Post by bbfanatik on May 8, 2007 8:35:18 GMT -5
QUEEN OF THE AIRPORT
Departing the Pit Stop in first place at 11:53am, beauty queens Dustin & Kandice opened their clue to discover they had to fly over 3,800 miles to Honolulu, Hawaii and make their way to the Kamaka Air Hangar and sign up for one of three helicopter flights en route to the island of Lanai.
Arriving at the airport, the beauty queens quickly booked a flight on Northwest departing at 3:50pm, connecting through Tokyo, and landing in Honolulu at 7:40am. When dating couple Eric & Danielle showed up, the 3:50pm flight had already been fully booked. However, the Northwest agent told the relieved couple that the 4:20pm flight would connect to the same plane in Tokyo scheduled to land in Hawaii at 7:40am. Arriving last at the airport, cousins Charla & Mirna also booked tickets on the 4:20pm flight with Eric & Danielle.
Landing in Tokyo, Dustin & Kandice strolled to the gate where they would connect to the Northwest flight landing at 7:40am with the other Teams. When the second flight landed, Eric & Danielle joined the beauty queens at the gate, but Charla & Mirna simply vanished confusing the other two Teams. Mirna once again upheld her reputation as a strong airport strategist by noticing a United flight on the departures board that would land at 7:00am, 40 minutes earlier. After some begging and pleading, the cousins snuck onto the flight as the befuddled beauty queens and Eric & Danielle, now 40 minutes behind, wondered why the cousins weren't on their flight.
Touching down in Honolulu, cousins Charla & Mirna took a taxi to Kamaka Air Hangar to secure the first helicopter flight to Lanai leaving at 9:00am. After a taxi race to the hangar, Eric & Danielle edged out Dustin & Kandice for the 9:10am helicopter flight while the disappointed beauty queens settled for a 9:20 departure. When Eric & Danielle questioned Charla & Mirna on how they got to Hawaii before them, the cousins played coy insisted they took the same flight. Mirna joked, "You want me to tell you the stewardess, what they looked like?"
RIDING THE WAVES
When the cousins landed on the island of Lanai, the plucky duo drove three miles to Kamalapau's Harbor and opened their clue to find the last Detour of the Race having to choose between Under and Over. In Under, Teams needed to take a boat to an underwater cave and swim under the rocks where their next clue would be waiting for them. In Over, Teams had to take a boat to an inlet where both Team members needed to stand and paddle themselves on a paddleboard to a buoy to retrieve their next clue.
Making the decision to hop up on paddleboards, Charla discovered that her low center of gravity made the task significantly easier for her than her taller cousin, Mirna. As Mirna struggled to maintain her balance on the paddleboard, Charla offered the advice to keep low on the board. A frustrated Mirna soon began to gain her balance and began paddling trying to make up ground on her cousin ahead.
Seeing Mirna's troubles on the paddleboard, dating couple Eric & Danielle switched tasks and chose to swim into the underwater cave even with Eric's phobia of sharks. As the couple reached the cave for their underwater swim, the cousins finished paddling to the buoy and discovered they needed to drive through the lush Lanai landscape to Shipwreck Beach, named for the beached World War II Liberty Class cargo ship looming off its shores. Once there, Teams had to trek one mile up the beach to find their next clue.
After Eric & Danielle made it back to shore, beauty queens Dustin & Kandice took their turn swimming to the underground cave. At the cave's entrance, Dustin began to panic at the prospect of diving under in the strong ocean current. She later commented, "To try to time swimming under this cave with the current so that you could actually get under and not be crushed against the rock was intimidating. I was gasping for air. I just wanted to survive at that point." Dustin survived her scare as she and Kandice grabbed the clue and made it back to shore still in last place.
KRAZY KAYAKS
Arriving at Shipwreck Beach, Charla & Mirna began trekking along the coast as Eric & Danielle and Dustin & Kandice converged on the beach and closed in on the cousins. Passing Charla & Mirna, Eric & Danielle arrived at the cluebox to discover they had to choose a kayak and paddle out to the shipwreck where a buoy held their next clue.
Only moments apart, the three Teams took to their kayaks with Eric & Danielle in the lead, Dustin & Kandice in second, and the cousins now in last place. They all quickly realized how daunting paddling against the incoming waves was as the Teams inched closer to the shipwreck. Eric & Danielle reached the buoy first and grabbed the clue while Dustin insisted Kandice jump out of the kayak and walk it with her. Kandice complied but then ordered Dustin back in the kayak because she feared cutting her legs on the rocks. After capsizing, the beauty queens muscled ahead and finally reached the buoy.
On the shore, Eric & Danielle learned that they needed to fly over 2,300 miles to the final destination city of San Francisco and make their way to the Old Mint. As the dating couple headed back to their helicopter, Dustin & Kandice arrived on shore in silence after their disagreement on how to kayak. In the car, Kandice spoke up accusing Dustin of being a bad teammate in the situation. A teary Dustin responded, "You're saying a lot of hurtful stuff right now. The fun of this Race is doing it with you. I'd rather not do it if it's like this." The pair eventually reconciled as Kandice said, "I'm not going to drag this out any longer. We have a race to run sister."
Arriving at the Honolulu Airport, Eric & Danielle booked the earliest available flight on ATA to Oakland departing at 11:55pm and landing at 6:57am. Right on the tail of the dating couple, the beauty queens bought tickets on the same flight and soon the cousins joined Dustin & Kandice and Eric & Danielle as all three Teams now prepared for the final face off in San Francisco. Dustin noted, "In not that long, one of these Teams lives are going to change and it's just like who's it going to be?"
CRACK THE CODE
Landing in Oakland, Dustin & Kandice took the early lead over Eric & Danielle in a tight taxi race to the Old Mint. A fork in the road gave the beauty queens the advantage as their driver took the right path allowing the beauty queens to run into the mint ahead of the dating couple. Opening their clue, Dustin & Kandice found a final task testing how well each teammate knows the other. One Team member had to enter the vault assigned to their Team and answer the four questions displayed on the wall: In the opinion of your Team, which other Team is the least trustworthy, has the best sense of humor, is the most overrated, and is the one you most want to stay in touch with? Their answer would create a four-digit combination code corresponding to the Teams chosen for each question that they then had to program into the provided safe locking the clue inside. After leaving the vault, their partner would enter the vault and have ten minutes to match their teammate's answers to the same questions. If they were successful, the safe would open and they could leave immediately. If they failed, they had to continue trying until the ten minutes expired.
Dustin ran into her marked vault and began reading the four questions as Eric stepped into his vault moments behind her. Dustin selected Rob & Amber as the least trustworthy while Eric chose Oswald & Danny. Dustin believed Uchenna & Joyce possessed the best sense of humor while Eric chose Charla & Mirna. Both racers agreed that Rob & Amber were the most overrated Team and that they would stay in touch with Uchenna & Joyce. However, before leaving the vault, Dustin made one change choosing life partners Joe & Bill as the least trustworthy. When Mirna entered the vault, she chose Rob & Amber as the least trustworthy and most overrated, Kevin & Drew with the best sense of humor, and John Vito & Jill as the Team to stay in touch with.
With the pressure on, Danielle, Kandice, and Charla entered their respective vaults and began contemplating the questions separating them from one million dollars. Each took a crack at their safes and came up empty handed on their first two tries. Danielle got hung up on the question of trustworthiness and changed her answer to Oswald & Danny while Kandice incorrectly guessed Kevin & Drew. This change gave Danielle the magic combination of 8947 that opened the safe to give her the clue. Opening it with Eric, the dating couple received final instructions to take a taxi to the Botanical Gardens and cross the finish line.
Eric & Danielle hopped into a taxi with the stakes higher than ever as Kandice left the vault two minutes later having not figured out the combination and Charla leaving only seconds after the beauty queens. With all three Teams within striking distance to win the prize, each hoped their taxi driver knew the shortest route. A nervous Danielle said, "This would be the biggest win of my life." Kandice insisted to the taxi driver, "This is worth a million dollars literally." Eric sweated at each red light fearing that the beauty queens could pass them at any moment. The beauty queens hoped the green lights they kept hitting would be enough to vault them to the big prize.
THE WINNERS
As the eliminated Teams looked on and cheered with excitement, dating couple Eric & Danielle ran through the grounds of the Botanical Gardens and crossed the finish line to win the million dollar prize awarded by Phil. A thrilled Eric said, "I'm so happy to be here with Danielle. From when I went through last time, coming in second, so close, to be in first is just unbelievable." Danielle joked, "I got into the best shape being on this Race with Eric. He kicked my butt. The Race kicked my butt, but I'm so happy to be here."
After arriving at the finish line in second place, the highest ever finish for an all-female Team, beauty queens Dustin & Kandice graciously accepted defeat. Dustin remarked, "I'm just so proud to say the places I've been, the pictures I have in my mind. That is worth so much to me. I'll take that with me wherever I go." Kandice added, "My grandmother always told me reach for the moon and at the very least you're gonna hit the stars. I'm very thankful for the experience and for Dustin, and THE AMAZING RACE."
The tenacious, fiery cousins Charla & Mirna settled for third place and reflected fondly on their experience. Charla said, "Mirna knew our abilities and I'm proud for everything we did together on this Race and we played it with every ounce of energy we had." Mirna added, "Charla has overcome so many obstacles on this Race. We persevered to the very last leg. It was really wonderful to break all stereotypes, not just about physical abilities, but also what people thought of us. I really felt like so many people got to know the real Charla & Mirna."
The winners also took a moment to reflect on their life changing victory. Eric said, "I'm really proud of Danielle. She did a great, great job. She knew the role she had to play for this Race. She couldn't have done anything better than she did." Danielle added, "I won AMAZING RACE ALL-STARS. I definitely know I can do anything I want to do and that's what this Race taught me."
Departing the Pit Stop in first place at 11:53am, beauty queens Dustin & Kandice opened their clue to discover they had to fly over 3,800 miles to Honolulu, Hawaii and make their way to the Kamaka Air Hangar and sign up for one of three helicopter flights en route to the island of Lanai.
Arriving at the airport, the beauty queens quickly booked a flight on Northwest departing at 3:50pm, connecting through Tokyo, and landing in Honolulu at 7:40am. When dating couple Eric & Danielle showed up, the 3:50pm flight had already been fully booked. However, the Northwest agent told the relieved couple that the 4:20pm flight would connect to the same plane in Tokyo scheduled to land in Hawaii at 7:40am. Arriving last at the airport, cousins Charla & Mirna also booked tickets on the 4:20pm flight with Eric & Danielle.
Landing in Tokyo, Dustin & Kandice strolled to the gate where they would connect to the Northwest flight landing at 7:40am with the other Teams. When the second flight landed, Eric & Danielle joined the beauty queens at the gate, but Charla & Mirna simply vanished confusing the other two Teams. Mirna once again upheld her reputation as a strong airport strategist by noticing a United flight on the departures board that would land at 7:00am, 40 minutes earlier. After some begging and pleading, the cousins snuck onto the flight as the befuddled beauty queens and Eric & Danielle, now 40 minutes behind, wondered why the cousins weren't on their flight.
Touching down in Honolulu, cousins Charla & Mirna took a taxi to Kamaka Air Hangar to secure the first helicopter flight to Lanai leaving at 9:00am. After a taxi race to the hangar, Eric & Danielle edged out Dustin & Kandice for the 9:10am helicopter flight while the disappointed beauty queens settled for a 9:20 departure. When Eric & Danielle questioned Charla & Mirna on how they got to Hawaii before them, the cousins played coy insisted they took the same flight. Mirna joked, "You want me to tell you the stewardess, what they looked like?"
RIDING THE WAVES
When the cousins landed on the island of Lanai, the plucky duo drove three miles to Kamalapau's Harbor and opened their clue to find the last Detour of the Race having to choose between Under and Over. In Under, Teams needed to take a boat to an underwater cave and swim under the rocks where their next clue would be waiting for them. In Over, Teams had to take a boat to an inlet where both Team members needed to stand and paddle themselves on a paddleboard to a buoy to retrieve their next clue.
Making the decision to hop up on paddleboards, Charla discovered that her low center of gravity made the task significantly easier for her than her taller cousin, Mirna. As Mirna struggled to maintain her balance on the paddleboard, Charla offered the advice to keep low on the board. A frustrated Mirna soon began to gain her balance and began paddling trying to make up ground on her cousin ahead.
Seeing Mirna's troubles on the paddleboard, dating couple Eric & Danielle switched tasks and chose to swim into the underwater cave even with Eric's phobia of sharks. As the couple reached the cave for their underwater swim, the cousins finished paddling to the buoy and discovered they needed to drive through the lush Lanai landscape to Shipwreck Beach, named for the beached World War II Liberty Class cargo ship looming off its shores. Once there, Teams had to trek one mile up the beach to find their next clue.
After Eric & Danielle made it back to shore, beauty queens Dustin & Kandice took their turn swimming to the underground cave. At the cave's entrance, Dustin began to panic at the prospect of diving under in the strong ocean current. She later commented, "To try to time swimming under this cave with the current so that you could actually get under and not be crushed against the rock was intimidating. I was gasping for air. I just wanted to survive at that point." Dustin survived her scare as she and Kandice grabbed the clue and made it back to shore still in last place.
KRAZY KAYAKS
Arriving at Shipwreck Beach, Charla & Mirna began trekking along the coast as Eric & Danielle and Dustin & Kandice converged on the beach and closed in on the cousins. Passing Charla & Mirna, Eric & Danielle arrived at the cluebox to discover they had to choose a kayak and paddle out to the shipwreck where a buoy held their next clue.
Only moments apart, the three Teams took to their kayaks with Eric & Danielle in the lead, Dustin & Kandice in second, and the cousins now in last place. They all quickly realized how daunting paddling against the incoming waves was as the Teams inched closer to the shipwreck. Eric & Danielle reached the buoy first and grabbed the clue while Dustin insisted Kandice jump out of the kayak and walk it with her. Kandice complied but then ordered Dustin back in the kayak because she feared cutting her legs on the rocks. After capsizing, the beauty queens muscled ahead and finally reached the buoy.
On the shore, Eric & Danielle learned that they needed to fly over 2,300 miles to the final destination city of San Francisco and make their way to the Old Mint. As the dating couple headed back to their helicopter, Dustin & Kandice arrived on shore in silence after their disagreement on how to kayak. In the car, Kandice spoke up accusing Dustin of being a bad teammate in the situation. A teary Dustin responded, "You're saying a lot of hurtful stuff right now. The fun of this Race is doing it with you. I'd rather not do it if it's like this." The pair eventually reconciled as Kandice said, "I'm not going to drag this out any longer. We have a race to run sister."
Arriving at the Honolulu Airport, Eric & Danielle booked the earliest available flight on ATA to Oakland departing at 11:55pm and landing at 6:57am. Right on the tail of the dating couple, the beauty queens bought tickets on the same flight and soon the cousins joined Dustin & Kandice and Eric & Danielle as all three Teams now prepared for the final face off in San Francisco. Dustin noted, "In not that long, one of these Teams lives are going to change and it's just like who's it going to be?"
CRACK THE CODE
Landing in Oakland, Dustin & Kandice took the early lead over Eric & Danielle in a tight taxi race to the Old Mint. A fork in the road gave the beauty queens the advantage as their driver took the right path allowing the beauty queens to run into the mint ahead of the dating couple. Opening their clue, Dustin & Kandice found a final task testing how well each teammate knows the other. One Team member had to enter the vault assigned to their Team and answer the four questions displayed on the wall: In the opinion of your Team, which other Team is the least trustworthy, has the best sense of humor, is the most overrated, and is the one you most want to stay in touch with? Their answer would create a four-digit combination code corresponding to the Teams chosen for each question that they then had to program into the provided safe locking the clue inside. After leaving the vault, their partner would enter the vault and have ten minutes to match their teammate's answers to the same questions. If they were successful, the safe would open and they could leave immediately. If they failed, they had to continue trying until the ten minutes expired.
Dustin ran into her marked vault and began reading the four questions as Eric stepped into his vault moments behind her. Dustin selected Rob & Amber as the least trustworthy while Eric chose Oswald & Danny. Dustin believed Uchenna & Joyce possessed the best sense of humor while Eric chose Charla & Mirna. Both racers agreed that Rob & Amber were the most overrated Team and that they would stay in touch with Uchenna & Joyce. However, before leaving the vault, Dustin made one change choosing life partners Joe & Bill as the least trustworthy. When Mirna entered the vault, she chose Rob & Amber as the least trustworthy and most overrated, Kevin & Drew with the best sense of humor, and John Vito & Jill as the Team to stay in touch with.
With the pressure on, Danielle, Kandice, and Charla entered their respective vaults and began contemplating the questions separating them from one million dollars. Each took a crack at their safes and came up empty handed on their first two tries. Danielle got hung up on the question of trustworthiness and changed her answer to Oswald & Danny while Kandice incorrectly guessed Kevin & Drew. This change gave Danielle the magic combination of 8947 that opened the safe to give her the clue. Opening it with Eric, the dating couple received final instructions to take a taxi to the Botanical Gardens and cross the finish line.
Eric & Danielle hopped into a taxi with the stakes higher than ever as Kandice left the vault two minutes later having not figured out the combination and Charla leaving only seconds after the beauty queens. With all three Teams within striking distance to win the prize, each hoped their taxi driver knew the shortest route. A nervous Danielle said, "This would be the biggest win of my life." Kandice insisted to the taxi driver, "This is worth a million dollars literally." Eric sweated at each red light fearing that the beauty queens could pass them at any moment. The beauty queens hoped the green lights they kept hitting would be enough to vault them to the big prize.
THE WINNERS
As the eliminated Teams looked on and cheered with excitement, dating couple Eric & Danielle ran through the grounds of the Botanical Gardens and crossed the finish line to win the million dollar prize awarded by Phil. A thrilled Eric said, "I'm so happy to be here with Danielle. From when I went through last time, coming in second, so close, to be in first is just unbelievable." Danielle joked, "I got into the best shape being on this Race with Eric. He kicked my butt. The Race kicked my butt, but I'm so happy to be here."
After arriving at the finish line in second place, the highest ever finish for an all-female Team, beauty queens Dustin & Kandice graciously accepted defeat. Dustin remarked, "I'm just so proud to say the places I've been, the pictures I have in my mind. That is worth so much to me. I'll take that with me wherever I go." Kandice added, "My grandmother always told me reach for the moon and at the very least you're gonna hit the stars. I'm very thankful for the experience and for Dustin, and THE AMAZING RACE."
The tenacious, fiery cousins Charla & Mirna settled for third place and reflected fondly on their experience. Charla said, "Mirna knew our abilities and I'm proud for everything we did together on this Race and we played it with every ounce of energy we had." Mirna added, "Charla has overcome so many obstacles on this Race. We persevered to the very last leg. It was really wonderful to break all stereotypes, not just about physical abilities, but also what people thought of us. I really felt like so many people got to know the real Charla & Mirna."
The winners also took a moment to reflect on their life changing victory. Eric said, "I'm really proud of Danielle. She did a great, great job. She knew the role she had to play for this Race. She couldn't have done anything better than she did." Danielle added, "I won AMAZING RACE ALL-STARS. I definitely know I can do anything I want to do and that's what this Race taught me."