Andy & Tommy look up the tall spire of the Vor Frelsers Kirke church (photos courtesy CBS)
Welcome to the eighth episode of The Amazing Race! With the elimination of Justin & Jennifer last week, six teams remain in the Race around the world.
Andy & Tommy, clear favorites having won most of the legs this season, are the first to depart Livingstonia Beach in Malawi at 3:12 in the afternoon. Teams will now fly from Malawi to Copenhagen, Denmark. Upon arrival, they will pick up a car and drive themselves to Vor Frelsers Kirke, an old church with a huge spire on it. Ernie & Cindy, having lost the footrace to Andy & Tommy at the finish last week, depart second. Bill & Cathi leave third at 3:26, with Amani & Marcus next at 3:34, Laurence & Zac at 3:36 and Jeremy & Sandy last at 3:42. Only half an hour separates all of the teams as they head to the airport to catch the quickest flight to Copenhagen.
Laurence & Zac are the first to arrive at the airport. Laurence thinks they should fly to London as a major air hub and then transit to Copenhagen. Ernie & Cindy meet up with them at the airport, but Laurence & Zac won’t reveal their flight plans saying the ticket agent is in the middle of “checking on stuff right now.” Ernie & Cindy get the hint to buzz off and work on their own arrangements. It turns out all of the teams except Laurence & Zac are on the same flight to Schipol Airport in Amsterdam and then transits to Copenhagen. With Laurence & Zac arriving in Copenhagen at 8:30 p.m., is it the quickest route? Or will it even make a difference if the church is closed for the night when they all arrive?
In Amsterdam, Bill & Cathi and Ernie & Cindy are talking about flights. Bill & Cathi advise them that they are switching to Norwegian Airlines, which will get them to Copenhagen at 11:00 p.m. Andy & Tommy, meanwhile, find a slightly earlier flight on Cimber Air that arrives at 10:35. Marcus & Amani don’t see the other teams and ask themselves, “Where did everybody else go?” Jeremy & Sandy join Andy & Tommy on the Cimber Air flight, with Ernie & Cindy joining Bill & Cathi on the Norwegian Air flight, and Laurence & Zac going via London. Marcus & Amani still hadn’t figured out which flight to take next and they’re still sitting in a Schipol airport lounge “kind of hanging out right now.”
Laurence & Zac are the first to arrive in Copenhagen while it’s still light outside. They arrive to Vor Frelsers Kirke church and, sure enough, it’s not open until 7:30 the next morning. So much for the flight drama! The other four teams arrive to the church later that night while Marcus & Amani are still decamped in the airport lounge in Amsterdam and end up departing on a flight at early the next morning. They realize that they blew it with the other teams “already on to the next clue and we’re still sitting in Amsterdam at the airport.” “It feels like death to me,” Marcus remarks, but Amani retorts, “It doesn’t feel like death to me and if death came, I’m fighting death every step of the way.” Spunky lady.
Meanwhile, the other teams enter the church, where they climb 400 steps up to the top where there is a banner, “Borg Slot”. Down below on the roof of a building, there is another banner “Frederiks” that tells them the rest of where they must go, Fredericksborg Slot. It’s quite a breath-taking view from up there. Laurence & Zac only see the banner on the spire balcony (Borg Slot), but miss seeing the other banner as they race back down the stairs.
Cathi happens to notice the other banner on the building down below, where two guys are busy furling and unfurling it on the flat rooftop. The other teams see it, too, except Jeremy & Sandy, who consult a sightseeing plaque on the balcony and assume that it must be “Rosenberg Slot” and end up going to a restaurant that opens later at 10:00. Without any other teams around, they realize they’re in the wrong place. Jeremy & Sandy end up starting over again by going back to the church where, lo and behold, Amani & Marcus have just arrived!
Laurence & Zac happen to notice a street sign reading “Fredericksborg Slot” and assume (correctly) that’s where they need to go. They arrive to the castle plaza in their car first, with Ernie & Cindy just behind them, where a lady in traditional attire hands them their next clue. It’s a Roadblock that requires teams to perform a three-part dance routine that dates back to the Renaissance. They’ll be wearing that era’s dance attire and even get a bit of a makeup job for the complete royal look!
Ernie does the dance routine with Cindy watching on, while Zac does it for the two sailors. Bill & Cathi arrive and Cathi does the dance task. Bill talks with Cindy about how he and Cathi met and got married. They met when he was thirteen and she was twelve and got married the day they graduated from college. “Wow. We met in a bar,” is all Cindy can say! Meanwhile, Ernie seems to be pretty good at picking up Renaissance dancing as he fairly easily finishes the three routines to a full round of applause and the next clue.
Zac, meanwhile, can’t get his feet to cooperate as Cathi completes her second routine and Andy takes to the dance floor. The lady teaching Andy asks him if he hasn’t done this before, as he picks it up right away. Cathi completes the third routine to an enthusiastic round of applause and she & Bill move on in second place.
From the dance, Ernie & Cindy go to a farm in Frilandmuseet to find the next clue in a red “Post” box. The next task is a Detour, “All Hopped Up” or “All Churned Out”. All Hopped Up requires teams to assemble a steeplechase course and then guide a rabbit to run the entire course without knocking anything over. All Churned Out requires teams to churn out blocks of butter by hand from milk cream. Ernie & Cindy decide to try their hand at churning butter. Bill & Cathi later arrive to the farm in second place and choose their hand at churning butter, too.
Meanwhile, Andy completes the second and third dance routines as Zac continues to flunk the first one. Andy & Tommy are now off to the farm in third place. Jeremy & Sandy soon arrive to the castle dance hall in fifth place. After repeated attempts, Zac eventually gets the dance steps right and they’re in fourth heading to the farm. Laurence congratulates Zac, but claims that “it would have taken me a while, but I would have landed it a little quicker.” You can land a sailboat, but how do you land a dance?
Marcus & Amani are lost somewhere in their car. Marcus tries everything from flagging down motorcycles and cars from the roadside to standing in the median of a highway getting honked at by trucks flying by in an attempt to get directions from someone. Finally, someone stops and gives them directions. Did Amani have a map of Louisiana with her in the back seat as Marcus was driving? It sure looked like it! You’re a long way from New Orleans, gang.
Ernie & Cindy complete churning several blocks of butter and are now well in front of the pack. The next destination is the Karlstrup Windmill within walking distance. A Double U-Turn board is located there where up to two teams may opt to delay two other teams of their choice. Ernie & Cindy decide to U-Turn Bill & Cathi in order to increase their lead over the second place team on the way to the Pit Stop at Havet Ship, seven miles away in Copenhagen. They say they feel bad about doing the U-turn on Bill & Cathi, but they really want to win this leg. On the way to the Pit Stop, Ernie goes on about how he’s regretting doing the U-Turn while Cindy admits that she’s “the mean one” because she wants to win this leg so bad.
Bill & Cathi make their way on foot to the windmill where the U-Turn board is located and are dismayed to find out they’ve been U-turned and they’ll have to do the rabbit steeplechase task as well. “Oh, shoot,” Cathi says, “that says something, doesn’t it?” So she decides that they’ll U-Turn Laurence & Zac who are further behind. They know Andy & Tommy are in third, having just met them coming to the farm, and also know that Zac was having trouble on the dance floor a while earlier. They don’t know where Jeremy & Sandy or Marcus & Amani are, so they go for the sure thing to avoid last place. They put together the course and Bill starts guiding the rabbit, which he has named “Hopper”. It knocks over one bar in the first run and some later runs, so he goes back to get another rabbit, which he calls “Speckles”. Speckles is a sprite rabbit and completes one course with Bill and another course with Cathi. They’re now on their way to the Pit Stop. Laurence & Zac later arrive in fourth to the farm, where they see Andy & Tommy almost finished with the butter churning task.
Marcus & Amani finally arrive to the castle dance hall floor with Jeremy & Sandy still there. Sandy completes the third routine as Amani begins her lessons. Amani turns out to be pretty good with the dance and she completes the three routines with a smile and a round of applause. It looks like the two last place teams will have to vie for their survival.
Meanwhile, Ernie & Cindy arrive to the Pit Stop to finish in first place! They win a 5-night trip to Fiji, courtesy of Travelocity. Cindy says they feel kind of bad about U-turning Bill & Cathi, “but you kind of have to do what you have to do to secure first.”
Jeremy & Sandy aren’t having a good day. He’s driving, she’s reading the map, the camera man is taking shots of the road signs and they realize they’re going the wrong way on a highway. She says they should be going north and he tells her she should have told him that, as the usual mutual miscommunication problems continue.
Amani & Marcus reach the farm in fifth place and decide to do the rabbit steeplechase. Laurence & Zac rush out to the windmill to discover they’ve been U-Turned by Bill & Cathi. “This is bloody ridiculous,” Laurence remarks with a touch of sarcasm. They arrive to see Amani & Marcus about to do a second rabbit run, with Marcus giving the rabbit a pre-game pep talk. “You do good, ok? I need you to work your magic.” The rabbit does a splendid job and Marcus gives it a hug and says, “I love you.” They’re now in fourth place and on the way to the Pit Stop.
Laurence, however, doesn’t feel the magic and he’s constantly grumbling about how “this is the most ridiculous thing in the world” when he and Zac set up the course and get ready to run their rabbit. In spite of his crankiness, the rabbit cooperates and runs the course nicely.
Meanwhile, Bill & Cathi and Andy & Tommy arrive at the parking lot to the Pit Stop at exactly the same time. The two snowboarders sure have an uncanny sense of timing, don’t they? It’s not really a foot race, as both teams know that they’re neither in front nor in last. Bill & Cathi step on the mat for second place with Andy & Tommy in third place right behind them. Amani & Marcus show up a while later in fourth place.
Jeremy & Sandy finally arrive to the farm and try their hand at churning butter. They’re in last place now, with a time-consuming task ahead of them. Their only hope now is that Laurence & Zac somehow get lost on the way to the Pit Stop. And, oops, sure enough, Zac is saying “we’re going the opposite way we need to go.” There is some construction going on with exits closed. There is a traffic jam. They’re sitting like dead ducks in traffic, then Laurence decides to use the emergency lane on the right to (illegally?) bypass the traffic.
Meanwhile, Jeremy & Sandy finish up the butter task and head to the Pit Stop. It’s still daylight, so maybe there’s hope for them yet. They’re not having the traffic problems that Laurence & Zac are. And… Jeremy & Sandy reach the Pit Stop mat first! They’re convinced they’re in last place and are shocked to hear that they finished in fifth place. Good job not quitting, you two.
Laurence & Zac are the last team to arrive to the Pit Stop and Phil is sorry to tell them that they have been eliminated from the Race. They say they think they had a good run at it and were glad to run the Race with each other.
Next week, teams “act up” in play acting, “spin out” in those Disneyland type whirling cups and “hose down” as body builders.
Stay tuned!
