This Is Where Thinking Began

Going into the last 15 minutes of this week's Amazing Race, the only question was whether or not the Hippies would be spared by a non-elimination leg, after falling hours behind the other teams. Their salvation came from another source -- as a lost Lake & Michelle were eliminated.

All six remaining teams left the Pit Stop within three hours of each other, and bunched up at the Siracusa train station. Teams rode the same train to Rome, where they made their way to Trevi Fountain, the landmark made famous by the deodorant commercial in which the crazy girl from Invasion pretends she doesn't understand Italian in order to meet guys.

The fountain's marketability didn't escape the producers of the film version of The DaVinci Code. Teams received a clue and half of a DaVinci-related puzzle from a guy on a scooter. Their clues led them to the second half of the puzzle, which was at the nearby Spanish Steps.

The puzzle was as absurdly simple as any of the mysteries in the original book -- like when the genius main characters took forever to figure out that the best way to read backwards writing is to hold it in front of a mirror. All the racers had to do with their puzzle was lay one piece of vellum on top of another to reveal a secret message, which told them that the first team to bring the puzzle to Phil would win a prize.

Their clue instructed teams to fly to Athens, Greece, and everyone traveled on the same flight. Upon arrival, Monica gushed, "This is where thinking began!" Of Monica, Yolanda said, "I'm not sure there's a lot going on there."

At an ancient marketplace, teams were given the option to follow their clue or pursue the first of two Fast Forwards on the race. In order to complete the Fast Forward and proceed directly to the Pit Stop, teams needed to smash plates at a nearby restaurant to find a small red and yellow flag within the plate.

Luck continued to favor Frat Guys Eric & Jeremy, who found the flag before MoJo and Fran & Barry. The Frats celebrated by breaking the rest of the plates in the restaurant. They drove to the Pit Stop at the Fortress of Rion, where Phil informed them that their prize was a pair of tickets to the Hollywood premiere of The DaVinci Code.

Having elected not to try the Fast Forward, the Hippies, Ray & Yolanda, and Lake & Michelle got on an early train from Corinth. But they got off at the wrong station, violating the rules of the clue. While they were able to take a bus to the correct station, each team would be assessed a 15-minute penalty upon reaching the Pit Stop.

MoJo and Fran & Barry sulked on their train, 45 minutes behind the other teams. Joseph tried to motivate Monica in his own sage way: "Lift your spirit up before I get pissed."

At the Isthmos Station, the five teams still racing met up and reached a Roadblock: bungee jumping. Ray, Tyler, Michelle, Monica, and Fran took the plunge for their teams.

A Detour followed, offering teams the choice of "Herculean Effort" or "It's All Greek to Me." In "Herculean Effort," teams competed in three ancient Olympic sports: discus, javelin, and wrestling. MoJo finished their events just ahead of Ray & Yolanda, and headed for the Pit Stop.

In "It's All Greek to Me," teams collected tiles with nine Greek letters. Guys dressed in togas translated the letters into English, and teams rearranged the letters to form the name of a town on a map of Greece.

Because it was the more tedious option, Fran & Barry elected to rearrange the letters. Lake & Michelle stumbled upon the task while trying to find "Herculean Effort," but decided to just rearrange letters as well. They finished just after Fran & Barry.

On their way to the Detour, Tyler navigated the Hippies in the wrong direction, putting them over an hour behind the other teams. When they arrived, long after the other teams had departed for the Pit Stop, they decided to have fun with the Olympic games. Tyler took off his shirt and got body slammed by a Greek wrestler multiple times before they finally completed the task.

Luckily for the hippies, all of the teams had trouble with directions to the Pit Stop, the Fortress of Rion, which was over 100 miles away. What made the difference was whether teams asked for directions early into the trip or later.

Ray & Yolanda arrived at the Pit Stop in second place, but the penalty they were assessed for illegally riding a bus allowed MoJo to catch up. Because MoJo were not penalized, they were awarded second place behind the Frat Guys, putting Ray & Yolanda in third.

Fran & Barry, the other team not penalized, arrived in fourth place. Perhaps they'll be awarded less money at the start of the next leg to pay for a new back window that Barry broke when he backed his SUV into a tree along the way.

BJ & Tyler arrived in fifth place. Evidently, Lake & Michelle had driven around for a while before asking for help, getting them more lost than other teams. BJ & Tyler endured their penalty and were awarded fifth place.

When Lake & Michelle finally arrived, it seemed that this would be a non-elimination week, as show editors hadn't made much of a deal over the team getting lost and falling behind the hippies. But instead of asking for all their possessions, Phil told Lake & Michelle that they’d been eliminated from the race.

Maintaining her stalwart exterior, Michelle explained that she was aware that her marriage may seem dysfunctional to outside viewers. But, she said, it works for them, and they've got two great kids to prove it.

Leaderboard:
1 – Eric & Jeremy
2 – Monica & Joseph
3 – Ray & Yolanda
4 – Fran & Barry
5 – BJ & Tyler
6 – Lake & Michelle

Next week, Ray takes over Lake's role and starts bickering with Yolanda. Teams travel to the Middle East, where BJ fights heat exhaustion in an effort to dig his team out of last place.