‘The Amazing Race 14′: taxis, forgotten travel documents and dentures

Clueless taxi drivers and some truly boneheaded mistakes by two teams who left logic behind in order to reach the finish line propelled the eighth lap of CBS’ “The Amazing Race14” Sunday night.

And for any folks out there contemplating auditioning for the race around the world, always remember to keep your travel papers with you at all times or you could end up being eliminated.

The five remaining teams left Phuket, Thailand, on the same flight and flew 400 miles to Bangkok, where they had to take a taxi to a nearby boatyard to find their next clue. Though most of the taxi drivers told their teams they knew how to get the boats, the majority of them had to stop and ask for the location.

The mother-son team of Margie and hearing-impaired Luke Adams were first to reach the boatyard, where they received the Road Block. Margie chose to accomplish the task: Attach a rod to the propeller of a long-tail boat. After they completed the Roadblock, the next clue had them traveling on the boat down the canal to go to the Peninsula Pier.

Margie and Luke wisely brought their entire luggage with them on the challenge. The other four teams weren’t quite so savvy, as they left their belongings in their taxis as they took on the Roadblock. Victor, of the brother-sister team of Victor and Tammy Jih, had real problems getting the rod into the propeller and even had to reattach the rod a second time when the propeller didn’t work.

Victor and Tammy and the former cheerleaders Cara Rosenthal and Jaime Edmonson realized when they were on the boats that they had left everything in the cabs. They had the boats turn around so they could retrieve their personal belongings, but stuntmen brothers Mark and Mike Munoz and the sisters Kisha and Jen Hoffman left everything behind in the taxis as they took the boats to the pier.

Once they arrived at the pier, the teams were given their Detour: broken teeth or broken record. In broken teeth, the contestants had to go to what is called the “Street of Happy Smiles” and fit five people with dentures. The rub was that they had to go through 50 pairs of choppers in order to find the right one for each person.

Margie and Luke were the only ones who went for broken teeth. Though Luke struggled trying to find the right dentures, Margie managed to fit all five people. They arrived at the Pit Stop at the Phya Thai Palace first, winning a trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The four other teams chose broken record, traveling five miles in a party taxi while they sang a Thai karaoke song along with three transvestites. Mark and Mike got into a fight because, after completing the Detour, Mark wanted to return to their taxi at the dock and pick up their belongings before they went to the Pit Stop. Mike wanted to go to the Pit Stop first. Mark finally won out, but because they didn’t have enough money, they ended up bartering with the taxi drivers twice with their personal belongings, which is a no-no on “The Amazing Race.”

When they arrived at the Pit Stop, they were given two two-hour penalties for using their personal belongings. Host Phil Keoghan admonished them because they had also incurred two penalties the week before.

Jaime and Cara came in second; Kisha and Jen arrived third, but Phil wouldn’t check them in until they had returned to the dock to get their travel papers and belongings. Their snafu led to Tammy and Victor earning third-place honors. Kisha and Jen eventually placed fourth.

Mark and Mike sat out one hour of their four-hour penalty before Phil checked them in. The brothers learned that it was a nonelimination round, but they will have a difficult time next week catching up. The remaining three hours of their penalty will be tacked on to their start time on the next leg of the race and the two will also have to perform a Speed Bump — a special task — during the course of the race.

— Susan King, Los Angeles Times staff writer

[Photo: "Amazing Race" host Phil Keoghan, in a lighthearted moment. Credit: CBS]

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This entry was posted on Monday, April 13, 2009 at 12:55 pm by Susan King and is filed under Amazing Race, Asia. 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.