The Amazing Race Season 20 Recap
By Daron Aldridge
February 29, 2012
On the first bus out, we have Kentucky, Army of Two Rachel & Dave, Big Brother and Border Patrol. I hope for some drama on the bus between archenemies Big Brother and Border Patrol. The second bus has Vanessa & Ralph, clowns Dave & Cherie, Joey Fitness & Danny and twins Elliott & Andrew. The last bus with the cousins and the not-federal agents Nary & Jamie are openly wishing mechanical troubles, bad weather or traffic on the others to put them in a more favorable position. From their lips to God’s ears, the second bus experiences a mysterious window shattering event that delays them on the side of the road while it is repaired with duct tape, plastic and cardboard. That is good enough of a delay for the last bus to sneak past them.
The first bus arrives in Buenos Aires…well…first. The taxi scramble ensues but Army of Two gets the Roadblock clue first. Blonde Rachel decides to do it. The task: Head to a cattle auction. The auctioneer will announce a total weight for a particular lot of cows. The teammate has to count the number of cows and calculate the average weight for that lot before the auctioneer moves on to the next lot. AND they cannot use a calculator. No bueno.
To up the difficulty, the auctioneer will continue to call out random numbers during the task.
Another reason why I like Border Patrol Art & JJ: They accurately labeled Brendon & Rachel "nimrods" as in “we aren’t going to follow those nimrods.” Follow them or not, these two teams plus Kentucky are at the Roadblock clue. JJ, Bad Rachel and Mark decide to do the task and Bad Rachel immediately groans about the fact that she doesn’t get to use a calculator. Blonde Rachel comes down with her first guess but alas it is wrong. She is now even with the other teams at the Roadblock. Back at the platform, JJ and Blonde Rachel team up and try to work covertly so Bad Rachel won’t pilfer their answer, in much the same way that she and Brendon play follow-the-leader when driving.
We also learn that Mark used to work in a cattle yard, so he should have an advantage, but I fear that his good, ol’ boy personality will take over and he will help Bad Rachel as she is destined to struggle with this mental task. Mark whiffs on his first attempt also.
Back at the terminal, cousins Kerri &Stacy and Team Un-Fed Nary & Jamie race out under the impression that they are squarely in last place. They get to be unnecessarily cutthroat considering the former second bus is actually two hours behind them now. At least that means it will be a tighter race between four teams and not just two.
Yay for teamwork. The tag team effort of JJ and Blonde Rachel results in them being the first ones out of the Roadblock and heading to the Pitstop. They must grab a taxi and head to a park with a tree that’s over 200 years old.
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