Episode Report Card M. Giant: A- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Take Two
By M. Giant | Season 18 | Episode 1 | Aired on 02.21.2011
On to LAX, where we see that the first flight to Sydney (on Qantas, coincidentally), is leaving at 10:25 PM. Eight teams board it, most of them talking about how glad they are that they don't have to be one of the three teams stuck on the flight that's scheduled to arrive in Sydney ninety minutes later. "But anything can happen," Mike says. It's about to.
The next flight is leaving at 11:50, with Amanda/Kris, Jen/Kisha, and Gary/Mallory. Kris says they need to stay ahead of this part of the pack. Soon both flights are in the air. But then the first flight has a "medical emergency" on board. And it's an actual medical emergency. We learn that the first flight is diverting to Honolulu because a fellow passenger has had a heart attack. Amazingly, it isn't Jaime, although as usual it looks like it could happen to her at any second. So they land in Hawaii, which must bring back sweet memories for Team ASL and Team Go Team. Tammy and Victor's bootprints on their asses must feel particularly deep at the moment. Everyone looks stressed out, but all they can do is stay in their seats while the patient is offloaded and the fuel tanks are topped off. "Seems like the first plane just turned into the second plane," Justin says, but Big Easy remembers to say that the most important thing is that the man who had the heart attack is going to be fine. Then the Amazing Green and Red Lines head on to Sydney Australia, which I thought had perfectly good hospitals of its own. Kidding! Feel better, heart attack guy.
So there's the city and the harbor and a guy in 17th century regalia telling us, Welcome to Sydney, Australia while gesturing grandly across the water to the Opera House. Which is of course visible from every point in Sydney. It's the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building, and the Great Red Spot of Australia all in one, and if you don't think the Amazing Race is going to put it onscreen as much as possible you're out of your mind. Phil says the teams will land, take a train to Sydney Harbor, then ride a ferry to a place called Oceanworld in the town of Manly to find their next clue.
Indeed, the second-place flight is in face the first to land, and the three teams race for the train. "We think we're in the top three," Mallory tells us once they're safely aboard. Apparently she heard it from a flight attendant, and they're obviously three very happy teams. Amanda and Kris are even thinking about winning the Express Pass and using it to counteract their impending U-Turn. Jen jokes that Mallory is a liar. "You've been to Kentucky before, you know we don't lie there," she laughs. Whatever -- feud on!