Now Where Were We...
#14 of The Amazing Race 3
Previously on the Amazing Race, our teams found themselves digging out of their own graves. A U-Turn sent one team back to do it a second time. The officers proved that going upstream can be a tough battle. The first team to arrive was the friends with benefits, but they quickly learned that the leg isn't over yet. So after a quick phone call back home, the teams raced up north where the real checkpoint is. Which teams will be able to handle this leg and which one will skid into last place? Keep watching because it's time for the second half of this leg of... the Amazing Race.
***
Minot, also known as the "Magic City", is widely acknowledged as a home for a local Air Force base as well as being an international trading center for provinces such as Manitoba and Saskatchewan. All ten teams are currently in taxis on their way there, but some of them are far behind. "It's great that we're doing better, but we're still behind the marines. I thought we were going to use this leg as an opportunity to catch up to them."
Cal shrugs to what his partner is saying. "Sorry, Ren. It looks like they're just too good. In the meantime, we ought to be glad that we're not in last like those cab drivers." The coyote driving their taxi looks at them through the front mirror. "Not you, Frank!"
Surprisingly, the YouTubers are taking seventh place very calm. For them, if they had a panic attack every time they didn't get a good ranking, they'd be labeled as insane by now. "Starting out in seventh place isn't so bad," Echo says. "We only have three teams trailing us and one of them are about as dysfunctional as a divorced couple."
"They might as well have been," Majira points out. "And you're forgetting that the drivers are behind as and they're very good competitors."
The fennec laughs. "You mean they WERE good competitors. Those guys have gotten tenth twice in the last few rounds. Even if they could step up their game, the others have a huge advantage over them." She leans back in her seat with no worries on her mind.
Up ahead, Max's papercut has stopped, but it starts to itch a little bit. "So," the fox starts out, "you were telling me about this thing you found in the grave earlier. What did you say it was?"
"A planchette," Lucius answers. "It's that piece you use with a ouija board to communicate with the dead. You know, before the Dial-A-Ghost was invented."
"I thought that was only available back home."
Before either of them can say another word, they hear a loud popping followed by the sounds of screeching. Their driver (doberman with brown fur and a spiked collar) starts to pull them over on the shoulder of the road. "Sorry boys," he says. "But it looks like we've got a flat tire on our paws." The only thing Lucius can think is, Did that planchette really curse us? "Don't worry, this will only take a few minutes."
Max reaches over and holds over with his partner. "Good," he says. "Because we're in a really big hurry."
The haters, who are still trying to ignore each other (and epically failing), sit there in almost complete silence. Except Ryan is slowly drumming his fingers against the side of the door. Josee starts to get slightly annoyed by it and almost lets out a little growl. When she lets out a huff of breath, the wolf sits up straight and goes back to his habit before the tigress shouts, "Will you stop doing that?! You're driving me nuts!"
Ryan cringes his paw and lets out his own bark. "Oh, I see! It's always got to be about you! Big news 'princess' this show doesn't revolve around you!" They angrily glare at each other before a weird and sudden impulse makes them briefly kiss. Five second later, Josee slaps him across the cheek. "Thanks for that."
"Pleasure doing business with you." She leans back and feels her own personal victory.
Currently in last place, Donna uses their spare time to start scheming. Being fast and pushing for the win up to this point has only slowed them down. If they want to win, she might have to resort to... other methods. "Is it me or did I just see the emperors' cab pulled over?" Vito asks.
"Never mind that," the vixen says. "Tenth place in unacceptable! Vito, I know I promised to never stoop down to this level, but I think it's time we start sabotaging the other teams." To prove her point, she lets out an evil giggle.
He sits up a little, still feeling neutral about the situation. "What did you have in mind?" he asks.
"Well, the haters are already on the brink of destruction. Give them a little nudge and then..." Donna imitates an explosion sound. One look from her partner and she knew he was on board.
At 7:35pm (local time), the friends with benefits arrive at Scandinavian Heritage Park (where the tip instructed everyone to go). "There's the clue box!" Felix points. He notices that a whole course has been set up right next to it and knows that it can't mean anything good. "It's yet another One-Way: 'Swede's a crowd'?"
For this One-Way, teams must listen to an entire saying in perfect Swedish. Once they think they have the phrase memorized, they must go through a mini obstacle course and repeat it to a Swedish local (red vixen wearing a dress that closely resembles the flag of her home country; Olivia). If she approves their sentence, she'll hand them the next tip. Get it wrong and she'll send them back to the beginning to hear the phrase again.
Toby & Felix run up to the speaker at the beginning of the course and they perk up their ears. "En vandring på tusen mil börjar alltid med ett steg." They look at each other, confused and they listen to the phrase again.
"Um... what in the world is this supposed to be saying?" Toby asks. Felix is about to answer when he hears the sound of tires screeching, indicating that the other teams are catching up. "Never mind. Let's just give this thing a try." Both boys continue to struggle with their lead.
Meanwhile, the next four teams arrive and they listen in on the task. Chris makes Zack stay behind to listen to it a few times while in his head, is secretly counting. "Ok, it sounds like there are ten words," Chris concludes. "I'll remember the first five, you remember the other five. Deal?"
"Sound easy enough," Zack says.
The officers try it a different way. For them, they try to repeat it back to themselves before starting the course. "All I could understand was 'En vandring'," Nick says. "After that it's a bunch of gibberish. Could you pick up any of that?"
The bunny shakes her head. "Maybe we shouldn't be going unless we absolutely understand the phrase."
Kaleb insisted that him and his son go after only hearing the sentence twice. Mac, though, tried to retaliate. "But dad, you don't even know some of the sentence!" he claimed.
"That's nonsense," Kaleb said. "If I hear something I can remember it easily." The little cub rolled his eyes. Maybe what he said back in Idaho made him a little TOO confident. On the other hand, what choice did Mac have at the time? His dad was sulking after Portland and he needed a way to cheer his old man up.
As far as the strippers go, they're not at all confident in this task. Because Cinnamon cannot talk, it means Pepper has to remember the whole phrase by himself. And he has to speak it before either of them can move on. This puts them at a real disadvantage. But Cinnamon was never one to let his disability get in the way of life. He may not be able to talk, but he can hear just fine.
"Let me know if I get the phrase wrong, ok buddy?" Pepper asks. His partner nods. The grey fox takes a deep breath and listens to the Swedish sentence. "'En vandring... på'... uhhh..." He scratches the back of his head, trying to remember but he can't.
Ahead of the others, Toby manages to zoom through the obstacles in no problem. There are only three anyhow: climb up a steep ramp, swing over a large gorge and carefully walk down a thin balance beam until they reach Olivia. When the tiger does though, he can only remember "En vandring på tusen".
He heads back to the beginning. The marines manage to step up their game and they arrive next. Chris starts out with his part of the sentence. "'En vandring på tusen...'" He motions to his partner.
"'...börjar alltid med ett steg'," Zack finishes. However, Olivia gives them a thumbs-down. THey got it wrong. "What? How could that be wrong? I remembered my part of the phrase."
The wolf/husky grabs his paw and drags him back to the start growling, "Clearly you did not."
Over on father/son team, things are going great. And by "great", we mean hilariously failing. First Kaleb slips off the rope when he tries to swing over and falls to the ground. Then he gets his tongue tied when he tries to repeat the sentence by himself. Mac just enjoys watching until his father slips on the balance beam and lands between his legs, letting out a large howl.
Pepper winces. "Ouch. That's gotta hurt." The fox slides down the beam with ease, being mindful to hop over the fallen wolf. When he reaches Olivia, he can only say "En vandring på tusen mil börjar alltid..." before becoming confused and forgetting the rest of the sentence.
Judy takes the challenge from a different approach. She figures that the mind is able to remember something if it's associated with a certain object. In this case, she tries to match the words of the phrase to her fingers; counting off the words and seeing if she can recall the words just by looking at her paws. For her, it seems to be working. She thinks she has seven words down.
Nick just watches her with his eyes, but his ears are focused on getting the last three words down. That is, until he hears more taxis in the background. "Uhh... Carrots, I hate to interrupt but the other teams are coming and first place is still up for grabs."
The bunny looks up and sees more cabs coming their way. "You're right!" she says urgently. "We need to go!" As the officers finally include themselves in the more gruesome part of the task, the next four teams arrive in time to start.
"An obstacle course?" Josee asks when she reads the tip. "This will be so easy. Although, I'm going to need help when it comes to the foreign language bit." She looks over to Ryan and smirks when she remembers something. "If only I knew someone who excelled in foreign language back in high school..."
Ryan perks up. "Josee, I never took Swedish. You're thinking of French that I did exceptional at."
"Same here," Cal chimes in. "The only languages I know how to speak are English, French, Spanish, Latin, German, and little bit of Arabic." The bear sees the marines coming back from the other end of the course, panting and slightly sweaty. "What in the world happened to you two?"
"This challenge is a lot tougher than you think," Chris breathes. "Plus I think Toner purposely made those obstacles slippery."
Zack tags in, "How do we keep getting the sentence wrong? I remembered the half I was supposed to do: '...börjar alltid med ett steg'. That's five words, the ones you've assigned to me. Are you sure you're getting your part of the phrase correct?"
Chris stands up straight. "Of course I have!" he growls. "What else could my part be?" The four hear the sentence one time together and the hybrid blushes as he realizes his mistake. It wasn't that he got the part wrong, he just forgot one word to put it all together: "mil". He slaps himself in the face. "Darn it, we could be in first! Let's go!"
Up ahead, two certain foxes seem to have no trouble in the obstacle course. Although one does slip up a few times. "Come on, Vito; we have a good chance!" Donna shouts. She hops over the gorge with no trouble and slides down the beam on her graceful two feetpaws.
Olivia lightens up when she sees the vixen lands before her with a bright smile and her head held high. Donna clears her throat and says, with absolutely no difficulty, "'En vandring på tusen mil börjar alltid med ett steg'." Olivia applauds and gives her the next tip.
Just in time, Vito comes crashing down next to her. "How did you know the phrase with only one try?" he asks.
"Oh please, I've told you, my grandmother is Swedish. You learn to pick up a few things especially after you've lived with her for two years of your life." Donna then skims over the clue she got. "'Make your way to the Museum where the checkpoint is on display'." Specifically, the Dakota Territory Air Museum. Teams must make their way on foot towards this place of aerospace history where the carpet, and Toner, will be waiting for them. The last team to arrive could be cut from the race.
The cab drivers take back first place. The YouTubers and engaged couple are starting the challenge. The haters failed it once (with a few words from Josee that cannot be mentioned) and they have to try again. Meanwhile, the last-place emperors are just arriving in time to start. "You know Swedish, right?" Max asks.
"I know a little," Lucius admits. The boys listen in on the phrase while the haters and marines come back for another shot at it. "I think I get it already. And the meaning of the phrase: 'A journey of a thousand miles always begins with a single step'. Come on!" The wolf runs up the ramp okay, but slips off the rope and falls to the ground.
"Honey! Are you ok?!" Max runs over to him and helps him to his feet. The wolf winces when he puts his right foot down.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Lucius says. "Though I think I just sprained my ankle." He steps on his foot again and a small burst of pain shoots up his leg.
Echo dominates the obstacle course again with Majira still lagging behind. Once she lands, she can only remember half of the sentence again. Toby & Felix take a minute or two to try and study the phrase like some of the other teams have done. Ryan passes Josee on the course, but slips off the beam and lands on his ass (to which those around him wince and help him to his feet). The officers try it again, but Olivia sends them back. "How many times are we going to keep repeating this?" Nick asks.
"I have no idea," Judy answers. "Besides, I think we have worse news on our paws." The sly fox turns to her with a tilted head. "I haven't seen the cab drivers in a while. You don't suppose that they finished the challenge already, do you?"
"How could they?"
The strippers make it to the other side, but Kaleb slips up with the sentence again. "Dad, have you considered letting me have a turn? We're supposed to be doing this together."
Kaleb rolls his eyes and decides to go along with it. After all, he read somewhere that it's a smart idea to let their kids build up some confidence at his age. "Alright, junior, you take a shot at it." Mac recognizes that tone; it means that his father doesn't expect him to succeed much, but he knows how much it means to give him a chance. What is that called? Sarcasm? It sounds close.
Cinnamon manages to dive through the obstacles course on his fifth try. But when he lands, he just sits there and waits for his partner to show. Olivia looks at him curiously and the fox motions that cannot speak. "Oh," she says. "You're dumb?" Cinnamon nods. "Ah. Is that why your little friend is the only one that speaks between the two of you?" He nods again. "I see. I have to admit, he's pretty cute."
Pepper makes it in time but gets stumped again after "börjar". "Damn it! I can't get this thing right for the life of me!" Both foxes head back to the start again.
***
At the checkpoint, Toner sits inside of the Museum with the carpet in front of a red model plane. In his paws is a small tablet with footage of the contestants failing at the challenge and his favorite drink: a blueberry milkshake. A foreign voice comes from behind him. "Sorry sir, but the Museum has been closed for four hours."
Toner lifts up his glasses and sees a polar bear wearing a security guard outfit. "I'll have you know, sir, that I have special permission for me and a few guests to spend the night here." He holds up a piece of paper with the manager's name on it that proves his point. "Now if you excuse me, I was enjoying my milkshake and watching these people do an epic fail on national TV."
The guard grumbles but walks away. As Toner goes back to watching those at the park still try even though the sun is down, the front doors open and a pair of footsteps run up to the carpet. The red dog nearly chokes on his drink when he sees who it is. "How did you two Dips make it first? Did you two skip the challenge?"
"Excusez-moi?!" Vito shouts. "We did nothing of the sorts!"
"Yeah, we didn't skip over it," Donna says. "We completed it! And we can prove it." She takes a deep breath. "'En vandring på tusen mil börjar alltid med ett steg'."
"Ok! Ok! I give in!" Toner whines. "Cab drivers come in first." Then he adds to himself, "Sadly."
With the race for first done, the others are itching to catch back up to finish in time. The YouTubers agreed to split the sentence like the other teams did. Majira took the first half, "'En vandring på tusen mil'..." And Echo took the other, "'...börjar alltid med ett steg'." They get approval from Olivia.
Before they leave, Echo adds, "By the way, I love your dress!" This, in turn, makes the vixen's cheeks turn rosy pink.
When it comes to the beneficial friends, Toby only remembers the first seven words, but luckily Felix helps him out when it comes to the final three words. Olivia gives a thumbs-up. "Thanks bud," the tiger says.
The officers take a similar approach, except Judy manages to get the whole phrase thanks to her finger strategy. The haters get a chance next, but Josee merely scrambles for the right words after "tusen". Ryan gently pushes her aside and, with an evil smirk on his muzzle, speaks the whole sentence perfectly with little trouble. Olivia approves.
"You knew the sentence the whole time?!" Josee shouts.
The wolf chuckles at his little jokes. "Of course I did, babe. All of my grandfathers were from Scandinavia." Before she can rant on to him about how irresponsible it was and that it was because of him that they're now behind the others, Ryan grabs her wrist and pulls her into a run so they can just make it.
Cal & Ren- 2nd place
Chris & Zack- 3rd place
Cinnamon & Pepper- 4th place
Because the sky is only getting darker, things don't get any better for the emperors. Lucius only falls a couple more times and at one point, thinks he lost his contact lense so they spend a few minutes trying to find it. Afterwards, Max tries his hand at the sentence, but only manages to get sent back to the start. "Hun," the fox says. "I think it's official. I think that planchette you found, put a curse on us."
"At least we're not here alone." Lucius cranes his head towards father and son, who are at the Swedish vixen. What they see next shocks them. She gives them a nod of approval. Which means, they're in dead last. "Ok. Now we are. What are we supposed to do now?"
Max stomps back over to the speaker with a new fierce determination and listens to the phrase again. "I'll tell you what we'll do." The vulpine hops up the ramp in three steps, practically jumps over the gorge and slides down the beam. In a surprise move, Max repeats the sentence as best as he can remember. His forehead is visible with sweat as he waits for Olivia to judge whether it was good or not.
She shrugs and nods.
"Yes! We did it!" Max shouts. Him and Lucius grab each other's paws and head for the streets while there is still time to make it past Kaleb & Mac.
Nick & Judy- 5th place
Echo & Majira- 6th place
Toby & Felix- 7th place
"Eighth." Josee & Ryan walks off the carpet with neutral looks on their faces. Toner shivers from how cold it is and puts on his leather jacket. "Ahhhh, much better. Well, only two teams remain. Will father and son meet their end? Or will the emperors be knocked off their throne? (Not literally. It's just a proverb we hosts use; you probably wouldn't understand.)"
Kaleb & Mac start to cramp up after running nearly three miles. The little cub points out the Museum ahead and he can sense safety for him and his father. That is, until he hears Max yelling, "Run, Lucius! This is ours!"
All four canines pick up their pace. The wolves have the front doors in their sights and while the emperors might slowly catch up, only one team makes it inside in time to step on the rug. "Ninth place for father and son," Toner declares. Kaleb & Mac give a celebratory whoop before making way for the last team. "I have nothing to say here. Max, Lucius, you're the last team to arrive."
Both canines pin their ears down. "Is there any chance this was all for elimination?" the fox asks.
"Nope," Toner states. "Think about it: I've had you racing for over 14 hours. If someone didn't get cut, someone was going to be mad at me today. So... yeah. You boys are out."
***
"It's kind of a bummer knowing that we were doing so great and then... WHAM! We're toast." Max lets his tail droop across the ground as they walk away.
"Awww, it wasn't so bad," Lucius says. "In fact, I think that if this race has shown us anything is that we might not get around much, but we can still come this far in a tough challenge." He wraps an arm around him and pulls him close, making the fox giggle. "Boy, Kuhlman is going to be mad when you find out you took his smoke balls."
"No he won't! He's usually chill about stuff."
"True. Now how about we head home and we try to get rid of this curse?"
"I couldn't agree with you more." Just as the night settles, they hear another boom of thunder like they did this morning. "Oh, come on!!"