As you might have expected, TK and Rachel"s big lag falls away as the teams make their way to Taiwan. Ron and Chris jump out ahead as a result of what certainly appears to be Chris successfully convincing a ticket agent to deny tickets to the other teams, leaving TK and Rachel, Nick and Don, and Nate and Jen in a big bunch once the teams get where they"re going. In fact, TK and Rachel jump out ahead of the other teams in the group at a Roadblock featuring an underwater plunge, so they have time to run off and do a thoroughly unchallenging Speed Bump and still be right in the hunt as the teams head for a Detour offering a choice between a fire-lighting task that looks kind of complicated and a bumpy-rock-walking task that just seems vaguely uncomfortable. Naturally, everyone goes with the bumpy rocks, and Ron and Chris slide into first place with little difficulty. TK and Rachel pass Nick and Don at the bumpy rocks, and they finish second.
Have we mentioned it"s Jen"s birthday? It is. And all day, she makes these little "I can"t believe you"re being so mean to me on my birthday" noises as she and Nate return to bickering, arguing, bitchy form. So it"s them and Nick and Don battling it out at the finish line, and to the absolute shock of everyone who"s been waiting for their inevitably victory through clenched teeth, Nate and Jen do not finish third. They finish fourth, and they are eliminated, and they are definitely not going to win, and I recommend that you repeat that to yourself many, many times, because I"m here to tell you -- it won"t get any less great. And that"s not to even mention how great it is to watch a guy as old as Don go into the final three, or how great it is to watch a kid like Nick get a payoff for carrying two backpacks all the way around the world, or how great it is that Nate and Jen seem, in part, to be booted on account of their inability to stop arguing and think through a problem. Rarely does a team that sucks get tossed because they suck, but here it is. And it kind of seems like they might be breaking up at the end, but you know what? I doubt it.
Warm up for the finale, folks.