[Editors Note: This article and all others in this column WILL contain SPOILERS. If you have not seen Episode 1 of The Amazing Race season 28, it’s highly suggested you do so before you read the below. You have been warned and may Phil Keoghan have mercy on your soul. And for a reminder of the super cool and descriptive nicknames we have for the teams, check out the coverage of Episode 1. You can also find all of our The Amazing Race recaps right here.]
Where We Left Off or: Moving Forward With A Lighter Load
This week’s episode of the “very special” 28th season of The Amazing Race — in which every team is chock full of YouTube and social media stars — picks up right where last week’s left off: on the Pit Stop mat.
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For those following along at home, last week turned out to be a non-elimination leg with Team JuicyDad07 saved from being the first team out in exchange for having to face a Speed Bump in the next week. And for the uninitiated, a Speed Bump is a task that only the team it was given to has to complete. It’s almost exclusively given to a team in a non-elimination leg to give them a slight disadvantage in the next leg.
Our venerable host Phil Keoghan asks the beleaguered Team JuicyDad07 what strategy they will use to make up time in the next leg and Blair immediately has an answer. She’s going to slim down their packs. You see, it seems Blair might have overpacked just a bit…meaning, she overpacked A LOT. She pulls out a hair dryer, a curling iron (which she offers to Phil), and explains that her Dad had been carrying these things for her. So yeah, lightening up seems a solid plan that won’t possibly go wrong.
The Airport
The teams are now off to Cartagena, Colombia…the first time the Race has ever gone to the Republic of Columbia. What follows are check-ins with various teams that may or may not foreshadow what is to come.
Dana from Team Dancers reiterates her and her teammate/fiancé been engaged for three years with no wedding date set…and that maybe Dana was ready for the engagement before Matt. Zach King of The Kings expresses his excitement to go to Cuba, after which his wife/teammate Rachel kindly corrects him and then does a voiceover about how she’s kinda glad they aren’t using social media on this trip so that she and Zach can, you know, talk more. We hear from Team Vine Bros that one of them is in Mensa and that they can both solve a Rubiks Cube in less than a minute. Bernie of Team Rooster Teeth is VERY excited to be going to South America…VERY excited. And Team Tyley reminds us that though they seem happy-go-lucky, they are extremely competitive.
This last bit is evident as the teams arrive at the airport to try to book the best flights they can. Traditionally, the airport is where teams are made and broken. Their fates lie in their (in)ability to keep a fine balance of aggressiveness and friendliness, all while staying calm in the face of flight delays and other third-party factors about which they have absolutely no control.
This is our first time seeing these teams truly jostling for position and some personality quirks start to emerge. Team Vine Bros is not aggressive at all and spends a lot of time wandering the airport seemingly aimlessly…though they do have time to give out autographs. Team JuicyDad07, on the other hand, is able to capitalize not only on Blair’s get-it-doneness (and loudness), but what seemed like a more capable airport employee, allowing them to jump on a sooner flight than Team Viral Mom.
In the end, here is how the flights shook out:
- First Flight: Team Dancers, Team Tyley, Team Rooster Teeth, Frisbee Boys
- Second Flight: The Kings, The Models, Team Clevver, Team Family Time, Team JuicyDad07
- Third Flight: Team Viral Mom (narrowly being bumped to it by Team JuicyDad07)
- Final Flight: Team Vine Bros
Road Block (With Volcanos and Precious Gems)
Have you ever had childhood or adulthood dreams of searching in some natural substance to retrieve valuable precious gems? If you answered “Oh, have I!” to that question, the teams on Race just vicariously fulfilled a fantasy by way of volcanic mud and emeralds.
The Road Block clue asks “Who is a hot mess?” and the majority of male/female teams choose the female team member (because of society?) to embark on the task. I am NOT making a statement about hot messes and ladies, because I think that’s crap. BUT there were reasons that some, shall we say, female fashion logistics affected the success of teams on this challenge.
The first two teams to start the challenge were The Dancers and Frisbee Boys, and while Brodie slipped down to his undies and dived right in, Dana took a beat to run to a restroom and change into her swimsuit, costing her valuable time. Blair of Team JuicyDad07 hadn’t even brought a swimsuit (did you lighten up those packs just a little too much there?). Since she doesn’t want her Dad too see her in a thong (TMI?), another team is nice and lets her borrow something.
Some other highlights of this challenge include: 1) Dana apparently thinks emeralds are pink. 2) Korey finds his emerald on the first try, but slips on the stairs and drops it. He has to go back go back and find another, reminiscent of Scott doing something similar in the last Detour (luckily, Korey is able to recover fairly quickly). And 3) Bernie’s heartfelt apology for people who are “disappointed they don’t get to see me in a swimsuit”. Fans seems to agree.
Truly upset I couldn’t see @burnie in a bathing suit, and got @AshleyJ instead. #TheAmazingRace
— Jon (@_Makenbacon07) February 20, 2016
Here is how the placement of teams for the Road Block turned out:
- 1st: Frisbee Boys
- 2nd: Team Dancers
- 3rd: Team Rooster Teeth
- 4th: Team Tyley (This is where “You Look Like Gollum” comes from…said by Tyler to Korey)
- 5th: Team JuicyDad07 (but where is the Speed Bump?)
- 6th: Team Clevver
- 7th: Team Family Time
- 8th: Team Models
- 9th: The Kings
- 10th: The Vine Bros (they got past Team Viral Mom because of a really, really slow cab…Hagen and Marty were basically begging the driver to speed up)
- 11th: Team Viral Mom
Detour
The Route Info from the Road Block asks teams to head to Manzanillo del Mar and search for their next clue in town. There are a group of locals playing a game at a table with the clues splayed out next to them. Teams need to ask these locals for their clue (this becomes important later…). From there, teams have to pick between two options: Pop-Up or Parrilla.
In Pop-Up, teams must build a pop-up shak on the beach where, once completed, a car can be driven through blasting dance music. There will be bootie shaking! In Parilla, teams must make 3 portions of a local fish and plantain dish to exacting specifications.
With this, we get our first hashtag of the show, which is…*drumroll please*… #Detour. Really Race Producers?! Did you learn nothing from last week? Instead of going more thoughtful in their hashtag selections, it seems the powers that be at Race opted for simplicity. That’s sometimes a good tactic with hashtags, but not only is this one not very thoughtful, it’s also apparently the name of the latest Cyndi Lauper album since I saw tons of Twitter posts about that instead of anything about The Amazing Race.
I like the building #detour it forces teams to work really well together #AmazingRace
— Andrew Kirk (@CSUGradAkirk) February 20, 2016
This challenge is where we’re really starting to see the teams’ true mettle. Most of the first teams to arrive opt for Pop-Up. Frisbee Boys are first team to the Detour, but Team Tyley flies through the challenge, not only again proving they are amazing at challenges with attention to details (like last week’s bull building), but are very physical at the same time.
Both Team Dancer and Team Rooster Teeth were at a disadvantage because they each had a short team member (part of making the pop-up was to lash high beams in a very specific way), but while Ashley and Bernie stayed calm during their problem-solving (lots of encouragement, lots of “good job”s), The Dancers, particularly Dana, resort to yelling and frustration. When The Kings arrive, Zach is very adamant he is excellent at building things…which somehow in the edit seems ominous.
Team JuicyDad07 then arrives for its clue and receive its Speed Bump, which consists of helping a group of locals pull in a huge fishing net followed by collecting the fish that were in the net into buckets. Though there was much high-pitched screeching from Blair about fish bites and threats of passing out, they get the task done fairly quickly and move on to their Detour. They choose Parilla.
Oh hey, remember how Zach said he was really good at building things? Well, he’s apparently not as good at reading the clues. After a substantial bit of their pop-up is built, Rachel realizes that you had to build your pop-up in front of one of a line of cars…because that car then has to drive into it (AKA: a MAJOR component of the clue). This leads to our second hashtag of the show: #ReadYourClue. This one, at least on surface, seems more fun and unique and does produce some fun Tweets.
I love the “Read Your Clue” hashtags… lol #ReadYourClue #AmazingRace
— Joey Buttitta (@Joey_Buttitta)February 20, 2016
If you have any doubts about what you’re doing, stop and #ReadYourClue. Can’t believe people are still doing this in season 28. #AmazingRace
— Meredith Nygma (@SpoonyLupin) February 20, 2016
It only took two legs for the perennial #AmazingRace hashtag. #ReadYourClue
— George Wise (@gy64) February 20, 2016
However, this hashtag has been used multiple times before in TAR history (most notably last season when a team got on an incorrect ferry in Japan and it cost them dearly). At this point, most teams are working their way to the Pit Stop at Plaza Bolivar. Team Tyley arrives first and win the first Travelocity Trip of the season. A trip to St. Thomas! I hope they do their podcast while they are there!
Side Note as we’re speaking of prizes: As I discovered on The Amazing Race Wikipedia Page, Team Dancers did win $2,000 each for the first leg win, it just wasn’t televised. The page also lists the leg 12 prize is $1 million, so there IS a sweet, sweet prize involved in winning Amazing Race 28 and not just bragging rights.
I swear @tyleroakley and @koreykuhl make me happy just by laughing <3 #TheAmazingRace
— Ashleigh Harrell (@Ash_Kaye0) February 20, 2016
The rest of the teams arrive in this order (and which Detour task they did):
- 2nd: Frisbee Boys (Pop-Up)
- 3rd: Team Rooster Teeth (Pop-Up)
- 4th: Team Dancers (Pop-Up) (Also, Dana thinks this leg is a success since she didn’t “kill” Matt. Yes, she used that word…)
- 5th: Team Clevver (Parrilla)
- 6th: The Kings (Pop-Up)
- 7th: Team Models (Parrilla)
- 8th: Team Family Time (Pop-Up) (Also, we didn’t hear much from them this leg..)
- 9th: Team JuicyDad07 (Parrilla) (Big come back)
In other news, people seem to really enjoy the way Team Rooster Teeth celebrate hitting the mat…
@AshleyJ @burnie #TheAmazingRace pic.twitter.com/zYuXU1TfQo
— Ben Jensen (@H4xm0nk3y) February 20, 2016
Oh hey, but how are those teams in last place doing? The Vine Bros and Team Viral Mom?
Eliminations!
Team Vine Bros ends up missing its clue that leads it to the Detour because it’s looking for a clue box, overthinking it and not realizing that clues don’t always come in clue boxes. Team Viral Mom does get its clue but think it needs to run to the Detour location. So, Hagen and Marty ditch their cab. Both teams choose Parrilla and it’s clear Team Viral Mom is more adept at cooking than The Vine Bros. Hagen and Marty finish first…but have to run several miles to get a cab to the Pit Stop. The Vine Bros kept their cab with them and were able to overtake Team Viral Mom.
It’s always sad when the taxi driver is the reason you are behind on the race. #TheAmazingRace
— Trisha Martin (@MissTrish92) February 20, 2016
They let their cab go! 🚕 BigMistake!! #Detour #AmazingRace
— O.J. (@ohjayohkay) February 20, 2016
Team Vine Bros come in 10th and Team Viral Mom is eliminated. Darius and Cameron take it as a huge wake-up call. They shouldn’t rely on their smarts. They can overthink things. And that they need to be more aggressive in foot races.
What did you think of this week’s episode? Are your favorite teams still doing well? Let me know in the comments below and also be sure to Tweet during future episodes and you might see your Tweet featured in a future column!
BONUS: Fans of Team Rooster Teeth and/or Team Tyley? Both teams appeared this week on the Rooster Teeth game show On the Spot. It’s quite delightful and includes such challenges as Cunning Linguistics and Sync About It. Phil Keoghan even co-hosts! But fair warning, this ain’t family-friendly like The Amazing Race.
