Hanging Out in Hungary
Episode 6 was suppose to end like any other leg of the race. Three teams were supposed to be placed at the top of the pack and one team would come in last with the possibility of being eliminated. As I was watching the race, I noticed that there was not much time for the teams to cross the finish line. The producers kept showing scenes of the racers standing outside the internet cafe waiting for the thing to finally open (and at all times of the day, 10pm) and scenes of the wrestlers trying to catch up. I thought that the finish line scene would have to be very quick and brief. Then, the internet cafe opens (with Jonathan unfairly going in first), and we find out that the wrestlers are stuck until the morning. All of us watching know that there is no chance for Lori & Bolo to get back to Budapest in enough time; we know that they are gone from the race unless this is a non-elimination leg. All of sudden, Phil then cuts in and tells us "to be continued..." What in the world? I couldn't believe what I heard! Myself, I'm a little disappointed in the decision to cut this leg into half and into two different episodes. I want to know now what is going to happen! Will Gus & Hera lose their lead in this leg? Will Jonathan & Victoria catch up and slide into first? Will those poor wrestlers get eliminated? If they do get knocked off, I will be highly disappointed in making us wait to know for sure; there is just no need for it. I am so interested now what next week's episode is going to be like. There is rumor that next week will just be a mish mash of clips from the previous legs. What will this do to the rest of the season, though? On the official Amazing Race website, it says that there will be 12 episodes of TAR6. Will the producers make one less non-elimination leg? Who knows. All we can do is wait and see how this "to be continued" episode affects the rest of the race.
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All of the girls choose to take part in this task; they were all more than willing to do it. I must admit that I was jealous not being able to take part. Jonathan was strange during this task. He was actually encouraging Victoria (when she don't need it). He was saying stuff like "Victoria, you're my superstar." I think this guy is like a Jekyll & Hyde. One moment he is so sweet and encourging while in the next second he is hateful and abusive. Sometimes he is shown giving candy to poor children and then he is shown knocking Victoria down on the street. Strange, isn't it? Lori, the wrestler, provided another witty moment in the race; while the workers are putting on her harness, she said, "glad I ain't got bigger boobs than I got." The wrestlers always prove to be funny people, and they sure didn't let us down in this episode. After completing this roadblock, the racers are instructed to fly to Budapest, Hungary. When arriving there, they are to take a marked herbie-type car (which have a history of being unreliable) to the Eger Castle on the outskirts of town. At the airport, Gus & Hera make a smart move. They arrived way after Jonathan & Victoria; upon arriving at the airport, Hera remembers exactly were the travel agency is. 
They go straight for it and get the last plane ticket on the earlier flight to Budapest. You can only imagine how angry this made Jonathan when he discovered that he had been outwitted; he was yelling and screaming at the ticket person, who couldn't do anything about it. Poor woman! Way to go, Gus & Hera! When the racers get into the cars, the vehicles prove to be unreliable. Hayden & Aaron, 
Adam & Rebecca, Kris & Jon, and Lori & Bolo all suffered the consequences of these poorly made cars. All of them had some kind of break down or misadventure with the car. After the racers arrive at the castle, they have to take part in this legs detour, catapult crash or cannonball run. In catapult, the racers have to launch a watermelon from an old catapult and make it crash into a target 150 ft away. In cannonball, the teams had to push a heavy cannon up a large hill and then carry 55 cannons to the top. Gus & Hera make a big mistake here by choosing the wrong task. Of course catapult would take much more time, but Gus said that it sounded like "more fun." After many unsuccessful tries, they finally switch to another task after Jonathan & Victoria catch up to them and they lose a safe 2nd placing. Of course, Jonathan confronts Gus about the airline ticket thing, and he spends more time yelling than h
e does doing the task. Gus gets tired of it and calls Jonathan a "little bastard" to his face. Wrestlers Lori & Bolo get way behind here. While the other teams had finished their detour, they couldn't find their way to the castle and got stuck on the side of the highway after their car broke down. After the detour, the racers had to travel by train to downtown Budapest to an internet cafe, which was of course closed until 10pm. On the way to the cafe, Jonathan got very hateful to the taxi driver. He kept yelling and yelling at the driver (stupid mistake!). The driver gets tired of him and makes him get out of the car. Way to go, taxi driver man! All of the racers arrive at the internet cafe before it opens, which equalizes everyone except Lori & Bolo. 
The wrestlers are stuck at the train station on the outskirts of town because the trains have stopped running until 7 in the morning. How sad! They have to sleep in the pouring rain outside the station. As soon as the cafe opens, Phil cuts in and says "to be continued..." WHAT IN THE WORLD!! Why are you doing this to me, Phil? I'll have to wait until next week to see what happens! I guess this is a good way to get people to come back next week and watch. Oh well. Anyway, at the cafe, the top three racers are as follows (ignoring the equalization thing): 1. Freddy & Kendra, 2. Gus & Hera, and 3. Jonathan & Victoria.
Gus had to stop and get a hold of himself before continuing. When he approached the doorway, he just broke down in tears. After visiting the slave house, the racers were given instructions to go to Berlin, Germany, and find a certain still-standing piece of the Berlin wall. The racers had to take a ferry to get off the island, where the teams were once again equalized. At this point, Don & Mary Jean started begging the other teams to contribute money to them since they had lost all of theirs because coming in last in the previous leg. Surprisingly, they were extremely successful. 
Most of the other teams gave them like 5 or 8 dollars. They ended up getting more money than some of the other teams. Once at the airport, the racers are once again equalized since they all got on the same flight to Berlin. The buying of the airline tickets did provide much drama. Freddy & Kendra had arranged that Hayden & Aaron buy their tickets for them if they got ahead (vice versa if it turned out the other way). Hayden & Aaron arrived at the ticket counter with the wrestlers coming in behind them. As Hayden starts to buy the tickets, Bolo notices and of course starts yelling. Both teams get in this huge fight. 
Bolo starts yelling at the ticket woman saying that they were skipping and cheating. Aaron yells at Bolo and mentions something about being on steroids. Bolo screams back, "I'M NOT ON STEROIDS!!" Hayden yells at Freddy & Kendra in the back of the room saying that the deal is off because it has created too much commotion. Both teams apologize while Bolo continues to reiterate the fact that he "does not take steroids." After the racers get in Germany, they all race to the near-by train station. Many teams seemed to got confused and started to get on the wrong trains because this poor man is shown repeatedly telling teams that they need to go upstairs and take another train. The teams finally get separated a bit here. Some teams have trouble finding the clue and get a little behind from others. This created a funny moment with the grandparents. Mary Jean stated in distress, "God, these runs!" while the two were obviously walking. Anyway, after getting a clue at the Berlin Wall, the teams were instructed to go to the "Busted Chain Sculpture" in front of a World War Two-damaged church in the heart of Berlin. This made the grandparents get very far behind. They thought that the the sculpture out front would be inside the church for some reason. They even start to walk in this skyscraper next door to the church. After looking for quite a while, they finally realize that the sculpture is in the plaza in front of the church. A very fatal mistake! Next the teams had to do this leg's detour, Beer/Brats. In Beer, the teams had to go around a beer garden with their hands full of beer glasses looking for five coasters that had their names and picture on it. In Brats, the team had to go to a brat factory and make a continuous chain of five brats each being seven inches long. Most surprisingly picked Beer, which I thought was crazy because it would have for sure take more time (and it did). Jonathan & Victoria picked Brats and got in the lead. It was funny to watch Gus & Hera at the Beer detour. They went around asking the customers about their coasters. Hera would ask, "Gus and Hera? Black people?" 
Hera had to hold her ex-CIA agent dad from drinking the beer that he was suppose to be carrying. When they finished the task, Gus wanted to stay longer and drink more beer. He said in the taxi that he would have liked it better if he could have stayed longer while Hera said, "I would have liked it better if my dad listened." Such a great team! Adam has also proved to be a character. Aside from being a drama queen in his arguments with Rebecca, he is definitely witty in his thoughts. As he was making the brats, he said, "I wish Jonathan was here because he's the biggest weiner of them all." 
Anyway, the grandparents pick the proven fast task, Brats, but they still ended up leaving the detour last. How sad! Well, the racers had to go to a outskirts mountain take translated into "Devil's Mountain." Here they had to take part in the leg's roadblock. In this roadblock, one racer of the team had to take finish a soap box derby course in 37 seconds. Evidently, this is a big sport in Germany. Phil said that there is even a German Soap Box Dearby Circuit. 
The wrestlers got lost trying to find the derby area, which helped them get set back from their third place starting. It was funny seeing Mary Jean do this task. When she finished, she crashed into the hay barrels at the end of the course. She screamed in fear while Don just laughed. Nice way to treat your woman, huh? Well, this roadblock didn't seem to be a big problem to the racers. It didn't help anyone and didn't hurt anyone (except maybe the wrestlers that got lost). After finishing this roadblock, the racers had to go to the Pit Stop of this leg, the Brandenbury Gate. Jonathan & Victoria and Freddy & Kendra were in a neck-to-neck race to the finish mat. Jonathan dropped his backpack to lessen the weight so that he could run faster. Victoria yelled at him and told him not to because someone would steal it (common sense, Jonathan). He told her to forget about it (stupid!). She told him to come back and get it while he just kept running. 
She stopped and picked it up while yelling at him to stop and get the backpack since she was now carrying two. She broke down in tears and could barely walk with the two extremely heavy packs. Jonathan came back to get her as soon as he noticed that she was gone. He started to yell and scream at her and even knocked her down on the ground right in front of Phil as he was congratulating Freddy & Kendra on getting first place. Talk about horrible! I couldn't believe my eyes! Now, he definitely can't use the editing excuse that Colin used last season. I definitely believe that they need some major marital counseling once they are eliminated (yes, I said eliminated). Well, another major event happened at the Pit Stop, Freddy & Kendra got first place! The curse has been broken! 
Before now, only teams Kris & Jon and Hayden & Aaron had achieved first place. Finally, someone different! I was afraid it would never end! Sadly, the grandparents, Don & Mary Jean, could not overcome their last placing from the last leg and were eliminated. Sorry, Don & Mary Jean. I loved you, but it was inevitable.
capital, Dakar - many travellers' favourite amongst the larger African cities - and its entourage of internationally known musicians, Senegal brings in more visitors than any other country in the region.
place at the wrong time. Petty theft is a common irritant in central Dakar.
The teams let their tensions grow during the segment. It won't be long until the teams start arguing amongst each other. Once they arrived, the teams had to go find the grave of a famous Senegal president and author. Everyone took taxis to get there. Poor Don & Mary Jean (a very sentimental favorite) created some drama. Their taxi got a flat tire in the midst of the neck-to-neck racing. Everyone passed by them not caring. This is understandable since a million dollars is at stake. Mary Jean would wave to them though (go girl!). While the taxi driver was making the repairs, the jack broke! They finally get some help from some local people, who would hold the car up while the driver changed the tires. This held them back and helped them move to the back of the pack (once again). They do catch up at the cemetary. They are one of the first teams to find the clue there. This was the start of the craziness in Senegal. The teams that are dominant and usually end up leaving first actually found the clue last and left the graveyard last. Weaker teams, such as Lori & Bolo and Don & Mary Jean, actually found the clue first and got a huge head start over the other teams. Another thing that I found strange was the sign that was posted on the cemetary gate. The sign listed the hours of operation for the gravesite. It was obvious that the Amazing Race people made the sign. It looked brand new, had the same color scheme as TAR, did not look like anything that a old, elderly grave keeper would make, and looked like a professionally made sign amongst the rusting gates and weedy graves. I think the producers did this to prevent the racers from breaking into the graveyard. They could have at least, however, scratched something on a piece of cardboard to make it look more authentic. The teams then had to go to the Kayar Fishing Village to take part in this leg's detour, Stack 'Em Up or Pull 'Em Up. With stack, the teams had to carry baskets of fish and arrange them traditionally on a table. With pull, the teams were taken out on a boat and had to catch four fish. On the way to the detour, Lori, the wife/wrestler, told Bolo, "God, your an idiot!" Finally someone said it! Jonathan tried to make up for his evilness while running to the detour site. He was extremely nice and greeted the local children. He even gave the kids candy. Where did this come from? I think the producers added this in to give Jonathan a better character because the show abruptly cuts to Jonathan & Victoria back home talking about having kids. More strangeness! Well, the teams that picked stack proved to make a wise decision since the two teams that picked pull do poorly and got far behind. 
My fav team, Gus & Hera, and Don & MJ picked pull. Hera & Don both got sea sick while it took forever to catch the four fish. They got in the very last of the pack, which scared me! After the detour, the teams had to go to a salt collecting area and harvest salt out of the ocean for this leg's roadblock. The producers used this to make many obvious boob scenes (which is maybe the reason they chose many model teams for this season). You could tell the obvious sexing up they were trying to make. Adam proved his weakness in this roadblock. 
He could barely drag his baskets back to shore while the girls were picking those things up over their heads. Rebecca even called him a "wussy boy." He argued with Rebecca later saying that she didn't support him (no crap, remember Adam that you two are the "formerly dating" team) and didn't believe that he was having problems with his back. She responded by saying that she felt like a babysitter. How funny! Gus & Hera and Don & MJ arrive last since they made a bad decision with the pull detour. Gus & Hera ultimately leave before the old people, which made it certain who would arrive last at the pitstop. This roadblock gave us much emotion with the elderly couple. 
Don broke down in tears as MJ worked so hard to harvest the salt. He said that he loved her so much and that she was such a great woman. As she finished the group of locals that had gathered clapped as the two embraced. The two, sadly, did arrive at the pitstop last. Phil looked very depressed when they arrived. He then broke the news, this was a non-elimination course. Although they have no money for the next leg, at least they are still in the race.
I got a little scared at this challenge because one of my favorite teams, Gus & Hera, got lost and arrived at the bar far behind everyone else. I was relieved to see that even though they arrived last, they didn't leave last. After that, the teams had to go to the world's largest IKEA to take part in the detour, either "Count It" or "Build It." In Count It, the teams had to count three huge cartons of products (2304 was the exact number they had to count). I would have looked at those cartons and said NO WAY! Surprisingly, many teams picked this, but ended up changing to Build It after many unsuccessful tries. The wrestlers and the elderly people had a hard time doing it. The old man even was sweating to death. Both ended up switching to Build It. In Build It, the teams had to build a desk using provided instructions. The teams that picked this task left earlier than the teams that did Count It. After this the teams had to ride a two-seat bike into the country to take part in the episode's roadblock. On the way, Jonathan and Victoria, the new Colin and Christie, got into another fight. I don't think an episode would be complete without them getting into a fight. This time Jonathan actually lifted his hand as though he was going to hit get, but he let down before he did. In this roadblock, one team member had to unroll barrells of hay and find a clue in one of the barrells. I thought this would be an extremely hard task since that hay would be so heavy! I could only imagine what it would be like. I was glad to see that Gus & Hera finished early and even got into third place. They are doing much better than they were in the first episode. This roadblock proved difficult for the sisters, though. Lena had a lot of bad luck. She just couldn't find a clue for some reason. It came down between the sisters and the edlerly people. I was getting nervous 
because I was sort of rooting for the old people. They beat the sisters in finding the clue. Lena didn't give up though; she unrolled an estimated 100 barrells of hay and spent over 7 hours doing it. The host Phil had to eventually come out to the field and tell them that this was an elmination leg and that they were gone from the race. I might be mean, but I'm glad it was them and not the old people. They are so sweet. One thing in this leg that I noticed that is different in this season is that the producers of the show are displaying the penalities for the "scuff laws" (aka breaking race rules). They showed were Freddy & Kendra was penalized with a time delay for taking too many clues and were the elderly people were penalized with a time delay for taking the wrong car in the last leg. I'm glad they are showing this because it looked as though the Amazing Race was an injust world that benefited the cheaters. The penalized teams in previous races but didn't display on the show. That definitely needed to be fixed. In conclusion, I'm lovin' the race, and I hope you are too.
