Amazing Race - Blonde BlowOut

Departing the Pit Stop in first place at 6:45am, siblings Azaria & Hendekea ripped open their clue to discover they needed to fly over 3,000 miles to Vilnius, Lithuania. When they landed, they had to drive one of the marked cars to St. Ann's Church to find their next clue. Arriving at the very empty Ouagadougou Airport, Azaria & Hendekea, along with dating couple Nate & Jen, walked to a nearby Internet café for information on the earliest flight out of Burkina Faso to Vilnius. They learned that the earliest flight to Paris, where they could connect to a flight to Vilnius, departed at 10:45pm with plenty of seats available on Air France. With many Teams present in the small Internet café, father and daughter Ron & Christina opted to take a taxi into town to the Air France ticket office hoping to find it open even though the Internet café worker said it would be closed. Their gamble paid off as they walked into the office and tried to book tickets. But Ron's overbearing behavior once again surfaced, much to Christina's chagrin.
Questions and comments Christina tried to direct at the ticket agent resulted in criticism from her father on how to do it better. Later, Ron remarked, "Christina is somewhat naïve. I basically want to teach my daughter how to deal with various kinds of people. In the end, the pair booked tickets on a flight to Vilnius landing at 2:10pm. Both Azaria & Hendekea and Nick & Don separately learned that the earliest flight to Vilnius arrived at 1:25pm. The two Teams got into taxis heading for the Air France office to purchase tickets on this flight, as the curious Nate & Jen and Shana & Jennifer followed along.

Nick & Don entered the Air France office as Ron & Christina exited, unaware they had booked a later flight. Just as Nick & Don sat down to begin purchasing the 1:25pm flight with an agent who didn't speak English very well, Azaria & Hendekea arrived and used a different agent who spoke better English, allowing them to snag the tickets ahead of Nick & Don. When Nick's agent brought up the 1:25 flight on her computer, it was now completely booked. The best the agent could offer the disappointed Nick was a 5:35pm arrival. In a strange and confusing turn, after Nick & Don left for the airport, Nate & Jen used the exact same agent and successfully booked tickets on the 1:25pm flight along with Shana & Jennifer, who used the other ticket agent. Back at the airport, Nick & Don walked into the now open Air France office and managed to upgrade their tickets from the 5:35pm arrival to a 1:35pm arrival via Frankfurt. They would be on the same flight as TK & Rachel and Kynt & Vyxsin. A stunned Nick learned from Nate & Jen that they booked the 1:25pm after he and Don left the Air France office prompting Nick to say, "That lady made me so mad."

With all the Teams at the airport again, the Air France office became crowded as Teams tried to secure the best seats on the flight. Wanting privacy for her transaction, Shana ordered Jennifer to ask a stunned Hendekea to leave the office. Outside, Nate & Jen, TK & Rachel and Azaria & Hendekea all marveled at Shana & Jennifer's behavior. Jen noted, "We can see people's true colors." Inside the office, Jennifer lamented to an unsympathetic Shana that they officially burned any remaining bridges with the other Teams. After bringing up their disagreement over the U-turn in the last leg and Shana's insistence on clearing the office, Jennifer implored Shana to "think it out a little bit." In response, an angry Shana sniped, "I'm way more methodical than you," to which Jennifer retorted, "You're really flattering yourself."

Landing in Vilnius, Lithuania at 1:25pm, Nate & Jen hopped into their car first. Azaria & Hendekea and Shana & Jennifer had difficulties finding the parking lot, allowing Nick & Don and TK & Rachel from the 1:35pm flight to pass by them. Landing in last place at 2:10pm, father and daughter Ron & Christina, not wanting to waste a precious second, wisely paid a taxi to lead them. Christina's smart move gave them an advantage as Nate & Jen and Shana & Jennifer wandered aimlessly through the city. Arriving at St. Ann's Church in first place, Nick & Don ripped open the clue to find a Roadblock. In it, one Team member had to choose a local Lithuanian woman working outdoors, who would give them a package and tell them where to take it. Then, traveling on foot through the confusing streets of the Old Quarter, Team members had to deliver the package to the correct person, who would then hand them their second package and one of four final destinations.

As Nick ran off with instructions to find Weinius in the Vilnius University Courtyard, Kynt and Hendekea opted to deliver packages for their Teams. Nick kept his lead over his competitors as he located Weinius, who instructed Nick to find a hair salon to deliver his second package. Nick's lead soon began to shrink as began asking local after local for directions, but no one could tell him where the salon was located. Eventually, Kynt jumped into first place by delivering his second package to the Gabi Café for his clue. After running back to Vyxsin, Kynt opened the clue to discover they had to drive to the town of Rumsiskes and find Lietuvos Liaudies Buities Muziejus, a Lithuanian outdoor ethnographic museum. With Nick still searching in vain for the hair salon, TK employed the services of a young local man, who directed him through the city to earn the next clue. Ron asked for help at a hotel to complete the task in third. Even Hendekea, who had to find the hair salon as well, stumbled upon a local woman who led her to the correct location. A stunned Don watched five Teams pass them as the sixth, a very lost Shana & Jennifer, finally arrived at the church with a golden opportunity to catch up. As Shana ran off with her package, Nick finally found someone to direct him to the salon. However, Shana's urgency in running, coupled with directional help from locals, allowed her to pass Nick as he bled time finding his way back to the church. The two Teams left the church moments apart knowing that one of them would likely be eliminated. A worried Shana said, "Please, please God, let us stay in this game.

Arriving at Lietuvos Liaudies Buities Muziejus in first place, dating Goths Kynt & Vyxsin opened the clue to discover they had to scour the village for a vacationing Travelocity Roaming Gnome hidden among 100 of his closest Lithuanian gnome friends. With their gnome in hand, the Goths continued along the path to find the next clue, a Detour, having to choose between Count Down and Step Up. In Count Down, Teams made their way through the traditional Mid-Summer's Festival to a marked section of picket fence. Once there, they had to count every picket that makes up the fence and then reveal their calculation to a villager. If they were correct, they would receive their next clue. In Step Up, Teams had to stilt-walk along a marked course to the finish line. If a person fell off before reaching the end, that person had to go back to the beginning and start again. When they reached the end, they would receive their next clue. Running into the festival to try stilt-walking, the Goths marveled at the brightly colored costumes of the dancers and the fun, frightening masks of revelers, as everyone danced to music from accordion players. Later, Kynt remarked, "Vyxsin and I love to play dress up and we were surrounded by kindred souls that made us feel 'normal'."

As the dating Goths struggled to maintain their balance on the traditional wooden stilts, dating couple TK & Rachel and father and daughter Ron & Christina ran into the boisterous festivities determined to take the lead. With all six racers falling down, some closer to the finish line than others, Kynt & Vyxsin opted to cut their losses and switch to counting pickets. After TK successfully stilt-walked the entire distance, he cheered Rachel on. Kynt & Vyxsin started counting pickets and discovered that the loud music and boisterous revelers made concentrating on the number in their heads rather difficult. Reaching 400, the dating Goths disagreed on which picket represented the landmark and returned to the beginning, just as Rachel took her very last step on the stilts to finish the task. Opening their clue, the dating couple discovered they had to make their way on foot to the next Pit Stop at Aukstaitija Windmill.

While TK & Rachel searched for the windmill, Kynt & Vyxsin reached the magic number of 717 pickets and ran off in hopes of overtaking the dating couple. After a close footrace, TK & Rachel claimed first place, a far cry from their near elimination in the previous leg. Phil awarded the ecstatic couple a 10-day trip for two from Travelocity to Japan. The injury-plagued Ron, who was suffering from a hernia, slowly inched along the path to the finish line, where Christina stood waiting, having already traversed the course on stilts. She received a scare when she watched her father take a nasty tumble, forcing him to start over, but her encouraging words kept Ron moving forward as the pair claimed third place for the second leg in a row. Afterwards, Christina said, "I'm so proud of my dad. He's my Superman."

With Azaria & Hendekea finishing in fourth, the frustration of counting got to Nate & Jen as they managed to fowl up each other's concentration each time. This led to another fight between the bickering couple, which reached the pinnacle when Nate called Jen a "bitch". While stunned that he called her that, Jen had enough presence of mind to agree they needed to switch to stilts. This wise choice resulted in a much quicker finish en route to fifth place for the couple.

The partygoers at the festival may have been in a celebratory mood, but grandfather and grandson Nick & Don and friends Shana & Jennifer arrived at the festival with their game faces on as they battled to stay in the Race. With both Teams opting to count pickets, concentration amid the chaos around them would make all the difference. Shana & Jennifer appeared more motivated than ever before, but soon the friends' communication broke down as Shana accused Jennifer of not adopting a strategy to complete the task. Shana sniped, "You're so on a Team of your own, it's ridiculous." Meanwhile, Nick miscounted for his Team, but, as the blondes continued to argue instead of count, he went back and corrected his mistake to reach 717 pickets, earning the clue. Shana eventually let Jennifer count by herself saying, "You just go ahead and count it and if it's wrong, it's all on you." Jennifer did miscount on her attempt, sealing their fate as Nick & Don slipped into sixth place. Arriving on the mat in last place, friends Shana & Jennifer received the bad news from Phil that they had been eliminated from the Race. A tearful Jennifer remarked, "This Race means so much to me. I'm just so disappointed and so hurt that we got eliminated." Shana added, "We come from a comfortable life. We get manicures and pedicures and facials and you come here and all of that goes out the window. I'm just amazed about what we've accomplished."