After he struggled in a searching task, Matt & Ashley were unable to catch up in The Amazing Race 26 Episode 9 but were saved by non-elimination.
Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.
First: Laura & Tyler – 12:40AM
Second: Hayley & Blair – 1:07AM
Third: Jelani & Jenny – 1:20AM
Fourth: Mike & Rochelle – 1:30AM
Fifth: Matt & Ashley – 2:27AM
Teams will now fly almost 1/3 of the way around the world to Trujillo, Peru. I suspected there would be a single flight, but all they have to do is ask and they can get a flight that lands over 10 hours earlier (while tickets last), though in race time that’s unlikely to translate to more than a couple hours. Lead team Laura & Tyler were sleeping at the wheel on that opportunity.
First flight (arrives 10:20PM): Hayley & Blair, Jelani & Jenny
Second flight (arrives 9:45AM): Laura & Tyler, Mike & Rochelle, Matt & Ashley
Upon arrival, they pull departure times. Hayley & Blair and Jelani & Jenny depart at 7:00AM, giving them about a 3+ hour lead on the others, a number that realistically is insurmountable almost no matter what.
Prior to the road block, Matt & Ashley must use a typewriter to fill out a loan for a llama to complete their speed bump.
The road block requires teams to harvest a section of the sugarcane field.
Road block (in order of arrival): Jenny, Hayley, Mike, Tyler, Matt
Yeah, they give Hayley a machete.
From there, they will take their sugarcane up into the Andes, doing a math problem (using a calculator) with the purpose of promoting Fitbit and then drinking the sugarcane juice.
The detour is a choice between mamas and papas. In mamas, teams must search the streets for ingredients in moonshine. In papas, teams must sort potatoes by type and deliver them to a vendor.
Papas: Jelani & Jenny, Laura & Tyler (switched from mamas), Matt & Ashley (switched from mamas)
Mamas: Hayley & Blair, Mike & Rochelle
Laura & Tyler get brought to the wrong detour and just switch, and Matt & Ashley do the same.
A choice between a searching task and a sorting task, neither particularly appealing or advantageous. The worst part about the potato task is if they mess up, they’ll have to start over again.
The pit stop for this leg of the race is the Virgen de la Puerta.
First: Hayley & Blair (win a Fitbit fitness kit… really?)
Second: Jelani & Jenny
Third: Mike & Rochelle
Fourth: Laura & Tyler
Eliminated: Matt & Ashley
They had the opportunity to get caught up following the plane equalizer, but Matt & Ashley failed to recover from their previous last place finish.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Amazing Race 26 Episode 11, which airs Friday at 8/7c on CBS.