Episode Report Card M. Giant: B- | 189 USERS: B- YOU GRADE IT Gone with the "1"
By M. Giant | Season 19 | Episode 12 | Aired on 2011.12.11
Jeremy and Sandy find a different hotel, where the helpful clerks do the searching for them and quickly direct them to Turner Field. Off they go.
Cindy clips the rope through Malawi. I'm not sure I'd have known where Malawi is without a label before this season. Onward and upward to Europe, as Ernie calls out. "There you go, use those bulging biceps." She has to return to Malawi to get some more slack in the rope, but gets back up and clips Denmark. "Spain, France, Belgium, Netherlands," she counts up the European coast before clipping in Belgium. "Hell yeah, going home!" she says. Back to Africa for more slack, and then a horizontal scramble over to Panama, singing the whole way (although not the Van Halen song, as far as I can tell), and then "going home to the ATL." After clipping the end on, she makes her way back east to take up the slack and says, "This is the coolest map ever." They lower her down and she runs back to Ernie for a big happy hug before the guide gives them their next clue. Cindy is chanting, "Pit Stop, please, Pit Stop!" Even better, it's the Finish Line.
The clue tells them to take a taxi to the Swan House. "When you reach the entrance gates, run to the Finish Line. Go, Go Go!!!!" Phil tells us "teams [although right now it's still just the one] are now racing to what might be the most recognizable landmark in Atlanta: Swan House." It's a grand old stone mansion that I guess Sherman couldn't burn down, and Phil's in the lawn on the giant mat as he tells us for the nineteenth time, "The first team to arrive here will win the one million dollars and The Amazing Race." Ernie and Cindy sprint back to Ben and their cab, telling him they need to get to the Swan House, "for all the marbles." Doesn't it seem a little early to be racing for the Finish Line, even taking into account the episode's late start?
Jeremy and Cindy arrive at Turner Field after that, and Jeremy is going up.
Ernie and Cindy are now passing through tree-lined streets, happy that Ben has a GPS. "As long as this is the place," Ernie cackles nervously. But then Ben misses a right, and the GPS in his hand intones that dreaded word, "Recalculating..." Ernie explains about the turn they missed, but Cindy says it's okay. "Just go fast." And recalculate faster.