Hooray for Luke and Margie! The deaf son/hearing mother team on the Amazing Race arrived at the Pit Stop first. I was thrilled to see host Phil Keoghan sign "You are team number 1" to Luke!
On tonight's premiere episode teams left Southern California for Switzerland. Along the way one team member was required to make a leap off a dam at the second highest bungee jump in the world. Scary! Luke took that one for his team and did great. Actually it may have been more frightening for his mother to watch him jump.
Arriving in Interlaken, Switzerland teams had to climb a steep hill slippery with mud. At the top were wheels of cheese weighing 50 pounds each that had to be transported back down the hill. For this Roadblock task, each team had to bring 4 wheels (200 pounds total) of cheese down the hill. This task offered some amusement as the flimsy wooden contraptions provided for carrying the cheese quickly snapped into pieces. Runaway cheese wheels rolled down the hill to the laughter of locals. An older racer hit on a solution by sliding down the hill on his butt grasping his cheese tightly. Another team coming from behind thought the task out and used the wooden materials to carry three wheels at a time by the stronger team member with the remaining cheese wheel scootched down the hill by the weaker member. Most teams required two trips up and down the hill to complete the Roadblock.
The racers' final challenge was to locate the Pit Stop by listening for a group of yodelers. Wait. That's not fair to Luke, I thought aloud. My husband said it was fair because his mother was able to hear. It didn't matter in the end because they came in first. I had tears in my eyes seeing the pride Margie and Luke had in their achievement. When Luke told Phil (through his mom) that he came on the race to show that deaf people can do anything, I saw one of the racers from another team wipe his eyes.
I hope this show will open America's eyes to the potential in deaf people. Go Luke and Margie! I'm rooting for you!!!