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Previously on The Amazing Race, it was a non-elimination leg. Nothing that happened mattered. After choosing not to save Jackie & Jeff a few legs ago, The Amazing Race provided a second opportunity to Matt & Ashley via standard show nonsense. Hey TAR producers, how about casting three more teams each season and doing away with this garbage?

Don’t get us wrong. We like Matt & Ashley. We actually like all the remaining teams (although Hayley does make us reach for the mute button from time to time), but we suspect they want to keep dating couples in the game since they’ve thrown a save to Steve & Aly and now the hairstylists. Despite our early predictions, the blind date teams have absolutely crushed it on the Race. There’s something to be said for the driving urge to impress your partner rather than the comfortable rut of long-term partners.

The hairstylists do have their work cut out for them, because so far, teams that have gotten the advantage of non-elimination all got eliminated immediately afterward. It’s like the governor calling and saying, “You’re not going to be executed today! It’ll be Monday instead!” At least you get a second last meal out of it, though. Our point is that Matt & Ashley are roughly 18 times more likely to be eliminated today than any other team.

Tonight’s episode begins with a reminder that Hayley loves the sound of her own voice. We receive a few of her Greatest Hits including favorites such as, “YOU NEVER LISTEN TO ME!!!,” “YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG!,” and Pet Sounds. As usual, the leg begins with Blair promising that he’ll try to do better while Hayley downplays any communication issues between them. This entire season has functioned as a Groundhog Day re-imagining for the duo. We look forward to all of this happening again in the next leg.

The first team to depart is the winner of the previous heat, Laura & Tyler, who have evolved into our favorite duo this season. They work remarkably well together and while they claim there is nothing going on, the entirety of North America recognizes their unmistakable chemistry. The instant they got home, we’re guessing they started texting 300 times a day.

The gap from first place to fourth place is less than an hour. The hair stylists have a bit more of a gap, 47 minutes behind fourth place. Fortunately, this leg features airport bunching. No, wait. There’s an earlier flight. Uh-oh. The destination is Peru, with Laura & Tyler’s travel agent informing them that they’ll arrive at 9 a.m. the following morning.

Hayley & Blair enter the same office, meet with the same man, and ask him to check again. He suddenly notices a 10:40 p.m. arrival, which means that 20 minutes into the leg, Laura & Tyler are already screwed. Cruel editing shows them explaining why they didn’t choose to team up with Hayley & Blair, whom Laura describes as The Bickersons. Her reasonable evaluation of them and the reason they’re not fun to hang out with may cost her the entire competition. Amusingly, the travel agent throws them under the bus for the mistake rather than accept any culpability for what was entirely his fault. He must find Hayley more attractive than Laura, which only makes sense if Hayley isn’t talking…which is never.

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