Just finished watching Season 30 for the first time. In the episode in Bahrain, why was Cody allowed to take over for Jessica when she didn’t want to complete the camel milking challenge? I thought that Roadblocks have a strict rule for not being allowed to do this.

After a stay in the Cascada de las Animas (quite a beautiful place, really), teams were ready to jet off to their next country: Portugal! Inexplicably, Jamal seemed to already know some Portuguese, while Nicky spoke about her Portuguese grandpa. She actually said he was ‘born in Portugal’, which made me think he wasn’t Portuguese, but simply was born there (like how Keanu Reeves was born in Beirut, Lebanon, but is not Lebanese), but then from context later on, it seemed he actually was Portuguese.

The teams began their hunt for flights in an epic saga that was more complex than a Game of Thrones episode. I had not expected to see airport drama this intense so late in the day. It’s really been a while since this has happened. It was a full 16 minutes into the episode before anyone touched down in Lisbon. I will say, I applauded the show’s presentation of information about the flights that each team had received, which was a lot clearer than in previous seasons.

Let’s try and nail down some of the facts; Chester and Ephraim were talking to an agent about a flight that landed at 7 am, five hours before the flight they’d originally looked at. Unfortunately, as they did so, savvy Nicole and Travis swooped in and swiped their spot, as C+E’s clerk was not particularly on the ball. It seemed she accidentally tried to book them on a flight the following day.

Feeling bad that she had failed to secure them that flight, she did some digging after they had left and called them with a plan to still get them there at 7 am, albeit via two flight changes rather than one. They knew it was risky, but if it could save them 5 hours, it seemed worth a shot.

Meanwhile, Leo and Jamal invited the Oklahoma boys onto their flight with their “Race wifeys”, but told them to keep it a secret from Tim and Marie. Oklahoma Tim seemed on board, but Danny the narc was immediately grumpy about lying, perhaps because he thought this could jeopardise their chance at getting the exalted second Express Pass.

A bunch of the teams flew to Sao Paolo, but Chester and Ephraim went to Buenos Aires instead. When they got there, they found out their Madrid connection had been delayed by 4 hours, and they needed to get redirected. The hapless clerk helped them get tickets to Sao Paolo, where everybody else was, but they arrived too late to catch the flight with everyone on it.

In Sao Paolo, the racers all made their way to the gate to try and get on the waiting list for Nicole and Travis’s 7 am flight, but the gate would be closed until 1 hour before the flight. Nevertheless, Nicky and Kim were resourceful enough to figure out that they could reserve their place from another location. They kept this to themselves, and Marie and Amy were shocked when the NFL wives were suddenly being served ahead of them. In a talking head, Marie respected their hustle: “It’s something I’d do, so I’m going to take them seriously now”. 

As a Brit, I had to say, I really appreciated the cheesy use of “Rule Britannia” as a theme whenever a team landed in London Heathrow, first Afghanimals + wifeys and later on, C+E. I noticed that one of the shots of L+J and N+K high-fiving in ‘London’ was actually taken from Sao Paolo, as the gate behind them said “Londres”. Why would a flight from London be going to itself?

As if they weren’t far enough behind, Chester and Ephraim’s final flight (their fourth, I believe) from London to Lisbon was delayed. This made it pretty obvious that they’d be eliminated. I’m not sure they’d even be allowed to stay in if it was a non-elim leg. Crazy to think that this all started with Nicole and Travis swiping their seats.

And speaking of, that team plus two others were touching down in Lisbon. With teams spread out over many hours, the staggered progress was molto confusing to watch, but quite fun, in a way.

After receiving a painting of a coach, teams had to head to the Museu dos Coches (I thought Jason’s “Museum Coachay” sounded laughable, but he actually wasn’t that far off). From inside, teams got a detour of Tiles or Miles (9/10, no notes). A jigsaw puzzle fan myself, I wouldn’t have been able to resist Tiles, but I liked the mathematical slant to the Magellan-themed task. It also seemed to fit the Race theme of navigating around the globe. I loved that the map was pre-existing, and the production were able to get a bird's-eye view by sticking a cameraman on top of the Monument to the Discoveries (which can apparently be reached by stairs or a lift inside).

On Miles, the front teams helped each other, as did Afghanimals + Wifeys, but the latter were sadly not able to figure out that the world is actually round, and not rectangular like the projection in the square. Thoroughly puzzled, either Leo or Jamal wondered if Magellan had taken a shortcut through the Panama Canal… I wondered if they stopped to think whether that would have been possible in Magellan’s day. They gave up after some disastrous guesses, and switched to doing the Tiles.

This switch seemed to give Tim and Marie enough time to catch up with them at the detour. Indeed, it was the only time we saw teams from two different flights interact on the entire leg. Jamal decided to mess with them and tell them they had been there for two hours. After they had skedaddled, the pair of exes were definitely spooked, and talk of using the express pass came up. Although we, the viewers, knew they were safe, none of the racers could have been aware of Chester and Ephraim’s fate, so it would have been natural for Tim and Marie to assume they were in last place. If anything, they were quite foolish for not using the express pass when another team was in sight, and they could have overtaken them to make sure they were safe. Just like John from last season, however, they were stubborn and didn’t want to let it go.

On top of a hill with a forest, there was a medieval-themed roadblock of shooting a ballista at a shield (at least it’s not a watermelon catapult, eh?). Jason and Amy were having a streak of good luck and got away first. It seemed that Nicole and Travis were never going to clinch first place when suddenly J+A got into trouble with their cabby, who kept driving them the wrong direction. For the third time in a row, the team that was supposed to come first came second, and Nicole and Travis finally scored their win, getting a trip to Costa Rica.

Although the Wifeys had gotten to this challenge first, the boys quickly overtook them. This left Tim and Marie. Marie said, “If he does well at this, I won’t be mad at him, because he did nothing at the Tiles”. He managed to score on his first shot. I hope she will shut up now.

At the pit stop, Phil was diabolical in telling Tim and Marie, “You’re the last team to arrive… except for one!” Sometimes he has some good twists on the delivery, but this was just intentionally misleading. I enjoyed it though. Phil asked if they’d been scared, but Marie denied it and said she was in control. A lot of bravado with her, especially given that they could have easily gone had C+E had things go their way. Even the greeter knight was impressed with her confidence, asking, “Can she trade him for me?” Weird.

Afterwards, Chester and Ephraim finally touched down at night time, but it was too late for any shenanigans. Phil met them directly at the airport to eliminate them on the spot. It was pretty tough to watch this entertaining pair of guys go from 1st to elimination in just a few quick steps.

What an episode, though. The airport drama was on par with Season 11’s South Africa-Tanzania drama. Charla and Mirna were robbed.

A note from last episode: the NFL players, Chester and Ephraim, are great. Ephraim went paragliding, and Chester said that it looked like a truck was flying through the sky. Excellent banter.

In the morning, teams had to visit the deck of an ancient ship, a nice equaliser for the teams before the chaos that was about to ensue. Although Tim and Marie had started a queue with their bags, the Afghanimals had no intention to follow the etiquette.

In a mad dash to get on the boat, Leo and Jamal could be seen breaking from the pack to try and run faster, and made it to the boat second. However, the clue wasn’t immediately obvious, and it was the 10th place hippies Brandon and Adam that actually spotted it first. They had to recite Arturo Prat’s famous quote before they could get their next clue.

The next clue was 45 miles away in the desert, at a salt mine; teams found their detour of Brining or Mining (9/10, excellent). Mining actually sounded easier; no need to change out of clothes, and perhaps not as strenuous as carrying so many bags of salt… in a large tub like the ones they were using, you need A LOT of salt. The goal was for them to be able to float easily, which was pretty vague. Contestants had to be able to hold a newspaper easily while floating. Interestingly enough, you wouldn’t need as much salt if you had more body fat, since this would decrease your overall density. Leaner, skinnier people would have a harder time, and muscle-less Nicky and Kim definitely struggled the most with carrying the bags.

I turned out to be right: the three initial teams that chose Mining got away early and boarded the first bus to Santiago. Rowan and Shane, meanwhile, had gotten lost on their way to the detour and were dead last, but still managed to overtake Nicky and Kim through Mining.

The bus to Santiago would take approximately 24 hours. I had to remind myself just how vast Chile is… if you lay it horizontally, it’s about the width of the contiguous 48 states.

Rowan and Shane’s disastrous tale would continue at the Iquique bus station. Although they had caught up with the other teams, they decided to ask if there would be a bus arriving sooner, and they seemed to have found one. In an interview, they claim that they checked and double-checked the information. They pretended they were getting on the 2 pm bus with the other teams but then told the driver to drive off without them, thinking they were pulling the wool over the other team’s eyes. But when they returned to the ticket office, they were informed that their designated bus would actually arrive many hours later. They scrambled and found a different bus instead, but things looked dire.

In Santiago, teams spilled out and travelled to a central square. Here, they found that their roadblock was to do with shining shoes, before returning the shoe shining station to the depot. It was not the easiest thing to transport, and I actually shuddered whenever the hulking metal would topple over, sending pieces flying over the pavement. It seemed quite upsetting to the nervous system.

To my disbelief, the theatre boys arrived at the station only fifteen minutes later than the previous bus, giving them a chance to stay in. The other teams were speechless, as their elimination cushion had vanished. And then, to my horror, I watched as Rowan approached an unmarked shoe-shining stall and begged a local to shine another man’s shoes. I can’t imagine what he was thinking when the camera crew came over to him. I wondered when Rowan would twig. He didn’t at all. Somehow, he managed to convince the man (who was trying to earn money) to come with him back to the depot. Marie, finishing up her roadblock, told the man not to help him, but Rowan argued, and told her not to listen: “¡NO, es diablo!”, before pleading “Su mi madre, su mi padre”. Only after these theatrics was Rowan informed of his mistake, after which he went back.

But they weren’t out of the race quite yet, as Nicky had neglected to bring the mat with her, and got terribly lost, looking for it. According to the same interview, Rowan said that Kim paid for the missing part in the end (I’m confused if Nicky or Kim completed this roadblock).

This lengthy leg concluded in the countryside, another 28 miles away on a rope bridge. According to Reality Fan Wiki, the teams that arrived during daylight got to ride a zipline beforehand, but we didn’t see this. In a second ‘frantic first place’, the Afghanimals missed out on a trip to Turks and Caicos as they hadn’t settled their cab fare. Womp womp. Leo tried to explain why he was confused, but Jamal wasn’t having any of him blaming someone else for his mistake. The prize went to Chester and Ephraim instead. Awesome.

Tim and Marie had been extremely close to the wire this episode, but managed to hold onto their express pass. If they had gone out, I suppose the other express pass would have died with them. They elected not to give it to Nicky and Kim to stay ahead. Competitive play right there. Unfortunately for Rowan and Shane, their triptych of misfortune this episode contributed to their downfall. I was sad to see them go, as they also seemed like an entertaining team.

This was one of the strongest episodes I’ve seen in a while. I hope it continues. I’m still not quite sure who AdorableScholar’s favourite team is.

1. Not as exciting as 2012, I think. I looked up the biggest news from that year, and it was mainly deaths of notable figures such as Margaret Thatcher and Nelson Mandela, plus the election of Pope Francis. Doesn’t really set the scene.

But, twelve years on from The Amazing Race’s humble beginnings, a 23rd race was about to start. What would happen this time?

We open on an old western town, certainly one of the more unique starting lines for the race. I enjoyed some of the theatrics that went into this. The producers will always keep us guessing as to the tone of the show.

Teams came running onto the screen. Full disclosure, I watched this episode (and the next one) last weekend, so I can barely remember any of them now. Some hippie looking beardy guys, some black doctors (hopefully better than the last ones), some blonde women AGAIN. The team that stood out most to me was Hoskote and Naina, an Indian father and daughter team that promised to deliver Ron and Christina vibes. Yes, I can get behind this. Oh, and the Afghanimals. Their intro was a little cringe, but I’ll support them anyway because I like to see more MENA representation.

Once again, Phil introduced the double express pass initiative, and then the teams were off, with no silly task to do in this wonderful western set. As the credits rolled, I noticed that the graphics had updated to almost resemble the current intro to the show. Still a few differences; nowadays, the teams are shown overlaid on the globe, but here they still had their tapes.

Tim and Danny were a team from Oklahoma. They spoke about how broke they were and how much the money would mean to them. When they mentioned their 70(?) hour work weeks, my heart broke for them. I would like them to do well. They approached a lady on the street to ask where the airport was. When it seemed like she didn’t speak English, one of them put out their arms and started flapping, Charla-style. Do planes flap their wings, or is this just what small-town Oklahomans think? As a result of getting lost, they were the last team to arrive at the airport. Things didn’t look positive.

Teams set down in Iquique, Chile, and made their way to the top of the nearby hill? Mountain? Sierra? What do we call this? They met Javier, who gave them their roadblock clue. From the drive up, teams could already tell they’d be paragliding. It’s the poor man’s skydiving, but then I also wouldn’t want to watch skydiving EVERY season.

The roadblock clue was purposely worded vaguely: Who wants to follow the leader? This caught a lot of people out… In a twist, the non-participating partner would actually be doing the paragliding, while the participating team member would be following them down in a taxi. This was a ridiculous manipulation, and I’m sure the producers were well aware of it.

A few fears had to be overcome, but it wasn’t really an issue. The followers had more of an issue keeping up, speaking in broken Spanish to their cabbies. The Afghanimals had let their cabby go, which was an even bigger issue. It seemed like they weren’t allowed to share cabs, which seemed a bit wasteful of money and also fossil fuels.

At the bottom, several taxi drivers stopped a few hundred meters early of the landing site, allowing for some last-minute overtaking, such as by Rowan and Shane, who were inexplicably in first place.

The clues led teams to a harbour where another roadblock was waiting. As is customary, the person who did not complete the first roadblock needed to complete the second. However, this instruction proved to be confusing for some; as the paragliding had felt like more of an undertaking than sitting in a taxi, the jumpers were surprised that they now needed to collect fish also. Although the clue actually spelled this out for them, two teams did not heed the advice: the Afghanimals and Hoskote and Naina, but both of them fortunately were able to correct before one of them had completed the roadblock.

Sea lions were sharing the harbour with the racers, and I was quite shocked at how close the racers dared to get to them, with one of them roaring at Leo.

Competitive doctors Nicole and Travis had regained first place, and Travis was spoiled for choice when it came to finding fish on each boat. As a result, he finished quickly and the two set off for the pit stop. However, they didn’t read their clue, and went by taxi instead of on foot. Phil gave them 30 minutes, and I really hoped they could somehow still win.

But they didn’t. Guess who won instead? Friggin’ Tim and Marie. I feel as if this pair of exes was cast by production specifically as the villain team. All episode they were bickering with each other, and yet, they somehow still came out on top. And now they have an express pass, so we can expect to see them stay in for a long time (I doubt they’ll make the same mistake as J+J from last season, but who knows?).

All other teams rolled in, but I was really disappointed with the team I had wanted to see much more of: Hoskote and Naina. They had fallen behind when Naina’s taxi took a longer route down from the sierra than the other cabs, plus Naina’s mistake in starting the second roadblock. While she had been completing it, Hoskote had said to the camera, “I’m sure I’d be better at this.” When it came to proving it, he ended up lasting until the early evening, as the sun had already set. Phil eliminated them on the spot. A damn shame.

The teams ripped open their clues to find they’d be travelling to another constituent country within the United Kingdom: Northern Ireland! Yes, I think it’s great that Belfast got its day on the show, as it’s a fascinating place with a somewhat scary recent history. As a Brit, I finally travelled there about a decade ago, and I found it hard to believe this was the same nation as England, as almost everything is different, right down to the pound notes they use.

When they’d made it to the Cairnryan Stena Line port on the Scottish side, they realised they’d have to wait until morning, giving the trailing teams a chance to catch up. Max couldn’t help gloating at Mona and Beth and asking how they felt in the previous leg when they saw there were only two cars left. What a prick. When the editors show ‘dick move’ behaviour, I feel like this tends to be the precursor for a downfall, because they could have simply not shown that if they didn’t want us to root for the other teams. I actually haven’t finished the full episode as I type, since I wanted to get my thoughts on paper about the first half of the double episode.

After the ferry, teams needed to travel to Peatlands Park for a grim roadblock of bog snorkelling. I’m aware that this was filmed in December 2012, and chunks of ice were visible in the thin channel that the players were supposed to swim through. Even in a wetsuit, it would be utterly grim. Fortunately, the time to beat was a generous four minutes, which shouldn’t have been a huge challenge to overcome.

But Jen Wayne STRUGGLED hard with this one. She was already averse to water, but was even more bamboozled once she reached the end of the channel, where she didn’t know what to do. In a delirious state, she climbed over the wooden platform and plopped into a pool of peat on the other side, wasting a lot of time. By the time she’d got back, she’d exceeded the four-minute timer.

Upset that she had to restart, she tried to go again but couldn’t breathe and had to quit. Eventually, after much coaching from her teammate, she dropped into the icy bog one last time and cleared the challenge with 13 seconds to spare. She definitely cut it tight.

This extra time put them well behind the other teams who had already made their way to “The Thing with the Ring”, a beacon of hope in central Belfast. Sadly for the singers, however, they got some bogus info from a newsagent and went to Giants’ Ring instead. An ancient henge, this would actually make for a perfect race waypoint, and the helicopter shot of it looked fantastic on screen, but it only served to make the ladies fall even further behind.

The front three teams had found their detour: Tray It or Spray It (6.5/10) and had all decided to take on the Titanic-themed challenge. It’s interesting that they were visiting Belfast on the centenary of the ship’s sinking. I simply had to pause to peruse the menu, served to passengers on the fateful night. I had no idea what Squab or Chartreuse jelly was; Squab is apparently the word for pigeon meat, specifically from a young pigeon. And chartreuse jelly is made from booze. Sounds very posh, but also very old-fashioned.

This turned out to be an extremely gruelling challenge for the teams, as they would have to carry a tray up and down many flights of stairs and across the massive drydock to the tent where the passengers were waiting for their meal. If they made a mistake, all that effort would be wasted, and they’d have to do it again. The information given to the racers was presented confusingly as well, as it only listed two dishes under each passenger’s name; players would have to realise, Escape Room-style, that these were their choices for the second and fifth courses, while the first, third and fourth courses were all set. Only Max and Katie caught the large menu with all five courses on it early, and it took Mona and Beth a ridiculously long time before they cottoned on, each failure only making them feel more and more hopeless. They only twigged once Bates explained about the main menu. But I’m really surprised Mona and Beth didn’t switch detours before that. I felt bad for their guests who didn’t have anything to eat for what looked like hours.

It turns out that this challenge could have been a lot MORE gruelling if the producers had opted for authenticity, as the five listed courses were selected from the TEN courses that were served on the Titanic on April 14, 1912. It’s an eye-watering menu.

Although Max and Katie came away first, Bates and Anthony were able to catch up with them and saw them enter the Ulster Hall, but they weren’t quick enough to clinch the win, or the trip to the DR which Phil had in store.

Thankfully, Jen and Caroline picked the opposite detour (as I’ve said, I always like to see both sides carried out), and I gaped as I watched them complete the graffiti… maybe it was editing, but this task looked SOOO much simpler than the Titanic one. The Titanic is far more iconic and interesting, but this seemed like the right detour to take to get ahead in the race. I genuinely had no idea which team would come first.

It turned out to be Mona and Beth who got to stay in the race (maybe there was some evidence with the amount of light in the sky), and Caroline and Jen would not be seen again… Until the Finish line that is… And then All-Stars… And then a cameo on Season 34. That cameo had made me think they would win the season… It certainly gave them ‘plot armour’ for the first leg.

THE FINAL LEG

I’m subtitling it in case people want to scroll to read this bit only. In Phil’s intro tape about Belfast, I’m really glad they showed the then-brand-new Titanic Museum, an architectural and touristic highlight of the city. I visited in about 2017, and it’s honestly one of the best-presented museums I’ve ever been to; so interactive, so fascinating, so moving. The pointy building was very memorable, and it was nice to see it on the show again.

Riddle me this: why on earth did they send the final three to London via ferry and train, rather than simply fly them to the final city? This just seemed like a waste of time. Maybe if they’d visited Wales on the way, it would have been a way of visiting all of the countries in the UK, but this whole pint business seemed completely arbitrary. Somehow, Bates and Anthony ended up trailing on a second train from Liverpool, but it hardly mattered.

The final city was *drum roll* WASHINGTON DC! Finally, my neck of the woods! It was great to see the city get some love outside of the Family Edition (we don’t talk about Season 8). The teams touched down at Dulles airport (I’d recognise it anywhere) and quickly made their way to the Lincoln Memorial, where Martin Luther King gave his famous “I have a dream” speech. At first, I had a quibble with this, because the spot seemed in the middle of the stairway, but the famous photos of MLK are actually taken on the northeast corner of the memorial. To see if I was right, I looked up a video of the moment, and sure enough, MLK was standing right in the centre of the staircase. I guess the photos were taken after.

Max and Katie were still competitive and in first. They got a clue which told them to prepare to meet Barack Obama, the then-current president. God, how lucky they had it back then. Max started getting nervous due to his political views. I have to say, if I was being told I was about to meet Trump on the race, I’d probably vomit.

Mona and Beth were completely psyched out by this news and told their taxi driver to head to the White House (1600 Pennsylvania Avenue), disregarding their clue which told them to head to 1100 Penn Ave. Did they REALLY think they were going to meet Obama? Does he have time to stand around all day and be on a reality show? I suppose this would have been filmed shortly after his re-election.

The players were psyched out by the men in black suits and dark glasses that told them to maintain decorum as they went inside the Old Post Office building. Part of them must have thought this was the real deal, until they saw the tacky souvenir shop they were about to step inside. I had to laugh; this was a good prank on behalf of the producers. Max was relieved, and so was I, because I didn’t want Obama to have to shake hands with someone like Max.

On their novelty photo, teams found they would be heading to the Tidal Basin for the second Switchback of the season, harking back to the Family Edition (oi! I said we don’t talk about that!). This was a great challenge in 2005, and it was still great. Max was there first, but Bates soon joined him and was able to find his clue much faster, in front of Max. Although I had been hoping for Max’s downfall (as foreshadowed by his prick behaviour earlier in the episode on the previous leg), I couldn’t help feeling bad for him losing out due to bad luck. He didn’t actually do anything wrong, and seemed to do an entire lap of the Tidal Basin before heading back around. Since agents were walking in both directions, he must have been travelling in the same direction as the one that had his suitcase. Even Mona and Beth were able to catch up.

Then, the teams travelled to Nationals Park arena where the challenge was to throw a ball into the hands of the other teammate. Mona and Beth lost time once again finding the clue box. Bates and Anthony scored pretty quickly and now seemed to be running away with the victory. Mona and Beth took a whopping 17 attempts, mirroring their Titanic detour.

For the final challenge, teams travelled to Hains Point, which I suspect has some of the lowest footfall in DC as it’s pretty tough to reach, not especially pretty, and not much to see down there. The cherry blossoms along the way are lovely at the right time of year. At the end of this peninsula was a giant pit filled with inflated globes, all of which had a country outlined. Teams had to grab the correct globes and line them up in the order they’d been to each country. I thought the one with Tahiti would be the hardest to figure out (unless it was the only micro-island nation circled on any of the globes in the pit). I thought this was a really great, visually stunning final task, but any excitement was hampered by how far apart the teams now were, and there was no overlap between any of the teams completing this task.

Lastly, another familiar location, Mount Vernon, old GW’s crib. That would be quite a long drive from Hains Point (almost an hour, with traffic), and I suppose it could be nerve-wracking to not know how the other teams were doing for that long, but there was no surprise. As usual, a pretty boring conclusion (after last season’s, which was thoroughly epic). Bates and Anthony won. They seem like nice people, and they deserved to win, but whenever a young, male, physically fit team wins, I have to yawn.

I was more interested to hear how Dave was doing. He’d apparently had his surgery two days before, but was standing to applaud the incoming teams. It was just wonderful to see him doing okay.

Then, all of a sudden, as the show ended on a shot of some fireworks, the show said “In memory of David G Gibbs.” Huh?? Did Dave die?! No, it was a different David who was a helicopter operator who worked on reality shows including The Amazing Race. He apparently crashed while filming another show in February 2013. How sad.

Let’s face it, this fits comfortably in the bottom 50% of seasons in terms of entertainment value. They can’t all be winners, right? When I finish watching all of the seasons, I’d love to actually rank them all. It will be a challenge, but I’ll try.

Nevertheless, I still had fun with it. Some memorable bits here and there (especially in the first half of the season) and some good challenges, and still worthwhile television. Just not as good as TAR can be.

I tried creating the craziest, wildest route. I'm ignoring current political conflicts. Feel free to think of challenge ideas in the comments!

The Amazing Race Ireland Season 1

Leg 1: Ireland to Myanmar

Leg 2: Myanmar to Samoa

Leg 3: Samoa to Egypt

Leg 4: Egypt to Brazil

Leg 5: Brazil to Hong Kong

Leg 6: Hong Kong to Zambia

Leg 7: Zambia to Sicily

Leg 8: Sicily to Kyrgzystan

Leg 9: Kyrgzystan to New Zealand

Leg 10: New Zealand to UAE

Leg 11: UAE to Guatemala

Leg 12: Guatemala to Siberia

Leg 13: Siberia to Alaska

Leg 14: Alaska to Ireland

Max and Katie got to explore their new vehicles. Yawn.

It was still nighttime when the teams left Berlin. I guess they had the day to relax.

At the airport, teams had to wait until 5 am for the ticket counters to open. When they did, the YouTubers and RDMs were able to snag seats on the 1 pm flight before it sold out. They did a little happy dance as they walked away in the knowledge that their place was safe this round.

However, after they left, the other three teams were able to book a flight that arrived at 10:40 am. In fact, Max and Katie had already booked this and were hoping they’d be ahead, but were peeved to be joined by two other teams.

The YouTubers’ confidence remained until they discovered from the row of rental vehicles that three were already missing, and that they were, in fact, in joint last place along with the Moms. Crikey!

I believe this is only the second time the race has been to Scotland, the first being way back in Season 3. But this time, we’d spend the whole leg there, in and around the beautiful capital of Edinburgh, one of my favourite British cities.

The first destination was a stately home, Gosford House, which looked like something out of Downton Abbey. The task was a roadblock involving bagpipes. This proved challenging for Caroline, who made 7 attempts before getting it right. Megan, who had played the trumpet before, plumped for this task but then found that playing the bagpipes was an entirely different discipline. She couldn’t seem to blow just right and ended up trading saliva with her instructor as he demonstrated using the pipes she was holding. Icky! Despite her previous confidence, she had to wait until after Mona. 

Afterwards, it was off to a castle ruin for their detour clue: Tasty Puddin’ or Whiskey Rollin’ (7/10 for the apostrophes). Unlike these American wet blankets, I happen to LOVE haggis, especially when served with neeps and tatties, so I would quite literally gobble up the competition here. Whiskey Rollin’ looked especially physical, but Anthony and Bates were up to the challenge, believing their muscular physiques could put them ahead; they were correct.

For some reason, the show had hired an actor to dress as the poet Robert Burns and regale them with poetry relating to haggis. I live for this sort of thing on the show, the added hilarity. I wish the show could do more of this. This took place inside the Sheep Heid Inn in Duddingston; I presumed this was some village in the countryside, but when I looked it up, it’s right at the foot of Arthur’s Seat, the impressive hill near the heart of Edinburgh. I also thought Heid meant ‘hide’, but on second thought, it probably means ‘head’ in Scots.

Mona and Beth had their speed bump to do: trying to score a strike in a game of skittles, much like bowling. Joey and Meghan were so useless at directions that the Moms were able to finish the speed bump and arrive at the detour with them. They completed the Haggis detour together with the Moms slightly ahead. To their horror, however, they found they had been U-turned by the teams on the first plane. I don’t really understand why they felt the need to U-turn teams that had no chance of catching up to them, but hey ho.

So the trailing teams were then rolling barrels of whiskey together. Embarrassingly for Joey and Meghan, they found it too difficult to push a barrel each, and ended up rolling one at a time between both of them, while the Moms were able to ‘dig deep’ and finish faster. The Moms seem like a very tough team by comparison.

And finally, it was off to Niddry Street, where teams would meet Phil and a greeter dressed as Jekyll and Hyde. I miss the bratwurst man. Despite B+A’s efforts, it was Max and Katie who scored a second consecutive win, and $10k each. Though the show once again made an effort to make it seem close, it was Joey and Meghan who ultimately bit the bullet, Mona and Beth saving themselves with their second chance. I have to say, I won’t miss Joey or his personality.

Onto the two-hour final!

Welcome to the weekly No Judgements post.

Here is your chance to ask any question related to TAR without having to worry about being judged.

There are no stupid questions here.

Survivor 50 just wrapped and there were a few iconic players from the shows early days, but that got me thinking. If The Amazing Race had an all-star season, how far back do you think they would call in terms of who to cast?

Do you think we’re getting our first look at season 39 tonight during the Survivor finale?

So. A team plays Amazing Race 3 times, everyone is pretty annoyed, right? With fair reasons too! TAR doesn’t get too many all-star seasons (and the ones they do have don’t usually have the greatest picks), so having a team play three times is kind of annoying, but let’s see why this is the case

The first case of threepeat players comes in S24, and our choices are… not good.

Jet & Cord - Arguably the only ones that season who were popular enough for a 3rd time, S16 was quite controversial, and people really wanted to see them win, but their cowboy shtick had run out, and they barely improved compared to S18

Flight Time & Big Easy - Their story had been completed, the only way they could have been interesting is if they won, and it didn’t happen, their energy had run out, it wasn’t fun to see it anymore, and they placed even worse.

Luke & Mallory - You could say that their elimination in S18 was just way too sad, but even then… they lost in a roadblock because of Luke in two seasons, then Luke got another meltdown in S24, ending in the same placement as before. They’re not a good team and shouldn’t have been brought back.

Mallory - Mark & Mallory should have never been a team, period, idk whose idea this was.

So yeah, those are not it, and now fans want to see new faces, but then S31 comes out, and it brings Leo & Jamal and Rachel Reilly once again, and what do they bring to this season? Actually, some fun stuff.

Leo & Jamal do tactics like fake arguing and feel like a good counter to the BB and Survivor teams, representing the villainous side of TAR. Not only that, but you get the tension and narrative of the 11th leg, where you’re “will L&J repeat history or will they succeed?” and this feeling wouldn’t have happened if they had only played once, they even get first place which feels like a conclusion to this arc. Losing against Colin & Christie and Tyler & Korey feels even more fitting, a mix of new school, middle school, and old school.

On the other side, we get Rachel, and instead of Mark & Mallory, where they’re paired for superficial things, this time she brings a new family member, so the interest is “how will this drama queen deal with her sister now”, making the bickering much more fun since it isn’t husband/wife, and what can I say? Rachel knows how to act for the cameras, creating some excellent moments with Corinne & Eliza, and Nicole.

Threepeats aren’t a bad on their own, you just need to make sure you cast appropriately with some interesting narratives to have instead of “Let’s give this team one more chance, I’m sure this time it’ll be it.”

No 4th chance players, though, that’s enough.

One of my favorite seasons to watch. A unique season of two alpha male teams battling each other. Also maybe the funniest season. A great rewatch.

In S5 Collin & Christie arrived with a 7-hour lead to their first route marker, they need to go inside a pyramid and down in a tunnel to the center of the Earth to retrieve their next clue... it's just a gate painted with the show's colors that opens at 6 AM and we don't see any employees when they get in. After they leave they're too late to catch the first flight to Luxor, which departs at 7:30 AM.

“Switzerland is known as Europe’s playground.” It is?! Phil, c’mon now, you’re just making these up!

“On these slopes, a popular snowboard and ski school, which is now the start of the 9th leg…” I expected to see teams begin in Grindelwald, but I was stunned to see absolutely no snow on the ground as they ran through the streets in the darkness trying to figure out how to make it to Dresden. Either all the snow had melted and completely disappeared overnight, or…

Yep, I looked it up, the teams began in Interlaken, meaning that Phil was lying at the top of the episode. Or… more likely… they had filmed a segment in Grindelwald with Phil the previous day, with the intent to start the teams there, but then later made a production decision to move the teams elsewhere. I would not have noticed this move if it weren’t for the sudden reduction in snow on the ground.

The teams all took the same train to Basel, where they would take flights to Dresden, and on the way there, Bates was robbed; his rucksack was taken while he was asleep. Impressively, he took it in his stride and said, ‘I’ll be so much faster now’, impressing the swooning singers, who they had significant chemistry with. It’s just lucky that his passport was not in that backpack.

At Dresden, they had to find a Ford Fusion and answer a series of questions on the screen. Surprisingly, Max and Katie were out ahead. The first one was to do with Ronald Reagan asking Gorbachev to “Tear down this wall”. Max fumbled the answer and said Kennedy, and then kicked himself, revealing he was a ‘cigar-chomping Republican conservative’ and that Reagan was his favourite president. That’s definitely not something so easy to admit on TV today. I wonder where he stands now. Safe to say, this interaction didn’t warm me to Max.

It was pretty dull to watch all the other teams answering the questions, and then finally they were driving the 100-odd miles to Berlin. On the way there, the singers revealed that they were trying to be a bit more strict about the competition and not give so much help to other teams, especially B+A.

Evening was coming back around when Max and Katie breezed past the Brandenburg Gate, site of the notorious Season 6 pit stop. Here, they were directed to take a plunge off the Park Inn building. Thrilling for the contestants, I’m sure, but a bit dull to watch.

Afterwards, they’d get their detour of Train Trails or Font Follies (6/10). The idea of playing with model trains sounded ridiculously fun to me, so I’m not sure why so many teams opted for Font Follies. Those hefty letters looked like a right pain to carry. Bates and Anthony were collaborating with the singers (as usual) when disaster beset their team yet again as Bates’s V fell over and became unusable. You could see the singers fighting their internal urge to help them go back and get another. They clearly enjoy spending time together and like to run the race that way. But B+A decided they needed to switch detours instead.

Joey and Meg had already arrived and were clearly enjoying the track-building process to a degree, but things fell apart when it was time to move the train. I couldn’t figure out why both J+M and B+A put the model trees so close to the track, when that was sure to cause an accident. Both teams took many attempts to finish.

The other teams visited the Buchstabenmuseum and seemed unimpressed, with Max being surprised it was in a mall and Mona/Beth commenting on the type of person that would even want to hang out there. Clearly, their snooty opinions reflected those of the general public as the Buchstabenmuseum was permanently closed in October 2025. Pretty wild that it happened so recently, less than a year ago. I personally would have checked it out, although 12 euros (I checked) is a little steep… I would have been more comfortable with a 5 euro entry.

Afterwards, teams headed to Salon Zur Wilden Renate for a psychedelic roadblock. Mona and Beth got hopelessly lost, giving B+A a chance to catch up to them. This roadblock began with a question of who said “Ich bin ein Berliner”. I was shocked at how few teams knew this… such a famous quote that I learned at school in my history lesson. We even learned about the second meaning of “Berliner”, which is a standard jelly doughnut in Germany, so JFK unwittingly referred to himself as a pastry in that moment. It was interesting to have Reagan and JFK back to back in this episode, and the JFK quote had nothing to do with what would come next.

At the back of this bar was a psychedelic labyrinth that teams had to complete. I looked this thing up… It’s called the Peristal Singum, and it’s an immersive, theatrical experience. I also found out that parts of this building burned down last year, so 2025 was not a particularly good year for the parts of Berlin that served as stops on this leg!

Now, I do not doubt that the racers had a great time doing this experience; Joey emerged and said it was the “best roadblock ever”, which is quite high praise. He wanted to go back and do it again. But on TV, it looked terrible. It was quite dark, and there weren’t many places to get camera angles, so they affixed GoPros under the players’ chins. It just looked like a mess and was not fun to watch, especially as I felt none of the experience that Joey seemed to feel from this thing. I reckon production discovered this pre-built activity and thought “that could be fun” without really thinking if it would look good on TV.

When they emerged, they could head to the pit stop where Phil was waiting for them with a greeter who was wearing a functioning bratwurst grill, replete with ketchup and mustard. One of the top 5 greeters so far for me, especially if he actually handed teams a brat after they completed the leg (we didn’t see this). I got really hungry when I saw him.

Max and Katie scored their first win and a Ford Fusion each, allowing them to enjoy 37 miles per gallon (as a RAV4 driver, that does sound nice). Anthony and Beth helped each other find the white room in the roadblock before a sprint to the finish line, which the RDMs found very unfair. We hadn’t seen such a close last place in a while. Phil had good news for them; however, as this was a non-elim leg. Is that the last one of the season? I suppose I’ll find out.

Mostly filmed at night with lame tasks, this was just a dull episode visually, certainly when compared to the splendour of Bora Bora in the first two legs.

Welcome to the weekly No Judgements post.

Here is your chance to ask any question related to TAR without having to worry about being judged.

There are no stupid questions here.

Teams would be switching one sort of desert for another… actually, no, Switzerland isn’t a desert at all. I’m thinking of Antarctica. Would still like to see an Antarctic leg one day.

There was an insane amount of train travel on this leg, so bear with me. The episode had no time to lose, and the teams were already in Zurich just four minutes into the episode. From here, they had to get to Grindelwald (a town I visited roughly two decades ago). Some drama happened at Interlaken train station when the RDMs and YouTubers missed the train with all the other teams, but this was negated by a wait until dawn for a dude with a wooden sled to drop by with their clues.

Surely the race would start in earnest here? Well, no. Teams went to a hotel to grab a St Bernard dog, bring it on the train (one of them was spooked) and then deliver it to a guide near the Sphinx observatory at the top of the mountain. It’s a beautiful building… it amazes me that they can build such impressive structures so high.

Chuck was giving Wynona a particularly hard time this episode. It was rather like watching Ian badger Teri the whole way, but the difference was that Teri quietly put up with it, while Wynona rightfully got indignant. In a talking head, he said he was simply trying to ‘egg her on’, but she pointed out that he should know that would piss her off. After he’d upset her, he seemed to protect his own ego by refusing to validate her emotions and instead making stupid jokes at her expense. For example:

“He treats the dog better than he treats me”

“The dog runs better than you do.”

It was pitiful, and I wasn’t ready to see Chuck as such a careless, emotionally sloppy git that can’t apologise or take care of his wife when she’s hurting. The way he badgered her was hurtful because it was more evidence for her insecurity that she was the slowest and weakest player in the race, even though they should have had more confidence since they’d made it to the 8th leg. And even worse, the badgering didn’t even improve their result: at Grindelwald, Wyona pointed out that they were only 12 seconds later than the other teams, but the train they were waiting for wasn’t coming for another 45 minutes. So they weren’t in a hurry anyway. I understand that you can sometimes win or lose this game by seconds, but that doesn’t mean you can behave shittily as a team member, especially with your partner of over two decades. To summarise, I was really quite upset with Chuck; he let me down in this episode.

They wouldn’t have to rush for a while longer, not until they got to the Eiger Mountain, where they visited an observation point that was hollowed into the vertical face of the rock. The roadblock dictated that a team member had to ‘climb the face’, but it was hardly more than shuffling along a ledge whilst attached to cables. Teams would complete this step and then wait for a train, collecting a Roaming Gnome from the rock face. Bates talked about how the gnome gave him luck, and the show added a twinkling effect in the gnome’s eye. Love it.

Players could only do this challenge one at a time, and Wynona was up again, still trying to elevate her roadblock score, when this would have been better suited for Chuck. She struggled, and unfortunately, this cost her time, making them late for the first train… finally, the teams were unequalised. When she re-entered the observation point, Chuck scolded her for being slow, and she once again wished he would say something nice, to which he said, sarcastically: “I’m glad you’re safe; the kids need their mother.” What a jerk.

Teams travelled back down to Grindelwald, where they found their next clue. Instead of a detour, there was a Switchback challenge for one of Phil’s favourite tasks: the cheese wheels from S14E1. The challenge was updated, however, so that teams didn’t have to wear the useless wooden contraption on their back… they could use a sled instead. In fact, they NEEDED to use the sled, as dictated by the rules.

It was a gruelling, steep climb to the top of the hill, as evidenced by Katie, who could not seem to dig her shoes into the ground to get any traction. I had presumed that the snow would also add to the chaos of falling cheese, but it actually ended up restricting the chaos: any cheese that fell off the sled would be slowed immediately by the thick snow, so the Switchback did not have that same energy as the S14 one. Bates and Anthony also showcased a good technique of letting the gravity of the cheese and sled push them down while they held on. The other teams all adopted this, but the singers struggled the most. Chuck had a bright idea of actually flipping the sled so it was more like a basket, but a peeved Wynona gave up and began rolling the wheels of cheese down the hill. Uh oh.

When they had completed the dairy-based challenge, teams then had to get to the pit stop.  Anthony and Bates won for a third time in a row, which Phil found “Unbelievable”. Really? They’re a pretty competent team, and they only won twice in a row before that because of the fast forward… He’s seen longer streaks. I just thought ‘unbelievable’ didn’t match up with how they were doing in the race, unless he really thought they were weaker than they are for some reason. They won a trip to Bora Bora, which was funny given that they had recently been there. Sometimes the show will do this, award a prize of going to the place they just visited.

Max and Katie got stuck behind some cows. Moo.

The trailing teams were Alabama and the YouTubers, who’d been stuck on the second train. I was pretty astonished to see Chuck and Wynona arrive in 5th, as they seemed miles behind the YouTubers. However, Phil pointed out that they had broken a rule by rolling the cheese instead of using the sled. Big Womp. They had a 30-minute penalty, which they waited out as Joey and Megan walked to the pit stop, emotional because they believed they’d blown it. Megan was feeling pain from all the exercise that day and couldn’t move any faster. But they were delighted to learn they were still in the game.

This was such an interesting end to the episode. In a season where Chuck and Wynona appear to have received lots of lifelines to stay in the game, Joey and Megan’s unwise decision to walk from the Switchback seemed like the universe giving them yet another go, but they unfortunately squandered it this time with the penalty.

Not only that, but it also bore a sort of flipped similarity to S18E10, also set in Switzerland, where Kent and Vyxsin were given a penalty for NOT walking and lost an opportunity to stay due to this. This time around, it was actually fine that Chuck and Wynona took a taxi, but they still had the same result of waiting 30 minutes while another team came in. Is it possible to have a Switchback elimination? Cos this feels like it.

I’m disappointed Wynona didn’t get a last word in the exit talking head. It was all Chuck talking about how grateful they were to have won the race. I could see on her face how bitterly disappointed she was that day, and while he admitted that he was proud of her and that she hadn’t stopped, there was no ounce of an apology in his words, no recognition of her feelings. It was just shitty to see. I was actually glad they were eliminated, so I don’t have to worry about underdogs any more, and also because Chuck was just so upsetting to watch this episode.

At the Meno a Kwena Safari Camp, teams got to see a bit of the local wildlife from the pit stop, including some elephants. This didn’t eat into the episode like the last Tanzania episode in Season 20. Pretty soon, Bates and Anthony were on their way, driving back to Maun after having taken a charter plane from there the previous day.

As they were first, they came across the fast-forward clue first and decided to go for it. I’ve always said it, I prefer when the fast forward comes straight after an equaliser, so it’s anyone’s game. This just makes it so that one team essentially gets two wins for the price of one.

Still, they almost baulked at it. Water skiing a mile down crocodile-infested waters certainly seems like it could be challenging and time-consuming if you don’t get the technique right. But luckily for them, they managed to ace it, and even spotted some real crocs after finishing, emphasising the danger of the situation. They met up with Phil and received their cash prize of $7500 each.

Pwinnie arrived shortly behind them and were also excited by the green clue but quickly realised they couldn’t do it. Some of the other teams were having more problems… Jennifer, ironically, while expounding about her faith in God, got cut down to size when she was pulled over for speeding: she was doing 96kph (60mph) in a 60kph (37mph) zone. I wondered if they’d correctly quoted the cop, but they actually showed the number 96 on his machine. How reckless for Jen to go at highway speeds on such a narrow, country road. To make matters worse, she told the officer that she got confused and thought the speed limit was 120… Is she out of her mind? Even if that was somehow the speed limit, would you really drive on THAT road at 120 kph (75 mph)? 

With their ‘southern belle charm’ not working for them, the pair were dragged to Maun Police Headquarters, where they needed to pay a fine in Botswana currency. They feared for their place in the race, but a white bystander helped them out.

Incredibly, Max also ended up speeding, but with a much less egregious speed of 76 mph, and also needed to cough up. Upon leaving the station, he reversed into a pole. Definitely not his day.

Even more incredibly, they weren’t even last. Joey and Megan had gotten so lost that they ended up arriving at the roadblock along with Max and Katie. Joey explained that his generation was so used to navigating via satnav that listening to directions was not a skill he’d learned. It’s funny to think that this was not the case when The Amazing Race began in 2001. I do enjoy seeing things evolve with time throughout this show, and I’m roughly in the middle of its history at this point.

I will say, I found it a little suspicious that we rarely see teams getting pulled over for speeding, but in this one episode, it happened twice. I have to imagine racers aren't always aware of the speed limits in each country. The fact that two racers got caught out makes me a little suspicious that the Botswana police were doing the most to extract cash, since they knew the Americans would be travelling that way that day. Maybe they even put up some confusing signage that made Jen think the speed limit actually WAS higher, who knows? It just seems fishy that we suddenly get two infractions at once.

Max and Katie were required to complete a speed bump, and I wasn’t really paying attention, so I was shocked when Katie emerged with a face smeared with red marks, as if she’d been in a fight. Rewatching, she said they were painted with red vaseline in the hut during the ceremony.

All teams then had to paddle a canoe up the stream with goats. Wynona once again stepped up to the plate, and Chuck had a hard time keeping his mouth shut with suggestions for her. They made it through, though. Caroline managed to (quite literally) propel her team into fourth place, overtaking a frustrated Beth, who was not getting the hang of the poles.

After getting a water taxi and a drive to the next point, teams received their detour clue: Brains or Brawn (5/10).  Brains seemed like a fun and relaxing time, so I’m surprised so many teams chose the Brawn task. The singers seemed used to animals and were happy to work with the donkeys, but I got quite fed up with hearing the ‘hut hut hut hut’ when they were trying to move the animals… I’m sure it’s good practice, but it was annoying on the ear.

Chuck and Wynona managed to ace the Brains challenge, but it proved to be slower than the alternative as two of the girls' teams managed to slip by, knocking them into 4th. Pwinnie struggled with the pressure of having other teams show up (at the top of the episode, they jokingly requested that they could do the race without any other teams present), and switched detours somewhat prematurely.

The YouTubers and M+K had a donkey face-off where Joey kept trying to overtake the couple, but their cart would inevitably slam into some brush. Still, it was pretty intense to see the two teams going so hard, both believing they were in last place.

Nevertheless, it was Pam and Winnie who came up short as they managed to miss an ostrich cut-out on two walkthroughs of the safari, and had to switch back to Brawn again. It was really quite a shock to see them leave when they had been in 2nd for most of the leg. They were determined not to cry: “Crying is for bitches”. Not a sentiment I share at all, but I suppose it’s good if they weren’t too torn up about their loss.

Addendum to the Leg 5 recap: I just remembered how Chuck thanked his Vietnamese judges with a “Mucho gracias”, continuing the long-standing tradition of Amazing Racers using Spanish, no matter which country they’re in.

The very first shot of this episode (after the opening credits) made me chuckle. It was a statue of a globe being held by a pair of hands, and on this globe, the outline of Vietnam was made giant so that it stretched nearly from pole to pole, rather overemphasising its importance on a global scale. Just a bit more funny propaganda from this proudly socialist country. Here’s a picture of the statue.

The next destination was Botswana, a fantastic country that the show has been to before, but I don’t mind seeing again. However, teams were only told to head to Maun in the Kalahari desert, and needed to figure out their destination country from there. Whenever the show does this, I dream of teams heading to the wrong country by accident; it’s still never happened yet. But in this case, the teams weren’t allowed into the travel agents’ offices until they figured it out. First place, Wam and Pinnie made use of the Internet, and then the information kind of trickled down from there, with the singers being especially generous. This whole segment was sorta weak sauce, but I felt bad for trailing team Alabama, who tried to name every country they could think of before Chuck said “Bo’swana” from an answer he was listening to over the phone.

The next day, at Hanoi airport, Joey and Megan were confronted by Alabama, and in turn confronted Pawinnie about their decision to U-turn. They correctly suspected the plan to U-turn Joey and Megan, but again… I don’t really care about the inter-team drama that much this season.

In Maun, teams had to race to pick up a charter flight, and I was disappointed to see Chuck and Wynona near the back once again, but it was a surprise that Pam and Winnie were last. Team Alabama definitely felt like they were nearing the end of their nine lives on this race, and since I always tend to root for the underdog, I was hoping they could stay in a bit longer, even though I don’t see them going all the way.

On the charter flight, Chuck said: “This is where the Lion King was made, right here…” If I’m being charitable, I want to think that he meant that this is where the story is set, or what it’s inspired by, or playfully pretending that it was a live-action film or something. The other teams were not so charitable and took this as further evidence of Team Alabama’s idiocy. Mona and Beth guffawed, pointing out, “It’s a cartoon”. Winnie asked if he knew that it was a cartoon, and he sheepishly said, “Yes”. I didn’t really know what to make of this, as it’s unclear how serious Chuck was being, but I also just felt like the other teams were a bit disrespectful to him here, and I know I’d feel like shit if I were in his position and I’d tried to say something fun and then I get looked at like I’m an idiot. Hard to watch.

When they landed in Xhumaga, I enjoyed the visual of the Xhumaga Airstrip Lounge; literally, a few chairs and tables under an open-air shack. Not pretentious, but looked like a fun place to sit for sundowners.

Teams had to make their way along a dirt road until they found bushmen and their roadblock clue in a jar. The challenge was to successfully hunt a scorpion with a team of bushmen. How fascinating! The bushmen would help find the hole, teach them how to dig without killing the scorpion inside. Quite why the bushmen would need to know how to hunt scorpions in the first place was a mystery to me, but they were very adept, as all the teams were able to find some whoppers rather efficiently. They also subdued the scorpions by putting them in their mouth… again, why they did this was left unexplained, but it was hardcore to watch.

The reactions by the cast were mixed. Joey, in particular, was uncomfortable and regretted signing up for the task. His reactions (possibly influenced by years of being on YouTube) seemed over-the-top and wimpish, and he could have tried a bit better to put things in perspective. Seeing him next to the bushmen was like seeing two opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of masculinity in that moment.

Max’s mouth was agape when he saw the scorpion go into the bushmen’s, but then he quickly closed it shut in case he had to do the same. I definitely foresaw Chuck doing this sort of task, but was pleasantly surprised when Wynona went in to do it, and they acknowledged on camera that he had done too many roadblocks at this point and had nearly hit his limit.

Then, to my joyful surprise, the teams had to drive their bushmen to the next task, a detour of Fire or Fowl (7/10). These bushmen would also help with the next task. I really liked that this episode was based around traditional bushmen behaviour and learning from a team of dedicated bushmen. Really cool, and it seems like everyone got along.

Bates and Anthony managed to excel the whole episode, reversing their fortune from the previous two or three legs and did well at Fire, being the only ones who could light the chief’s pipe. A lot of other teams also chose Fire, but could not get the technique down or the kindling right.

As a result, Pinnie and Chynona were able to slip past the teams ahead of them by going straight to the Fowl task, which Chuck felt especially confident in as a master trapper.

Finally, at the finish line, Bates and Anthony scored a trip to Phuket, and Chuck and Wynona were delighted with a #3 score, giving them a boost of confidence. Max and Katie were trailing and had failed their first trap, but a panicked Mona and Beth almost made the mistake of getting in their car to drive to the pit stop rather than going on foot. Only when they noticed all the other cars were still there did they consider going on foot. Fortunately, they were not hobbled by this, and it was still Max and Katie who came last.

I was looking forward to seeing smug Max go, but Phil gave them another chance with a non-elimination. I had wondered if this Botswana leg would also be a non-elimination, as it was in S7. Sure enough, the preview for the next episode showed the teams still in the Kalahari desert, so I presume production wouldn’t mind sparing a team if they didn’t have to pay for an extra flight.