WANDA & DESIREE OUT OF LUCK
After starting on the mat in Moscow in first place, friends Eric & Jeremy never looked back, catching the first flight to Frankfurt, Germany, taking a wild ride on a Mercedes-Benz test track, and ultimately winning their second leg that ended in Munich. Meanwhile, mother and daughter Wanda & Desiree couldn’t recover from being lost on the Autobahn to become the third Team eliminated from THE AMAZING RACE.
After receiving the next clue from Phil in Moscow, friends Eric & Jeremy opened it to discover they had to fly over 1,000 miles to Frankfurt, Germany and then 100 miles by train to the town of Stuttgart to find the world’s flagship Mercedes-Benz factory. In a taxi on the way to the airport, Jeremy lamented, “That would have been a prime spot to be holding hands with the chicks.” Close behind in another taxi, a surprised Michelle marveled, “We ran across Red Square. No one we know could ever say that.”As the other Teams who chose the nesting doll Detour met Phil on the mat, including a stunned Fran & Barry, the remaining four Teams continued to wash their trolleys at the depot. While Joseph spit shined the trolley exterior, mother and daughter Wanda & Desiree finally completed the task followed soon by their fellow all-female Team of Danielle & Dani.
Arriving at the airport, friends Eric & Jeremy quickly booked a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt leaving almost immediately. Showing up minutes behind, married parents Lake & Michelle tried to get the same flight, but discovered that check-in had finished. This meant Eric & Jeremy boarded the flight alone in first place. The friends laughed, “I don’t know how we lucked out.” While Lake initially fumed at missing the flight, he and Michelle found another one on Aeroflot that left two hours later.While Lake & Michelle waited to leave Moscow, the remaining seven Teams began collecting at the airport, including last place dating couple Dave & Lori who breathed a huge sigh of relief to get a clue from Phil instead of their walking papers. With limited space available on the Aeroflot flight, the Teams all waited at assorted windows for the ticketing to reopen after a computer breakdown. Best friends BJ & Tyler caught a lucky break when the window they stood next to opened first, giving them the edge and the last tickets on the flight. The remaining Teams would have to wait until morning to take a flight out at 7 am.
While the six Teams stranded at the airport bedded down for the night, friends Eric & Jeremy still had luck on their side as they caught the earliest train from Frankfurt to Stuttgart. Arriving in Stuttgart, the friends joked, “Victory is ours,” as they neared the Mercedes-Benz factory. Opening their clue, they learned they would be taking a high-speed ride on the oldest test track for Mercedes-Benz, known as the Wall of Death. With the track not opening until 8:30 am the next morning, a disappointed Eric said, “There goes our lead.”
TAKING A SPIN
After the six Teams boarded their flight to Frankfurt the next morning, friends Eric & Jeremy met up with married parents Lake & Michelle and best friends BJ & Tyler, the only other Teams to escape from Moscow the night before, at the Mercedes Benz factory. At 8:30 am, the three Teams each chose a Mercedes-Benz and a driver for their thrilling ride on the test track. After taking a spin in the high-speed lane reaching 170 kilometers per hour, the flabbergasted Teams braced themselves for the high bank as their cars turned to an almost 90 degree angle. After the exhilarating experience, the three Teams opened their next clue instructing them to drive almost 200 miles towards the city of Bad Tolz. Once in the Bavarian countryside, they would find their next clue.With the lead Teams on their way to Bad Tolz, the remaining six Teams arrived in Stuttgart where dating couples Dave & Lori and Ray & Yolanda led the way through the Mercedes-Benz test drive while married couple Fran & Barry’s slow exit from the train station pushed them into last place. However, after their test drive, Fran’s navigational skills propelled the pair ahead of five other Teams who struggled to find the Autobahn. Fairing the worst of the Teams was mother and daughter Wanda & Desiree who decided to work together with childhood friends Danielle & Dani in leaving Stuttgart. After driving in the wrong direction, Wanda, with the childhood friends following, turned around only to find later they traveled in a complete circle. Wanda lamented, “Man, this is like Groundhog Day.” While the tension caused the mother and daughter to bicker, they eventually found the correct path to Bad Tolz. A relieved Dani, following behind, noted, “That was like, the furthest freaking drive in the world ever.”
GNOME MAN’S LAND
Spotting the Route Marker in the countryside near Bad Tolz, friends Eric & Jeremy opened their clue to find a Roadblock. In this Roadblock, one Team member had to search the large field filled with 150 hats and feet of the Travelocity Roaming Gnome. Underneath 11 of the hats and feet would be a gnome itself that held its next clue. Jeremy jogged out in the beautiful, green field overturning large red hats and back boots until he found one the hidden gnomes. Opening their clue, the friends learned they had to drive to Bavaria Film in Grunwald and take their gnome with them safely to the Pit Stop. After Eric & Jeremy left the field, best friends BJ & Tyler and married parents Lake & Michelle, with the help of an inebriated local, arrived the same time to quickly find their gnome as well.
HIT PARADE
Still leading the pack, friends Eric & Jeremy arrived at the studio lot of Bavaria Film to find a Detour. In this Detour, Teams had to choose between Break It and Slap It. In Break It, Team members took turns breaking stunt bottles on each other’s heads until they found one with “prost,” the German word for cheers, written on back of the label. However, they could only smash one bottle per cuckoo from a traditional German cuckoo clock. In Slap It, Teams had to learn and correctly perform a sequence of steps from a complex German folk dance. The task would be physical, but Teams with the right rhythm could finish fast.After donning lederhosen that fit a little snug, the guys stepped onto a sound stage where a table of bottles and a cuckoo clock awaited. The inner children of Eric & Jeremy emerged as the two playfully smashed bottles against each other’s head, but writing on the labels did not appear. Their excitement soon turned to frustration as they continued breaking bottles with no luck. A weary Eric remarked, “It was fun. Now it’s just getting old.” Their concern grew with the arrival of married parents Lake & Michelle and best friends BJ & Tyler, but Eric & Jeremy finally found a label just as the best friends took to the stage. Opening their clue, Eric & Jeremy learned they needed to travel 10 miles into Munich and find the street Leopold Strasse where they would find the Siegestor, a 153-year-old monument to peace and the Pit Stop.
DANCE FEVER
After BJ & Tyler and Lake & Michelle each found their “prost” label, married couple Fran & Barry arrived at Bavaria Film and opted to kick up their heels in a traditional German dance. This proved infinitely more difficult than it sounded when the pair could not perform the complicated moves of the dance as quickly as they needed with the accompanying music. As with everything, practice makes perfect, and Fran & Barry celebrated after mastering the German dance, securing for them a fourth place finish.Arriving at the Siegestor in first place once again, friends Eric & Jeremy celebrated their victory in style. Because they held the Travelocity Roaming Gnome, Eric & Jeremy won a trip for two to the heart of Africa, staying in luxurious accommodations, rafting down the Zambezi River, and visiting Victoria Falls. After some bickering, married parents Lake & Michelle lost a spot from the Detour to finish third behind best friends BJ & Tyler.
Showing up at the studio in fifth place, dating couple Joseph & Monica began smashing bottles over their heads and quickly had company when the other two dating couples, Dave & Lori and Ray & Yolanda chose the same task. While enjoying the authentic German band in the background, Dave & Lori hit the jackpot by finding a “prost” label to snag a fifth place finish. Meanwhile, frustrated with smashing bottles, Monica & Joseph opted to dance, earning their clue along with a more enjoyable experience and a sixth place finish. Following the cue of Joseph & Monica after countless bottles, Ray & Yolanda also completed the dance successfully to land in seventh place.
PARTING WAYS
Hours behind the other Teams after an afternoon of misery, partners Danielle & Dani and Wanda & Desiree finally arrived together at Bad Tolz for the Travelocity Gnome search. It became apparent to both Teams that they were in last place together. A disappointed Wanda said, “We don’t want to be competing against each other. We’ve been teaming up.” A regretful Danielle noted, “We can only help each other so long.” After finding a gnome, the childhood friends hurried away as Desiree continued her search with daylight fading. In tears, Desiree apologized to her mother for not being able to find a gnome while her mother tried to encourage her to keep looking. After locating the gnome, the duo took off in hopes of catching up to Danielle & Dani.Arriving at Bavaria Film, childhood friends Danielle & Dani quickly learned the dance, earning their clue to stay ahead of mother and daughter Wanda & Desiree, who arrived just as the girls finished. Pulling out of the parking lot, Danielle said, “We’ve been through too much to go home right now. I am not getting eliminated.” Although Wanda & Desiree gave Danielle & Dani a run for their money, in the end Danielle held true to her word as the relieved childhood friends stepped on the mat in eighth place.
When the exhausted Wanda & Desiree arrived at the Siegestor, Phil gave them the bad news that they had been eliminated from THE AMAZING RACE. On her partner, Desiree remarked, “My mother has always been someone who’s met challenges with grace and with strength. I’ve been really fortunate to be able to look up to someone that had a lot of attributes that I really wanted to emulate.” On Desiree, Wanda noted, “My daughter, she’s an adult now, so this Race just reassured me that she’s very independent and it’s just wonderful.”
