‘The Amazing Race’ Season 14: Your target is your partner’s face

In Episode 2 of “The Amazing Race” Season 14, the teams started off by catching a flight to Munich, Germany. Most of the contestants knew to call for flights while they were making their way to the airport. But Margie and Luke and stuntmen Mark and Michael waited until they got to the airport to book their flights. Margie and Luke luckily made it on the early Swiss Air flight with the others, but Mark and Michael fell from third place to ninth.

Once in Germany, the teams had to drive to Ruhpolding and ride the cable car to the top of the mountain for their next assignment. Tammy and Victor got there first followed by Amanda and Kris.

Who’s not afraid of heights?

The next task was for one member of each team to take a flying leap off the mountain on a paraglider (in tandem with an instructor) and glide 6,000 feet down. The other teammate would ride the gondola back down and wait. If the wind conditions made it unsafe for the jump, they had the choice to wait for the conditions to get better, or hike down the mountain.

Tammy was ready to take the plunge but the conditions were not favorable. She quickly decided to run down the mountain. Mike’s dad, Mel, was going to take flight too, but when he found out he’d have to wait for the conditions to improve, all he could do was wait because of a groin injury that prevented him from taking the downhill trek alternative. As other teams got to this decision-making point, he tried to talk them out of it by saying, “Don’t be afraid!” We also saw Mel whisper to himself,  “Don’t leave…we’re going to lose the race because I stayed up here…I can’t pray for divine intervention. God has enough to do. But if it changed, I would be very grateful. Please let this happen.”

Finally the wind changed and Mel got to paraglide down the mountain saying, “this was a treat of a lifetime.” When he landed, he and his son were in fifth place.

The detour at Schonau Am Konigsee

Next the racers had to choose between two activities: Balancing Dolly and Austrian Folly. The “Dolly” activity was to ride a Segway through a two-mile obstacle course. The “Folly” choice was to throw  Bavarian pies at one another until they found a pie with a red filling.

Siblings Tammy and Victor were first to arrive and opted for the pies. “ This is really nasty,” said Victor, whose face was covered in cream. The couple Amanda and Kris were second and also opted for the pies. Amanda gave us something to laugh about when she got creamed with a pie only to say, “Oooh that was lemon!”

Mother and son Margie and Luke also picked the pies much to Luke’s dismay. It seemed like they were never going to find the red filling. Afterward, Luke signed, “I knew the pie thing would take forever. But what can I do, she’s my mom.”

Mel and Mike picked the Segway challenge. They admitted that they thought they picked the longest challenge, but the good news was that they were in second place.

Getting to the Pit Stop at Schloss Hellbrunn in Salzburg

As it started to get late in the day, it was clear that a few teams were in trouble. Christie and Jodi were having a tough time finding their piece of wood that told them about the Pit Stop after the pie toss. Instead of finding the mechanical Tyrolean woodcutter, they wound up in a barn and hauled a plank of wood back to where they thought they could get a stamp.  Meanwhile, sisters Kisha and Jen were having some difficulty navigating in the car. Kisha was driving and kept getting them lost or turned around. When they stopped for directions on the way to the Pit Stop, Jen said, “I think she wants to play the role of the big sister. I’m sure that she feels that I need to listen to everything she says because everything she says is right.”

In the end, the flight attendants — feeling stereotypically blond — found their wood slice and got to Salzburg and the finish line just ahead of Steve and Linda who came in 10th to be eliminated. Despite all the tears throughout the two episodes, the two still talked about how much they loved each other. Steve said, “I couldn’t imagine running the race with anyone but Linda. If anybody in this world has got my back, it’s her. When you get down to the root of it, we’re deeply in love.” Linda added, “The thing I love about Steve is how much he loves me. I’m really fortunate to have somebody like that. That doesn’t come along every day.”

Here’s how the teams finished

1. Tammy & Victor

2. Mel & Mike

3. Amanda & Kris

4. Margie & Luke

5. Brad & Victoria

6. Jamie & Cara

7. Kisha & Jen

8. Mark & Michael

9. Christie & Jodi

10. Steve & Linda (eliminated)
– Jen Leo, Los Angeles Times Travel & Deal blogger

[Photo: CBS.com]

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This entry was posted on Monday, February 23, 2009 at 6:45 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.