Season 21 is getting a bit slow.
This week on The Amazing Race, the teams had to travel from Russia to Amsterdam, and the episode kicked off with some airport craziness. I, for one, wish the Chippendales had just let Trey and Lexi fly to Paris. Gosh, they’re stupid.
Even with a Double U-Turn looming, it was hard to believe that the Beekman Boys would be able to catch up. The big drama seemed to be who would U-Turn Abbie and Ryan, who are seen as the biggest threat.
Team Twinnie spent a decent amount of time arguing with an airport employee about whether they’d be able to make a connection. Making the flight would mean arriving a bit before the other teams, but the connection was very tight. Lucky for them, it worked out and they touched down in Amsterdam first.
Abbie and Ryan had booked two flights, and they did indeed miss the earlier connection. Then the flight they did catch had technical difficulties. That poor team just can’t catch a break.
Herring Today, Gone Tomorrow
Twin Power
Arriving first, Twinnie decided to go for the Fast Forward. They had to board a tour bus/boat hybrid, and eat a bunch of herring in a short amount of time. I can’t remember the details because I was too busy thinking about how quickly I’d be throwing up. Fish + Motion Sickness = Disaster. The girls completed it though, and got to make their way right to the pit stop. Sigh. What will it take for Team Twinnie to get eliminated?
Detour: Back In Time or Organ Grind
Magic Jaymes
In Back In Time, teams would have to do a living art recreation of a Rembrandt painting. In Organ Grind, teams would have to operate an organ and collect 30 Euros of tips. I thought the second option sounded easier, at least for me. Amsterdam isn’t a poor city, so I didn’t think it would be hard to get tips there. But the Chippendales struggled with things, until they turned up the heat and broke out the Chippendale cuffs & collars. It was pretty hilarious – especially since their largest donation came from a grandma.
Because Twinnie took the Fast Forward, the Chippendales were the first to arrive at the Double U-Turn. The plan had been to U-Turn Abbie and Ryan, but the guys had hoped that Team Twinnie or Trey and Lexie would do that dirty work. They never really wanted to, so they were faced with a dilemma. I thought they shouldn’t have U-Turned anyone since they weren’t in danger of getting eliminated, but the Chips did it anyway.
I find it funny that everyone is saying that Abbie and Ryan are the strongest team when they haven’t been doing well for weeks. At this point, the twins or Trey and Lexie are bigger competition.
Switchback: Pole Vaulting
I like the idea of returning to classic challenges. I find the challenges have been lacking in recent TAR seasons, so it makes sense to return to ones that really caused problems for teams. The Chippendales blew through the challenge and arrived at the pit stop in second place. Those guys are slowly starting to grow on me, and if we do end up with a final three of Twinnie/Trey and Lexie/Chippendales, I’ll be rooting for the guys.
U-Turn My Head Right Round, Right Round
Trey and Lexie were thrilled that the Chippendales followed through on the plan, and so they U-Turned the Chippendales to waste the U-Turn for anyone else. That meant Abbie and Ryan would have to perform both Detours, but the Beekman Boys would not. Sly. Very sly. Trey and Lexie finished up the pole vaulting and checked in at the pit stop in third place.
Abbie and Ryan and the Beekman Boys both went for theliving art Detour first, and finished at the same time. When they arrived at the Double U-Turn, Abbie and Ryan knew they were done. There was no way they could get to the pit stop in time to stay in.
The not-so-fabulous Beekman Boys
As much as I love the Beekman Boys, it’s pretty funny that they’ve been able to stay in the race for so long. They’re really not doing well, and frankly, they’re just not competitive enough to be in this race. I mean, they played fair and square. Abbie and Ryan caught a tough break. There was no reason for the Beekman Boys to go help the only team they were competing against to stay in the race. What did they think the outcome would be?
I have to say, I was torn between rolling my eyes and tearing up when Abbie hugged the stranger that helped them reach the 30 Euro mark during the other Detour. It was sweet, but also weird and hilarious.
Suck It Up!
Come ON. Josh and Brent (especially Josh) need to suck it up and be happy about still being in the race, and Abbie and Ryan need to suck it up and realize it’s a competitive race, and the Chippendales aren’t the worst people on the face of the planet for U-Turning them. It sucks, but a friendship betrayed? It was a race, they’re your competitors not your cousins.
Abbie and Ryan, tough luck
I am sad to see Abbie and Ryan go. I don’t feel like they were eliminated because they screwed up a lot, it was a series of very unfortunate events. With better luck, I think they could have won.
There’s a small part of me that still wants to root for the Beekman Boys, but they don’t really deserve it. I guess I’ll root for the Chippendales now, but I don’t love any of the remaining teams. This season is a bit of a dud. What do you guys think?
Abbie and Ryan should have won the race in my opinion, but sadly they were hit with a series of unfortunate events like you say, none of which was anyone’s fault, except at the end when they were taken out by some pretty decent strategy by the top 3 teams. Of the 4 teams left, I am rooting for Chippendales. CBS has done a good job of making me sympathetic towards them, especially blond James who needs the money to help out his family. I hope that they realize that they are going to have to turn on the other 2 teams in their pact soon.
I had to laugh at the Twinnies when at the start of the episode, one of them said something along the lines of: “you give us a challenge and we’ll do it” (I forget the exact context of the quote). What I found funny was that this aired just a few minutes after the recap from last week, in which we were reminded that the Twinnies didn’t even bother to attempt the time zone quiz challenge and used their Express Pass instead. I can’t stand those two. I don’t know how they’ve stayed in this long.
I missed that Twinnie comment, that’s pretty funny!
Abbie and Ryan weren’t eliminated because of the U-Turn, nor the series of unfortunate events… it was the Leg 3 Curse!! It’s real and it’s alive and kicking!! I’m so glad I got to witness its might and power and…. okay, I’m losing it.
Anyway, THIS is why alliances are good in the Race; so you can use a Double U-Turn in the most kick-ass way ever and get rid of the team you fear the most. Honestly, that was the best use of a Double U-Turn ever. That being said, though, I’m sad to see Abbie and Ryan go.
As for the season as a whole, I really am enjoying it. Definitely not because of the challenges (I love Switchbacks, though, and wish they would do more of them)… but I think they’ve done a better job at casting than in the previous 2 seasons. I’ve found that if I like the teams, I’m inclined to enjoy a season despite shortcomings such as challenges.
Anyway, next week’s gotta be a non-elimination, so that’s not very exciting.
This was a great episode. It doesn’t get any better than Amsterdam! And now I really want to try making those cake things that they had on the boat. (The herring….not so much.)
Lexi and Trey pulled off a brilliant use of the double U-Turn, yes, but I did feel bad for Abbie and Ryan. As you pointed out, they are great racers but just could not catch a break. It seems like they never recovered from that Frankfurt airport snafu a few legs ago. Has there been no bunching since then? And I also think it a bit ironic that they were being targeted for being such a threat, when they’ve been at or near the bottom for a few legs now.
It was surprising how easy the pole vaulting seemed to be for most everyone. It seemed like the last time they did it that it was a fiasco for several teams?
I’m so excited about next week’s episode where they go to the Spanish island of Mallorca! It’s the home of tennis champion Rafael Nadal, and the teams will be playing clay court tennis!
It seemed to my wife and I that the canal they had to jump over wasn’t as wide as the last time. Maybe that was why it seemed easier for the teams?
i love team twinnie! lol
What a way to celebrate your nineteenth birthday, watching a TAR episode where you know from the beginning that your favourite teams will battle for the last spot. I think you’re dead right on the Beekmans, I still love them, but they’re just not enough competitive for the race. Seriously, after they discovered that Abbie and Ryan had been U-Turned, I was extremely worried that they would have followed their friends to help them with the draaiorgel.
Speaking of Abbie and Ryan. I’m not sure if they were the strongest team in the race, I’m actually pretty sure they had big targets on their backs for their 2-million dollars prize they would have won if they managed to pull it through. They never did or said anything mean or sly towards the other teams, they were just met with lots of envious people (especially Team Twinnie and Team Texas) and LOTS of bad luck. I bet they’ll never want to visit Frankfurt again.
Assuming that the Beekmans will be the next to go, the only thing this season can give is a big final between the three teams of the “Final 3 Alliance” (seriously, do they think they’re on Survivor?) I can’t wait to see what happens when they discover that they actually have to fight against their friends to win the million. I think I’ll root for the Chippendales, they’ve grown on me over the last two or three weeks. The organ scene was hilarious!
I thought this season started pretty slow but it picked up considerably and with this episode, TAR got another Emmy submission. They’d be dumb not to consider this unless something in the spring rendition rivals this.
Yes, Team Twinnies and Team Texas has been doing well. But the potential of Abbie & Ryan is what I think scared people a lot. I think this U-Turn was in the making for awhile and leave it to Team Twinnies to come up with the perfect strategy to TKO once the opportunity was there.
I’m still loving the Beekman boys but I was ready to yell at Josh for even thinking about helping them with their detour. Thank goodness Brent laid down the truth. The Beekman Luck carries on for at least one more episode.
The obvious prediction for final three are (in order of team strength in IMO) Team Twinnies, The Chippendales & Team Texas. Trey & Lexi has been making small mistakes lately and avoided paying for them. I think they’re one wrong move from being ousted- especially when The Beekman Boys keep getting lucky. But heck, after the NEL next week, I’m gonna go with Team Texas out and Team Beekman Boys into the final three. Dellusional probably.
I didn’t like Abbie and Ryan from the start. I still don’t like them. I’m glad they’re gone. That being said, I did feel bad for them getting eliminated that way. The u-turn is fair play, but the sheer amount of problems they got stuck with was just evil.
I’m all for Jaymes and James for the win. They’re nice, but not so nice that they won’t play the game, unlike the Beekman Boys.
The best thing about the twins winning the fast forward is that they were off my TV for most of the episode.
From the very start, we, too, disliked Abbie and Ryan….we couldn’t figure out why his hands were ALWAYS on her neck! It was a little off-putting. I also don’t understand why they assumed the Beekman Boys should lie down for them. Cockiness to a HUGE degree. We were VERY pleased to see them go!