Episode 4 was epic, maybe the best episode ever. Jonathon & Connor went from an easy first place to the Pitstop in Ghana to getting eliminated in Sweden.
The teams were provided tickets out of Ghana, supposedly due to limited flights. But were under no obligation to use the tickets. Wily dad Michael called ahead to see if their were any faster options. There were. A 2 hour faster flight out of the connection in Frankfurt.
At the airport Michael & Kevin shared their info with Gary & Mallory. Nat & Kat saw an Internet Cafe and gleaned the same faster flight into and booked tickets. Brook & Claire saw the doctors in the cafe. They also got the earlier flight.
Eventually the others realized the ones who'd gotten an earlier flight were acting way too happy. But it was too late for them. No more seats.
The final destination was in Sweden, the town of Kiruna in Swedish Lapland inside the Arctic Circle. When they landed the teams drove themselves to a chilly location called the Ice Hotel, where they'd find their next clue and Michael & Kevin would find their Speed Bump.
The Speed Bump was sitting on an ice chair for 10 minutes. The clues was etched in ice and directed the teams to Fjellsborg Lodge where they ran into a fun to watch Roadblock. Michael & Kevin got off the ice chairs and made it to the Roadblock first, due to the 3 teams ahead of them getting lost.
Michael did the Roadblock. He had himself a real fine time of being pulled by a mush team in a training sled while grabbing 5 flags to trade for a pile of fur pelts.
The Roadblock completed clue directed teams to Vassijaur Train Station. On the way to the train station the 5 teams in the late plane finally arrived in Kiruna.
When Jill & Thomas, the pair with the Express Pass, arrived last to the Roadblock they missed the marked path and took off running who knows how far before they realized they'd made a mistake.
At the train station Michael & Kevin found a detour. Sled or Bed. Do some downhill sledding or make a tent. They wisely chose the tent. The others, initially, all chose to sled.
The sledding looked fun. Take a chairlift up the mountain then sled down a course in less than 1:58. The sledding was brutal, with some real bad crashes. Nat & Kat were the first to successfully sled. This got them a clue directing them to a first place win at the Pitstop on the Norwegian border. After a few tries Gary & Mallory and Brook & Claire got the Pitstop clue, with Gary & Mallory beating Brook & Claire in a footrace to take 2nd.
Michael & Kevin completed the tent and came in fourth. That left Connor & Jonathon, Chad & Stephanie, Nick & Vicki and Katie & Rachel trying to sled, while Jill & Thomas went to the Bed option. Seeing no teams there, they wrongly assumed they had no chance, so they wasted their Express Pass to come in fifth.
Sledding turned out to be something the somewhat mentally challenged, but sort of likable team of Nick & Vicki were very good at. They zipped down the mountain and into 6th place.
Stephanie had a terrible time sledding down the mountain and refused to try again. So, it was off to the Bed detour option.
Then Rachel & Katie gave up on the sledding, soon followed by Connor & Jonathon. The Harry Potter lookalike (is that Jonathon?) was a total disaster at sledding. They tried hard to catch up with Rachel & Katie in the bed-making, but they failed.
Connor & Jonathon took being eliminated well. They broke into song. Their singing sort of annoyed me, so I'm not all that displeased to see them go from first to last.
One thing puzzled me. Why did some teams hauls those clue blocks of ice all the way to the Pitstop? Or did they all do that and I did not notice?
Anyway, great episode of The Amazing Race.
