The Amazing Race Episode 18.10 Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen

After a heated argument with Flight Time & Big Easy at the Roadblock, dating Goths Kent & Vyxsin made a major mental mistake by taking a taxi to the Pit Stop instead of walking resulting in their elimination.

THE GREAT UNKNOWN

Departing the Pit Stop in first place at 6:54am, best friends Zev & Justin ripped open their clue instructing them to make their way to the Air Rescue Helicopter Port in Zermatt and sign up for a departure time leaving in 5-minute intervals. Before taking off into the unknown, they would receive their next clue.

Arriving at the Air Rescue Helicopter Port still in the early morning darkness, Zev & Justin signed up for the first departure at approximately 9:15am. Sisters Kisha & Jen took the second departure as the four racers speculated on what they would have to do next. Peering into the hangar where the helicopters stood waiting, Justin said, "Oh boy, this is heavy duty. This is about to get serious." When an excited Jen hoped they would be rescuing people in the Alps, a deadpan Kisha quipped, "I'm ready to leave their asses there."

ROUGH START

As the sun rose over the snow-covered mountains, Kent & Vyxsin departed the Pit Stop in third place, but they couldn't find an electric taxi allowing fourth place Gary & Mallory to pass by the dating Goths. Watching the father and daughter ride past in an electric taxi, a stunned Kent asked, "How did they get that? That frustrated me. That makes me want to kick some ass even more." After ducking into a nearby store to call for an electric taxi, Kent continued to complain about how Gary & Mallory passed him and Vyxsin. While trying to calm Kent down, Vyxsin later remarked, "It is a little bit disconcerting for me being in a relationship with someone who is over reactionary and hypersensitive." Vyxsin's calls for being more positive only prompted Kent to reply, "Punching somebody would be very positive right now." Once the dating Goths jumped into a taxi still ahead of last place Flight Time & Big Easy, a calmer Kent said, "All right, I'm happy now."

With the imposing Matterhorn looming behind them, the five teams waiting at the helicopter port had no idea what to expect. Jen said, "It's about to be the best experience that you'll never get to have again." Mallory guessed, "We're going somewhere dangerous because we got a lot of safety gear on." Zev told Justin, "I don't think it's going to be good for Vyxsin and Kent. I wonder if the snow is going to take off their eyebrows?"

SEARCH OR RESCUE

Departing the helicopter port first, best friends Zev & Justin opened their clue to find a Detour having to choose between Search and Rescue. In Search, teams had to brave extreme wind conditions and use an avalanche beacon to locate a training dummy that was buried somewhere on a glacier surrounding the Matterhorn. Once they located the dummy, they had to dig it up to receive the next clue. In Rescue, teams had to use a unique device specifically designed for crevasses to rescue a stranded mountaineer. One team member had to rappel down the crevasse to the mountaineer and clip him to the rescue line. Then, the other team member would use the pulley system to bring their partner back to the surface where they would work together to complete the rescue.

Entering the helicopter and taking off, the best friends decided to search for the training dummy because the task sounded easier to them. Marveling at the incredible views as they soared over the snow-covered glaciers and mountains, Zev said, "It feels really Inception like." Landing on the smooth, snowy surface of the glacier with the Matterhorn directly in front of them, Zev & Justin used a beacon to locate the dummy buried in the snowfield. Soon, the beacon signaled that the best friends stood directly over where they needed to start digging.

SAVING A SOUL

As Zev & Justin starting digging with shovels, Kisha & Jen, Kent & Vyxsin, and Flight Time & Big Easy all decided to attempt rescuing a mountaineer from inside a crevasse. Having a 10-minute lead on the dating Goths and a 15-minute lead on the Globetrotters, Kisha & Jen began the task when Kisha lowered her sister into the crevasse using the pulley system saying, "Save a soul today." As Jen descended into the crevasse, she couldn't believe her eyes, saying, "This is really a glacier." After clipping the rescue line to the mountaineer, Jen told Kisha to pull her back up. Kisha later joked about her sister, "She looks light, but she's kind of heavy." Once Kisha pulled her sister all the way up, both of them turned the crank of the pulley system and finally brought the stranded mountaineer to safety. Opening their next clue, Kisha & Jen discovered they had to take their helicopter to a ski resort and find the nearby train they would take back down to Zermatt. From there, they had to make their way to Le Petit Cervin.

SNOWBOUND

With dating Goths Kent & Vyxsin and Harlem Globetrotters Flight Time & Big Easy rescuing their mountaineer close behind, best friends Zev & Justin struggled to dig their dummy out of the snowfield as they watched father and daughter Gary & Mallory having significantly more success excavating their dummy. The best friends hadn't even unearthed any their dummy in the endless amounts of snow when Gary used pure brute force to lift the top half of his dummy out. Gary later said, "The air was so thin. I couldn't really breathe." Grunting and groaning, Gary again used all the strength he could muster to pull the legs and bottom half of the dummy out of the snow. Mallory later commented, "My dad's the oldest racer, but I definitely don't think that's holding him back." Walking back to the helicopter with his daughter, Gary joked about the dummy, "I think he's going to make it."

As four teams shared the same train back down to Zermatt, Zev & Justin continued to desperately dig around the hole they created. The heavy winds and blowing snow didn't help matters for the best friends whose attempts to dig further down resulted in more snow caving in around them. Frustrated and exhausted, Justin said, "I'm running out of strength, Zev. We're gonna be here forever." Later explaining their mistake, Justin added, "We dug straight down and then we dug under where the body was so we had no real room to make any progress." Finally, the best friends realized they had to dig outwards, widening the hole enough to allow them to pull out both parts of the training dummy.

CHOCOLATE GNOME

Returning to Zermatt, the four other teams all ran through the streets of the ski resort town until they found Le Petit Cervin and a Roadblock. In it, one team member had to create a Travelocity Roaming Gnome made entirely out of chocolate. Adhering to exacting Swiss methods which include using snow as a cooling agent, teams had to gain the approval of the head chocolatier. If their creations were correct, teams could exchange their chocolate figure for a real Travelocity Roaming Gnome and their next clue.

Vyxsin, Flight Time, Mallory, and Jen all walked into the kitchen of Le Petit Cervin, donned white baker's coats, and started to paint their clear, plastic molds with red, blue, and white colored chocolate to start creating a Travelocity Roaming Gnome. Each team's mold had a front and backside that, when put together, would form the full mold. Vyxsin explained, "Strategically, the smart thing to do was work on half of your candy mold and put the other half in the freezer [for the chocolate to harden] and then swap back and forth. That would dry your chocolate because you had to work in layers."

TOO MANY COOKS

With Zev entering the kitchen having to do the Roadblock because Justin already performed five to Zev's three, the other four aspiring chocolatiers continued to alternate between painting one half of their molds and cooling the other half in the freezer. With so many molds going in and out of the freezer, the inevitable confusion of which mold belonged to which racer began to emerge. Flight Time stood at the freezer door unable to find half of his mold and asked, "Who got mine? Somebody got mine." Coming to his teammate's aid, Big Easy shouted, "That's not right! Are you serious?" Kisha and Big Easy came to the conclusion that Vyxsin had taken Flight Time's mold which Vyxsin categorically denied. Overhearing the growing argument, Zev joked, "I think there are too many cooks in the kitchen."

With Flight Time doing a second mold half to replace the one that mysteriously vanished, Big Easy continued to rant, still firmly believing that Vyxsin swiped it. When Kent accused Big Easy of "throwing blame", Big Easy countered, "I'm telling the truth." When Kent again tried to talk, Big Easy cut him off, saying, "Karma gonna come back baby. That's it. I don't want to talk about it." The accusations leveled against Vyxsin took a toll emotionally on her as she continued painting her mold. With tears in her eyes, Vyxsin later commented, "I'm sorry, grow up. This has not been a dirty competition. I feel ganged up on. I try so hard to be a nice person. I really don't appreciate being treated like that. I'm hurt and I'm kind of pissed."

COOLING OFF

Once the yelling and fighting died down, focus returned to the task at hand as Flight Time clamped both halves of his mold together and poured the rich, smooth milk chocolate into his creation. Then, he ran his full mold down the stairs and placed it outside in the middle of a snow bank to cool for 30 minutes. With Jen, Vyxsin, and Mallory soon joining Flight Time outside, Big Easy and Kent watched their teammates from the balcony above. As Kent made faces behind Big Easy's back, he later added, "Big Easy was trying to be a big bully. I kicked your ass last leg, big man. And we're gonna kick your ass again today. Word."

Just as last place Zev finally ran his mold outside to begin the cooling process, the other four racers, led by Flight Time, started to dig their mold out of the snow and take it back to the kitchen. Using a knife, Flight Time slowly and delicately separated the two halves of the plastic mold and removed them to reveal a Travelocity Gnome made out of chocolate. However, work still needed to be done before the gnome was complete. The crease where the two halves of the mold met left a dark chocolate line up and down the length of the gnome that needed to be painted blue and red to match the gnome's hat and jacket. With all four racers, minus Zev who still sat outside cooling his gnome, touching up their creations as quickly as possible, the tension in the kitchen was thick. Big Easy poked fun at Kent, but Kent got the last laugh when Vyxsin finished her gnome first. Opening their next clue, the dating Goths discovered they needed to make their way on foot to the Pit Stop at a nearby 300-year old Swiss cabin.

With Zev still cooling his gnome, Kent & Vyxsin ran through the streets of Zermatt, followed closely by Flight Time & Big Easy, Kisha & Jen, and Gary & Mallory. However, the dating Goths didn't read their clue carefully enough and set out looking for a taxi to take them to the Pit Stop instead of traveling on foot. After the dating Goths flagged down an electric taxi and jumped inside, Mallory saw them from a distance and said, "They're about to get a bad penalty."

BACK ON TOP

Just as Zev completed his chocolate gnome, Harlem Globetrotters Flight Time & Big Easy found Phil standing with a large St. Bernard dog next to the Swiss Cabin. For coming in first place, the Globetrotters won a trip for two from Travelocity to the exotic Cook Islands. Big Easy said, "We definitely got a chance to come back and redeem ourselves and we're gonna try and get us a slam dunk to a victory in the championship."

After sisters Kisha & Jen snagged second place, dating Goths Kent & Vyxsin arrived at the Pit Stop after taking an electric taxi. Phil informed the shocked couple of their mistake and imposed a 30-minute penalty that they had to wait out before Phil could check them in. Standing next to the cabin, the dating Goths watched father and daughter Gary & Mallory claim third place and began to worry as Vyxsin said, "We're going home today."

END OF THE ROAD

With Zev & Justin finished with the Roadblock and running to the Pit Stop, the tension between Kent & Vyxsin reached a fevered pitch. When Vyxsin lamented about misreading the clue, Kent retorted, "Maybe you should have read it more carefully." Not taking Kent's accusation lightly, Vyxsin replied, "You looked at it tons of times. Don't blame me about this." With Kent then placing blame on Vyxsin's "negativity", Vyxsin told him, "You're putting everything on me. Unbelievable." After watching Zev & Justin take fourth place, Vyxsin added to Kent, "Your version of being positive is to attack me and that's not very encouraging or positive. It sucks."

With the other four teams checked in, dating Goths Kent & Vyxsin returned to the mat now in last place. After Phil delivered the bad news that Kent & Vyxsin had been eliminated from the race, Kent said, "Every team goes home with that one fatality moment and this one just happens to be ours." Vyxsin added, "Even though Kent & I have our moments, we're best friends. At the end of the day, we're gonna end it cuddling and happy. I do feel bad for the teams that are left because I'm taking the best teammate with me and they don't get to have him."