The Amazing Race 27 Episode 4 was to be continued but not without its share of drama, mostly Tanner & Josh plotting (and miserably failing) to get rid of Justin & Diana.
Tanner & Josh have decided to give their express pass to Denise & James Earl, who they deem a non-threatening team but not the least threatening team. They don’t want to get behind anyone but also don’t want to influence the outcome of the elimination.
Logan & Chris are the first team to not donate all their money, instead donating $20 out of about $150. They change their minds after Phil tells them everybody else donated everything. I’m all for getting people to support causes they want, but shaming people into doing so is not the way to go about it.
Even in the battle for last, nobody bothers to U-turn anybody. This seems rather unusual. You would think the last place teams would do it just in case they get a bad cab ride. In the end, Tiffany & Krista place last, but they are not eliminated. As the last place team, they U-turn Justin & Diana because they made a promise (who didn’t?) to do so, but there’s no way they really think Justin & Diana have fallen behind them.
The road block is the very first challenge ever, a flashback that will have them jumping and swinging above a river.
Road block (in order of arrival): Justin, Josh, Kelsey, James Earl, Cindy, Chris, Danielle, Krista
Simple but scary. They’re right at the road block, but for some reason, Cindy & Rick go off driving somewhere, and Logan & Chris just follow them, putting those teams a bit in last place. I don’t get the sense that there is going to be any great differntiator in this leg, so this may be a pretty big mistake.
The detour is a choice between crocs or canoes. In crocs, they will be submerged in a cage and feed some crocodiles. In canoes, teams must cross the river and get their clue by hoisting their partners up a tree.
Canoes: Justin & Diana, Tanner & Josh
Crocs: Kelsey & Joey, Denise & James Earl, Jazmine & Danielle, Tiffany & Krista, Cindy & Rick, Logan & Chris
Tanner & Josh pick the task that they think is all about being physical. But they can’t catch up to Justin & Diana, who are competent paddlers. Everybody else does crocs, which seems to be the simpler choice.
Denise & James Earl must use their express pass this leg, which pushes them toward the very front of the pack.
From the detour, teams walk with the lions to find the next clue. This seems completely harmless, and by this point I’m assuming Logan & Chris, having had to wait in line at every single task because each task has limited availability, were done. But then Jazmine & Danielle return without finding the clue because they didn’t read their clue telling them where to look.
The pit stop for this leg of the race is Masuwe Private Game Reserve. Their final task is to balance baskets of fruit on their heads on the walk to the pit stop, leading to a slow motion footrace.
First: Denise & James Earl (win a trip to Slovakia)
Second: Justin & Diana
Third: Tanner & Josh
Fourth: Kelsey & Joey
Fifth: Tiffany & Krista
Sixth: Logan & Chris
Seventh: Cindy & Rick
Eliminated: Jazmine & Danielle
I was looking forward to Logan & Chris getting eliminated because I’m over their bickering, but they caught a lucky break in what was an interesting but poorly designed leg when Jazmine & Danielle violated a basic concept of not reading their clue, costing them mere minutes, which in this leg was enough to be eliminated.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Amazing Race 27 Episode 6, which airs Friday at 8/7c on CBS.