Episode Report Card M. Giant: A | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Thai'ed Up
By M. Giant | Season 19 | Episode 5 | Aired on 10.23.2011
Justin and Jennifer board their elephant. "I'll give you a back massage with my feet," Jennifer offers it as they get going. She's enjoying herself for once. "I feel like I'm in the circus," she says. Or I assume she's enjoying herself.
Ernie and Cindy, who I'm still calling Team Control because of how she claims to be such a control freak, are taking off at 11:52 AM. It's hard to tell with mostly water and trees in the background, but now that I look at it, I think they're actually opening their clues on the dock for boats leading to and from Koh Panyi rather than the village itself. Must have been too hard to find overnight accommodations for Phil, eight teams, their crews, and other assorted production people in the actual village. As they make their way through the seaside area in search of ground transportation to the river district, they interview about their different backgrounds, namely Ernie growing up as a B student while Cindy lived in terror of the Asian F. He wonders why she even loves him as much as she does, and says he hopes to prove that he can do as well as she hopes he can. Aww, that's sweet. He's doomed.
Amani and Marcus are next, leaving in sixth place at 11:53 AM. Andy and Tommy are making good progress as their elephant tromps dauntlessly through a pool where the water's almost up to its belly. By this time, they've reached a rugged wooden ledge where a bucket sits holding a batch of clues. The question it asks is, according to Andy's odd reading of it, "Who wants to hear some otter music?" Alas, it's actually "water music." Phil is suddenly standing by a waterfall, explaining that "the sound of music" will lead them to this spot, where a "traditional Thai flautist" is standing and playing on a rock. According to, I guess, Thai tradition. Speaking of tradition, Andy and Tommy Roshambo yet again for this Roadblock, and their Rock Paper Scissors has now been given its own dramatic music cue: "BLAT BLAT ooommm...". Awesome. Andy loses, and follows the sound of the flute through the trees to the pool, where he dives right in headfirst, in defiance of all common sense. He probably ate less than an hour ago, too. He interviews that it was hard to see under the water (an under-murk camera shot backs him up) and that he wasn't sure what he was looking for, but getting as close as he could to the "flutist" led him to a burlap-wrapped bundle under the water. He hauls it to the shore and unwraps it to reveal a ceramic koi, which he brings back to where Tommy is waiting. Since it says "break me" right on it, Andy smashes it and finds a clue inside that reads, "Disassemble a spirit house." Apparently they're all about taking things apart this leg. Phil explains that the teams will have to take a "songthaew" (the correct name of those taxi pickups, I guess) to a local shop that appears to specialize in elaborate little houses that sit on pedestals. A lot of the stock appears to be on display outside, so it looks like a Buddhist Fountains of Wayne (the store, not the band). They'll need to take apart one of the miniature shrines and then schlep it to a temple with a really long name that, as always, closed captioning wants no part of. Phil says they'll get their next clue there, so I'm sure that'll be the end of it. "Every second counts, Mr. Elephant," Tommy says to their mount as they start the slow ride back.