Good Fortune – The Amazing Race 7, Episode 8 by LauraBelle
Phil Keoghan pulled a fast one on the teams and the viewers last week. As Rob and Amber arrived to meet Phil in Lucknow, India, they were not greeted with the news that they were first for this leg of the race, instead they were given their next clue. As bamboozled as we all were, us viewers couldn't wait to tune in this week to see what Phil had in store for the teams next.
Rob and Amber get their clue to go across the street to the Train Station to Platform Two and they race off. Ron and Kelly, Uchenna and Joyce and Lynn and Alex are all just behind them. Meredith and Gretchen, however, are still serving tea to the businesspeople in the office building. They eventually finish and hurry to Phil on the rooftop, expecting to be eliminated. Gretchen calls the people of India so inspirational. As Phil gives them their next clue and they find they are not eliminated, Gretchen salutes Phil as they race off.
Once on Platform Two the teams all find the train isn't boarding until 9:00 PM, and it's around 1:00 in the afternoon when Rob and Amber get there. They are not given any clues to where they are going. While they wait to board the train, the teams gather within their alliances. Rob and Amber and Ron and Kelly are still aligned as are Lynn and Alex, Uchenna and Joyce and Meredith and Gretchen.
In sleeper cars on the train, the teams receive clues saying they will be on the train for twenty-four hours and will arrive at the Jodhpur, India Train Station where they will find their next clue. While they wait Lynn and Alex play cards, and Lynn bemoans not having his skin care creams, saying he'd almost drink them now if he had them. Joyce passes the time putting a scarf on Uchenna telling him he looks like a shiek. Rob and Amber, and Ron and Kelly start a friendship talking throughout the day.
Arriving in Jodhpur, the teams find a clue telling them to head to the first floor balcony of the Clock Tower at the Sandor Market. Once there, they are met with another long wait. It doesn't open until 10:00 AM. The teams all head to a hotel, still keeping in their alliances. While waiting, Rob finds himself a guide for the next day. It's around this time it became hard for me to catch everything happening on the show as my brother-in-law stopped over with Mai Tais, and who am I to say no?
A wedding is happening nearby the hotel everyone is spending the night in, and Lynn and Alex find themselves pulled into the celebration, dancing amongst the wedding guests. Uchenna and Joyce and Meredith and Gretchen watch the fireworks of the wedding from their balconies.
In the morning the teams all race to the Clock Tower, and for a nice change, it's Meredith and Gretchen that get there first. They find a Detour and a Fast Forward. Only Uchenna and Joyce attempt the Fast Forward, as the others all know it's a long ten-and-a-half miles away and if they aren't there first, they will have to turn around and come back. It's a choice, basically, between first and last place, depending on when you arrive. Uchenna and Joyce head to the Fast Forward alone, only knowing they are going to a Hindu temple for a good-fortune ritual.
For the Detour, the teams are given the choices of Trunk or Dunk. In Trunk the teams are required to push a six-hundred pound wooden elephant to a temple. In Dunk the teams are to tie-dye twenty-five sheets of fabric. Once they are dyed, and untied, one of them will have the clue on it. Everyone chooses Trunk.
Gretchen is told to climb onto the elephant by the locals so she does, although all other teams have both people pushing. This is never explained as to why this was, but I wondered if the locals saw an older woman and thought she deserved the honor of riding instead of pushing, not understanding they are in a race. While she enjoyed the ride, Gretchen wished she could have helped push.
The teams enlist the help of locals to help them push, and Rob even pulls kids over to help. Rob and Amber and Ron and Kelly finish first, and receive a clue telling them to head to Oeora Krishi Farm via rickshaws to find yet another clue. Shortly after Lynn and Alex and Meredith and Gretchen finish as well.
Uchenna and Joyce find the temple and see scissors, to which Joyce says, "I frickin' knew it! Let's go!" Uchenna, already bald, tells his wife she doesn't have to have her head shaved; they can go back. She refuses as she knows that would mean an elimination for them that day. It was honestly hard for me to watch as Uchenna's gorgeous hair is hacked off as she cries. Through her tears she says it's just hair; it will come back. Uchenna says his heart is breaking for her. He never wanted her to make sacrifices like this for the race. Once she is completely bald, he tells her she is beautiful and says he is overwhelmed with pride for her. She thanks the man who cut her beautiful hair away for her "good fortune" and they head to the pit stop at Jaswant Thada, a one-hundred year old tomb. Had Rob and Amber taken the Fast Forward, Amber could have had a nice new 'do for their nuptials last weekend.
Once at the farm, the teams find a roadblock where one member of each team will need to race a camel-led cart two times around the course. Kelly and Amber will race the camels for their teams, and Kelly has a much easier time than Amber, who ends up in a bush, trying to guide her camel out, while Kelly races by. Kelly finishes first, and finds her clue telling them to head to the pit stop.
Lynn and Alex and Meredith and Gretchen arrive at the camel cart racing, as Kelly says, "Honey, that hurt by bottom so bad" about her wooden horse ride. Meredith does the roadblock, alongside Lynn. Rob and Amber finish as Meredith has the same troubles Amber had. His camel lays down and refuses to move, then goes the opposite direction. Gretchen calls him an obstinate camel. Lynne and Alex finish first and Meredith and Gretchen last.
Uchenna and Joyce arrive at the pit stop safely in first place. He says she made the ultimate sacrifice, prompting her to say it was just hair. He encourages her to take off her scarf and show Phil, but she refuses.
On the drive to the pit stop by the other four teams, Ron and Kelly are leading with Rob and Amber right behind. Lynn and Alex are next with Meredith and Gretchen still bringing up the rear. Lynn and Alex run up to a palace to find no one waiting for them. It's the wrong one. They hurry back to their cab and take off once again. Ron and Kelly's cab stops for gas, and they get back on the road just in front of Rob and Amber.
Ron and Kelly and Rob and Amber arrive at the pit stop nearly simultaneously and have a foot race to the mat. It looks like a photo finish, but Phil pronounces Ron and Kelly number two, and Rob and Amber number three. Phil notices how the four congratulate each other, but one-hundred yards out were racing furiously against each other. They chalk it up to their newfound friendship and respect for each other as teams.
Arriving in fourth place are Meredith and Gretchen. Phil tells them the good news that they are the oldest team to make it this far in the race, and they are quite pleased. Lynn and Alex arrive last with the news they are being eliminated. Going to the wrong palace cost them this race. Lynn says that nothing can compare to the people in this race and the people the have met around the world. They declare their love for each other.
Meredith and Gretchen being the oldest team to make it this far has to do with several things. Number one is their tenacity. Even after falling in a deep hole and getting stitches, Gretchen continued on. They were stripped of everything but the clothes on their backs and passports and they are still in there fighting. That lesson certainly isn't lost on me. Of course, that could be the Mai Tais talking.
I welcome all questions and comments at LauraBelle@realityshack.com
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