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

John & Jessica’s cabbie insists that they need to be heading to Via John Keats and off they go…in the wrong direction.

After many, many, many collisions and failures, Brendon & Rachel have completed the course in 1:29 and have their next clue. Their driver is more adept at deciphering Race clues and tells them they need to go to the Spanish Steps. Looks like Team Fetch is on their way to first place.

To the surprise of no one, Leo & Jamal embrace the theatrical nature of the Gladiator task but enthusiasm doesn’t translate into success as the guys should have realized by now, since I have noted this several times. Both the guys are responsible for mistakes in the routines at some point. Hilariously, the gladiator takes their failure a step further and actually kicks them in the rear as they head back to the coaches.

At the chariots, David & Connor and Jet & Cord finish back-to-back and head out to the Spanish Steps. Well, one of them heads to the steps and the other heads to the wrong location. If you picked the team that disaster seems to follow to be the one that gets misdirected, then you would be wrong. That’s right…the father/son continue to defy their Murphy’s Law namesake and get taken to the steps, while the brothers aren’t.

A guess a couple of swift kicks in the bum are what the cousins need for proper motivation because Leo & Jamal have finished playing Gladiator. With two teams heading to the right spot and two to the wrong spot, which way will the Afghanimals swing? Well, they go wrong. That means only Brendon & Rachel and David & Connor aren’t misled at this point.

Comfortably in first place, Team Fetch hits the steps and it’s a Roadblock. The team member has to count all the steps (135 is the number they are shooting for) and then add that number to the year that the steps were built. The year is inscribed in Roman numerals on a monument at the top of the steps. Then they must convert the total back into Roman numbers and present it to a couple dressed like Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck from the movie Roman Holiday. NOTE: The Hepburn impersonator is quite convincing…Peck? Not so much. Just an Italian guy in a bad wig. Brendon steps up for his team for the Roadblock. (Sorry, that pun was purely accidental…this time.)

With the chariot course a lot less crowded, only the Globetrotters and singers are finding more success and enlightenment, respectively. The basketball players finish not too far after the cowboys and hop in their cab to the wrong location. On the other hand, the girls feel like last place is their fate but they don’t let it bring them down. They give each other a quick “It’s been a great time” and decide to just enjoy themselves. This appears to be the best choice for them because without the pressure of beating another team out of the task and less people messing them up, the ladies finish and head to the steps. Yes, they are heading to the actual location, so last place is unlikely in their future.

Clearheaded and without another team in sight, Brendon decides to get the year number first and then tackle the steps. He gets it converted and starts stepping. Without even a single hitch and thanks to the local man for knowing his Roman numerals, Brendon completes the tasks and Team Fetch heads on foot to Phil in the Piazza del Popolo. The newlyweds hit the mat at team number one.

While the lost teams remain lost, David has busted out his handheld counter and started up the steps but he is soon joined by the country singers. Caroline explains that since the task is math-related, the numerically-challenged Jennifer will not be doing the task. Caroline immediately proposes working together with the father/son. Apparently, they have been helping one another for a couple of legs, which I interpret as David & Connor helping the girls because that’s their MO both seasons on the Race. Together they finish the Roadblock but in a move that is gentlemanly, the fellas allow the girls to hit the mat before them. David & Connor must have analyzed the situation that the girls made up ground and passed the others because they are too smart to allow a team to pass them if there was a chance they would be eliminated.

Continued:       1       2       3       4