see them, but they were definitely more surprised to see us," Stephanie remarks. You know what I'm surprised to see on this show, even after all the countries it's been to? Customs.
The two lead teams arrive at the burj (from the Arabic for "tower," although this is more of a tower in the medieval sense) to find it bathed in colorful light. They soon find their host on the grounds, who hands each team an ingot reading "07:30." Looks like they're camping out for the night. Let's hope no one oversleeps in these luxurious conditions.
Thomas calls his cabdriver "Speed Racer." "Yes," the driver agrees politely, a sure sign he never saw the movie. Jill and Thomas arrive at the burj and get ingots reading 07:45. And the three remaining teams arrive close enough together that Chad and Stephanie are in fact the team to get their time, which is also 7:45. You know how you have to get up pretty early in the morning to beat some teams? Yeah, that's not really the case here. Gary/Mallory and Nick/Vicki both get a time of 8:00. Stephanie interviews, "Chad and I made a mistake, and we're moving on from it, and I think that we just need to wipe the slate clean and move forward." Well, what else are bunchings for?
Must be a short night for the racers, sleeping on a tile sidewalk against a low seawall. The sun comes up, and by 6:00 AM, Brook's doing her makeup, Claire's putting her hair up (don't forget to leave that big limp hunk hanging down the left side of your face), Nick looks hung over (actually, I'm just now realizing that he always looks hung over), Team @ does a little light yoga, and Chad invites Stephanie, all casual-like, "Let's go for a walk." In a solo interview, Chad reminds us that he wants to propose to Stephanie. He also tells us that his mother died during his freshman year of college, and his stepdad gave him his mom's ring, which he's been carrying for the whole race. After they've walked along the water a short way, Chad starts making his big speech about how awesome she is, which is the first time we've ever heard him say anything of the kind. Stephanie smiles and leans in for a kiss, but he drops to one knee. And...okay, I know this show likes to go to commercial breaks on scary moments, but this is the most frightening one ever.
After the ads, all the other racers are watching from a distance (mind you, the camera is watching from RIGHTHERE) as Chad presents Stephanie with the ring and pops the question. She says yes without even thinking about it, which, really, is the only way I can see it being done. The other racers applaud happily. Stephanie interviews that she wasn't expecting it (we could tell by how she's dressed for the occasion like she's about to paint the spare bedroom), but it was awesome and romantic. "Perfect, really." Plus he didn't yell at her once. They walk back to everyone else together arm in arm, to a big round of applause and a one-armed bro-hug between Thomas and Chad. They're all impressed, and Chad says he thinks his mom would be happy. No word on what Stephanie's mom thinks.
Okay, it's 7:30 AM. Can we start racing again? The two all-female teams head up the steps to the fort first, and open their clue instructing them to drive themselves to Jebel Shams, "the tallest mountain in Oman." It certainly looks that way from up top, where an establishing shot looks down into rugged canyons that look like they could eat a person alive (though not an Amazing Racer, who would never get near it without being shrouded in three layers of bubble wrap). When they get to the base of the mountain, a "safety driver" will take over because apparently the winding dirt roads up the mountain are too dangerous to entrust racers with rental cars on (not to mention Amazing Camera and Sound Guys). Their clue will be at the peak. Both teams head over to the far side of the fort, where a small fleet of Toyota SUVs is parked, and get going. And then they start trying to figure out where they're headed. Yes, that seemed backwards to me too.
Jill/Thomas and Chad/Stephanie head up the stairs at 7:45, as scheduled. As they start driving, Chad and Stephanie's onscreen subtitle has already changed from "Newly Dating" to "Engaged." Wow, the Amazing Subtitle Writers were really on the ball there. Both teams decide to stop to ask for directions, although Thomas rudely condescends, "Clearly, honey," when Jill suggests it. She tells him to lose the attitude. Seriously, why don't any of the dudes on this season know how to treat their girlfriends? Jill and Thomas get not only directions but also a hand-drawn map from a guy in a convenience store parking lot, who also favors them with a friendly chuckle. Back on the road, Thomas remarks on how nice the people are, "Even though we're right up in their face." I think a lot of Arab cultures are close-talkers anyway, but I could be wrong about that. I just wish Thomas would take their niceness as an example.
The last two teams (Gary/Mallory and Nick/Vicki) get their clues at 8:00 AM. Once they're all in their vehicles, Mallory unfolds a giant map that's big enough for Vicki to spot from the backseat of her and Nick's car behind them. She suggests following the team with the map, but Nick doesn't think that's any faster than getting directions from a local "that for sure knows where to tell you to go." I'd translate this as Nick not knowing how to read a map, but we'll soon find out that he made the right call here. They pull over so she can ask directions at a gas station. This happens to be the same station where Team QVC is just now pulling in for directions of their own, which means their half-hour lead from the burj is already gone. Spotting Brook near the pump islands, Vicki tells her, "Dude, he said going that way, we're going the right way." As Vicki walks back to the car, Nick tells her,"Babe? Shut up. Dude, I'm so serious about that. "Shut up." Vicki responds to this mature and respectful feedback by actually apologizing to him, and he continues to berate her, saying, "You have no common sense in your whole body. I'm gonna go home the time you give anybody any advice." And what a shame that would be. He adds, "They're probably laughing at your dumb ass right now." Right on cue, here's a shot of Brook and Claire in their car, laughing at Vicki's dumb ass. Or, more likely, something else entirely, and given what we know about their sense of humor, probably something that isn't even all that funny.
Chad and Stephanie get flagged down by a safety driver, and Chad hops in the back so the local can take the wheel. They're pretty happy to be the first team, as you might imagine. "You'll get us up there nice and quick and safe?" Chad asks the driver. "God willing," the driver says. Probably just as well he said it in Arabic, because that probably wouldn't sound all that reassuring to a couple of Americans.
Mallory's still navigating while Gary drives, and he doesn't seem to have as much faith in her map as she does. She continues to insist it's right. We'll find out one way or another.
Chad and Stephanie get chauffeured to the top of the mountain, where they get out and run past a wooly mountain goat or two to get to the clue box. "Who wants to add a little magic to their life?" Chad reads. And over spectacular shots of the mountain, Phil tells us, "Rising over 10,000 feet above the desert floor, Jebel Shams is the tallest mountain in Oman." And one team member will rappel one-twentieth of that distance, down a 500-foot cliff to an allegedly "narrow" ledge below (although I've been on narrower freeways). There, scattered among the rocks, are hundreds of Arabian-style oil lamps, some of which have what Phil claims is "Aladdin's magic ring" hidden
inside. When they find a ring, they'll swap it for a clue with a dude sitting on a rug. Stephanie doesn't want to do this one, so Chad's taking it. He's certainly had good luck with rings today so far. It's not until he gets to the edge and sees what he's in for that he reacts. "It was the Grand Canyon of Oman," Stephanie says. After getting all geared up with harness and helmet and body cam and three layers of bubble wrap (not really), he goes over the edge and heads down.
Jill and Thomas arrive in second place, and since Jill is doing this Road Block, let's hope she can do rappel better than she can pronounce it. At least she laughs when Thomas corrects her. "I'm gonna rapple down," she jokes. He just corrects her some more.
Chad's enjoying himself, and when he reaches the ledge, a guide is there to help unhook him and then get off-camera as quickly as possible. Then it's Jill's turn to start down, and she looks pretty nervous, with her tiny little helmet perched on the back of her head, where it will provide much-needed protection for her ponytail. She admits to a fear of heights. Chad, meanwhile, has found the lamp field, and stars rummaging among them. Jill nervously inches down.
Nat and Kat are wondering if they should stop for directions somewhere, but there doesn't seem to be anywhere to stop unless they want to ask the shoulder of the highway. Gary, meanwhile, is certain that they "made a fatal mistake by coming to the north side." Mallory insists that's what the map said, but she doesn't know what to do now. Well, way to go, then.
Jill has finished her "rapple" and is happy to be back on solid ground. Chad finds a lamp with a ring in it almost as soon as she shows up behind him. He swaps the ring for a clue and scampers off, while Jill is still searching. I wasn't sure how they were going to reunite with their teammates up top after finding the ring, but I think they run up a more indirect footpath back to the peak, which is at least a little more challenging than just getting winched back up or something. They open their clue sending them to a landmark in the town of Nizwa, namely a "giant stack of books." Which just sounds like a big, unfurnished, outdoor library, so it would more accurately be described as a stack of giant books, forming a short, blunt pyramid in the center of a roadway roundabout. And, unfortunately, reminding me of nothing more than the crap that passed for landmarks in the family edition, which is probably not what they intended to do. Still, that's where their clue is. Chad and Stephanie get in their car to be driven back down the mountain, hoping to hold onto their lead. Hey, why not take a little snooze in the back seat during the ride?
But Jill finds her ring in short order, and she and Thomas head back to their car just as Nick and Vicki are arriving. See what I mean about the decision not to follow Gary and Mallory? Vicki reads their clue, trying to keep it away from a hungry goat which eats some other piece of paper right out of her hand instead. Nick isn't down with heights, so Vicki's doing this one. "I'm really honestly not scared of anything but bugs," Vicki interviews. Well, we know she doesn't fear verbal abuse.
Going down, Jill and Thomas pass Team QVC's vehicle, which honks as they pass. Must be a safety thing on these mountain roads. Claire offers to do this Road Block, much to Brook's surprise. Hey, as long as she doesn't have to ascend back up, she'll be fine.
Nat and Kat seem to be at some kind of industrial or construction site when they get directions. "I don't think anybody could be more lost than us," Nat says, as a honking car screams past them on the straight, level road. Okay, maybe it's not just in the mountains.
Nat's reverse-jinx seems to have worked, because Gary and Mallory are indeed more lost than them, and possibly more lost than anyone. Like, in the world. Gary spreads his treacherous map on the hood of his car while a local asks him, "You follow that road? That's not good." Mallory prays (and Jesus is like, "Sure, I'll just tesseract the nation of Oman so you can get to the Road Block. Will that do it for you?") until Gary gets back in and basically says their map is fired. Mallory is just hoping to stay in the race at this point. I know there aren't as many teams as there used to be, but isn't it a bit early in the leg to be talking like that? Unless they're a lot more lost than we realize. I suppose they might be in Syria or something.
Over at Jebel Shams, Nick enjoys the view -- from a distance --- while Vicki lowers herself into the canyon saying, "I feel like Spiderman! Or Spiderwoman, whatever." Well, they're both in my spell check, so we'll go with either one. She reaches the ledge and goes in search of the lamps. Claire comes down , not so much "rappelling" or even "rappling" as "dangling."
Stephanie is at the wheel of her and Chad's SUV as another honking car Dopplers past, and they're excited to be in first. They find the stack of books with the clue box poking straight up out of the top, and run for it. And Jill and Thomas are right behind them.
Phil waxes poetic about the harsh desert that has sustained its people both physically and spiritually. Hence the Detour, which is a choice between "Water Table" and "Wedding Table." For the former, the teams will pump water -- using gas-powered engines, looks like -- from what Phil overdramatically calls "an ancient well deep below the earth's surface," as though Oman invented underground water. The water will be pumped into a tanker truck, which they'll need to navigate -- but not drive -- as it makes a delivery to a designated house. They'll get their clue after hooking up the truck's delivery hose to the receiving pipe for the house's storage tank. It's bad enough that running water as a utility isn't a thing in suburban residential Oman; now the people who have to rely on delivery trucks will have to wait for Amazing Racers to find them? That seems like a recipe for water riots.
For the Wedding Table option, they will (or would) go to an Arab market, buy 25 frozen chickens and all manner of other ingredients for "a traditional wedding soup meant to bring health and virility." Then they'll have to cook it, I guess, and present it to a bride and groom for their clue. Except they won't, because no teams will be doing that Detour. Just as well, because wedding soup isn't as important as water.
Chad and Stephanie pick Water Table -- but you already knew that -- and hurry back to their car, where Chad takes over driving as Jill and Thomas pull up behind them and run for the stack of books, trying to crouch down at the top to stay out of sight. Which doesn't work, because Stephanie sees them anyway, and isn't happy that their lead has gotten so narrow. As for the Detour choice, Jill interviews, "He is just clueless in the kitchen," so Thomas decides to "just follow them." We certainly wouldn't want them to be clueless.
Claire and Vicki are searching together through what Vicki calls "a bazillion lamps." Vicki finds her ring first, but Claire is right behind her. Both teams run for their trucks, but Nick notices that their back left tire has sprung a leak, and it's either hissing audibly or we're supposed to think it is. Team QVC doesn't waste any time jumping into their truck, and even less time worrying about what will become of Nick and Vicki. Of course, any concern would be misplaced, as Nick already has the situation well in hand, putting into effect a two-pronged action plan of being pissed off and disgusted.
After the ads, Nick's at least using all his negative energy to throw jacks and tire irons around, which I suppose is a step in the right direction. On the way down, Brook remarks that they can't afford to get lost with everyone right behind them. She doesn't fully understand the situation, I'm thinking. Nick and Vicki are soon back up and running, although Nick's still pissed off. Vicki says something that sounds like they could have beaten Brook and Claire. "We will," Nick says. Maybe he could shave a few minutes off their time with another judicious deployment of a hissy fit.
Gary and Mallory are trying to get back on track. "I don't know what to say, dad," Mallory says, and then to prove it, she says it again. He says he just wants to be in the race. On the bright side, they're probably getting to see more of Oman than any other team.
The two lead teams arrive where the big blue water trucks are waiting, near a big well (actually a glorified hole in the ground with lots of thick green hoses spilling out of it like a small mechanical Sarlacc) under a highway bridge. They pick a truck and a driver, who shows them how to start the pullcord-style pump motors. Thomas pulls in behind them, and Jill says, "Careful." "Careful what? I'm driving," he snaps at her for no reason. He should probably ask her to marry him so they can get along better for a leg or two. He drafts a driver as Chad gets their pump motor running. Each pump leads to a big pipe over the open hatch on the back of one of the tankers, which rapidly starts filling. Chad and Stephanie work well together to time the shutoff of their pump, not only spilling a minimum of water but also getting a thumbs-up from their driver. Then they climb into the cab with him to get to where the clue tells them to go. "Are you allowed to help us?" Chad asks the driver. He's not, so they'll be stopping somewhere for directions. Jill and Thomas overfill their truck, spilling water all over the place, because as usual Thomas doesn't give a crap about the people he encounters on this race, but they're soon off to their own address. Jill asks him to start by stopping at a gas station at the top of the road. "As fast as you can drive," Thomas adds.
Team QVC gets to the stack of giant books. "Claire and I, we do not cook," Brook interviews, so they're going with Water Table. Plus there's no guarantee that one of the ingredients wouldn't be a watermelon.
Nat and Kat have made it to the top of Jebel Shams, and Kat's doing this Road Block as a result of their longstanding agreement regarding Nat's fear of heights. "It's kind of like a mountain goat," Kat says of one of the mountain goats. Well, she's a doctor, not a zoologist.
Mallory is wiping her eyes with her shirt as Gary talks about not having had a map the whole race. "I'm a pilot, I like maps, I like navigating with maps, and it ended up costing us." They seem to be pretty convinced that they're already doomed to elimination, which isn't exactly ramping up the suspense.
Chad and Stephanie ask a gas station attendant for directions, but he's new. Must be why he's wearing his trucker cap balanced up on the top of his head like that. They get back in the tr
uck to keep going. Meanwhile, Jill and Thomas pull over to ask some guy in the street, and he points them "upstairs." He gets in his car to lead them there. "Thank goodness for the nice people in Oman," Jill says. Too bad Thomas isn't one of them.
Nick and Vicki get to the stack of giant books and pick Water Table. "We got to there quick," Nick congratulates them. Up ahead, Brook comments that "if you veer off somewhere in the wrong direction, you're done." Except she's talking about her and Claire, not Gary and Mallory. Nick knows they made up time, and now, as a bonus, he has a water truck ahead of him to follow to the well. Assuming its tank is empty, that is. "I really wonder how far behind we are now," Brook says. Claire just groans extravagantly, either because she's also stressed about their ranking or because she's finally running out of patience with Brook's pathological need to fill every moment of silence.
Kat's rappelling down, her helmet at a jaunty angle on one side of her head. "I think I'll enjoy the view when I get to the bottom," she says, which she does. She interviews that she didn't know much about Oman a few days ago, "And it's absolutely taken my breath away." Well, now we all know more about it, don't we?
Jill and Thomas may or may not have been led to the right house, but as they stop, Thomas gets out to ask their guide in the car up ahead. Meanwhile, Chad and Stephanie are in some residential neighborhood, asking a local for directions. "I just hope Jill and Thomas are having as hard a time as we are," Stephanie says. On the contrary; the person helping Jill and Thomas just happens to be the cousin of the person they're delivering to. Meanwhile, Chad and Stephanie get back into their truck to follow someone else. In a distracting development, the visor-cam in the truck has been knocked out of focus by the truck's vibration, so it's hard to see anything clearly. Which must be how Stephanie sees Chad.
Jill and Thomas are at the right house by now, and Thomas gets to work attaching the truck's hose to the house's intake pipe. Driving by, Chad and Stephanie see them earning their clue as soon as Thomas gets the water flowing. Stephanie is pissed off at seeing their lead get stolen. But it's not over yet, because the clue is not sending them to the Pit Stop. Instead, they have to drive themselves to Muttrah Souq in Muscat and search for a store with the catchy name of "Ghalib Bakheet Salem Bait Kalshat Al-Mahari." Phil says the Muttrah Souq is "a renowned market in Muscat," and apparently GBSBKA-M within it is where they'll find a vendor who will hand them a dish of smoldering frankincense. Then they'll need to search the market for "the famous Ali Baba." As famous as he is, he's also fictional and dead, so that might be a difficult search. Even so, he's apparently waiting in a different shop to trade the frankincense for their clue. Jill and Thomas get back in the truck to ride back to their car, so I guess they had to wait for the truck to get emptied after all. At least I hope they did. In other news, I'm already tired of typing the word "frankincense."
Chad and Stephanie are led on foot to the right house. They go back to retrieve their driver, hook it up, start the pump, and get their clue. Alas, Stephanie does not get a clue reading "don't marry Chad." I'm working on it, though.
Nick and Vicki spot the sign to Fanja, which I guess is where they're going. "Let's pump some water and get this ____ over with," Nick says with the kind of infectious joy that makes him such a pleasure to watch. Brook and Claire have fallen behind, but they're relieved to see that same sign, to say the least. At the well, Nick and Vicki get their water started, and are spotted by Team QVC from the road above. Their truck is soon full, and Vicki reports, "Babe, I'm soaking wet." "Who cares?" he charms. They're on their way, as Brook and Claire are yelling over the noise of the pump filling their truck. Brook uses the word ASAP, which Claire translates for us, and then water splashes the camera lens. They quickly head out, close behind Nick and Vicki.
Back at Jebel Shams, Kat is still searching through the lamps for rings. "A little bit of a needle in a haystack," she says. And there are four fewer needles than there were this morning. In worse news for Kat, Gary and Mallory have finally met up with their safety driver at the base of the mountain. "Hello, nice to see you," he says archly. Mallory apologizes for the delay: "We have been driving for almost nine hours." Dear God, I hope she's exaggerating; I could walk out my door now and be at Mount Rushmore in that amount of time. I also hope that the safety drivers get paid by the hour.
Jill and Thomas are back in their car, and they meet Chad and Stephanie coming back to the well. And aren't happy about it, because apparently both teams think they're on The Amazing Timed Obstacle Course. Chad and Stephanie get back in their own car, keen to catch up. "We definitely don't like being behind 'em," Chad says. Well, I don't always like gravity, either, but what are you going to do?
Kat is still searching, and while riding up the mountain in the back of their car, Gary's hope dies hard; he thinks there will still be someone there when they arrive. "We're gonna tackle the challenges like there's someone right behind us," he says. Which there is: a tall, shadowy figure with a New Zealand accent, wearing a hooded cloak and a man-necklace. But in their favor, Kat seems to be losing track of which lamps she's looked in already. And we go to the last commercial with what seems like an awful lot of leg left.
Back from the ads, Kat finally finds a lamp with a ring in it and gets her clue. On the way back down, their vehicle passes Gary and Mallory's on its way up. "Mal, we're still in this thing!" Gary says excitedly. When they get to the clue box, he tells her to do the Road Block. "It's gonna be a fun one." And probably the last one.
Jill and Thomas arrive at the Muttrah Souq, and are immediately overwhelmed at the number of shops and kiosks inside. Plus Chad and Stephanie are still breathing down their necks. Thomas finds Ghalib Bakheet Salem Bait Kalshat Al-Mahari Stores (Beauty Items & Perfumes) and they get their frankincense from a man who tells them, "Take this to Ali Baba in the souq." They start searching all over again. Chad and Stephanie get their frankincense soon after.
"I wish my dad could see it, "Mallory says as she rappels down the cliff. "Where are my magical lanterns?" she dorks as she gets unhooked from the rope, probably because she's hoping one of them can turn the clock back nine hours.
Brook and Claire seem to have passed Nick and Vicki somewhere along the way, because we see them finding a neighbor who agrees to take them to the correct address. But they're not far ahead, because Nick and Vicki are soon doing the same thing.
Mallory finds a few lanterns and digs through some, but then moves around the ledge onto what looks like a whole big field of them and stands in mute, frozen shock for a moment while the camera zooms out dramatically. You know, I think they have time for a few more takes of that.
Nat and Kat have already reached the stack of big books clue in fifth place and are doing Water Table like everyone else. Brook and Claire get their hose hooked up to their house and their pump started, and start dancing and chanting, "Water, water, water!" like loons or Mallory. They head back, going right by "the punk rockers" right around the corner .Who are also finished soon after. "We still have time to get Claire and Brook," Nick says as they ride back in the truck. Take what victories you can, guys.
After an increasingly desperate search, Mallory finally discovers a ringed lamp up against a big rock, so they're done with the Road Block at last. "Finding that ring was hard," she pants as they run up the path back to their car. And yikes, the sun's almost behind one of the peaks already? Maybe she wasn't exaggerating about how long they drove af
ter all. This Road Block would have been a bitch in the dark, man.
Jill and Thomas have found "Ali Baba," who is wearing old-school robes, a friendly smile, and a scimitar at his waist in case the forty thieves show up. He hands them a clue sending them to the Pit Stop (finally), which is Al Alam Palace. Phi tells us, "This stately palace is the Pit Stop for this leg of the race .The last team to check in here may be eliminated." Jill and Thomas are on their way, with many thank yous. Chad and Stephanie also find Ali Baba and get their clue. Outside, Thomas is saying and miming to a cab driver, "You drive, we follow, I pay." You might almost miss the "fail" noise dropped in there if you're not listening to it. Chad and Stephanie jump in their car and head out on their own, without any such negotiation.
Nat and Kat get their truck full, in what is becoming increasingly indirect sunlight, another sign that the day might end before the leg does. In the cab, Nat tells the driver, "Asalaam alaikum," or peace be unto you, and then she and Kat laugh unpeacefully.
Jill and Thomas follow the cabbie to Al Alam Palace and run onto the grounds in the rapidly fading daylight, happy and smiling and feeling good about their impending third win. At the mat, the short, bearded guy to Phil welcomes them to Oman. Phil tells them they're the first team to arrive, and they celebrate without noticing his unusual phrasing or his serious tone. They sure notice when he interrupts them with a stern, "However," though. "The rules categorically state that you cannot pay a taxi driver to lead you to a location," he says, meaning they've earned themselves a thirty-minute penalty. Is that a rule all the time now? Because I'm pretty sure I vaguely remember people doing it in the past. Anyway, Phil tells them they'll need to wait out a thirty-minute penalty. They stand there flummoxed for so long that Phil finally has to tell them where to go sit down. "That was a mistake, that was my fault," Thomas says, like Phil can check in just Jill. They go sit down, talking about what a stupid mistake that was. I actually feel a little bad for them; I don't think I was aware of that rule myself. But then, I'm not on the race, I just make fun of it.
It does get dark quickly in the desert. Here come Chad and Stephanie, and Thomas mutters to Jill, "We just lost first place." The newly engaged couple steps onto the mat, and Phil remarks, "Quite an emotional day, right?" They agree, and Phil says, "I want to end with some joy, because you are team number one!" They certainly are joyful about winning their first leg, as Phil tells them they also won a trip to Belize. Stephanie interviews that the day couldn't have gotten any better: "I got engaged, I was traveling around with my fiancé, and then I won a trip to Belize. Yeah, it was pretty much a perfect day." Good because it's all downhill from here.
Phil calls Jill and Thomas over to make them team number two. They shrug sheepishly, having been made an effective example of.
By now, it's almost fully dark. Team QVC is in search of Muttrah Souq, driving down a narrow street that Brook belatedly realizes is one-way as they run into a line of oncoming traffic coming around a curve. And one of those oncoming vehicles is a police car, with sirens and flashers going loud enough to make all the honking in this country seem reticent. "Yeah, the po-po came," Brook interviews. They don't seem to suffer any consequences other than getting yelled and honked at, though, as they cause a giant traffic jam. While trying to turn around, Brook asks Claire if she understands how to get there at all. "No, not at all," Claire says. From the navigator's seat.
Nick and Vicki, however, have already arrived at the Souq, where a local guides them to the right store for the frankincense. As before, the guy at the shop tells them, "Take this to Ali Baba in the souq," but they think he said "Ali Baba in a suit," so that's who they're looking for. I guess we should be glad they didn't think he said "Ali Baba in the soup" and start looking for either a very large bowl or an Arab version of Joel McHale.
Gary and Mallory scramble to the top of the book stack, wearing their headlamps in the evening darkness, and agree on "Water Table." In the car on the way there, Mallory tells us, "It took me three years to win Miss Kentucky, and I won on my last year. You have to keep going, because you just can never give up." I wonder how many years it'll take her to win the Amazing Race.
Brook and Claire get their frankincense while Nick and Vicki are still searching for Ali Baba in a suit, fortunately with the continued help of their local. Soon they find them and are on their way to the Pit Stop in third place. Brook and Claire are so close behind them that driving past, Nick remarks, "There goes that ____ Brook and Claire again." Does he kiss his ______ with that mouth?
Gary and Mallory are going to have to fill their water truck in the dark. "When it fills up it's gonna drench you," Gary warns. Mallory makes some characteristically wacky faces and noises, but soon the truck is full and they're on their way. "Now we need to go fast," Gary says. Now they need to?
Nick/Vicki and Team QVC are both on the hunt for the palace. Nick asks Vicki, "Where the heck are you taking us?" But she successfully got them there, and they're team number three, which is clearly a lot better than they thought. I'd say it's also better than they deserve, but they ran a solid leg this time. Even more surprised are Brook and Claire, who clearly were so convinced they were done that after shrieking in shocked joy, they swarm not only each other but Phil.
Nat and Kat have just finished hooking up their hose to the house, with the western sky still looking suspiciously light somewhere. "That's the best shower I've had in a couple of days," Kat says after getting leaked on. They get the pump started and get back in the truck. "What a day today, "Kat says. Not over yet. Still.
It's much darker wherever Gary and Mallory are getting directions at a convenience store, but they're still passed by Nat and Kat on their return ride to the well. The teams spot each other, and Gary and Mallory taste possible survival while Nat and Kat are totally spooked. The former team soon gets the water delivered, and they're on their way again. You know, this leg isn't a six-way race so much as three two-way races, and now that the first two are over, the third one is finally picking up.
But now we see that Nat and Kat have already gotten their frankincense at the souq, so they're going to be tough to catch. Or maybe they won't, as we see them wandering down an empty, abandoned alley in search of Ali Baba.
Gary and Mallory are also at the souq now, and Mallory is drawn by the scent of the frankincense. "It smells like our church!" she says. Nat and Kat find Ali Baba -- I don't know how, there's no signage over the store's entrance aside from what Gob Bluth calls "Squiggly" -- but they have their Pit Stop clue. Gary and Mallory decide to ask a guy in a shop if he knows where Ali Baba is, and lucky for them, the guy they're asking is in fact Ali Baba. So now two teams are racing to the Pit Stop. Or racing as much as they can when neither teams know where they're going. Once again the teams pass each other, and Mallory freaks out. Gary asks who it was, and she babbles, "I don't know, but that was a team!" It's kind of a giveaway when you pass a car with a person in the back seat wearing a headlamp and waving a giant map around. "Ohhh, yeah," she growls as though suddenly possessed by demons. If these teams didn't keep passing each other, I'd suspect it's not nearly as close as we're meant to believe.
Nat and Kat pull up to a wrought-iron fence, lacking any confidence whatsoever that they've found the right place. But Gary and Mallory have no such doubts. Kat closes the hatch of their SUV, her giant map crumpled in her hand like a pile of hotel linen. Then both teams are on foot running, and Nat and Kat seem to have gone the wrong way -- but merely to the back entrance, which only means that they have to walk around Phil and the greeter to get to the mat. Phil tells them they're team number five. "We were hoping," they say with relief.
Finally, here are Gary and Mallory. Phil doesn't string them along, going directly to, "I'm sorry to tell you that you've been eliminated from the race." Mallory says it's all right, and she and her dad hug. "You really wanted to do this, didn't you?" Phil asks her. She says it was one of the best experiences she'll ever have (which is really something coming from someone who's walked a runway with a swimsuit spray-glued to her ass), and she got to do it with her dad. "He's really special," she says. We'll have to take her word for it, as she burned up most of their screen time. But I'm sure he still would have been cast if he'd applied with any of his other, non-Miss Kentucky children. Gary agrees with her that they have a special bond: "She was my oldest, the boy I'd never had. [which is, I am sure, heartwarming to whatever number of brothers Mallory has]. I'm just proud to have done it with her." Mallory interviews, "I wouldn't have done it with anyone else. I wouldn't have competed in Miss America, I wouldn't have been on The Amazing Race if it weren't for the things my dad's taught me." Never let anything get between you and a camera. Oh, she means, "Keep going after your dreams. You've got one live and you have t live it. Live it full out like it's a race." Yowza, so she screams like that all the time at home, too?
M. Giant is a Minneapolis-based writer with a wife, a son, and a number of cats that seems to have settled at around two. Learn waaaay too much about him at Velcrometer, follow him on Twitter, or just e-mail him at M.Giant[at]gmail.com
Discuss this episode in our forums, see who we think will win and see what our vlogger thinks the Race used to be like below!
Want to immediately access TWoP content no matter where you are online? Download the free TWoP toolbar for your web browser. Already have a customized toolbar? Then just add our free toolbar app to get updated on our content as soon it's published.