Amazing Race China 2 (2015): Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, France

Love is in the air, in the whisper of the trees,
Love is in the air in the thunder of the sea,
And I don’t know if I’m just dreaming,
I don’t know if I feel safe,
But it’s something that I must believe in
And it’s there when I call out your name.

-Love Is In The Air, Tom Jones

(What, it fits with this leg theme, and I love that song when the radio plays on Lite FM)

Anyway, here we go, for the first time ever, Amazing Race China starts experimenting with 1 leg, 1 different country (Wikipedia mentioned it, from Spain, France, Namibia, Mauritius, Thailand and obviously, China)

Roadblock   Route Info: Telepathic Cooking

In 30 minutes, 1 team member must cook a dish. Then in the order of leg placements, the other team member must determine which dish is the other team member. 10 minute penalty offered when it guess wrong or the member that cooked the dish talked. Success means that the team will get married and have a honeymoon get blessed for their next clue. (Luck+ Skill)

M: What a shameless product placement and it’s not even a tasting contest (And we are in freaking France, can’t you hire a random chef to teach people cook authentic French cuisine, like Melba Toast , the 5 mother sauces of France or baguette, and in a real kitchen?) But it’s so hilarious that I can forgive that.

So the results?

Team Happy Junior: South East stew? (I dunno how to translate this, but it definitely does not taste like a salt mine, perceptions and bragging). -Failed because of perception issues.

Team Married: Steak (It’s the dish that they eaten in their engagement). -Somehow failed because of those pesky “T” signals from Team Singers.

Team Chopsticks: Meat and potatoes (And a garlic for cultural measure).- Success.

Team Singers: Stir-Fried Shrimp And Eggs (that’s just sounds lazy)- Success, but must take the penalty since G.E.M scolded YunJing for thinking this as a legit cooking contest.

After the faux wedding and riding in hopefully good cabs, teams are now heading to

Roadblock: Laser Heist

In 90 seconds, get the clue by traversing the entire laser maze. (Physical+Mental)

M: A okay task, and it seems that nobody cares about the time limit.

Route Info: True Love, Years Later

Referencing a 3 century old picture and some ambiguous explanation, have a selfie with the actual couple in the picture to proceed. (Mental+Luck)

M: Supports the love theme, but sometimes it felt more on luck (which if you are Team Married, You simply ask for your next clue, indirectly or Team Singers, who is duped to believing the actual couple are siblings)

As for Team Singers, who misfortune in that task wasted whatever time they gained on the Roadblock also has to content on the

Speed Bump: Picnic

Take a ride together with the picnic box, and feed each other lunch (which includes baguette, salad accompaniment, croissants, chicken wings and assortment of fruits). (Mental)

M: Even being the most representable of the love theme didn’t alleviate the scary part for the usual celebrities: getting pounds from eating. And it’s not fun for especially someone who is a rising singing star.

After the meal is over, it’s off to

The Actual Roadblock: Swing Swing

Ride on swings that relies on physics instead of the ground, one side of the swings have water which teams must get it with a cup and then transfer to the other team member and put it into the bowl of ping pong balls. When at least one ping pong balls falls off, they will get their next clue which tell teams to run to the end of the field and check in at the pit stop. (Physical)

M: It’s not a nice lion to tame if you can’t swing on your own weight and getting too heated.

Pitstop: Sault Lavender fields, Cabrières-d’Avignon

Prize: Necklace worth 50,000 yuan, a car and the donation money.

M: Meh

Allan Wu: Team Singers, you are the last team remaining and sorry, the cat has run out of lives in this journey.

G.E.M: Sigh, can I sing a song?

M: A basic encouraging anthem, but what a mix with a Chinese song and an American school setting. And that really nice car, is she a secret investor, or a compulsive buyer?

And about the Team Singers, they were great energy (well, except for the Wrestling), but in a series that thrives upon exhausting teams physically to the bitter end, and their mental skills are sometimes a hit or miss, they can’t realistically survive this race till the end.

–

• Why do Allan is saying 1,2,3 in Spanish?
• The person that Miriam Yueng referencing that someone mistaken her in her area, Sammi Cheng, another Hong Kong A-List.
• Those lavender fields, so pretty.

Right now the current standing and average placement

1. Team Happy Junior- 2.00
2. Team Chopsticks- 3.83 (Congratulations in escaping the bottom 2 for the first time, and you somehow technically managed enter Top 3, with Wang Taili doing less Roadblocks than notable figures such as Flo Pesenti, the Final 3 girls in Season 5 and Season 15 Mika )
3. Team Married- 2.00 (1 hour penalty for quitting the Swing task, which now means that Team Happy Junior is the only team that didn’t take the penalty
4. Team SIngers-  3.83

And now with the Final 3 and there are still 4 legs left…what is the producers thinking, the Save doesn’t appear yet, but…