After their brief break in Dubrovnik, the five remaining teams made very early departures toward their next destination: Italy.  To reach the town of Ancona, the groups first had to travel by bus to Split, Croatia.  From there, the racers would jump aboard a ferry and travel across the Adriatic to Ancona, Italy.

Although Ronald and Christina were the first group to hit the road at 2:19 AM, the first bus wasn’t scheduled to leave until 5 AM.  This allowed Kynt/Vxyin and Nathan/Jennifer to catch up with them.  Eventually, Nicolas and Donald – who started off 5 hours later than the first team – even managed to get on the same page.  All the groups ended up being on the same ferry heading out of the country.

Once they reached Ancona, their task was to drive themselves to an airfield in the city of Empoli.  Before departing, Nathan and Jennifer asked a few of the locals for directions.  They were assured that their path via Florence was the best way to go; it was much shorter than a common route through Bologna.  The three teams that did take the Bologna circuit found themselves in a bit of pickle.  The road they needed to take to Firenze was blocked off due to a serious accident.  This forced Christina/Ronald and Kynt/Vyxin to map out a new route on the fly.  Wanting to stick with what they knew, Nicolas/Donald chose to wait out the road closure.  Meanwhile, TK/Rachel – who had been instructed to reach the Tuscan town via Rome – had to make a potentially costly turnaround.  After getting directions from restaurant diners, Rachel accidentally left the important clue information behind.  Wanting to make sure she understood the gravity of her mistake, TK made a point of letting his girlfriend know that the error could put them out of the race.  Rub it in, why don’t ya?.

Thanks to the accident detour, the hippies fared much better than they had expected.  They made it to the next stop right behind Nathan and Jennifer.  Unfortunately since the airfield didn’t open until 7 AM, the other teams had the opportunity to make up a little bit of time.  Once the gates finally opened, the first two groups received their next envelopes.  Inside the clues were instructions for their next Road Block….and their first Fast Forward of the race.  Although Jennifer desperately wanted to use the Fast Forward (she was determined to finally get a first place finish), Nathan didn’t see the need.  TK/Rachel also chose to stick with the task at hand.

For the Road Block, one member from each team had to search a 6 mile radius with the help of an ultralight.  From the air, they had to search the ground for a clue to their next destination.  If they were unable to locate the sign within the allotted 30 minutes, they would have to pause for a refueling break before going back up again.  While Nathan and TK were still up the skies, Ronald/Christina and Nicolas/Donald were finally arriving at the airfield.  While the father-daughter team were queuing up for the flying challenge, Nicolas and Donald were taking off toward the Fast Forward challenge.  (This would be their one and only time in the race they would have the opportunity.)

Although Nathan spotted the word ‘Vinci’ on his first attempt, TK observational skills were seriously lacking.  His inability to find the clue allowed Christina and Vyxin to pass him up.  Finally after his fourth try, the hippie got it right.  This misstep, of course, meant they once again had a lot of catching up to do.

While the four other duos were soaring the skies, Nicolas and Donald were busy ‘marking’ their memories of the race.  To complete their Fast Forward, the grandfather-grandson team had to get the letters ‘FF’ tattooed on their bodies.  (Sadly, they didn’t immediately understand what ‘FF’ stood for.)  Despite Donald’s initial apprehension, he sucked it up and took it like an old man.  Thanks to their smart gamble, the team then had the chance to bypass the rest of the race and head directly to the final pit stop.

From the airfield, the teams then had to drive to Vinci, the birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci.  Once there, they had to perform their next Detour.  The choices this time around were Invention and Tradition.  In ‘Invention’, the teams had put together a replica of an old crane designed by Leonardo da Vinci.  Once they had used the crane to lift a stone off the ground, they could place a mirror under the object to read the next clue.  In ‘Tradition’, the teams had to make their way to a piazza where they would learn a local flag routine.  After successfully learning and performing the routine, they would receive their next clue.

The first two teams in Vinci – Nathan/Jennifer and Ronald/Christina – both opted to work with the flags.  Although they had to make more than one attempt, the duos reached success on their second tries.  Afterwards, they reached the pit stop in second (Nate/Jen) and third (Christina/Ronald) place.

Kynt/Vxyin – the fourth couple to reach the Detour – initially decided to do the assembly challenge, but quickly changed their minds after glancing at the materials.  This last-minute decision proved to be a possibly huge mistake.  Not only did they lose time driving to the new location, they almost ripped each other apart out of frustration.  Unhappy with her scary maneuvering, Kynt insisted on taking over the wheel.  Unfortunately, he remembered (after somehow ruining the car) that he didn’t know how to drive stick.  Although a replacement car would eventually come to them, they were now forced to go by foot to the piazza.

LESSON OF THE DAY : LEARN HOW TO DRIVE A STICK BEFORE YOU START THE RACE.

Meanwhile, TK and Rachel chose to take on the crane assembly because it was the closest task to where they were.  This wise decision allowed them to make up a lot of time; they eventually passed up the Goths who were still wrapping up their flag routine.  But as luck would have it, TK/Rachel wound end up getting a flat tire on their way to the pit stop.  After misplacing the clue and four attempts on the ultralift – the hippies were tested one more time.  It was now up to TK to get the tire replaced before Kynt/Vyxin reached the finish in their new car.

Despite the strength of the ‘pink and black attack’, the Goths reached the Boboli Gardens and Phil in last place.  Fortunately for them, this was the first non-elimination leg of the race.  As a penalty, sometime during the next leg the team would come across a Speed Bump.  This new twist in the competition would force them to perform one extra task that no other racers would have to complete.  New twist? I’m salivating already…

(You can review the previous episode here.)
(You can find read next week’s episode here.)