The Amazing Race: The lion is the king of the jumble

We're quickly down to 10 teams in Vietnam and there's another first in AR history.

The pit stop, which is a barge, moves to a secret location and drops the teams off. Their first clue sends them to Ho Chi Minh City, and the Golden Dragon Puppet Theater where they must take the clue from the mouth of a water dragon puppet.

Dad and the pink-haired son are the first to leave.

One of the Globetrotters reveals that he lost his father two days before the Race. Dad told him to win it, he says, and so he will. They had us at 'Globetrotters'; the wind-beneath-my-wings story wasn't necessary.

The engaged couple get the clue and the female half insists that they are already in Ho Chi Minh City. The male half, who is the overly aggressive lawyer, says the team is like the lion and the other teams are the gazelles. They will eat the gazelles. Last week, the poker players didn't believe he was a lawyer, referring to him as a 'meathead.' We'll soon see that their characterization was spot on.

The frantic woman in the older couple team gets emotional. She reveals that her father was shot down in Vietnam and rescued. Looking around at the city makes her think of all the people who died there.

The Globetrotters are the first to get the clue out of the mouth of the water dragon puppets. Inside is a bullet-like metal tube with a stamp in it. The picture on the stamp is the next clue; the teams must go to the main post office.

At the post office is a clue box with a detour. Child's play means heading to a local park, choosing a concrete animal, transporting it around the park and collecting 5 balloons, then parking the animals and handing over the balloons to get the next clue.

Word play involves going to a hotel's observation deck and spotting Vietnamese letters written on pedicabs. After they collect the letters the team can get help from locals to unscramble the letters, which spell out the Vietnamese word for independence.

At the dragon puppet theater, the poker player who isn't Asian tries to flirt with the dragon puppet to get it to give her the clue. She figures out that doesn't work being that it's a puppet and all.

Meanwhile, the engaged couple, or team lion, has figured out it isn't in Ho Chi Minh City and they have made it to the puppet theatre. They get the bullet tube from the dragon puppet but can't figure out that there's a clue inside. So they run frantically around looking for the clue they are already holding. Meatheads!

Inside at the puppet theater, the couple not having sex, or maybe it's the couple with the guy with the hair that stands straight up, try to get the puppet to come over by shaking their groove things. That works as well as the flirting.

While all the other teams have chosen child's play, the older dating couple with the frantic woman -- whom my colleague Thad calls 'old Tina Fey' -- have chosen word play as their detour.

The Globetrotters make short work of child's play but other teams struggle. The poker players break their dolly. The Asperger's guy and his friend foolishly choose to transport an unwieldy giraffe. It falls and breaks its ear. The clue says you have to have every piece to get the balloons.

The Miss America couple choose a zebra to move to represent their interracial selves. How very George Jefferson.

Meanwhile, the older couple with the frantic woman get all the letters.

The engaged couple has been bickering all along. The man has pretty much been verbally beating up on the woman, but from where I sit, they both have been pretty thick headed, mostly because they are being so competitive they miss everything. Naturally, while they are pushing their concrete animal, they lose a red balloon.

The older couple with the frantic woman is enjoying the sites.

The poker players are pushing their concrete animal. Well, actually the non-Asian one is doing all the pushing. She's sweating like a pig and the Asian poker player is practically skipping as she gets the balloons. The non-Asian one says that they have it tough because they are the only team without a man to help them. Truth is, her problem is she doesn't have a teammate to help her.

The engaged lion couple continue to bicker.

The older couple with the frantic woman is trying to figure out what the scrambled letters spell. For some reason, they're trying to figure it out on their own.

The next clue reveals a road block. Using specific tools, a team member has to break apart and sort two VCRs.

The Globetrotters get there first, but the pink-haired guy and his dad arrive pretty quickly, and the pink-haired guy has taken apart a VCR before just for fun.

Meanwhile, the older couple with the frantic woman finally ask for help. They find out the scrambled word. They stop and chit chat a bit.

Other teams are wrapping up the VCR challenge. The clue tells them to head to the Reunification Palace, where the Vietnam War ended, which is the pit stop.

The Globetrotters finish first but they have trouble getting a taxi. After they get on, they see the couple with the guy with the hair that stands up leave and wisely decide to just follow them, figuring they can beat them in a foot race.

Meanwhile, the poker players arrive at the VCR site. The Asian one immediately says 'I'm not good at putting things together.' Her teammate neglects to point out to her that this is about taking things apart.

Just as the Globetrotters predicted, it's a foot race to the finish line. And their long legs take them to first place. They win a trip to Aruba.

The woman in the engaged couple is worn out by the heat and the meathead lawyer's verbal pounding. She now refuses to make any decisions for fear that he'll hold her responsible for a wrong move and yell some more. He says he's not frustrated by her but by the situation. It's just that the situation isn't there for him to yell at.

The Miss America zebra couple gets to the pit stop fourth, up from last place. Miss America does her best pageant cry. (You know, hand over mouth, joyful but don't make your face too ugly.)

The engaged lion couple gets to the VCR area. He uses his lion strength to rip the VCRs apart with his bare hands ("It's a man thing to do," he says), making up time and putting them ahead of the Asperger's team.

The older couple with the frantic woman arrives after everyone else is gone, but they aren't that far behind.

In another foot race, the Asperger's team beats the engaged couple. Phil baits the lion a bit, telling him that the gazelles are winning so far and the lion tells Phil he will wrestle him right now. Phil declines but the Asperger's guy says he's got Phil's back.

The older couple with the frantic woman have finished their sight seeing, and arrive last. They are eliminated. The man seems very disappointed, while frantic lady is still emotional about seeing the place where her father was shot down. She sees it all as a lesson in stepping up to the plate as her father always told her to do.