The Amazing Race Episode 15.04 Sean Penn Cambodia Here We Come (Cambodia)

In a shocking turn of events, best friends Zev & Justin ran a near flawless leg finishing in first place only to realize that they had lost Zev's passport. Last place poker players Maria & Tiffany dodged another bullet when Zev & Justin couldn't find their passport and were subsequently eliminated from the race.

A FULL FLIGHT

Departing the Pit Stop in first place at 6:53pm, Harlem Globetrotters Flight Time & Big Easy ripped open their clue instructing them to fly to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Once there, they had to find the fabled Foreign Correspondent's Club and make contact with the assignment editor. Then, speaking in a whisper, they would have to ask for their next assignment in order to receive their next clue.

Arriving at the airport with dating couple Meghan & Cheyne, the Globetrotters ran to the Vietnam Airlines counter and discovered that the earliest flight departing Ho Chi Minh City was at 12:25pm the next day. Eventually, the other seven teams queued up to purchase the same tickets with engaged couple Lance & Keri and best friends Zev & Justin at the end of the line. After newly dating couple Mika & Canaan walked away from the counter with tickets in hand, Lance & Keri stepped up and heard the bad news that the 12:25pm flight was now full. With the next flight available leaving at 2:15pm, an incredulous Justin asked, "Are you serious?" Lance correctly noted, "[It's] a two team race for last place."

Both Lance & Keri and Zev & Justin put their names on the standby list and anxiously waited through the night to see if there would be space for them on the 12:25pm flight. As the other seven teams boarded a shuttle transporting them to the waiting airplane, a giddy Canaan said, "The bus door's closing so I think we made it and they didn't." At the counter, Zev & Justin and Lance & Keri still got bad news from the ticket agents telling them that no seats were available. At the last moment, both teams secured spots on the flight and gleefully boarded the shuttle taking them to the plane. A relieved Justin said, "That would've been a tough way to go." Seeing the other teams still boarding the plane, Lance delighted in his arrival at the tarmac, shouting, "No cheap wins, bitches! No cheap wins!" He later added, "This puts us on an even playing field. That's all we need."

WORST TO FIRST

Landing in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, best friends Zev & Justin took the early lead out of the airport with help of their taxi driver, Thierry, whom they befriended very quickly. After Thierry agreed to drive them for the entire leg, Zev joked, "Don't leave us or I'm going to call your mother." Arriving at the Foreign Correspondent's Club just ahead of dating couple Meghan & Cheyne and brothers Sam & Dan, Zev & Justin ran into the famed location and looked around for the assignment editor sitting among the club's other patrons. Dan noticed two men, who were wearing hats and reading newspapers, and asked them for his next assignment. One of the men handed Dan a newspaper, as well as Meghan & Cheyne and Zev & Justin who were right behind him. Opening a manila folder hidden within the newspaper, the three teams found a picture of a woman riding in a motorcade and a clue instructing them to find the same picture in a hotel that has a suite named after the famous woman. Teams needed to figure out that their next destination was the Hotel Le Royal where they had to find the picture of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis on her only official visit to Cambodia in 1967.

Teams luckily had taxi drivers that recognized the grounds of the Hotel Le Royal because very few racers could identify one of America's most famous first ladies. Canaan thought it was a picture of Queen Elizabeth, while Flight Time surmised that it was a queen of Cambodia. Mika added that the woman in the picture was definitely someone of Cambodian descent. In his taxi, Zev correctly noted, "She looks like Onassis." The other racer with the sharp eye was Gary who confidently said, "You could tell it was Jackie Kennedy."

MATCH GAME

With their driver Thierry keeping them in front, Zev & Justin walked into the Hotel Le Royal in first place and quickly spotted the picture to receive their next clue, a Detour. In it, teams had to choose between Cover and Wrap. In Cover, teams had to find a helmet stand and choose four motorcycle helmets. Then, using only their powers of persuasion, the teams had to sell the four helmets, for ten dollars, to a family of four consisting of two adults and two children. Once the teams returned the money to the helmet shop owner, they would receive their next clue. In Wrap, teams had to find the Russian Market and locate stalls 980 and 981 where the shopkeeper would hand over an intricately patterned silk scarf. Then, the teams had to search the confusing corridors of the market for a woman wearing an identical scarf. When they correctly matched the two scarves, the shopkeeper would hand them their next clue.

On the way to the Russian Market, Zev & Justin continued to joke with their new pal, Thierry. Justin quipped, "You're the smartest man in Cambodia! After the night we had, we deserve this. I'm going to name one of my kids after you. Probably my eighth." Arriving at the market, Zev & Justin took Thierry with them into the confusing maze of stalls and quickly located stalls 980 and 981 with his help. After receiving a beautiful purple scarf from the shopkeeper, Zev & Justin, along with Thierry, scoured the crowded market for women wearing scarves. Eventually, they spotted a young woman sporting the exact same purple scarf and escorted her back to stall 980 where they received their next clue that instructed them to travel on foot to Wat Tuol Tom Pong.

HELMET HIJINKS

Engaged couple Lance & Keri, the only team choosing Cover, arrived at the helmet shop and selected the four helmets that they intended to sell to a Cambodian family. Walking out into the crowded streets, the couple began shouting for people to buy their helmets, but the families on mopeds kept driving past. Eventually, Lance & Keri found a family of four with some money to burn standing near a stall of purses. After their successful sale, the engaged couple returned to the helmet stand and received their clue in seventh place ahead of only newly dating couple Mika & Canaan and professional poker players Maria & Tiffany who struggled to find their matching scarves in the Russian Market.

MONKEY BUSINESS

Again using Thierry as a guide, Zev & Justin ran to Wat Tuol Tom Pong where they found a Roadblock. In Cambodia, monkeys are so revered that the royal family employs a royal monkey master who trains dancers to behave like monkeys. In this Roadblock, one team member had to put on a monkey mask and tail and complete three monkey maneuvers, as demonstrated by their monkey master. If they could keep up their simian act during the maneuvers, the monkey master would hand them their next clue.

As Zev donned a red monkey mask and the accompanying tail, Justin joked, "This is fantastic. Everybody that knows Zev would like to see him wear a tail and a mask pretty much at all time." Zev expertly learned the hand over hand maneuver as he crouched and walked alongside a long tree log that served as a balance beam. Then, Zev mastered the second maneuver of walking on the log upright as a monkey. However, the third maneuver, crouching and walking along the log using hands like a monkey, gave Zev plenty of trouble. On why it posed such a problem, Justin noted, "[Zev] kind of has the body of an 80-year old man and bending over leaning on their hands, it's just not in his bag of tricks."

While Zev continued to fall off of the log when trying to cross it, brothers Sam & Dan arrived at Wat Tuol Tom Pong. Dan quickly completed the first two maneuvers as Zev told Justin he felt like passing out in the hot sun. When Zev collapsed, a worried Justin asked if he was okay. Feebly, Zev replied, "I have no energy." After sitting up, Zev started having a panic attack as Justin tried to help calm and focus his friend.

While Zev tried to work through his panic attack, Dan completed the final monkey maneuver and opened the next clue instructing him and his brother Sam to travel to the Pit Stop at Wat Phnom, a Buddhist shrine built over 600 years ago. As the brothers got into a tuk tuk, Zev mustered the stamina and concentration to finish his walk across the log to earn the clue to the Pit Stop.

PASSPORT PROBLEM

A slow tuk tuk for brothers Sam & Dan couldn't compete with the superior driving skills of Thierry and best friends Zev & Justin hit the mat with a first place finish when they arrived at Wat Phnom. However, after Phil checked in brothers Sam & Dan as the second team and Harlem Globetrotter Flight Time & Big Easy as the third team, Zev & Justin realized they had lost Zev's passport. When the best friends returned to the mat, Phil informed them that, if they didn't find the passport before all of the other teams checked in, they would be out of the race. After searching through their bags as Phil looked on, Zev & Justin called their friend, Thierry the taxi driver, to help them out one more time by driving them to places where they thought they may have dropped the passport.

As Zev & Justin rode in Thierry's taxi back to the Roadblock, they tried to trace their steps in their heads. After realizing that they truly had no idea where the passport could be, the mood in the taxi took a somber turn. Zev lamented, "We finished first and now it looks like we're gonna be last because I lost a little piece of paper. We would've won the whole thing too."

REVERSAL OF FORTUNE

Although last place Maria struggled to finish her monkey maneuvers, she and Tiffany reached Phil at the Pit Stop before Zev & Justin returned from their quest to find the lost passport. When Phil told Maria & Tiffany that they had arrived last, but still were in the race because another team lost their travel documents, the stunned poker players joked, "I wish we had this much luck with poker because we'd be zillionaires."

Returning to the Pit Stop, a disappointed Zev & Justin heard the words they were dreading from Phil, that they'd been eliminated from the race. While it didn't end ideally, Justin commented on his experience, saying, "What we've gone through was as special as any experience I've ever had in my life. I wish it had gone on longer. I think everything I hoped for him going into this has happened, and I think we're going to be better friends because of it." Zev added, "This was my dream to be on the race, and it's proven to me that I am capable of changing. I don't have to do a daily routine day by day. I can go out and do different things and succeed at them."

1504 Route Markers

Roadblock: A Roadblock is a task that only one person can perform. In Cambodia, monkeys are so revered that the royal family employs a royal monkey master who trains dancers to behave like monkeys. In this Roadblock, one team member had to put on a monkey mask and tail and complete three monkey maneuvers, as demonstrated by their monkey master. If they could keep up their simian act during the maneuvers, the monkey master would hand them their next clue.

Performed Roadblock: ZEV, DAN, FLIGHT TIME, ERICKA, MEGHAN, GARY, KERI, MARIA, CANAAN

Detour: A Detour is a choice between two tasks, each with its pros and cons. In this Detour, teams had to choose between Cover and Wrap. In Cover, teams had to find a helmet stand and choose four motorcycle helmets. Then, using only their powers of persuasion, the teams had to sell four of the hats, for ten dollars, to a family of four consisting of two adults and two children. Once the teams returned the money to the helmet shop owner, they would receive their next clue. In Wrap, teams had to find the Russian Market and locate stalls 980 and 981 where the shopkeeper would hand over an intricately patterned silk scarf. Then, the teams had to search the confusing corridors of the market for a woman wearing an identical scarf. When they correctly matched the two scarves, the shopkeeper would hand them their next clue.

Cover: LANCE/KERI

Wrap: FLIGHT TIME/BIG EASY, SAM/DAN, GARY/MATT, ZEV/JUSTIN, MIKA/CANAAN, MARIA/TIFFANY, MEGHAN/CHEYNE, BRIAN/ERICKA

Order of Finish

1. Sam & Dan

2. Flight Time & Big Easy

3. Brian & Ericka

4. Gary & Matt

5. Meghan & Cheyne

6. Lance & Keri

7. Mika & Canaan

8. Maria & Tiffany

9. Zev & Justin