The Amazing Race 25 Episode 3 Recap
Get Your Sheep Together
By Daron Aldridge
October 13, 2014
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Before seeing what misadventures await the teams, here are the abbreviated power rankings for this week.
1) Misti & Jim (Married). Team DDS.
2) Adam & Bethany (Married). Team Hang Ten or Soul Surfers
3) Kym & Alli (Friends). Psycho Cyclists.
4) Tim & Te Jay (Dating). Team TNT.
5) Brooke & Robbie (Dating). Tag Team.
6) Amy & Maya (Friends/PhD Students). Team Candy Crush.
7) Keith & Whitney (Engaged). Survivor alums.
8) Michael & Scott (Friends). Team Office Fire.
9) Shelley & Nici (Mother/Daughter). Super Fannies.
The new owners of the Express Pass lead off this week at midnight and are directed to the train station.
Lots of travel for teams this week before they even really start the leg. (Deep breath)...first, they must take a train from Oxford to Aberdeen, Scotland...then they must drive a marked car from the train station to a ferry, where they will then board the ferry to Shetland Islands...finally, the teams must drive themselves to Royal National Lifeboat Station to search for a costumed puffin...(exhale). Yup. All that has to be done before they get to their first task.
The surfing newlyweds get to the train station and camp out for six hours until the ticket counter opens. As the teams leave the Pitstop to follow Team Hang Ten's lead to wait, there are two notable events. Most Race-impacting, the big, burly firefighter Scotty is felled by gravity and a cobblestone path while walking to the station. The reward for his nasty spill is an ankle that is black and blue and swollen to the size of a grapefruit. It's hard to run a Race with a bum ankle - just ask David of torn Achilles infamy. Scott insists upon just powering through.
More humorously, the cyclists Kym & Alli decide that the lame-o strategy of just hanging out or sleeping on a train station floor isn't the best way to fully appreciate this travel experience. But hitting a local pub definitely is the best way. While we've seen teams appreciating the travel by soaking in the sights while driving through the countries, this seems to be the first time said "soaking in" involved soaking their sobriety in liquor.
Obviously, everyone is on the same train but they also all find the car pickup and ferry boarding easily since they were apparently within 100 feet of each other. While on the ferry, Scott gets to continue elevating his ankle and the other teams get a glimpse at what looks like a bruised gourd at the end of his leg.
No one seems too excited about the prospect of this being detrimental to Team Office Fire's chances because I think that deep down (or even completely top of mind) the teams know that Michael & Scott aren't really the Race threats they would like to appear to be.
At the ferry dock, let's do the scramble out and try not to forget that they drive on the left side of the road over here.
I assume that the Shetland Islands are relatively small because none of the teams have too much issue finding the lifeboat station and the puffin mascot. Oops, spoke too soon...none of them except Tim & Te Jay. The dating duo have managed to find the exact opposite side of the island from where they need to be. Luckily, a local redirects them.
Meanwhile, everyone else has made it to the puffin in quick succession. The next stop...Scalloway Castle. Thank goodness for the onscreen prompt because I could've swore Phil said scalawag which made me think it was a callback to the Blackbeard task on the first leg.
In what must be an intentional Halloween setup, the teams have to search the darkened and kinda creepy-looking castle for the clue. And where do they place it? In a room with bones and skulls scattered about, and a menacing-looking, executioner-like fellow watching close by.
Keith & Whitney get there first (plus we get actual footage of their time on Survivor, which although brief, does provide me with some proof of reality show life). This next clue is the Detour: Pony Up or Light My Fire.
For Pony Up, the teams have to drive themselves to a peat field, dig out 50 pieces of peat (about two feet long each) and then guide a Shetland pony up the hill to a cottage twice to deliver a load of peat. For Light My Fire, they have to drive to the docks and find a torch building kit. After completing three steps of building a Viking torch in a warehouse, which is essentially made of burlap sacks, nails and cement, they must present it to a bunch of Viking re-enactors on the dock. Which would I choose? Probably the fire, because it's more in my control and less dependent upon getting a cooperative animal.
While TNT keeps searching for the castle, the others are en route to one of the Detour options and it's a 50/50 split on which tasks they attempt. However, the Detours are not necessarily the ones they planned to try. In the case of Brooke & Robbie, they were heading to Pony Up and stumbled upon Light My Fire. Given that they probably have the addresses to the task locations, this is likely just a mental slip on their part.
Anyway, Team DDS stays out front, even by just a little bit, because they get to Pony first. Of course, the über-confident Jim thinks that his bodybuilding experience prior to being a dentist will allow him to breeze through the digging up of the peat slabs. The others that hit the peat field are the Super Fannies, Team Candy Crush and the surfers. Clearly, the digging duties will fall to Adam for this task but Bethany is right there to sort, arrange and count the slabs.
Poor lost souls Tim & Te Jay make it to the castle securely in last but go with Light My Fire, which may be the more difficult task, much to my error if I was participating this season. The Survivors are soon joined by the cyclists, firefighters, wrestlers and trailing in last - Tim & Te Jay. Given how intricate each of the three steps is, there is plenty of time for the college sweethearts. It's a bit gratifying to see abrasive Keith get rejected a couple of times on their first step inspection. Yeah, I'm a fan of jerky people getting put in their place. It's not just them, though. The torch building is slow-going for all.
Back at the Pony task, muscular Jim and surfing Adam are are each plowing through the peat while Team Candy Crush initially struggles. Amy, of shoe-giving fame, uses her noodle to determine that the digging tool is easier to use when you figure out the angles and "physics" of where to apply the pressure. Okay, whatever works for them, because they are now making up ground while digging in the ground. Super Fannies Shelley & Nici don't seem to be have an issue, though.
Team DDS has now loaded up their pony for the first time and it is helping to play nice...for now. On the second trip, the obstinate pony gets dubbed Satan by Jim, because it's done with this nonsense. It seems that Jim is about two seconds away from just scooping up his little pony and carrying it and the peat to the top to save time.
Checking in at the Viking-centric task, the teams have all gotten through the first step except Brooke & Robbie. Tag Team has once again hit a snag at a task, following last week's embarrassing marching display. While pretty lovable and fun, these dating grapplers don't quite have it together for physical and mental tasks that require any attention to detail - which we all know is about 90% of the Race challenges. Could be a short season for them.
Once again, Kym & Alli cruise through a task and bust out the door to the dock. Sadly, they are heading to the wrong dock. So a-wandering they will go.
Misti & Jim have finally led the horse to a farmer and gotten their next clue. It points to to a place called Berry Farm. Jim's extreme confidence is not on display as much after his pony struggles, but that's probably only short-lived since they are still in first place.
And then a two...three...four, the other teams at Pony Up finish and head to yet another farm task. It should be noted how you name your horse could determine demeanor. Team DDS labeled theirs Satan and we see how that worked out. Our food scientists Amy & Maya lovingly called theirs Cupcake with a much better result.
At the dock, self-proclaimed gift wrapping aficionados Tim & Te Jay have not only finished the steps but found the Vikings and gotten their clue first of this batch. It's a nice recovery for them. The firefighters are close behind and also heading to the Berry Farm.
Fortunately for their chances, the Psycho Cyclists got Keith & Whitney to follow them around searching for the Vikings, so they weren't the only ones lost.
Inside the warehouse, Tag Team has determined that they simply can't concentrate when all the other teams are adding to the noise. Once it is quiet and they figure out how to hammer a nail and then make it bend over, they proceed quickly through the steps. Yes, the universal screw-up of hammering a nail and it bending was intended to be one of the steps, and they couldn't understand how to achieve that effect.
Team DDS hits the farm and gets the clue. The teams have to guide eight sheep down the middle of a course (between three pairs of gates) to a pin. This seems easy except that notion of sheep jumping over a fence to help you sleep came from somewhere, and apparently it was Scotland because these wooly beasts are leaping fools and also unresponsive to the running, yelling and arm flailing techniques of the teams.
This trying task require teams to take a measured and calculated approach, guiding the animals calmly. That's not exactly the hallmark of Amazing Race teams.
The dentists do finish first and Jim demurely proclaims that no one will be able to do that task as quickly or spectacularly as they did. The next clue is a brooch and they are told to go to "where this was found." Heading out, they see the Scalloway Museum and figure people at this place would know. And they do, thus pointing them to St. Ninian's Isle. Away Team DDS goes to claim another first place, unless they...who are we kidding? They hit the mat in first place with Phil and his oversized puffin (not being euphemistic...it's the same puffin mascot from before). As much as I don't like to pat a cocky team on the back, this married couple is backing up their claims of dominance.
It is funny to see that the methodical approach of Amy & Maya, which you would expect from scientists, actually works better than that of Team DDS. Don't tell Jim, but I think Team Candy Crush had the best showing on this task. Sadly, they stop and ask some random locals about the brooch and are sent to the wrong place. That gives the others a chance to pass them.
Adam & Bethany don't wipe out on this task by replicating the scientists' sheep wrangling technique. The newlyweds hit the museum for directions so we know they will get to Phil before the girls. And they do. The surfers claim second and still have that Express Pass in their pocket.
Surprisingly, for someone we've already seen have outbursts, Keith keeps it in check and the Survivor duo finishes up next. Off they go to Phil.
Sadly for recap purposes, the sheep task is a visual, comedic delight that doesn't quite translate well into words. Just imagine a bunch of Yankee city folks chasing sheep around a corral that really should have been accompanied by the Benny Hill music.
Keith & Whitney claim third, which is nice for them but not for us because as Phil even points out, they can be rude to one another. They justify their actions with, "Oh well, that's just who we are." Yay for self-awareness, jerks.
The mom and daughter super fans get their sheep in the pin next and are officially number four with Phil.
It's about this point that we see Amy & Maya's sidetrack to the wrong place has been realized, and they are heading to the actual Pitstop now.
At the sheep area, the cyclists and wrestlers are making progress, and I give credit to Tag Team because they recovered pretty well from their poor Detour display. On the flip side of that compliment we have Tim & Te Jay.
First, they get lost heading to the Detour but end up the first ones done with Light My Fire task. Now, they are once again at the back of the pack with the Bostonian firefighters, for whom the idea of shepherding is as foreign as pronouncing the "r" at the end of the word "car."
Amy & Maya finally find Phil for fifth. (Holy alliteration!)
While Tim & Te Jay pathetically attempt to create a clothes line/barrier to guide their sheep into the pen (psst...it didn't work), Kym & Alli and Brooke & Robbie are at the Pitstop location and in a foot race. The team that takes the coveted (?) sixth place is...Tag Team. That puts the cyclists in seventh, which is quite a tumble for them but I still think they are a real contender for this season.
While TNT slowly finishes up, Scott and his bummed ankle are entertaining the notion of taking the penalty. I guess I get this rationale because if you already assume you are last, then the only hope you have is for a non-elimination. And you might as well just get to Phil to find out. But Michael insists they can finish.
There really is little drama as to how this one will shake out, especially since the firefighters get incorrect directions from a pub to where they should be heading. Tim & Te Jay are checked in as number eight and Michael & Scott are the last ones.
But are they eliminated? You betcha.
I am disappointed that they couldn't have gone deeper, but for a couple of physically imposing figures, they just weren't built for the Amazing Race.
Until next week, have a great one.