Leo & Jamal were non-eliminated in The Amazing Race 23 Episode 10, though they would have deserved to have been, setting the stage for tonight’s final four showdown to determine the winner.
Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.
First: Jason & Amy
Second: Tim & Marie – 2:25AM
Third: Travis & Nicole – 2:26AM
Fourth: Leo & Jamal – 3:19AM
Teams must now fly to Tokyo, Japan. Based on the departure time, everybody should be on the same flight. Worst case scenario is that some teams are 10 minutes behind. Arriving at the airport first, the three teams who are not Leo & Jamal agree to work together as a team of six. Ironically, Leo & Jamal somehow end up on the first flight, giving them a slight advantage over the others, which turns out to be worth a 5 minute head start.
The detour is a choice between knock it down or call it up. In knock it down, teams will participate in a wacky Japanese game show called Human Bowling. In call it up, teams dive into phone booths filled with fish to get a phone message.
Knock it down: Leo & Jamal, Tim & Marie
Call it up: Jason & Amy, Travis & Nicole
Despite the fact that the three teams are supposedly working together, Nicole & Travis and Jason & Amy plot at the detour to lose Tim & Marie because only two teams can partcipate in the detour at a time. Unbeknownst to them, Tim & Marie aren’t even doing the same detour, but they realize what’s happening as they see the others dash in the opposite direction.
Knock it down provides an opportunity for Leo & Jamal to be loud and obnoxious and for Tim and Marie to talk about hating each other. That’s new. The other detour puts Amy in a speedo. And Travis, too.
Leo & Jamal must complete a speed bump, in which they must capture two people dressed as a rhino. This should eat into that 5 minute lead they had.
The road block gives teams a chance to build a robot.
Road block (in order of arrival): Amy, Nicole, Leo, Marie
Amy and Nicole agree to work together at the road block. It’s here they find out that Leo & Jamal actually beat them there and were slghtly ahead, rather than missing their flight like everybody hoped. When she arrives in last place and asks where the model robot is that they are supposed to be looking at, Marie gets ignored by Nicole and Amy, no matter how much she yells. Leo helps her instead.
Meanwhile, Amy and Nicole are literally doing each other’s tasks. How is this not a violation of the rules? Not that it matters too much because neither of them seems to know what they are doing, and Marie jumps ahead of them, saying thanks a lot for the help as she leaves, while Travis mocks his wife for being weak. Eventually, Amy figures out what’s wrong, but she stays behind once again to help Nicole recover, while Jay gets annoyed. After about 10 minutes of helping Nicole, Amy leaves her behind to fend off Leo, who likewise is struggling. Her placing third is not good enough for Travis, who berates her as they leave the road block.
The pit stop for this leg of the race is Konno Hachimangu Shrine.
First: Tim & Marie (win a trip to Aruba)
Second: Jason & Amy
Third: Nicole & Travis
Eliminated: Leo & Jamal
Completing the road block last, Leo & Jamal have been eliminated. Placing first again, Tim & Marie agree to put this trip and their Hawaii trip into a hat and go on them separately.
Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.
Tim & Marie: 6:08AM
Jason & Amy: 6:15AM
Nicole & Travis: 6:22AM
Their final destination is Juneau, Alaska. All teams are on the same flight.
Marie explains that she has a contract, which Tim agreed to sign, that grants her a 60/40 split of any prizes they win. They are here for the money, not the relationship, since they hate each other.
Having carried a team that otherwise probably would have been eliminated by now, Jason & Amy discuss how all bets are off, and they will no longer help each other in the final leg. At the end of the day, despite how stupid it may have seemed that she was helping people as she limped along close to elimination, they are now competing with a team that on more than one occasion has come close to falling apart.
The road block requires teams to simulate a supply drop, hitting a target from a flying plane.
Road block (in order of arrival): Nicole, Amy, Marie
This is the type of task that’s bound to be a lot of trial and error with results that may be largely luck. Amy gets it on her second try. The other two are far more hopeless. Marie gets it on her 12th attempt. After 21 attempts, Nicole finally does it.
Teams must helicopter to a glacier and take place in an ice expedition. They have to rapel down the glacier, cross a ladder connecting the two sides, then climb their way up the other side. Then they’ll have to chip away in the ice for clues, most of which say try again.
From there, teams must paddle a tandem kayak to the marked island. This clue sends them via helicopter back to Juneau.
Their final task is to build totem poles spelling out the name of the currency from each place they went to. Amy took a lot of notes, but currency was not one thing she noted. Tim & Marie say they remember all but one, which they hope to remember by process of elimination. Nicole & Travis even manage to catch up to the lead teams. This seems like their kind of challenge, but they’re pretty far behind.
The end of North Douglas Hwy is the finish line for the race. It’s really hard to root for anybody other than Jason & Amy. Tim & Marie are a strong team, but they hate each other (in addition to her generally hating everybody). When they were winning, Travis & Nicole were likeable, but he’s become increasingly hostile over the course of the past couple legs.
The Amazing Race 23 winners are Jason & Amy. Tim & Marie place second. Then Travis & Nicole come in third. The results were already determined at the road block, and the rest of the episode was largely a formality.
The Amazing Race 24 will be returning in February. They are dubbing it The Amazing Race All Stars, for lack of a better word. They should just borrow a page out of The Biggest Loser’s book at call it The Amazing Race: Second Chances.