The Race 2 is a production of ICTV that’s structured similarly to The Amazing Race. Watch The Race 2 online.
If you haven’t seen The Race 2 yet, now’s as good a time as any to catch up. I’m not gonna spoil it up front, but here’s the drama I’ve been waiting for. After a bit of a slow start, the last half of this special 90 minute episode is excellent.
In The Race 2 Episode 3, Jon & Jenna got a big break and coasted to first, Dave & Matt continued to get on people’s nerves (but in a good way), and Drew & Vanessa finally ended up in last place. The current top three appear to be the most likely contenders for the win.
Dave & Matt attempt to rationalize how coming in second is better than coming in first. But anyway, at the end of the day, they are pretty similar to Rob & Amber, except that they’re going out of their way to screw with people’s minds. The other teams hate them so much that there’s always the risk they’ll lose focus on the race and start focusing more on the competition. They snoop around in Daniel & Jeff’s car hoping they’d get caught, which they did, creating paranoia among the other teams that something’s wrong with their cars. They then plant drawings in the middle of the night, and leave notes telling them they did things to their cars (i.e. put a banana in their tailpipe). Completely valid gameplan, but the tailpipe bit pushed the envelope a bit much, resulting in a time penalty that dropped them from second to last. Seemingly harsh, but I’m not surprised they finally did go too far, not that it’ll slow them down any.
Teams depart in the order in which they arrived, except Dave & Matt, with the penalty.
First: Jon & Jenna
Second: Sadie & Ginalola
Third: Hal & Matilda
Fourth: Daniel & Jeff
Fifth: Dave & Matt
They must first head to the fire training grounds on West Ave, where they must each complete a training exercise. One teammate must put on truck gear and connect the truck to the fire hydrant; the other teammate must put on full gear and crawl through a smoky building to rescue a dummy. Jon & Jenna make it look easy and finish just as Sadie & Ginalola arrive. Hal & Matilda and Daniel & Jeff arrive at the same time, and both teams appear to struggle just to find the clue. Sadie finishes pretty quickly, but for Ginalola, it’s not quite so easy, which backs up the other teams because it’s first come first served, particularly bad news for Dave & Matt, who show up as Ginalola’s struggling through the rescue training. As Jon did with her, Sadie helps Hal, all in an effort to get rid of Dave & Matt. As they’re leaving, Sadie & Ginalola get directions from the fireman how to get to the next location, something Jon & Jenna failed to do and ended up getting lost. Dave & Matt eavesdrop, in addition to taking notes while the others are doing the task. As they leave for the next destination, they believe they’ve made up some ground.
The next destination is the Sa-Sa-Na Loft Monument, which they must figure out is known locally as the Indian girl monument. Teams must search from a scenic outlook for a person holding a banner with The Race logo. Despite getting lost, Jon & Jenna arrive first. The rest of the teams arrive in the same order as they started. Sadie & Ginalola show up and find out how long Jon & Jenna have been there, so they go back to move the car. While they’re gone, Jon & Jenna find the clue and take off. They also make sure not to drive right up to the person just so the others don’t see their car. Smart play, but so much for the alliance. Jeff & Daniel arrive as the others are leaving (Hal & Matilda have caught up and are now following Sadie & Ginalola to the banner). Dave & Matt are still well behind.
Up next is a stop at the Tioga county office building, where they must use a map to answer 11 questions about the villages, which are depicted in murals throughout the building. The last remaining mural is where they must go to find the next pitstop. Jon & Jenna have answered two questions by the time Sadie & Ginalola and Hal & Matilda arrive. Jon proposes they work together. Hmm. But he does say not to help Daniel & Jeff if they arrive before everyone’s finished.
Just as I was thinking Dave & Matt were toast, through a combination of Daniel & Jeff getting lost and Dave & Matt running red lights on purpose, Dave & Matt arrive seconds ahead, so it’s anybody’s race for last place. Daniel & Jeff go off on a wild goose chase, and the other teams insist on hiding the map from Dave & Matt, a cheap but valid tactic, even if it is the exact same thing they’re all so upset about having done to them. When they ask if blocking the map is against the rules, they’re told the map can be used as they wish. So they step away and plot to grab the map. This eventually degrades into a shoving match, and in the commotion, they take the map and run. Or try to run anyway, as they’re stopped pretty quickly off camera, which then leads to a shouting match. As a result of this, teams are separated and allowed to view the map individually in two minute intervals. However, it’s not long before all the other teams get back together and start sharing information again, leaving Dave & Matt on their own with a limited time to view the map. This task has definitely made for good TV, but it’s been way too easy for everyone to abuse.
Jon & Jenna figure it out to be Waverly. He tries explaining it to Sadie & Ginalola but is told it’s not his turn at the map. He does tell it to everyone else before leaving, though. The other teams must spend at least two minutes looking at the map before they leave. Nobody’s completely convinced that this answer is actually correct, but they seem to just be going on faith, knowing that if they’re wrong, they’ll at least have a bunch of other wrong people with them. A large factor is no doubt that they just want to get as far away from Dave & Matt as possible.
On the way, Sadie & Ginalola get suspicious that they were given incorrect information, particularly since Jon & Jenna were so quick to ditch them earlier. While everybody else is travelling to Waverly, Dave & Matt choose it as their 10th mural eliminated. They can’t figure out the last one to eliminate, so they just decide to go to Candor since it’s closer, which is the very last one that the other teams eliminated, though they continue to debate the whole time there whether they should go there or to Newark Valley.
Sadie & Ginalola do the math while driving and also eliminate Waverly and stop Hal & Matilda to ask them. Jeff & Daniel see these two teams on the side of the road and stop to find out what’s going on. They all decide to go to Candor.
Jon & Jenna arrive at the building in Waverly but aren’t able to find anything or anyone. After wandering around for a while, they decide they need to turn around and head back to Owego to look at the map again. They decide to go to Candor and figure out why the first answer was wrong, doing the math that the others did quite some time ago.
Even up to 1/4 mile away from the pitstop, Dave and Matt are still debating where they should go. They stop to ask someone about the old coal barn in Candor (which as it turns out is indeed the pitstop for this leg of the race) and don’t get a positive response, so they switch gears and decide to go to Newark Valley. After they leave the gas station, then the locals start discussing where the barn is… right down the road. Of course, when they arrive in Newark Valley (9 miles away), they find out that’s not right. Back to Owego it is, where they again decide to go to Candor, but this time they’re both in agreement.
Hal & Matilda break off from the group and go the right way. They discover the pitstop first. The other two teams in their group, who don’t know where they disappeared to, are 2 miles away, placing them closer than any of the other teams.
After the first three teams arrive, they begin talking about everybody being a team against Dave & Matt again. Because that worked out so well last time, when all four teams drove the wrong way because they were in such a hurry to beat them. Dave & Matt refuse to stop at the same gas station as they did the first time since they got nowhere, but Jon & Jenna do stop there. They get a good response from multiple people. In the end, that’s enough.
At the pitstop:
First: Hal & Matilda
Second: Daniel & Jeff
Third: Sadie & Ginalola
Fourth: Jon & Jenna
Fifth: Dave & Matt (eliminated)
The best team got beat. Tough way to lose, but at least it was because they messed up and not because they weren’t given a chance as I feared would happen.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Race 2 episode 5.
Shane, I am disappointed in 2 factual errors in your reporting of The Race 2 episode 4. I appreciate that the action is fast and furious in spots and difficult to get it all on paper. However, one of these items was not during such a period:
1. My notes from the finish of episode 3 distinctly identify Sadie and Ginalola as the 2nd place finishers, not Dave and Matt
2. When the group of the 3 top teams was caucusing, they were agreeing to exclude Dave and Matt from the map if arrived before the 3 teams completed it, not Daniel and Jeff. Daniel and Jeff were part of their alliance and were in fact welcomed back into it as soon as the dust from the melee at the map settled. They elected to work outside on their own initially when they arrived at the Admin Building because they could see the space issues.
I do not share your views that Dave and Matt were the best team. They certainly were the most obnoxious team by far. I am glad to see them eliminated from The Race 2. It is irnoic that they were 1/4 mile from a first place finish.
Please review the 40:30 mark of episode 3 and the 9 minute mark of episode 4. Dave and Matt were in second place following the third episode.
Jon said “If the other team comes, don’t give them all this. It’s not worth it right now.” While he did not specifically state who “the other team” is, I think it goes without saying that they weren’t going to give the answers to Dave & Matt, which to me suggests it’s Jeff & Dan. This is merely an alliance of convenience that, as we saw, came and went with the wind changing directions.
Dave & Matt are definitely a take it or leave it team. Some will hate them, but I appreciated the strong race they were running.
Dave and Matt sure made for good TV but got off easy in terms of penalties for breaking race rules and actual laws (running multiple stoplights, arguable assault, etc.). Psychological games are one thing but the way they ran the race was disgusting. Karma was deliciously served…good riddance to them.