The Amazing Race Episode 19.04 This Is Gonna Be a Fine Mess (Phuket, Thailand)

THRICE AS NICE FOR ANDY & TOMMY

Pro snowboarders Andy & Tommy won their third leg in a row as teams raced to Phuket, Thailand. Meanwhile, twins Liz & Marie struggled at the Detour and finished last.

FINDING FLIGHTS

Departing the Pit Stop in first place at 8:17am, pro snowboarders Andy & Tommy ripped open their clue instructing them to fly north to Thailand's tropical playground, the island of Phuket. When they landed, they had to race to the floating pier at the Nonthasak Marina for their next clue. At the airport, Andy & Tommy quickly realized that there were no direct flights from Yogyakarta to Phuket. Instead they would have to fly to Jakarta first and then find options to Phuket. Joining forces with father and son adventurers Laurence & Zac, the two teams jumped on a 9:40am flight to Jakarta without booking anything further to Phuket. As they boarded the plane, Laurence & Zac said, "There's gonna be like ten times more flights in Jakarta. So we're kind of optimistic we made the right decision. Time will tell." With Laurence & Zac and Andy & Tommy on their way to Jakarta, the remaining six teams all gathered at the airport where they booked a 12:45pm flight to Jakarta. However, the teams also booked the second leg of travel, a 4:00pm flight from Jakarta to Phuket landing at 6:50pm, that Laurence & Zac and Andy & Tommy didn't purchase in Yogyakarta. Landing in Jakarta, Laurence & Zac and Andy & Tommy ran to the ticketing counter and discovered that the direct flight from Jakarta to Phuket was fully booked. Now, their only option would be a connection through Bangkok that would land in Phuket at 7:40pm. Boarding the plane to Bangkok and then Phuket, Tommy said, "It's wild because we don't know where any of the other teams are except for Zac and Laurence. We'll see when we hit the ground who's there."

FIRST TO WORST

The plane carrying pro snowboarders Andy & Tommy and father and son adventurers Laurence & Zac touched down at 7:40pm, 50 minutes behind the other six teams. Unaware that they had lost their lead, the pro snowboarders and father and son adventurers ran to a taxi stand where the attendant gleefully informed them that other teams had been there an hour ago. Stunned, Andy said, "That's pretty wild." Getting into a taxi, Zac said, "That's pretty disappointing. We thought we were in the front." Reaching the Nonthasak Marina in first place, dating couple Jeremy & Sandy walked to the edge of the sand and saw a sign saying that the dock would open at 8:00am the next morning. As teams began to gather at the marina, they all wondered where presumed frontrunners Andy & Tommy and Laurence & Zac were. The stunned twins asked, "How did that happen?" When the pro snowboarders and father and son adventurers finally showed up in last place, Cindy exclaimed, "This game is so ridiculous. So unpredictable."

WELCOME TO THAILAND

The next morning at 8:00am, the eight teams all ran along the beach to a floating dock. Needing balance to run along the dock that swayed in concern with the waves of the water, Andy & Tommy quickly jumped ahead and reached the cluebox first. After returning to shore with their clue, the pro snowboarders opened it to find a Detour having the choice of Coral Reconstruction or Beach Preparation. Coral Reconstruction required teams to construct a coral nursery and load it onto a kayak along with a tray of live coral. Then, paddling out to the buoy, they would have to dive underwater and strategically place their coral into the nursery. When the marine biologist was satisfied with their work, teams would receive their next clue. Beach Preparation required teams to collect twenty chairs and ten umbrellas with the corresponding sticker found in their clue and set them up to the exact standards of the beach club. When the attendant felt everything was perfectly in place, teams would receive their next clue. After deciding to do Coral Reconstruction, Andy & Tommy jumped into a speed boat and cruised to the small island where both sides of the Detour would be performed with the other seven teams close behind. Admiring the incredible view from the boats, Sandy said, "We're happy to be out on the water. It's so pretty." In awe, Tommy told Andy, "Look at all these islands." Giving his sister a high five, Justin said, "Welcome to Thailand!" An incredulous Marie added, "Look at what we're doing. I'll never get to do this again."

DAY AT THE BEACH

Reaching the shore of the island, Andy & Tommy jumped out onto the sandy beach and ran over to the coral nursery example to study how it was constructed. The pro snowboarders then got to work grabbing a base and hammering in PVC pipe to begin constructing the skeleton of the nursery. With married couple Amani & Marcus, siblings Justin & Jennifer, dating couple Jeremy & Sandy, and grandparents Bill & Cathi all reaching the shore and starting their nursery, Andy & Tommy maintained their lead as they methodically built their nursery and prepared to kayak into the ocean with it. Meanwhile, on the other side of the small island, twins Liz & Marie, engaged couple Ernie & Cindy, and father and son adventurers Laurence & Zac all ran to a storage shed stacked full of hundreds of umbrellas and chairs and began looking for ones that matched the symbol in their clue. Immediately, Ernie could tell that Liz & Marie were having a difficult time, later saying, "I could see the girls were really struggling. If you didn't have some strength, there was no way you were getting those chairs or those umbrellas out of there." Liz groaned, "It's a nightmare."

TAKING CONTROL

With Andy holding onto the tray of live coral, Tommy dragged the kayak into the water, jumped in behind Andy, and balanced the skeleton of the nursery around him. Then, slowly but skillfully, the pro snowboarders began paddling out to the buoy where they needed to place the coral. Jumping into the water, Andy instantly noticed the strong current, later saying, "We just started drifting away from our buoy." With their surfing background though, the pair knew to leave the nursery and secure their kayak to the buoy so it wouldn't drift away. The, when Andy & Tommy lowered the nursery to the ocean floor, they used rocks to hold it in place so it wouldn't move or fall apart. Finally, the adept duo returned to the kayak, grabbed the tray of coral, and efficiently placed each piece into the nursery. Paddling back to shore, Andy & Tommy looked at their next clue, a compass and a medallion. Using the compass, teams needed to travel by speedboat north for 13 minutes and find the island pictured on the medallion, Soap Island.

WIPED OUT

While siblings Justin & Jennifer also successfully placed their coral nursery on the ocean floor, married couple Amani & Marcus, dating couple Jeremy & Sandy, and grandparents Bill & Cathi all struggled with the task. As soon as Jeremy & Sandy dropped their nursery into the water, it began to fall apart with its destruction accelerated by the strong current. Sandy complained, "We picked the wrong one." Telling Jeremy she couldn't swim in the current and felt unsafe, Sandy wanted to switch to Beach Preparation. Watching their nursery crumble against the strong current, Bill & Cathi also chose to set up the chairs and umbrellas. When Amani & Marcus finally waved the white flag versus the current, their biggest struggle was getting back to safety at the shore. Once he reached the sandy beach, a winded Marcus doubled over, gasping, "I ain't never been so tired and whipped ever. Golly!" Six teams now raced each other to set up the required 10 umbrellas and 20 beach chairs, but found the task was not as easy as it appeared. The biggest issue for most was finding a way to make the umbrellas stand upright in the loosely packed dry sand. While Laurence & Zac used sheer muscle power to drive the mast of the umbrella into the sand, Ernie & Sandy shrewdly began using scoops of ocean water to make the loose sand denser allowing the umbrellas to stand upright. One by one, teams successfully set up the beach chairs and umbrellas until only an incredibly frustrated Liz & Marie remained. The twins, ironically former beach lifeguards, couldn't find a way to prevent their umbrellas from tipping over when a gust of wind came blowing through. When an umbrella fell onto her head, Liz began to tear up, crying, "So annoying. Stupid umbrellas." Marie asked, "Why is it so hard for us?" Finally, after much effort and frustration Liz & Marie figured out how to stabilize the base of the umbrellas in the sand to keep them standing upright. Once they had all ten standing with the twenty chairs in place, last place Liz & Marie jumped in their speedboat, hoping to catch up.

CLIMB TO THE TOP

Reaching Soap Island in first place, Andy & Tommy ripped open their clue to find a Roadblock. In it, one team member had to climb the sheer limestone rock wall on Koh Yao Noi Island up to a bird's nest to retrieve the next clue. After a quick speedboat ride to the nearby Koh Yao Noi Island, Andy geared up and attacked the massive wall of rock in front of him. With nimble agility and strength, Andy climbed up the wall with ease as teammate Tommy looked on, saying, "He's like a little monkey." In no time at all, Andy reached the clue at the bird's nest and made a quick descent back down to the dock. Opening up the clue, the pro snowboarders discovered they had to take their speedboat to the next Pit Stop at a soccer field on Koh Panyi, a floating village built over 200 years ago. Comfortably keeping their lead over second place siblings Justin & Jennifer, Andy & Tommy reached the dock at Koh Panyi and ran through the small village to the soccer field where Phil stood waiting. For their third straight win in a row, the excited pro snowboarders received $5,000 each. After their dominating performance in the leg, Tommy said, "We're just so stoked on this clean first. That's what we wanted to do today."

LOST AT SEA

After leaving the Detour in third place, engaged couple Ernie & Cindy couldn't find their bearings on the water as Ernie held the compass in his hand believing he and Cindy were heading due north. Not seeing anything that resembled the engraving on the medallion, Cindy asked, "Are we sure we're going the right way?" As the engaged couple continued to scan the ocean, Laurence & Zac, Amani & Marcus, and Jeremy & Sandy all reached Soap Island. Finally, Ernie realized he and Cindy were initially heading south and after correcting the mistake the engaged couple reached Soap Island in sixth place ahead of only grandparents Bill & Cathi and twins Liz & Marie. Once Zac climbed the rock wall at Koh Yao Noi Island, he and Laurence looked at the enclosed map they needed to use to direct their speedboat driver to Koh Panyi. The experienced sailors apparently miscalculated and sent the driver in the wrong direction. When the confused pair stopped the speedboat to sort out their location, Zac told his father, "We need to make a call here. We're losing a lot of time." Blaming a faulty compass or map, Laurence later said, "It shouldn't have been an issue at all." Eventually, the father and son adventurers simply followed another team's boat to the Pit Stop as Laurence joked, "What a bunch of useless sailors we are."

LONG DAY ENDS

At Koh Panyi, Amani & Marcus appeared poised to finish the leg in third place. However, the married couple ran though the various shops and stands in the village unable to find the floating soccer field. This allowed dating couple Jeremy & Sandy to take third place, father and son adventurers Laurence & Zac, who recovered from their navigational mishap, to finish in fourth place, and engaged couple Ernie & Cindy to snag fifth place before Amani & Marcus finally reached Phil to end in sixth place. With grandparents Bill & Cathi keeping their lead over the twins to end in seventh place, last place Liz & Marie enjoyed the view from their speedboat as they approached Koh Panyi. Liz said, "People dream of seeing stuff like this." Stepping onto the mat, the twins expected to hear that they had been eliminated from the race, but Phil gave Liz & Marie a big surprise. When the shocked pair learned that this was a non-elimination leg they screamed and hugged each other, as Marie exclaimed, "I'm so happy." Liz added, "It's not over 'til it's over. And it's not over for us yet. We still have the next leg of the race to make up time and prove that we deserve to be here."