The Amazing Race 10: Episode 5

The Amazing Race 10 finally had its first non-elimination episode. Kentucky couple David & Mary are the lucky ducks who got a second chance to stay in the race.

Teams left Ha Long Bay, Vietnam, and took a train to Hanoi, where they needed to purchase airline tickets to Chennai, India through one of the city's many travel agencies.

The long train ride gave teams the opportunity to form alliances. An agreement already existed between Erwin & Godwin, Lyn & Karlyn, and David & Mary. Rob & Kimberly informally teamed up with Tyler & James to share information and follow each other around.

Peter, eager not to be left out of the information swapping, offered his insight on travel agencies to anyone who would listen -- provided they agree to help his team at a later date. Dustin & Kandice were the only team to consent to work with him, even though they had no actual intentions of ever helping Peter & Sarah in return.

Flight jockeying ultimately got Dustin & Kandice and Peter & Sarah the earliest flight into Chennai -- even though the Beauty Queens did their best not to share any info with Peter when sussing out connecting flights. Both teams arrived in Chennai at 7:50 a.m.

Lyn & Karlyn, Erwin & Godwin, Rob & Kimberly, and Tyler & James all arrived in Chennai at 9:20 a.m. David & Mary, who were unable to get seats on an earlier flight, arrived at 10 a.m.

In Chennai, teams had to take a bus to Mamallapuram, or as Peter put it, "We go from one polluted city to another." (I think he was misquoting lyrics from "One Night in Bangkok.")

Mamallapuram was the site of this leg's Detour: "Wild Things or Wild Rice." In Wild Things, teams transported a crocodile from one pen to another, and in Wild Rice, teams completed a traditional rangoli design by filling in a chalk outline with various colors of dyed and powdered wild rice. The colors had to match those in a diagram given to each team.

Some of the teams went to Wild Rice first, simply because it was the closer of the two Detours. When they saw the level of detail work required, most decided to tempt their fate with the crocs -- a significantly faster task. Only Tyler & James and David & Mary saw Wild Rice through to completion.

Peter & Sarah were the first team to successfully move their croc from one pen to another. But, jogging to the bus stop, Peter had little sympathy for Sarah, who had to hop along on her damaged prosthetic leg. He yelled at her to keep up with him, even though it wasn't physically possible.

When they had time to sit, Peter tried to pin Sarah's frustration on her. "Get it together, Sarah," he said. "It's just a game. We're just having fun."

"I'm not really having fun with you, Peter," Sarah shot back.

Having completed the Detour, teams took the bus back to Chennai for one of my new favorite Roadblocks from any season of the race. One team member attended a class on Indian rules of the road, and then got into a car and took a driving test to earn an legitimate Indian license. And the racers thought the crocs were scary...

The classroom instruction portion of the road block wasn't especially helpful. Drivers were given a horn so that they could honk at any animals or children who wandered into their paths. When the instructor told Rob not to drink and drive, an honestly confused Rob asked, "Drink what?"

Miraculously, all of the drivers were able to avoid being run over by buses, and they similarly avoided hitting any motorbikers, pedestrians, or bicyclists. The driving wasn't pretty, but it wasn't deadly either, which is really all you can hope for on the crowded streets of India.

With drivers licenses in hand, teams had to drive themselves -- with an instructor in the car -- 10 miles to the Pit Stop, which was at the Chennai Chettinad House. Peter & Sarah arrived first, winning a pair of home gyms.

Dustin & Kandice arrived next, followed by Rob & Kimberly (who didn't argue this entire leg, as far as we saw), Erwin & Godwin, and Lyn & Karlyn. Tyler & James were stunned to find out they were in 6th place. They had no idea that the Wild Rice Detour had taken so much longer than the other task.

David & Mary, who'd been even slower at the Detour than Tyler & James, didn't reach the driving school until after dark. They were the last team to arrive at the Pit Stop, but were not eliminated.

Instead of taking the team's money and possessions, as on previous seasons, David & Mary received a different kind of penalty. Unless they finish the next leg of the race in first place, they will receive a 30-minute penalty.

Considering that the 30-minute penalty given to Tom & Terry in week three dropped them from second place to eighth, 30 minutes could very likely mean the end of the race for David & Mary.

Next week, Lyn & Karlyn get in a fight with Dustin & Kandice. After the fight, one of the Beauty Queens refers to Lyn & Karlyn as "The Sistahs." That's no way to win Miss Congeniality.