Topic: Redskevin88's TAR 35 Recaps *Contains Spoilers*

[redskevin88]

Sorry, this was delayed. I will try to post recaps every Monday from now on.

[redskevin88]

The Amazing Race has returned to television with the return of flights, the Express Pass, and the Mandatory U-turn. And similar to last season, there will not be any non-elimination legs.

Teams performed a Roadblock in Los Angeles before flying to Bangkok, Thailand using commercial flights via Taipei. In Bangkok, teams faced an extra task, eating insects to earn an Express Pass, which Morgan & Lena won, and a Detour, a choice between undergoing a painful Thai massage or learning to perform a sword dance. Andrea & Malania, the first team that arrived, didn’t realize that the bamboo swords were just for practice and switched, with only Joe & Ian and Alex & Sheridan completing the sword dance. Jocelyn & Victor won the leg, winning an Expedia-sponsored trip to Costa Rica while Alex & Sheridan were eliminated.

Compared to last season, Season 35’s season premiere did well here to give all teams a fair amount of screen time, perhaps because the episodes are 90 minutes long compared to the usual one hour (due to the ongoing writers’ strike). The detour was well-balanced, giving teams the ultimate dilemma of switching and waiting, with the decision paying off for Andrea & Malania and Elizabeth & Iliana. Next week will be interesting with the return of lost passport drama and teams get lost.

https://redshopeweekly2016.wordpress.com/2023/09/30/the-amazing-race-35-leg-1-episode-1-recap/

[redskevin88]

Mother & daughter team Elizabeth & Iliana were eliminated as the Amazing Race continued in Nakhon Pathom province as teams travelled across the Thai countryside.

Teams travelled via taxi to Wat Suwannaram, where they had to perform a Roadblock involving harvesting and arranging lotus flower bulbs to make two bundles. The Roadblock judge was strict in judging, and teams had to wrap their bundles properly and arrange them in a proper 3-4-3 formation. Teams were not provided materials but had to harvest them in chest-deep water from a nearby lotus field.

The Detour was a choice between a shopping task or collecting pomelos. Collecting pomelos seemed straightforward, but the pomelos were awkward to carry, and there was a danger of swamping the boat. And in the shopping Detour, teams had to buy some unfamiliar items, such as coconut sugar and durian. Joyceln & Victor once again won the leg, winning US$2,000. At the same time, Elizabeth & Iliana fell behind during the Detour after having problems finding the durian, and ultimately couldn’t make up enough time and were eliminated.

This leg looked linear at first glance, but the final placements do not tell the whole story as there was plenty of position shuffling during the episode. At the same time, cultural shock and language problems added to racers’ difficulty. I was in Bangkok recently, and you couldn’t believe how hard it was to navigate the streets of Bangkok or communicate with locals.

https://redshopeweekly2016.wordpress.com/2023/10/07/the-amazing-race-35-leg-2-episode-2-recap/

[redskevin88]

Flight drama returned to The Amazing Race as teams flew from Bangkok, Thailand to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, before taking a bus to Can Tho. However, it proved to be unimportant, as a keen eye for detail and task performance proved to be the main deciding factor of this leg, which ended with teams continuing to race, with Father/Daughter team Steve & Anna Leigh in the first place and Brothers Liam/Yeremi last as teams continued racing.

Steve & Anna Leigh pulled out a surprise early departure time at the bunching point at the docks in Can Tho, where they had an Active Route Info task the next morning, wiping out a four-and-a-half deficit from the flights. With teams down to a fifteen-minute deficit, teams who struggled at the sampan task sank to the bottom while Steve & Anna and Joel & Garnett made up time.

The Detour was a choice between making rice paper and decorating a motorcycle part in vinyl. Morgan & Lena used their Express Pass to get ahead at the sampan task but struggled at the detour, slipping from second to sixth. Joycelyn & Victor suffered the biggest downfall since Brandon & Alphaeus in TARA 5 as they fell from first to tenth, and their fate was sealed as Victor struggled to make rice paper. Steve & Anna Leigh are first while Liam/Yeremi are in last place.

https://redshopeweekly2016.wordpress.com/2023/10/14/the-amazing-race-35-leg-3-episode-3-recap/

[redskevin88]

Best Friends Robbin & Chelsea pulled off an upset win as the Amazing Race continued in Can Tho, Vietnam, with their Roadblock performance giving them the edge at the end of the Keep On Racing leg. Father & Daughter team Steve & Anna Leigh left the “Pit Stop” in first place with a token of 5,500 Vietnamese dong (about US$0.23) in leg money and instructions to proceed to the Cafe du Diec.

The Detour was a choice of Stand or Deliver. In Stand, teams assembled seafood into correct vats to get their next clue, similar to a Detour in Season 21. In Deliver, teams delivered four mattresses to a hotel to collect their next clue. The fish detour is smelly but relatively straightforward, while the mattresses are heavy and unwieldy and difficult to move in the hot sun.

After an Active Route Info in which racers made good wishes, they faced a Roadblock involving matching tiles, with each racer getting a unique title to match to prevent collaboration. To prepare for the race, Chelsea practised with her young daughter accuracy and hidden object games, allowing her & Robbin to win first place, winning OneKey Expedia points for a trip to Madrid, Spain. Liam aced the roadblock to allow his team to leap from last to sixth, with Morgan & Lena falling to tenth. Ultimately, it was Jocelyn & Victor who were eliminated as they failed to make up time.

What made this leg interesting was the heat and dynamics of the racers getting cutthroat in a good way. I was sad to see Jocelyn & Victor go, but they were doomed by their lack of ruthlessness and mistakes in the previous leg. I also wished that CBS could keep their story straight about the lack of non-elimination and not mislead viewers.

https://redshopeweekly2016.wordpress.com/2023/10/21/the-amazing-race-35-leg-4-episode-4-recap/

[redskevin88]

Steve & Anna Leigh won their first prize as the Amazing Race visited Jaipur, India, while Joe & Ian were eliminated. The Father and Daughter team had won the first leg in Can Tho, Vietnam, but were not awarded a prize due to it being a Keep on Racing Leg.

This time, there was no flight drama as all teams were on the same flight. When they landed in Jaipur, teams travelled to Amber Palace, where they had to carry sugar cane to feed elephants. The Engaged Gay couple Joe & Ian say they have dreamed of this moment and say their taxi driver slays, foreshadowing that sounds inappropriate given events.

The Roadblock required teams to balance three water pots while following a short choreography. The Detour was a choice between making a puppet and imitating poses from paintings. Sisters Morgan & Lena made an error on this leg by waiting two hours to switch Detours. The puppets were the easier detour choice, with Steve & Anna Leigh finishing first to win US$6,000. The ending saw Joe & Ian and Morgan & Lena in a rickshaw race for last place won by Morgan & Lena.

I’m happy for the Father/Daughter team to win a prize. I am intrigued by what will happen next week with the Mandatory U-turn, I hope teams will use their powers wisely. It was good to see India again after they were badly hit by COVID-19.

https://redshopeweekly2016.wordpress.com/2023/10/28/the-amazing-race-35-leg-5-episode-5-recap/

[redskevin88]

The Mandatory U-turn made its “debut” in this leg, with the Amazing Race teams voting for who they would like to U-turn before they began the leg continuing in Jaipur. Steve & Anna Leigh received six votes to Robbin & Chelsea’s four. However, Steve & Anna Leigh avoided elimination, and it was the Brothers Liam & Yeremi who fell behind early in the leg and never caught up, eliminated instead.

The Detour for this leg was a straightforward task. Flowers or Bricks both involved delivering things to a location, however, in Bricks, teams could load their items onto a cyclo rickshaw with an attached trailer and Bricks only involved travelling to one location.

Before the Detour, there were two Active Route info tasks, searching for their next clue using a telescoping monocular and retrieving their rickshaw from a maze. After the Detour, they had to deliver a bale of cloth to the Roadblock location, where they performed a Roadblock involving printing blocks to print the image of an Indian peacock to get the clue to the pit stop. Greg & John win the leg and Expedia OneKey cash for a trip to New Zealand.

There was controversy in this leg. Robbin & Chelsea and Lian & Yeremi were screwed by their slow rickshaw drivers as teams couldn’t switch due to security reasons, and Steve & Anna Leigh, who were given a chance to correct their mistake in the Flower Detour (they didn’t pass the receipts) in the middle of doing the Bricks Detour, but it was a good leg overall. This leg also wasn’t as draggy as the others, perhaps because of the route info tasks.

https://redshopeweekly2016.wordpress.com/2023/11/04/the-amazing-race-35-leg-6-episode-6-recap/

[redskevin88]

Best Friends Malaina & Andrea became the first team since Season 30 to be eliminated on the Amazing Race racecourse after falling way behind in Cologne, Germany.

Teams flew from Jaipur, India to Frankfurt, Germany, then drove to their first route marker in Cologne on a car ferry, finding a “money changer” to change five euros for vintage coins to be used in the Roadblock. Malaina & Andrea made their fatal mistake, unknowingly boarding the wrong ferry and changing coins with a random German. Rob & Corey’s communication skills came into play in this leg, with Corey providing written instructions. He also keeps a copy to help in navigating.

Greg & John and Robbin & Chelsea pulled away here, while Morgan & Lena’s meltdown during the self-drive portion of this leg made them fall behind, and not even the carnival Active Route Info could cheer them up. The second Roadblock involved unlocking a love lock with the numbers of the oldest cologne made in Cologne, leading teams to a Detour involving dart soccer (kicking soccer balls at a dartboard) and identifying mustards. Greg & John tasted their way to victory, winning US$4,000 each, while Malaina & Andrea were eliminated at the carnival concert hall after falling behind.

This leg was good as it tested all the different racing skills, with fatigue from the transcontinental flight playing a role with several teams not at their best. I do pity the teams, as I also struggle with resting and sleeping on a long flight. I also liked the idea of the Detour after the second Roadblock that added to the difficulty level of the leg.

https://redshopeweekly2016.wordpress.com/2023/11/11/the-amazing-race-35-leg-7-episode-7-recap/

[redskevin88]

Teams played a game of “train roulette” as the Amazing Race, with help from sponsor Expedia similar to last season’s penultimate leg in Iceland, visited a new European country, Slovenia, as Morgan & Lena’s luck finally ran out.

Teams had to travel a complicated route, driving first to Frankfurt, then flying to Vienna before taking a train to Ljubljana. After getting on the early flight to Vienna, Todd & Ashlie, Rob & Corey, and Greg & John tried to take the lead by taking a risky connection to Graz which failed to pay off. All teams ended up on a train via Salzburg.

Teams experienced a Roadblock in which they glided around the Slovenian countryside, with racers, including Rob, left speechless. On the ground, they must arrange the numbers to represent the year Slovenia gained independence (1991) to reveal the next clue. Rob is a NATO history nerd and got the answer correct on his first try.

Alongside a skiing task, teams had the opportunity to go for a second Express Pass won by Rob & Corey in a three-way fight with Todd & Ashlie and Greg & John. Steve & Anna Leigh, who were behind, also went for it but failed in their quest. The Detour was a choice between building a beehive or stacking hay. Greg & John battled Todd & Ashlie to the top of a dizzy staircase at Yugoslavia’s tallest tower and reached the Pit Stop first to win OneKey cash for a trip to Windhoek, Namibia. Steve & Anna Leigh managed to barely edge out Morgan & Lena to stay in the race, while the sisters were eliminated.

I had high hopes that Morgan & Lena could stay in the race, even after they were talking about their cousin. They ultimately lost because they had no chemistry, failed to work together and were doomed by navigational problems. It’s just a pity that the “train roulette” had no consequences. I would love to see more of the Balkans in the future but I think Amazing Race has been banned from Serbia after Garrett’s blunder.

https://redshopeweekly2016.wordpress.com/2023/11/18/the-amazing-race-35-leg-8-episode-8-recap

[redskevin88]

Childhood Best Friends Robbin & Chelsea were eliminated as the Amazing Race continued in Slovenia, as they fell behind in this leg due to navigation problems and Chelsea’s performance at the Roadblock.

Teams faced a Roadblock after leaving the Pit Start and had to attach a dozen pieces of woodenware to a wooden backpack contraption and transport them to a nearby judge, as interesting as John being told to walk to Germany, at least before the later teams struggled. However, only Chelsea had to do the Roadblock twice, and despite a positive facade, Robbin & Chelsea struggled to navigate for the rest of the leg.

Teams then had to descend into a deep cave and assemble a dragon. I haven’t met a dragon master this sassy in thirteen years. Teams then faced a Detour at a floating offshore fish farm, where they had to harvest mussels or remove barnacles. Greg & John performed flawlessly to give them a fourth win in a row, winning US$5,000 each, while Rob & Corey’s mistake at the Detour not reading their clue saw them concede second place. Robbin & Chelsea never caught up and were eliminated from the race.

I really wanted Todd & Ashlie out this leg but they recovered well from their early argument and did well at the tasks. Steve & Anna Leigh also recovered well this leg to finish third. It’s a real pity that the all-female teams have now been eliminated. I’m looking forward to Sweden and hopefully no Switchbacks!

https://redshopeweekly2016.wordpress.com/2023/11/24/the-amazing-race-35-leg-9-episode-9-recap/

[redskevin88]

I am feeling nostalgic as I have been away celebrating my birthday. Thanks to the Amazing Race fan community, especially the people at Reality Fan Forum for their love & support over the past few years. I’ve been following the race since Season 14 and this is one of the longest communities I’ve been in.

Last week’s Amazing Race episode saw Todd & Ashlie eliminated in Stockholm, Sweden. Greg & John lost their lead by failing to get the first place sign-up as teams faced a skydiving Route Info. After that came the Roadblock which saw teams participate in a midsummer tradition of completing a wreath and attaching it to a maypole before lifting it and doing a dance.

Rob & Corey used the Express Pass to bypass the Roadblock. Given that the remaining teams had trouble with the flower placement, perhaps using the Express Pass was a good idea. However, they had problems getting to the Detour decision point navigating on the subway. Sort saw teams sort one family’s trash into receptacles. In Serve, teams must serve and run three courses based on past Nobel dinners. Joel & Garrett managed to regain their lead while sorting the trash, which turned into treasure as they won OneKey cash for a trip to the Galapagos Islands. Meanwhile, Steve & Anna Leigh defeated Todd & Ashlie in a footrace for last place in a tight finish that saw all teams arrive very close.

The episode had a fantastic ending but I suspect it will be a Pyrrhic victory for Steve & Anna Leigh, especially after helping Rob & Corey navigate.

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Anna Leigh is also the only racer who has capped out her roadblocks. If they are eliminated in the next leg, this season will be the only season with an all-male final three.

It was nice of all the teams not to tell Greg & John where the sign-ups for the skydiving Route Info were and for production to make teams take the subway.

https://redshopeweekly2016.wordpress.com/2023/12/06/the-amazing-race-35-leg-10-episode-10-recap/

[redskevin88]

For the first time in the Amazing Race history, we have an all-male final three after the Father & Daughter team Steve & Anna Leigh were eliminated in the penultimate leg in Dublin, Ireland. It was not the physical tasks that did them in surprisingly enough, but a navigation mistake after the Roadblock that wasn’t shown put them behind.

Also, for the first time in Amazing Race history, team members were allowed to do two Roadblocks, with Rob & Anna Leigh having done six Roadblocks (Rob & Corey were at 6-4 as Rob declared he was doing the previous leg’s Roadblock). Previous legs with two Roadblocks, including Leg 7, saw teams alternate Roadblocks. In addition, the leg began with a rather pointless swimming task and ended with a poem recitation Route Info. This gave Rob & Corey an advantage, as Corey eased through the Riverdance and the hurling task, giving them their first win and a trip to Tavua Island, Fiji where they film Survivor.

Rob becomes the third deaf racer to make the final three (after Adrian from Amazing Race Asia and Luke from TAR 14), while Greg & John are the first related African-American team to make the final three. Kudos to Steve & Anna Leigh for making it this far. My prediction for the winner is either Rob & Corey or Joel & Garrett as Greg & John don’t seem to have a winner’s edit.

https://redshopeweekly2016.wordpress.com/2023/12/09/the-amazing-race-35-leg-11-episode-11-recap/

[redskevin88]

Congratulations to Greg & John for winning the Amazing Race 35! I have to admit that the brothers are worthy winners and opponents in one of the most interesting Amazing Race finales ever with the Scramble in Seattle. Joel & Garrett finished in second place while Rob & Corey finished third.

Unlike in Season 34, the Scramble had the effect of removing the linearity that had plagued previous finales, which usually saw the team that completed the first task first so teams were forced to strategize. The tasks they had to complete were glassblowing, setting up a stage for a grunge band, and trapezing. Rob & Corey did the trapezing first while other teams picked the glassblowing. Admittedly, the trapezing was harder and further away, but it had little impact as Rob & Corey got lost travelling to the location of the final task. John managed to breeze through the kayak memory task to give them the win.

The first few legs felt like a drag, especially with thirteen teams with the pace picking after the India legs. I liked how they gave no undeserved special advantage to Rob & Corey. Different skill sets were also tested during the race, with no team gaining an unfair advantage until the last two European legs, which were physical and could have doomed an all-female team. And maybe it's just me, but I would have loved to see the original TAR 35, it could air in 2024.

https://redshopeweekly2016.wordpress.com/2023/12/16/the-amazing-race-35-finale-recap-reflections/