Mel/Mike first, Brad/Victoria eliminated

Sorry for a delay, I’ve been shoveling snow since 9PM last night and all morning. So, the teams leave Austria to go to Bucharest, Romania. Before the teams arrive, Tammy/Victor lost control of their flight, losing first place and following the middle crowd. However, Brad/Victoria went to a different flight, hoping to gamble it and take the lead while on the earliest flight, and that backfired harshly on them, putting them on a flight hours behind.

So, the first three teams to arrive in Bucharest are Amanda/Kris, Mel/Mike, and Margie/Luke. Those three teams arrive to Complexul Sportiv National where in the roadblock, teams must complete a series of gymnastics exercises. Mike, Amanda, and Margie completed the task. Amanda made the task look easy, and she easily finished first, putting her and Kris in first place. Margie and Mike then finished easily, and those three teams were off to Brasov, a city in Transylvania. Next, Tammy/Victor, Cara/Jamie, Kisha/Jen, Jodi/Christie, and Mark/Michael, all arrive. Tammy/Victor struggled to find the complex, and fell to eighth place. During the roadblock, the racers all did fair, except when Tammy/Victor arrived, Victor was speaking to Tammy in a way that probably made her feel uncomfortable. However, all of those teams finished and met up with the top pack at the train station. Brad/Victoria were left at the airport, still.

It’s the next day, and all of the teams are boarding the train to Brasov. Once in Brasov, teams must arrive to Biserica Neagra, or the Black Church. Once there, they were all given a detour: Gypsy Moves, or moving a gypsy family’s belongings to another place, or Vampire Remains, follow a marked path to coffins, and find a clue. One by one, the teams arrive, and everyone picks a task. Mel/Mike, Amanda/Kris, Kisha/Jen, and Mark/Michael chose Gypsy Moves, and Margie/Luke, Jamie/Cara, Jodi/Christie, and Tammy/Victor chose Vampire Remain. I don’t remember what Christie/Jodi did. So, it turns out that the Gypsy detour turned out to be faster than the vampire detour, since Kris/Amanda, Mel/Mike, and Kisha/Jen finished fast.

Meanwhile, teams were struggling with the vampire detour. Victor, feeling confident in following red arrows on a tree, leads himself and Tammy in the wrong direction. Margie/Luke actually did OK on the vampire, proving they are indeed a good team.

When Amanda/Kris are done with the gypsy moving, they realize they have lost Kris’s fanny pack. So, this leaves them to freak out, but with a lot of hope, they easily find it back at where they finished. They may have lost first place, which that easily went to Mel/Mike, now, wining a trip to Costa Rica. So, Kris/Amanda take second. Meanwhile, Tammy and Victor keep following the wrong path, and Tammy is sure he’s misdirecting them. Finally, Tammy gets the courage to speak up, and Victor, frustrated, begins crying. I really didn’t expect that. So, Victor gives in ,and he and Tammy turn around where Victor realizes Tammy was right all along.

Meanwhile, we see Kisha/Jen go take third place, without developing anything to the plot. I believe this is around the time Brad/Victoria arrive in Bucharest and Victoria complete the roadblock. Brad/Victoria move along to Brasov, hoping another team screwed up worse. Back at the pit stop, Margie/Luke arrive, and Phil tells them they are back in fourth place. Meanwhile, Mark/Michael and Jodie/Christie complete their detour, while Cara/Jamie are still struggling trying to figure out how to unlock the coffin. So, Mark/Michael and Jodi/Christie run for the mat. Phil tells Mark/Michael that they’ve receive fifth place, and Jodi/Christie made sixth place. Tammy/Victor get on the ball with their detour, and lose a key they easily find. Cara/Jamie finish, and Phil tells then they’ve received seventh place. Finally, Tammy/Victor finish, and are told they have bad news. They were second to last to arrive, but the good news was that they were not last, and were still in the race. Brad/Victoria arrive at the vampire detour at the turn on dusk, and when they finish, they are told they were indeed last, and have been eliminated from the race.

This leg had amazing tasks, once again, and showed some conflict. The only problem was seeing Brad/Victoria screwed from the beginning, and having edit not able to manipulate it. I would have to say that I really am still surprised about Mel/Mike, and Jodi/Christie are proving they can at least run a leg without a line of mistakes. Tammy/Victor, well, I don’t really have less respect for them, because it really probably is hard to race without someone of a different personality. Tammy is still a good racer, Victor just needs to prove he can listen to her. We didn’t hear about Kisha/Jen’s struggle with their conflict about their teamwork skills. As a matter f fact, we didn’t see very much of Kisha/Jen. I don’t remember what they did. I really love the tasks of Romania, they are really indigenous to Romania (Dracula, gymnastics, gypsies), a country I’d go to. One thing I’ve learned about TAR and flight choosing: Go with the flow, or go on the flight majority of the teams go on, if you can help it, of course. Margie/Luke are always nice, and I’m real curious to see what the other teams think of Luke. Luke seems to want to know. My obvious picks for the win are Margie/Luke or Tammy/Victor.