The Amazing Race 10: Episode 3

Whatever your feelings on carbon-based economies, coal is still king on The Amazing Race. This week, Duke & Lauren settled for the wrong Detour -- making a birdcage instead of coal bricks -- and wound up eliminated.

From the Pagoda Pit Stop in Mongolia, teams made their way to a travel agency to buy tickets to Hanoi, Vietnam. At the travel agency, Almost everyone arrived at the agency before it opened at 9 a.m. So, the teams lined up and waited for the agency to start business.

Inside the travel agency, four workers assisted the teams. Though pageant queens Dustin & Kandice were the fifth team in line, they snuck past Tom & Terry to be one of the first groups to book tickets. Boyfriends Tom & Terry were upset, though nothing much came of the incident, as all nine couples wound up on the same flights.

After a connection in Beijing, teams arrived in Vietnam at 9 p.m. They camped out in front of the old Hanoi Hilton (the prison, not the hotel) and waited for it to open at 8 the next morning.

Inside the prison, teams were instructed to find the flight suit of its most famous former inmate: Senator John McCain. Brothers Erwin & Godwin stopped to pay their respects in front of the enshrined flight suit.

The next clue sent teams to a busy intersection in Hanoi's Old Quarter. Father/Daughter team Duke & Lauren had spent their last $11 riding in a cab the previous night, and they had to walk, while the other teams paid a $2 taxi fare.

A Roadblock forced one member of each team to sell $5 worth of flowers from the back of a bike cart. The first few teams, among them Edwin & Godwin and Tom & Terry, struggled to pedal the heavy, flower-laden bikes. Eventually, they noticed the later (and apparently smarter) teams were making easy money by never riding the bikes in the first place; they set up shop and sold their flowers right on the sidewalk by where the bikes were parked.

The good news for Duke & Lauren was that they got to keep the money they earned selling flowers. That meant they could afford the bus fare to their next location: the city of Vac.

Peter & Sarah jumped on the first bus they saw, hoping that it was the right one. It wasn't, and they were left to languish at a bus stop as the other teams boarded the proper buses.

Erwin & Godwin were the first team to Vac, and they asked around for directions to a Buddhist temple. One helpful man offered to give them a ride on the back of his motorbike, but the brothers had to turn him down. For safety reasons, teams were not allowed to ride or operate motorbikes in Vietnam.

The clue at the temple was for the episode's Detour: "Fuel or Fowl." Teams had their choice of making 30 coal bricks in Fuel, or one ornate birdhouse in Fowl. Everyone chose Fuel and walked in the direction of the brickmaker's house.

Erwin & Godwin made 30 bricks from the wet, Playdoh-like coal, but had to redo them all because they were too short. During the Cho brothers' second attempt, Tom & Terry showed up, fresh from a ride on a local guy's motorbike.

After all of their practice, Erwin & Godwin had gotten good enough at brickmaking that none of the local onlookers were watching them -- choosing instead to laugh at Tom & Terry, who had little aptitude for the task.

The brothers finished the Detour on their second batch of bricks. Their next clue instructed them to head on foot to the Pit Stop, which was in a nearby rice paddy. This week's prize was a home entertainment system of no particular make, model, or components.

Soon, all of the other teams -- except for Peter & Sarah -- arrived in Vac and wandered the neighborhood looking for the brickmaker's house. Duke & Lauren lost track of the group and accidentally stumbled into the courtyard where the Fowl Detour was set up. They found a shady spot under a tree and decided to make a wooden birdcage, instead of trying to find the other teams.

Eventually, Peter & Sarah's bus showed up. They, too, chose Fuel and showed up at the Detour right after the previous bus's teams found it.

Soon, Tom & Terry finished their bricks and ran to the Pit Stop. There, Phil told them that they'd incurred a 30-minute penalty for their illegal motorbike ride. The couple found a dry patch in the paddy and waited for the other teams to check in.

Back at the Detour, Kentucky coal miner Dave was not impressed with Vietnamese coal: "This ain't real coal. Ours is hard. Theirs is mud." He was also distracted by the significance of being in the country where his father fought a war decades ago. Mary's shrill voice cut through his contemplation every time he laid an unsatisfactory brick.

One by one, teams finished making their bricks and checked in at the Pit Stop. Tyler & James were awarded second place, followed by Rob & Kimberly, Candice & Dustin, Peter & Sarah, and Lyn & Karlyn. Dave helped Mary through the paddy as she labored on her twisted ankle, and they were able to finish in seventh place.

Finally, the 30-minute penalty ended, and Tom & Terry learned they had fallen from second place to eighth.

Duke & Lauren eventually finished their birdcage and checked in at the Pit Stop. As the last team to arrive, Phil told them they'd been eliminated from the race. Phil asked Duke if he had come to understand his lesbian daughter a little better, and Duke replied, "Whatever's gonna make her happy will make me happy."

In a post-show interview, Duke said of the Race, "You almost wanna wish this on every parent out there, because..." He was too overcome to finish his thought, so he just kissed Lauren on the cheek.

Next week: Sarah gets pissed that Peter won't allow her to quit on any challenges, but doesn't apply the same rule to himself. And Rob & Kimberly argue again, this time at sea.