The Amazing Race Season 20 Recap - Finale, Part Two
By Daron Aldridge
May 8, 2012
BoxOfficeProphets.com

The million dollars probably delays the inevitable divorce by another 2-3 years.

No dilly-dallying for us, because we immediately kick off the last leg of the Amazing Race as teams head to their final destination of Honolulu, Hawaii. Despite all the teams’ stated confidence that they will win, there can be only one winning team, so two sets of people will be disappointed.

At the airport, Rachel & Dave get the familiar news that they will be sharing the last flight of the race with the other teams. They didn’t think the producers would make it that easy for them, did they? Of course not, and we are spared watching the teams sleep on the 12-hour flight to Hawaii as well.

Out of the airport, Army of Two and Border Patrol have wisely dumped their clunky backpacks to make the racing a bit less cumbersome, whereas Big Brother seems to have kept theirs.

Dave finds a kindred spirit in their cabbie, who is also an Army veteran, and they convince him to lose Art & JJ’s cab behind them. For a team that complained extensively about Big Brother just following people (even as recently as the last leg in Japan), this seems hypocritical of Art & JJ. Rachel & Dave’s cabbie does ditch his tail and gets them to the tower destination first. The hiccup for Border Patrol is that neither they or their driver could figure out that the clue pointed them to the towers by referring to the builings by the 'names' given to them.

They pulled out all the stops on this challenge. Both team members are to use an ascender to bring themselves to the top of the tower, which is 45 stories tall. Then they have to spot their next destination and rappel face first back down.

Rachel & Dave are getting geared up and joined almost immediately by Big Brother. As they wonder aloud where Art & JJ are, they begin their ascent. As is the case with every season finale, it seems, a cabbie in the U.S. costs a team precious time and the race. It is still too early to say if that is Border Patrol’s fate but they are, in fact, lost with a clueless cabbie. At a hotel they get pointed to another incorrect location – a statue of a guy with a boogie board and seal on Waikiki Beach.

Army of Two gets to the top of the tower first and quickly spot the flags at a nearby park. The fact that Rachel & Dave are so far ahead of Big Brother and Border Patrol is signaling that my prediction was wrong. It is looking more and more like the married couple is the one that screws up and opens the door for Big Brother to win and me to be disappointed in the Amazing Race in consecutive seasons.

Oh yeah, Art & JJ are at the wrong spot and starting to break down. Luckily, they find the right person to point them to the towers.

Big Brother is at the roof and find the flags but aren’t sure how to get there. To illustrate how small the island of Oahu is…Rachel & Dave are getting into their car as Border Patrol is ripping open their clue. The distance between teams on this leg will be deceptively shorter than previous legs.

Border Patrol is suited up but dealing with JJ’s extreme fear of heights. Whereas Brendon loses his footing and gets twisted in his descent, while Bad Rachel is near petrified as she is lowered down the building. But they are all able to spot the flags, including Art & JJ, who I would recommend ditching their crappy driver for someone a little more navigationally gifted.

Rachel & Dave are the first ones to get to the Roadblock and it requires them to use a samurai sword to make shaved ice. They have to get a container filled to a certain line to get the clue from an actor from Hawaii Five-0 (Hello, CBS crossover). Dave opts to do the Roadblock.

Art is all gung-ho and ecstatic about the rappelling but JJ “just wants to live.” At the Roadblock, Brendon is doing the shaved ice task. Dave gets the thumbs up and is handed the clue, which makes me think that any quibbling over an incomplete Roadblock might be a result of the judge not being as strict as they should be. They are instructed to go on foot to nearby helicopters that will take them to their next clue. Maybe it’s the “on foot” that causes the issue. Rachel & Dave run over to the helicopters and Dave feels in his element but isn’t used to being a passenger.

JJ puts on the gloves for the Roadblock and gets to work. There’s no time to engage in the chitchat that Bad Rachel tries to start up. Brendon finishes but glosses over the clue all together it seems as they run to their cab and for some reason point him to the Oahu Stadium. It must be the “outfield” part of the clue.

Art & JJ are also done with the Roadblock and run to board their helicopter. Well, at the stadium the lack of helicopters shines a light on their huge mistake. They are now heading back to the Roadblock because they have finally actually read their clue.

Rachel & Dave’s helicopter lands and they are about to play lifeguard. To rescue the swimmer, one person drives a wave runner and the other is on the sled behind it. The one on the sled has to bring the swimmer on board and then they can return to the shore for their clue. Blonde Rachel assures Dave that she can drive the wave runner because Dave’s strength will be necessary to pull the “victim” out of the water.

They do it pretty quickly, which raises my fear that Rachel & Dave will be the penalized team. They get their next clue, which points them to Coral Kingdom Gate and a marked path for their next clue. Unfortunately, they don’t have a ton of confidence in their cabbie.

Big Brother is now near the helicopters and Bad Rachel is throwing all kinds of fits about how Brendon is blaming her for the mistake (even though we don’t see him do that), how she hates him and throws the bag at him. Please…oh…please…don’t let this train wreck of a team win the race. At least I correctly predicted that this outburst did not stem from the finish line error that the ads tried to convince us of.

At the rescue challenge, Art is the driver and JJ is the retriever. No fuss…No muss. They are done and heading to the Coral Kingdom Gate. As for Big Brother, Brendon apparently had to use the helicopter ride that the other teams marveled at to coddle Rachel. They land for the Roadblock, and she is the driver and Brendon the rescuer, just so I can fulfill an equal time requirement because nothing significant happens for them on this task yet.

Well, the fate of Rachel & Dave is in the hands of their unsure cabbie, who reluctantly says they are heading in the right place. We know different because Art & JJ have actually arrived at the right path, which is up a pretty steep hill.

And now we get the error. Rachel & Dave’s cab driver brought them directly to a dock, which has surfboards and paddles to cross a lagoon. They get to paddling but we see that Art & JJ are at the correct location, which is a SECOND Roadblock. This Roadblock requires them to use a sled to go down a hill passed a line and then roll a lava rock fifty feet to a target. The person who sat out the ice task has to do this one. So Art is up for Border Patrol. Clearly, Army of Two will be denied a first place finish with this error.

Art is prepping the sled to slide down the hill but fails on his first attempt. Cut to Rachel & Dave crossing the water and bounding up to the finish line and about to get the worst news possible. Phil tells the dumbfounded married couple that they didn’t finish the Roadblock and he can’t crown them the winners.

They are stunned and didn’t know another Roadblock was in play. The only bright spot will be the fact that Art is still struggling on the Roadblock itself. They just have to figure out where they screwed up (other than by trusting their cabbie).

Art is covered in dirt and disappointment. Army of Two figures out that they didn’t follow the marked path. They jog out about a half a mile and Blonde Rachel is exhausted but she must do the challenge. The sight of the married couple gives hope to Border Patrol and added pressure to Art to finish the task.

Just so you know, Big Brother is now done with the rescue task. The timing of all this shows that the distance from finish line to this Roadblock is not that great and the fact that Rachel & Dave already mastered the surfboard paddling may help IF it comes down to a neck-and-neck race.

Art and Blonde Rachel are failing left and right and down the hill. This is painful to watch. Not because it’s embarrassing but instead because it actually looks painful. Blonde Rachel needs exponentially fewer attempts than Art and she slides them back in first place. She is off to the rock-rolling portion and the bickering between the couple at this point seems actually good-natured as they are both smiling and laughing as they lash out. She needs several tries on the lava rocks but nails it before Art is able to master the sled.

Army of Two hops in an ATV and makes their way to the place they already know. JJ sums it up, “We lost a million dollars because of one sled ride.” Well, the demoralizing will be even greater if the just-arrived Big Brother team passes them also.

Bad Rachel cries and complains but embarrasses Art even more as she seems to do it quicker than Blonde Rachel. As she fails on the rock-rolling over and over, Art finds some groove and balance to finish the first part of the Roadblock. They are now rolling for second place, and not quite that enthusiastically, I might add.

AGAIN, married couple Rachel & Dave are greeted by Phil and their fellow contestants on the mat. They are officially the winners of the Amazing Race 20 and, as Phil points out, the winningest team in the history of the show with eight first place finishes. Rachel explains that she thinks it did bring them closer together and made up for the painful year that Dave was deployed in Iraq. It is emotional and I hope for the sake of their marriage that it did actually make them stronger.

Back at the Roadblock, Border Patrol is happy to take second place away from Big Brother, as Art finishes the Roadblock. At the finish line, they even extend a congratulatory handshake to Rachel & Dave, who they swore off a few legs ago.

Bad Rachel exhibits nothing but bad attitude and pouting as they load up in the ATV. She is such a sore loser that calling her one seems an insult to sore losers everywhere. It’s all right and understandable to be disappointed but don’t act like a child. Maybe she needed a paddle across the lagoon because her attitude is improved as they hit the mat.

So there it is, 20 seasons of The Amazing Race over ten years. While there wasn’t a team that I whole-heartedly wanted to win because I really like them, I think the most deserving team won.

Rachel & Dave dominated from the first leg to last leg and even their stumbles weren’t insurmountable. Congrats to them and congrats to the show because you have retained at least one viewer because Big Brother didn’t win.

Until Season 21, have a good summer.