LAST EDITED ON 12-20-04 AT 09:08 PM (EST)Another week with a lot of information about a few things and little information about a lot of other things. But to begin with the beginning:
All the teams arrived at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin in the early or late afternoon - it was still daylight even when Don and Mary Jane finally wandered in. So was the pit stop at the Adlon Hotel which is just a stone's throw from the Brandenburg Gate on Unter den Linden? It is Berlin's most luxurious hotel and the best address in Berlin. Perhaps Phil and the producers stayed there, but I don't think a bunch of straggling Americans with backpacks would be welcome. So it was probably the Holiday Inn around the corner.
Since they all arrived in daylight, they probably are leaving again in the darkness of the early morning. But we have no pictures of their departure. The only scenes we have next are at the site of the Reverse-Bungee Jump. Since it is daylight it is later in the morning and probably is another bunchup or choke point since we have scenes of all the teams there together. The site could be on the outskirts of Berlin or in a nearby city such as Frankfurt-am-Oder which could be reached by taxi. I hope this may be the only choke point and not like last week when we had three in a row: the slave house, the ferry to Dakar, and the flight to Berlin.
The order of arrival will determine the order of the bungee event which probably leads to the time of departure of the Grand Race across Europe from Germany to Hungary. The teams seem to have only one member of each team competing in the jump so this looks like an early ROADBLOCK. Every team seems to do well except for Freddy and Kendra. He looks really distraught as we see Kendra gasping on the ground after the jump (did she pass out? We hear Gus' voice saying something to that affect.) So does Kendra manage to get up and join the race to Hungary or does she take herself out of the race at this point? Only speculation here.
The Trabani was an East German car with a small two-cylinder engine and a body made of light plastic. When running it emits a cloud of smoke and sounds like a poorly tuned lawn mower! Not built for speed it shakes, rattles and rolls at any speed over 50 miles an hour! The course from Germany to Hungary is about 500 miles and goes through some rugged mountains in The Czech Republic and Slovakia. The shortest route goes through three country border checkpoints: Germany/The Czech Republic; The Czech Republic/Slovakia; and Slovakia/Hungary. Or they could follow a less rugged route but longer route through Poland, Slovakia and Hungary. Whatever, it is no easy trip and the Trabani is not the roomiest or most comfortable vehicle on the road. But it looks like that is what they will be doing, as the cars seem to have Hungarian License plates.
Bolo and Lori probably drove too fast and blew the engine out before they got very far. In past shows, if there is a "mechanical failure not the fault of the team" a replacement vehicle is made available. But if they blew the engine after being warned about speed limitations, they may be in deep doo doo.
That's what we know so far. Lots of holes and no idea of how long or when the they arrive in Hungary or where they end up. Perhaps in Budapest since we have seen pictures of one of the city's land marks: St. Mathiaus Church on Castle Hill. The only event we have been shown in Hungary is the "canonball run" by our favorite battlers: Jonathan and Victoria. This has been pin-pointed to be a fortress in the city of Eger, about 50 miles norheast of Budapest. But since no other events of a detour have been shown (perhaps because the absence of J/V might then be apparrent) this may be the first time we have seen a FAST FORWARD actually be offered. Jonathan seems the type who would jump at the chance to take the Fast Forward and end up finally (without much "help" from poor downtrodden Victoria) in first place at the Pit Stop. Could be, we certainly are due a Fast Forward pretty soon I would think.
Not much to go on, but speculation has it that Freddy and Kendra withdraw from the race and therefore become this week's eliminated team (too bad, they were one of the better liked teams it seems)
It looks like Jonathan and Victoria take the FAST FORWARD and then come in FIRST at the Pit Stop. Enjoy while you can because me thinks your time will come up soon to join the others at Losers'Lodge.
The team that irrates a taxi driver could very well be in the opening sequences which we don't see. And a good bet would be that the irritator is either Jonathan or Bolo.
The team that, on the other hand, which charms the local law might be either Kris or Hayden or maybe even Hera.
And the team that has a transportation problem probably is Bolo and Lori since we see them with their disabled Trabani by the wayside.
Now we just have to wait to see how wrong about everything we all are.
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