Episode Report Card M. Giant: B | 181 USERS: B YOU GRADE IT Too Much of a Good Thing
By M. Giant | Season 22 | Episode 1 | Aired on 2013.02.17
Still in first place and feeling pretty good about it, Jessica & John get off their boat at Eden Beach and run down a long dock to find a "marked path." This seems to consist entirely of a melon propped up with a red arrow painted on it, pointing to the beach where there's a bucket of clues on top of an elaborate sandcastle. No, they're not going to have to build one of their own; instead, for this second Roadblock of the leg, they'll have to tear a bunch down. One section of the beach is lined with row after row of one-bucket sandcastles -- 400 in all -- under some of which are hidden copies of the next clue. Phil tells us why this is a challenge: temperatures can reach 100 degrees (which is why people go to Bora Bora in the first place -- come on, Phil), plus they'll have to rebuild every sandcastle they knock over. Tricky! This is going to get confusing when there are multiple teams working this same task and nobody will know what anybody else has done. Since it's a double Roadblock and John did the first one, Jessica has to do this. She gets right to work, starting at the nearest corner and comes up empty. "It was like opening a Christmas present that was empty and then having to, like, wrap it back up." And while John is loudly and unhelpfully commenting on how hot it is. Soon Jamil joins the search with his eyes on the prize: the Express Pass. Or, failing that, the other Express Pass.
The second plane lands in Bora Bora and the last six teams find their clue. Doing the skydiving will be Caroline and Anthony (on the fourth flight), Matt and Max (on the fifth flight), and Mona and Meghan on the sixth and final flight. Mona was actually the fourth person at the sign-up sheet, but she stupidly skipped an empty space and signed herself up for the sixth flight when a spot on the fifth was still available. She quickly realized her mistake, "but it was too late. The Brain already got her," Max interviews, grimly indicating his bride. And thus do the derby moms become the first team to fret about being the first to be eliminated. There's one every race.
After the long-awaited first commercial break, Mona interviews about how they're not going to quit even though they're in last place, while Caroline and Anthony board the next helicopter. Like anyone quits The Amazing Race. Who would do that?