Harley & Jonathan were unable to book a flight until the next morning in The Amazing Race 26 Episode 3, leading to a predictable outcome where the only surprise was that they were not eliminated.
First: Mike & Rochelle – 3:26AM
Second: Hayley & Blair – 3:51AM
Third: Jelani & Jenny – 3:52AM
Fourth: Laura & Tyler – 3:54AM
Fifth: Aly & Steve – 3:58AM
Sixth: Matt & Ashley – 4:01AM
Seventh: Bergen & Kurt – 4:02AM
Eighth: Jeff & Jackie – 4:03AM
Ninth: Harley & Jonathan – 7:01AM
Matt & Ashley have changed from dating to engaged, so at least there’s a bit of variety among the team relationships now.
Teams must fly north to Bangkok, Thailand, keeping them within the same country for the time being.
Oh god. Is Hayley starting already? Does this chick ever stop complaining? We get it. He may need some lessons in listening. Pot, meet kettle. Talk less, listen more, or just don’t talk at all when it’s all negative. Give it a rest. It’s not even 4AM. I’m sure Blair doesn’t want to listen to this. He says he doesn’t care any more. Hard to blame him.
Harley & Jonathan are further behind than I thought, and the fallout from the last flight mishap continues. All the other teams get on the 6AM flight, putting them still hours behind. If they’re sticking to the same country, this just seems like a forgone conclusion that the end result will be the same as last time, except with an elimination.
The detour is a choice between water or wheel, and the main part of this detour is merely choosing which route they think will be faster, rather than which task. In wheel, teams must take a tuk tuk. In water, teams must take a longtail.
Before they can make their choice, Hayley & Blair must first argue about who is in charge. He told her she is in the lead because she won’t shut the hell up. She says she doesn’t want to take the lead because he won’t listen to her anyway. After instructing him to take the lead, she immediately interjects and takes over. They wander around for a while, and when he finally takes control back, they find the route marker.
Water: Laura & Tyler, Matt & Ashley, Aly & Steve, Bergen & Kurt, Mike & Rochelle
Wheel: Hayley & Blair (switched from water), Jeff & Jackie (switched from water), Jelani & Jenny, Harley & Jonathan
There are only five boats available, so the sixth team must either wait or switch detours. That sixth team happens to be Hayley & Blair. Great. We get to listen to her yell some more. He tries to ask for directions. She gets upset and continues her ongoing tirade. The trailing team must follow their lead, minus the one-sided bickering.
The good thing about the water detour is that there is no traffic, and they know for sure that the person knows where they are going. Knowing that, everybody wants to do that detour. Whether it’s faster or not, it should be less stressful and more relaxing. Along the way, each detour choice requires two stops.
Before their detour, Harley & Jonathan must perform their speed bump of making a grasshopper out of river reeds.
When they were winning, Jelani & Jenny were getting along very well. Now that they’re at the tail end of the pack, their communication is starting to break down.
The water detour is to eat a 1000 year old egg. Gross but only takes a couple minutes. The wheel detour is to sink a red ball in a game of snooker. Also simple. Not much point to either of these except to say that they have given them a task. Certainly not enough room here for Harley & Jonathan to regain any ground.
The second water detour task is to take part in a traditional Thai prayer. The second wheel task is to feed cats at a cat cafe. Both again interesting but neither very taxing. Except in Jenny’s case, as she is deathly afraid of kitty cats. Huh? At least Jonathan has a real problem, that he is allergic.
The road block requires teams to remove a transmission in an auto junk yard to search for a screwdriver. Half of them don’t even know what the transmission is, but it doesn’t really matter. The trial and error shouldn’t take long, and they all know at least they won’t place last.
Road block (in order of arrival): Tyler, Bergen, Steve, Matt, Blair, Jeff, Jelani, Rochelle, Jonathan
The pit stop for this leg of the race is Loha Prasat, a buddhist temple, which they must find based on the clue “Metal Castle”, which really is not as hard as they make it look. Find someone with a mobile phone and have them search for metal castle Bangkok Thailand. The cab drivers or other locals are going to determine the placement here. When it comes down to it, it does not seem the choice of water or wheel mattered too much. Although it doesn’t matter whether they place seventh or eighth, Jenny continues to turn on her partner, and she’s making enemies of other teams as well.
First: Bergen & Kurt (win a trip to Puerto Vallarta)
Second: Hayley & Blair
Third: Aly & Steve
Fourth: Laura & Tyler
Fifth: Jeff & Jackie
Sixth: Mike & Rochelle
Seventh: Jelani & Jenny
Eighth: Matt & Ashley
Eliminated: Harley & Jonathan
As pointless legs go, this was one of them. This was worse than last week. Never really having a chance to catch up because the tasks were so simple, Harley & Jonathan have been eliminated.
The next episode will not air until April 3 due to March Madness. Hopefully it is less pointless.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Amazing Race 26 Episode 4, which airs Friday at 8/7c on CBS.