Only four teams left in the Amazing Race. My favorite team TK and Rachel started off in first place but quickly fell 3 hours behind by taking the earliest flight out of India. The problem was that it wasn't the first plane to arrive in Osaka, Japan. Every other team took a flight that left an hour and a half later but got to Osaka earlier. Other teams had only one stop and TK and Rachel had two stops.
TK and Rachel are easily my favorite team. They are the hippie team, TK has dreads and Rachel works in a flower store, enough said. It is so refreshing to see a couple get along so well and remain calm, cool and collected during the adversity that occurs during the race. Other teams are flipping out and yelling at one another but not TK and Rachel. Rachel is also a little cutie. Anybody that can look as good as she does after running around in the heat and filth of India while being stressed out of her mind is okay by me.
Anyway, the race itself didn't seem as stressful in tonight's episode. All three remaining teams stuck pretty close to one another and nobody had any major melt downs. Nick & Don (the pilot and his grandpa) are probably my second favorite team because they obviously care for each other and never fight. Nick is always carrying Don's back pack around and Don is always giving a good effort for someone that is almost 70 years old.
I think tonight's road block would have been extremely difficult but all the teams completed it without too much trouble. They had to drive a couple in a Taxi to the Post Office. All the signs and directions were in Japanese and the streets in Osaka looked almost impossible to navigate.
The next little challenge was a choice between finding a real flower amongst a bunch of fake flowers by only using your sense of smell or making robots play soccer by controlling them with a cell phone. Again the teams didn't seem to have too much trouble.
When Rachel hit the flower shop she was right at home and they made it look like she found the real flower in no time. That was awesome, but in the end they were 3 hours behind the rest of the teams.
TK and Rachel happy to still be in the race
I was sad to see TK and Rachel being eliminated but luckily for me (and to a lesser extent them) this was a non-elimination leg. They're still in it but way behind and they are going to hit a "speed bump" next leg. The previews for next week make it look like somehow they might have caught up. We'll see.
Oh by the way, Ronald and Christina (daughter and abusive father) are in first place right now.