Butting heads in Indonesia

By Jim Memmott

Amazing Race, Season 23, Episode 9

Abu Dhabi/Bandung, Indonesia – So you’re rushed to an Emergency Room in Atlanta, bleeding from a head wound. 

Butting heads

The ER physician, let's call him Travis, tells you he’s going to do the stiches the right way.

But first, he emphasizes that he wants to set a good example for his children. He bemoans other doctors who take short cuts, who fib, who don’t follow the rules. He goes on and on, talking, talking. You keep bleeding.

Trust me; it could happen. And in a way, minus the blood and the worry, it did in a morality play disguised as an Amazing Race episode that took the five remaining teams to Bandung, Indonesia.

While there they had to get rams to butt heads, a surprisingly easy task. (It’s in their nature. It’s why they have those horns).

Song Bird

After that they could either make birds sing (again, it’s in their nature, piece of cake) or they could feed an elephant (not all that hard once you get the food to them.)

Finally, they had to put together an eight-note bamboo instrument and play an octave to the satisfaction of a very young music student. Which is where Travis (could be the ER doctor mentioned above) and his wife Nicole ran into trouble.

They had begun the episode announcing to the world that they would not compromise their principles to win, that they wouldn’t be like the Afghanimals, Leo and Jamal, who so irritated them by telling a lie in an earlier episode.

“Our faith is why we’re here,” Travis said. “… People can see you don’t have to resort to lying or cheating.”

As soon as those words came out of his mouth, Race watchers around the world must have screamed, “OMG, they’re going to cheat.”

Nicole and Travis

And so it was that Nicole, terribly frustrated by the instrument-assembling task, cheated. Yes – don’t tell the kids – she cheated.

Sneaking up behind Leo the Afghanimal, she tried to see what his perfectly assembled eight-noter looked like.

Shocked, shocked, and encouraged by Jamal, Leo smashed his instrument and left for the pit stop, rejoicing with Jamal that the Docs who had U-turned them last week were going down.

Or were they? Cue the cavalry.

Jason and Amy

The far-too-kind Amy, on her way to a second place finish with boyfriend Jason, rode to the rescue, pretty much assembling Nicole’s instrument, making it possible for the Docs to finish fourth and survive.

But even after they had escaped with their lives, Travis lectured Nicole. “Look in the mirror and you’ve got to fix it,” he told his spouse, throwing her under the bus again and again.

Gone and probably quickly forgotten are Ally and Ashley of the LA Kings Ice Crew.

Why? Well, they lost valuable time on the elephant feeding challenge by going to the zoo and not the market first. Once at the market, they should have persuaded a cabby to transport their bamboo stalks, but they didn’t. They even quarreled.

Snack time

And so they were eliminated, taking poolsters Drew and Emily with them. Though when Ally and Ashley watch the race film they’ve got to wonder what would have happened if Amy hadn’t saved Nicole.

Second place went to the Bickersons, feuding exes Tim and Marie. At the start of the episode she said it was a fact that she was just about always right. And true to form, she gloated even

when Tim did something right in acing the octave challenge. “I made you do it, and I was right,” Marie declared. You go, girl.

The winners on the leg? Thought you’d never ask.

The Afghanimals danced their way to first place, basking in self-generated applause at every opportunity. Love us, love us, they demanded. Which is OK. The guys are fun.

Overheard:

Jason: What kind of people live in Indonesia? Are they like Chinese people, or are they like Indians?

Marie (to Tim): You have made more mistakes than me. That’s just how it is.

Travis: I believe the energy from that crowd really got me out of my shell.

Tim:  I was in chorus in high school, which I don’t like to admit.

Jamal (To Leo): Destroy our instrument.

Nicole: It is important that our children see we set a good example for them.

Ashley: We set the bar pretty high for ice crews all over the NHL.

Marie (next episode): I’m not eating a snake.

Order of Finish:

1) Leo and Jamal

2) Tim and Marie

3) Jason and Amy

4) Nicole and Travis

5) Ally and Ashley

Overall:

  

Of the remaining teams, Nicole and Travis have finished first three times, Jamal and Leo twice and Marie and Tim twice. Amy and Jason have never won a leg, though they have finished second six times.