'The Amazing Race's Margie and Luke Adams finish leg in first place

The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business' returning Racers Margie Adams and Luke Adams ran a good leg and finished in first place during Sunday night's broadcast of the CBS reality competition's all-stars edition.


The "Mother and Son" team, who originally competed on The Amzing Race's fourteenth season, arrived at the eighteenth edition's fourth Pit Stop prior to the eight other remaining teams. However, all nine teams then learned there would be no mandatory rest period and immediately began the next leg of the around-the-world competition instead. 

The fourth episode of The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business' second all-stars edition began with the competition's nine remaining teams leaving the third Pit Stop at Commodore Perrys Landing in Kurihama. 

Since they had been the team to finish in first place at the Pit Stop in Tokyo, Japan, fourteenth-season "Friends" Zev Glassenberg and Justin Kanew were the first team to depart from Kurihama at 8:44PM.

They were then followed by seventeenth-season "Father and Daughter" team of Gary Ervin and Mallory Ervin at 9:29PM, twelfth-season "Father and Daughter" team of Ronald Hsu and Christina Hsu at 9:38PM, fourteenth-season "Sisters" Jennifer Hoffman and LaKisha Hoffman 9:50PM, fifteenth-season "Harlem Globetrotters" Nathaniel "The Big Easy" Lofton and Herbert "Flight Time" Lang at 10:01PM, and sixteenth-season "Cowboys" team of Jet McCoy and his brother Cord McCoy at 10:34PM.


Following Jet and Cord were twelfth-season "Dating Goths" Vyxsin Fiala and Kent Kaliber (who was known as Kynt Cothron during his initial Race edition) at 11:33PM, Margie and Luke at 11:52PM, and fourteenth-season "Former NFL Cheerleaders" Cara Rosenthal and Jaime Edmondson at 12:42AM.

Upon opening their departure clues, the teams were instructed to travel 2,700 miles to the city of Lijiang, China and make their way to Jade Dragon Mountain. Due to limited availability, the teams were required to take a provided flight to Kunming, China at 9:50AM, but then had to book their own travel from Kunming to Lijiang.

Kent and Vyxsin faced problems right off the bat. They couldn't remember where they parked the car from the previous leg that they needed to drive themselves to Narita Airport. Once the frazzled couple finally found their car, they couldn't figure out how to unlock the trunk to put their bags in, and then eventually got lost by driving in the complete opposite direction of their destination.

"We went the wrong way. We're so far away right now! We've been going the wrong way this entire time!" Vyxsin said.

"We can't give up. The Amazing Race is about tragedies, but it's also about miracles." Kent responded.


Kent and Vyxsin finally found their way and discussed their options with a ticketing agent, discovering they could take a 3:30PM flight to Kunming, which would put them a total of six hours behind the other teams.

Landing in Kunming, China at 7:17PM, the eight teams on the first flight did some research and found they could take a train to Lijiang, which would be faster than waiting for a connecting flight in the morning. Ron and Christina -- who both are fluent in Mandarin -- made the discovery first and took the 8:50PM overnight train by themselves, while the remaining seven teams all took the 10:16PM train.
 
Kent and Vyxsin didn't land until 1:35AM in Kunming because they had no other option except to take a morning flight to Lijiang, as they arrived too late in China to catch a bus or a train. The couple then spent a few hours at a hotel because the airport closed, but returned in the early morning to catch their connecting flight to Lijiang.

However, to add to their series of unfortunate events, Vyxsin lost her passport but then realized she had left it at the ticket counter and reclaimed her travel documents.

"Vyxsin, I'm going to shoot you," Kent repeated.

Meanwhile, Ron and Christina landed in Lijiang at 5:38AM, took a taxi to the base of Jade Dragon Mountain, but then learned there would be no shuttles to take them up the mountain until 8AM. Losing their advantage for taking an earlier train and their lead, the other seven teams caught up with Ron and Christina and they all boarded the shuttle busses and headed up the mountain.


Kent and Vyxsin finally arrived in Lijiang at 8:15AM, while the other eight teams reached an elevation of over 10,500 ft. and discovered their next clue basically all at the same time. Upon opening their clue, the teams were instructed to take part in a popular tourist attraction by properly saddling a yak and riding it across a precarious section of the river.

Once the teams returned to where they started after riding the yaks across the river, they found their next clue. They then learned they would be required to take a gondola further up the mountain to an elevation of almost three miles about sea level, or almost 15,000 ft., and find Spruce Meadow.

Zev and Justin were the first team to arrive at Spruce Meadow and retrieve the teams' next set of clues, which instructed one member of each team to complete a Roadblock task. They were followed by Gary and Mallory, Jet and Cord, Flight Time and Big Easy, Jaime and Cara, Margie and Luke, Ron and Christina, and Kisha and Jen.

For the Roadblock task, one member of each team had to search among tens of thousands of hanging charms for the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac. Once the teams found all the animals and put them in their correct order, they would receive their next clue.

Meanwhile, Kent and Vyxsin were way behind the other teams as Vyxsin was saddling up and riding her yak.


Cara opted to do the Roadblock for her team, and she was later joined by Luke, Mallory, Zev, Cord, Big Easy, Christina, Jen, and eventually Vyxsin.

Many of the teams struggled to find all the animals they needed for the zodiac, but Mallory was able to complete the task fairly quickly as she and Gary were the first team to complete the Roadblock task. They were followed by Margie and Luke, Jet and Cord, Flight Time and Big Easy, Jaime and Cara, Kisha and Jen, Zev and Justin, and finally Kent and Vyxsin -- who cried and grew so flustered over the task that she seemingly wanted to give up and kept calling herself "stupid."

Zev and Justin also had a lot of trouble as they lost their commanding lead and remained searching for the correct charms until Kent and Vyxsin both arrived, which really got Zev and Justin nervous.

After finishing the Roadblock task, the teams were instructed to travel by marked bus to Old Town Lijiang and find an ancient prayer wheel.

Margie and Luke were the first team to discover the ancient wheel, and were followed by Gary and Mallory, Ron and Christina, Flight Time and Big Easy, Jet and Cord, Kisha and Jen, Jaime and Cara, and Zev and Justin. It was not shown whether Kent and Vyxsin made it to the wheel.


Upon arriving at the ancient wheel, each team member had to locate his or her Chinese zodiac sign on the wheel, write a wish on a piece of paper, and deposit it in the proper slot to receive their next clue.

Ron and Christina ended up getting on the wrong bus and as a result, hopped off and quickly got on Flight Time and Big Easy's marked bus.

Margie and Luke were the first to execute their wish successfully. They were followed by Gary and Mallory, Ron and Christina, Jet and Cord, Kisha and Jen, Jaime and Cara, Flight Time and Big Easy, and Zev and Justin.

The teams then learned it was time for them to complete one of two Detour tasks: "Hammer" or "Horn."

"Hammer" required the teams to pulverize hot molten candy in the traditional method using wooden mallets. Once they prepared the candy correctly, the confectioner would hand them their next clue.

"Horn" required the teams to pick up and carry a long, cumbersome ceremonial horn while leading a procession of Naxi dancers though town to Wencheng Palace.


Jet and Cord, Kisha and Jen, Margie and Luke, Jaime and Cara, Gary and Mallory, and Ron and Christina all opted to do the "Hammer" task, while Flight Time and Big Easy and Zev and Justin chose to attempt the "Horn" task.

Margie and Luke were the first team to complete the Detour task, and they were then followed by Jet and Cord, Gary and Mallory, Ron and Christina, Kisha and Jen, Flight Time and Big Easy, Jaime and Cara, and Zev and Justin. Kent and Vyxsin were still very far behind.

After finishing the Detour task and open opening their next clue, the teams learned they must make their way to the center of Lijiang and find the Race's fourth Pit Stop at the Eternal Tower, perched on top of Lion Hill.

Margie and Luke were the first team to find The Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan at the Eternal Tower, claiming first place and winning a trip to Aruba.

"Margie and Luke, you are the first team to arrive," Phil told them.

"Yay, yay!" Luke celebrated.


"But right now, you're still racing," Phil said.

"No!" Luke complained.

"You are still racing. Rip and read it," Phil explained after handing the team their next clue.

"You don't know what I want to say right now," Margie said angrily.

"Good luck guys!" Phil said after they took off and started the Race's fifth leg.

Jet and Cord were the next team to arrive at the Race's fourth Pit Stop, securing second place. Gary and Mallory then arrived in third place and were followed by Ron and Christina.


Kisha and Jen then arrived in fifth place, while Flight Time and Big Easy ended up in sixth place. Jaime and Cara then followed and arrived in seventh place, while Zev and Justin and Kent and Vyxsin were next in line to finish the leg but were not shown arriving at the Race's fourth Pit Stop.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski