The Amazing Race Episode 16.06 Cathy Drone? (France)

As teams raced through the champagne region of France, detectives Louie & Michael won their third leg in a row while newly dating Jordan & Jeff's attempt at building a champagne tower crashed, eliminating them from the race.

RACE TO REIMS

Departing the Pit Stop in first place at 7:47am, detectives Louie & Michael ripped open their clue instructing them to drive 37 miles to the city of Reims. First established by the ancient Romans, and later liberated from the English by Joan of Arc, Reims' gothic cathedral was traditionally where the kings of France came for their coronation. Outside the cathedral, teams had to find a statue of Joan of Arc where a street musician playing a singing saw held their next clue.

Entering the city of Reims, Louie & Michael decided to park and walk on foot, ducking into an office of tourism seeking help in their quest for the statue. This allowed father and daughter Steve & Allie, who rolled down their car window and asked a local on the sidewalk for directions, to pass the detectives and find the woman next to the statue first. When the woman stopped playing, she handed the father and daughter a champagne bottle cork with the next clue, Leclerc Briant, written on it. By asking a local near the cathedral, Steve & Allie learned that Leclerc Briant was located in Epernay.

Getting to Epernay proved to be a challenge for some of the teams, but others excelled. Allie became flustered trying to read the map causing her and her father to cede the lead they had only just seized. Going back to the tourism office in Reims, detectives Louie & Michael met up with brothers Dan & Jordan and the two teams caravanned to Epernay with little difficulty. Meanwhile, cowboys Jet & Cord started their long day of navigational woes by misreading their map and driving to the entirely wrong city, dropping them from second place to fifth.

EXCELLING IN EPERNAY

Running into Leclerc Briant together, detectives Louie & Michael and brothers Dan & Jordan ripped open their clue to find a Roadblock. In it, one team member had to rappel over 100-feet down into the aging caverns of the winery. Once inside, they had to search the caves filled with champagne bottles for one that was specially marked. Then, in a tradition established by officers in Napoleon's army, they would celebrate their victory by using a saber to slice the cork off the bottle. When they did, the pressure would cause the champagne to shoot out along with their next clue.

Jordan geared up in a harness and helmet for the rappel ahead of Louie and began to think about the long descent that awaited him. Jordan peered down the tunnel leading to the caverns and exclaimed, "Oh my gosh. That is a long way." With his brother Dan cheering him on, Jordan stepped into the hole, took hold of the rope, and began lowering himself into the cavern. As he got the hang of rappelling, Jordan enjoyed his journey and, when he reached the bottom, he said, "That was really fun, less nerve wracking than I thought."

Down in the cavern, Jordan began to search the nearly endless array of racks that stretched along the cave walls. Eventually, he spotted a bottle on the bottom rack with a red and yellow sticker on it and climbed back upstairs to rejoin his brother. Grabbing a saber, Jordan sliced off the top of the champagne bottle sending the cork flying through the air. Picking up the clue that shot out of the bottle with a fountain of champagne, Dan & Jordan read the three words on a small piece of paper: Taittinger La Marquetterie. They needed to figure out that this was a chateau and vineyard in the nearby village of Pierry.

A BUMPY ROAD

The road to Taittinger La Marquetterie proved long and winding for several teams. Brothers Dan & Jordan lost their short-lived lead over detectives Louie & Michael when they stopped in a tourism center to ask for directions. The woman in the center directed the brothers back to Reims where the Taittinger's main headquarters is located, not La Marquetterie. When the brothers showed up the headquarters and were told to drive to La Marquetterie in Pierry, Jordan joked, "The lesson in the leg was: Don't always trust a pretty girl."

Father and daughter Steve & Allie also drove to Reims and spotted the Taittinger headquarters. However, when Steve pulled in to park the car, he ran over something, completely wrecking the front right bumper of the car. After getting correct directions, the father and daughter returned to the car and began the drive to Pierry. However, they could hear the plastic bumper loudly rubbing against the wheel, making the car impossible to drive. Steve pulled over and tried to fix the car by pulling and kicking the plastic away from the wheel but it didn't work. Then a bright idea hit Steve: use the duct tape his wife packed for him before the race started. Steve patched up the bumper and the duo hit the road again in fourth place.

POLICE HUNT

Finding a man in a sports car to escort them to Pierry, detectives Louie & Michael arrived at Taittinger La Marquetterie in first place to find a Detour with the choice of Tower or Terra. In Tower, teams had to use exactly 680 glasses to build a tower exactly 15 levels high with only one glass on top. If they could solve the equation and build the tower without breaking any glasses, they then had to fill it with champagne to receive their next clue. In Terra, teams had to search an entire square kilometer of the barren, wintry land for a tiny cluster of grapes marked with Race colors.

Describing themselves as "bulls in a china shop", detectives Louie & Michael felt more at ease searching through the sprawling vineyard than constructing a champagne tower. While the pair appeared shocked upon seeing the massive plot of land that they needed to scour, Michael told Louie, "Eagle eye it. Let's do our traditional grid search." The detectives walked down rows and rows of the barren vineyard until Michael spotted a cluster of marked grapes and then joked, "If I can find crack in someone's rear end, I can find grapes in a vineyard." Opening their next clue, the detectives learned that they had to drive to the Pit Stop across the city at L'orcca, the cultural administration for Champagne, France.

With no other teams even arriving at Taittinger La Marquetterie, detectives Louie & Michael coasted to their third victory in a row when they stepped on the mat at L'orcca. For winning the leg, Phil rewarded the duo with a trip for two from Travelocity to Cancun, Mexico. Michael said, "Europe has been fun. I wish I had this attitude in South America. Maybe we would've done better in the first couple legs. We're feeling good now."

SLOW AND STEADY

Arriving at Taiitinger La Marquetterie in second place, brothers Dan & Jordan opted to build a champagne tower. Jordan joked, "I think we have seen a couple of champagne towers in our day at bar and bat mitzvahs that we've been to." With a chamber orchestra playing behind them, to Dan's chagrin, the brothers concentrated in their stacking knowing that one slip would result in total destruction.

As the brothers continued to gingerly build their tower, dating couple Carol & Brandy walked into the vineyard and spotted a cluster of grapes to surge into second place. When Carol & Brandy stopped to ask an officer for directions to L'orcca, a lost Brent & Caite, looking for Taittinger La Marquetterie and trying to keep a lead over last place Jordan & Jeff, spotted the lesbian couple and followed them all the way to the Pit Stop. The two teams raced to the mat and instantly Brent & Caite knew they had done something incorrectly yet again. Carol rolled her eyes as Brent noted, "We didn't do the Detour." Carol & Brandy claimed second place, their highest finish yet, while Brent & Caite returned to their car as Caite said, "Damn, I want to get the stupid lesbians out. I hate them."

FUTILE SEARCH

After father and daughter spotted a cluster of grapes to finish the day in third place, Brent & Caite arrived at La Marquetterie and had a difference of opinion over which Detour task to perform. Caite wanted to build a tower, as brothers Dan & Jordan continued to do inside, while Brent thought searching through the sprawling vineyard would be easier. As the couple walked down row after row without spotting grapes, Caite began to question Brent's decision. Her frustration deepened when she and Brent witnessed cowboys Jet & Cord arrive, find the grapes, and pass the dating models to claim fourth place. When Brent asked for advice on where to search, Caite sniped, "Whatever. I'm just going to follow you." Brent shot back, "You'd rather just not do nothing and then tell everyone when they're wrong. You push the blame on everybody." Caite then muttered, "Brent's to blame."

THE PERFECT POUR

Finally nearing the completion of their champagne tower, brothers Dan & Jordan discovered a serious miscalculation. When they reached level twelve of their tower, the brothers hit the apex and now could only stack one glass on top of the next to get to the required fifteen levels. With as steady hands as possible, Dan explained how he "stacked three more individual glasses on top of the existing twelfth individual glass."

Thinking the worst was behind them, the brothers stood in shock when were handed the giant magnum bottle of champagne that they now had to pour onto their creation to fill the glasses. Taking the enormous bottle, Dan joked, "Why couldn't I be 6'2"?" After stepping onto a box so he could reach above the tallest glass, Dan began to slowly pour the champagne over the tower as Jordan looked on with concern that it all could come crashing down. Watching the champagne cascade and fill the glasses, Jordan marveled, "It looks cool." After several tense moments, Dan emptied the remaining champagne from the bottle and the tower remained standing. After receiving their clue in fifth place, each brother took a glass off of their tower and toasted to their masterpiece.

SHATTERED GLASS

With Caite's continued disapproval of Brent's Detour decision, Brent decided to let Caite have her way and the couple began to build a champagne tower. As they stacked the lower levels, Brent said, "From now on, I'm just going to listen to every single word Caite says. I think we probably would've found a set of grapes by now, but I would've had my ear chewed off." For the moment, Caite's decision appeared to be correct as she and Brent quickly stacked up to the fifteenth level. However, when Brent began to pour the champagne over the shaky structure, Caite suggested he pour it slower to prevent it from crumbling. Just when it looked like Brent would finish pouring the bottle, the glass on the top level tipped over and sent the rest of the levels crashing to the ground in a symphony of shattering. Brent later said, "It was like my heart hitting the floor."

SHATTERED HOPES

The dating models returned to the vineyard to search for grapes just as last place Jordan & Jeff arrived. Seeing another team still there gave Jordan & Jeff hope that they could stay in the race after a frustrating day of poor navigation. Since Brent & Caite were searching the vineyards, Jeff thought it best to try building the champagne tower in an attempt to pass the dating models. Jordan & Jeff carefully stacked the glasses as Brent & Caite kept searching. However, the race ended for the newly dating couple when their tower crashed down just as Brent & Caite found a cluster of grapes to finish in sixth place. On their continually low placement in the race, Caite said, "I want to win this thing and it's really annoying me. I do not want to be last anymore."

As the sun set over the vineyard, Jordan & Jeff searched with flashlights until they finally found a cluster of grapes. Jeff joked, "How pissed do you think Phil is?" When they reached the mat at L'orcca, Jordan & Jeff heard the unsurprising news from Phil that they had been eliminated from the race. On the experience, Jeff said, "I got one million reasons to complain, but I can't. Doing this is priceless." Jordan added, "I got to do fun stuff. I never traveled before. It really was just the best."

1606 ROUTE MARKERS

Detour: A Detour is a choice between two tasks, each with its pros and cons. In this Detour, teams had to choose between Tower and Terra. In Tower, teams had to use exactly 680 glasses to build a tower exactly 15 levels high with only one glass on top. If they could solve the equation and build the tower without breaking any glasses, they then had to fill it with champagne to receive their next clue. In Terra, teams had to search an entire square kilometer of the barren, wintry land for a tiny cluster of grapes marked with Race colors.

Tower: DAN/JORDAN

Terra: CAROL/BRANDY, LOUIE/MICHAEL, STEVE/ALLIE, BRENT/CAITE, JORDAN/JEFF, JET/CORD

Roadblock: A Roadblock is a task that only one person can perform. In this Roadblock, one team member had to rappel over 100-feet down into the aging caverns of the winery. Once inside, they had to search the caves filled with champagne bottles for one that was specially marked. Then, in a traditional established by officers in Napoleon's army, they would celebrate their victory by using a saber to slice the cork off the bottle. When they did, the pressure would cause the champagne to shoot out along with their next clue.

Performed Roadblock: LOUIE, JORDAN, STEVE, CORD, BRENT, JEFF, BRANDY

Order of Finish

1. Louie & Michael

2. Carol & Brandy

3. Steve & Allie

4. Jet & Cord

5. Dan & Jordan

6. Brent & Caite

7. Jordan & Jeff