The Amazing Race

View Date: 11/15/09

The teams departed Sweden and headed to Estonia, where they had to use a set of provided keys to unlock their next clue. To get to their destination, they had to take a 16 hour ferry ride, and all teams were on the same boat. The next clue was a roadblock, where one member had to join the Brotherhood of the Black Hats to solve a mystery. First the teams had to make their way to the basement, then locate a candelabra with a designated room number. In there, they were to locate an apparently blank scroll which had a hidden message only revealed by heating the parchment.

Prior to the roadblock, the father/son team had their speed bump to complete due to coming in last place in the previous leg. The guys had to make their way to a sauna, strip down, and take a 5 minute sauna with locals prior to proceeding to the road block.

Back at the road block, the teams had some difficulty discovering the invisible message. Flight Time and Big Easy had one of the hardest times and colored their paper prior to holding it up to the light. The son was selected to complete this challenge, and could not figure out what a candelabra was. The son did not read the word “garden” in the clue, and ran around the tower several times prior to finding the clue box.

After finding their next clue based on the invisible message, the teams encountered a detour. Their choices were Serve or Sling. In Serve, the teams had to play volleyball in a bog against a local team, generally sunk in the mud to their knees. They would earn their next clue once they earned 5 points. In Sling, the teams had to wade out into the mud and fire assorted rocks at a moose sign. Hitting the sign would drop a pile of cabbages and their next clue.

Meghan and Cheyne made it through the roadblock and to the pit stop first by completing Serve. Three other teams all arrived at Serve at the same time and had a lot of trouble finding the marked path to the challenge. Since only two teams could play volleyball at the same time, Miss America and her husband chose to default to Sling located very close by. The Globetrotters and the brothers both had a very hard time at volleyball, not just because of the mud but also just trying to hit the ball up in the air. They did eventually get the hang of it. However, the Globetrotters headed the wrong way after the roadblock, and tried to compete in a foot race against the brothers. In the foot race, there was some jostling and falling off the path, putting the brothers in front.

Miss America and her husband did succeed at Sling, but wound up coming in fourth. The father/son team wound up coming in last after completing Sling and were eliminated from the race. It was a tough day for them even by their own accord. They left proud of their performance and proud to have raced with each other.

10 words or less: Definitely sad to see them go.