Key:
Surfers = Tyler & Nathan
Father/son = Jeff & Luke
Models = Sam & Renae
Farmers = Matt & Tom
Wow, I can’t believe that only four teams remain! The surfers, the models, the farmers and the father/son team! I still think this race is turning into a stereotypical American season with the frat boys, the models and the family team all making it to the final legs, with my prediction being that the farmers are eliminated this time around. It would throw a spanner in the works, in my opinion, if someone else is eliminated; so let’s find out!
We begin the episode in Masada, the location of the last pitstop in Israel. During the pit stop rest period, the contestants record a message for home which they will have to take with them on the next leg. Will this play an important roll? We’ll find out.
The farmers depart first at 6.31am to King Herod’s Winter Palace which they will travel to via cable car. There, they much search the ruins for their next clue. They rush for the cable car, hoping to extend their lead.
The father/son team leave at 7.15am in second place knowing the room for error is narrowing down.
The farmers are first of course, to the ruins and search for the clue. Jeff & Luke arrive at the palace with Jeff stunned at being in King Herrod’s Palace. The farmers find the clue which takes them to Qumran where they must find their next clue. These are all historic places, so I’m guessing this is just a ploy for the producers to show us, the viewers, some amazing sites and fill up the destination quota a bit!
Tyler and Nathan leave in third place at 7.56am to King Herrod’s Palace. They quickly make it to the cable car and are on the way up. The father/son duo is spending a lot of time looking for this clue, seemingly trying to bond with each other. They find the clue and are off to Qumran, the location of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The farmers reach a border crossing into West Bank which I’ve heard was quite dangerous! Meanwhile, the father/son helps out the surfers in getting their clue by providing them a map. Does it work? Well, they seem to spend a bit of time finding it!
Meanwhile, the farmers arrive at the next clue box to find a roadblock! Here, one team member must decipher a Hebrew scroll. The message is written in Hebrew style from right to left and after deciphering it properly, they will be awarded the next clue.
The farmers think it will be a hard challenge, but remember that the Hebrew’s write right to left; which I thought they would have forgotten.
The models finally leave in last place at 8.28am for the first clue in the ruins. They are the last female’s standing right now!
The farmers are now working on their deciphering with Tom sitting down and calmly working on it and considering he LOVES deciphering puzzles, they should do well.
The surfers find their clue and are off to the Dead Sea Scrolls! They ask a few people where they are meant to go and they are off.
Matt is sleeping as Tom continues to work on the puzzle, finding shouting out to Tom may not be productive.
The models are fired up and ready to catch the boys but as they find their clue, the farmers finish their challenge and get a clue that takes them to Israel’s capital; Jerusalem (that’s debateable). They must now take their personal messages to home to the central post office to get their next clue.
The models find their clue finally, and now try to catch up. They are not happy with all the walking however. They are off to the Dead Sea scrolls with the others.
The father/son team find their clue at the DSS and start their roadblock, but not before Luke gets annoyed at Jeff’s tendency to slow them down!
Jeff begins on his deciphering however he finds it complex.
Matt & Tom arrive in Jerusalem and their cab driver takes them to a post office however, not the right one! The post office worker points the cab in the right direction and race for Jaffa Street.
The surfers arrive at the roadblock and soon overtake Jeff who unlike Nathan finds it difficult. Jeff goes over to a bewildered Nathan for help as Nathan realises he has gotten heaps of letters wrong and hasn’t been reading it from right to left! Nathan is now annoyed that Jeff won’t go away as he ‘steals’ answers off of Nathan.
The models are on their way to the scrolls as Jeff & Nathan continue to ‘collaborate’ on the puzzle with Nathan complaining that Jeff is slowing him down by getting the wrong letters and enforcing them as correct!
The farmers are just cruising along now, and find someone eating a bagel with one of them wondering ‘what it does’- haha. They find the post office and post their letter, receiving a clue for a detour.
They can choose between Pilgrim’s Trail and Holy Grail. In Pilgrim’s trail, contestants must make their way to Old Jerusalem, collect an 80kg cross, and carry it through the Via Dolorosa; a Christian path crossing the eight Stations of the Cross, to the site where Jesus was said to be crucified.
In Holy Grail, teams must make their way to the Western Wall of the old city, and walk through an active archaeological dig and unearth a clay pot, take it to the City of David (a winding tunnel labyrinth of aqueducts) and deliver it to a man.
The farmers decide to do PG (Pilgrim’s Trail) while the father/son team guesses the wrong code!
The surfers have therefore also got it wrong and Nathan fixes it with Jeff just copying him. The two get their clue and are both off to Jerusalem.
In their cabs, Jeff is quite complimentary to the surfers as in the other car; Nathan scolds them for being ignorant, even asking the cab driver to pass their car.
The models arrive at the roadblock and Sam I think trips over before they begin the task. Meanwhile, the farmers arrive at the start of the PG and begin their detour. They find the cross heavy, but they begin anyway.
The father/son team get to the PO first to the chagrin of the surfers. Both teams are off to complete PG.
The girls meanwhile are still working on their clue with Sam quickly getting their clue and are quickly off to the PO in Jerusalem. They have covered a lot of ground with Sam surprised that Renae had enough time to shave her legs.
The farmers are well into their challenge, funnily commenting on Jesus’ travel through the ‘exact’ path.
They put the cross down a couple of time with the weight getting the better of them. The father/son team and the surfers begin their PG task together and are going quite well with Jeff calling it a ‘butterfly on his shoulders’.
With added competition, the farmers speed up but seem to miss a few stations and are now very lost! They may have to start again!
Sam & Renae meanwhile deliver their letter and become the first team to choose Holy Grail (HG) as their detour challenge.
The farmers finish their PG challenge and get a clue taking them to Ramparts Walk where they must follow the Walk to their next clue!
The surfers are struggling with the weight of the cross but are just in front of the father/son team. They have no idea where they are going however as they didn’t take their clue. They incorrectly identify VI as the ‘fourth’ station (actually 6) before looking for station nine! What is going on?
The models meanwhile begin digging for their vase as the father/son team continue to struggle with their challenge, somehow recognising the struggle Jesus went through.
With so many obstacles, the surfers seem to increase their distance from the slow father/son duo as the farmers try to look for the Walk.
The models find their pot and are now on their way to the architect man through the tunnel labyrinth.
The surfers can’t find the finish line of the path, going up stairs at one point. They have NO idea, getting completely lost, walking up and down more and more stairs! Oh dear, without the clue, they can’t find their way at all.
They begin to bicker as they try to get back on track however the father/son team find it easy to follow the path with all the pilgrims and cobbled streets. They find their clue and are off in second place.
The models get a bit of help to find their way to the City of David, particularly from men. Meanwhile, the surfers are still trying to find their way to the end of the course and after a while, do end up finding it, making their way to the Walk.
The girls find their way to the tunnels and now much travel through the claustrophobic tunnels. They find it cool, but Renae doesn’t like it much.
They find their clue and jet off in last place. Meanwhile, the farmers are still trying to find the walk with no one of much help with directions but after a while, the find it.
The father/son find the Wailing Wall and Jeff gets Luke to stop for a bit to look at it. While they both like to try to take it in, Luke is a bit annoyed at stopping in the middle of a race!
The surfers are still trying to find their way to the walk but they get some pretty shifty directions. Meanwhile, the farmers find their clue which takes them to the next pit stop in the Aish HaTorah World Centre.
The father/son team is next to scale the wall and go to the pit stop. The farmers meanwhile see the flags but don’t know how to get to them.
It is a race between them and the father/son team for first place but in the end, the farmers make it in first place again, trouncing my prediction.
Luke and Jeff make it in as team number two and it is now down to the surfers and the models. The surfers are now lost as the models are nowhere to be seen.
Sam & Renae make it to the wall and may make it in third place but can’t make it to the right entrance. The surfers however can’t find their way at all, so the models may not have to worry much.
They become quite frustrated with each other and begin to argue.
The surfers find the clue with the models finding it in last place (how that happened I have no idea) but now the models are racing up in a race against the surfers.
The surfers make it first in third place with quite a bit of time to spare, leaving the models in last place with a good chance of going home.
When they arrive, the girls find out they are NOT eliminated! What, so far into the race?! So my prediction remains in tact and the farmers could still be eliminated in fourth place!
So while I’m not too happy with a bloody non elimination leg this far into the race, it was still a compelling episode with a lot of running around and awesome challenges. To me however, there were too many clues just leading them to a new location with a new clue box and it makes me feel like the producers are losing their knack. But still, next week, they all head for Sri Lanka on their way home where three will make it to the finale the week after! Here they come Australia!
Courtney’s Verdict: 8.0/10
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