Gary & Will get the Roadblock clue in ninth place, just ahead of Rob & Kelley. Will and Rob both decide for their respective teams that they like to party. Lexi finishes making her last balloon, so Team Austin is finished and in first place. According to the clue they get from a little girl wearing Harry Potter glasses, they'll now have to get to Wijaya Motor Shop to search for their next clue. It looks like a motorcycle dealer, but don't worry... they'll have even less to do with these motorbikes than the ones they encountered this morning. Nadiya's already on her sixth balloon. But Amy finishes next and then Nadiya, putting the twins in third place before Team Metal can get out of there. So much for their lead. "Foiled by the balloons, man," James says in their cab, sounding like the narrator of a Saturday afternoon serial. "We gotta catch up." That's the trouble with us bass players, we're a bunch of hammer-fingers. Otherwise we'd be playing lead. Jaymes is the next to finish, then Abbie & Ryan. While Josh makes up time, Brent tells us from the sidelines, "There are just some things the gays are better at, and balloon animals are one of them." Indeed, Josh is done and they're finished -- still in seventh place, but not as far back. Will is manhandling his balloon, struggling with getting the knot tied. I couldn't do that until my thirties either, when I suddenly had a niece. Kelley and Brittany give their partners some urgent encouragement and Caitlin finishes her third balloon. Gary yells at Will to focus on his task, not the other racers. Which is going to be much easier for Will in a not very long time, if you know what I mean.
In the taxi, Amy & Daniel's driver doesn't seem to know where he's going, but Amy's making up for it by loudly and persistently rustling a paper bag. After finishing the Roadblock first, Trey & Lexi are also the first team to find the right place and get their clue, closely followed by the twins. It's the first Detour of the season and Phil's here to explain the options. For the one called "Ice by the Pound," the teams will use baling hooks and brute strength to wrangle ten girders of ice that are about a foot square and five feet long and which, according to Phil, weigh about 65 pounds. They'll have to get them out of the giant icemaker one at a time, schlep them through the factory to a truck which they'll take to a marketplace, and then load the ice onto a smaller cart to deliver it to a vendor, who will give them their next clue. For "Fish by the Barrel," teams have to go to that same market, sort through barrels of fresh fish, ice them and set up a display stall to the satisfaction of a different clue-dispensing vendor. Neither one of these seems remotely unchallenging, I have to say, but in both cases the trickiest part seems like it would be finding the market. Trey & Lexi opt for the ice. "We've got the guns, obviously, to do it," Lexi interviews while Trey grins dopily. The twins, on the other hand, choose the fish option.













Comments