Recent college graduates Dani Torchio and Danielle Turner were popular with their fellow racers, making both strategic and social alliances, but were unable to avoid becoming the fourth team eliminated from The Amazing Race 9 when they were yielded and were unable to capitalize on mistakes made by other teams.
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Lake and Michelle Garner started the leg near the front of the pack and had derisive comments about jovial "frat boys" Eric Sanchez and Jeremy Ryan, when they played in the airport instead of spending their time researching flight options. However, the joke was on Lake and Michelle when they failed to find their best flight option and ended up on the last connecting flight from Rome to Palermo, joining teams that had departed the Pit Stop several hours after them.
Once teams arrived in Palermo, they drove 42 miles to Castellammare del Golfo and when they read their next clue on the seaside terrace of the town's ancient fortress, they got their Detour options. Teams that chose "Foundry" carried a 100-pound church bell up to the church named Chiesa Maria Del Soccorso, where a priest handed them their next clue. The "Laundry" option required teams to search clotheslines between apartment buildings to find one of 16 marked pieces of laundry amidst the 2400 strung on the lines. Two couples -- Joseph Meadows and Monica Cayce and Ray Whitty and Yolanda Brown-Moore -- used the advantage of their male team member's physical strength to complete the "Foundry" option, while all of the other teams (including both all-male teams) chose to search the laundry.
After completing the Detour, the teams drove 13 miles to the ancient city of Segesta, where they had to hike 1 mile uphill to the ancient Greek amphitheatre Teatro di Segesta. The teams also learned that a Yield was ahead, one of only two Yields available during the entire Race. A Yield allows a team to force one of the teams behind them to stop racing for a predetermined amount of time.
Once again demonstrating that reading the clues completely was not a part of their strategy, Lake and Michelle walked down to the Pit Stop instead of up to the Roadblock. After they got themselves turned back into the right direction, they decided to use the Yield to keep Dani and Danielle behind them.
After passing the Yield mat, the teams received their clue for the Roadblock -- "Who’s good at piecing things together?" One member of each team had to correctly assemble a human statue. The catch? There were two extra pieces.
Even though they were yielded, Dani and Danielle still had a chance to remain in the Race. Nerds in love Lori Willems and David Spiker struggled to complete the Roadblock when Lori failed to realize that there were two extra pieces. Struggling to understand where the extra pieces could possibly go, Lori took her fully-assembled statue back apart before checking to see if she had completed the task. Although Ray and Yolanda got lost and were the last team to arrive at the Roadblock after getting lost, they were still able to catch up to Dani and Danielle The two teams ended up in a mile-long downhill sprint to the Pit Stop at the nearby Tempio Di Segesta ancient temple, with Dani and Danielle losing the footrace.
Next week on The Amazing Race 9, the teams are selling fish in Sicily. While Fran and Barry appear to have skills at pushing fish, Monica throws another tantrum to the dismay of her teammate Joseph.
