Louis Stravato and Michael Naylor avoid 'The Amazing Race' ouster

The "Detectives" team of Louis Stravato and Michael Naylor survived to compete in The Amazing Race's penultimate sixteenth-season leg despite a last-place finish during Sunday night's broadcast of the Race's tenth leg.


"Mike and I are blessed that we're still here and we're going to give them the fight of a life.  I want to be able to say that I finished The Amazing Race, no matter whether being No. 1, No. 2 or No. 3, I finished it," Louis said after discovering they had managed to avoid elimination.

Instead of being eliminated, Louis and Michael will get to continue in the eleventh leg that will determine the competition's final three teams but will have to overcome a Speed Bump, a special additional task that only they will have to complete.

"That's fine, you'll see we're fighters... we live to fight another day." Michael told The Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan after he noted they'd have to deal with the extra task.

The Amazing Race's tenth sixteenth-season episode began with the Race's four remaining teams leaving the ninth Pit Stop at Marina Barrage, a massive reservoir in Singapore.


Since they had been the first team to arrive at the Pit Stop, "Brothers" Dan Pious and Jordan Pious were the first team to depart at 4:47PM.  They were then followed by "Dating Models" Caite Upton and Brent Horne at 6:18PM, "Brothers/Cowboys" Jet McCoy and Cord McCoy at 7:04PM, and Louis and Michael at 7:35PM.

Upon opening their departure clues, the teams were instructed to fly more than 2,300 miles to Shanghai, China and then take a taxi to Zhujiajiao, a nearby village known as "the Venice of China" -- where they would find waiting boats that would take them to their next clues.

Despite the varied Pit Stop departure times, all four teams ended flying to Shanghai on the same 12:55AM flight.  As they waited in the airport food court, Brent and Caite boasted about their successful U-Turning of ousted "Dating Couple" Carol Rosenfeld and Brandy Snow in the Race's previous leg.

"I saw the U-Turn and I was like, 'Oh my god, it's blank!,'" Caite gushed.  "And I got there really quick and I turned to the camera and I was like 'I'm U-Turning Carol and Brandy!' Like my eyes got huge!  I'm the only girl left!  Yay!"

Afterward, Jordan made it clear that he felt the couple had made the wrong decision.


"Brent and Caite's U-Turning of Carol and Brandy was driven so much driven by personal issues that they have," Jordan lamented.  "It was a very poor decision to U-Turn them.  The cowboys are incredibly strong competitors and that's the team to U-Turn at that point in the game.  We're all going to look back at that and question that decision."

Bret and Caite were the first team to arrive at the next cluebox after the teams arrived in Shanghai.  Jet and Cord arrived second place while Dan and Jordan and Louis and Michael both got lost on the way and ended up arriving in third and fourth place, respectively.

After retrieving their next clue, the teams were told that one member of each team would have to complete a Roadblock task that required them to use traditional techniques to make one kilogram of Chinese noodles by hand.  Caite, Jet, Jordan, and Louis all opted to do the task for their teams.

Despite arriving second, Jet was the first one to complete the noodle-making task.  Caite then completed it in second place and was followed by Louis and -- after what seemed to be a lengthy gap -- Jordan.

Once they completed the Roadblock the teams received clues that instructed them to travel to Shanghai's fashion district, where they would find their next clue.


Jet and Cord were the first team to find fashion district.  After retrieving their next clue from the cluebox, they were instructed to go inside a nearby fashion house and locate the proper garments to dress a model as shown in a sketch -- which they managed to complete before any of the other teams arrived at the fashion house.

After completing the fashion house task, Jet and Cord received a clue that instructed them to make their way to HongKou Football Stadium, where they would find their next cluebox.

Brett and Caite were the second to arrive at fashion district and begin the fashion house task.  Louis and Michael appeared to arrive shortly afterwards but walked in the wrong direction while looking for the fashion house, resulting in the detectives only finding it after Brett and Caite had already completed the task and left for the stadium.

"I was just shaking my head in disgust.  What kind of detectives are we?" Louis joked afterwards.

Dan and Jordan then arrived shortly after Louis and Michael, resulting in the teams -- which ended having to have their models swap stockings -- completing the fashion house task within a couple of minutes of each other.


After arriving at the stadium in first place, Jet and Cord receive a clue which informed them that all the teams would have to complete a special second Roadblock that would have to be done by the team member who did not do the leg's prior Roadblock.

The Roadblock task required the team member to assemble a giant puzzle comprised of 96 large placard-size pieces. Once assembled the team member would then have to hand the placards to fans sitting in the stands, who would then flip and hold up the pieces to reveal the location of the stadium seat that contained the team's next clue.

Brent and Caite arrived at the stadium in second place.  Since they had been the first ones to leave the fashion house, Louis and Michael also managed to arrive at the stadium slightly ahead of Dan and Jordan.

Despite the cowboys' earlier arrival at the stadium, Brent seemed to be closing the gap on Cord's puzzle lead until a gust of wind blew some of both racers' half-completed puzzles away, forcing them to scramble to retrieve the blowing pieces and use their whatever they could to attempt to secure the remaining pieces.

"I can not believe this... I can not freaking believe that... I was so close!" Brent vented as he retrieved his pieces.


"Oh, man," Cord said as he rushed to secure his remaining pieces.

"I was really grooving and I really thought we'd catch up to the cowboys, and all of the sudden the wind came up and just jumbled everything back up, so it was like starting all over," Brent lamented afterwards.

Although they couldn't help Michael and Dan complete their puzzles, Louis and Jordan immediately began making suggestions to help spare their own teams a similar fate.

"Cord and Brent's pieces went flying all over the field!" Louis shouted.

"Bro, use our backpacks to hold things down!" Jordan screamed.

After using some of the stadium's extra folding chairs to help secure his pieces, Cord became the first team member to successfully complete his puzzle and distribute the correctly ordered pieces to the fans in his assigned section.


"Section 20, Row 16, Seat 33!" he said after watching the fans hold up the placards and reveal the location of his team's next clue.

Upon retrieving the clue and opening it, the cowboys were instructed to take the subway to the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, a massive new museum that was build in 2001 and would serve as the location of the Race's tenth Pit stop.

Brent then retrieved his clue next and he and Caite left for the Pit Stop in second place.

But Jet and Cord's lead proved too much to overcome and they still arrived at the Pit Stop in first place.

"Winning first for the fourth time was awesome," Cord gushed afterwards.

Brent and Caite then arrived at the Pit Stop in second place, leaving the brothers and detectives teams scrambling to avoid a fourth-place finish that could result in their elimination from The Amazing Race. 


However the competition quickly turned into a mismatch when Michael struggled to complete his puzzle, resulting in Dan and Jordan easily reaching the Pit Stop in third place.

Louis and Michael finally completed the Roadblock and reached the Pit Stop after nightfall, where Phil's phrasing initially made the pair believe they were being eliminated.

"Louie and Michael, you are the last team to arrive.  I'm sorry to tell you that you are out," Phil said.  "Out in the cold!  Because this is a non-elimination leg, you are still in the Race."

"Oh, you are kidding me!  You are kidding me!" Louis said.

"Thank you!" Michael added.

"I had you two times over, man!" Phil joked.


Phil then explained the detectives will get to continue in the Race but will have to overcome the special Speed Bump task in the next leg.

"That's fine... just a minor Speed Bump," Louis joked.

"Louie, don't make me eliminate you," Phil replied.

"No, no, no... that's not happening," Louis smiled.






About The Author: Steven Rogers