Mika Combs let her fear of heights and water get the best of her, costing her and boyfriend Canaan Smith a chance to continue on The Amazing Race.

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Mika, a 22-year-old aspiring singer who previously appeared on Fox's short-lived Nashville reality series, and Canaan, a 26-year-old professional songwriter, became the sixth team eliminated from The Amazing Race's fifteenth season during Sunday night's broadcast of the CBS reality series.

"I don't hold it against Mika," said Canaan after the team's ouster.

"That could have been me up there. I could be the one just crippled by fear. There's freedom in forgiveness and there's freedom in understanding that people aren't perfect and neither are you."

The Amazing Race's fifth fifteenth-season episode began at the previous Pit Stop at the Souk Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai.

Since "Dating Couple" Meghan Rickey and Cheyne Whitney were the first team to arrive at the Pit Stop -- having completed a Fast Forward task during the previous leg -- they were the first team to depart at 8:17AM.

They opened their clue, which instructed them to take a locked briefcase, travel by taxi to the Dubai Creek Yacht and Golf Club, and search the marina's boardwalk for their next clue.

Meghan and Cheyne arrived at the boardwalk and were met by a Roadblock.

In this Roadblock, one team member had to row an inflatable dingy to a yacht anchored offshore, where they would find a sheik who would present them with a watch following the Arab custom of hospitality. Then, they had to return to the dock and open their briefcase.

To do this they had to figure out that the time on the watch -- 8:35 -- was the combination to their briefcase. When they opened it, they would find their next clue.

Cheyne used his previous rowing experience to tackle the Roadblock, received the watch from the sheik, and rowed back to the boardwalk. He quickly realized the time on the watch was the combination to the briefcase, and he opened it to receive the next clue.

It instructed them to travel to the Abra Station, a water taxi port in the old souk section of Dubai.

Cheyne and Meghan were followed "Married Couple" Ericka Dunlap and Brian Kleinschmidt (9:59AM), "Teammates" Herbert "Flight Time" Lang and Nathaniel "The Big Easy" Lofton (10:42AM),  "Father/Son" Gary and Matt Tomljenovich (10:45aM),  "Brothers" Daniel and Samuel McMillen (11:34am), "Professional Poker Players" Maria Ho and Tiffany Michelle (11:47AM), and Mika and Canaan (11:54AM).

"Canaan is a little more competitive than me," said Mika. "I've never played team sports, I've never really ran in my whole life. So Canaan has to push me along a lot."

Brian was able to complete the Roadblock with no problem and the team left for the Abra Station with no sign of the competition. 

Despite leaving the Pit Stop in third, Flight Time and Big Easy's taxi driver took them to the Dubai Marina Yacht Club -- not the Dubai Creek Yacht and Golf Club -- which delayed them. Gary and Matt arrived at the boardwalk in third, and Gary attempted the Roadblock, which he was also able to complete with little problem.

Meghan and Cheyne arrive at Abra Station and were met by a Detour, where they had to choose between "Gold" and "Glass."

In "Gold," teams had to find a jewelry store where they would use a precision scale to weigh out exactly $500,000 worth of gold. To do this, they had to figure out that needed to divide 500,000 by the gold exchange rate shown on the monitor in the store. However, the exchange rate is constantly changing, so teams had to work quickly in order to weigh out the gold and receive their next clue.

In "Glass," teams made their way to a spice market where they had to choose a crate of disassembled Middle Eastern smoking pipes known as hookahs. Teams had to utilize all of the parts from the crate to assemble twelve hookahs using three displayed hookahs as their guide.

Meghan and Cheyne chose "Glass" and tried to build on their sizable lead, while Brian and Ericka chose "Gold."

Big Easy decided to do the Roadblock for his team, and he used his arms as paddles since the 6'9" basketball player barely fit in the raft. He arrived at the anchored yacht just as Sam and Dan arrived at the Roadblock, with Dan deciding to do the task.

While Big Easy was able make it back to the boardwalk, he couldn't figure out the combination -- thinking the big had on the seven meant that was the second number in the combination. The more problems he had opening the case, the more frustrated he got. Dan was able to collect the watch, return to the boardwalk and figure out the combination.

Tiffany attempted the Roadblock for her team, and she was also able to complete it before Big Easy was able to open his briefcase. He continued to struggle, allowing Mika and Canaan to arrive -- with Canaan also completing the Roadblock before Big Easy could open the case. The teammates were now in last, which made Mika and Canaan happy.

"To see the Globetrotters struggle was nice," said Mika. "We get them out of the race it just makes it that much easier for us to move onto the top."

Big Easy finally figured it out and opened the case.

"It was my fault. I should have got that," said Big Easy in the cab.

At the Detour tasks, Meghan was getting frustrated while Cheyne kept his calm and carefully assembled the hookahs. However Meghan thought a few washers were extra pieces, which was wrong and disallowed them from finishing the task. Cheyne eventually realized the mistake and put the washers on, and the team received their next clue.

It instructed them to travel to the Atlantis -- a Palm Dubai resort -- and search the Aquaventure Water Park for the Leap of Faith waterslide. After taking the six-story plunge on the waterslide at a nearly ninety-degree angle through a shark tank, teams would find their next clue at the bottom of the slide.

Brian was having a hard time with the conversion rate, and the team eventually decided to switch to "Glass" after several failed attempts at "Gold."

Despite the switch, they still arrived at "Glass" well ahead of Matt and Gary, who also chose the Detour task. However Ericka thought a lot of small details on the hookahs didn't matter, causing several mistakes.

Matt and Gary eventually arrived at "Glass," as did Mika and Canaan.  Sam and Dan and Maria and Tiffany decided to do "Gold," and the calculator the brothers brought with them came in handy.

"Before we left for the trip, we went to Wal-Mart and were like, 'Oh, a calculator for $2. Yeah, let's throw it in there," explained Sam.

The calculator didn't help though since they didn't know how to do the conversion. Luckily for them, their allies Maria and Tiffany did -- and the two teams shared the calculator and were able to complete the Detour task. Sam and Dan opened the next clue in second, with Maria and Tiffany in third.

"The alliance with Maria and Tiffany really helped us out today," said Sam.

Meghan and Cheyne arrived at Palm Dubai and went down the waterslide. They received their next clue, which instructed them to search the grounds of the Atlantis Palm Resort for Dolphin Bay Beach, the Pit Stop for this leg of the race.

They were the first team to reach the Pit Stop and received personal watercrafts as their prize.

Flight Time and Big Easy arrived at the "Glass" Detour task and were happy to see a few other teams were still there.  Ericka continued to get frustrated, however Brian eventually realized that a few of their hookah hoses were connected to the wrong pieces.

"Is it that simple?" asked Ericka.

"If this is it I'm going to feel like an idiot," added Brian.

It was that simple, and the couple left for Palm Dubai.  Since Flight Time and Big Easy were more than two hours behind the other teams, they thought Brian and Ericka's inability to complete the Detour task in a timely manner meant that it was really difficult -- so they decided to switch to "Gold." Shortly thereafter, Matt and Gary completed the "Glass" detour task.

Back at the resort, Maria and Tiffany reached the Pit Stop in second, followed by Sam and Dan in third, Brian and Ericka in fourth, and Matt and Gary in fifth.

Flight Time and Big Easy borrowed a calculator from a business near the jewelry store, which helped them with the "Gold" task.

However Mika and Canaan were able to complete "Glass" and headed to the waterslide with a good lead. The clue scared Mika since it involved water and heights -- two things she's not very fond of.

"I just fell like puking," she said in the cab on the way to the resort.

Her fears were realized when she and Canaan reached the top of the slide and Mika refused to go down (despite wearing arm floaties). He tried to force her to go, but she was having none of it.

"We're not losing this race because of this," said Canaan. "You're going down the slide."

"I can't do it Canaan!" she yelled. "I don't want to do it."

Unaware how far behind they were, Flight Time and Big Easy completed the Detour task and left for the resort. But Mika -- who called the task her "worst nightmare" -- continued to refuse to go down the slide.

"A million dollars to go down a slide," said Canaan. "Really? A million dollars!"

He realized Mika was "freaking" herself out and tried to get her to at least sit at the top of the slide. She wouldn't do it, and when he tried to force her she began to scream.

"Help me! Help me!" she pleaded with the lifeguard.

"Start by sitting down!" instructed Canaan.

"You can't make me! You can't make me!" yelled Mika.

"You're going to make us lose the race if you don't go down the waterslide," said Canaan.

Mika prayed while Canaan continued to plead with her to just go down the slide, however she continued to refuse.

"I hate my life right now," she said. "Canaan, why do you hate me?"

"Because you're being a complete moron," he answered. "It's a waterslide."

Mika's indecision allowed Flight Time and Big Easy to make up all of their lost time and arrive at the top of the slide.

Since only one team can go down the slide at a time, the first team at the task -- Mika and Canaan -- had two minutes to complete it or they would have to get up to allow the team behind them a chance to go.

"You have two minutes," Canaan told Mika. "Your life is gonna change in two minutes."

Flight Time and Big Easy began to heckle Mika, which didn't sit too well with Canaan.

"Guys c'mon, that's not cool y'all," he said.

The two minutes expired without Mika going down the slide. Flight Time and Big Easy happily went down, opened their next clue, and were the sixth team to reach the Pit Stop.

"This was last-second stuff," said Flight Time. "Mika was running point, she threw us the ally-oop, and we slam dunked it."

Canaan went down the slide and Mika still refused, as she instead took the stairs.

"I wish I was in Nashville doing anything but this," said a tearful Mika.

"She's saying she can't do this, but I know she can," said Canaan at the bottom. "With fear you psyche yourself out."

Mika and Canaan then arrived at the mat, and host Phil Keoghan told them they had been eliminated.

"I feel like I let Canaan down," said Mika. "And myself."

The Amazing Race's next fifteenth-season episode will air Sunday, November 1 at 8PM ET/PT on CBS.
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio

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