Episode 2: Behind-the-Scenes

*SPOILER ALERT* - please click above to watch Episode 2 before reading 

From Russia with Love

Taxis can make or break you on the Race.  After we got the clue to head for the Sino-Russian Exhibition Hall, they totally cut our 1 hour ordeal to arrive at our destination.  Although we had the address in Chinese and showed the driver, he took us to the wrong building on the opposite side of town.  He then asked 3 other taxi drivers for directions to no avail and finally we had to switch taxis after we finally found someone who assured us he knew where to go.  Although it might have seemed quirky and fun on TV, the Russian Doll Game was a complete circus for the contestants.  Luckily, Jenn just stormed in and found a doll which just happened to contain 10 pieces so we immediately headed for the curator.  While waiting outside his office, the neighbors appeared and Brandon eloquently posed the question, "what the f*ck is going on here?".  We explained to them to just find 10 dolls of the same color making sure not to miss the final piece which was the size of a pencil eraser.  After that it was smooth sailing for us.  The Speed Bump was awesome cause our picture was up on a giant billboard and it was the first time anyone had seen any of their studio portraits.  Chopping wood was also fun and it was the first time Jenn or I had ever tried that outdoor activity.  The final misleading edit came during the military bed-making.  I bring this up only because it was all over the Chinese blogosphere (Weibo - like a Twitter/Facebook hybrid) about how we must have bribed the soldier to pass us.  The clip shows Jenn with a pretty messy blanket and then they cut to our final approval.  She was actually denied at least 3 times before we were granted permission to leave at last and her blanket was no worse than any other teams.  In fact we found out later that the Harvard team were passed on their second try even though their blanket looked like a typhoon had hit the barracks.  When asked why, the soldier said he was being nice to the white foreigner - messed up!  Maybe if Nick had done the challenge they might have knocked out the Socialites.  All in all we were still happy to have come back from last place to lucky number 7.

Suifenhe Sendoff
After the adrenaline subsided, both of us were quite sad to have to bid adieu to Nick and Brandon.  Although they talked tons of subtle sarcastic trash in all their interviews, the truth was that those two Thundercats & Spartacus-loving guys were constant comic relief.  We remain close friends and will cherish the wild blowout we had at Club MAKIM on the edge of Russia.  Since they got their phones and wallets back, we got to enjoy a night out with a bottle of Smirnoff and a surprise rendezvous with the Slavic clue girl from the train station.  It turns out she was one of the "dancers" at this club, go figure.  Before the neighbors headed to the airport, they gave us their remaining supply of hand warmers, chewing gum, and Cottonelle wet wipes.  They made us promise them that we would continue competing and make it as far as possible despite the debilitating race conditions.  Message received - das vedanya comrades.

My favorite part of Episode 2:  "Wait, wait, listen".  For more behind-the-scenes check out Khai Shing's blog