Amazing Race 14, Episode 3: Gypsies and Vampires and Fog, oh my!

I think we’ve got a good field in this Race - 3 legs, 3 different winners to the Mat. This could get quite interesting with all the shuffling going on - who will actually win this thing? Tammy & Victor seemed invincible but between the previews and her comments at the beginning of the show - "Victor is really smart, he just doesn’t want to be wrong" - gave me the idea they were human, too. And boy, did they prove it! Unfortunately, Brad & Victoria took a chance on a flight and it ended up biting them in the ass, and they ended up too far behind to catch up (even though Tammy & Victor did their best to screw everything up) and they’re out of the Race.

The teams’ clue at the Pit Stop directed them to take a train to Munich and fly to Bucharest, Rumania. We got a little clue of Tammy’s frustration with Victor calling all the shots when he decided they should stop and get airline tickets before boarding the train (her face seems to get tenser and tenser. I think it's gonna screw itself into her nostrils before long). There was a 3:20 flight that was full, so they took tickets on the next flight leaving at 4:45 p.m. It looked like their luck was cruising when they got to the train station and boarded a train immediately leaving for Munich - and getting to the airport, found out that two seats opened up on the 3:00 flight. Unfortunately, too much good luck is a bad thing, I guess!

Luke signed in a side interview that he wished he didn’t have to rely on his mom to communicate with other teams. Brad admits he was a drug user and alcoholic but has been clean for 25 years. (I understand the "once an alcoholic always an alcoholic," but c’mon, it’s been 25 years! I think he can consider himself a regular old guy now).

Amanda &Kris and Brad & Victoria cozied up to some locals on the train and got information on the flights to Bucharest. They were urged by the local to purchase tickets on the 9:30 p.m. flight as opposed to the 4:45 p.m. flight because they would only have 30 minutes to board by the time they got to the airport. Kris & Amanda decided they would purchase their tickets at the airport because "we’re really fast" while Brad & Victoria waited to get tickets at the airport as well, figuring they had until at least 9:30 p.m. to find a better deal. Poking around, they found a flight leaving Munich for Amsterdam at 7:30 p.m. and from Amsterdam to Bucharest which would land earlier than the 9:30 flight. Even though their plane was delayed taking off from Munich (cutting it close for the connection in Amsterdam), they decided to take the chance. BAD idea - they spent the night in Amsterdam. Their connecting flight had taken off by the time they got there, and it was foggy and all flights leaving Amsterdam were canceled until the morning. Live by taking chances, die by the fog!

Tammy & Victor’s luck started running out as the pilot announced that they had to return to the Munich airport because of engine trouble. They realized they would have time to board the 4:45 flight IF they got back quick enough, and they did - except they had to sit on the tarmac for a bit and watched the flight take off with Amanda & Kris, Mel & Mike and Margie & Luke. They joined the rest of the teams on the 9:30 flight that evening.

Once in Bucharest, the teams taxied to the Sala Gymnastica, where Nadia Comaneci trained. It was pretty late and I figured this would be a "catch-up" place, not opening until 7 or 8 in the morning - but they were open! (No wonder they win so many medals - there were kids in there practicing at night!) The clue offered a Road Block, in which one of the teams had to do a routine on the balance beam, parallel bars and a floor exercise to get their clue. Luke told his Mom that she had to do the challenge, saying "I’m not wearing a girl’s leotard." Amanda breezed through the task while Margie had problems with the balance beam. (I wonder what would have happened if someone slipped on that thing and cracked their back? I realize they sign waivers the size of a phone book, but still.....) Mike also had no problems although he looked ridiculous in a leotard (which looked like a guy’s version, so Luke wouldn’t have had to worry. Wonder if they had jock straps for the guys? And couldn’t they have come up with another color than white - some of the contestants had some colorful underwear to show off under their leotards!) Huffing and puffing afterward (even though the routines seemed not to be a big deal) Mike said "I want a freakin’ medal."

Tammy & Victor get to the gymnasium area but Victor has them walking off in another direction (signs of things to come) and they end up behind the other teams, who are breezing through the tasks. Kisha & Jen decide that Kisha should do the challenge and she zips through it as well, although saying "I’m gonna stick to basketball." Tammy says she can do the routines, but tells us her mind wasn’t in it: "I saw how far behind we were and got stressed, thinking about how to get out of here rather than what I was supposed to be doing." The balance beam was a mess, and at the parallel bars she was confused with Victor calling out instructions (big help there, big brother). When she got to the floor exercises and had to do a cartwheel, she told everyone she didn’t know how. (I’m sorry, but what female doesn’t at least know how to do a cartwheel - even if she can’t physically do it?) They even let her forget the cartwheel and do a somersault, which she still had problems with.

Tammy apologized, and Victor tried to help, saying "your brain just froze." At that remark, Tammy looked like she could have shot Victor in his tracks right there. She mentioned in a side interview that she feels as if Victor is "accommodating for me" because she is weak. Well, honey, get your backbone and prove otherwise!

Meanwhile, in Amsterdam, Brad & Victoria are just leaving. Victoria figures if at least one other team has as "screwed up a time as us, we’ll have a chance." Well, that may well be.......

All the other teams were already on a train to Transylvania to then grab a taxi to a place known as the "Black Church." Cara & Jaime used the time to get to know Margie & Luke a bit better, saying that they liked Luke and they think he appreciates their efforts to communicate with him. Their clue at the church was a Detour: Gypsy Moves or Vampire Remains. In Gypsy Moves, teams had to travel to a gypsy settlement where they needed to load all of a family’s belongings onto a horse-drawn cart. Then, they had to navigate the cart to the family’s new encampment where they had to unload the belongings. In Vampire Remains, teams had to travel to nearby woods, drag a coffin down a hill to a clearing, unlock and untangle a series of chains surrounding the coffin, and open it to reveal a set of antique picture frames. Then, in the spirit of Vlad the Impaler, who inspired Bram Stoker’s famous vampire Dracula, teams had to impale the picture frames on a wooden stake searching for a hidden flag to exchange for their next clue.

Kris & Amanda and Mel & Mike take off to move the Gypsies. Jaime & Cara and Margie & Luke decide to go play with coffins. Jamie & Cara show they have no patience at all when their cab driver has to stop repeatedly for directions. They made it to the site after Tammy & Victor - but Victor spotted some red and white markings on trees and decided those were the markers to follow. As they trudged up the hill, Tammy kept telling Victor that she thought the markers were wrong (they were red and white as opposed to yellow and red), but Victor said it would be "a mistake if we turned around now." Tammy got more and more frustrated, yelling "Why do we always have to follow your gut instead of mine?" They continued to tromp up the mountain allowing Margie & Luke, Jaime & Cara and Christie & Jodi to complete the challenge and take off. Victor finally allowed Tammy to help make the decision on what to do and she looked at him in total disbelief - "I can make the decision now that we’ve walked up the whole mountain?" She decided they were going to go back down to where they started. Once there, they spotted the proper yellow and red arrows - and at that point, Tammy should have designed her strategy to put Victor in one of the coffins. Borrowing from another blog: Had she slammed his face against every single red and white sign they passed on the way back down, she would have been well within her rights.

But was that it for the brother and sister? Oh, no, they had more bad luck coming. When they got their coffin down and checked the locks and keys on it, they realized one of the keys that was on the coffin had come off as they drug it down the hill. They would have to search the side of the hill in the grass and dead leaves to find the key. (At this point I’m figuring Brad & Victoria are a lock to make it in time). Amazingly, Victor found the key. The boxes inside the coffins held more than a flag surprise - they all had "blood" in them that spurted when they impaled them on the stakes.

At the Gypsy site, Kris & Amanda and Mel & Mike found out they’d have to pack a wagon with an old car body, huge tires and some barrels, among other things. (And if that’s what Gypsies cart around from home place to home place, someone needs to teach them what they really need - like, oh, I dunno, towels!) Kris & Amanda got their wagon loaded up quickly but had to slow down as the stuff started falling off as they bumped down the road. Considering Mel is an old guy with a bad groin, he and Mike did pretty well and stayed right behind Kris & Amanda. The father and son team ended up out of the task ahead of Kris & Amanda when Kris realized their fanny pack with their passports and money had been left somewhere and had to frantically scour the area for it. (Okay. I understand not doing the tasks with your backpack on, but how big is a FANNY PACK, for pity’s sake? You can’t lug a tire with a fanny pack on? Jeeze! Not to mention, Gypsies are known in lore as thieves - so yeah, leave a parcel with money laying around. And please, don’t send me nasty emails that I’m being racist against Gypsies. It’s old lore thievery I’m talking about, not that modern-day Gypsies are thieves.) This allowed Mel & Mike to get ahead and end up on the Mat at Villa Panoramic in first place (winning a trip to Costa Rica in the process).

Amanda & Kris made it to the mat in second place. Mark & Mike got to the location just after Blondies Christie & Jodi but the short guys raced them to the Mat and won. (So much for thinking short legs can't get you anywhere...) Tammy & Victor managed to get through the rest of the day without self-imploding and got to the Mat before Brad & Victoria, who showed up late at night, covered in "blood" and finding out they were eliminated.

Here’s the order of finish:
1 - Mel & Mike
2 - Amanda & Kris
3 - Kisha & Jen
4 - Margie & Luke
5 - Mark & Michael
6 - Christie & Jodi
7 - Jamie & Cara
8 - Tammy & Victor
9 - Brad & Victoria

So will Victor be allowed to live for the next leg of the Race? If you were in Tammy’s shoes, would you let him? Who do you think seems strongest right now? Have you chosen your winners yet? Can the Blondies stay out of last place two weeks in a row? We’ll see next week!