The Amazing Race > Amazing Race 33
TAR33 racing reports. Episode #11 is on page 1
maf:
Racing report
Amazing Race Season 33, Episode 9, "Rock Bottom"
Film date: 2021-09-29
The last pit stop was on a pier in Nea Kallikrateia, Greece. This episode starts with a product placement for Travelocity filmed at the pit stop where teams are told they get to select which hotel they are going to stay with in the app on a phone Phil hands them.
For this leg teams are released in two groups from a different pier in Kallikrateia.
Group #1 at 09:00
1. Kim & Penn
1. Raquel & Cayla
Group #2 at 09:15
3. Ryan & Dusty
3. Arun & Natalia
Route info: "Drive yourself to the Forest Theatre in Thessaloníki and search for your next clue"
Production have placed maps in the cars. But these are tourist maps of Thessaloniki only. Teams must figure out how to get to the city by themselves.
Ryan & Dusty talk about how they want to start in the first group so they need to do a flawless leg today.
"My boy back here is literally a Garmin", Dusty about Ryan
"Oh, this is a map of Thessaloníki, so we just need to figure out how to get there first", Ryan opens the map
"With only four teams left, we have one-in-four chance to make it to the finals", Arun uses some strange math
Teams find it hard to navigate. The few signs there are are in Greek and not many people speak English.
Teams arrive to the theatre (43km) in the following order:
1(+0) Kim & Penn
2(-1) Raquel & Cayla, about 30 minutes after #1
3(+0) Ryan & Dusty
4(-1) Arun & Natalia
Road block: Who will leave no stone unturned?
In this road block players must search for a stone with a gold coin underneath. There are four such stones on the stage. The problem is that there are also 4996 other stones there. The extra information also tells them that they may not move the rocks or mark which ones they have looked at. The coins are actually drilled into the rocks so you have to look at the underside of the rock to see them. It is not enough to look at the ground under the rock.
"If we're the first team here, logically, we have better odds", Penn does understand the math
But before they find a coin the other teams arrive one after the other and soon it is an even playing field.
"Listen to the relaxing music", Penn
"Yeah, it's like I'm in a spa, but this is the worst spa ever", Kim
"Welcome to hell", Kim to Raquel when she arrives
This is a physically and mentally exhausting task. There are lots of stones to look under and backs and knees hurt a lot.
"Raquel, I'll give you a back massage when we're done", Cayla
"Dusty, I won't", Ryan
In their podcast Penn tells that at one point he proposed to the others that they all take the penalty. But none of the players actually doing the task were interested in that.
"I'm starting to lose it. The wheels are, uh, coming off.", Dusty
Raquel & Cayla both get ecstatic when Raquel is the first to find a gold coin.
Dusty is struggling with this road block. He is the last one there and he starts to get angry. Eventually Ryan insist that he take a break and look at the view form the top of the seats. Here we learn that Dusty has had anger issues. The break help and he calms down and is able to continue the search.
Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):
1(+1)Raquel* & Cayla (6-3)2(-1)Kim* & Penn (4-5)3(+1)Arun* & Natalia (5-4)4(-1)Ryan & Dusty* (5-4)After searching for about 3h
Route info: Find Socrates at the Trigonion Tower. Listen to his words of wisdom to receive your next clue.
The extra info tells teams that they must park their car on a designated street (2.6km) and leave it there. Then make their way on foot to the tower (800m) as well as all following destinations.
As Kim & Penn are driving towards the parking spot they pass Raquel & Cayla who are on their way from the tower. This is the last time during this leg that any team sees any other team.
Arun & Natalia have a hard time finding Trigonon tower. It seems they are searching the ruins of Heptapyrgion, which is not where they should be.
Teams find Socrates at the tower in the following order:
1(+0) Raquel & Cayla
2(+0) Kim & Penn
3(+0) Arun & Natalia
4(+0) Ryan & Dusty
Socrates tells teams: "There is only one good - knowledge. And one evil - ignorance." After that he hands over the next clue. This whole setup felt very weird.
Detour: Bring 'em or Break 'em
In Bring 'em teams must carry 300 plates up a hill to Cafe Jasmine.
In Break 'em teams must make their way to Cafe Jasmine and break plates to find the one with a clue inside. The catch is that they must alternate and they may only crash plates while the band is playing.
The frustration is high in the teams after the stones road block so everybody wants to smash things. Teams make their way to Cafe Jasmine (1.3km). Here they find a bunch of plate smashing stations, each holding about 300 plates.
"So, this is a great way to release my aggression", Dusty
Team find their clue here in the following order:
1(+0) Raquel & Cayla
2(+0) Kim & Penn
3(+0) Arun & Natalia
4(+0) Ryan & Dusty
The clue teams find after this is minuscule and reads "White tower".
As usual the show tries to make it look like there is a footrace for the mat between the last two teams. But we never see both teams in the same shot so my best guess is that Ryan & Dusty are way behind Arun & Natalia.
Teams check in with Phil at the white tower(2.5km) in the following order:
1(+0) Raquel & Cayla, win a trip to Kauai, Hawaii
2(+0) Kim & Penn
3(+0) Arun & Natalia
4(+0) Ryan & Dusty, are saved by a non-elimination
At the mat Phil tells Kim & Penn that there will be three departure times on the next leg and they will be in group #2.
Phil talks a bit with Ryan & Dusty before telling them that they are safe.
"I mean, I grew today a whole bunch as a person", Today had a profound impact on Dusty
maf:
Racing report
Amazing Race Season 33, Episode 10, "No room for error"
Film date: probably 2021-10-01 or 2021-10-02
The last leg ended in Thessaloniki, Greece. During the pit stop teams are flown in their chartered plane, which the teams named Big Phil, to Lisbon, Portugal. Teams are released from Santuário de Cristo Rei, just outside Lisbon, in the following groups:
Group #1 at 08:30
1. Raquel & Cayla
Group #2 at 08:45
2. Kim & Penn
2. Arun & Natalia
Group #3 at 09:00
4. Ryan & Dusty
--- Quote ---Drive yourselves to
Fortaleza de São Filipe
in the town of Setúbal.
You have zero Euros for
this leg of the Race.
Warning: there are two
Roadblocks in this leg.
Choose wisely.
--- End quote ---
Teams must now pick up a car from the nearby parking lot and drive themselves to the old fort in Setúbal (44km). Raquel & Cayla seem to get lost immediately. They end up on a small street which turns into a flight of stairs.
"Can I just drive down those stairs?", Raquel (she has probably seen too many movies)
Ryan & Dusty are not happy about starting last.
"We will find one of these lambs in front of us, and we will feast", Dusty
I remember multiple teams in earlier seasons using a similar analogy and none of them have fared well.
Teams arrive to the fort in the following order:
1(+1) Kim & Penn
2(-1) Raquel & Cayla, meet Kim & Penn leaving when they get close to the fort
3(+1) Ryan & Dusty, just after #2
4(-2) Arun & Natalia, as the two teams before are about to leave
At the top of the fort teams find a sign which reads "Take in the view. Look for your next destination".
Teams must now look for a race flag which shows where their next destination is. This is a common race task and usually pretty difficult. But this time the flag is very easy to spot. The tricky part is instead to figure out how to drive to it.
"Color blind Penn found the flag", Penn on how easy the flag was to find
The last three teams all meet up on the fort so all teams are close together here.
"Ryan and I, the lions, went hunting, and we made a kill with Raquel & Cayla behind us, but now we are hunting for the main prize, the Cape buffalo", Dusty (followed by a roar)
The flag was located by one of the piers down in the harbor (1.7km). Teams reach it in the following order:
1(+0) Kim & Penn
2(+0) Raquel & Cayla
3(+1) Arun & Natalia
4(-1) Ryan & Dusty, took a wrong turn
Road block: Who wants to go exploring?
Teams will find nine rowing boats tied up to the pier here. They must each find one named after a famous Portuguese explorer and row it to a nearby pier. If the boat is not named after an explorer they must go back and pick another. The boat names are:
Bartolomeu Dias - explorer
Fernão de Magalhães - Portugese spelling of Magellan, explorer
Pedro Alvares Cabral - explorer
Vasco da Gama - explorer
Cristiano Ronaldo - footballer
Antón Guterres - politician and secretary general of the UN
Amália Rodrigues - actress
Fernando Pessoa - poet
Salvador Sobral - singer
These are all famous Portuguese persons but only four of them are explorers.
"Christian Ronaldo is not", Raquel checks the names and eventually picks Bartolomeu Dias
One essential race skill, which most of these players lack, is how to row a boat. Kim figures it out fairly quickly.
"Clearly, I don't have rowing experience. I would have been better paddling with my hands", Raquel
Raquel never gets the technique right. She sits facing forward but does get the boat moving.
Fortunately for teams they do not have to row a long distance (<100m).
Arun decides to do this road block as it does not seem to involve singing and dancing. But the task does involve rowing, and there is room for improvement when it comes to Arun's rowing technique.
"I'm not too sure how to row this boat", Arun
Ryan picks one boat at random (not the Ronaldo boat though) and hopes for the best. His hopes are dashed by the judge and he has to row back to get a different boat.
While Ryan is doing his first run Arun is still spinning around trying to figure out how to row a boat. While he does that he spots the name Vasco Da Gama on one of the other boats and recognizes it. He knows that is a good boat. Now all he has to do is get back to the pier and switch boat. But he still can not row so while he is trying to get back to the dock Ryan returns. Ryan this time Ryan picks the Vasco Da Gama boat as he recognizes this name.
"You took my boat", Arun is frustrated (but he knows the rules and Ryan was just faster)
Eventually Arun also figures out how to row, but by this time all other teams have left. And it turns out he has picked the wrong boat so he has to go back.
Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):
1(+0)Kim* & Penn (5-5)On her first attempt2(+0)Raquel* & Cayla (7-3)On her first attempt3(+1)Ryan* & Dusty (6-4)On his second attempt4(-1)Arun* & Natalia (6-4)On his second attempt, about 30 minutes after #3
"I'm glad I studied in school. That was the only one I was sure of", Raquel shows that education pays off
Route info: Make your way on foot to Mercearia Confiança de Troino...
The Mercearia seems to be some sort of local museum. Teams reach it (800m) in the following order:
1(+0) Kim & Penn
2(+0) Raquel & Cayla
3(+0) Ryan & Dusty, just after #3
4(+0) Arun & Natalia, after the first two teams have left the painting
Here teams find a basket with five sardine cans. They must each choose one. At the back there is an address where teams will find a door on which they must replicate the design of the can. The designs have been outlined on the doors so "all" the teams have to do is to fill in the marked areas. The extra info also says "The Mayor will have final say on whether you were successful or not".
The doors are close to where teams pick up the sardine cans (and they may have passed the painting stations on their way to the museum). Painting them is tedious work and teams soon realize that some designs are easier to paint than others.
"I think we picked a hard one", Penn
"We chose the sardine can 'cause it just seemed like there wasn't as many, like, fine lines and small details", Raquel
Once teams think they are done they call the judge over to check their work. She will just tell them okay or "Not yet" and then they have to figure out by themselves what they need to improve. We as the viewer do not have to do that as their mistakes are highlighted on screen for us.
"I think she is enjoying this", Penn about the judge after they get rejected again
"I hear panic over there", Ryan hears Kim & Penn
"We're gonna lose the Amazing Race'cause we can't paint", Kim is frustrated
Ryan & Dusty struggle here. Their main issue is that they need to paint their doorknob and it takes them a long time to figure this out.
Teams complete this task in the following order:
1(+1) Raquel & Cayla, on their second check
2(-1) Kim & Penn, on their third check
3(+0) Ryan & Dusty, on their 10th check
4(+0) Arun & Natalia, on their 1st check
The next route info tells teams to drive themselves to Santuário do Cabo Espichel. It also says that once they arrive they need to leave the car and bring everything with them.
When they reach their car Raquel & Cayla realize that they have lost their map. Here production inserts a shot of the missing map on the ground in front of the door they just painted. But the girls have no idea where they have lost it. This is the closest we ever get to see these two arguing. Cayla thinks she will be able to navigate without a map and Raquel think they need one.
"I was definitely irritated", Raquel interviews later
Eventually they decide to get a new map in a gas station and that quickly solves their problem.
Teams reach the next route marker (38km) in the following order:
1(+1) Kim & Penn
2(-1) Raquel & Cayla
3(+0) Ryan & Dusty
4(+0) Arun & Natalia, after the other teams have left
Road block: "Who has to do this Roadblock?"
This is the site of an old church and in front of it is a long courtyard lined with columns. The racers must now count the columns (the correct answer is 106). The catch is that they must remain within a marked square which is close to one end of the courtyard. Once they think they have the correct number they must make their way to a monk (~300 m) and tell him their guess. They may only make one guess per trip. Once correct the monk will point to the next Pit Stop, a nearby lighthouse.
This is effectively a vision test.
"I can't see all the way down there", Penn
After a while Penn decides to turn this into a running challenge. He does his best at counting and gets to 112. This is wrong so he goes back. He the immediately runs back to the monk and guesses 113, the next time he guesses 111 and so on.
"I'm blind as a bat so that's fun", Penn to Cayla as they run back after guessing
Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):
1(+1)Raquel & Cayla* (7-4)On her first attempt2(-1)Kim & Penn* (5-6)On his eight attempt3(+0)Ryan & Dusty* (6-5)On his third attempt4(+0)Arun & Natalia* (6-5)On her first attempt
The pit stop is at the nearby lighthouse (~800m). Raquel & Cayla take a wrong turn while they look for the path leading to it, and then the fog starts rolling in. The whole thing almost turns into a footrace between the girls and Kim & Penn. Or at least that is the way it is edited. The teams are not on the mat at the same time so either it was not as close as we are led to believe, or they held Kim & Penn just out of view so that Phil could finish speaking with Raquel & Cayla. I suspect that Kim & Penn may have seen the girls but were still several minutes behind them.
Teams reach Phil and the mat in the following order:
1(+0) Raquel & Cayla, win a trip to St. Lucia.
2(+0) Kim & Penn
3(+0) Ryan & Dusty
4(+0) Arun & Natalia, are eliminated
"It's been really good to get closer to Nat", Arun about racing with his daughter
maf:
Racing report
Amazing Race Season 33, Episode 11, "In the Hands of the Amazing Race Gods"
Film date: 2021-10-06
The last pit stop was a few days earlier in Portugal and after that teams were flown to Los Angeles. We get to see some footage from within the plane when Phil does a spiel before takeoff.
"In the unlikely event of an emergency, read your clue. It's in the little thing in the front there", Phil (who then has to tell them that no, there is no clue there they need to find)
The final leg starts at the helipad of the The Westin Bonaventure Hotel. This time all teams start together.
Route info: "Welcome to Los Angeles. On the top of three of four surrounding towers you will find locked clue boxes. Each containing a single clue. Spot the combination going up and down."
This hotel has four ancillary towers surrounding a central tower. The helipad is on top of the central tower and teams must now make their way to the clue boxes placed on top of the other towers a few floors below the helipad. Once there they must find the combination which opens the lock. This can be seen on one of the outside elevators adjacent to the clue box. We can assume there are people in those elevators pressing the different floors all the time so that they keep moving.
The first problem is getting to the top of the side towers. There seems to be a maze of corridors and stairs inside the hotel. The additional info tells teams they have to make their way to the 32nd floor to get to the rooftop of the towers.
"We thought going up and down meant somewhere up and down the stairs", Penn
"It's a tricky one, man", Ryan
Ryan & Dusty really struggle with this task. Eventually they get into an elevator and ride down to the lobby. When they do not find any clue there they have a hard time getting access to the roof again.
"I have no idea dude", Dusty
They see that two of the clue boxes are open so they realize that the other teams have already completed this task, which just adds to the pressure. Eventually they spot the combination on the elevators, but now they are way behind. In fact they will not see any other team until they reach the finish line (sorry to kill the suspense here).
Teams spot the code on the elevator and get their box open in the following order:
1. Raquel & Cayla
2. Kim & Penn
3. Ryan & Dusty
Route info: "Drive yourself to the El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument at the end of Olvera Street and search for your next clue."
Teams find their clue at El Pueblo (3km) in the following order:
1(+1) Kim & Penn
2(-1) Raquel & Cayla, just after #1
3(+0) Ryan & Dusty, after the others have left
The clue envelope here holds a road block clue. In this road block each team gets assigned an area filled with Piñatas. Three of them contains parts of their next clue. One team member must grab a bat and put on a blindfold while their partner gets to direct them. They need to smash a taco, a tiny donkey and an all-paper star. There are lots of other Piñatas in the area so spotting these three specific ones can be hard. Specially since the directing partner is confined to a small area of the adjacent Gazebo. Things are further complicated by the Mariachi band walking around which makes it hard to communicate.
"To the left, to the left, okay, directly ahead, bang", Cayla directing Raquel
"Oh, this is so much fun", Raquel
"They all look like paper stars to me", Kim (and there are lots of stars and they all seem to be made of paper)
"Yeah, I know. You're hitting yourself", Kim on Penn's rather wild swings
"I did a lot of smashing", Penn interviews after
Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):
1(+1)Raquel* & Cayla (8-4)2(-1)Kim & Penn* (5-7)3(+0)Ryan & Dusty* (6-6)
The clues they eventually get each read: "6465", "Sunset Blvd." and "Hollywood". Also the Piñatas containing clues also contains some read and yellow candies. This will become important later but for now nobody takes any notice of this.
Teams also get some extra information with the clues and it says "Go through the gates of S.I.R. Park in the marked parking."
Teams arrive to S.I.R. (11km) in the following order:
1(+0) Raquel & Cayla
2(+0) Kim & Penn, while #1 are still doing the task
3(+0) Ryan & Dusty, after the other teams have left
Route info: "Become a Foley artist..."
In this task teams must add sound effects to five Amazing Race memorable moments. The moments are:
* The bulls in Seville from season 24
* Hay bales in Sweden from season 6
* Claire's watermelon date from season 17
* Bavarian pie throwing from season 14
* Colin's "My Ox is Broken" moment from season 5
Teams must add sound effect to these clips using everyday items. There is a pro who demonstrates how to do it and which items to use. The tricky part is getting the timing right. Each team gets their own studio so there is no waiting for other teams.
"Apparently Foley is when you're recreating the sounds", Cayla explains the task
We learn that Kim is fascinated by Foley and follow some TikTok accounts working with this.
"What happens if you break the props?", Kim after Penn breaks the stick they use to make the whooshing sounds of the slingshot
Teams complete this task in the following order:
1(+0) Raquel & Cayla, on their 8th attempt
2(+0) Kim & Penn, on their 6th attempt
3(+0) Ryan & Dusty, on their 6th attempt
Route info: "Drive yourselves to the home of the LA Galaxy. Once there, search the grounds for the tennis stadium to find your next clue."
Teams must now drive to Dignity Health Sports Park and find the tennis stadium.
Raquel & Cayla ask a random person outside and as they leave him Kim & Penn come out and they of course ask the same guy (he has already signed the waiver).
On their way to the stadium teams hit traffic. So the blood pressure has a chance to rise a little bit more.
"At some point it is in the hands of the Amazing Race gods", Kim gets the title
Teams reach the stadium (34km) in the following order:
1(+0) Raquel & Cayla
2(+0) Kim & Penn, while #1 are still doing the task
3(+0) Ryan & Dusty, after the other teams have reached the pit stop
Route info: "Solve the riddles on the wall by using the correct images of people, places and things you encountered on the race across the world."
Teams have now encountered a memory task. There are twelve questions:
* You were greeted at the pitstop with these words
* This mode of transportation took you the rest of the way
* You found this under a rock
* It went this far up
* It fell out as well
* He greeted you with a smile and a drink
* Under this, he pointed the way
* He joined you throughout the leg
* You checked in here
* You painted this
* Something you had to eat
* You took this to Number 10
The answers are printed on giant tennis rackets. But to make things harder there are many more rackets than there are questions. For example there are 4 different pictures of coins (one is the correct answer to "You found this under a rock"). There are also a number of pictures of the Napoleon guy with different sized hats on ("Under this, he pointed the way").
The hardest questions are "It fell out as well", which refers to the red and yellow candies which fell out of the Piñatas earlier this leg and what the coins the found under the rocks in Greece actually looked like.
Kim & Penn later interviews that they knew most of the answers right away and then just systematically tested all combinations of cars, candy and coins. Raquel & Cayla are also pretty sure about everything but the coins and the candy.
We get to see a lot of guesses from the first two teams and it is really anybody's game at this point. But eventually one of them gets it right.
"Oh, we... that coin up", Rachel when they finally get it
Once teams get their answers approved they are directed to run through the tunnel to the big stadium next door where the finish line awaits. Teams reach Phil in the following order:
1(+1) Kim & Penn, win the $1,000,000
2(-1) Raquel & Cayla
3(+0) Ryan & Dusty
At the finish line teams are greeted by all the teams who participated when the race was restarted plus Taylor & Isaiah (who had to cancel their participation at the last minute).
"Seven countries, 17 cities, and having traveled across the globe", Phil tells the stats (slightly differently this year)
"I hope they see that studying paid off", Penn on what he hopes his kids will learn from watching this
"I got to spend a month with my best friend, running the world and doing crazy things", Dusty
At the finish line Penn gives kudos to the crew for working their asses off and keeping everybody safe. And we get a rare shot of the production crew standing just next to the mat.
"I hope that you get to watch this and see, like, how strong and how inspirational you will be to other people", Penn to his wife about her anxiety
maf:
I finally got time to complete the last leg. My apologies for the delay, life has been hectic lately.
Anyway I really enjoyed this season.
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