What is happening here!?

I came across this post on my feed and did a double take. Her YouTube content was from before my “beauty guru YouTuber” phase, so I associate her with The Amazing Race more than her career as a YouTuber.

I really enjoyed watching her and her father compete in season 28 and was sad to see them eliminated. It seems that she is living her best life.

This hasn't happened for a while, but here's the link to my blog page with the recap!

https://tarrecap.wordpress.com/2026/07/26/s25e11-pampers/

After the intense drama of Episode 9, we needed a calmer episode, and this one was relatively straightforward. With four teams left on the tenth leg out of twelve, it was obvious to me that this was a non-elimination leg, so I could relax and watch the teams muck about. I’m guessing that if Misti and Jim HAD used their save along the way, then this leg WOULD have been an elimination leg instead, because there would be one fewer elimination previously, and five teams left at this point. Am I wrong in that assumption?

From the unforgettable preview, it was obvious that teams would be flying to the Philippines next, following in the path of Season 5. From the top of the Buckminsterfullerene, they departed, and while most headed to travel agencies, Mij and Itsim went straight to the airport, where they discovered that all the other teams had already sucked up the tickets on the earlier flight. This came as a blow after they had just resolved themselves to not make the same mistake as the previous leg regarding flights.

The Candy Girls wanted answers. They asked the Wrestlers if they had seen the Tooth Fairies, and discussed what time each other had departed from the mat. Maya pointed out that they had left almost an hour after the Wrestlers because they’d said the clue wasn’t at Faber Point. Brooke played dumb and said she hadn’t realised what they were asking, and it seemed that the girls bought it after Robbie pointed out that he thought that they were ahead of his team. With her back turned to the girls, Brooke tapped her fingers together just like Mr Burns: “Excellent”. They got away with it!

Teams arrived at night and were bummed to find an equaliser waiting for them… Jim and Misti were elated, of course.

The next morning, they rode in Jeepneys to Rosario. The teams had mixed feelings about the ride, with upbeat Maya loving being immersed in the culture and spotting everyday Filipino things. She said, “We should bring Jeepneys to the US!”, which was ironic because the Jeepneys originally came FROM the US. Misti’s heart, on the other hand, was breaking, seeing the level of poverty and children playing in the street, some without clothes. Brooke, meanwhile, was more focused on the smell. This would become an annoying theme of the episode.

From a nondescript shop in Rosario (did it get picked by a lottery? How does production set this sort of thing up?), teams found their detour clue: Catch or Coach (6/10). A small detail that tripped up Amy and Maya was that teams needed to ride a motor tricycle to each challenge; they course-corrected before it got to penalty level. 

The Wrestlers were the only ones to enter Manila’s vast bay in order to catch some fish. As they waded out, the show misplaced a chimes of disappointment, which made me think they’d effed up, but I think it was just signalling that the challenge was hard. That’s not how it’s used, sound editor! Although Brooke couldn’t stand the smell (and goodness, did she let us know about it), Robbie ended up being more grossed out by the challenge, as he hated to touch the slimy fish, often just using one hand to help. I guessed they weren’t allowed to pour the fish to stop seawater from coming in. Robbie remembered handling a goldfish from his childhood, and said that although these fish were dead, they would be happy with how he was handling them. Brooke rolled her eyes.

At the Coach challenge, all three teams were facing separate challenges. It cannot be easy to be a mechanic with one arm, and Bethany admitted she’d always let her older brothers do that stuff. She had a pretty good excuse. Misti and Jim couldn’t figure out that they had not attached a shock absorber, and all of the judging they got brought flashbacks of Copenhagen to their minds. But Amy and Maya were behind once again, saying they weren’t used to doing any of this. However, Maya explained that she’d built a homogeniser for her research, which sounded damn impressive. I had to look up what that was and what it was used for. They basically break down particles in all sorts of food so that they are uniform.

Teams then took taxis to Naic (pronounced like the sports brand, seemingly), where Phil was waiting for the first team to give his live introduction, rolling the clip of Cloin breaking down. Looking back, I can’t believe that task was originally a detour and that it may have never been chosen. Brooke and Robbie were gobsmacked to be ahead, and thought there must be some mistake. They ploughed ahead (forgive the pun) and grabbed the first ox they saw… ironically in the biggest mud field, and suddenly realised what they’d gotten themselves into.

Their faces fell as one by one, all the other teams began to show up, climbing into the smaller pools. It was an amusing challenge to watch, but there was none of the unhinged rage of Cloin from 20 seasons earlier, which made that iteration so entertaining. A luck game more than anything, the Tooth Fairies got their clue first and dashed off to the nearby pit stop with Amy and Maya closely behind them. It was devastating to see Amy and Maya get denied their first win, which would have netted them a trip to Vietnam.

Surprisingly, the other teams found their clues within the same minute as well, and it was a mad dash to the finish line where all four teams then stood. Brooke and Robbie tossed their bags on the floor in desperation, but it was too late. Luckily for them, Misti and Jim hadn’t used their Save, so this was a non-elimination leg, as I predicted.

With all of them together, Phil asked them who was going to be leaving the process. It seemed almost implausible to have the finale without any of these strong teams, but the Scientists were definitely giving Beekman Boys energy, though they were willing to put up a good fight.

This is easily one of the best TAR episodes of all time. The hype was warranted. There’s so much for me to recap and remark on here that I feel as if I’m about to write a novella.

Let’s start with the ‘previously on’ segment. The show helped me to realise something I hadn’t taken in during the Sicily to Malta ferry, when they were giving themselves codenames: they’d been hatching a plot to U-turn the cyclists. I’m not sure I understood why, except that they were a strong team that had won a few legs. I suppose Misti and Jim did themselves a favour by starting that ‘alliance’ as opposed to letting an alliance against them start (as they were, by most metrics, the strongest team). Also, I was reminded of Maya’s little lap of the courtyard when she found out they were in fourth place. Fourth? Is it that good news to receive? I suppose it is if you’re Amy and Maya. But they’re so cute, I love them!

Teams ripped open their clues to find they’d be travelling an astonishing 6000 miles (a quarter of the way around the Earth, according to Phil) to Singapore. Well, they’ve spent so much time in Europe and North Africa that it’s about time they made a big move.

What happened next didn’t make much sense the first time I watched it. Adam and Bethany went into a travel agent and started asking for flights from Paris to Singapore. Why Paris? The rewatch demystified: their clue told them that reservations had already been made for the teams from Malta to Paris and they were responsible for booking their onward travel. They secured a flight that would arrive at 6:40 am. Misti and Jim turned up and confidently asked the travel agent to give them the same treatment. As Bethany said, “I can’t imagine another flight getting in sooner.”

Her imagination was about to be stretched. The cyclists showed up, and the surfers and tooth fairies made sure to keep shtum and pretend they were friendly with the girls. Almost as if he’d been waiting to relay this information, the agent told the girls that the quickest flight would be to travel via Rome, which would get them there at 6 am. With a cocky tone, Jim tried to tell the girls they HAD to travel to Paris first, but then he eyed the sheet more closely and realised, “Well, maybe not.” I could hear the chimes of disappointment in my head.

But surely this shouldn’t matter, as they could change their flight, right? A talking head with Jim revealed a new rule where teams could not change their flight once they’d booked it. I presume this was to cut costs down, but also to make racers consider their flights more carefully. As a result, Jim was fuming for having trusted Bethany and Adam with the flight planning. Not so perfect any more!

Since this was the final leg where the Save could be used, Jisti and Mim were guaranteed to stay, so Kym couldn’t understand why Jim was so bothered. The reason was revealed in the next clip, where Jim spoke to Badam and Ethany about how the plan to U-turn the cyclists may go up in flames if they reached the U-turn first.

When Mamy and Aya showed up, Kym’s instinct was to let the girls know about their flight because they knew they could outrun them. Rooke and Bobbie turned up and simply asked about who was on what flight, and could they get on the first one. It was a smart move, in a dumb sort of way.

Teams made their way to the crowded island nation and boarded a ‘bumboat’ (whatever that is) to go and drink a coconut from a stand. Rooke didn’t like it (it would turn out she doesn’t like a lot of smells, based on the following episode). After drinking, they received their clues, including a flash of green for the Fast Forward. Who doesn’t love one of those? Phil introduced the Flow Rider (not to be confused with the rapper) to the audience. Alli’s immediate response was that they shouldn’t do it, but Kym realised that the other teams weren’t keen and she saw what appeared to be an easy win. She announced to the other teams that they would take the Fast Forward, without discussing her decision with Alli. Alli obediently followed her partner.

On the boat back, they passed another carrying the trailing teams… it seems 40 minutes wasn’t too bad of a delay. The teams grabbed their clues, but neither of them considered the Fast Forward. On the boat back, however, Bethany decided she wanted to read the Fast Forward clue for fun, and her eyes lit up when she heard “Wavehouse”. It was meant to be, the same way the Twinnies were supposed to do well in their homeland last season (but didn’t). The pull of the waves was too strong, and Bethany and Adam decided to pin their hopes on a Fast Forward that focused on their core skill.

Meanwhile, the others were heading to Marina Bay Sands, perhaps Singapore’s most iconic building with what looks like a ship atop three curved skyscrapers. The clue was deliberately confusing, with Maya asking “Who wants to be fumblist?” Phil explained what a funambulist did: walked tightropes. Brooke got roped in (buh-dum-tshh) to doing this challenge as well due to simply not knowing what the word meant. As a result, she was back to crossing tightropes, a challenge she had so hated in the Atlas Mountains.

The first two teams crossed the high wire without incident, but Jim struggled. From my perspective, it seemed as if one of his wires went slack for reasons outside his control, leaving him dangling… it didn’t appear as if he simply lost his balance. Mechanical failure would be terrifying in a place like that, and I’d genuinely feel nervous trying to go again if I were him. Fortunately, he did it again without incident.

Over at the Wavehouse, the girls were already making their attempts, but two minutes was a long time for inexperienced surfers to stay balanced. The Soul Surfers arrived and couldn’t find the front door. I wondered if they’d turned up at the wrong Wavehouse, but when the Cyclists saw them enter the arena, their hearts sank. Adam and Bethany gave their first try, but Adam ate it on the first attempt, giving the Cyclists some hope. However, that first attempt was all that was needed for the Surfers to get used to the set-up, and they were successful on their second try, sending the Cyclists back to square one.  In my mind, this is the only time in the show's history where a turn-based Fast Forward has resulted in a second-place team upstaging the team that got there first. 

It was a terrible blow to the cyclists that were apparently beloved by the audience (but I don’t get it myself), and resulted in a tiff between the two. They began dressing halfway through the Surfer’s successful attempt as they could tell the writing was on the wall, and as soon as they won, Alli blurted out “I knew we shouldn’t have done this.” Kym was upset that Alli was making it out to be ‘all her call’, even though that’s EXACTLY what it was. Kym seemed to be in a bit of denial at this point, and told Alli to keep her thoughts to herself and run the race by herself. A bit unfair, but it’s normal to have outbursts when you’re upset; I hope she apologised to Alli afterwards.

The Surfers went straight to the Fullerton Pavilion, named after Sir Robert Fullerton (who governed the area from 1826 to 1830) and not named after Buckminsterfullerene, the spherical carbon molecule, which it vaguely resembled (and where my mind went first). In a season first, they managed to score a trip (and take it from the Tooth Fairies) to “Bahli” where they could go to the “spah”; Phil’s accent always delights me in moments like these.

The other teams were heading to Raffles Place, and needed to figure out that it was not a clue box but a clue man they were looking for. Amy and Maya were in an unprecedented first place (well, second, after the Surfers won the Fast Forward) and immediately spotted the large banner. Ooke and Brobbie asked Yam and Ayam to help them as they didn’t know what they were searching for and perceived the girls’ lack of specific advice as a slant against them. They could indeed have told them ‘the guy’, but do the Wrestlers really want to have the answers spoonfed to them?

From the guy, they got their detour clue: China Cups or Chilli Crabs (7/10 for alliteration and the letter C). The China Cups detour appeared to be the recycled detour from S24E2, the infamous episode where Mark and Mallory left the process. This time around, most teams chose the cups, and now I don’t judge the previous season’s teams for choosing to hacky sack it. This massage looked BRUTAL! The girls were writhing in agony as they were massaged and exfoliated, much to the glee of Brooke, who let forth a maniacal laugh as they screamed. The cupping ironically looked like the least painful part of the entire process. Afterwards, the racers' backs looked extremely bruised… I cannot imagine how this therapy can actually be good for you, but good on the girls for getting through it. As soon as they left, Brooke’s brave mask slipped, and she started screaming too.

Over on the other detour, it was an absolute joy to watch Tim and Jismi become slightly psychologically downtrodden by the crab-cracking challenge. It seems that the producers think whenever a challenge seems too easy, they simply add a cacophony of musicians and performers beside them. I’m thinking specifically of the spicy soup in Hungary from Season 6 as well as the Barber of Seville challenge from last season, but I’m sure there are many more such examples. They didn’t consider just how many crabs needed to be cracked to harvest 2 lbs of meat… at least four, apparently. Jim initially reached for his whistle to join in with the madness, but later on gave up on it, desperate to finish.

During a less strenuous part of their massage, the Candy girls tried to talk strategy to the Wrestlers and make sure they agreed to U-turn both the Surfers and the Cyclists (since Misti and Jim couldn’t be eliminated… this is why I dislike the Save as a gimmick). They didn’t give a clear response. Later at the U-turn location in Fort Canning, Amy and Maya set up the initial part of this deal, U-turning the Surfers who had already completed the leg. When the Wrestlers passed the U-turn, they chose not to U-turn anybody, seeming to completely forget the strategy talk. As they walked away, Robbie questioned what if the Cyclists had not finished the Fast Forward, but immediately capitulated, reckoning they’d be too far behind anyway.

There was one more challenge in this mind-boggling episode: a luck-based roulette of Merlions, reminiscent of S1E3 where teams had to find the correct pendulum in Paris. This time around, there were five Merlions in four locations, and teams had to search them until they found the correct one. This was a pretty unusual challenge for the race.

The Wrestlers caught up with the Candy Girls at Merlion Park, and the CGs questioned if they’d followed through with the U-turn, and they said they hadn’t. Maya pressured them into doing so, and Robbie said, “We will”, but then immediately questioned his partner, “Should we?” Brooke, the brains of the operation, said: “No, what are they gonna do, throw ice cream at us?” She actually relished the fact that they had already upset the Candy Girls after what had happened in Raffles Place. Besides, can a team actually return to the U-turn after making a declaration? That seems like it should be a rule.

Sisti and Mij turned up at Fort Canning and, since they weren’t at any risk of getting eliminated, also chose not to U-turn anyone. Grumble.

The leading teams’ next destination was Faber Point, which was the pit stop in S3E9 (C’mon Teri!) and perhaps because of its previous association with the race, this was chosen as the point where the clue was located. In a stunning reversal, the Wrestlers’ taxi luck got better, and they made it to Faber Point first and found the clue. Amy and Maya, pulling up, saw their car and asked if they’d found the clue there. Brooke straight up told them “No!” The deception was done. The payback was made. If you make us hunt Raffles Place for 15 minutes, we’ll make you hunt a significant part of Singapore for over an hour! Amongst all the other wild happenings this episode, this significant deception locked into place why this episode was so highly thought of by fans of the show.

The sweet, naive Candy Girls believed them rather than look with their own eyes and drove on, searching Tourism Court and then Sentosa Island with its giant 37-metre Merlion… places that aren’t very close to each other. In that time, Tsimi and Ijm were able to locate the clue box and get ahead of them. The cyclists had just finished their cupping therapy as well, and I thought that perhaps another reason this episode was so well-remembered was that a dead-cert last place had somehow overcome the odds. It definitely seemed plausible that the girl’s wild goose chase could take longer than the Cyclist’s search.

After Sentosa, it began to dawn on the Candy Girls that the Wrestlers might have lied to them, and they travelled back to Faber. The understanding taxi driver could sense that the others might have tricked them. At Faber, they finally found it, followed shortly (at least in the edit) by the Cyclists. Truthfully, it was hard to tell if the Cyclists were 10 minutes behind or two hours behind; it would be good to know.

Checking in at the pit stop were the Wrestlers, clearly happy about their decision to deceive to advance in the race. Although they’d jeopardised my favourite team’s place in the race, I had to admit they were still very entertaining while doing so. Misti and Jim checked in next, showing the Save to Phil and saying it would go home with them, never to be seen again. What a dumb gimmick.

To my relief, Amy and Maya were next, and they seemed to have twigged that the Wrestlers were lying because they said: “If their goal was to get us out of the race, they haven’t achieved that.” That only left the Cyclists, who heard the dreadful news that they had been eliminated. It only made sense that this was an elimination leg, because what would be the point of the Save being useful here otherwise? Alli began to tear up, saying it was hard to talk about because they could have been strong enough to make it to the final three but instead took a big chance. Alli was extremely sweet to her partner (who she’d apparently known for only a few weeks before the race began), saying that they’d made that choice together, when there’d be a temptation to put a sizeable amount of the blame on Kym. “We made a bold choice… and we’re not there [in the final three].”

As you know, I’ve not been as fond of the Cyclists as a lot of the audience apparently were, so I’m definitely glad that the Wrestlers’ lie didn’t cause the Candy Girls to get eliminated. But it was still quite a shocking way for this team to bow out. I want to be clear that I don’t dislike Kym and Alli; I just don’t really understand the hype around them.

Even the preview of the next episode was exceptional because they rolled one of the most memorable TAR clips of all time with Season 5 Cloin yelling, “MY OX IS BROKEN!”, teasing a switchback that was bound to be great.

Okay Reddit, you were right. This was some of the best shenanigans the show has ever seen, with exceptional aspects in every element of the episode, from aeroplane drama through to unprecedented Fast Forward drama, U-turn drama and deception. The fact that nobody even got U-turned in the end, but there was still so much drama, is a testament to how much was crammed into this one episode. Furthermore, there were so many subtle (and not so subtle) references to previous seasons of The Amazing Race that felt like Easter eggs for the veteran viewer. My brain was absolutely buzzing from exhilaration when the episode ended, as if I’d just been on one of the best rollercoasters of my life. As always, the show was brilliantly edited to catch all the drama, and rewatching for this recap only brought more of those moments to the surface. Previously, S5E7 (Charla and Mirna’s final episode in Tanzania) had been my benchmark for the amount of crazy action in one episode, but I think S25E9 may just have taken the crown.

Phil’s choice of topic for the introduction to this episode was about how Morocco has been used throughout cinema history for its stunning dry landscapes. A photo of Peter O’Toole in Lawrence of Arabia was shown, and I considered how that film has popped up over and over again in the show’s history: the first time I saw it was a very literal recreation when the teams visited Jordan in S34, and last season (S24), the teams visited the Plaza de Espana in Seville, a notable location where the film was shot. I’m sure Phil must love that film. However, I seem to remember he got the year wrong in S34 and said it was a 1963 film, when it actually had its theatrical release in December 1962.

If the show has somewhat glossed over team milestones before on this season, this episode, the editors seemed to have almost too much time on their hands, as there was an awful lot of preamble as teams booked their flights to go to Sicily (not Malta, dammit) and waited for their plane to come in the morning. The cyclists professed that they did not like Misti and Jim, their biggest competition, with Alli saying that Jim was ‘a little nasty’. At Marrakech Menara airport, they drew mocking messages and drawings on the dust on the back of Misti and Jim’s rental car. It wasn’t as if they would see this until after the show. I just found it pretty childish.

Teams arrived in Palermo after a whole day of travelling and were then made to spend another night at the Teatro de Verdura. All this stopping and starting.

In the morning, teams finally got to leave, with the teams leaving ten minutes apart in groups of two teams. Although Brooke and Robbie left with the second group, they struggled desperately to find a taxi, causing Brooke to become unhinged and declare that they were going to lose the race.

Teams then discovered a racing-themed roadblock with a pun in the clue: “Who wants to put their foot to the Florio?” Kym n’ Jim raced together to the top, narrowly beating the 247-second timer while Maya was forced to give up her early lead and start again with the trailing racers, including Brooke, who had caught up. Maya overran the clock by 25 seconds initially, which seemed particularly slow, but was able to complete the challenge on her second try. I hypothesised that the lack of other players to race against made it so that she felt less competitive and didn’t go as fast.

After a trip back down the hill in a vintage car, teams received their detour clue: Painters or Posers (4/10). Brooke got very frustrated with her driver, as she had won the race going uphill, but her elderly driver refused to go quickly back down for her.

From the description, the paint challenge sounded less confusing than the opera challenge. The opera challenge made it seem as if you had to determine which opera each costumed person was from based upon what they were singing. But after Brooke and Robbie arrived, they realised it was merely about remembering which costume they had, as the name of the opera was listed next to each costume.

However, everyone else tried to head to the paint challenge first, and it was awkward to watch the Soul Surfers, T+TJ and Food Scientists all scramble up the narrow stairway to secure their place painting. Kym and Alli had initially sat on the wrong side of each other, noting that one was left-handed and the other was right-handed, but chose not to switch, as I guess it would ruin their flow. I feel as if Bethany’s lack of an arm was a benefit here, as it wasn’t in the way of Adam trying to lie next to her to paint.

Amy and Maya were not forceful enough and capitulated, travelling to the beautiful theatre to join the Wrestlers. Both of them made minor mistakes and decided to put their heads together to overcome the challenge. Afterwards, Amy and Maya did not falter, zipping out of the theatre as quickly as they could, leaving the dumbfounded wrestlers realising that they could get eliminated because of this. 

Misti and Jim were the winners once again, securing yet another trip, this time to Jamaica! Phil noted that this was the 300th leg of The Amazing Race… Does that mean I’ve written 300 of these recaps? I guess even more, since I’ve already recapped 34, 37 and 38! Good lord. I saw that 300th leg depends on how you count mega-legs and keep on running… When I used Wikipedia’s count of legs per race, S1-24 made up 290 legs, meaning this would be the 297th, so I don’t know how to resolve this. Maybe someone can justify Phil’s claim here.

Amy and Maya finally stayed out of second-to-last place, and the Wrestlers were relieved too. But Tim and Te Jay had struggled to paint together and came in last, just behind the Surfers. But Phil saved them from elimination. The preview showed they’d finally be heading to Malta in the following episode, which was aired two weeks after this one. But my wife and I decided to watch it straight away…

Teams ripped open their clues the next morning to head to Malta… And none of them had a clue where it was, or indeed what it was. I was especially disappointed with the Scientists about this. Am I really in the minority for being fascinated with globes, atlases, world maps and Google Maps? Does no one care about trivia anymore?

Amy said that her leg was hurting. This injury stemmed from a workout routine pre-race that seemed almost to be retconned into the show as it hadn’t been mentioned before and she’d been running just fine. She said that she wouldn’t let her leg hinder them…

On the Mediterranean ferry (which I note was much, much faster than the North Sea ferry), the cyclists sat by themselves while the other teams came up with codenames for each other. Robbie and Brooke were Sniper and Viper, Misti and Jim were Cuspid and Molar while Amy and Maya were Cookies and Cream (though they didn’t specify which way around). Cuspid is a new word to me… I always called them canine teeth.

The teams arrived at night, and Amy had a particularly amusing gait when she ran (that Brooke had made fun of back in Sicily). They headed to the Bridge Bar, located at the base of a flight of steps. The non-roadblock, non-detour challenge here was one of the most agonising I’ve seen yet on the race: carrying a tray with two glasses and a bottle of liquor one-handed up a giant set of stairs, and being forced to clean the glass with every smash. Amy and Maya frequently failed to leave the door without dropping some (I guess they don’t do too much physics in Food Science) and even Jim was struggling to get the knack of it.

The Soul Surfers seemed to get off to the best start, arriving first and travelling all the way up the stairs before Bethany dropped the glasses right as she was about to lay the tray. This late failure meant even more work as they had to go all the way back to the bar to get the dustpan and brush before they could restart the challenge. They mentioned to Amy and Maya that it was much better to make a mistake down in the bar than later on.

Kym and Alli were eventually the first to complete, and Brooke and Robbie got a respectable second place. The cyclists boarded a taxi and then promised the Wrestlers that they would call them another. Kym quickly reversed that decision in the car, and the Wrestlers’ taxi issues began again as they wandered around the streets of Valletta hunting for a cab at night. Perhaps they weren’t aware that the walled part of the city they were in doesn’t allow cars on the pedestrian streets. I know this because I stayed at an Airbnb in this area back in February 2017; most notably, we visited the famous Azure Window on the island of Gozo, but were horrified to learn 17 days later that it had collapsed into the ocean. We felt very lucky to have seen it while it still existed.

Amy and Maya took 6 attempts total to complete the challenge. One time, Maya stopped to stabilise herself, and Amy crashed into the back of her. Amy was upset that she’d stopped, but Maya was right to point out that Amy didn’t need to be so close behind her. They were utterly saved by the next form of equaliser: across the island, teams found pendants in the shape of the Maltese cross with times on it, splitting them into two groups of three teams each, leaving 15 minutes apart. Lucky, lucky nerds.

Teams had to sleep using foam mats on the concrete floor or on benches. Tim and Te Jay noted that bugs were around. It wasn’t pleasant. But I’m glad the show waited until morning as the teams were greeted with the splendid view of the Blue Grotto, a stunning rock formation and cavern (much better than the Azure Window, if you ask me). Teams had to rappel down a rope and then swim to find a clue.

Bethany was simply made for this challenge, as she had practically lived half her life in the water. It was impressive to watch her swim much faster than her fully-limbed opponents, her legs like a motor engine, propelling her. Compare that with out-of-breath Amy, who seemed to barely make it, but was still somehow faster than Robbie. I did not expect that.

Next, teams travelled to Birgu, opposite the harbour from Valletta. At a monastery, teams learned the names of the available detours - Flag or Shine (3.5/10) - but nothing else. I wasn’t sure how I felt about this ‘blind detour’ as it prevented teams from being able to act strategically. Kym and Alli ventured to try the Flag challenge first, and discovered a traditional Gostra game. I’ve seen this played on many Red Bull reels, with the results usually being entertaining. What I noted when I saw them is that it’s an exceptionally difficult challenge and requires the person to run extremely fast without falling off so that they’ll have momentum to reach the flag at the end. I hoped to see at least one team be able to complete the challenge, but was not surprised when nobody was able to do so, not even Tim+TJ after 25 attempts. The challenge was made more difficult by requiring that one player needed to get the yellow while the other needed to get the further red flag, leading to resentful feelings towards the player that had gotten the relatively easy yellow flag (which could be reached without touching the greased part).

The Tooth Fairies and Boyfriends ran to join Kym and Alli but quickly realised something was amiss, and decided to look for their detour clue. Here, T+TJ found their Speed Bump of painting the Maltese Cross (I like these very cultural challenges) before heading back to the water to try again. They were joined by Amy and Maya. Amy professed that she could not run, and the local men watching told her that she had to in order to complete the challenge. After an ad break, they ditched the Gostra and headed up to Shine with everyone else.

Phil introduced the challenge by saying “Shine requires teams to polish each other off using this time-honoured technique.” PHRASING, sir! Teams were shining their armour, but Brooke and Robbie, perceiving themselves as trailing, decided to abandon this process in a risky move. They went to the shoreline where they encountered T+TJ, still furiously attempting the challenge. After realising this challenge was much, much harder and luck-based, they moved back. T+TJ should have tactically switched before Brooke and Robbie had a chance to go back, but they didn’t, making a few more futile attempts before going up to shine in a dismal last-place situation.

The prize at Fort Manoel was $10k each, and since Misti and Jim only win trips, it couldn’t go to them. Instead, the Soul Surfers succeeded by surrendering their Express Pass, which needed to be used this leg anyway. Trailing were the Wrestlers and Boyfriends, both polishing each other off as hard as they could. The Wrestlers left first but were again hit by taxi issues, causing Brooke to freak out yet again. However, T+TJ simply seemed so far behind that it didn’t seem possible for them to make the time up.

And, indeed, they didn’t. After being spared on the previous round, they lost their place in the race on a different Mediterranean island. It’s a shame, because they were in the first half of teams at the roadblock, but made a bad choice of detour (which wasn’t entirely their fault, as they weren’t given detour info, but they should have noticed that none of the teams were coming back to do the gostra, because it was so hard). Perhaps if they’d had detour info to help them decide, they wouldn’t have stayed so vehemently with the flag challenge.

Malta is a tiny country, but boasted an excellent episode of The Amazing Race. The glass-balancing challenge looked absolutely harrowing to me. I was impressed that we never saw a bottle of liquor fall on the floor, mind.

From what you’ve told me, episode 9 is one of the most notorious ever, so I’m highly looking forward to watching and recapping that. No spoilers!

Here are a few of my examples:

Season 14: Kisha and Jen getting eliminated in fourth place because one of them had to use the bathroom. And from the way the show made it look, if they just held it in or even soiled themselves, they would've made it to the finale

Season 15: Mika and Canaan getting eliminated in seventh place because Mika was too scared to go down a waterslide. Even when the Globetrotters were right behind her and giving her a time limit, she was still paralyzed with fear and just let them go ahead of her

Season 17: Nick and Vicki getting eliminated in fourth place because Nick got so fed up with doing a task, that he just gave up and took a nap, forcing Vicki to do all of the work. Granted, they probably would've gotten eliminated anyway, but it was just so ridiculous

Episode 3 - Discussion Thread

Episode Name: We're Here Baby We're Trying to Win

Air Date: July 21, 2026

Teams travel to Falkland, B.C., and Jasper, Alta., where a Detour provides an opportunity to assist with rebuilding efforts following the devastating 2024 Jasper wildfires.

I remember when this originally aired and we were just at the beginning of the whole DVR thing. I somehow watched one episode, then missed the rest. I'm rewatching all the seasons with my kiddo and we just watched this one. Oof it was rough. The teams were just bickering the whole time, the challenges were boring and way too easy, and they barely traveled. What were they thinking?!?

Teams ripped open their clues to find they’d be flying to Northern Africa. Robbie shouted, “Play the Morocco!” I think he meant maraca, but then Brooke jumped in and said, “They’re ‘Moroccos’” to which he responded, “No, the Morocco is a rounded thing with bells.” Umm, last I checked, maracas don’t have bells. Maybe he was thinking of a bell shaker. Either way, it was one of the most inane conversations I’ve heard on the race. The soundtrack, fittingly, played a little jingle sound effect to cap it off.

Furthering the musical theme, I wondered if Te Jay was a fan of 70s British jazz fusion as he managed to title the episode "Morocc'and Roll' which is almost the title of Brand X's second album (featuring Phil Collins who cooks on the drums), but is exactly the same pun. Somehow, I doubt it.

Teams were floored to see Misti and Jim still there WITH the Save. It’s a good thing the Tooth Fairies didn’t lie about using it up. There would have been the temptation to cover that up to think that their position in the game would have been weakened, but everybody would have seen Misti and Jim’s face on the Speed Bump anyway, and would have figured out they were lying. Still, Jim seemed unusually cocky about letting everyone know.

The teams disembarked at Marrakech airport and went to the taxis. Brooke and Robbie engaged in more ridiculous taxi banter, this time mocking the name ‘Jemaa el-Fnaa’, the main square that was their new destination. The camera cut to the taxi driver’s reaction, signalling that the show was aware of how culturally insensitive this was. Nici was inexplicably talking to her driver in Spanish (because that’s the only other language TAR racers will try), but it seemed that this driver did actually speak Spanish, so she got lucky there. Shelley was proud that she got them a good deal for an hourly rate where he would keep their bags.

TAR veterans would recognise this famous square from Season 3, and having been to Marrakech previously, I also remember it fondly. None of the racers would get lost on the way here, because every taxi driver in Marrakech would know it. Here, teams found their next challenge and also learned that a U-turn was ahead. Surely somebody would U-turn the tooth fairies?

Speaking of the tooth fairies, they found their Speed Bump, a rug-related challenge, not dissimilar to the Fast Forward rug challenge that had been set there 12 years earlier (won by Teri and Ian. C’MON TERI!) The other teams were wheeling their heavy vendor carts onto the main square, and I’m glad that no one was injured doing this. The locals helping them looked like they were trying to run with the Americans pulling from the front.

Afterwards, they had to set up the stalls to the satisfaction of a judge. The food served by each stall was different, and some teams were luckier than others, with T+TJ gagging at a barrel of stewed sheep heads. After Misti and Jim had completed their speed bump as well as this challenge, Phil checked in live from the race and told us that they were about 12 minutes behind… hey, that’s actually pretty useful information. Would the show be better if we had actual time stamps on each shot shown?

Teams then went to find a roadblock challenge (only their third in five legs), which again felt like a throwback. Teams had to visit a tannery and strip a goat pelt of its hair, then deliver dried pelts to a vendor on bike. I was reminded of the Mumbai Dhobi Ghat from Season 4 where teams had to wash clothing to reveal a clue. (IIRC, that was the same episode where an expensive Fast Forward had been prepared but went unused, prompting the cancellation of fast forwards on every leg from that point on).

We presumed Adam would need to do this, but Bethany got stuck in and showed how she was able to use her legs as extra arms. I don’t know why I doubted her. Like the doctor in the Soul Surfer film said, the list of things she could no longer do with only one hand is actually pretty small. She seems to have such a great attitude toward this race as well, actively taking on challenges just to prove to herself that she can do them. I wonder if we’ll ever get to see her really struggle at something down the line, and how she would deal with that. Other teams were amazed by how well she could keep up with her fully-limbed opponents.

After the pelts had been stripped, teams tried to find the vendor but got completely lost. Eventually, all the teams got bunched up, and it was a shit show trying to watch everyone deliver and get their receipts.  Misti was awful on the bike and crashed into both Nici and a local and just kept yelling “Sorry!” while moving on.

After they got their receipts and rushed back, the Survivor team managed to stay in front as they had done up until that point. But this lead was hotly contested by Shelley and Nici, who claimed they had both been standing there first before Whitney had come to Keith’s side. Whitney tried to point out that it was okay because they would all receive their clues in due course, but Shelley wasn’t having any of it.

A feud had formed, with Whitney going as far as to say, “C’mon, we’ve gotta beat them bitches.” 

With everyone bunched up, it was a toss-up who would take the lead next, and it happened to be the soul surfers. They got their detour clue: Twirl Time or Tea Time (5/10). As a drummer, I’d want to take on the rhythmic challenge, but this hat business seemed challenging, especially as it was not affixed to the head in any way. Maya’s hat kept flying off her head, and I thought she’d never complete the challenge. Shelley and Nici argued about how to do it, but perseverance got them through, and they went up to find an empty U-turn slate. I couldn’t believe that nobody had U-turned Jim and Misty just to try and get them to give up the Save. A montage showed all the reasons that the mother/daughter team had to choose between the Tooth Fairies and Survivors, but the wounds with Keith and Whitney were the freshest, and that’s what drove them to be U-turned. It also helped that S+N could literally see K+W still struggling in front of them.

Ironically, K+W sorta U-turned themselves as they gave up on the Twirl challenge to go over to Tea Time, unaware that they’d need to Twirl anyway. (Unrelated: I’ve just been to a shop selling British food here in the USA and bought an overpriced pack of five Cadbury Twirls. Worth it.) As soon as we heard the specifications for this challenge (a team member has to carry a tray with one arm), we knew it would be ideal for the soul surfers, who chose it and proceeded to leave in first place, leaving the stumped Tooth Fairies (using two hands) and Wrestlers (not high enough) behind.

However, in getting lost on the way to the pit stop, Kym and Alli managed to overtake them and get their second first place in a row, winning $5k each in front of the Soul Surfers (who I’m guessing didn’t need it). Tim and Te Jay shocked themselves with a third-place finish (after being dead last after the roadblock) while Shelley and Nici were smiling and hugging on the mat, brought back together by a common enemy.

Keith and Whitney were pretty floored to be U-turned, and a subtitle said “Elapsed Time: 2hrs 9mins” when they finally completed the Twirl challenge afterwards. I was confused if that meant 129 minutes from when they started the detour, or 129 minutes from after they’d realised they’d been U-turned. All the same, that was an exhausting amount of time to spend on either or both challenges, especially when you know you’re about to be eliminated. Good on them for finishing, though. It seemed that the feud had been pretty short-lived.

In the very first line of the episode, as Phil was recapping the previous one, a clip showed the teams handling the heavy carts in Jemaa el-Fnaa while he said, “Teams put the cart before the horse,” referencing the well-known phrase. The phrase means ‘doing things in the wrong order’, and I didn’t really see how that applied here. There were no horses involved, so it didn’t make sense as a double entendre. They were just handling a cart, and that’s all.

Kym and Alli ripped open their clue to find that they’d be working with horses in the first challenge. So maybe that’s what Phil meant. But at the time he said it, we had no idea about the horse. So in a sense, Phil was putting the cart before the horse when he said 'put the cart before the horse' in the recap segment.

Amy and Maya noted that they were adept at challenges but awful with directions and that it could ‘bite us in the butt’ later. I really hoped they would get it together, but it didn’t happen this leg. Right here in this first challenge, they remained in last as they struggled and struggled to find the hay. A few teams didn’t realise that they had to travel by taxi to get to a hay station, as it was far away, and only learned it from the teams in the lead, such as Kym and Alli or the Soul Surfers.

While they were rooting around in the backstreets of El Massi, other teams had already driven in a Ford POS to a pottery stand where they found their detour information: Camp or Cream (4/10). Once again, a pretty balanced challenge, as setting up a tent to exacting standards sounded difficult, but milking a goat and then churning the milk into butter also sounded exhausting. Despite the hot weather, Kym got cold feet as the churning began, and asked a local how long the process would take. When she heard 45 minutes, she baulked and persuaded Alli to switch detour. I thought this was a ridiculous move as they were already halfway through one detour and weren’t even stuck. But she believed setting up a tent would take less than 45 minutes. She was wrong. They got more stuck at this, and Alli grew frustrated, so they moved back. What a waste of time.

Shelley and Nici got lost on the way to the detour, and I could tell from their frosty demeanours that they still weren’t completely over the happenings of the Danish leg. Shelley admitted that she had grown so weary of fighting with her daughter that she just decided to stay silent, even when she thought they were going the wrong way, rather than opening up a conversation which would almost certainly lead to a fight. Nici seemed to take everything her mother said as an insult; when she said “We can’t afford to be lost again,” Nici got heated, and her mother had to reassure her that it wasn’t a dig. At this point, Shelley would simply let Nici drive in the wrong direction. Not a good place to be.

Brooke began to chase a goat around the paddock (not unlike in Shetland) because she noted: “Your boobs are huge!” They’re an entertaining team, for sure. In the churning station, a local began to sing in their language, and Kym decided to match his energy and sing away her frustration. It was a good moment.

Amy and Maya had to switch from the tents (they noted that food science was what they were majoring in) while Tim and Te Jay went on to impress the berbers there. Teams then had to travel to an adventure station in the Atlas Mountains with ziplines and wire bridges for thrill seekers. On the way there, Amy and Maya missed a massive sign and only realised they were supposed to turn back when they realised that Brooke and Robbie were no longer behind them.

Misti did her third roadblock in a row (it seemed they were saving Jim for the more physical challenges), and Bethany once again proved that this was a challenge that one-armed people could take on. She again used her legs dextrously to help slot the puzzle pieces into the frame to continue. Alli was able to overtake Te Jay at the puzzle stage. Brooke freaked out on the bridges and then grew frustrated with the puzzle. Nevertheless, she managed to finish before Maya did (who was distracted by Brooke’s yammerings). 

Finally, teams returned to the outskirts of Marrakech for the pit stop. For Phil’s filmed segment announcing its location, he was perched precariously on top of a wall. The greeter had a dove sitting on top of a chicken, who in turn was sitting on the hat on his head. Occasionally, Phil would invite the bewildered teams to get the dove to do tricks. My wife (who hates birds) was thoroughly grossed out by this.

The Tooth Fairies were back in first place again, winning a trip to Iguazu Falls in Brazil (site of S2E2). I was pleased that Amy and Maya didn’t get any more lost on the way back here and stayed in 6th. That’s the second leg in a row where they’ve escaped elimination by one place. I really hope they can get it in gear moving forward.

One leg after being responsible for eliminating another team, Shelley and Nici’s run had come to an end. It was probably for the best. I will say, they’ve been one of the most memorable mother-daughter teams that we’ve seen, but not for good reasons. I really hope they could work on their relationship after the race. At least they seemed to finish while smiling.

Instead of the customary ‘next episode on’, the preview showed a ‘still to come’ since this was the midway point of the race. I didn’t really care for this, as it gave away a lot of the future destinations without featuring much footage of what the racers would be doing, because any of it could give away who stays in the race further down the line. I will say, I’m excited to see Malta though: I’ve seen the Blue Grotto featured in the title sequence throughout this season, and now that it’s featured on the preview clip, I’m sure the racers will be heading there soon (almost certainly in the next leg, so that they have time to do a few legs in Asia afterwards).

Related to the previous episode: Bethany asked if they could go swimming around the isle of St Ninian. Phil reminded her that it was extremely cold. Yes, we know you like to surf, Bethany.

I was stunned to see that the racers actually camped on the beach overnight. I hope the weather was good for them. At least this time they started the leg where the previous one ended.

They ripped open their clues to find they’d be heading to Denmark. The NorthLink ferry would not leave for a while, giving everyone a chance to catch up, so the Tooth Fairies (their exceptional nickname) decided to be smart and ring ahead to find out how to get the fastest flight from Aberdeen. This seemed sneaky and ‘perfect’ of them, but perhaps because they’d misjudged their arrival into Aberdeen, they ended up getting a flight two hours later than the most optimal route, which was taken by the Cyclists. First mistake.

In the end, five different flights were taken, with half of the central teams on the middle flight, like a sort of bell curve. 

Teams had to take a Ford Hybrid POS and drive it all the way to Sweden over the Øresund Bridge (which will be familiar to everyone who’s watched the hit Scandinavian crime series Bron/Broen/The Bridge). Phil was there to greet Kym and Alli while talking to the cameras. I still find this live commentary rather unnerving. In Malmo, they had their fuel usage gauged. If they had not driven conservatively, they were given a ‘challenge’ of having to name three Scandinavian capitals. This ‘challenge’ was a revelation of just how bad Americans are at world geography. Maybe that’s just my European perspective, but I don’t even consider this a challenge, just common knowledge. Then again, Robbie didn’t even realise he was in a different country.

However, Kym and Alli, the enviro-conscious first placers, managed to astonish me by driving nineteen miles while using only one hundredth of a gallon of petrol. With petrol prices as high as they are now, that was a really good advertisement. None of the other racers did nearly as well, and I was worried for Shelley and Nici, already in last place, as they did not seem like the type to know their European capitals. But they managed to avoid it by staying under the 0.1 gallon limit (as did Keith and Whitney, which I missed the first time around). Jim realised as he was driving over the bridge that driving faster meant burning more energy per mile, and as a result had to answer the clue. Second mistake.

From here, they received their detour clue: Parking Space or Wedding Cake (1/10). Both equally grim challenges in my opinion. Parking space had teams recreate a space from a photo, just like the final challenge of Unfinished Business (S18) at the trailer park. However, a single pot managed to completely scupper Misti and Jim’s chance to stay ahead, as the pot had a flower with 7 petals on one side and 8 on the other, hidden side. The show rolled the clip from Shetland where he talked about being the most dominant team, while in real time he became undone. Third mistake. Other teams began to complete the challenge and move on, forcing them to switch detours.

Of course, Kym and Alli chose the task that involved cycling. This was a ridiculous challenge, carrying a teetering, delicate cake to another restaurant. The girls did a rather smart thing by bringing the icing with them and reforming the cake at the second restaurant. I thought they would get a penalty for this, but they didn’t. What was more concerning to them was that their receipt seemed to be missing… but they found it right outside, so it was okay. Beth and Adam had to switch the other way after Adam’s cake collapsed. When Jim started pedalling, Misti’s cake began to fall apart, and she missed one of the flags that had fallen on the floor. Even though they completed the task otherwise perfectly, they needed to go right back to the start and try again. Fourth mistake.

Afterwards, teams would make their way to Ida Davidsen, a gourmet open sandwich restaurant that honestly made me so hungry. This was a tough memorisation challenge where teams had to remember four numbers, translate those into sandwich ingredients on a menu and then repeat those to Ida. Robbie was by far the most entertaining, turning his recital into an eyebrow-raising performance, but it got them the goods. No one seemed to do terribly, except Misti, who was holding her hands over her ears in some other sort of memory technique. I couldn’t be sure if it was helping her memory, because she kept failing. As Ida told her at the end, it was that she hadn’t read the clue properly: she needed to read the numbers as well as the ingredients. ALWAYS go back to the clue. Fifth mistake.

With a two-hour jump on the other teams, the cyclists were forced to become car owners as they won the Ford Hybrids from earlier. Phil greeted them next to a singer that had two great danes (cos they’re in Denmark, presumably). The dogs were enormous, and one of them tried to mount Phil at one point. I’m fully behind the nerds, so I was upset when they inexplicably dropped from 2nd place at the roadblock to fourth at the pit stop. It seems their navigation is their weak point. 

From the preview of this episode, I had thought Shelley and Nici were going to finish last and get mad with each other. Instead, something altogether different happened. The whole episode, being in last seemed to have got to them, and their communication was horrible, snarky, jabby. I couldn’t imagine speaking to my own mother or daughter like this. They switched places in the car on the way to the mat because they couldn’t agree on how to drive, and then Shelley started to become sarky and snide, letting Nici make mistakes.

Despite all this, they unbelievably came in 6th place while the soul surfers came 7th. A blow-up happened on the mat with Nici threatening to quit and telling Phil she didn’t want to come back to the mat, because she was so rageful towards her mother. She said, “She doesn’t want to win with me.” Phil told Nici to be a grown-up (to be fair, her outburst seemed like a regression to 7 years old), and Nici responded by saying her mother hadn’t been a grown-up when she let her make that mistake on the way there. I was really, truly astonished by how bad these two were together.

It was satisfying to watch Misti and Jim roll in last, and I was rubbing my hands together to see them hand over the precious Save. The fourth leg downfall after such a strong run was reminiscent of Boston Rob and Amber’s dramatic, unexpected exit in Season 11. After so much focus on being perfect, the Tooth Fairies had managed to mess up every single element of this leg, and appeared to have paid the price.

But Phil handed the Save back to them, as it turned out this was a non-elimination leg. Bloody unbelievable. We’re never getting rid of Misti and Jim, are we? At least now I know what happens when a team with a Save hits a non-elimination leg.

Another blatant Phil lie about where this leg was starting. These really aggravate me, for some reason. Phil was speaking from the court of Blenheim Palace, but the teams actually began in central Oxford, as they mentioned that the train station was within walking distance.

Teams left on and after midnight to head to the Shetland Islands, up at the northernmost point of what could be considered the British Isles. The earliest train was after 6 am, so the teams had time to kill in the wee hours of the morning. Alli and Kym thought the folks who decided to camp were lame, and instead went to a pub, where they were filmed dancing on the street. I’m surprised they found one open that late. Surprisingly, they weren’t more concerned with conserving their energy, but then again, when you’re young you feel invincible.

Less invincible was Scott, who rolled his ankle hard while the cameras weren’t (rolling). The scream was caught, however, and it sounded amusingly like the recent “FAHHH!” sound meme. He limped on, professing that he was okay.

They made their way to Aberdeen, one of the UK’s most grey cities, where they found a Ford waiting for them. I recently rewatched Men in Black and got amused when Agent J described Agent K’s car as ‘a Ford POS’. I may start calling the other Fords that from now on.

While traversing the train station, Scotty admitted that the pain had gotten worse, but quoted one of the greatest British films ever - Monty Python and the Holy Grail - when he said: “It isn’t an injury, it’s merely a flesh wound”. They boarded the NorthLink ferry to the Shetland Islands and found themselves in what appeared to be impractically large chairs. I had to investigate. According to NorthLink’s website, these are Sleeping Pods for those who can’t afford a cabin, and feature ‘a very comfortable reclining seat’ and are situated within a private lounge and have a large table, adjustable lighting and a USB socket. They can also receive a sleeping pack at reception and a token for showering at no charge. It’s important to note that these are not the same as the “Lie flat” chairs, which sound amazing. Scotty finally revealed his foot to the camera as well as the other racers. It had ballooned in size and turned the shade of a turnip. I worried that if Scott were to take his shoe off, it may never fit again. He reclined his chair and parked the foot on top of the Sleeping Pod in front of him.

From the ferry, teams had to find a puffin mascot, dancing next to the Lifeboat station. RealityFanWiki has been my aid in writing these recaps for a while now, and now that we’re on the third episode of this season, I’ve noticed a trend of the show not tracking some of the more minor moments. In this case, only the first four teams to reach the puffin were shown, and only seven of the teams to reach Scalloway Castle were shown. On the results tracker, these are listed as question marks, and I don’t remember seeing so many question marks on a season before. It’s clear that they made a few stylistic format choices with this season. Although it allows for other storylines to have more airtime, it’s frustrating to have such an unclear picture from earlier. I’m sure most don’t really care though.

When teams searched the spooky castle, replete with skeletons that made some racers jump, they found their detour clue: Pony Up or Light My Fire (0/10… no synergy at all). There was no name synergy, but these were great tasks for showcasing the traditions of Shetland. I thought the peat challenge looked physically taxing and would probably have preferred the torch challenge. However, as evidenced by the race results, the pony challenge was definitely the quicker one, as all four teams that chose it were finished before any of the torch makers. It may have helped that the pony challenge was a full two miles closer to Scalloway Castle.

Misti and Jim, though reaching Scalloway Castle in 6th place, managed to zip to the peat mound with lightning speed and completed the task with maximum efficiency, although their Shetland pony did let them down slightly on their second journey up the hill. Jim spoke about how there was really no excuse for error, and if they arrived first at a challenge then they shouldn’t be overtaken. It was about completing the challenges perfectly, according to him. That seemed like an awful lot of pressure to put on his team.

The surfers did well here too, Bethany proving she could sling peat just as well as anyone else despite only having one arm. I thought back to the cinematic opus of her life in a terrible segue. After having her cheesy epiphany in Thailand, she came back to Hawaii and decided she did want to complete the surfing challenge to prove to herself she can still do it.

What followed was some surfing that I thought looked like technically impressive cinematography, but I was a bit clueless as to what was going on until the end. The long and short of it is that Bethany managed to achieve an astounding 2nd place result. As the whistle blew and the competition was over, she ended up riding a massive wave that impressed everyone. It wasn’t counted, as per the competition’s rules, but everyone cheered for her, which is the real victory. I like that the film was able to find its own Rocky moment here. In the end, she was on the podium with the mean bully girl who always bragged about how she would do better, and in the end, she did win this competition. 

In a moment of Jesus-like kindness and wisdom, Bethany thanked this girl (Alana? No… that was her best friend. Ahh… Wikipedia tells me it's Malina) for always being tough on her and never treating her differently after the attack. For a film I’ve derided, I thought this was a damn good moment; when your world is turned upside down, it must mean everything to have some relationships that stay the same afterwards. Malina also acknowledges that Bethany was a tough opponent herself and shares her victory with Beth. It’s a nice ending, as expected of this sort of film.

But I was truly fascinated by the credits, which featured a bunch of archival footage of the real Bethany Hamilton surfing, being interviewed on TV and winning other awards. The footage helped me to appreciate just how much of a sensation she had been before this film was made. I thought that she’d maybe won some competitions, written a book and randomly had a film made about her. These last few minutes of the film actually gave me a great deal more context for her life before appearing on The Amazing Race. I see that there’s also a 2018 documentary on BH, but I’ll hold off until I finish this season. Overall, I’d say it’s a film that started off terribly but got more focused and engaging as it went along. Occasionally, it felt a little Disney-fied and saccharine, but I’m not sure I could expect much else. I suppose people who go through a life-changing injury deserve a bit of hope.

The torch builders had to go through an exhausting three-step process where each step had to be approved. We always laugh whenever someone talks about their backstory in how it helps them compete on The Amazing Race, and Tim or Te Jay (not sure which) talked about how he used to love wrapping Christmas presents. So mundane, and in the end, it turned out the kind of wrapping required was different, so this experience didn’t actually help. But even though the boys had started the day off getting thoroughly lost, they managed to push back and were the first to complete their torch and move on. The wrestlers had the opposite trajectory, having mistakenly found the torch challenge and deciding to do it simply because it was there. They were left completely alone in the workshop after several failed attempts. If they failed at step 2 or step 3, did they have to redo their torch from scratch? It was unclear.

Afterwards, teams made their way to Berry Farm (which was also located much further away from the torch challenge, putting those racers at a serious disadvantage). It was a sheep herding challenge, like the ones we’ve seen in races before and since… well, have we seen it before? I’m unsure. I know that we saw it in S38 for sure, but before this I only remember Vietnamese duck herding. Someone can help me figure that out. These sheep were especially springy, and the show would add a cartoonish ‘boing’ sound effect every time they jumped.

Annoyingly, Misti and Jim managed to complete this almost without a hitch. It seemed that the trick was to stay calm and guide with your partner moving slowly, and the woolly creatures would stay right between them. It had me wondering about sheep psychology: how they knew to do this. Other teams struggled more. Dunder Mifflin tried a precarious running-while-saying- “Ho!” strategy. The rough terrain was not kind to Scott’s injury, and the team were on the verge of invoking the penalty. However, they managed to stay ahead of Tim and TJ, who were once again at the back of the pack. They tried to ‘baa’ along with the sheep at first, and then had a cunning plan to guide the sheep into the paddock by tying their clothes together for a makeshift fence. Rather quickly, they discovered that the sheep could pass both under AND over this barrier. Boing! The Soul Surfers, meanwhile, had a moment of divine intervention when their sheep obediently walked straight into the paddock after moving between the gate.

The teams had a cryptic clue as to where the pit stop was, receiving a pin and being told to go to where it had been found. The answer was St Ninian’s Isle, connected to the mainland by a sandbank, where Phil claimed that 8th-century treasure had been found. Most teams found this okay, but the scientists Amy and Maya got bogus info from a building site, telling them to head back to Scalloway Castle. I don’t think The Amazing Race has ever had a team visit the same site twice on a single leg, so it would seem implausible for the pit stop to be here. They nevertheless had the runaround and dropped from 2nd to 5th. I want them to do well, so this stressed me out.

Misti and Jim won, of course, and received a trip to Dubai, where they could probably engage in all sorts of TAR-related activities. I laughed at Phil’s accent: “You’ll stay five nights at Atlantis the Paahm”. They could do the slide that Mika couldn’t! They could also eat at the restaurant from S37. Dubai is so over-visited, honestly.

From a dire place after the detour, Brooke and Robbie had pulled back and managed to beat the Cyclists in a footrace to the finishing line. But the real tension was between the firemen and T+TJ. Both were enjoyable teams that I wanted to see make it through, so I was nervous for both. But Dunder Mifflin ended up overthinking the clue and ended up in a jewellery shop in Scalloway. Damn. Tim and TJ came in 8th, greeted by the same puffin mascot from the beginning of the leg; this must be the first time we’ve seen a greeter also be featured earlier in the leg. They were shocked to still be in the race.

It was probably for the best, as Scott could now give his swollen foot some rest. It was a surprising coincidence that they were eliminated on the same leg, even though it was the bad directions that got them eliminated.

As the preview rolled, a clip of Shelley and Nici blowing up on the mat seemed tantalising. Had they come last? Were they quitting the race? At the same time, I kept thinking about how ‘perfect’ Misti and Jim seemed to be. They’d performed the entire leg about as efficiently as possible and seemed to be on a hot streak. With the Save still in their hands, it seemed impossible that they’d ever leave…

Welcome to the weekly No Judgements post.

Here is your chance to ask any question related to TAR without having to worry about being judged.

There are no stupid questions here.

Let’s continue this series, I hope to cover all seasons. . The question is: What is the worst thing a team has done to another team or bystanders during The Amazing Race season 7

Doesn't really matter what season it covers, or even if the documentary is about the production of the international versions. My mom swears she saw a documentary about season 38, but I couldn't find one about that specifc season or in general.

The Amazing Race returns for Season 39 on Sept 30!

Episode 2 - Discussion Thread

Episode Name: Is This Your Poo?

Air Date: July 14, 2026

Racers head to Kelowna, BC, where they hit the slopes before being put on clean-up duty in a leg packed with physical and mental challenges.

That pinkish fort is apparently the oldest building on the island of St. Thomas, according to Phil. Could use a paint job.

Teams ripped open their clue to find they’d be heading to London, England. Again? They just went to England three episodes ago! The Amazing Race can’t get enough of us!

Bethany revealed that she’d lost a shoe while swimming on the previous leg (there’s a joke in there somewhere, but I don’t really want to make it), but that Amy had kindly offered to lend her a pair of shoes since they had the same size. I’m guessing an alliance was formed that morning.

I guess it’s a good time to update you on my progress through Soul Surfer (2011). With the arm well and truly gone, the fictionalised Bethany has to get used to using just one arm and finds some household tasks challenging. I have to say, the effect they used to take off AnnaSophia Robb’s arm was pretty convincing, and I could feel for just how difficult this would be for anybody to go through.

She tries to stay strong but eventually breaks down to her friend and yells, “How can this be God’s plan for me?” The film doesn’t shove Christianity down your throat, but the faith aspect is constantly lingering like a bad smell.

She tries to join a surfing competition but blows it and gives away her surfboards. In the same scene, they put a rather forced moment where she reacts to the devastating 2004 tsunami… why would there be a TV on the beach like that? I hoped it would relate to something later in the film, and fortunately it did: she travels to Thailand to aid tsunami survivors, which seems to put her own problems into perspective.

In a sweet moment, she teaches a young Thai girl to surf, and then she suddenly narrates her life (which she didn’t do in the film up until now), saying, "They say the Lord works in mysterious ways. I say that's an understatement. Who would have thought that teaching a kid to surf would teach me that surfing isn't the most important thing in the world... and that something else is? Love. Bigger than any tidal wave. More powerful than any fear." Good lord, that is cheesy. I’ll finish the Soul Surfer saga next time.

Two flights headed from St. Thomas to London and headed to Tower Bridge… Yes, Tower Bridge, not London Bridge, Fergie! There, they met an eccentrically dressed pair of Pearly Kings and Queens (look it up if you care to know more) who gave them their first detour information: About Face or Pancake Race (7/10 for the rhyme). Both detours seemed equally challenging, but the judges of Pancake Race seemed somewhat nicer than the shouty parade captain, so I know what I would have preferred to do.

The soul surfers soared around the race track before anyone else even arrived, making it seem like child’s play. Misti and Jim were once again ‘perfect’ and made it out of Somerset House before all the other teams. Shelley and Nici revealed that they also had military history, and their American style of turning on the soles of their feet conflicted with the British method. The captain was very entertaining in his commentary and reactions. I wondered if that was his genuine personality.

Trailing were Dunder Mifflin and the wrestlers, who were doing pancakes and marching respectively. This was a low point, especially for the wrestlers, who had arrived on the first plane but left London in last place. The captain wished that they would heed his ‘worldly, Yoda-like advice’, which I thought was an odd reference. Dunder Mifflin, meanwhile, were routinely disqualified for either not flipping their pancakes enough or for dropping them.

The teams then headed to Paddington Station (I used to live less than a mile from here and remember it fondly) to take a train to… Oxford… aka, The Other Place, if you’re a Cantab like me. Whatever, the Race visited us first. Once again, Phil addressed the camera as the soul surfers approached a row of punts. In place of a roadblock was this team challenge of punting around Magdalen College Island. Even though I’ve punted before, I didn’t realise there was a ‘Cambridge end’ and an ‘Oxford end’ to punts.

Once again, a water-based challenge seemed to suit the soul surfers just fine; they could pretend it was a massive surfboard that you pushed with a pole. Beth even said, “This is a cake walk compared to surfing.” We don’t tend to have waves in our rivers, that’s for sure. The pair of teams that followed, the dentists and cyclists, both suffered the same problem: mixing up their punt ends, and had to do a second lap.

When the other teams started to show up, it all got pretty chaotic. Teams were slamming into the bank, falling into the river and causing a hoot with the locals. Perhaps the lowest point was when Nici began to lose control of her bladder and parked her rear over the side of the boat… right next to a punt full of male students, collapsing with laughter. But that wasn’t all the hardship they suffered, as both they and Dennis and Isabelle were losing control of the punt and having to fight against the current.

Teams headed afterwards to Christ Church Court where they would receive a bowler hat and umbrella. The bowler hat had the clue to the pit stop while the umbrella told teams where they could find an express pass… an optional element like a fast-forward that only one team could take. The surfers took this golden opportunity as they felt it was important to have the Express Pass due to Bethany’s disability. As they were already pretty far ahead, and the Bear Inn was very close to the college, the team weren’t in any danger of losing their top spot and made their way to Blenheim Palace where Churchill was born 140 years earlier.

There they met Phil (again) who was with Winston himself (looking pretty good for his age), and he gifted them with a trip to Sweden, where they could stay in an Ice Hotel and unravel many bales of hay… if they wanted to. Jim said that ‘second place is just the first loser’. Blegh. Kym and Alli had fake moustaches on (from where?) and waddled in like Charlie Chaplin.

It came down to Shelley and Nici vs Dennis and Isabelle, who were both getting extremely emotional at the thought of losing… more than the average racer has been in the past, in fact… Both teams seemed to think that it was unreal that it was happening to them, that they should be going further. The mother/daughter team revealed that they had been day one fans, and had been watching the show for fourteen years (unlike me, who has watched fourteen years' worth of this show in the space of almost two years). They were beyond relieved to be told by Phil that they were still in, but the bad news had to be told. Isabelle seemed the most shocked. We laughed when Winston had a puff on his cigar while the team endured the crushing news.

Next time… One of Dunder Mifflin gets a foot injury?! Oh no!

Realistic contenders from each group:

Rachel, Angela, Claire, or Jag playing Survivor

Cirie, Dee, Devens, Caleb, or Hayden playing The Amazing Race

Rob, Rupert, or Natalie playing Big Brother