‘The Amazing Race 14′: From Siberia to India — and one-team elimination

If I had been a contestant on “The Amazing Race 14″ this year, I would have been toast.

On the sixth lap of the race last night, the remaining teams went from the sub-zero temperatures of Siberia to the sweltering heat of India. None of seven remaining teams, though, caught a cold or a sniffle from the extreme temperature changes. I probably would have caught pneumonia as soon as I arrived in India.

The teams traveled to Jaipur, a.k.a., the Pink City, in India where they took a taxi through some of most startling poverty-stricken villages to receive their first clue underneath a sacred tree. The site of cows and dogs eating garbage and children running around naked was too much for the teams, especially hearing-impaired Luke Adams, who couldn’t stop crying even as his mother Margie tried to comfort him.

The taxi drivers in India, though, were rather clueless on the location of the tree or needed to stop in the middle of the race for gas.

But the brother-sister team of Tammy and Victor Jih managed to get a fast taxi and arrived at the tree first. And they kept their lead throughout the evening. Instead of the regular clue box, there were two red phones with four different lines. Each line gave the next clue to go to a parking lot at the Amber Fort.

Though Tammy and Victor were able to find the phones immediately, the rest of the teams seemed oblivious to the two red objects and lost of a lot of time.

Arriving at the Amber Fort, the teams hit the Road Block — one member of the team had to load and carry enough food and water to feed a group of camels. It was grueling work, especially since the contestant had to carry the nourishment long distances.

The oldest contestant, Mel White, 68, opted to do the Road Block and had a rough time carrying the water buckets and the basketful of food. His son Mike couldn’t even look at his father huffing and puffing. But miraculously, Mel not only finished the task but also beat five other teams who were far younger than he. “Dad, you did awesome,” said Mike when his father completed the task.

After feeding their camels, teams took the taxi to the Johari Bazaar, where they went to puppet shop for their next clue — the Detour.

In this Detour, they had to either Move or Shake It. In Shake It, the teams had to dress up in traditional garments and, accompanied by a band of musicians, had to “shake it” and dance for money on the streets. Once they earned 100 rupees, they got their next clue.

All the teams, save the direction-challenged stuntmen brothers Mark and Michael Munoz, opted for Shake It. The Munozes took Move It, in which they had to ride traditional bicycles loaded with nine barrels a mile and then open the barrels full of hay and find a tiny elephant charm. They lost a lot of valuable time scouring through the 18 barrels looking for the elephant.

Flight attendants Christie Volkmer and Jodi Wincheski nearly caught up with the brothers, even though they had to accomplish a Speed Bump since they came in last place the week before in the nonelimination round.

At least their Speed Bump looked like a lot of fun — decorating the trunk of an elephant with paint.

The pit stop was at Jaigahr Temple, a 15th century fortress. Tammy and Victor came in first, and each won an ocean kayak. Mel and Mike placed second; the sister team of Lakisha and Jennifer Hoffman came in third; Margie and Luke were fourth; former cheerleaders Cara Rosenthal and Jaime Edmondson placed fifth; Mark and Michael were sixth, and Christie and Jodi placed last and were eliminated.

— Susan King, L.A. Times Staff Writer

[Photo credit: CBS]

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This entry was posted on Monday, March 23, 2009 at 12:04 pm by Susan King and is filed under Amazing Race, Asia, India, News, Tips & Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.