The Amazing Race Recap
Say Your Deepest Prayers Ever
By Stephanie DeGateo
December 14, 2006
The teams are off to their final city, New York! And here is where the show takes a turn for me. I'm from New York � I grew up right outside the City, I lived in Manhattan and Brooklyn for years, and I now live right outside again. I know the area like the back of my hand. And due to this, I spent the rest of the show yelling directions at the screen. The teams are to find the "News Building" where they will get their next clue. I'm like, oh...that's on East 42nd Street, right across from Grand Central. And then, I'm like, don't ask where the Daily News offices are, because they actually moved to the far west side in the '30s. I start mapping the fastest route from JFK to 42nd Street, and... Okay, back to the recap.
Tyler and James head off to Charles DeGaulle, as do Rob and Kimberly. Karlyn and Lyn direct their cab driver to Orly. Big mistake! As most people who live in a city that have more than one airport know, one airport handles more of the international flights and one handles more of the "domestic" flights. In NYC, if you are heading to Europe, chances are you are leaving from JFK...maybe Newark. You wouldn't want to be at LaGuardia. The Lyns essentially directed their cab driver to the LaGuardia of Paris. Meanwhile, on the ride to the airport, Rob is obsessing over the fact that he didn't get to sky dive. Not that he didn't get to sky dive over Normandy � just sky dive in general. I'm fairly certain they have sky diving facilities in California. He probably can do it when he gets home. The fight Rob and Kim have about this is just hilariously ridiculous. I'm chalking it up to the pressure of the end of the race, because if it wasn't that...they've got some real problems.
Tyler and James find out at the airport that the first flight out the next morning is at 8:25 a.m. and is fully booked � at least economy class is. They put themselves on the waiting list. Rob and Kimberly find out the same thing, only to sweet talk a manager into getting them on the flight. Team Bama learns that they cannot get a direct flight out of Orly and heads to Charles DeGaulle. They too are on the waiting list for the flight Rob and Kimberly got on. Tyler and James and the Lyns both have tickets for a later flight getting into Newark over an hour after the flight Rob and Kimberly are on. The waiting list is long, according to James.
Rob and Kimberly board the 8:25 a.m. flight, thinking they are the only team on it. Remarkably, Tyler and James get called off the waiting list and get on the 8:25 plane. Karlyn and Lyn cannot get on the flight and we con't see them again until the finish line. Once in New York, each of the teams gets a cab, and the models' cab driver seems to know where he is going, while Rob and Kimberly's driver does not. He's instructed by Kim to follow the models' cab, which he does until they hit a toll plaza. Tyler and James' driver has EZ Pass, while Rob and Kimberly's cab driver has to pay the toll in cash. And that, folks, is the big separation point leading to Tyler and James' victory. What should make it all the more galling to Rob and Kimberly is the fact that all NYC cab drivers are required to have EZ Pass to limit waiting time fare run ups at toll plazas.
Tyler and James get to the News Building first and get the clue, which directs them to walk to the "East Village" and find a sculpture that is pictured. (I'm like � ohh, that's at Astor Place, right near the subway stop...hey, that's not really the East Village...) Phil informs us that the sculpture's name is the Alamo, it's two miles by foot and they are to find a woman there who will give them a clue. Tyler and James leave and with the lead they have on Rob and Kimberly, they get there first. The clue directs them to "convince" a cab driver to drive them to Garrison, New York in Putnam County, where they will find St. Basil's Academy and the finish line. The camera crews must help because despite the fact that I would have trouble sometimes getting a cabbie to take me to Park Slope even though they are legally required to take a fare to any place in the five boroughs, the teams have no resistance to a drive that is literally one and half hours.
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