The Amazing Race eliminated "Dating Couple" Nick DeCarlo and Vicki Casciola during Sunday night's broadcast of the seventeenth edition's eleventh episode, determining the competition's three final teams.

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"I think this Race has made us better people. We still have things to work on communication wise, but it can only get better from here," Vicki said following her team's ouster.

The Amazing Race's eleventh seventeenth-season episode began with the Race's four remaining teams leaving the course's tenth Pit Stop in Hong Kong, China.

Since they had been the first team to arrive at the Pit Stop, "Doctors/Friends" Nat Strand and Kat Chang were the first team to depart at 4:37PM.

They were then followed by "Dating Couple" Jill and Thomas at 4:47PM, "Home Shopping Hosts" Brook Roberts and Claire Champlin at 5:26PM and Nick and Vicki -- who had survived two Race legs, including the tenth one, due to their non-elimination nature -- in last place. 

Upon opening their departure clues, the teams were instructed to fly 1,300 miles to the city of Seoul, South Korea and drive themselves to the De-Militarized Zone near the North Korean border and search for the Seungil Bridge where they would find their next clue.

Nat and Kat, Jill and Thomas and Brook and Claire started off this leg of the Race on an equal playing field as they all got on the first available flight to Seoul, which did not depart for South Korea until 12:25AM.

Nick and Vicki left the Pit Stop significantly later than the other teams, but hoped a flight would allow them to catch up. However, they arrived at the airport too late as the other three teams began to board the 12:25AM flight to Seoul, leaving them with the next available flight at 9:30AM the next morning -- a nine-hour time difference that put them far behind the others.

Upon arriving at the airport, the teams rushed to drive themselves to the Seungil Bridge, where Jill and Thomas found their next clue first. Brook and Claire were the next team to arrive at the bridge and were followed by Nat and Kat and Nick and Vicki later on.

Meanwhile, Nick and Vicki remained far behind the other teams in the Race and were not shown completing any of the tasks from here on out. They apparently had to complete a Speed Bump task as well, requiring them to clean off a tank.

After arriving at the Seungil Bridge, the teams received clues which instructed them to raft down the Hantangang River and then board a humvee that would take them to the U.S. Army Base Camp Casey where they would then find their next clue.

Jill and Thomas were the first team to arrive at Camp Casey and were followed by Brook and Claire and Nat and Kat.

Once the teams arrived at the U.S. Army Base Camp Casey, they received clues which instructed them to complete a Roadblock task that required one team member to walk among the troops as they worked out in perfect unison and find the soldier wearing the headband matching the one they had -- all while trying to not get hit. When teams found the correct headband, a tae kwon do artist would kick a wooden board in half revealing the next clue.

Thomas chose to do the Roadblock task for his team and was later joined by Brook and Kat.

Jill and Thomas remained the frontrunners and were the first team to complete the Roadblock. They were then followed by Brook and Claire and Nat and Kat.

Upon completion of the Roadblock, the teams then received their next clue which instructed them to make their way on foot to a subway station. They must then make their way to Seoul World Cup Stadium where they would find their next clue.

Jill and Thomas were the first team to arrive at the Seoul World Cup Stadium and were then followed by Brook and Claire and Nat and Kat.

Upon finding the stadium, the teams discovered their next clue which instructed them to complete one of two Detour tasks: "Full Throttle" or "Full Bottle."

"Full Throttle" required the teams to make their way on foot or by subway to Mokdong Ice Rink, change into state of the art speed skating suits, and skate a two-person relay for a total of 24 laps.

"Full Bottle" required the teams to make their way on foot or by subway to Namdaemun Market, put on delivery uniforms, and carry a total of six giant ginseng roots to a holistic wellness center. If they could make the deliveries without breaking any of the glass jars and drink a bottle of ginseng tonic, they would receive their next clue.
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Jill and Thomas, Brook and Claire, and Nat and Kat all opted for "Full-Throttle," as they all said they had experience ice skating, except for Claire who was nervous about trying the task. 

Brook and Claire jumped into first place as they were the first team to arrive at the ice rink, and they were followed by Jill and Thomas and Nat and Kat. However, Brook and Claire only arrived first because they took a taxi to the ice rink instead of walking on foot or taking the subway, breaking the Detour task's instructions.

But Jill and Thomas -- who held onto first place for most of the Race's eleventh leg -- jumped back into the lead, taking it from Brook and Claire after completing the "Full Throttle" Detour task first. They were then followed by Brook and Claire and Nat and Kat.

After the Detour task, the teams received a clue that instructed them to make their way to Han Riverside Park and search for a statue of a plane where they would find their next clue.

Meanwhile, Brook and Claire's "kiss count" rose to nine when Claire kissed her team's taxi driver.

Jill and Thomas and Brook and Claire were fighting for first place, but Brook and Claire regained the lead again after they were the first team to arrive at the statue, followed by Jill and Thomas and Nat and Kat.

Upon arriving at Han Riverside Park, the teams were then instructed to make their way to the Temple of Heaven, an imperial shrine built in 1897 for the first and only emperor of Korea, which would serve as the Race’s eleventh Pit Stop.
 
Brook and Claire were the first team to arrive at the Temple of Heaven, but The Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan revealed they would receive a 30-minute penalty for taking a taxi to the ice rink instead of walking or taking the subway as the clue had instructed.
 
Jill and Thomas were the next team to arrive at the Pit Stop and secured first place as Brook and Claire were still waiting out their penalty time. Jill and Thomas won a trip for two to spend five nights in Argentina.

When Brook and Claire's 30 minute penalty was up, Phil revealed they finished in second place, while Nat and Kat arrived soon after in third place.

Given their six-hour penalty for failure to complete the Detour in the tenth leg of the Race and the fact they had trailed behind the other teams for the entire eleventh leg of the Race after missing the first flight out of Hong Kong, Nick and Vicki appeared to arrive at the Pit Stop anticipating their elimination. Phil Keoghan then revealed their expectations had been correct.

"Nick and Vicki, you are the last team to arrive -- I'm sorry to tell you that you've both been eliminated from the Race." Phil said.

"I just feel so blessed that we've made it this far," Vicki noted. "It was the best experience of my life."

"I agree -- we had a great time," Nick added.

"Did you feel like you guys learned something about yourselves?" Phil asked.

"Throughout this Race I learned that getting angry over things doesn't change it. I mean, being rude to people doesn't help at all and that's how I was," Nick explained. "Coming into this, I didn't really care whose feelings I hurt -- I had that tough guy image and this taught me that it really doesn't get you anywhere."

"I actually went through this entire Race without killing him, so I think it's a good thing," Vicki joked.


About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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