Remaining teams: Bella and Douglas (Chicago Cats), Climber and Pinta (Brown County Cats), Ernie and Socks (Rejected Presidential Cats), the Friskies Fancy Feast and Chef's Blend spokescats, Hedley and McClurg (Skunks), Koko and Smoky (Talking Gorilla and Manx cat), Mei Xiang and Tian Tian (Panda Bears), and Spotty and Barney (White House Dogs)

For Pete's sake
Once again, Bella and Douglas are awakened first, with these instructions: "Fly to Moscow, Russia, and find the statue of Peter Tchaikovsky in front of the Moscow Conservatory."

Douglas is not looking forward to the climb down, but there's a surprise: all the teams will get to ride down the hill with Sean Connery in his Aston Martin! "Goodbye, little friends! Good luck! Scotland Forever!" Sean says to each team as he sends them off to Russia with love.

At the Edinburgh Airport, Bella and Douglas, along with Ernie and Socks, get a connecting flight through Stockholm, arriving in Moscow at 3 P.M. On the flight, all the while the paper bag was on Bella's knee. Climber and Pinta, F.F. and C.B., and Hedley and McClurg all will be connecting through Berlin and landing just an hour later. Mei Xiang and Tian Tian have to be talked out of trying to fly through Beijing, but they are the luckiest so far - they're connecting through St. Petersburg and are supposed to land at 1 P.M.

To grandmother's house we go
Spotty and Barney think they'll try to sneak onto an earlier flight. They hear a local family saying, "Carry on now, we have to get on this flight to go see Grandmum in St. Petersburg," and follow them onto the flight, high-fiving with their front paws.

The pandas arrive first, and what luck - their cab driver is from China! He takes them right to the conservatory, where they get their first Detour.

A DETOUR is a choice between two different ways to accomplish a goal or reach a destination. On the surface, one may seem easy but involves some sort of twist; the other may seem difficult, but in the end may be the quicker or less expensive choice.

Gorky & Gorby
In "Dancing Bear," teams must follow the Moskva down to Gorky Park, find the man with the dancing bear, and dance with the bear for five minutes. In "Dead Head," teams must go to Red Square and visit Lenin's tomb

The bear option will take them out of their way, but the Lenin lines are so long that the pandas decide to go find the bear.

They find him with little difficulty, dance with him, and get their next clue: to go to the famous onion-domed Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed in Red Square, their Pet Stop for the night.

The PET STOP is the end destination for each leg of a race, at which point a Team must "clock in." The last Team to arrive at most PET STOPs is eliminated from the race. A Team will leave the PET STOP at the same time they clock in, only at the opposite time of day; for instance, a Team that clocks in at 9 am will leave at 9 pm.

Meanwhile, Team Chicago and Socks and Ernie have arrived from Stockholm, and get cabs to the Conservatory. They both opt to find the dancing bear as well. The Berlin bunch arrive an hour later. Climber and Pinta select the Lenin option, while the other pairs go find the bear. Lucky for Climber and Pinta, Lenin isn't as popular as he used to be, and they get into the shrine in no time.

Spotty and Barney settle in for the pilot's instructions. "Uh, good afternoon and welcome aboard British Airways Flight 602. We'll be arriving in the Tampa-St. Pete area in about an hour. Ground temperature is a balmy 82 degrees, so we hope you brought your bathing suits!"

OH NO! Spotty and Barney have gone to the wrong St. Petersburg!!! They start howling in their seats.

The pandas have arrived first, and receive a free trip to Beijing. Climber and Pinta have climbed up to second. As they run to the Cathedral, Pinta, the white cat with a black spot on her head, looks and sees a person with a spot on his head. "Welcome to Russia," says Mikhail Gorbachev holding a Russian Blue. He puts down the welcome cat and hugs Pinta, getting his picture with her.

Bella and Douglas, and Socks and Ernie, are still dancing with the bear. They finish third and fourth, with F.F. and C.B. next. Hedley and McClurg were stopped by a local maker of fur hats, but they managed to get away. Everyone settles in for the night after a hearty meal of borscht and black bread.

Midnight in Moscow
Fifteen hours later, after the last team has left, Spotty and Barney finally get to Moscow. "Spotty and Barney", says Amanxing Race host Phil Kiwi, "As you both know, you're the last team to arrive, and you've been eliminated." They become the first of the D.C. Alliance pairs to leave the race. They both promise to learn geography with their owner when they get home.

Written by Becky Banfield


Next time, on THE AMANXING RACE:
*Teams walk a mile with a camel
*F.F. is the queen of De-Nile
*He's been a doctor, a gambler, a poet, a killer, now he's an Amanxing Race guest - and he don't like it!

On to episode 7 ->

More pictures will be added to this episode, so return again!


CLOSE WINDOW