The Amazing Race 14 Insider, Episode 7: “You Say Phuket, I Say…”

You knew there had to be video of the racers saying Phuket totally wrong and Kisha (pictured at right with her sister Jen) doesn’t disappoint! Mel & Mike don’t hold back when it comes to what they think of how cutthroat the race is getting, but don’t worry, there’s plenty of Mel’s soft side here too. Special bonus this week is seeing the start of Phil’s bike ride across America!

Special Videos:

Spicy Redheads: This video is a special compilation clip showing us some of Cara & Jaime’s “highlights.” The clip mostly highlights Jaime’s inability to deal with foreign languages and her complete lack of patience. It’s quite a highlight reel, indicating Jaime’s managed to piss off most of the world while on the race! Cara’s reactions to nearly everything Jaime says are hilarious. What is most hilarious is that Jaime is fully aware of her behavior.

Phil Keoghan Rides Across America: In this clip we see Phil in Santa Monica, California as he begins his 40-day journey across the United States on a bicycle. A lot of fans are there to see him off, including Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner. We find out Phil’s riding to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis awareness which is a pretty awesome cause. Phil will be twittering and updating his Facebook profile during his journey. You can also follow his journey at the site,www.philridesacrossamerica.com. As of the night of April 9, he’s at Fairplay, Colorado. I’ve actually been through there myself, driving to Breckenridge from Colorado Springs. That’s gotta be some tough terrain, going through the Rockies at that altitude.

At the Pit Stop:

Mike and Mel on the Mat: Phil asks if Mel & Mike have any regrets. Mel wishes they were still in the race, but recognizes that their taxi driver was their main problem. Yet Mel doesn’t blame the taxi driver completely, and puts some of the blame on their team. Did Mel & Mike get everything they wanted to out of the race? Both are definitely happy with their experience and won’t forgot it. Particularly for Mel, the chance to spend this much time with his son was the best part, as he knows most fathers don’t get this kind of opportunity.

Phil asks about Mike’s acceptance of Mel’s lifestyle choices. Mel is proud of how Mike readily understood when Mel revealed he was gay. Additionally, Mel’s daughter and wife have been very supportive. Mel is thrilled to see Mike do so well in his life and career too, and he freely admits he’s vicariously living through Mike’s experiences. While Mel talks, Mike looks miserable.

When Phil asks about his glum demeanor, Mike admits it’s nice to hear Mel go on about him, but he wishes Mel would wrap it up. Phil gives Mike grief and asks if Mike is being a director now. Phil wonders what their family will think when they finally see this on TV. Mel knows it won’t be anything new to them, but watching the unique experiences will be the fun part for their family. Mike thinks their family will think they were lucky.

Overall, both Mel & Mike are excited to have had this journey. Mike was glad to see the world, which leads Mel to pontificate about the amazing nature of the world we live in and the futility of war and name-calling. Mel wishes that everyone in the world could see it from the perspective they’ve just had. The world is a special place.

All Tired Out: Out of breath at the Pit Stop, Cara & Jaime explain that carrying each other is like carrying their own body weight in the rickshaw – as they nearly weigh the same. They managed to not stop at all during that part of the challenge. That feat impresses the watching Tammy who reveals she could barely pull Victor for more than 45 seconds without having to stop.

Cara & Jaime say they tried to find the fishing task of the Detour first because they didn’t want to have to do all that running, but their cab driver couldn’t find it. Cara finally just begs Phil for no more running tasks. Jaime agrees and would like to do another Segway task like the one in Switzerland. Cara would be okay with a dance-your-way-to-the-Pit-Stop challenge, but enough with the running!

After the Race:

In Their Element: Cara & Jaime would take the heat and humidity of India and Thailand any day over the cold weather from the first five legs. Jaime says that they hadn’t acclimated themselves to high altitude and cold temperatures during their training for the race. Instead they had trained in the low, warm environment of Florida where they’re from. Cara thinks that they did so well in the Thailand leg precisely because of that.

Cara elaborates on this point. She heard about Margie passing out at the mat, and believes teams like her and Luke (from Colorado) or Tammy & Victor (from northern California) have a disadvantage here because they aren’t used to humidity like Cara & Jaime are. When they were cheering in South Florida, Cara & Jaime were performing for hours on end in the Dolphins stadium where it would be literally 120 degrees on the field. So they’re stoked to be in this warm, humid climate.

Feeling Confident: In this clip of Mark & Michael, Mark says he has always had an optimistic attitude. He never looked down on himself when participating in sports or in training, which he’s sure has led to his success in those fields. Mike finds that in addition to self-esteem, treating people nice has gotten him very far. He finds people respect him when he gives treats them well.

Secret of Their Success: In this clip, Jen explains that Kisha and she have finally realized they have to respect their differences. They know how to work well together when they need to do so. Jen knows that when they get annoyed at each other, some space and time apart helps to calm each of them down. Kisha agrees, saying they know how to put aside their differences when the situation dictates.

As for their relationship, Jen doesn’t think the race has impacted it negatively. They argue like this even when they’re at home. Kisha is glad to have this opportunity on the race to work closely with Jen as they don’t get the chance to do so in their real lives. It’s been the first time they can work together as a team.

Beyond Margie’s Expectations: Margie finds that she and Luke surprise each other every single day. They were convinced they were last heading to the Thai Pit Stop, but still gave it their all. She reflects that they’ve finished in first place twice and in fourth place four times. They’ve typically been in the front half of the pack during the race and she’s very proud of that. Margie also finds that she and Luke have improved their patience skills with each other. Things got a bit tense when they couldn’t find the Gorilla statue, but they managed to deal with it without flipping out on each other.

Mike & Mel’s Fond Memories: Mike found the race to be the coolest experience, but remarks that as the race wore on, everything got more intense. The other teams got more irritating, and Mike finds that while he’s bummed to not finish the race, he’s glad to leave the race while there still was a bit of fun to it.

As for his best memory, Mike says it was the experience of waiting for Mel to fly on the glider in the Swiss Alps and subsequently making it to the front of the pack. Mel has two favorite memories. The first was watching Mike bungee-jump off the dam in the first leg. The second memory was hearing Mike’s congratulations (“Dad, you really smoked ‘em”) after Mel zoomed by the other teams in the camel Roadblock.

Monkey Madness: In this clip, Tammy says she got frustrated not knowing how to find the destination. Every other leg they’ve had a chance to research and learn as much as possible about where they are going. This leg was totally backwards. Regardless, they fared well and plowed through this challenge in spite of the research they did do which only provided more confusion than answers. Victor was anxious heading to the zoo as their cab driver really didn’t know where he was going. Yet because Cara & Jaime and Margie & Luke were around them, at least they would all have been together if they were headed the wrong way.

Extra Race Footage:

Anyone But Her: In a cab, Mike recounts that Jaime cut in line at the airport yesterday. Jaime also yelled at the woman she cut in front of because the woman had the audacity to be annoyed at Jaime. At that moment, Mike decided he wanted anyone but her to win the race. As for Luke, Mike thinks he’d be an adorable guy outside the race, but in the confines of the race, Luke is stressed. Mike also finds Victor & Tammy to be cool, even if they’re ultra cutthroat in the race.

Many Ways to Win: Mike says that he and Mel manage to do things better by reading the clues and working smartly. Case in point was Mel’s dramatic victory of sorts at the camel Roadblock. Mike points out that there are many ways to win the race. Mel agrees and says they can enjoy the experience while still wanting to win. He sees that many others in the race are solely focused on winning the prize. Mike gets irritated by that behavior and recognizes its not their style. Reiterating his earlier point about enjoying the race, Mel is excited that five days ago they were in Siberia and here they are in Thailand!

The Great Unknown: Jen & Kisha are in their cab heading to the Pit Stop and Jen is notably relieved to have seen Mel & Mike at the fish Detour. It means Jen & Kisha aren’t last and that they are still in the game. Kisha had started to worry when no one else showed up at their Detour, so they really had no way to gauge where everyone else was. Knowing that they aren’t last is all that is important now. Jen is only worried about finishing first when it counts.

License to Ill: This clip finds Jen & Kisha in a taxi. As their taxi speeds along the highway, Jen has her face against Kisha’s shoulder. Kisha explains the rough roads are making Jen carsick. Jen admits when she’s in a car going this fast, but not doing the driving, it makes her sick. Also, no one drives like this in Kentucky! As Jen cranes her neck to feel some cool breeze, she exclaims how much she loves it. Kisha is just worried that Jen is about to puke on her shoulder.

You Say Phuket and I Say…: Jen & Kisha are in another cab heading to the airport in Jaipur. We all knew this was coming! Kisha is calling a travel agent to make reservations to Phuket. Of course she says it as if she were cursing, but it’s bleeped out on the video. Immediately she catches herself and tries making the ‘u’ sound a lot more ‘you’-ey. Finally, she ends up spelling Phuket on the phone while Jen laughs. Jen finds it pretty funny that Kisha just labeled a city ‘f**k it,’ and is not entirely convinced that’s not the right pronunciation. But she’s willing to roll with it all.

Elimination Station:

Mel & Mike Eliminated: We jump right into the action with none of the usual Thailand intro scenes. At the deck, Preston is complaining about how much his hands hurt. Jennifer tells him to stop picking at his band-aids which sets him off because he doesn’t want her telling him what to do. Jen glares at him and, in a private voiceover, she admits they haven’t been getting along very well at Elimination Station. Wait, it’s not such a private voiceover, as she’s saying this all in front of Preston. She also says that, because they’ve been together 24/7, they are getting on each other’s nerves. Preston is not amused.

Ah, here’s the Thai music and intro scenes! The producers fooled me. Anyway, everyone is sitting at the outside table and pondering who is about to show up next. Jodi & Christie base their guesses on what they observed right before leaving, and expect to see Mark & Mike or Cara & Jaime. Christie notices that those two teams are always clawing their way up, and Kris humorously remarks that “they’re always coming up short.” Ouch. Most at the table laugh, while Christie can’t believe he said that and Amanda agrees.

The van pulls in and everyone lines up on the lawn to receive whoever is arriving next. As the van door opens and everyone sees Mike & Mel, huge cries of surprise erupt. Hugs and welcomes are exchanged, but everyone quickly goes to the porch so Mel & Mike can catch everyone up. Mel points out that everyone remaining is now heavily focused on winning and are being ultra-cutthroat. Mike tells them about Luke’s happy response when finding out Kris & Amanda had been eliminated to illustrate that, while Luke is silent, he’s there to win.

Mel & Mike go off to their rooms to unpack. Mel tells us he doesn’t feel like a loser being there as it’s more of a transition back to real life. Mike isn’t buying that and says to Mel, “Whatever gets you through the night, Dad.”

The next day, the group heads into the van to go shopping at a local marketplace. Jodi tells us that they have about two hours to get their shopping done. Based on last year’s Elimination Station, I suppose that all future eliminated teams are not going to make it there. Maybe they’re getting ready to head to the final Pit Stop already? While checking out a purple purse, Jennifer gets grief from Preston about buying yet another purse. He reveals to us that he hates shopping with Jennifer, and thinks it’s probably worse than getting a spinal tap.

The final moments are intercut with Preston walking alone at the marketplace and us hearing how he’s not happy here. He needs his “little Preston time,” and without it he’s getting worked up. He just needs to go somewhere else.