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Previously on the Amazing Race, our remaining teams got caught up in a game of golf. Then traveled back in time to the good ol' days by using pioneer tools to trisect a giant wooden log. A little romance started to brew between two racers (*cough* Kit and Mitch *cough). Vito and Hans tried to break up their partners' friendship, believing that it's becoming their downfall. The sorority sisters came in first place. But sadly, the movie experts, Jack & Maria, fell short, becoming the second team sent home.

16 teams remain in the trek for one million dollars. Who will survive to the end of this round? Time to find out. This is... the Amazing Race: All-Stars.

***

"Leeper Lake here in Thackerville served as yesterday's checkpoint," Toner introduces. "Today; it will be our starting line for the fourth leg in our All-Star race. Will Tammy & Rachel give away one of their Express Passes? And who currently holds the Boomerang Ticket? The answers to those questions... a little later. But first, yesterday's winners always receive the first tip of the day..."

Angie & Jennifer step up to the plate. Er, clue box. The vixen takes the clue and reads, "'Take a flight to Samoa to find your next tip'. Where is that, exactly?"

The answer is the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Made up of two large islands, Samoa is known for its Polynesian music, Polynesian art, and pretty much anything prefaced with the word "Polynesian". Once teams arrive in Apia, they'll find the tip box with their next challenge.

The prostitutes fall right into their second spot. Vegetarians Joey & Miles are surprised to be this high ranked. "I'm feeling a lot better about our chances," Joey says. "Without any worrying about another team, we're staying ahead of most of the pack."

"If we keep this up, we'll be in the finale in no time," Miles says. Then Joe talks him down about jinxing themselves.

The twins and frat bros leave after the marines. Kitty spots out their former allies as they run to catch a cab. "Hey! There are Joey & Miles!" the shepherd points out. Sure enough, the red foxes jump into the first taxi that stops for them. "You think we should ask them for an alliance again?"

Kit says, "I wouldn't bother trying. They made their feelings about teaming up with us again pretty clear." It doesn't bother her. Less allies to have to worry about. The only one she doesn't see herself minding spending time with is Mitch. She has no idea why, but lately Mitch and Kit have been growing very close.

But she doesn't get it; he's laid back and super chill, she can be bossy and a bit intimidating; he's more into athletics and her interests include literature and lip gloss magazines. Perhaps the old saying is true? Opposites attract?

The first eight teams kick back and relax on flight number one. However, the others on the second flight are delayed by nearly an hour and a half. "I don't get it," Ren says. "We went from third to ninth and now we're tied for last? We're not doing as well as I hoped we would."

The sound of Cal's snoring is his response. Who knew that a bear can fall asleep that fast? And they weren't even off the ground yet.

After the teams are in the air for a long flight to the Pacific, the majority try to take the advantage of extra sleep. But one player seems to sleep with both eyes open; his eyes trained on the one person he'd like to send home sooner rather than later. Mabel even looks expressionless as she's sleeping. No wonder Brent no longer saw something in her.

He nudges Syd in the arm. Covering his mouth before he could make a sound, Brent whispers, "We need to find a way to send them home." He nods towards the graduates. This was not the conversation Syd wanted to have at the moment. "What we need is another team to work with."

But the real dilemma is who? Looking around the inside of the plane, Brent isn't seeing many options. The bakers and drivers are both insane; the daters blow up all the time; Sindy & Sally always keep to themselves and the officers... well... they pretty much are the weakest link. That only leaves one other team: Ren & Cal. Of course, he thinks. They're a strong team; not only that but whatever they do, the marines tend to follow. Now how to get them on his side...

Sindy & Sally nervously pick at their own claws. They feel awful after what happened to Jack & Maria. The same thing happened to them this year; they got eliminated right as they formed an alliance. "What do you think we should do now?" Sally asks. She can confide anything to Sindy; she's usually the smart one.

But now, she shrugs. "I have no idea," Sindy says, "perhaps talking the sorority sisters into teaming up? They did have good relations with the movie experts. Either that or we go it alone for a while. Let's face it Sally; we're not exactly the 'team' type. We're better off on our own. Now, get some sleep. This flight lasts 24 hours." She lies back and puts on her sleeping mask.

The next day, the first flight lands in the morning, the sun just coming up over the horizon. The eight teams rush out of the airport to reach the clue box. "It's a One-Way," Zack reads.

"'Fale of a Man'," Devon continues. "What is that supposed to mean?"

It means that it's a One-Way with a twist. For this challenge, teams must take taxis to Vaiula Beach, where a dozen wooden huts (known as "Fale"s) will be. Six teams must cram under one Fale and sleep throughout the day. The first six get to leave before the others. The next six leave thirty minutes later and so on. After they wake up from their slumber, they'll receive their next tip.

Kit whistles for a taxi and the teams race off for the beach. "It's been a really long time since we've been on a beach," Miles says, thinking about Copacabana Beach in Rio where they lost the race. "Those usually bring up bad memories."

"Aww come on, it wasn't their fault that we lost," Joey says. "We should've went for the Fast Forward as well. And now we know for next time." She gives him a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"A sleeping challenge?" Eddy asks. "Since when do these challenges get easier?"

Barbara huffs a breath. "Obviously they're not going to. This must be a trick by Toner for his own amusement." All she can think about is why her cab cannot move any faster.

Angie & Jennifer reach the beach first. Several of the wooden huts are unoccupied. But only three of them have the Amazing Race logo on it. One of them, the first one, is set up with six mattress and pillows provided by the show. "Sweet," the pink vixen says, "this must mean we're in first place."

Another team zips by them, the olympians. "Now we're in second place," Jennifer says. The vegetarians arrive next and the girls still haven't moved. "Third." Devon & Jon rush by too with the marines right behind them. "Sixth!"

Angie grabs the collie by her wrist and pulls her in with the others. "Okay. My fault for jinxing us."

The fraternity brothers and twins take occupancy in the second Fale, which has sleeping bags on the ground. "I guess this must be some sort of consolation prize," Kit observes. "Oh well. As long as we're not in dead last." She yawns and the four of them prepare to sleep the day away.

"I still don't get why we have to sleep while the sun is up," Kitty says. "Isn't that, like, abnormal or something?"

"This whole race is way off and you want to question about the time of the day?" Kitty keeps her maw shut. "That's what I thought." Kit takes a spot next to Mitch, seeming to cuddle up to him. I love these romantic moments, Kitty thinks.

But before Tammy & Rachel get settled in, the skunk motions to the Express Passes tucked into her pocket. Her partner gives a subtle nod, silently communicating that they need to give it to another team and this would be the time to do it.

Think, Tammy tells herself, who would be the perfect team to give the other Pass to? Chris & Zack are already in an alliance so they're a big no. Same thing with the twins and the frat bros. The vegetarians are loners, the prostitutes are annoying, and the sorority sisters usually think about themselves before anyone else. That is how their alliance broke up early in their season.

With all of this taken into consideration, there's only one other team to give the Pass to. Tammy nods towards the grey wolves, who are surprisingly spooning despite how much they dislike each other. Rachel gives a reluctant look at first, but her expression shifts from doubt to sureness. She nods.

Tammy waits for the others to not look before crawling over to Barbara and slipping the other Express Pass into her shirt. What? Girls do this sort of thing all the time. Stop thinking that this is weird.

Not so much time later, the second flight lands in Samoa. Once the remaining teams grab the tip and catch taxis for the beach, some of them appear to be annoyed by the task. "A sleeping challenge?" Brent asks. "It's like Toner just gave up on trying to make this hard."

"I wouldn't say that," Syd says. "Whatever it is, there must be some sort of trick to this whole thing. Remember the train trick he pulled on us back in Tennessee?" The memory of that Intersection was enough to shut him up. Weird, Syd thinks, he never usually lets someone else have the last word.

Donna growls in frustration. "I told you to wait for the bakers by the entrance," she complains.

Vito rolls his eyes. "And I told you that we're tied for last place. Forget about messing with the game and focus on winning it! We didn't come back to this hell of a show for us to lose early on." Him and Hans, one of the bakers, have a deal: they keep their partners separate for now until it's safer. With 16 teams around, most linger in last place so it wouldn't be wise to draw too much time on the other teams. That's how most end up going home early.

A bright flash comes from another taxi behind the drivers. Nick exhales. "Never thought I would see the beautiful sights of Samoa."

"How did you sneak a camera onto the show?" Judy asks.

"Carrots, we managed to sneak around medicine last year and you're wondering how I got a camera on board?" The rabbit flattens her ears. She hates it when that fox makes a good point.

By the time the teams from flight two reach the beach, a majority of the teams are already passed out. Cal & Ren try not to disturb Kit or Mitch as the snuggle up together. "They're so adorable together aren't they?" Kitty asks.

Ren looks up to see both canines fast asleep in each other's arms. Kit and Mitch? They're so opposite, the fox thinks. Plus hooking up in the middle of a race isn't the best idea. He would say something, but the excruciating flight and the ride over to the beach weigh down his words. Next thing he knows, Ren is fast asleep in Cal's arms.

The humans arrive next with the drivers on their tails. Donna grabs her partner's wrist just before the enter the second Fale. "We should wait for the bakers to arrive," the vixen says with a hint of desperation in her voice.

"We can wait after we catch up." Vito picks her up and carries her inside with the other teams. His efforts prove to be pointless as the bakers show up next.

"Why didn't you guys wait up for us?" Claudia asks, annoyed.

"I tried to," Donna argues, "but Vito pulled us forward and I didn't get a chance to stop him."

Vito and Hans sit on the side, away from their partners. What they were trying to avoid has come to fruition. The only thing they can really do is hope that they get separated in the next task. "How are we going to split them up?" Hans asks, his thin tail lashing about.

"The way I see it, there's only two ways: get on different flights tomorrow or... one of us loses the race; which neither one of us wants to do." Hans agrees with that. Vito slips into his sleeping bag. "For now, let's try to get some sleep before we have to leave tonight." The fox rests his head on the ground, tuning out the sounds of Donna and Claudia talking.

The last four teams are stuck in the final Fale, which has nothing for them to sleep on. "Do we seriously have to sleep in here?" Josee asks. "There's not even a blanket for us?"

"I'm guessing this is our punishment for showing up last," June inquires.

"Of course we came in last, we were on the second flight!"

Ryan grabs his girlfriend by the shoulder and holds her back. "Come on, honey, no need to get worked up. Let's try to get some sleep before the next challenge." Josee grumbles about having backaches from the hardwood floor, but like the wolf predicted, she falls asleep in a matter of minutes. Presumably because they were all tired.

Sally & Sindy huddle up for warmth, even tho the sun was out. They wanted a chance to talk to the sorority sisters but seeing as they're in a different, the girls decided to wait until later to ask them.

Mabel cannot really get any sleep. She spends her time carving pictures into the wooden floor. Most would find them disturbing; skulls, bats, a full moon. After her breakup with Brent, she embraced her true dark side; the real Mabel. Every now and then, some of her old sunshiny self would pop out; mostly if it involved academics.

But every time, she pushes it down. There isn't any use of her feelings anymore. Not after Brent.

After an hour or so, Nick wakes up to the sound of her pocket knife carving sloppy images into the ground. "Don't you ever get any sleep?" the red fox asks. Mabel shrugs. She also found the use of words to be useless now. So she only talks incase she really has to. Nick slumps back down, closing his eyes.

Hours of the day pass by as the 16 teams sleep the day away. By the time the sun is dipping on the horizon, most of the teams have already awoken. As Zack wakes up in Chris' arms, he looks outside the confines of the hut and jumps slightly when he sees a wolf wearing red makeup on his face. In his paw contains six Amazing Race tips. "Oh," Zack says. "I guess our time is up in here."

The wolf nods and passes out the clue to the other teams under the first hut. "It's a Roadblock," Tammy observes. "'Who wants to play with-'"

"Fire!" The teams look outside to see Toner wearing nothing but red cloth shorts, grass covering his ankles. His left paw wields a flaming baton. "As much fire as we can get anyways. For this Roadblock, whoever didn't play golf in Oklahoma must light up a fire staff in flames used for a traditional dance known as the 'siva afi'. But because I am nice, all that needs to be done is spin the baton in their paws, toss it in the air and catch it. If successful, this local dance instructor" Toner motions to the wolf that handed them the clue "will direct the teams east until they reach the checkpoint. Last team to arrive... may be out of the race."

Jennifer, Devon, and Chris grab one of the 16 staffs provided. Eddy is a little more reluctant. "I don't do well when it comes to fire," the wolf explains. "When I was seven, my parents' apartment caught on fire and all I did was run around in circles and screamed." And we wet his pants but he didn't want to admit that on camera.

Tammy lights up both ends of her staff even though the clue said she only needed to do one. The trick for challenges like this is to remain confident, she tells herself. After all, I've won a lot of gold metals that way. She glances over at Rachel and corrects herself. WE won that way. (This teamwork stuff is really starting to get easier.)

Sweat runs down Miles' forehead when he holds up his flaming staff. "Come on, Miles!" Joey cheers on. "You can't be afraid of it otherwise we'll never finish!" But it wasn't just his fear of fire that rattled the fox, it was the fact that he couldn't quite get his fingers in control. Twice he tries to spin it, but both times, the staff flies out of his paw into the ocean.

On the other hand, Jennifer spins her staff around expertly, lighting up a bright orange ring in front of her. The collie throws it up in the air and holds her paw out. But the staff ends up in Angie's paw by mistake. Sighing, the vixen says, "You're supposed to catch it yourself, Jen."

"Oops. Sorry." Back in her days as a cheerleader in high school, Jen was very good at baton twirling. The fact that it's on fire doesn't really bother her. What's catching her off is that she hasn't been in high school for over seven years so... her lack of experience has caught up to her.

Devon feels more confident going into the challenge. It was a fire dance task; emphasis on the dance part. Sure, all he ever did was pole dancing, but it's dancing nevertheless. The tiger throws his flaming baton in the air and holds out his other paw. The baton misses completely and drops to the ground, scorching his jean shorts in the process. "Yikes!" He runs into the water, the fire puts itself out with a sizzle.

No one can seem to get a hang of the task. Things get more interesting as the six teams in the next hut receive the next clue to prepare for the Roadblock. "Thankfully I have to do this," Brent says. "No way do I trust Syd with fire after the steakout incident."

"What was that?" his partner asks.

"Uh... nothing!"

Hans and Vito try tossing their flaming staffs in the air for the first time. The results are them running away as some of the sand catches fire. Grumbling, Claudia mutters, "We totally should've been up for this task. We're the ones with the flaming personalities on this show."

"I agree," Donna says. "It's not always the best having to sit on the sidelines and watching your partners have an epic fail." The vixen and cat watch their partners attempt the task again. Both of them take a step backwards. "So, not to be rude, but what do you think is up with those two?"

Claudia shrugs. "I don't know. Men; am I right?" Donna nods.

"Guess we've got the short end of this one again," Kitty says.

Jasper chuckles. Both canines give a try tossing the batons in the air before flaming them (it was Kit's idea; "Don't risk your lives doing something stupid just yet"). Jasper's ends up in the ocean. Kitty almost catches her but it bounces off her fingers and it ends up on the ground.

"You've got this, Kitty!" her twin shouts from the sidelines. "Don't stop practicing!"

"You can do this, man!" Mitch calls out.

Chris works on the Roadblock ride where the tide rolls in. Smart idea, right? Doing a fire task near the water so nothing burns? It's only precautionary. The wolf/husky throws his flaming baton upwards, but the stick misses his fingers by inches and it sinks into the ocean.

Cal, on the other hand, is on land like the other teams. The heat and intensity of the task quickly catch up to him, his neck and underarms soaked in sweat before he knew it. If only Ren were doing this one, the bear thinks, he was always better at this stuff than I was.

A few paces to the bear's right, Brent stands unmoving. If he was going to get a moment to ask them for an alliance, this would be the time to do it. He walks up to Can and taps him on the shoulder. "I want to ask you something." Cal grunts in response but he gives his full attention. "I know that you and the marines have your friendship but perhaps you can add a third team to your little circle?"

Cal shakes his head; not the response Brent was expecting. "Sorry. We're not technically an alliance. Even then, 3-way groups don't usually make it far. Ask the Axis." He diverts his eyes away as if Brent wasn't there at all.

Well, the human thinks, if that's how he wants to be, there's only one thing left to do: win this round.

By the time the haters, officers, graduates and phone operators come close to receiving the next tip, a few teams begin finishing the task at hand. Tammy throws her staff straight up, and as it comes down, she bends her knee and shoots her paw out, palm up. The baton lands squarely in her paw. "Yes! Finished!" she says.

Dev joins Chris in the water. The tiger takes a deep breath and tosses it in the air. When he sees the flaming circle sink back down towards the ground, instincts kick in and he blocks his head. The staff lands between his fingers, which counts as catching it. "Hey, I did it!"

"Way to go, hun!" Jon kisses him on the nose, a fire lit under his belly to push his team to victory. The husky squeezes Dev's paw and the two start running.

Eddy hurls his baton upwards. But he accidentally does so at an angle. So as the flaming stick travels its parabolic arc through the air, the wolf chases after it, paw outstretched to capture it. While the force of catching it knocks him to the ground, it's in his paw all the same.

Barbara is about to applaud him for his efforts but winces as something pokes into her stomach. She lifts up her shirt to see the second Express Pass underneath. "Woah. Where did this come from?" she asks.

"The olympians were given two of those at the beginning of the race for coming in first," Eddy explains as they begin running down the beach. "They must have wanted us to have the other one."

The critics slowly catch up to the olympians who are running for the checkpoint, which is just in sight. "Hey!" Barbara calls out. Rachel & Tammy look at them as they draw near. "Did you give us the other Pass?"

"That I did!" the skunk answers.

"But... why? I thought you hated us."

"That was last year. This year, me and Rachel figured we'd give you guys a second chance. And seeing as I'm not that heartless bitch from season two, I wanted you guys to have the other Express Pass."

"Wow." Barbara is at a loss for words. She isn't used to Tammy being nice to other teams. It makes the wolf suspicious of her. She has to be up to something. "Well... thank you anyways." Neither team notice the prostitutes as they pass them until it's too late.

Back at the beach, the bottom four teams catch up in time to begin the Roadblock. Nick nails the part of having to spin the baton around. But when it comes to tossing it upwards, it lands in a bush and it bursts into flames. "There's a reason people don't trust me with fire," the fox says. Lucky for him, we've got people on the side with fire extinguishers. (And people say we here at the Amazing Race don't care about the places we visit.)

Ryan's cheering section consists of only his girlfriend. "You've got this, baby!" Josee shouts. The wolf takes a moment to do a few practice tosses like he saw Kitty doing. Watching this over and over frustrated the tigress and she growls, "Sometime today would be nice!" He rolls his eyes.

Sally has both ends of her staff lit up, unaware that she only needed one end. Every time even an ember or an ash floats her way, she squeals in fear and jumps away.

June throws her baton in the air but misses and it lands at her feet, setting some of the sand on fire. She picks up her stick and taps out the flames with her foot. "Isn't it beautiful how something small can destroy so much if given the right elements?" Mabel asks. June groans. She isn't getting any better, the wolf thinks.

***

At the checkpoint, Toner stands at the carpet with Quinten, his personal masseuse. "So, how are you liking the show so far?" the dog asks. He sips down on a martini, a drink he wouldn't normally have but he decided to give it a try.

The purple coyote folds his ears back, shyly. "I-I'm not sure. I love the scenery though," he says. He looks up and sees figures running in the distance towards them. "Oh, I think here come some of those players."

Toner turns his attention to those approaching. "Yep. You're right." The team in front is one he didn't expect to see taking a win this early. A pair of blue and orange feet stop on top of the carpet, their owners looking quite hopeful. "Jon, Devon, I'm very shocked to say this but: You're in first place."

The tiger and husky squeal and hug each other tight. Something pops up in Jon's mind. He opens his muzzle to speak but Toner clamps his maw shut. "And no you two do not have a penalty."

With first place taken, the race to not come in last intensifies. After several tries, Cal catches the baton in a clenched fist, almost snapping it in half. (Hey, it counts as catching it.) Chris manages to snatch his staff and swings it to the side so he doesn't fall down. "Whew," the wolf wipes his forehead. "This was more intense than my visit to the firehouse when I was a cub."

More flames get tossed into the air; more teams continue to capture the staff straight from the air. One odd case is when Miles grabs his, but loses control of it for a second and it knocks him backwards with the non-flaming end ending up right between his legs. The fox falls over and emits a high-pitched whine, eyes crossed and teeth arms shaking. Joey steps to offer him help but snickers instead. "What?" she asks. "You'd laugh too if something like this happened."

Tammy & Rachel run up to the carpet next. "Second place," Toner announces. The olympians hug. Once again, they got a good ranking without Tammy having to cheat. "Third," the dog says to Barbara & Eddy.

The real heat of the competition was between the drivers and bakers. Claudia and Donna yell and cheer for their partners, anything to get them out of their slump. Hans and Vito look to each other, each can read the look on the other's face: they do not want to continue the race like this.

While Sally and Jen worked on the task, Sindy trots up to Angie. "Hey, I know this might seem a little strange and I don't blame you since we haven't really talked much or anything."

Angie holds up her paw. "Just get to the point Sindy."

"I was hoping that maybe the four of us can work together this year? I mean, we already tried working with Jack & Maria, but... they didn't really work out. So... what do you say?"

"Hmm..." Angie really doesn't want to consider her offer too much. They were doing just fine on their own, for Pete's sake they won yesterday. However, with the other two teams from her Axis alliance gone, she needs another team to watch out for her. "It would be nice to advance further with someone else... Fine. You've got a deal." The vixens shake paws.

Cal & Ren run up to Toner at the carpet, with the bear slightly out of breath. "You're in fourth." The bear hugs his mate tight.

Chris & Zack- 5th place

Kit & Kitty- 6th place

Angie & Jennifer- 7th place

Jasper & Mitch- 8th place

A baton lands in Brent's hand. "Done. C'mon!" Him and Syd run down the shoreline. Brent is mostly excited that they're finally ahead of that bitch Mabel. Hopefully soon enough they'll be cut from the race and they'll be out of his life for good.

Just his luck, June completes the Roadblock next. "Finished," the wolf says. "Are you going to be coming?" she asks Mabel, who's staring into the campfire in wonder. June groans and picks her up off the ground. "Oof! When did you get so heavy, girl?"

She isn't the only person who has to carry their teammate. Joey heaves Miles up into her arms. She runs at a leisurely pace towards the checkpoint. "I wish you'd start using your legs again. It can't hurt that bad."

"E-Easy for you to say," Miles squeaks. "Y-You don't have future children between your legs!"

"Too much information."

Brent & Syd- 9th place

Josee & Ryan- 10th place

June & Mabel- 11th place

Sally & Sindy- 12th place

Judy & Nick- 13th place

By now, both the vixen and the cat have grown increasingly frustrated. "We should've been done a half-hour ago!" Donna growls. "Is this your plan, to purposely sabotage us?!" Vito doesn't want to admit it, but it was all his idea to slow them down. Getting rid of Claudia is exactly what needs to happen. So as soon as the officered finished, Vito upped his performance.

Even Hans was in shock that the fox was working much harder than he was minutes ago. "What're you doing?" he asks. "I thought we were supposed to be going slow on purpose."

"Yeah. But now that the other teams are gone, possibly checked in, it's time to bury you two in the dirt."

Crushed, Hans puts on his game face and throws his staff upwards higher. When it comes back down, it hurts his fingers but it's in his paw nevertheless. The bakers storm off as Vito struggles to catch back up.

"You can do this, Vito!" Donna shouts. But in the back of her mind, she knows that it's all over. When she looks up, she sees her partner leap up into the air and snatching the baton midair. The wolf dance instructor gives him a thumbs up since he technically followed the rules. "Nice job! Now come on!"

Both foxes run off down the shore of the beach. Up ahead, the cats run for it as well, but Vito & Donna slowly catch back up. "Faster, Hans, faster!" Claudia urges. Just like old times, he thinks. The teams run side by side with each other, not letting the other pass them. Even when Claudia trips and falls, she springs on her paws and somersaults ahead of the group, determination pushing her legs more than she ever has; even in the previous race.

The checkpoint comes into view. Two people are standing on the carpet alongside Toner. "Fourteenth place," he says to the vegetarians. "Can we get Miles an ice pack over here?" Joey carries him off to the side where an intern scrambles to find ice.

The other two teams are still running for it. Right as a crack of thunder from the sky startles them. "Are you kidding me?!" Donna shouts. Rain starts pouring down on them in a light drizzle first, slowly getting heavier. The sand starts to get stickier, more slippery. All of them can see the carpet getting closer.

Hans missteps and slips and falls face first into the wet sand. Claudia trips over, landing on top of him. Before they can get up, they both know it is too late. "Drivers, you're in fifteenth place," Toner announces. "You're still in the race."

"Boom!" Donna yells in a taunting manner. "In your face, last place! Ha!"

The cats on the ground growl in frustration as the drivers walk off. Toner stands in front of them, towering over them like he did when they were eliminated in the first race. This moment feels more satisfying though. "Well, well, well; one of my least favorite teams, Claudia & Hans, you're the last team to arrive. So, looks like you're done. Buh-bye."

***

"I am completely blaming our loss on you," Claudia says as they walk away. She wipes at her fur as the rain pours down on them, matting the sand into her fur. "You and Vito purposely slowed down so one of us would be eliminated! And for what? Because me and Donna were starting to become friends?"

"You were letting your friendship take over how you thought about the game," Hans says. "The only reason you got off on parole was because you said you were became a different person in prison. Clearly they were wrong. And anyways, the plan wasn't for us to come in last. Plus, how was I supposed to know that Vito was going to stab me in the back like that?"

"Duh! They're the biggest jerks in Amazing Race history! Even if Donna was more than him, he still counts! I should've known that we should've kept an eye on you during the past few days."

"So you didn't even have fun this year at all?" Hans asks.

"Not as much as it could have been. But then you two had to go and ruin everything for me!"

To save you time, they both bicker on the way home, even on the plane ride. When it eventually stops, they talk things out slowly and decide to go back to their jobs and forget this whole experience.