By M. Giant
First thing's first: Dave did indeed injure his ankle pretty bad, seriously enough to have to leave Bora Bora on crutches. But he and Connor are still not ready to quit. From there, the teams head to Phil's hometown of Christchurch, New Zealand, via Tahiti, Auckland, and all manner of airport intrigue, during which Dave goes to an actual hospital and gets a sonogram, official diagnosis, and an immobilizing boot to go with the crutches. But he and Connor are still not ready to quit, so Jessica & John hand Dave & Connor the Express Pass as promised.
Once everyone gets to Christchurch, they trek out the river and then take jet boats to a Detour where they either have to drive a car down a slippery dirt slalom course or catch a foot-long fish from the river. Obviously most teams opt for the race cars -- except Dave, who can't drive anything with a clutch while his foot is out of commission; and Chuck & Wynona, who are all about the outdoors. Most teams take a few tries for each racer to complete the course under the combined time of 83 seconds, and those are the ones where both partners already knew how to drive stick before learning for the race. Max is especially poor, and Katie isn't shy about saying so.
Dave & Connor use their Express Pass after a few minutes of fruitless fishing and end up leading the way to the clue at Mount Hutt Station. There, they discover the Shemozzle, a wacky Kiwi obstacle course Roadblock that leads to each racer being covered in molasses and feathers on their way to a splashdown in a mud pool, all while trying to collect a dozen eggs. Max and Katie get lost and fall to bickering on the way, with the hockey brothers in their wake. Connor manages to finish the Roadblock before any other teams show up, at which point it becomes something of a melee, but Jessica & John get out of there in second place. Dave becomes what is probably the first person ever to win a leg of The Amazing Race on crutches, which they're happy about because it might be one of their last legs. In fact, Phil presents them with a dreaded "you're still racing" clue, at the worst possible time. And we leave it To Be Continued before we know if they're even going to stay in it. So now are Dave & Connor ready to quit? We'll find out week, as well as finding out when and in what order everyone else makes it to the mat.