The Amazing Race Episode 18.05 Don't Ruin the Basketball Game

LOST AND FOUND

As Kent & Vyxsin returned to Jade Dragon Mountain to search for their fanny pack, best friends Zev & Justin climbed Lion Hill to find Phil waiting at the Eternal Tower for the lagging team. After announcing that Zev & Justin were the eighth team to arrive, Phil handed the stunned best friends their next clue instructing them to travel 400 miles by train back to Kunming and find the Dounan Flower Market. The worried pair also read that a Double U –Turn would appear somewhere on this leg of the race.

Jumping off the shuttle bus, a worried Kent & Vyxsin hopped into a gondola car keeping their fingers crossed on finding their missing pack. Ascending the stunning mountain, Vyxsin said, "We know what happens on The Amazing Race if you lose your passports." Exiting the gondola, the dating Goths ran to the ticket window where their fanny pack waited. Now reunited with their money and passports, Kent & Vyxsin descending the mountainside again as Vyxsin joked, "Seriously, there's some kind of screws loose up here in our minds."

After declaring their Chinese zodiac signs and hammering molten candy, dating Goths Kent & Vyxsin climbed Lion Hill and stepped on the mat in last place. After Phil delivered the good news that the dating Goths were still racing, he added some bad news. For taking an alternate flight from Tokyo to Kunming, the dating Goths received a 30-minute penalty that would be imposed at the next Pit Stop. Jumping into a taxi to the train station, Kent said, "We're definitely not going to let any other team know anything about this penalty…[teams] would definitely be targeting us for a U-Turn if they knew."

PLAY TIME

With a train to Kunming not departing until 7:05pm, teams gathered at the train station with little to do except wait, but Cord came up with an idea. Seeing an empty basketball court and knowing Flight Time carried a ball, the redheaded cowboy suggested a friendly game of 3-on-3. Taking to the court, Jet, Flight Time, and Kisha prepared for battle against Cord, Big Easy, and Jen. Jen won possession of the ball in the tip off against Flight Time and passed to Cord, who then passed to Big Easy who put his team on the board with a fade away jumper. Jet later said, "Who would've ever thought that we'd be playing basketball with the Harlem Globetrotters in China. It was like playing basketball with trees." Putting a wet blanket on the festive affair, best friends Zev & Justin arrived during the game and announced that they saw Kent & Vyxsin at the Roadblock. Mallory joked, "Don't ruin the basketball game."

Running into the train station, dating Goths Kent & Vyxsin were greeted by eight very curious teams anxious for the details of why they missed the required flight in Tokyo. Kent reiterated the lie he told Justin in Spruce Meadow that he and Vyxsin had car problems in Tokyo. When Mallory asked about a penalty for missing the flight, Vyxsin calmly replied, "We still don't know what they're going to do." The surprised teams talked amongst each other believing the dating Goths should have received a penalty unaware that Phil had already assessed one on the mat. With Kent & Vyxsin back in the game, Jet said, "They're on the same train with everybody else. This just changes everything. To be continued."

FLOWER FRENZY

Running off the train in Kunming in the early morning darkness at 5:30am, sisters Kisha & Jen took an early lead followed by father and daughter Ron & Christina and best friends Zev & Justin as all nine teams jumped into taxis. Christina said, "Speaking Chinese, we have home court advantage now." Kisha & Jen maintained their slim lead on the pack at Dounan Flower Market when they spotted the cluebox hidden amid the endless rows of color flowers. Opening their clue, they discovered they had to travel by taxi to the Golden Horse and Jade Cock Memorial Arches.

One by one, teams ran through the flower market, grabbed their clue and returned to their waiting taxis. However, Jet & Cord couldn't find their cab when they ran back out in the street and took the only one available, belonging to last place Harlem Globetrotters Flight Time & Big Easy who were still in the market looking for the cluebox. Pulling away in the stolen taxi, Jet correctly guessed, "Somebody's still standing there looking for a cab." When the Globetrotters ran into the empty street, Flight Time shouted, "This is bad!" After searching around, they finally found a cab and jumped in hoping to catch up to all the teams.

DETOUR OF THE DOLLS

Arriving at the Golden Arches together in first and second place, Ron & Christina and Zev & Justin opened their clues to find a Detour having the choice to Honor the Past or Embrace the Future. In Honor the Past, teams had to watch a traditional Tibetan performance while testing their powers of perception and memory. Without taking any notes, teams had to go outside the theater curtain and place a set of fifteen dolls representing the characters in the show into the same order the performers appeared onstage. In Embrace the Future, teams had to off load a complete solar water heating system from a truck, carry it to the roof of a building, and properly install it.

As mother and son Margie & Luke began to lift and carry the heavy solar tubes up the stairwell of a building, Zev & Justin, Ron & Christina, and sisters Kisha & Jen all put on elaborate Chinese robes and hats and watched the procession of Tibetan performers march across the stage taking close mental note of the order. After the performance ended, the teams exited the theater, stood at separate tables, and began to put the fifteen dolls in the order they thought they remembered seeing them. Ron joked, "I never played with dolls." Getting the order incorrect, he and Christina returned to the theater for a second viewing while Zev & Justin switched two of their dolls to make a perfect match in first place. Opening their clue, the best friends discovered they had to make their way to the place pictured in the enclosed photo, the Chinese Minority Heritage Center, where they would find a Double U-Turn giving two teams the opportunity to slow down two others teams by making them perform the other side of the Detour. With Ron & Christina and Kisha & Jen finishing moments behind, all three teams decided to work together to find the center and the Double U-Turn.

USING THE U-TURN

With their taxis taking the three lead teams to the wrong location, mother and son Margie & Luke, who installed the solar water heating system in fourth place, arrived at the Chinese Minority Cultural Center in first. Seeing an empty Double U-Turn board, Margie & Luke decided not to use and set a team back because they had a lead. Opening their clue, the mother and son learned they had to travel outside of the city to the Stone Forest. Arriving at the U-Turn board in second place, cowboys Jet & Cord also decided not to U-Turn anyone.

Jumping out of their taxis near the Chinese Minority Cultural Center, former NFL cheerleaders Jaime & Cara and dating Goths Kent & Vyxsin searched for the U-Turn board until Jet & Cord pointed the two teams in the right direction. Taking a lead among the quartet, Kent whispered to his partner, "Keep them [Jaime & Cara] behind us and we'll U-Turn them." By a matter of mere steps, Kent & Vyxsin stood on the U-Turn mat, pulled out the picture of Jaime & Cara and placed it on the board as the former NFL cheerleaders looked on in shock. Citing their big mistake of U-Turning a team in front of them the first time they ran the race, this time the dating Goths didn't take any chances.

Taking their moment on the mat, Jaime & Cara U-Turned Flight Time & Big Easy because they last saw the Globetrotters begging the task of installing solar tubes as they were leaving. Jumping into their taxi to Honor the Past, a positive Cara said, "We can totally overcome this. We can so do this." Cara lived up to her word and she and Jaime quickly arranged the Tibetan dolls in the proper order to earn their clue.

Arriving at the Chinese Minority Cultural Center in last place, a surprised Flight Time & Big Easy discovered they had been U-Turned by Jaime & Cara. Taking a taxi to the theater, Flight Time said, "It ain't over baby." After the Globetrotters put the dolls in their correct order, Big Easy said, "Let's go get ‘em. Let's go get their ass." This happened sooner than later for the Globetrotters when they passed Jaime & Cara on the highway to the Stone Forest. The former NFL cheerleaders had a delay because their taxi driver needed to stop for gas, prompting Jaime to snipe, "China is like Hawaii all over again.

DINO-MITE

Sisters Kisha & Jen ran along the marked path at the Stone Forest and opened their clue in first place to find a Roadblock. In it, one team member had to choose a dig site, gather a complete set of bones, and, using one diagram for reference, erect a 20-foot replica of a Dilophosaurus. Teams had to make sure the dinosaur's joints were locked in properly as they went along or a paleontologist would stop them if their dinosaur was unsafe.

Surrounded by massive stone formations on all sides, Kisha, followed closely by Christina and Margie, ran into an expansive field and began to collect dinosaur bones for assembly. The three women took the massive leg bones and worked on making a secure base that they could continue to build from. Christina later said, "The key was to get the hips on correctly. If the hips were not wedged in correctly then you were basically toast."

VYXSIN REVEALS

Arriving at the Stone Forest in fourth place, Kent took to the field while Vyxsin explained to Jen, Ron, and Luke why she and Kent U-Turned Jaime & Cara. Vyxsin revealed to the racers that she and Kent were facing a 30-minute penalty for missing the required flight in Tokyo, adding, "We didn't mean to lie but we kind of fudged around the truth of what happened." Ron wasn't impressed with Vyxsin's explanation and later called the dating Goths "phony as can be."

As racers struggled to fit the massive pieces of the dinosaur skeleton together, Jet ran into the field in fifth place and immediately went work building the legs, hips, and spine. He later commented, "I went back and checked the little diagram more than anybody, just making sure as I went I had it all together." Putting in the ribs, Jet appeared to be making better progress than the other teams.

WINNING IN CHINA

Because of lost taxis, best friends Zev & Justin and father and daughter Gary & Mallory arrived at the Stone Forest in last place, even behind the two U-Turned teams. While Justin ran into the field hoping to catch up, Gary & Mallory debated whether to use their Express Pass they won in the first leg. After careful consideration, the father and daughter opted to use it and received their next clue from the paleontologist instructing them to find the next Pit Stop at Green Lake Park in Kunming.

As Gary & Mallory took a tram back to their taxi, Jet put the finishing touches on his dinosaur and left the Stone Forest with Cord in a heated race for first place against the father and daughter. In the end, the cowboys triumphed by stepping on the mat in first place winning $5,000 each while Gary & Mallory settled for second place.

BEAT THE CLOCK

With the 30-minute penalty still looming, Kent felt the pressure to finish his dinosaur skeleton especially after Margie completed hers for a third place finish with Luke. After continually being rejected by the paleontologist, Kent finally realized he had a hipbone in backwards and switched it around to finish in fifth place just behind Kisha. Although the dating Goths beat Kisha & Jen to the Pit Stop mat, Kent & Vyxsin had to wait out their penalty and watched Kisha & Jen take fourth place. When the 30-minutes expired, the excited dating Goths ended in fifth place, saying, "Number five is alive!" Taking sixth place, Harlem Globetrotters Flight Time & Big Easy cheered, "Double U-Turn that baby!"

MAJOR MISTAKE

In the field, Justin, Jaime, and Christina all struggled to find the way to build their dinosaur skeletons. When Justin incorrectly wedged a bone in place, he shouted in anger using all the brute force he could muster to pull it back out and correct his mistake. Christina eventually realized her problem of flipping the hipbone, took it all apart, and began the slow process of reassembling it. Jaime thought she inched closer to completing her skeleton, but the paleontologist telling her no. When Christina and then Justin both earned their clues for erecting their dinosaurs, an exhausted and confused Jaime finally had the realization of what she did wrong. After building her entire skeleton, she saw that she also had flipped the hipbone like the other racers. As Jaime starting taking her whole creation apart, Cara said, "Now I think we're definitely doomed." Jaime simply muttered, "I just want to stop being miserable."

Once Jaime finally completed her dinosaur correctly, the last place former NFL cheerleaders found Phil on the mat at Green Lake Park. Upon learning from Phil that they had been eliminated from the race, Cara said, "This team isn't a quitting team. It certainly would've been nice for us to win, but not everyone can win the race. And I do think it was worth it for us to come back."