Ethiopian brother/sister team lead CBS’s Amazing Race

Azaria & Hendekea
Azaria & Hendekea

By Lynn, realityexploits.com

The show began with the teams leaving Amsterdam, capital of the Netherlands. We found out that the exertion from the last leg of the race cause Ron to get a hernia and he required medical attention. We’ll see if he’s able to complete the race…or even another leg of the race.

The teams left the last pit stop, and found out that they had to fly nearly 3000 miles to Ouagadougou, Birkinafaso. Wow! I had never even heard of this new country in West Africa. Once there, they had to take a taxi to the train station to get the next clue.

Some of the teams were starting to feel the stress of the race and it was beginning to cause conflict between the team members. As usual, the teams started to pile up at the airport ticket counter, struggling to figure out the best flights and book them first. They found out that there was only one available flight going there that day.

One very good thing was that Ron admitted that he had been far too hard on Christina during the last leg of the race and he realized that he would have to be more encouraging with her if they had any hope of winning the race. (Parenting is a tough job, and it’s great that he was able to see his mistake. Good for you, Ron!)

Nathan & Jennifer were the only team that was able to make it onto an earlier flight that had been completely booked. That gave them a huge advantage. All the other teams were on the second flight that left 40 minutes later.

The second flight with all but one team on it had mechanical problems and delayed them so much that they thought they had missed the connecting flight. They would have been delayed an entire day to wait for the next flight. Nathan & Jennifer weren’t thrilled to see them all make onto the flight at the last minute. So, all the teams arrived together in Birkinafaso.

Once the teams found the next clue they had to travel by train to a place called Bingo, in the middle of the African Savannah. They had to get off the train in the middle of nowhere. Then they had to find the next clue.

All the teams got to the train station and then wait until the next day to get on the same train. The teams found the clue and it was a Road Block, a task that only one person could perform. They had to milk a camel. They would have to get enough milk to reach a line in a bowl, then drink it all before they would get the next clue.

I had to laugh when Jennifer yelled at Nathan to be gentle because he was handling nipples. LOL! Some of the girls were having trouble with being afraid of the giant beasts, but they all kept at it. TK finished first and the next clue told them that each team would have to lead four camels along a marked path in the Savannah to a group of nomads.

The first three teams found out that they were going the wrong way and had to turn back. It cost them some time, but they made it to the next clue ahead of most of the rest anyway.

The next tack was a Detour, a choice between two tasks. They had to choose between “Teach It” or “Learn It”.

In Teach It, they would have to choose a local child who can’t speak any English and teach them 10 words.

In Learn It, the teams would have to learn the local language words for 10 items, taught to them by a local child.

Azaria & Hendekea are originally from Ethiopia, so they seemed more at home with the task of learning the local language. They finished first. The next clue told them to follow a marked path to the next pit stop.

In the mean time, a big storm blew in and spooked the camels, where Julia & Marianna and Jason & Lorena still were trying to finish the camel milking task. The storm made it even harder. Lorena became a basket case. I hope she can pull herself together to finish the leg…

The team arrived at the pit stop in this order:

1. Azaria & Hendekea (They won a five-night trip to Bermuda.)
2. TK & Rachel
3. Nathan & Jennifer
4. Kynt & Vyxsin
5. Ron & Christina
6. Nicholas & Donald
7. Shana & Jennifer
8. Lorena & Jason
9. Marianna & Julia (They were eliminated.)

I’m sad to see another all-girl team eliminated. I keep hoping every season that there will be an all-girl winning team. Oh, well, there’s still a bit of hope this season. And Ron did an amazing job of being more supportive this leg of the race. I’m proud of him. I still like Kynt & Vyxsin as well as Azaria & Hendekea. It’s still anybody’s race. What an amazing season so far!