Mark and Michael Munoz get eliminated from 'The Amazing Race'

The "Brothers/Stuntmen" team of Mark and Michael Munoz became the seventh team eliminated from The Amazing Race 14 during last night's broadcast on CBS.


"Doing The Amazing Race with my brother was definitely special," said Mark, a 48-year-old stuntman/jockey from Los Angeles, CA. "He hung in there tough and we definitely created a strong team to finish where we did in this race."

"This race has definitely made me a better person," added Michael, a 51-year-old stuntman/actor from Maui, HI. It's showed me places and people that I would not otherwise experience. The world's an amazing place."

The Amazing Race 14's ninth leg began with the five remaining teams departing the Phya Thai Palace in Bangkok, Thailand that had served as the Pit Stop for the Race's eighth leg.

Following the mandatory rest period, the "Mother and Son" team of Margie Adams, a 51-year-old clinical research associate from Denver, CO, and Luke Adams, a 23-year-old college graduate from Denver, CO, were the first team to depart at 9:36 AM.  As they departed, the teams received clues that instructed them to fly nearly 1,000 miles to Guilen, China. Once there, they would have to travel to Quing Xiu Liu street and find a hair salon where they would receive their next clue.


Marge and Luke were followed by the teams of "Former NFL Cheerleaders" Cara Rosenthal, a 26-year-old law student from Boca Raton, FL, and Jaime Edmondson, a 29-year-old former police officer from Ft. Lauderdale, FL, at 10:30AM; "Sibling Lawyers" of Tammy Jih, a 26-year-old lawyer from San Francisco, CA, and Victor Jih, a 35-year-old lawyer from Los Angeles, CA, at 10:40AM; and "Sisters" Jennifer Hoffman, a 24-year-old marketing assistant from Louisville, KY, and LaKisha Hoffman, a 28-year-old program coordinator from Bronx, NY, at 12:43PM.

Mark and Michael were the fifth and final team to depart at 4:08PM. In addition to beginning the leg a sizable distance behind the other teams, they also were aware that, due to their last-place finish in the prior non-elimination leg, they would also have to complete an extra Speed Bump task during the upcoming leg.

Since they'd been the first team to depart the Pit Stop, Margie and Luke ended up getting to the airport in time to board an 11:20AM flight to Guangzhou that would get them there with more than enough time to make a 8:30PM connecting flight to Guilen.

Although they departed the Pit Stop later, Jaime and Cara and Tammy and Victor also got on a separate 1:15PM flight that also allowed them to make the same 8:30PM connecting flight to Guilen.

Jen and Kisha arrived at the airport in fourth place and booked a 3:20PM flight that allowed them to arrive in Guangzhou in time to make another 9:10PM connecting flight to Guilen.


Due to their time penalties, Mark and Michael lagged behind significantly and ended up booking flights that didn't get them into Guilen until the following day.

However, although Jen and Kisha had been the fourth team to depart the Pit Stop, they got lucky when the first three teams' 8:30PM connecting flight got delayed but their own 9:10PM flight ended up leaving Guangzhou on time.

Upon arriving in Guilen first, Jen and Kisha jumped into the lead and got their cab and headed to the hair salon. When the second flight eventually landed, Tammy and Victor left for the salon in second place and were followed by Margie and Luke and Jaime and Cara.

Mark and Michael continued to lag behind the other teams and arrived in Guilen in last place.

While Jen and Kisha were the first team to arrive at the salon's street, they -- along with Tammy and Victor who arrived in second -- were initially unable to find the clue box.  Instead, Jaime and Cara ended up being the first team to locate the clue box and receive the next clue which instructed the teams to travel to the nearby #24 Bridge.


Tammy and Victor later became the second team to find the clue box at the salon.  However, Jen and Kisha and Margie and Luke ended up physically clashing when they arrived at the clue box at the same time. Luke seemed to push his body and lift his elbow toward Jen as they both went for the clue box at the same time, causing Jen to to call him a "bitch."

"Game on, they're bitching," said Jen, who was still angered that Margie and Luke had told their cab driver to give Jen and Kisha's cab driver incorrect directions during the previous leg.

Once arriving at the bridge, the teams learned that it was time for the leg's Roadblock task, which required one member from each team to take a boat out to the middle of the nearby river and train a local bird to retrieve 10 fish with the help of a local expert before receiving their next clue. Tammy chose to complete the task when her team became the first one to reach the bridge, as did Jaime after she and Cara arrived at the bridge in second place.

Meanwhile, Jen and Luke tussled again when they reached the bridge's clue box at the same time once again. After running to the box right behind her, Luke's momentum seemed to push Jen into the clue box. Jen then responded by pushing Luke back with her arm as she attempted to open the clue box and retreive a clue envelope, causing Margie to shout that Kisha needed to "cut it out!"

Jen then volunteered to take part in the Roadblock task, as did Luke.


Mark and Michael continued to lag behind the other teams and were only delayed further after arriving at the hair salon and learning that their Speed Bump task required them to each wash and dry the hair of a waiting woman before continuing receiving their next clue.

"It felt like I was giving my mom a shampoo and dry," Mark said before beginning to style the hair. After completing the extra task, they moved forward to the bridge and tried to remain optimistic.

"You gotta have a little bit of optimism to stay in this game and keep pushing," Mark said.

Meanwhile, back at the Roadblock, Tammy struggled to train her birds as they refused to pick up the fish she was throwing at them. However Jen fared much better and she and Kisha became the first team to return to shore to receive the next clue which instructed the teams to travel to the Ancient Sough Gate, a 1,000-year-old structure.

Jen and Kisha were followed by Jaime and Cara, Tammy and Victor, and Margie and Luke. After leaving the challenge well ahead of Margie and Luke, they both vented about their dislike of the mother/son team.


"I think Margie and Luke are the team that we definitely are out for at this moment," said Kisha.
"That was just dirty and unnecessary," added Jen.

After arriving at the gate first, the sisters learned that it was time for them to complete one of the leg's two Detour tasks: "Calligraphy" and "Choreography."

"Choreography" required the teams would to join a morning dance group. After learning the dance routine, the teams would have to perform it correctly for a set of judges in order to receive their next clue.

"Calligraphy" required the teams to visit four separate calligraphy stations and correctly write a series of Chinese characters in order to receive their next clue.

Jen and Kisha chose "Calligraphy" while Jaime and Cara picked "Choreography." Margie and Luke and Tammy and Victor also chose "Calligraphy."

Meanwhile, Mark and Michael continued to lag behind in last place as Mark took part in the Roadblock task.


While the three teams doing "Calligraphy" soon bunched together at each of the stations making it hard to determine who was in the lead, Jaime and Cara struggled with their dance challenge and were denied their clue during their first two dance attempts.

The three "Calligraphy" teams finished the challenge at approximately the same time, with Tammy and Victor being the first team to receive the new clue that instructed them to make their way by foot to Banyan Lake and find the leg's Pit Stop based on a drawing of the view that the location offered.

The "Calligraphy" teams all remained right on top of each other as they neared the leg's Pit Stop mat, with Jen and Kisha eventually becoming the first team to get both of their players on their mat to finish the race in first place. As a reward, The Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan informed them that they had won a trip to Barbados as their prize. They were followed by Tammy and Victor in second place and Margie and Luke in third place.

After all three teams had checked in, Luke insisted -- against his mother's advice -- on telling Phil about his confrontations with Jen during the leg. Jen responded that she had called Luke a "bitch" because his decision to push her had been "a bitch move."

Margie then shot back that Jen had "bashed into" Luke from behind and "reached over him." After Jen offered her explanation, Luke then stormed off while signing "bitch," leading to Margie becoming enraged when she felt that Kisha was laughing at Luke when he returned and attempted to explain his side of the incidents. Phil subsequently attempted to reassure Margie that he did not think Kisha had been laughing at Luke.

"It's a competition and people are gonna get aggressive and can give us evil looks and we'll just look at you and smile and it might piss you off more," Jen said later.


Margie sounded as if she fit that description perfectly following the confrontation.

"Jennifer and Kisha were just over there laughing and because I think they felt like they got away with something," she said. "It's just been a bad day and I want it to be over."

Meanwhile, after contemplating switching Detour tasks, Jaime and Cara decided to try the "Choreography" task one more time and keep repeating the dance until the song's end instead of only doing it once and stopping. Their plan worked, and ended up arriving at the Pit Stop in fourth place.

Mark and Michael eventually followed in fifth place and were told they had been eliminated from the competition.

The next episode of The Amazing Race 14 will air Sunday, April 26 at 8PM ET/PT on CBS.






About The Author: John Bracchitta