New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Both teams are now at their respective tasks and playing dress up, which Rachel says they “LOVE” doing. Thanks for that glimpse into your personal lives that I didn’t need.

Jennifer & Caroline excitedly show up at the bridge in third but oops…it’s time for their Speed Bump. The girls have to head to the Parthenon and pick up a typewriter, which must be deliver to the building that looks like the typewriter and even called “The Typewriter” by locals.

(ASIDE - Dear millennials: A typewriter is like an ancient smartphone that people used to send old school text messages called “letters.” Consider yourself informed. Love, Daron)

While the singers head to the Parthenon, Leo & Jamal have arrived at the bridge and gleefully head to Charioteer.

John’s confidence in his ability to perform a choreographed fight scene is shaken as he flubs the first sequence and the gladiator stays in character while yelling at him that it’s wrong. You see the first part of the routine is all sword moves and John keeps using his shield. How’s the horseplay going at the other task? About the same. Even though Team Fetch is the only one on-site so far, Rachel just isn’t giving it enough gas to make it around in time. A full lap short, in fact.

My inclination upon reading the clue would have been to do the Gladiator task and so far, there hasn’t been anything to make me question that gut decision - especially after Leo & Jamal show up at Charioteer and the traffic on the course gets a bit more difficult. If it was that hard with no one there, this could be a long day for teams.

As the singers are still lugging their typewriter around Rome, the remaining three teams have arrived and left the bridge. All three elect to go with Charioteer, with the cowboys being particularly misled by the notion of it involving actual horses. I appreciate the fact that the producers didn’t use real horses at this point because then that task would’ve been tailor-made for the cowboys.

David & Connor arrive at the Detour first and this rattles Team Fetch and the Afghanimals, who accurately assume this task is about to get exponentially more difficult. As Team Murphy’s Law joins them and clogs the lanes of traffic, Leo & Jamal waste no more time in pulling the trigger on switching tasks. The newlyweds start to debate following the cousins’ lead with Rachel pro-switch. A commercial break later, the tide has turned and now Brendon is in favor of switching but Rachel insists now that they stick it out. No idea what happened but Brendon loses on this one. Again another closer look at their relationship, methinks.

The cowboys and Globetrotters suit up and grab the controls for their horses. So as of now, there are four teams at Charioteer, one at Gladiator, one on the way to Gladiator and another team seeking out a building resembling a giant typewriter.

Speaking of them, Jennifer & Caroline are finally able to get valuable intel from a local about which building they are looking for. They have reached the site and gotten their next clue. I give credit to the producers on this Speed Bump. It was not a “gimme” like some of the more recent ones. This one actually made the team work for their lives. It was straightforward but it required effort and not just a simple task like a make bowl of soup. The girls opt for Charioteer, which with five teams all on the same course makes me nervous and I’m not even racing.

Over at Gladiator, Jessica has mastered her performance and been properly “defeated” by the gladiator but John, once again, screws up and they have to head back to practice. I wonder how much martial arts training that Jessica has had to make this look so easy. Maybe being outdone by his fiancée once was clearly enough motivation for John as the next attempt yields success. They have their clue and it’s ripe for loaded wording. The clue points teams to head to the “Piazza of John Keats’ unhappy Roman Holiday,” which is the Spanish Steps (famous from the movie Roman Holiday and adjacent to the apartment where Keats resided at the time of his death). The bugaboo in this clue is that there is a Via John Keats (or John Keats Street) in Rome. Successful interpretation depends upon how much the teams trust their cabbie at this point.

Continued:       1       2       3       4