Oct 14, 2011, Ep 3: Keeping it Together

The Amazing Race 19 Secret Scenes, Episode 3:  Keeping it Together

In this week’s set of secret scenes, watch as Kaylani & Lisa experience the highs of competition and the lows of getting eliminated with Lisa barely willing or able to console a sobbing Kaylani at the Pit Stop.  Laurence & Zac have discovered the best way to parent a child and Amani & Marcus show that they have endless amounts of support for each other.  Truly, it’s smiles all around for the remaining teams in this week’s videos, but which team has pledged to Phil that their days of mistakes are over?  Read on to find out.

Extra Race Footage

Featured Team:  Kaylani & Lisa

Kaylani & Lisa Are Dirty:  As Kaylani & Lisa head to the temple Detour in their taxi, Kaylani schools us on the difference between working in a rice field and working in a nightclub.  In the rice field, there’s dirt, heat, back strain from bending over, bugs, and disgusting dirty nails.  Although, besides the bugs, I bet they could lodge the same complaints about nightclubs!  Lisa is okay with the dirty nails though if it gets them a million dollars.  Kaylani asks Lisa to check if there’s mud on her face as her rice hat kept falling and she feels like there’s mud on her entire body now.

Featured Team:  Bill & Cathi

Bill & Cathi Are Humbled:  On the way to the rice fields in their taxi, Bill & Cathi discuss Ernie’s bad luck with his bicycle.  Bill observes that the race seems artfully designed to humble you as Ernie & Cindy left in fourth place while he & Cathi left seventh but now the rankings have drastically changed.  Bill tells us that they both regularly run triathlons, swim a few miles a week, and bicycle all the time.  They’re not the fastest runners anymore though so when Murphy (of Murphy’s Law) comes up and gets you (or them), you feel lucky if it benefits you and you’re still in the race.  They may have looked shaky in the bikes but they had lots of fun.

Featured Team:  Amani & Marcus

Amani & Marcus’ Lesson:  In their cab to the rice fields, Marcus tells us that they try to instill in their kids the lesson that it takes no courage to give up.  You need to keep fighting, even if it looks like the odds are stacked against you.  If you feel like quitting, that’s when you don’t give up so you can figure out how to overcome that hurdle.  Amani elaborates that once you start to quit on things, it becomes that much easier to continue doing so down the line.  Marcus says that the words “can’t” and “quit” aren’t tolerated at their house.  They want their kids to learn how to persevere.  Both Amani & Marcus each learned this value from their single-mom parents and they hope that their kids will pass it along to their children.  Amani explains that while they were raised by single moms, their dads were part of their lives and also had this never-say-die attitude.

Featured Team:  Liz & Marie

Liz & Marie’s Hearty Breakfast:  Liz explains that on the last leg, she didn’t sleep for over 24 hours and was utterly exhausted so they slept through dinner the previous night.  This morning though, they were both ravenous.  They ended up eating toast, two muffins, a Danish roll, a waffle, bacon, and some of a steak omelet.  Liz wisely reasons that she isn’t sure when she’ll eat next.  If they can avoid having to buy food, then she & Marie can try to eat as much for free and hope the hunger stays away.  They did notice that their bicycle outfits were really snug but neither want to speculate what that means.

Featured Team:  Liz & Marie

Twins Annoyed:  Marie tells us that she’s annoyed with Liz while they’re riding in their taxi.  Marie keeps noticing how far they seem to be going inland while Liz has a carefree attitude about it and has a feeling that everything is alright.  Liz claims it’s not just a feeling but also her observation that the taxi driver has asked multiple people and others on the radio.  Marie isn’t buying what she’s selling.  The taxi driver has told them he knows where he’s going now, but Marie points out that he’s said that three times already.  She rolls her eyes and then humorously mocks Liz’s “feelings” because of course Liz has been to Indonesia hundreds of times.  Liz isn’t dissuaded as neither of them know where anything is anyway.  Both laugh it off as the cab continues on its merry way.

Featured Team:  Justin & Jennifer

A Simple Way of Life:  As their taxi hurtles down the highway, Justin & Jennifer cringe as another taxi seems to come straight at them.  Nonplussed, Jennifer observes that life seems much simpler here and everyone has a smile on their face.  She reasons that you don’t need all the technology we have in the U.S. to have a happy life.  Justin agrees and thinks it’s a matter of perspective, as the Indonesians are working and getting what they need to get by.  All Jennifer knows is that there are plenty of babies, and you know what that means.  Ha!

At the Pit Stop

Featured Team: Kaylani & Lisa (last place)

An Emotional End:   As Phil tries to comfort Kaylani and calm her tears, all I can hear is this weird chirping noise.  Turns out that’s the sound of an elephant!  Anyway, Phil realizes Kaylani may be too emotional to talk so he asks Lisa what they are feeling at the moment.  She tells Phil that it’s just hard to deal with the ending of such an incredible journey and experience.  Unfortunately Lisa doesn’t have any words of comfort for Kaylani at the moment.  Phil suggests things she could say to the sobbing Kaylani, but Lisa is not having it and shakes her head.  I think she’s on the verge of tears herself, but her tears are probably more of frustration than Kaylani’s tears of sadness.

Kaylani admits that she misses her little girl so much, and she’s been thinking about her all day.  She describes her daughter and the fact that it’s not easy to raise her by herself.  Kaylani hoped to go further in the race in order to do something good for her daughter.  Now she feels like she failed her daughter, but Phil reassures her that her daughter won’t think that.  He’s certain her daughter will be proud of her and how hard they raced.  He thinks Lisa knows now what can be said to Kaylani to comfort her.

Lisa reassures Kaylani that they raced hard and gave it their all.  Phil reasons that her daughter will judge her not for winning the race but for having raced at all.  Phil asks Lisa to once again comfort Kaylani and Lisa listlessly repeats her earlier words of comfort.  It’s obvious Lisa isn’t any mood to give a weepy Kaylani more than necessary.  Phil reminds them both that they are very privileged to have even raced at all (truth!) and it’s important to remember the positives.  

Featured Team:  Liz & Marie (eighth place)

Twins Barely Scrape By:  Marie tells Phil about her experience doing the Roadblock and the fact that after settling up with the cab, they came back through the temple and saw no one around.  They were both sure they were last.  Marie also explains the frustration of figuring out the Roadblock’s true objectives of counting each Buddha pose separately.  Phil asks Liz how it was watching Marie during the Roadblock and she admits she understands how it felt when the roles were reversed.

Phil asks how they determined who was going to do this leg’s Roadblock.  Liz knew it was going to involve memory and admits after her terrible performance at the Confucius Roadblock, Marie had to do it.  Marie readily stepped up to do it as she didn’t want a repeat of Liz’s awful performance.  That gets a chuckle out of Phil and Marie reasons let’s try both of their brains out and see if one works better than the other!  Phil points out that they just made it.  Both Liz & Marie agree and figured they’d have placed higher but then the cab situation came crashing down on them.  They’re still all smiles though as they are still in the race.

Featured Team:  Amani & Marcus (sixth place)

Amani & Marcus Don’t Give Up:  Marcus talks Amani up to Phil and explains that she is someone who will never quit as it’s just not in her.  Marcus’ football training has prepared him mentally to push through the pain and the exhaustion, but Amani hasn’t had that.  So to see her go to work in these conditions is unbelievable and incredible.  Amani has similar praise for Marcus, as he kept the team going in the Roadblock.  She was sure that it would be her challenge to do, but after running to and up the temple, she was completely exhausted.  They knew they were in last place and he stepped up as there wasn’t time to recuperate.  He methodically got through the challenge and they ended up in sixth place.

Amani credits their success in this leg to Marcus’ patience as well.  She tells Phil it’s not one of his stronger traits and they’re working on it.  But today, Marcus has learned how to channel his frustration at being powerless, especially in taxis, and figured out how to keep from directing his anger unnecessarily.  Amani is proud of their ability to dig deep and get things done.  She’s happy that she can be a good teammate to her football husband and not let him down.  

Featured Teams:  Justin & Jennifer, Ernie & Cindy (fourth & fifth place, respectively)

Siblings Work Better Together:  Justin ecstatically tells Phil that he & Jennifer got along the best they have all race on this leg.  Phil can’t believe it as just yesterday it seemed they were both ready to leave.  Jennifer won’t leave until Phil makes them as they’ll probably continue fighting but that doesn’t mean that’s the end of them.  While Justin goes on about their support for each other during the challenges this leg, you can see Ernie & Cindy cracking up over something they see in Justin’s general direction.  Alas, that mystery doesn’t get solved as the video ends but now I wanna know!

Featured Team:  Laurence & Zac (second place)

Laurence & Zac Compare Adventures:  Phil asks Zac what he thinks of the race as an adventure especially compared to the adventures he’s already taken.  Zac describes it as “speed-adventuring” as he’s been to some of these places already but never like they are doing it now.  Phil wonders if they’ve spent time together like this, just them in a 24/7 manner.  Laurence explains that they’ve had plenty of night-runs from Ensenada to San Francisco and that Zac has handled responsibilities at his young age that many men of any age never have.  That really didn’t answer the question, so Phil rephrases his original question.  Zac pipes in that they’ve definitely had one-on-one time on some of their 50-foot boats and persevered through difficulties and challenges.  That experience has paid off during the race.

Laurence tells Phil that the mindset has to be about pulling together in the same direction.  If you’re in a scary or stressful situation, it’s essential to learn how to pull each other to that common goal.   Laurence laments that fathers nowadays give presents and let their children get lost in the Internet when they should be working side-by-side and teaching responsibility.  Phil asks what Laurence what say to dads who don’t have that opportunity to spend lots of one-on-one time together with their children.  He tells Phil that kids spell love as t-i-m-e.  Buying things is great, but you have to spend time with your children to really make a positive impact.  

Featured Team:  Andy & Tommy (first place)

Andy & Tommy on Top:  Andy & Tommy are fine with winning but they think the win truly belongs to Laurence & Zac, who are still sitting out their time penalty off to the side.  Phil is curious if they feel that way because Laurence & Zac helped them at the Roadblock.  Tommy admits that’s the case as he worked with Laurence to count the buddhas and it was Laurence who was the key to getting the right answer.

Phil tells them that if they want, they can speak to Laurence & Zac.  Andy shouts to them that this was really their win and they’re apologetic about what happened.  If they ever need snowboarding gear, Andy & Tommy pledge to hook them up.  Phil calls over and jokingly says that Andy & Tommy are going to win the race and give a bit of their winnings to them.  Tommy chuckles a little and Andy promises that they will always have a place to stay in Lake Tahoe.  

After the Race

Featured Team:  Jeremy & Sandy

Jeremy & Sandy’s Reversal of Fortune:  Jeremy tells us that he knew their cab was having mechanical problems when trying to drive through the train.  It was obvious that the car was losing power and had something majorly wrong.  If they had seen another taxi on their way in, he would have had their drive stop so they could change taxis.  But they never saw a single taxi from the time they left the rice field to arriving at the temple.  Luckily where the taxi finally broke down, he & Sandy were close enough that they could go on foot.  Jeremy knows they were second-to-last getting to the temple too.

Sandy wishes she had done the Temple Roadblock as she prefers the puzzle challenges and Jeremy is more suited towards physical challenges.  She was so exhausted after the run that she wasn’t able to take it on and just couldn’t function.  Sandy was nervous while Jeremy did the task but finally relaxed after seeing he was working in the team of four and they weren’t going to have to settle up with a taxi.  When Jeremy was the last of the team to complete the Roadblock, Sandy ran to him with their stuff and had him follow her as he had no clue what all the other teams were having to do.  She was able to clue him in to their good fortune and they got to the Pit Stop in third place.  

Featured Team:  Laurence & Zac

Laurence & Zac’s Difficult Lesson:  Laurence lets us know that they have the letters RTC written on their hand which stands for Read The Clue (maybe RTFC would motivate them more?).  They just need to actually read the clue.  Zac admits that reading benefited their team greatly in the last leg with the orphanage but this time, the opposite happened and they were bumped down a rank.  Now that they’ve seen both sides of the situation, they plan on learning from their mistakes for future legs.  Laurence tells us they also write PMA on their hands for Positive Mental Attitude (didn’t Kent & Vyxsin do that last season too?).  Zac explains that in the race as well as in sailing, there’s no time to let a bad mood get in the way of success.

Featured Team:  Kaylani & Lisa

Kaylani & Lisa Reflect:  Kaylani tells us that this loss has not changed her & Lisa’s friendship at all.  This adventure may lead to more shared travels in the future, maybe even another shot at the Amazing Race.  Lisa thinks they’ve learned a lot about each other as high-stress situations bring out aspects in people that you don’t normally get to see.  She thinks that if anything, they’ll be closer friends now.  In tears now, Kaylani tells us that she loves Lisa because she’s always been a good friend to her beyond just the race.  Lisa continues the love fest and explains that Kaylani brings out the best in her as she can sometimes be not the nicest person.  They’ll always be able to remember this experience and think about the good times they had during the race.

Featured Team:  Ernie & Cindy

Cindy’s New Respect:  Cindy has more respect for the rice field workers as she can’t imagine being in that heat and mud while also having to carry the water, sheep and bags of grass.  Ernie bets there has to be tricks of the trade to do that job smartly because the sheep were not responsive to them at all.  He was even bribing the sheep with leaves to get them to move.

Hobie Barnes lives in Santa Monica, California after enjoying the hectic Manhattan life for 3 or so years.  He just got back from traveling in Turkey, Italy & Greece and can’t wait to see if the places he visited end up on this season of the race.  When not busy fighting the 405 and 101 freeways on the commute to Burbank, he is patiently waiting for an Amazing Race or Survivor scout to cast him!  He can be reached at <a href=”mailto:hobiewan76@gmail.com”>hobiewan76@gmail.com</a>.

 

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