THE AMAZING RACE “I Hate Chinese Food” Recap

THE AMAZING RACE “I Hate Chinese Food” Season 17 Episode 10 - The final four teams travel from Dhaka, Bangladesh to Hong Kong, China in the “I Hate Chinese Food” episode of THE AMAZING RACE. It’s needle in a haystack time again–this time with vomit.

Bunching: Jill and Thomas are the first to leave the Lalbagh Fort Pit Stop at 8:25 am. They have a five and a half hour lead on Nick and Vicki and an almost nine hour lead on last to leave Brook and Claire, but all four teams end up on the same 11:55 pm flight to Hong Kong International Airport. As happy as that makes me for Nat and Kat and Brook and Claire, I feel bad for Jill and Thomas. During the lull, we get a foreshadowing moment where Vicki tells us she and Nick are still working on her calming him down but that he’s getting better.

Shahjalal Airport: Brook and Claire think Jill and Thomas will “poop their pants” when they see their U-Turn failed. There is no pooping, and it isn’t even that awkward. Thomas tells the shopping hosts to take it as a compliment, everyone shakes hands, and we move on.

Hong Kong International Airport: Teams take a bus and then a ferry to get to Cheung Chau Island, where they’ll find a clue box at Cheung Po Tsai Cave. Jill and Thomas get on a bus right away, while Nat and Kat, Nick and Vicki, and Brook and Claire all end up on a second bus. The teams run from the bus to the ferry, and while Jill and Thomas, Nat and Kat, and Brook and Claire make it onto the same ferry, much to Jill and Thomas’ regret, Vicki’s asthma acts up while she’s running and she has to slow down. This leads to yet another Nick is a complete ass moment where he, among other things, tells Vicki, “I’m sick of you being sorry.” and “Quit crying.” They catch the next ferry but are thirty minutes behind.

At the clue box, teams learn they must go to the Majesty Chinese Restaurant in the Kowloon section of Hong Kong. To get there, teams must take the ferry back to the mainland and then take a cab. There are no problems.

Roadblock: “Who’s feeling peckish?” otherwise known as “You don’t want me to eat sushi ever again, do you?” Each racer must hunt through a sushi buffet for one of only five pieces of incredibly real-looking fake food. When s/he finds it, s/he puts it on a bowl of rice and hands it over. If correct, s/he will get the next clue. The twist is that any real food you poke, you must eat. Nat, Thomas, Claire, and Vicki (in order of arrival) do the task while Kat, Claire, and Jill dance on stage. Nick stands to the side. Nat works her way through quietly, finding her fake food first. Thomas finishes next, also fairly quietly. Claire agreed to do the task thinking it was karaoke-related and is less than thrilled it’s actually an eating challenge. She works her way through but gets sicker and sicker until she has to vomit. Why we had to hear said vomit, I don’t know. Luckily, emptying her stomach gives her renewed strength and she soon finds her fake food. Vicki is less lucky. I’m not sure how many times she throws up, but since Thomas actually seems to take some pity on her, I’m guessing it’s many. Nick offers to take the penalty instead of having her continue because “this is supposed to be fun.” Vicki doesn’t want to quit, and she eventually finds her fake food.

Enter the Dragon: Teams must make their way to Avenue of Stars and figure out they are looking for a Bruce Lee statue. They all do so easily and find the nearby clue box.

Detour: Ding Ding or Sampan. In Ding Ding, teams take the Ding Ding, a 100 year old tram system, ride a particular route, and find three signs among hundreds that when put together say Statue Square Pit Stop. If their ride ends before they know where to go, they must take the return trip and start over. In Sampan, teams travel to Jumbo Kingdom Dock in Aberdeen Harbor where they get a cage with two parakeets. They take a Sampan–a traditional vessel used for trade–and hunt the harbor for the one boat out of hundreds that has a registration number matching the number on their cage. When they find the right boat, they trade the cage for the location of the pit stop.

Ding Ding: Jill and Thomas are the only ones who try this and they don’t see any of the three pink “Pit stop,” “Statue,” or “Square” signs on their first ride, so they switch to sampan. I don’t blame them for switching and I’m actually surprised they chose Ding Ding at all because it seems that looking for something concrete is an easier needle in a haystack task.

Sampan: Nat and Kat, Brook and Claire, and Nick and Vicki all initially choose this task while Jill and Thomas switch to it. Nat and Kat are the first to start, but they have a terrible time finding their boat. Did I mention it’s pitch dark and the teams are using flashlights to search for numbers that appear on different parts of each boat? Jill and Thomas get lucky after switching and find their boat right away, finishing first. Nat and Kat finish second. Brook and Claire finish third, seeming to have more trouble than Jill and Thomas but less than Nat and Kat.

Nick and Vicki are exhausted and stressed by the time they get on their sampan and Nick gives up. He complains and lies down to go to sleep. Vicki tries to look on her own, but she eventually gives up, too, telling the boat’s driver they will take the six hour penalty, so he hands over the pit stop destination.

Pit Stop: Statue Square in the center of Hong Kong. Even though Jill and Thomas finished the Detour first, Nat and Kat find the all-important cab first and they win the leg and a trip for two to Rio de Janeiro. Jill and Thomas take second with Brooke and Claire landing in third. Nick and Vicki hit the mat last (seemingly by a lot) and are told it’s a non-elimination leg. Unlike the last time they were saved by an NEL, here they are clearly told they will have a speed bump. They also have a six hour penalty for not finishing the detour. Vicki is happy to still be in the race while Nick seems much less so.

Notes: While bunching can, as we saw tonight, eliminate a big lead in The Amazing Race, I think Nick and Vicki are toast. Their late finish, penalty, and speed bump, not to mention his general assiness and her increasingly beaten-down demeanor, should combine to cause their elimination.

More Brook and Claire friction tonight with Brook’s “God forbid you go at anyone else’s [pace]” during the dash for the ferry, but the “Let’s hug it out.”/”We did suck it out.” exchange is hilarious, and Brook has my favorite line of the night with “She’s supposed to be on a diet for her wedding.”

Jill and Thomas have been strong racers all along and they actually seem to be getting stronger. I predict a Nat/Kat-Jill/Thomas overall finish, though I’m not sure which team will actually win. I’m not counting Brook and Claire out, but Claire’s health is starting to worry me.

What did you think of this leg? Will Nick and Vicki get lucky next week or are they done? Who are you rooting for at this point? Please post in the comments.

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