Liz Canavan and Marie Canavan survive 'The Amazing Race' exit

"Twins" Liz Canavan and Marie Canavan survived to compete in The Amazing Race's fifth nineteenth-season leg despite a last-place finish during Sunday night's broadcast of the Race's fourth leg.


"It's not over until it's over and it's not over for us yet. We still have the next leg of the Race to make up time and prove that we deserve to be here. It's not as easy as it looks," Marie said after the twin sisters discovered they had avoided elimination.

The fourth episode of The Amazing Race's nineteenth season began where last week's broadcast left off, with the Race's eight teams meeting with The Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan and leaving the course's third Pit Stop on the grounds of the Borobudur Temple in Indonesia.

Since they had been the team to finish in first place at the Race's third Pit Stop, "Friends and former Olympic Snowboarders" Andy Finch and Tommy Czeschin were the first team to depart from the temple at 8:17AM.

They were then followed by "Father/Son Adventurers" Laurence Sunderland and Zac Sunderland at 8:28AM, "Dating Couple" Jeremy Cline and Sandy Draghi at 9:40AM, "Siblings" Justin Young and Jennifer Young at 9:41AM, "Engaged Couple" Ernie Halvorsen and Cindy Chiang at 9:42AM, "Married Couple" Marcus Pollard and Amani Pollard at 9:46AM, "Grandparents" Bill Alden and Cathi Alden at 9:46AM, and Liz and Marie at 10:05AM.


Upon opening their departure clues, the teams were instructed to fly to Phuket, Thailand and make their way to Nonthasak Marine where they would find a floating pier.

Andy and Tommy were the first team to try to secure their flights, and they quickly learned that a direct flight was not available. They were given the option to fly on a 9:40AM flight to Jakarta, Indonesia, where they could then travel to Phuket. Andy and Tommy shared the information they had received with Laurence and Zac and both teams then booked the same flight.

The other six teams arrived at the airport soon after and discovered they could take a 12:45PM flight to Jakarta, fly from Jakarta to Phuket at 4PM and then finally arrive in Phuket at 6:50PM. They all booked the same flight and believed they were far behind Andy and Tommy and Laurence and Zac.

However, after Andy and Tommy and Laurence and Zac arrived in Jakarta, they learned there was no flight that would take them directly to Phuket. As a result, they had to fly to Bangkok and then to Phuket, which would allow them to arrive at their destination at 7:40PM -- almost a full hour behind the six other teams they had started the leg with an advantage over.

Once the six teams arrived in Phuket at 6:50PM, they rushed to the floating pier and received their next set of clues. The clues instructed them to head to a dock nearby where they could hop on speedboats.


The six teams all got to the dock remotely around the same time. However, Jeremy and Sandy were the first team to arrive and they followed by Liz and Marie, Ernie and Cindy, Amani and Marcus, Justin and Jennifer, and Bill and Cathi. They realized the dock didn't open until 8AM, so they all had to wait until the following morning. Andy and Tommy and Laurence and Zac were then given the chance to catch up.

Once the dock opened, everyone rushed to secure their speedboats and jet off to a location where it then became time for the teams to complete one of two Detour tasks: "Coral Reconstruction" or "Beach Preparation."

"Coral Reconstruction" required the teams to construct a coral nursery and load it onto a kayak along with a tray of live coral. They then had to paddle out to a buoy, dive underwater and strategically place their coral into the nursery. Once their work satisfied a local marine biologist, they would then be handed their next clue.

"Beach Preparation" required the teams to collect 20 chairs and 10 umbrellas with the corresponding sticker found in their clues and set them up to the exact standards requested by a local beach club. Once a tenant believed the teams put all the chairs and umbrellas perfectly in place on the beach, he would give them their next clue. 

Andy and Tommy were the first team to arrive at the Detour and they were then followed by Amani and Marcus, Justin and Jennifer, Jeremy and Sandy, Ernie and Cindy, Laurence and Zac, Liz and Marie, and finally Bill and Cathi.


Andy and Tommy, Amani and Marcus, Justin and Jennifer, Bill and Cathi, and Jeremy and Sandy opted to do the "Coral Reconstruction" task, while Liz and Marie, Ernie and Cindy and Laurence and Zac attempted to complete the "Beach Preparation" task.

The "Coral Reconstruction" task proved to be the harder task, as Jeremy and Sandy, Amani and Marcus and Bill and Cathi struggled so much they decided to quit and switch tasks. However, Liz and Marie had a lot of trouble conquering the beach task because their umbrellas would not stay upright into the ground.

Once Amani and Marcus finished the "Beach Preparation" task, Amani told the girls to try to twist the umbrellas into the ground rather than throwing sand on top of the poles. Their advice didn't help Liz and Marie very much at all, and the girls lost a lot of ground as it seemingly took them hours to complete the task.

Andy and Tommy got through the "Coral Reconstruction" task quickly and efficiently in finished the Detour in first place. They were then followed by Justin and Jennifer, Ernie and Cindy, Laurence and Zac, Amani and Marcus, Jeremy and Sandy, Bill and Cathi, and finally Liz and Marie.

Upon completion of their chosen Detour tasks, the teams learned they had to use a compass to direct them north for 13 minutes by boat to locate Soap Island, the island pictured on their medallions.


Andy and Tommy found the navigation simple and arrived at Soap Island before any of the other teams. They were then followed by Justin and Jennifer, Laurence and Zac, Amani and Marcus, Jeremy and Sandy, Ernie and Cindy, Bill and Cathi, and eventually Liz and Marie.

For the Roadblock task, one member of each team was required to climb a large rock wall and retrieve their next set of clues in a bird's nest towards the top of the rocks.

Andy opted to do the Roadblock task for his team, and he was later joined by Jennifer, Zac, Amani, Jeremy, Ernie, Bill, and Marie.

All of the team members seemed to complete the task fairly quickly and found it to be an enjoyable, different experience.

Andy and Tommy -- who had been in the lead the entire way -- maintained their first-place position in the fourth leg of the Race. They were followed by Justin and Jennifer, Laurence and Zac, Amani and Marcus, Jeremy and Sandy, Ernie and Cindy, Bill and Cathi, and Liz and Marie.


After completing the Roadblock task, the teams learned they had to make their way to Koh Panyi, a floating village established to provide easy access for fishing that would serve as the Race's fourth Pit Stop, and search for a soccer field floating at the end of the village.

Laurence and Zac, although they thought navigating their way via boat would be one of their strongest skills, got a little lost on the way to Koh Panyi.

Amani and Marcus, who were set on arriving at the Pit Stop in fourth place, had trouble finding the soccer field once they arrived at the village and wasted a little time running around looking for it.

Andy and Tommy ended up arriving to the Pit Stop in first place and were greeted by Phil, who told them they had each won $5,000.

Following Andy and Tommy, Justin and Jennifer finished the fourth leg in second place, while Jeremy and Sandy secured third. Laurence and Zac arrived at the Pit Stop mat in fourth place, and Ernie and Cindy were close behind in fifth place.

Amani and Marcus finally found the soccer field and came in sixth place, and they were then followed by Bill and Cathi and Liz and Marie -- who were expecting their fate of being eliminated since they knew they were in last place.


"Liz and Marie, you are the last team to arrive," Phil told the girls once they arrived on the mat.

"We figured that. We haven't seen..." Liz started.

"... anyone for hours," Marie interjected.

"Are you glad you came on this Race?" Phil asked.

"Of course, this was incredible!" Marie said.

"We haven't done anything like this before. This was one of the best experiences of our lives," Liz added.


"I just can't believe this. It's really sad," Marie said about her team's apparent ouster.

"Well today's your lucky day, because this is a non-elimination leg of the Race," Phil explained.

"Oh my God are you serious?! I'm so happy!" Marie exclaimed.

"Of course this does mean that at some point in the next leg of the Race, you will be facing a Speed Bump, and you will need to complete that before you can continue on the Race," Phil said.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski