We can catch em babe, cmon! Brian to Ericka

Posted by Tommy in Amazing Race 15, Featured Articles | 0 comments

Ericka cries to Brian about the difficulties of the roadblock (photo:CBS)

Brian Kleinschmidt and Ericka Dunlap of CBS’ Amazing Race 15 were down hard and sucking fumes from the rest of the competitors.  Ericka was in tears at times, they were both cold, both were making mistakes, yet neither of them were willing to give up.  Lesson number eleven seventy-seven in Tommy’s book of Amazing Race tactics.

So starting out in the episode, teams were to travel to Amsterdam.  Meghan and Cheyne left first and rushed to the airport only to find out that the first flight out was at midnight.Obviously this was to be an episode where each team would make the same fight and begin their race on equal footing.  Once the rest of the teams made it to the airport everyone sat down at a diner in the airport and just had a relaxing pow wow.

Roadblock: Counting Bells (photo: CBS)

The boys, Dan and Sam, for some reason spilled the beans that they were in fact the ‘token’ gay team.  Not really sure what the point was in them telling everyone unless perhaps to tell their family and friends back home the news.  Brian said, “oh that explains the matching swimsuits.”  Haha.  Once all the teams arrived in Amsterdam the teams head to the Afsluitdijk dam and find the Lely Monument for their next clue.  All teams made it here with no problems save Brian and Ericka.  Brian couldn’t seem to figure out how to put his ride into drive for the trip.  Once he enlisted some local aide, they were on their way not too far behind the pack.

Dan and Sam all dressed up and biking to next task (photo:CBS)

From Afsluitdijk, teams had to drive to Groningen and find the Martinitoren bell tower.  Once there the teams ran up against a roadblock, Counting Bells.  In this roadblock teams had to send one player up the bell tower counting each bell along the way to the top.  Once they were satisfied with the count, they were to show their number to the bell master atop the tower.  The interesting thing here is this, most teams blazed through this getting their count correct on the first attempt.  Once Ericka arrived she scored a massive fail, getting the count wrong 3 times.  This was not some easy task as the tower was tall, the passageways narrow, winding, musty, and Ericka arrived in time to see the contestants all leaving to the next stop quickly.  Ericka broke down into tears.  Brian stood strong though, comforting Ericka.  Even having her take a break and chill before taking on the task once more.  Meanwhile, the rest of the contestants keep sailing through the rest of the leg.  After the teams left the bell tower they had to head to a Vierhuizen de Marne and find a windmill.

Dan and Sam killing it on the links

Finding the windmill brings the next part of this leg, a detour!  The teams could chose to complete one of two tasks, either Farmer’s game or Farmer’s dance.  Sam and Dan chose to go for Farmer’s game as did Meghan and Cheyne.  Ericka is counting bells.  Meghan and Cheyne started out in first but Sam and Dan were on fire here.  The detour required teams to dress in traditional dutch attire and ride bikes to a river crossing where they would strip down to long johns and swim across.  Once through the chilling water and on the other side, teams had to play a game reminiscent of putt putt golf on drugs.  Basically teams had to whack an over sized golf ball to a hole within 8 swings or start over.  They had to finish three wholes.  Meghan was upset to be doing this event because of her dislike for golf, but Cheyne’s positive energy and motivation kept them going until she caught on and they eventually got through it.  Dan and Sam were clearly the pro’s at this sport though and tore through with blazing speed.  Bells, bells, and more bells for Ericka.

Sam and Dan 1st to the Pit stop

Matt and Gary were the first to arrive at farmer’s dance.  Once there they had to ring a bell with a big sledge hammer like you’d see in a circus or carnival.  They did this with ease but once inside they quickly realized they could not handle the dancing and took off for farmer’s game.  The girls chose farmer’s dance as well thinking that either task sounded equally easy.  Once there, though, the bell proved to be too much for them and they chose to hit the links and try farmer’s game as well.

Flight Time struggles to keep the herring down (photo:CBS)

Meanwhile, Flight time and Big EZ roll up and hammer the bell first time of course.  Flight Time and Big EZ use their globe trotting skills of dance and crowd pleasing to complete this portion with ease!  The only sticky spot comes when they had to eat a raw salted herring with onion, Flight Time looked rough.  Heh, he didn’t want to talk about that portion afterwards.  They make it to the pit stop in 3rd after Dan, Sam, Meghan, and Cheyne.  Ericka still counts the bells and gets the number correct on her fourth go at it!

So Ericka and Brian are finally back in the race!  They quickly head to the windmill and get changed.  Brian tells Ericka, “We can catch em babe, c’mon!” They dash out of the windmill knowing they’ve got a lot of distance to cover but fail to read the part about riding a bike to the next event and start walking in their wooden clogs.  LOL, OMG, WTF! Can you mess anything else up today?

Hugglez for the girls... (Photo:CBS)

Matt and Gary, take to the links struggling to get their balls sunk eventually pushing past the event and taking 4th place at the pit stop leaving Maria and Tiffany in their dust. Tiffany and Maria throughout this episode went back and forth between theses two detours a few times.  They racked up at least 75 attempts on ringing the bell and were devastated.  They comforted each other but as the night wore on they were quickly losing strength and will.

Talk about some mental fortitude folks, though, Ericka and Brian as stupid as they were tonight would not give up and walked the entire way to farmer’s dance! Once there they truly back their footing, grounded themselves, and crushed this detour.

Ericka and Brian walking in their clogs (photo: CBS)

Ericka says she fell in love with Brian all over again, admittedly Brian was quite the charmer this episode never letting negativity get them down.  They found someone to lend them bikes after figuring out their mistake and raced to the pit stop to make it there in 5th!  This was all well and good, but Phil told them they’d have to wait an additional 30 minutes sitting out in the penalty box as the clue clearly stated they were to bike to their detour.  Ericka about broke down here, but when all was said and done, Tiffany and Maria gave up the ghost and quit the race giving Ericka and Brian a pass to the next leg! Congrats on a hard fought leg you two.  While I started out with little respect for your team, I must say that your never give up attitude has impressed me and I am certain many others tonight! Kudos!

So what do you think about Tiffany and Maria’s breakdown?  How bout Ericka and Brian, are they for real?  Who do you think will win this season?  How bout Flight Time holding in the herring?  Sound off and leave us a comment below!

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