MAF's RACER REPORT:Racing report
Amazing Race Season 30, Episode 3, "It's gonna be a fragrant day"
Film date: 2017-10-05 - 2017-10-06
The last pit stop was at city hall in Antwerp, Belgium. This is also where teams are released the following morning in the following order:
1. | Cody & Jessica | 06:51 | |
2. | Cedric & Shawn | 06:58 | +0:07 |
3. | Kristi & Jen | 07:03 | +0:12 |
4. | Trevor & Chris | 07:15 | +0:24 |
5. | Alex & Conor | 07:48 | +0:57 |
6. | Lucas & Brittany | 07:55 | +1:04 |
?. | Joey & Tim | ??:?? | +?:?? |
?. | Henry & Evan | ??:?? | +?:?? |
?. | Eric & Daniel | ??:?? | +?:?? |
Route info: "Fly to the city of Tangier, Morocco" Once teams land in Tangier they must make their way to the fish port and find one of three marked bins of fish.
"
In Morocco, is it French or is it Spanish?", Trevor wonders which language to use
All teams are on the same flight:
AT687 AMS-TNG 18:05 - 20:03 (scheduled 17:00 - 19:10)
We have learned separately that production had racers spend the night in a hotel outside town. The next morning they are released and can jump into taxis. This is where teams realize this country will be a bit harder to get around in.
"
I don't speak English very good", Taxi driver
Some racers turn out to have unexpected language skills.
"
I know a little bit Arabic", Cody is full of surprises
Evan also turns out to know a little bit of Arabic after having studied in Marrakesh for a year.
Kristi & Jen seem to have drawn the short straw when it comes to taxi drivers. They are unable to communicate with him in any language and eventually they exit the taxi more than a mile away from the fish port and make their way there on foot.
We are not really shown in which order teams arrive at the fish port except that Kristi & Jen arrive last.
At the fish port teams must fill an empty tray with fish. The fish must be stacked in a specific way and there is an example to look at.
Some contestants are a bit squeamish about the fish, which are dead and smelly. But once you get over that it is fairly straightforward, at least as long as you look carefully at the example.
"
Hi babies, I'm so sorry you are dead", Brittany talks to the dead fish
"
I have to touch these?", Jessica
"
Oh, they stink", Cedric
"
It's gonna be a fragrant day", Team well strung get the title
Teams get their next clue in the following order:
1. Cody & Jessica
2. Eric & Daniel
3. Trevor & Chris
4. Henry & Evan
5. Joey & Tim
6. Cedric & Shawn
7. Lucas & Brittany
8. Kristi & Jen
9. Alex & Conor
This clue tells them to make their way on foot to the Kisariate Jbala Souk. Once there they must greet the merchant with the traditional Arabic expression As-salam Alaykum (Peace be with you). The merchant is fairly easy to spot since he sits next to a Travelocity gnome. He will then give the team the gnome and their next clue.
Here I must note that these gnomes sport marvelous local outfit with a leather jacket and a very pointy hat.
Finding this place is not easy so there are some placement changes. Teams arrive in the following order:
Joey & Tim - fail to spot the merchant and leave again
1(+3) Henry & Evan
2(-1) Cody & Jessica
3(+0) Trevor & Chris
4(-2) Eric & Daniel
5(+3) Kristi & Jen
6(+1) Lucas & Brittany
7(+1) Cedric & Shawn
8(+1) Alex & Conor
9(-4) Joey & Tim
Road block: Who's ready to rock the Kasbah?
"
It could be dancing", Trevor
In this road block one team member must go zip-lining through the Kasbah, or at least their gnome gets to. First they must make their way to the Tangier American legation museum and find the marked gate. This is kind of hard since the Kasbah is a hilly part of town with a maze of little twisty streets and alleys which all look alike. Once they find the marked door they must make their way up to the rooftop where the gnome gets strapped into a zip-lining harness.
"
Is he the only one who gets to zip-line?", Jessica is disappointed
The answer is yes. So the gnome gets to zip-line down to another roof a couple of blocks away. The racers must make their way down to street level and then find the marked door in the house where the gnome has landed.
"
There's a lot of rooftops and a maze of streets down below", Chris
Once teams find the gnome they open his pouch and get another clue. This tells them to find the Kasbah museum and enter the marked door. At the museum they will find a second, much longer, zip-line. And they have to follow the gnome again.
This road block is physically exhausting. Not only do they have to run around in the hilly Kasbah but the marked routes to the roof include stairs, steep surfaces and walls they have to climb.
We see lots of racers working together during this task and lots of placement changes. For example Cedric seems to be next to last at the first zip-line but is the first one to reach the second line.
As he is making his way to the end of the second zip-line Cedric's age catches up with him. That and the very heavy back-pack he is lunging around. All other racers left their bags with their partners who are waiting in the Souk where they got their Gnome.
After the second zip-line racers get a clue directing them to an old school telephone in a tele boutique. Here they must use the provided coins (stored in a pouch on the gnome) to dial a number where they will get further instructions. These instructions are to greet the shopkeeper with the phrase "Sabah al-khair" (good morning). The shopkeeper will then give them their next clue and they can run back to their partner and open it.
"
This last one is kicking my butt", Cedric while looking for the tele boutique
Jessica & Brittany seem to work together at the tele boutique and when Brittany starts to dial Jessica relives her of her gnome. Jessica then puts the gnome down and Brittany forgets it. Brittany is so happy she has found a couple of nice ladies speaking Spanish who help her find her way so she leaves as quickly as possible.
Jessica interviews that she notices that Brittany has forgotten her gnome but she will not say anything because she is last and need the cushion.
Meanwhile Brittany soon realize she is missing her gnome and makes her way back to pick it up.
Cedric is so tired that he does not notice the entrance to the court where the other team members are waiting and walks just past it. Eventually he realizes he is lost and backtracks. This costs them 2 placements and some time.
Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):
1(+0) | Henry* & Evan | (2-1) | |
2(+3) | Kristi & Jen* | (1-2) | |
3(+5) | Alex & Conor* | (1-2) | |
4(+0) | Eric* & Daniel | (2-1) | |
5(-2) | Trevor & Chris* | (1-2) | |
6(-4) | Cody & Jessica* | (1-2) | |
7(-1) | Lucas & Brittany* | (1-2) | |
8(+1) | Joey & Tim* | (1-2) | |
9(-2) | Cedric* & Shawn | (1-2) | |
Detour: Drop it off or shake it off
In drop it off teams must make their way to a wholesale truck and pick up a bunch of groceries. These must then be delivered to:
* The vegetable stand at
Bab Kasbah - Squash
* Marhaba Palace
Restaurant - Chickens
* Orange Juice Vendor at
BabEl A'assa -
Oranges
The items come in plastic crates which teams have to drag along the ground with a hook as the locals do.
In shake it off teams must make their way to Restaurant Mamounia Palace. Here they must change into belly dancing outfits. Once in costume they must dance among the tables and look for words. The words they need to find are:
Moulay - written on the belly of one of the dancers
Palace - written on the back of the uniform of one of the serving staff
Hafid - written on a tambourine
Once they think they have all words they can say them to the head waiter who will given them their next clue if they have them all. Note that teams are not told how many words they need to find.
"
I don't really feel like running around the city any more", Jen does not want to deliver
"
Nobody will ever cheer for my dancing like this again ever", Evan
Cody & Jessica were going to do the delivery but when they arrived there and read the extra info they decide to switch to dancing instead. And this was probably a very good move.
"
This one seems a little too much", Cody reads the info on delivery
The three teams doing the delivery side of the detour all end up behind those who did the dancing so they were pretty unbalanced.
"
50+ pound pack and almost 50 years old", Cedric soldiers on
Teams complete the detour in the following order:
1(+0) Henry & Evan, dance
2(+1) Alex & Conor, dance
3(-1) Kristi & Jen, dance
4(+1) Trevor & Chris, dance
5(+1) Cody & Jessica, dance
6(+2) Joey & Tim, dance
7(-3) Eric & Daniel, deliver
8(-1) Lucas & Brittany, deliver, just after #7
9(+0) Cedric & Shawn, deliver
Route info: "Travel by taxi to your next pit stop at Moulay Hafid Palace".
As they exit the restaurant Alex & Conor realize they have left their gnome upstairs so Conor runs back to fetch it, this costs them some time and possibly a leg win.
At the palace we find a band of local musicians who play for the teams as they run up to Phil and the mat.
It was a quite tight race at the top with probably not more than a minuter or two between team #1 and #4.
Joey & Tim are close to blowing it. They find the palace entry easily but they go in a see the band and decide this is not it. So they go back out again. Fortunately for them nobody passes them while they search for another entrance.
Teams reach Phil in the following order:
1(+0) Henry & Evan, win a trip to Zurich (including some mini-golf)
2(+0) Alex & Conor, about 5 seconds after #1
3(+0) Kristi & Jen
4(+0) Trevor & Chris
5(+0) Cody & Jessica
6(+0) Joey & Tim
7(+0) Eric & Daniel
8(+0) Lucas & Brittany
9(+0) Cedric & Shawn, are saved by a non-elimination
And let us end this episode with sending lots of admiration to the camera-guys who had to follow the teams through the Kasbah. If the racers are tired then just think of what the camera guys must have felt.