From Mauritis to Madagascar (E8)

The start of the episode was uneventful as usual. Though, the Beauty Queens did take the wrong car when they left last week's pit stop. Didn't the old couple have to take a penalty or return the vehicle when they did the same thing the season before last?! Oh well, CBS is definitely changing the format this season.

Teams bottlenecked at the airport again, where they all caught an 11am flight direct to Madagascar. The 6 Pack were the first teams out of the terminal and into cabs upon arrival but their drivers took them on a wild goose chase. The teams needed to locate the lake with a "dark angel" statue on the water. It may have been Kentucky's driver that took them ALL for a ride. The Bama & Chos' drivers seemed to be following their taxi. Because of their little detour on the way to the Detour, the other three teams jumped back ahead of them.

While the Beauty Queens haggled with their driver over the fare, Rob & Kimberly and the Models reached the new Intersection first. New this season, the Intersection seems to be taking the place of the Yield from previous seasons (though, I wouldn't be surprised if they threw one of those in later on, too). For the Intersection, teams had to join forces with another team for the upcoming tasks. If there wasn't another team there to joing forces with, the team had to wait for the next available team before they could continue with the race. Since nobody likes the BQs, Rob & Kimberly joined forces with the Models and decided to try for the Fast Forward leaving the Beauty Queens behind to wait for the 6 Pack to show up. Kentucky & Bama reached the Intersection before the Chos and teamed up to do the Detour. The poor Chos were left to team up with the Beauty Queens.

For the Fast Forward, teams had to travel 2.5 miles to an open air market and locate booth #11. Once there, they had to "enjoy" a serving of a local delicacy....... Cow Lips! They sound gross, I know. But they looked even worse. They still had hair and teeth attached and they weren't given any water to help them through the task. The teams battled their way through it but poor Kimberly lagged behind as one boy after the other finished their heaping plate. Even more amusing than the crowd cheering them on is the fact that the teams thought that they had all the time in the world because the other teams still had to complete a Detour and a Roadblock.

For the Detour, the joined at the hip teams had a choice between Long Sleep and Short Letter. In Long Sleep, teams had to cover, stack & deliver on foot eight (8) foam mattresses. In Short Letter, teams had to make eight (8) sheets of handmade paper with a floral design. The remaining four teams all decided to do Long Sleep. Working together, the Chos & the Beauty Queens powered ahead of the joined up Bama & Kentucky team. Poor David was stuck with three screaming women as they blocked traffic transporting the mattresses that they'd tied together with their linked fanny packs. (I'm sorry, but I can't help but roll my eyes!)

Once the delivery was made, the teams were no longer joined and were once again working for themselves. The Beauty Queens left the Chos in the dust and raced towards the a staircase connecting the upper & lower levels of the city. Once there, they exclaimed "There are so many clues in there!" Um, they did know that the teams doing the Fast Forward wouldn't be doing the Roadblock, right? They are pretty blonde. No matter how much they think they don't show it!

For the Roadblock, one member of each team had to locate and receive a matching stamp from one of the many vendors along the staircase. The stamps were of a plane, a train, a boat & a car. The team member left behind went ahead to the next pit stop to wait for their teammate. If teams only went by the examples shown at some of the stamp vendors' kiosks, they had some trouble find the stamps. It was only with actually looking at the surface of each stamp at each kiosk that teams were able to locate the right stamps. Once the racer had all the stamps, they had to find the Andohalo Cathedral. Most of the taxis had gas issues on the way to the Pit Stop.

At the Pit Stop, the Beauty Queens held onto their first place finish beating out both the teams that had gone for the Fast Forward. But it was David & Mary (Kentucky) who were elminated this leg. Being marked for elimination after coming in last at the end of the last episode, David & Mary still had 20 minutes in their penalty when the Bama girls finally reached the mat.

Though they are one of the stronger teams this season, I won't be too happy if the Beauty Queens win this season. Heck! I'd want to see Rob & Kimberly win before I'd want to see them win. Even as we hit the final five, I still don't really have a team. But I do know that I don't want to see either Bama or the Beauty Queens win. Bama was disloyal to their "group/alliance" and the Beauty Queens were just too ignorant. Both teams used & abused the other teams but I think Bama may have been worse since they professed to be friends with those they stabbed in the back.

I don't think it'll happen but these are the teams I'd like to see win (from most desirable to least): the Cho's, the Models, Rob & Kimberly & then Bama. I didn't bother to include the Beauty Queens at the end because I don't want them to win at all! :P