The Amazing Race Season 20 Recap

By Daron Aldridge

March 20, 2012

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Let’s see what volcanic meltdowns are in store for this week’s episode of the Amazing Race and if Kentucky’s Bopper & Mark can rebound from last place.

The philanthropic Border Patrol team is the first off the mat and get the news they are headed to Bavaria via train to Austria and then by car. Once there, this week’s episode-long product placement comes from a certain travel company with a short spokesman. So, despite a day of traveling, there doesn’t appear to be the airplane bunching factor to contend with. Oh yeah… they are about two and a half hours ahead of second place team, Army of Two Rachel & Dave.

Right behind them are those ladies’ men Joey & Danny, who have busted out the silly hats because it’s a bit colder. Joey has made the bold, less than macho choice of a panda bear with its tongue sticking out, which he describes as “flirty.” In the words of Inigo Montoya, “I do not think it means what you think it means.” Plus, I’m pretty sure that Joey said just the previous leg that he had a girlfriend. Oh well, I have already wasted too many brain cells even trying to figure out these likeable meatheads. Jersey Shore and Army of Two are traveling to Austria on the same train.

As Vanessa & Ralph leave the mat, the “divorcee” label slapped on them by producers is explained through three failed marriages for Ralph and one failed marriage for Vanessa. Then, as they are driving to the train station, Ralph starts to get a bit testy with her. Maybe they really will be in argument mode.

Team Un-Fed and the bickering Big Brother team are next out and will be sharing the long train ride with Vanessa & Ralph. Once again, Brendon & Rachel vow to keep their cool and just enjoy the race. I think that will happen as much as the possibility that the clowns will be brought back into the race, just because the producers like them.




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By the time that Kerri & Stacy rip open their clue at 3:58 p.m., it’s been about SEVEN hours since Art & JJ started this leg. It will take a colossal screw-up to knock the Border Patrol down a couple of pegs. Also, one of them (Stacy, I think) explains that her husband is a professional basketball player. With that one comment, we have already doubled what we knew about this team.

We finally get a glimpse as how far apart Team Justified and the cousins were. Bopper & Mark depart just under two hours after the girls. The guys are keeping the positive outlook strong in the face of the time difference and the pending Speed Bump. It may just be naiveté at this point but it’s endearing.

Well, it’s 4:30 a.m. and the time obstacle is obliterated when Team Justified rolls up to the station in Austria for their connecting train. They have officially caught up to four other teams. The leaders remain Art & JJ, who have arrived at their cars at 5:30 a.m. and feel the effects of a bit of bunching when their restaurant destination doesn’t open until 8:30 a.m. That is just enough time for Jersey Shore and Army of Two to join them.

And away they all go for their gnome and a Detour clue: Fairy Tale or Champion Male.

In the spirit of the fairy tale inspired land, Fairy Tale has teams follow a trail of gingerbread that they must collect and find a “witch’s” house (I didn’t know that Bad Rachel owned a home in Germany… [rimshot]). Then, they have to use the gingerbread to complete the roof of a gingerbread house and decorate it with candy. Upon satisfactorily completing the task, a “witch” will give them their next clue but if they fail, the witch will cook them in her large cauldron and eat them… okay… that won’t happen but if that threat was there it would prevent a repeat of the embarrassing watermelon stacking task. For Champion Male, the teams have to chose a Bavarian chap with a ton of facial hair and then style it according to a picture. It’s like the teams are on an episode of Whisker Wars (trust me…it exists and delves into the world of competitive beard styling). So basically, this Detour is a choice between Creepy and Creepier. You decide which is which.


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