Episode Report Card M. Giant: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Three Strikes and You're out (And It's About Time Somebody Was)
By M. Giant | Season 19 | Episode 10 | Aired on 11.27.2011
Amani and Marcus have stopped in at a cell phone store to get directions. Which they get, but alas, the person behind the counter is unable to print out the map she pulled up for them. Driving through a tunnel, Marcus expresses his disappointment at the clerk's inability to either print or speak satisfactory English, but they're hoping for the best.
Bill and Cathi are taking another crack at the posing. They're mainly just concentrating on the moves, and it shows. But now that they're in last place, the judges apparently figure there's no point punishing them further, so they might as well send them on their way with insincere compliments on their improved confidence. One of the judges can even tell from looking at him that Bill works out, and says he's impressed. They read the clue telling them to hurry to the next Pit Stop, unaware that this one's a Pit Keep Going. And better yet, they get to put some clothes on.
Jeremy and Sandy get directions and a hard-copy map to the Ford place from a stationery store. Ah, a stationery store! Where they sell paper! Definitely a better call than a cell phone place.
At the Proving Ground in Lommel, Ernie and Cindy drive up to a line of parked Mustangs, with a driver in a blue racing suit standing next to each one. There's also a cache of clues in an artfully arranged stack of tires. It's a Roadblock clue that asks the question, "Who wants to play with the ponies?" Aw, and here I thought they were going to get to drive the Mustangs. Phil narrates, "Since opening in 1965, the Lommel Proving Ground has provided a controlled and safe testing environment for some of Ford's most popular vehicles." So I guess the Edsel predated it. Standing calmly on an asphalt lane with a red Mustang zooming up behind him and screeching to a halt next to him, close enough that he can reach over and tap it on the hood (which he does), Phil launches into how the Mustang is an American icon, which of course has nothing to do with Ford's sponsorship of the show. For the Roadblock, called "Master Your Mustang," the racers will have to get their car up to 100 miles per hour and then stop it on a dime, cover a slalom course in sixteen seconds or less, and do a double doughnut. Only one of those things will be remotely difficult, but it's not like Ford wants to put on a sequence about how hard it can be to drive their cars. Standing next to one of the drivers, who's even taller than he is, Phil says he'll give the racer their next clue, while another Mustang burns rubber in circles around them. He seems determined to get run over in the course of explaining this Roadblock, doesn't he?