‘The Amazing Race 14′ You’re going to make me eat what?

The 11th lap of “The Amazing Race” tested the teams’ endurance as they went without sleep and pushed on.

Cheerleaders Jaime and Cara were the first to arrive at last week’s Pit Stop at the Beijing Drum Tower, only to find out that the race was still on. Margie and Luke were next with Tammy and Victor finding out third and Kisha and Jen arriving last.

Margie started to show signs of wear and tear when she admitted, “The longer we’re on the race, the harder it is. I just don’t want to hear him yell ‘Mom’ one more time.”

The teams had to make their way to the Bey Hai Dong Men street mall and search the shops for the Travelocity gnome. Once they found the little blue guy with the long beard, instructions on the bottom would tell them where to go next.

Margie and Luke were the first to find the gnome’s clue. It told them to go to Gu Gong Xi Bei Jiao where they’d have to get on electric bikes, ride across Tiananmen Square and go to the Dongdan subway station. Riding the bikes was the easy part. Getting a taxi to get to the bikes was the true test. Tammy and Victor were first to grab a cab, but Margie and Luke found one before Jaime and Cara, who were third. Jen and Kisha were still last.

Tammy and Victor were the first to find the bikes, but all teams were amazed at the guards marching at Tiananmen Square.

At the Detour, teams had to choose between two local professions. If they chose Beijing opera, they’d go to the Hu Guang Hui Guan Opera House and make one another up in  full makeup with traditional costumes and present themselves to the opera master for approval. Otherwise they had to act as a Chinese waiter at a restaurant. Diners would give their orders in Mandarin and the waiters would recite the orders to the chef and get approval, and the chef would prepare their orders for the teams to then serve to the diners.

Tammy and Victor naturally chose the waiter jobs since they spoke Mandarin, but the other teams took on the opera challenge. At the restaurant, Tammy and Victor missed on their first try, confusing “Good Luck Fish” for “Good Luck Squid.” The chef sent them back in to get the five dishes right.

Meanwhile, Kisha and Jen got to the opera house and finished their makeup first.

Margie and Luke were having a tough time. Luke couldn’t get his mom to sit still. She kept looking in the mirror, messing up his efforts. It was the funniest part of the whole night. Margie said, “It’s too much … You have to finish me.”

Meanwhile Jaime and Cara continued to struggle with taxi drivers and  wound up at the wrong opera house before finally getting to the right one, last.

When Tammy and Victor finished their waiter duties, their next clue took them to the U-Turn. This time it would not be a blind U-Turn and the recipients would know who gave it to them. Tammy and Victor apologetically decided to use it on Kisha and Jen. Tammy wrote on the U-Turn photo that she was sorry –- but she couldn’t outrun them, explaining why they had to pick them. Jen and Kisha didn’t seem too surprised and went on to the restaurant to do their waiter duties. They didn’t get it on their first try, but it didn’t take them too long.

The next stop was a Road Block at Dong Hua Men Yi Shi street market. Once there, teams must choose one person to eat a plate of crispy creatures considered Chinese delicacies. Sticks of grasshoppers, larvae, scorpions and one starfish were on the menu.

Victor was first up.

“I’m glad they’re frying it because I was about to eat it raw,” he said.

“Do they have ketchup?” he asked. He described the larvae as chewy and crunchy with a spongy texture.

Margie and Luke, Kisha and Jen got to the market stand before Jaime and Cara who had trouble finding the U-Turn. Margie ate the fried items with little trouble but Jen had a tough time and the competitive Jaime and Cara arrived to see them struggling and seized their opportunity. Cara ate at a quick pace while Jen couldn’t help but throw up. In the process of trying to get the creatures down she drank four bottles of water.

The Pit Stop was at Niao Chao, well known as the Bird’s Next during the 2008 Olympics. Tammy and Victor arrived first securing their spot in the final three. Margie and Luke were second. But the race was on between Jaime and Cara and Kisha and Jen. It looked like Kisha and Jen had the cheerleaders beat, but in the last few minutes Jen was agonizing over her need to use the bathroom. They found some outhouses and had a pit stop on their way to the Pit Stop. This was all that the cheerleaders needed to get the edge. Jaime and Cara secured their spot in the top three only seconds before Jen and Kisha made it to the finish line.

– Jen Leo, Los Angeles Times Travel & Deal blogger

[Photos: Top, Jen eating fried creatures in Beijing; bottom, Luke applying opera makeup to Margie. CBS]

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 5, 2009 at 12:29 pm by Jen Leo and is filed under Amazing Race, 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.