'Not Gonna Win the Pageant of Kindness' - Episode 3

Once again Laura refuses to write the recap so here's my two cents - I watched it on the East coast channel so for those of you in Vancouver (and on Pacific Time) this may be a spoiler since there's still about 20 mins until the episode airs.

---

Teams start this leg with no money and have to make their way from Mongolia to Hanoi, Vietnam. Once out of the gates they need to drive themselves to a hotel and book flights. The booking office opened at 9am so everyone pretty much had time to catch up. At 9 it was 'supposed' to be an organized line getting to the agents although the Beauty Queens budged ahead of T&T and no one was really impressed.

All teams were on the same flight. On the ground in Hanoi, they had to travel by taxi to an old POW camp nicknamed "Hanoi Hilton". The money tally at this point was about $40 for Rob & Kimberly, $21 for the Beauty Queens and Duke & Lauren had measly $11 left over from the last leg.

On the flight over Duke befriended a local and thought it might be a good move to bring her along in the cab with them, to make sure they got to the right place - BIG mistake. She held them up at the airport while she went to get her baggage - THEN demanded to get dropped off FIRST by the cab, taking them about 30 minutes off course and spending fare they didn't have. Duke & Lauren arrived at their destination and offered the $11 to the cab driver who was gracious enough to accept it -- they got SO LUCKY on that one.

The gates opened at 8am so teams were again grouped up and all raced through the buildings to find their clue. It was located at the site of Sen. John McCane's prison garb - he spent several years there during the Vietnam War. The Brothers took a moment of silence in respect/honor of all those (past and present) who were involved in combat.

Teams then made their way into town and for a Road Block, had to sell 80,000 worth of flowers (which is equal to about 5 US dollars) then receive their next clue. Teams had to take a bus to another town, Vac where they received their Detours.

Once in Vac the Brothers asked some locals for directions, who then offered them a ride on their scooters. Phil's voice then comes on (once the Brothers refuse) and says that teams are prohibited from riding on motorbikes in Vietnam due to safety reasons. Unfortunately T&T did not read this part of their last clue/message and when offered a ride by some locals, they took it - this would come back to haunt them.

At the Detour: Fuel or Fowl. For Fuel, teams had to take wet muddy coal and mold 30 bricks using a press. In Fowl, they had to assemble/weave an elaborate birdcage. All teams chose to do Fuel but Duke & Lauren got lost on the way to the Detour and ended up at the Fowl task. It had taken them so long to get to that point so they stayed and completed that task.

Over at Fuel, the Brothers were WAY ahead but once 30 bricks were done, they were told they were all too small and had to begin again. The Coalminer and his wife (naturally) chose this task as well. "This ain't real coal - ours is hard, this is like mud!"

The Brothers still ended up being the first team to complete the Detour and made their way to the mat. The second team to arrive was T&T but Phil informed them of their penalty for taking the scooter rides. They then had to stand aside for 30 minutes and watch all the other teams pass through the mat. With one team left to check in, their time was up and they were able to check in. The last team to arrive was Duke & Lauren.

I don't think their ultimate downfall was the lady with the cab - although that was a pretty dumb move on Duke's part. I think it was when they were searching for the Detour and got lost - then decided to do the Fowl task.

'Bama (the single mothers from Alabama) did okay in this leg of the race and expressed fondness for the Kentucky couple (Coalminer and his wife) saying it's all a part of being from the South.

Sarah's realizing that she ain't too crazy for Peter, except for the fact that the Vietnamese woman seemed to love his 'good looks and blond hair' and Rob & Kimberly are as moody as ever - although it seems like next week they really have it out (Mojo style).

All in all there seem to be some good vibes going around the teams with only the Beauty Queens really going for the throat - doesn't look like either of them will be winning Miss Congeniatlity any time soon.