Episode 3: Backstage

*SPOILER ALERT* - watch Episode 3 above before reading on

Say 'Ni Hao' to Kim Jong-un

Another early start for us.  We were checked out of the hotel by 6:30 AM and both Jenn and I wore our glasses since we thought it would be a Travel Day again.  Unfortunately we were wrong and after a quick 6 hour bus ride we had arrived on the border of North Korea.  One funny bus anecdote as we were always with the Socialites in the back of the bus.  They were re-reading the clue and trying to figure out what autonomy meant as in "Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture".  Janelle was like "I think it has something to do with the body" and I told her that was anatomy.  Then Karin says, "doesn't it have to do with the moon or stars?" so I answered with astronomy.  Note: autonomy = independence or freedom; autonomous = self-government.  It's ok though because English is Karin's second language.

So the race started and unfortunately neither of us knew Korean so we were totally out of our element trying to read the clue.  We asked a passerby to help us decode the Korean hanja characters and he told us to head to the elementary school.  Our taxi driver, Xiao Zhao was really friendly and he had heard of the show and kept turning around to wave at the camera.  That was cute until he almost had a head-on collision.  The editing was again quite aggressive in Episode 3 because that Korean bowing challenge really stumped Jenn.  We took 3 penalties attempting it and eventually we had to go back in the hallway to the giant posters that the Taiwanese Models commented on in the Episode to give Jenn a refresher.  We finally passed the test and decided to skip the Fast Forward since we assumed one of the earlier teams would have gone for it.

On our way to the Detour our cab driver got totally lost and he dropped us off at some restaurant on the other side of the village.  We busted into this really local joint which only had 1 round table and scared the bejesus out of the patrons as we frantically asked them where the challenge was.  Just imagine two lous Americans carrying humongous backpacks interrupting your meal trailed by a foreigner wielding a bulky professional video camera.  I would like to apologize to the people of the Korean Folk Village for our rudeness.  It was our cabbie who eventually came back and found us and told us he brought us to the wrong place, ahhh, Xiao Zhao - killing me!

Kimchee Calamity

When we finally arrived to eat the kimchi we were pretty nervous that we might have been the last team.  Remember, it was a Detour so we had no idea how many people went to try the Pot Luck balancing act.  Before we even walked into the room, we saw Wei Wei standing outside hurling everywhere tears running down his cheeks.  Oh great, the super soldier could not even handle this, how are we going to finish?  Once we entered the room, things got worse.  Lee Yang and Christine were both crying and the smell was just awful.  We put on the plastic gloves and dug in.  Jenn was doing quite well in the beginning.  She likes kimchi (in moderation) whereas I have a notoriously sensitive stomach and don't really like Korean food to begin with.  I could not force myself to chew that cabbage so I would rip off small pieces, wipe away as much of the sour spicy orange sauce as possible and swallow it whole like a vitamin.  We were making good progress for about an hour and then it finally hit us.  My fingers all of a sudden got numb and my hands started shaking.  Jenn tells me she's about to lose it and I tell her to just throw up if she has to, no point in either of us seriously damaging our health with an overdose of kimchi.  She moves to the window to get some air hugging a garbage can and promptly vomits.

So we had a 20 minute penalty and still had at least a third of the 1.5 kilos of cabbage to finish.   We pretty much assumed we would be going home that day but right when we were ready to call it quits, in walks the Father/Daughter team.  They tell us that they tried the Fast Forward but were too late.  With our chances of survival renewed, Jenn hurried back to polish off her kimchi and she asked whether she could go throw up again.  The Game Producer told us that until both team members were done, each vomit incurred a cumulative penalty of 20 minutes.  So she had to wait for me but at this point the cabbage was screaming to be released from my bowels.  After some rule clarifications, we determined that going to the bathroom was legit so I ran to the restroom to unload much to the horror of our cameraman who had to listen to the whole thing as my mic was still on (sorry Sam).  After about 10 minutes, I come back and the father was already done.  Luckily for us the daughter looked liked she was struggling and when she puked I was relieved and felt like we had a 50/50 chance of not being eliminated.  But timing be damned once I finally finished my cabbage I had to make another emergency toilet run while Jenn proceeded to throw up 5 more times outside.

The Aftermath

The rest of that day was a bit of a blur.  My stomach hurts just thinking about it and it took all my strength not to poo my pants.  This made me quite unhappy the rest of the day especially when I learned we had to ride a giant swing.  Originally we thought since I was taller I had a better chance of hitting those bells but we quickly realized it was much more important to have the stronger person on the ground.  When the next clue took us to a cold noodle shop I told Jenn that if I had to eat anything else my intestines might explode.  Thankfully it was not another eating challenge but you may have noticed in the show that we were running around the kitchen like headless chickens and could not find the clue.  But for Team Harvard the chef practically presents it to them, again, white nepotism - darn it!

When we get to the Exhibition Hall, it was pitch black inside and we had to find our way to the main stage on the 3rd floor.  We knew we were in the bottom 2 and the Father/Daughter could very well have passed us in their taxi given our impediment searching for the clue.  We finally find the Pit Stop and Allan Wu tells us we were 8th.  Quick high five and he starts to ask us about the day and I politely interrupt him and say, "sorry Allan but I really need to go to the bathroom".  He is caught off guard and asks me, "one or two".  I grimace and hold up 2 fingers and he understands so we cut the interview short and I rush off to find the restroom.  The entire floor had its lights turned off on purpose and since 1 more team still had to check-in, they could not turn them on for me.   A nice camera assistant took pity on me and let me use her iPhone as a source of light while I crouched in the stall.  Those toilet torpedoes were only a precursor to the full-on war that my stomach would wage with the bathroom that night.  When I was done, we had to wait outside because the Father/Daughter team had arrived and they were filming their elimination interview.  Once they were finished, they asked us to do another take of our Pit Stop even though I thought it would have been really funny to use the original one but I guess toilet humor is too base for China Rush.

For supper we only ate white rice and it was like some cruel joke that the dinner boxes contained more kimchi.  I went to the bathroom at least 7 more times throughout the night.  Let me just say that the hot shower that night was one of the most painful experiences ever.  To this day we have yet to touch kimchi again.

For more stories check out Khai Shing's blog here.  Major props for completing the Pot Luck balancing act!