After winning the last leg in Tanzania, Mark and Bopper were the first team to set out this week. At the pit stop, a doctor came to look at Bopper's knee. He told them it was fine for Bopper to continue racing if he put a brace on it. I was happy to hear that (as were they, obviously) as they are one of my favorite teams this season.
The first clue on this leg instructed teams to fly to India. Everyone went to the travel agency this time before heading to the airport (yay!). Mark and Bopper, Rachel and Dave, Rachel and Brenden, and Art and J.J. all ended up on one flight while Vanessa and Ralph managed to get a flight with a slightly earlier arrival time. Art and J.J. chose not to speak to Rachel and Dave when they saw them. J.J. continued to gripe about the fact that Rachel and Dave broke their pact to the camera, though.
By the time everyone landed, all the other teams had managed to catch up to Ralph and Vanessa, so their earlier flight really didn't give them any lead in the end. Teams traveled to a field where they found a bunch of Bollywood dancers who were performing as extras in a film.
One member of each team had to learn, master, and then perform a Bollywood dance with the extras to the dance choreographers' liking. The choreographer was pretty tough on them, too. If they messed up even one step, they had to perform the entire dance again.
Rachel of Rachel and Dave, Vanessa, the other Rachel, Mark, and J.J. ended up taking on this road block. Dave had a lot of confidence that he and Rachel would get through the challenge quickly as Rachel was a "dance phenomenon" in high school. Rachel did end up doing very well in the challenge; she got the dance correct on her first try.
Ralph commented that this was a good day to have a female on your team. Brenden added that it was a good thing to have a girl on your team for dances, but it is bad because girls can get so emotional. Rachel did in fact get emotional, surprise, surprise, LOL. Brenden calmed her down, telling her if she didn't concentrate, she would keep messing up the routine. She calmed down and nailed the routine on her fourth try.
Dave and Rachel were the first ones to get to the detour after leaving the Bollywood challenge. Teams had a choice of either, "Cricket," or, "Clutch It," this week. In, "Cricket," each team member had to hit a ball either in the air or on the ground quite a distance past a professional cricket players. In, "Clutch It," each team member had to drive a rickshaw taxi through a training course with some sharp turns without hitting any poles in the process.
Rachel and Dave chose to do, "Clutch It," where some interesting relationship dynamics took place. Dave kept demanding that Rachel turn when he told her to. He yelled from the backseat, "Listen to your frickin' husband!" I'm not sure if that was supposed to be joking from him or more of a "Look, I told you so," kind of comment. Nevertheless, the couple completed the challenge quickly and headed for the pit stop.
Back at the Bollywood challenge, Mark decided to complete the task due to Bopper's injured knee. Mark had gotten car sick on the ride over to the challenge, though, so he wasn't feeling all that good. Vanessa finished the challenge on her third try, and J.J. ended up nailing the dance a lot sooner than he expected he would. This left Mark and Bopper in last place while everyone else had gone to the detour.
Mark tried completing the dance several times, but just couldn't seem to get it. He was sweating a lot and looked exhausted. He was clearly not feeling well, but he was determined to finish the challenge, "or die." Bopper tried to reason with Mark. He told Mark he'd rather have his friend than the prize money, but Mark was stubborn and kept saying he was going to continue.
At the detour, Rachel and Brenden and Art and J.J. decided to do the cricket task while Vanessa and Ralph drove the taxi. Vanessa proclaimed how terrible of a driver she is, and seemed a little nervous about the challenge. She didn't do too badly driving the rickshaw taxi, though.
At the cricket challenge, Brenden and J.J. hit balls past the professional cricket player pretty quickly. Much to everyone's surprise, Rachel actually finished the task shortly before Art did. Later Rachel said, "I hope it was a good feeling to know they both got beat by a girl," to the camera.
This week's pit stop was located at the Bolgatty Palace. Rachel and Dave arrived at the pit stop first this week, for the fifth time during the course of the race so far. They won a trip to St. Lucia.
Rachel and Brenden came in second, followed by Art and J.J. Vanessa and Ralph came in fourth. All teams were hours ahead of Mark and Bopper, who were still at the road block.
After his 11th failed attempt to finish the dance, Mark was seriously considering calling it quits. He was clearly feeling very sick and overheated. Mark remarked that a million dollars was not worth more than spending time with his family, walking his daughter down the aisle, or seeing his child's baseball games. A Bollywood choreographer attempted to talk Mark out of giving up, but he seemed pretty clear about his decision to quit.
For some reason, Bopper changed his tune and urged Mark to give the dance one more try at this point. He told Mark, "Let's finish it for our kids."
After attempting the dance for the 12th time, the choreographer gave Mark the next race clue. One of my roommates noted that he thought they were letting Mark go through out of pity.
Bopper and Mark finished the rest of the leg and expected to be eliminated as they knew they were in last place by several hours. When they reached the pit stop, Bopper told Phil, "For me, he's (Mark) family. Everyone can use some extra money, but you can't replace this guy" It was really sweet.
Interestingly, this was another non-elimination leg. This makes Bopper and Mark's second time coming in last on a non-elimination leg. I was really glad to hear this news because I'd love to see such genuine people have a chance to win the race.
Do you have any predictions who will make it into the top three at this point? Who are your favorites? Please leave me your thoughts in the comments section.
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