'Expedition Impossible' eliminates Mom's Army team in second stage

Expedition Impossible eliminated its second three-person team during Thursday night's broadcast of the new ABC reality competition's second episode.


Mom's Army became the second team eliminated from the adventure race after they were the last team to arrive at the second stage's finish line in Morocco.

"It was a wonderful experience to do this expedition with my daughters. I had no idea how strong they really are," Eleanor Vanderbeck, a 52-year-old bookkeeper from Reading, PA said of her daughters following her team's ouster.

"My mom has impressed us. We literally pushed her to her limit, and I feel a little bit bad about that, but I think that she had an amazing experience," Ruthie Vanderbeck, a 27-year-old realtor from Reading, PA added.

In addition to Eleanor and Ruthie, Mom's Army also included Abbie Vanderbeck, a 29-year-old nanny from Norwalk, CT.


Expedition Impossible's second episode began with host Dave Salmoni announcing the competition's 12 remaining teams would depart the first stage's finish line in waves based on the order they had crossed the first stage's finish line.

Dave told the teams the first part of the stage would require them to travel a half mile on foot and find a horse outpost where they must each attempt to tame one of 36 Arabian wild stallions and ride them seven miles to a small settlement.

Since the Gypsies -- which consisted of John Post, Taylor Filasky and Eric Bach -- finished the first stage in first place, they got a five-minute head start. The Football Players and Team Kansas were then able to take off together and were followed by Country Boys, The Fishermen, No Limits, and NY Firemen.

The next group to depart and the final wave consisted of California Girls, The Cops, Grandpa's Warriors, and Mom's Army.

The Country Boys, although they left the first stage's finish line amongst the second wave of teams, were experienced horseback riders and managed to catch up to the teams in the lead and skillfully push themselves to the front of the pack. 


After completing their horseback ride, the teams had to use buckets to fill an urn with water from a nearby reservoir, but they had to choose carefully between a leaky large bucket with holes or a smaller bucket that held more water. They then had navigate themselves and trek down to a river, inflate kayaks and paddle four miles down treacherous rapids.

Grandpa's Warriors -- who just avoided elimination when they finished next-to-last in the competition's first stage -- had a leg up on the other teams as they had useful kayaking skills, while The Cops moved swiftly along the river and also finished the kayak trip quickly. Both teams made good progress in their expedition since they had departed the first stage in the third wave.

The final part of the stage required the teams to find and enter a craftsman's village where they had to search through dozens of Moroccan lamps to find the one correct lamp that would light their way to the finish line. They made the discovery by placing their chosen Moroccan lamp over the camping light they had been given.

Afterward, the teams had to find Old Bridge -- which required trekking approximately two miles down a winding canyon -- and them locate the stage's finish line, which was concealed by tall stone walls.

While The Cops had gotten a jump when they breezed through the kayak trip, they got lost when trying to find Old Bridge and worried they would be the last team to cross the finish line and be eliminated as a result. NY Firemen and Mom's Army also got lost on the course.


The Gypsies nailed the location of the hidden finish line and arrived in first place -- their second first place finish of the expedition. Following The Gypsies, Country Boys came in second place and No Limits subsequently secured third place.

The Football Players then arrived in fourth place, and Fab 3 finished in fifth. The Fishermen then managed to arrive at the finish line in sixth place.

Following The Fishermen were Team Kansas, Grandpa's Warriors, California Girls, NY Firemen, The Cops, and finally Mom's Army.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski