'The Amazing Race' ousts Cara Rosenthal and Jaime Edmondson

The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business eliminated returning fourteenth-season Racers Cara Rosenthal and Jaime Edmondson during Sunday night's broadcast of the CBS reality competition's all-stars edition.


The "Former NFL Cheerleaders" team became the third team eliminated from the around-the-world competition after they arrived last at the Race's fifth Pit Stop in Kunming, China.

"This team isn't a quitting team and it certainly would have been nice for us to win, but not everyone can win the Race," Cara said.  "I do think it was worth it for us to come back."

The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business' fifth episode began where the fourth episode had left off -- with the competition's nine remaining teams arriving at the Race's fourth Pit Stop in Lijiang, China and host Phil Keoghan telling them they needed to keep racing and handing them their next clue.

After opening the clue, the teams were instructed to go to the Lijiang train station and travel 400 miles by train back to Kunming, China.  Then, once there, they would have to travel to the Dounan Flower Market and search for their next clue. 


In addition, the teams were warned that next leg would also feature a Double U-Turn which would allow two teams to force two other teams to do both of the next Detour's tasks.

Last week's episode had concluded with seven of the nine teams already having arrived at the Pit Stop so the broadcast began by focusing on the arrivals of the two remaining teams: fourteenth-season "Friends" Zev Glassenberg and Justin Kanew and twelfth-season "Dating Goths" Vyxsin Fiala and Kent Kaliber (who was known as Kynt Cothron during his initial Race edition).

Zev and Justin arrived at the Pit Stop in eighth place while Vyxsin and Kent finished a distant last after the couple -- who had already been behind after missing a provided flight from Tokyo, Japan to Kunming at the beginning of the fourth leg -- had to return to a gondola station to retrieve a pack containing their personal items and passports.

However, after they arrived at the Pit Stop, Phil also informed Vyxsin and Kent that while they had only taken another flight after missing the provided Tokyo-to-Kunming flight all the other teams had taken, they would receive a 30-minute time penalty at the next Pit Stop for not utilizing a provided flight.

"There is some bad news.  You chose to take an alternate flight from Tokyo to Kunming.  They specifically told you what flights you were allowed to take.  For that, you have incurred a 30-minute penalty and you will need to wait that out before I check you into the next Pit Stop," Phil explained.


After opening their next clue and learning about the next leg's Double U-Turn, Vyxsin and Kent decided not to tell any of the other teams about their 30-minute penalty.

"Definitely not going to let any other teams know anything about this penalty, everybody would definitely be targeting us for a U-Turn if they knew," Kent said as the pair took a taxi to the Lijiang train station.

"You're so smart," Vyxsin replied.

Once at the train station, Vyxsin and Kent reunited with the eight other teams and followed their lead in boarding tickets on the 7:05PM train -- the next train to Kunming.

After arriving in Kunming, all nine teams scrambled to find taxis and travel to the Dounan Flower Market. Fourteenth-season "Sisters" Jennifer Hoffman and LaKisha Hoffman were the first team to arrive at the market. 


They were followed by Zev and Justin, twelfth-season "Father and Daughter" team of Ronald Hsu and Christina Hsu, fourteenth-season "Mother and Son" team Margie Adams and Luke Adams, fourteenth-season "Former NFL Cheerleaders" Cara Rosenthal and Jaime Edmondson, Vyxsin and Kent, sixteenth-season "Cowboys" team of Jet McCoy and his brother Cord McCoy,  seventeenth-season "Father and Daughter" team of Gary Ervin and Mallory Ervin, and fifteenth-season "Harlem Globetrotters" Nathaniel "The Big Easy" Lofton and Herbert "Flight Time" Lang.

Once at the market, the teams received new clues which instructed them to take taxis to the Golden Horse and Jade Cock Memorial Archways and then search for their next clue box.

Ron and Christina used their ability to speak Mandarin to their advantage and were the first team to arrive at the archways.  They were followed by Zev and Justin, Margie and Luke, Kisha and Jen, Big Easy and Flight Time, Cara and Jaime, Kent and Vyxsin, Gary and Mallory, and Jet and Cord.

After retrieving their next clues, the teams learned it was time for them to complete one of the leg's two Detour tasks: "Honor the Past" or "Embrace the Future."

"Honor the Past" required the teams to watch a traditional Tibetan performance, then -- without having taken any notes -- enter an adjacent room and organize a set of 15 dolls representing the actors into the same order the performers had appeared on stage.


"Embrace the Future" required the teams to offload a complete solar water heating system from a truck, carry it to the roof of a tall building, and then properly install it.

Ron and Christina, Zev and Justin, Kisha and Jen, and Gary and Mallory opted to do "Honor the Past" while Margie and Luke, Big Easy and Flight Time, Cara and Jaime, Kent and Vyxsin, and Jet and Cord selected "Embrace the Future."

"Honor the Past" appeared to end up being the easier task as Zev and Justin, Kisha and Jen, and Ron and Christina were the first three teams to complete the Detour. 

They were then followed by Margie and Luke, Cara and Jaime, Jet and Cord, Kent and Vyxsin, Gary and Mallory, and Big Easy and Flight Time.

Once they completed the Detour tasks, the teams received new clues that instructed them to take taxis to the Chinese Minority Heritage Center but also warned that the Double U-Turn was ahead -- causing the teams to grow even more frantic and anxious than usual.


"We will U-Turn if we have to," Jaime said as her team left the "Embrace the Future" Detour task in fifth place with Jet and Cord, Kent and Vyxsin, and Big Easy and Flight Time still completing their solar heating systems.

"Now we have a chance at U-Turning somebody," Vyxsin said after she and Kent left Big Easy and Flight Time completing the Detour task.

In addition, Zev and Justin, Kisha and Jen, and Ron and Christina ended up getting lost on their way to the center when Zev and Justin and Kisha and Jen decided to follow Ron and Christina and their driver incorrectly took them to the Yunnan Province Cultural Center instead of the Kunming Cultural Center.

"He brought us to the wrong place!" Christina explained after speaking with her team's taxi driver.

The mistake allowed Margie and Luke to become the first team to arrive at the cultural center, where they were greeted by the U-Turn station but opted not to U-Turn anyone.

"I think we're the first ones here... let's just go... we're not going to U-Turn," Margie said.


After revealing their U-Turn decision, the teams received new clues which instructed them to travel to the Stone Forest, a natural rock formation outside Kunming, and locate their next clue.

Jet and Cord were the second team to arrive at the cultural center and, like Margie and Luke, they opted not to U-Turn anyone.

"We choose not to U-Turn anyone," Cord said.

However the situation was vastly different when Cara and Jaime and Kent and Vyxsin arrived at the cultural center seconds after the cowboys.

"Listen, keep 'em behind us and we'll U-Turn them," Kent whispered to Vyxsin as the couple beat Cara and Jaime in a foot race to the U-Turn station.

"Globetrotters, we'll do the Globetrotters," Jaime said as all four Racers jockeyed for position around the U-Turn station.


"Who should we do?" Kent asked.

"Globetrotters!  Do the Globetrotters!" Jaime urged Kent.

"But then who are you going to do?" Kent replied.

"There's no one else after us... kick them out!"  Jaime said as Cara seconded the suggestion.

"Wait... I got to [do] them," Kent explained after Vyxsin appeared to initially agree with Jaime and Cara's suggestion.

"Sorry guys," Vyxsin said.


"Sorry, this is the only way we're going to survive," Kent added.

"Unbelievable!" Jaime said.

Afterward, Kent and Vyxsin explained the fact Cara and Jaime were the only other team they were 100% sure was behind them was the reason for their decision.

"On our first Race, one of our most fatal mistakes was U-Turning a team that turned out to be ahead of us," Vyxsin explained.

"I looked over at the redheads and I thought, 'This is the one team I know 100% is behind me,'" Kent said.  "With that automatic penalty [putting] a bullet in the Playboy bunny was the only thing that was going to save us."

Cara and Jaime then immediately opted to U-Turn Big Easy and Flight Time.


"We can still overcome this, we can still do this," Cara said as Jaime sat silently as the pair traveled to the other Detour task.

Zev and Justin then arrived at the cultural center in fourth place (due to Cara and Jaime's need to complete the other Detour task) and were followed by Gary and Mallory, Kisha and Jen, and Ron and Christina.

Big Easy and Flight Time then arrived and learned Cara and Jaime had U-Turned them.

"Damn, they U-Turned us," Big Easy said.

However, both teams seemed to complete the "Honor the Past" Detour task without much difficulty and then returned to the cultural center and headed off to the Stone Forest in the eighth (Cara and Jaime) and ninth (Big Easy and Flight Time) place.

Since they all arrived at the cultural center within seconds of each other, Gary and Mallory, Jet and Cord, and Zev and Justin also attempted to have their taxi drivers follow Kisha and Jen's taxi after discovering that the sisters' driver was the only one who immediately knew how to get to the Stone Forest.  However, the plan ended up backfiring and leaving the teams lost when Kisha and Jen told their taxi driver to deliberately lose the trailing teams in traffic.


In addition, Jaime got upset when her team's taxi driver needed to stop for gas.

"China -- it's like Hawaii all over again.  Our driver stopped for gas there too!" she vented.

Kisha and Jen were the first team to arrive at the Stone Forest and were followed by Ron and Christina, Margie and Luke, Kent and Vyxsin, Jet and Cord, Big Easy and Flight Time, Cara and Jaime, Zev and Justin, and Gary and Mallory.

Upon arriving at the Stone Forest, the teams learned they needed to complete a Roadblock task which required one member of each team to pay homage to the area's dinosaur fossil discoveries by correctly assembling a 20-foot replica of the skeleton of a dilophosaurus. 

Kisha, Christina, Margie, Kent, Jet, Big Easy, Jaime, Justin, and Gary opted to do the task for their teams.

But after arriving at the Roadblock location and discovering they were the last team to begin attempting the physically draining task, Gary and Mallory opted to not take any chances and decided to use the Express Pass they had won in the Race's first leg to skip it instead.


"We're dead last... we're going to use the Express Pass," Gary explained.

After handing in their Express Pass, Gary and Mallory received teams' next clue, which instructed them to make their way back to Kunming and find Green Lake Park, the site of the leg's Pit Stop.

However, despite using their Express Pass, Gary and Mallory ended up getting passed by Jet and Cord when they returned to the parking lot and discovered their taxi driver had left, forcing them to lose time tracking down another taxi.

Jet and Cord then held Gary and Mallory off during the drive back to Kunming, resulting in the cowboys beating the father and daughter to the Pit Stop mat.

As a reward for finishing first, Jet and Cord won $5,000 each.

Margie was the third Racer to complete the Roadblock and she and Luke then arrived at the Pit Stop in third place. 


Kisha then completed the Roadblock in fourth place and was followed by Kent, who lost time when he failed to realize that he had inserted his skeleton's pelvis bone backwards and therefore had to disassemble and reassemble his entire dinosaur skeleton.

Kent and Vyxsin subsequently arrived at the Pit Stop ahead of Kisha and Jen but Phil told them they needed to sit-out their 30-minute penalty, resulting in the sisters checking into the Pit Stop in fourth place instead.

After waiting out their penalty, Kent and Vyxsin were then checked into the Pit Stop in fifth place.

Big Easy then completed his skeleton sixth, resulting in the Globetrotters arriving at the Pit Stop in sixth place.

Like Kent, Christina and Jaime had also assembled their pelvis bones backwards.  However, Jaime only realized the mistake after Christina and Justin had both completed their skeletons, leaving her team in last place.

"Oh god, it's not happening, I can't take this whole thing apart.  I can't physically do it," Jaime said after she realized her error. "Cara, this board right here has to come out and be physically flipped around!"


"Now I think we definitely are doomed," Cara lamented. 

And doomed they were, once Ron and Christina and Zev and Justin arrived at the Pit Stop in seventh and eighth place, respectively.

"Jaime and Cara... I'm sorry to tell you [that] you have been eliminated," Phil told the women after Jaime managed to correct her skeleton and they arrived at the Pit Stop in last place.






About The Author: Steven Rogers