Racing report
Amazing Race Season 36, Episode 6, "Our alliance strikes again"
Film date: probably 2022-11-04
The previous leg was in Santiago, Chile. During the pit stop teams are transported to Córdoba, Argentina. Teams are released from a bridge in Cordoba at Caseros.
Group #1 departs 08:15:
Ricky & Cesar
Juan & Shane
Group #2 departs 08:30:
Amber & Vinny
Angie & Danny
Rod & Leticia
Group #3 departs 08:45:
Yvonne & Melissa
Sunny & Bizzy
Derek & Shelisa
The first clue is a route info which welcomes them to Cordoba and tells them that this will be a mega leg. They should first pick up a car and drive themselves to Plaza del Bicentenario.
The cars are parked outside Municipalidad de Córdoba and there are maps in them. Teams get 23,000 Argentinian pesos (~$26) for this leg.
Right from the start we learn that the teams in group #2 are working together and they are all following Danny to the next location.
"
Our job today is is not to win the mega leg, it is to survive the mega leg", Danny
"
Getting lost is what you don't want t do", Rod (even if they are following Danny Leticia is also following along on the map)
Teams arrive to Plaza del Bicentenario (2km) in the following order:
1. Ricky & Cesar
2. Juan & Shane
3. Rod & Leticia
4. Amber & Vinny
5. Angie & Danny
6. Yvonne & Melissa
7. Derek & Shelisa
8. Sunny & Bizzy
This plaza is filled with giant standing rings and there are clues hanging from a lot of them. It is not shown in the episode but a large portion of the clues were fake and only said "Try Again". But this does not seem to have really affected the race so it is not shown (but you can see a bunch of racers holding multiple clues in their hands).
Detour: Bicicleta or Boleadora
In Bicicleta teams must pedal a stationary bike which is attached to a small grinder to grind up enough plastic bottles to fill a container.
In Boleadora teams will get ten attempts to wrap a Bola around a moving target in the form of a bull. A Bola is three balls held together with string and the goal is to wrap at least one of them around the legs of the bull. Both team members must succeed within the same set of ten. To make it harder the throwing team member must sit on a simulated horse. There are four throwing stations and you may not retrieve your Bolas as long as anybody is throwing theirs.
The Bicileta takes place at Plaza Ex.Vélez Sársfield (1.7km) and the Boleadora at Parque Sarmiento (2km).
After a while the alliance (the three teams in the second group) arrive to the Boleadores but they think it looks too difficult so they decide to switch to Biciletas.
Yvonne & Melissa arrive to the Road Block as Ricky & Cesar are leaving. So we can assume that it took the boys at least 30 minutes to complete the Boleadores.
"
We can pedal our little hinnies off", Sunny
"
This thing is extremely hard", Vinny about riding the bike
"
He beasted that detour", Amber about Rod's cycling
When Sunny & Bizzy arrive to the Bicileta challenge the alliance teams have already left. And they complete it before Derek & Shelisa arrive.
Derek & Shelisa start with the Boleadora and make 18 throws before they give up and go to the Bicileta. It beats me why Derek did not even try to make his last two throws (Shelisa had already made a good throw in this round).
"
Your throws were completely off", Shelisa
Teams complete the detour in the following order:
1(+1) Juan & Shane, Boleadora, on their 2nd attempt
2(-1) Ricky & Cesar, Boleadora, on their 5th attempt
3(+0) Rod & Leticia, went to Boleadora but immediately switched to Bicicleta
4(+1) Angie & Danny, went to Boleadora but immediately switched to Bicicleta
5(-1) Amber & Vinny, went to Boleadora but immediately switched to Bicicleta
6(+0) Yvonne & Melissa, Boleadora, on their 3rd attempt
7(+1) Sunny & Bizzy, Bicicleta
8(-1) Derek & Shelisa, started Boleadora but gave up and switched to Bicicleta
The next clue tells teams to drive themselves to Cicuito Lobo Race
The alliance has decided to stay together so when Rod is done with the cycling he and Leticia start gathering directions while they are waiting for the other teams.
Teams arrive to the racing circuit (19km) in the following order:
1(+1) Ricky & Cesar
2(-1) Juan & Shane
3(+0) Rod & Leticia
4(+1) Amber & Vinny, just after #3
5(-1) Angie & Danny, just after #4
5(+1) Sunny & Bizzy
7(-1) Yvonne & Melissa
8(+0) Derek & Shelisa, more than 2h after the other teams
Road block: Who's got a good sense of direction?
In this road block the participating racer will have to suit up and will then be taken for a lap on the local circuit. Once they are done with that they must recreate the track on a board in max 3 minutes. If they fail they have to take another lap before making another attempt.
Effectively this is a quick lap to disorient the racers followed by a 9 piece puzzle where they have to connect a line.
An unexpected difficulty in this task is the temperature. It is hot in the cars and the racers are wearing heavy coveralls so they get hot.
"
No way man, he's not that smart", Shane doubts Juan will get it on his first attempt
"
My brain just wasn't clicking", Ricky
Angie struggles with this task. And the heat is getting to her so she has to sit down a bit and get attended to by the medics. She starts talking about taking the 4h penalty, but Danny is not having it.
"
It's ok, you go run your race", Angie does not want Amber to wait around for her
But Amber does wait around for Angie to go another lap in the car and then she helps her with the puzzle.
"
We came here as a team and we're leaving as a team", Amber
Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):
| 1(+1) | Juan* & Shane | (3-3) | On his 1st attempt |
| 2(-1) | Ricky* & Cesar | (3-3) | On his 4rd attempt |
| 3(+1) | Amber* & Vinny | (3-3) | On her 3rd attempt |
| 4(+1) | Angie* & Danny | (2-4) | On her 3rd attempt, with help from Amber |
| 5(-2) | Rod & Leticia* | (3-3) | On her 4th attempt, with help from Amber |
| 6(+1) | Yvonne & Melissa* | (2-4) | On her 2nd attempt |
| 7(-1) | Sunny* & Bizzy | (4-2) | On her 2nd attempt |
| 8(+0) | Derek* & Shelisa | (3-3) | On his 7th attempt |
"
Are you freaking kidding me? It took you THAT long to figure this puzzle out?", Shelisa gets to see the puzzle when Derek is done
The next clue tells teams that the mega leg continues and they should make their way to Estadio Francisco Cabasés
In reality there was a 2h break after the racing road block. The way it works is that once a team is done with the road block the clock starts for them and 2h later they may continue racing. This gives them and the crew a chance to eat a bit and change batteries in all the equipment etc. It also allows them to see how far behind the other teams are. And in this case they do not see Derek & Shelisa at all so they know that they are at least 2h behind everybody else. Which probably makes the other teams feel much better as they do have a decent cushion.
It seems as if the alliance lets Amber & Vinny lead the way to the stadium, which is a bad idea as they get lost.
Teams arrive to the stadium (25km) in the following order:
1(+0) Juan & Shane
2(+0) Ricky & Cesar
3(+4) Sunny & Bizzy
4(+2) Yvonne & Melissa
5(+0) Rod & Leticia
6(-3) Amber & Vinny
7(-3) Angie & Danny
8(+0) Derek & Shelisa
Road block: Who want's to score?
In this road block one team member must join a bubble soccer team and score one goal in under 1.5 minutes. Their team will help them score to their best abilities. Each game only uses half the field so there can be two games going on at the same time.
Teams quickly learn that the opposing team does not hesitate to run into them and when they do you tend to bounce away and fall over.
Juan plays a lot of soccer and really wants to do this. But Shane points out that Juan is also more rounded and has better memory. So Shane should do this in order to save Juan for future road blocks.
After having failed three times Cesar realizes that if he first runs into the opposing team members to throw them to the ground then he will have a much easier time to score. And this plan works beautifully.
"
The way that we win this race, if we can knock out some road blocks for mom right now", Danny knows that one team is trailing
"
Anything where we can get physical and a ball is in play, I wanna do it", Rod (the ex NFL player)
Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):
| 1(+0) | Juan & Shane* | (3-4) | On his 1st attempt |
| 2(+0) | Ricky & Cesar* | (3-5) | On his 4th attempt |
| 3(+0) | Sunny & Bizzy* | (4-3) | On her 5th attempt |
| 4(+0) | Yvonne* & Melissa | (3-4) | On her 4th attempt |
| 5(+0) | Rod* & Leticia | (4-3) | On his 1st attempt |
| 6(+0) | Amber* & Vinny | (4-3) | On her 2nd attempt |
| 7(+0) | Angie & Danny* | (3-4) | On her 3rd attempt |
| 8(+0) | Derek* & Shelisa | (4-3) | They make it look like he got it on his 1st attempt |
Route info: Find your next clue on he step overlooking the city in Mirador del Coniferal.
We are not shown how teams get to the steps but we can see that the alliance are there together so I wonder if the first teams just waited again by the stadium.
Teams reach the steps (3.4km) in the following order:
1(+0) Juan & Shane
2(+0) Ricky & Cesar
3(+0) Sunny & Bizzy
4(+0) Yvonne & Melissa, just after #3
5(+0) Rod & Leticia
6(+0) Amber & Vinny, just after #5
7(+0) Angie & Danny, just after #6
8(+0) Derek & Shelisa
Detour: Who did it? or What's your beef?
In Who did it?, teams must find a fingerprint on an object and then compare it to other prints on file. Once they find the suspect they will get their next clue. This looks fun but unfortunately no team do this.
In what's you beef?, teams must learn to identify 14 different cuts of beef. After having learned their names in Spanish teams must make their way to one of 3 available tables and then correctly place them on a board. The board has a picture of a cow and he different parts are labeled. One difficulty in this task is that the pieces of meat do not look exactly the same at the different stations and the demonstration.
The beef detour starts at Firgorifico "Gral Paz". There is a guy who names all the cuts for them, but he just names all of them in one go and does not stop or take questions. The boards can be found around the block at Patio de los Naranjos.
Sunny & Bizzy and Yvonne & Melissa decide to work together, probably because they feel pressured by the three team alliance. They get to the detour before the alliance. However when they fail the test and go back to study again the alliance moves in and occupies all the judging tables. Danny has read the rules and realize that there is no time limit and not requirement to go back so they can just stay there and make guess after guess and thus they keep the girls from getting to the tables. Eventually Rod & Leticia get approved and they then help the other teams in their alliance.
"
I know my cuts, in English", Bizzy
"
That is not a nice strategy", Danny about his strategy
Once they are done Danny tries to help Yvonne & Melissa but Angie shuts him down.
Teams complete the detour in the following order:
1(+0) Juan & Shane
2(+0) Ricky & Cesar
3(+2) Rod & Leticia
4(+3) Angie & Danny, with help from their alliance
5(+2) Amber & Vinny, with help from their alliance
6(-2) Yvonne & Melissa
7(-4) Sunny & Bizzy
The next clue tells teams to race to the pit stop at Plaza de San Martín.
It seems as if after the detour Danny wanted the teams to go separately to Phil, but the others just follow him anyway.
"
So we might need to loose them a tiny bit", Danny when they see that the others are following them
Angie & Danny have promised to let Amber & Vinny step on the mat before them due to the help Amber gave to Angie at the racing road block. So even if they are first of the alliance to reach the plaza they wait for Amber & Vinny before stepping on the mat.
Tams reach Phil and the mat (2.5km) in the following order:
1(+0) Juan & Shane, win $5000 each
2(+0) Ricky & Cesar
3(+0) Rod & Leticia
4(+1) Amber & Vinny
5(-1) Angie & Danny, within seconds of #3
6(+0) Yvonne & Melissa, shortly after #5
7(+0) Sunny & Bizzy, shortly after #6
8(+0) Derek & Shelisa, are eliminated
Derek & Shelisa did not even get to do the last Detour. Instead they got sent directly to the Pit Stop.
"
This is a great time, it was a great experience", Derek
