The Amazing Race 2020 Recap
Episode 2: Red Lipstick Is Not My Color
By Kim Hollis & David Mumpower
October 24, 2020
BoxOfficeProphets.com

The Amazing Race

Previously on The Amazing Race, Americans visited a foreign country! You heard us! Give them credit - that is truly “amazing.”

Also, the producers seem to have leaned into the stereotyping this season. Hopefully we get a bit more depth as we move along… but it is a Mark Burnett production.

Oh, and we feel like we must root for DeAngelo Williams and Gary Barnidge, because we had them on our fantasy football teams!

Hung & Chee take off for Bogata, Colombia in first place, while Kellie & LaVonne are way back in ninth. They’re at least theoretically ahead of DeAngelo & Gary who narrowly avoided elimination. BUT they all take the same flight, so everyone is effectively tied.

After stopping at the first clue box, the teams are headed to the Nemocon Salt Mine. They will navigate the tunnels inside and attempt to find either a 10 or 20 minute hourglass. These hourglasses will give them the power to Yield a team for that specified amount of time at some point during the season. Each team must find an hourglass prior to signing up for the next departure time.

In essence, they must decide whether to search longer for a 20 minute hourglass or pick up the first one they see and risk a later time. The strategies vary, and the difference between the departure/start times is only 30 minutes.

After signing up, everyone climbs into a sleeping bag for what’s certain to be an uncomfortable night. Their next stop is the Templo Parroquial San Francisco de Asis. From there, they will find either an emerald (which they must take to an emerald broker) or gold art, which must be delivered to an art professor.

All of the teams with the early departure decide to work together; however, they aren’t super discerning as to whether they pick an emerald or a gold piece of art. Then, traffic is pretty terrible from the temple to the central portion of Bogata.

Initially, Hung & Chee go to the wrong location to drop their emerald, and they meet the volleyball brothers Riley & Maddison, who have a piece of art and are in the right place. However, the professor tells them their piece is a fake!

After a moment of them panicking, the white-bearded man laughs and pulls out a clue and hands it to them. It directs them to go to the Escuela Nacional Circo Para Todos (National Circus School for All!).

At the school, teams will have their first opportunity to yield someone else. Both Hung & Chee and DeAngelo & Gary dispense with their emerald quickly and are headed to Clown College. Riley & Maddison have lost their cab; nonetheless, they direct Will & James to the right place.

Sisters Kaylynn & Haley and Olympic sprinters Kellie & LaVonne are lost, but DeAngelo & Gary and Hung & Chee are chugging along. Neither team uses their yield, with the former team saying they hope one of the five teams in last place will have to use it and cause some potential drama.

DeAngelo and Chee are the clowns for their team. They gamely jump in their spinning wheels (aka the Death Wheel) and then walk across a tightrope while holding an umbrella and wine bottle/tray. DeAngelo makes it to the other side and thinks he’s good, but they hand him two wine glasses and send him back the other way. He is totally shaking, but gets it done in one try.

Chee takes her task slowly so she doesn’t have to do it multiple times.

The next clue provides the teams with “Route Info.” In this case, they’re looking for Carrera 26 #10-03, Bogata.

Will & James argue about the Roadblock, because James thinks Will is the more coordinated and better balanced due to his work as a dancer. WIll agrees, but reminds James that he can’t do every Roadblock.

The sisters and the sprinters are still lost.

Riley is scared by the tightrope, but finishes easily. Same goes for Will, which may mean James was right.

DeAngelo & Gary are first to the next clue box, which requires them to completely customize a truck. Phil confidently points out that he expects most of the teams to miss the horn, which is hidden a bit.

We basically have a massive gap between the two teams in front (DeAngelo & Gary and Hung & Chee) and the two who appear to be WAY back in last (Kaylynn & Haley and Kellie & LaVonne).

For those teams battling for first, Hung & Chee seem to have an advantage. Chee can basically stand up under a portion of the truck, which the 6’7” Gary is obviously going to be unable to do. When you’re this close, every little edge matters.

Alana is the first “clown” to drop her wine bottle while walking the tightrope. Some brass plays the literal sad trombone noise.

When Kaylynn & Haley arrive at the Yield, they choose not to use it, which seems like an iffy decision.

After missing the requirement to hook up the horn a few times, Chee figures out that the clue gives them precisely that instruction. The judge plays the horn and they head off. DeAngelo & Gary have also asked for the judge to check, and they pass as well.

Teams are now headed to the Pitstop at Parque Nacional. Some fake editing might have us think someone other than Hung & Chee would win, but they do, and they win a trip to Switzerland.

When DeAngelo & Gary arrive at the Pitstop, DeAngelo matches the greeting soccer player backflip for backflip. Phil has serious whoa face.

The volleyball brothers figure out what they’re missing when they read their clue, while Will refuses to consider James’s suggestion that they do so. While he continues to ignore the possibility that they might be missing, two teams pass them.

Eventually, Will figures it out. James is a lot more understanding than we would have been. Fortunately for some of the other teams, they mention this detail loudly.

The remainder of the duos figure out the horn all at once, which means there’s at least some sort of race to the final. Traffic is terrible, and Kaylynn & Haley worry that they are about to be in a footrace with Olympians and a former NBA player.

They do get to the mat first, followed by Jerry & Frank. That leaves Kellie & LaVonne in last place, and they have in fact been eliminated. Between getting lost and missing the horn detail in the clue, they had a tough day.