Mark Yturralde and Bill Hahler eliminated from 'The Amazing Race'

"Best Friends" Mark Yturralde and Bill Hahler began The Amazing Race 13 believing they had a mental edge in the competition, however following a mental lapse, the pair became the third team to be eliminated from the competition during last night's broadcast of the CBS reality series.


"We came into this thing thinking 'We can't compete physically,' we know that," Mark said after the pair were eliminated after receiving a 30-minute Pit Stop penalty for taking a taxi to a location they'd been instructed to walk to. "But we can compete mentally, and you'd think that we would read the clue and read it better."

"The Amazing Race is by far the hardest game I've ever played and running The Amazing Race with Mark has been just a wonderful experience," added Bill.

The Amazing Race 13's third episode began with the nine remaining teams leaving the Cidade da Crianca, a park in Fortaleza, Brazil that served as the location of The Amazing Race 13's Pit Stop for the previous leg of the race.

While resting at the park before departing on the Race's next leg, the "Divorcees" team of Kelly Crabb and Christy Cook clashed with the "Brother and Sister" team of Nick and Starr Spangler after they accused Starr of pushing Christy's drying sports bra off of a ledge. Although Starr denied their accusation, neither Kelly nor Christy believed her denial.


Following the mandatory rest period, the "Separated Couple" team of Ken and Tina Greene -- the first team to reach the Pit Stop -- were the first to depart at 12:51AM.

After opening their first clue, Ken and Tina were instructed to take a taxi to the local airport and board one of two flights departing at the same time that would take them 1,200 miles to La Paz, Bolivia. Once there, they had to travel to a statue of Simon Bolivar and wait for the delivery of a newspaper which would contain an advertisement that would be their next clue.

Mark and Bill left the Pit Stop next at 12:52AM, followed by "Newly Dating Couple" Terence Gerchberg and Sarah Leshner at 1:13AM, "Long Distance Dating Couple" Aja Benton and Ty White at 1:14AM,  "Mother and Son" Toni and Dallas Imbimbo  at 1:15AM, Nick and Starr at 1:17AM, Kelly and Christy at 1:18AM,  "Fraternity Brothers" Andrew Lappitt and Dan Honig at 1:22AM, and "Friends" Marisa Axelrod and Brooke Jackson, who also departed at 1:22AM.

While Ken and Tina were the first team to arrive at the airport, all the teams arrived in time to catch one of the two flights that arrived in Bolivia at the same time.

Upon arriving in Bolivia, the teams immediately had difficulty catching their breathe because of the high elevation of La Paz, which is nearly 13,000 feet above sea level.


Nick and Starr where the first team to catch a cab out of the airport, with Mark and Bill right on their heels, however all of the teams ended up bunching back together at the Simon Bolivar statue, where they discovered their newspaper wouldn't be delivered until the next morning.

As the teams spent the night in front of the statue, Nick attempted to make amends with Kelly and Christy by saying that he did not think that Starr would have touched their clothing. However his attempt didn't seem to get anywhere as Kelly and Christy maintained their belief that Starr had done it.

The next morning, the teams began flipping through copies the day's newspaper as soon as a truck delivered them.

Andrew and Dan were the first team to find the advertisement -- which instructed them to travel to the Narvaez Hat and Shoe Store at Plaza Murillo, a local plaza, and buy a traditional cholita hat.  As part of the hat purchase, a cashier would give them their next clue.

Andrew and Dan jumped in a cab and snuck away without revealing their destination to the rest of the teams, as did Ken and Tina, Nick and Starr and Toni and Dallas.


Terrence and Sarah were the fifth team to find the clue but enlisted the help of a local woman who guided them on foot instead of hailing a taxi. Mark and Bill found the clue shortly thereafter and decided to walk as well, however they struggled with the high altitude and thin air.

Kelly and Christy found the clue next and were followed by Aja and Ty, who both hailed cabs and left Marisa and Brooke behind as the last team.

Andrew and Dan were the first team to arrive at the hat shop -- just slightly ahead of Terrence and Sarah.  After buying their hats, the teams received clues informing them it was time for the leg's two Detour options: "Musical March" or "Bumpy Ride."

"Musical March" required the teams to walk to three different plazas and gather members of a band.  Once they'd collected all three groups of band members, they had to march them to a band leader who was waiting at a fourth plaza with their next clue.

"Bumpy Ride" required the teams to walk to Mercado de las Brujas, another nearby location.  Once there, they would have to board some local handmade wooden bicycles and ride down the city's cobblestone streets to the same plaza where the band leader was waiting.


After completing the Detour, each team would also have to decide whether to use a U-Turn opportunity to force one of the teams still behind them to backtrack and do the Detour's other task before moving on.

Andrew and Dan were the first team to reach the hat shop and decided to do "Musical March" but became frustrated by how slow their band members were moving.

Terrence and Sarah were next and decided to "Bumpy Ride," as did Mark and Bill, who arrived third.

However Mark and Bill committed what became a fatal error when they took a taxi to the bicycles instead of traveling on foot as the directions specifically stated.  Terrence and Sarah also made the same initial mistake and hopped in a taxi, however Sarah noticed their mistake and they returned back to the clue location and walked to the bicycles.

Marisa and Brooke were next to arrive at the hat shop and decided to do "Musical March." Using their pep, they were able to get their band to march quicker and passed Andrew and Dan.


Ken and Tina arrived at the hat shop next and decided to do "Bumpy Ride" -- as did Kelly and Christy, Aja and Ty, Nick and Starr, and Toni and Dallas, who were the last team to arrive at the shop.

Mark and Bill were the first team to finish the Detour.  After not deciding not to use the U-Turn, they received a clue instructing them to take a taxi eight miles to Los Titanes Del Ring.

Terrence and Sarah were barely able to hold off Ken and Tina, while Aja and Ty were able to surpass Kelly and Christy on the bikes as well. However none of the teams could beat Marina and Brooke, who finished their "Musical March" Detour task in second place.

Terrence and Sarah finished the leg's Detour in third place, followed by Ken and Tina in fourth place. Andrew and Dan finished the Detour in fifth place and were followed by Nick and Starr -- who elected to not use their U-Turn on Kelly and Christy but asked Aja and Ty to use it on them instead. Aja and Ty followed Nick and Starr, but chose not to U-Turn Kelly and Christy. 

Kelly and Christy finished the Detour slowly after Christy suffered a bad fall, however Toni and Dallas were still the last team to complete the bicycle ride.

After becoming the first team to arrive at Los Titanes Del Ring, Ken and Tina learned that the wrestling event would serve as the site of the leg's Roadblock task.  Dubbed "Fighting Cholitas," the Roadblock required one member of each team to learn a routine with a female wrestler and perform it mistake-free in order to receive their next clue.


If there was a mistake in the routine, the team member would be forced to re-learn the routine before attempting it again.

Ken learned the routine quickly and performed it correctly on his first try.  Afterward he and Tina received a clue that instructed them to take a taxi to Mirador el Monticulo, a hilltop park that would serve as the location of the Race's third Pit Stop.

Marisa and Brooke arrived at the arena second, with Marisa volunteering to take part in the Roadblock. Mark and Bill arrived third, with Mark choosing to take part.

Tony and Dallas arrived fourth and Dallas volunteered to participate, followed by Terrence and Sarah (with Sarah participating), Nick and Starr (with Nick participating), Andrew and Dan (with Dan participating), Aja and Ty (with Ty participating), and Kelly and Christy (with Kelly participating).

Mark performed his routine second, but failed to do the routine correctly. After failing the routine a second time, he required oxygen to catch his breathe.

Marisa performed third and did the routine incorrectly as well, forcing her to go back and re-learn it.


Dallas performed fourth without error and moved his team into second place as they proceeded to the Pit Stop.

Sarah performed fifth but made an error that forced her to relearn the routine as well.

After performing his routine correctly, Dan moved his team into third place. He was followed by correct routines from Nick and Ty, who moved into fourth and fifth place respectively as they traveled to the Pit Stop. 

Marisa was successful in her second attempt, putting her team in sixth place. Mark finally succeeded on his third attempt and moved into seventh place. Sarah succeeded on her second attempt, allowing her team to move into eight place.

Kelly finished her routine successfully on her first attempt, however she and Christy still left the Roadblock in last place.

For the second consecutive leg, Ken and Tina were the first team to arrive at the Pit Stop.  As their reward, they won a seven-night trip to Cabos San Lucas and the chance to race in an America's Cup yacht match race.


Toni and Dallas were the second team to arrive at the Pit Stop.  Terrence and Sarah managed to find a fast cab and jumped ahead of five teams and finished in third place, with Marisa and Brooke following close behind in fourth place. Aja and Ty followed with a fifth place finish, while Nick and Starr finished in sixth and Andrew and Dan placed seventh.

While in the taxi to the Pit Stop, Mark and Bill realized their earlier cab error and assumed they would receive some type of penalty upon their arrival at the Pit Stop. They were correct, as Phil informed them that they would have to wait 30 minutes before officially checking in.

Unaware of the penalty affecting Mark and Bill, Christy and Kelly worried that they were going to be eliminated, while also deciding that they would confront Starr if they successfully avoided elimination.

While Kelly and Christy did arrive last at the Pit Stop, they did so while Mark and Bill were still waiting out their penalty. As a result, the girls avoided elimination while Mark and Bill were eliminated from The Amazing Race by Phil.

"If we lost a footrace that's one thing," Mark said following his elimination. "But because we lost something on just not reading [the directions] right, that just kills me."

The Amazing Race 13's next episode will air Sunday, October 19 at 8PM ET/PT on CBS.






About The Author: John Bracchitta