Category: amazing race 28

Waiting for the bus led to their downfall, as Cindy & Rick were eliminated in The Amazing Race 27 Episode 7.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Justin & Diana – 10:10PM
Second: Kelsey & Joey – 10:23PM
Third: Tiffany & Krista – 10:24PM
Fourth: Tanner & Josh – 11:34PM
Fifth: Logan & Chris – 12:11AM
Sixth: Denise & James Earl – 12:36AM

Teams must now fly to Krakow, Poland. All teams are on the same flight, aside from Justin & Diana, whose 13 minute head start gives them a big flight advantage.

The detour is a choice between mine and music. In mine, teams must travel underground, deliver timber to a mining area, and then mine and deliver salt. In music, teams must learn a song and then move a piano to the square to earn money playing.

Mine: Justin & Diana, Logan & Chris, Tanner & Josh
Music: Denise & James Earl, Tiffany & Krista, Kelsey & Joey

In this case, the physical task seems to be the worse choice. Surprisingly, only the cheerleaders appear to struggle at charming money out of people, but not enough to prevent the Texas boys from ending up in last.

Following a visit to Schnidler’s office, the road block requires teams to deliver food to a restaurant.

Road block (in order of arrival): Justin, Kelsey, James Earl, Chris, Tiffany, Josh

The only chore here is figuring out what all the food is. They can just ask people who are walking by. For some reason, as they are fighting for last place, Tiffany asks Josh if he wants to work with her. And then Josh slows down and lets her go first, which guarantees him last place.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is Klezmer Hois, the restaurant where they just got done serving.

First: Justin & Diana (win a trip to China)
Second: Kelsey & Joey
Third: Denise & James Earl
Fourth: Logan & Chris
Fifth: Tiffany & Krista
Non-eliminated: Tanner & Josh

I was thinking how dumb it was that the detour choice by itself looked like it was going to cost them, but in the end, it was being nice guys and letting a pretty face get ahead. Despite that, Tanner & Josh have been saved by non-elimination.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Amazing Race 27 Episode 9, which airs Friday at 8/7c on CBS.

The Amazing Race 27 Episode 6 was another to be continued leg.

Everybody else has finished the leg, as Denise & James Earl finally complete the detour after 18 tries.

All teams are scheduled on trains departing at 7:22 to Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Some teams try to find something earlier, while Tanner & Josh just see an opportunity to go sight seeing.

First train (departs 4:19): Justin & Diana
Second train (departs 4:53 with a connection): Joey & Kelsey
Third train (departs 5:16): Cindy & Rick, Tiffany & Krista

Cindy & Rick think they’re going to Amsterdam. Tiffany & Krista think they’re going to Germany. Both are incorrect, but they still get where they’re going.

They are of course greeted by an hours of operation, but the advantage of getting in earlier is that the departure times are set 15 minutes apart based on arrival.

Justin & Diana continue to argue. More fun between these two. Let’s see if Phil blames it on him again.

The road block requires teams to search for a reproduction of a Van Gogh painting.

Road block (in order of arrival): Krista, Diana, Rick, Joey, Tanner, Logan, Denise

Getting a wrong answer will require them to run back and forth. They’re all out of breath, but nobody seems to have much difficulty.

As everybody else takes the tram, Cindy & Rick wait for a bus at his insistence, which moves them from the top of the pack to last place.

The detour is a choice between ship and skip. In ship, teams must navigate a training simulator ship through a storm. In skip, teams must jump rope while performing a clapping routine.

Ship: Joey & Kelsey, Cindy & Rick, Justin & Diana, Tanner & Josh, Logan & Chris, Denise & James Earl, Cindy & Rick
Skip: Tiffany & Krista

Everybody else selects the ship task, but the double dutch task seems well suited to the cheerleaders, which allows them to jump into the lead, though somehow they lose it.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is the Peace Palace.

First: Justin & Diana (win $31,873)
Second: Kelsey & Joey
Third: Tiffany & Krista
Fourth: Tanner & Josh
Fifth: Logan & Chris
Sixth: Denise & James Earl
Eliminated: Cindy & Rick

The final two teams pass each other at the train station, and it comes down to a question who made the biggest mistake. Getting on the wrong tram turns out to be worse than getting on a train that leaves later. Unlike some other teams that keep arguing, Cindy & Rick are already over the little tiff they had with the bus that ultimately led to their downfall.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Amazing Race 27 Episode 8, which airs Friday at 8/7c on CBS.

Jazmine & Danielle failed to read their clue in The Amazing Race 27 Episode 5 and were eliminated because every single task required people to wait in line, forcing whoever was in last to stay in last.

They start immediately with a road block, bungee jumping off a bridge. All teams are equalized with a 7AM start time.

Road block (in order of arrival): Denise, Diana, Tanner, Joey, Krista, Chris, Rick

Teams must now fly to Paris, France. All teams are on the same flight.

The next road block requires teams to get in a small plane to find a clue and then do a loop. Here there’s another line, as only three teams can go at a time.

Road block (in order of arrival): Justin, Josh, Logan, Tiffany, James Earl, Cindy, Kelsey

The reason for the high adrenaline tasks? The whole episode is one long Fitbit commercial.

Logan doesn’t see the third word of the three, which pushes her and Chris to the back of the line, all by herself waiting. That puts them an hour behind because the train leaves before they are able to catch up to the others.

The only other team not with the group is Justin & Diana. They got the first train out of the airport and the first train now. Despite their very easy leg, she keeps snapping at him.

The detour is a choice between drops mic and bust a crab. Drops mic requires teams to rap. Bust a crab requires teams to create and decorate a signature seafood dish.

Drops mic: Justin & Diana, Tiffany & Krista, Kelsey & Joey, Denise & James Earl
Bust a crab: Tanner & Josh, Cindy & Rick, Logan & Chris

Neither of these seems difficult enough for Logan & Chris to have any prayer, but they get a lucky break. Denise & James Earl get lost, which in itself is not a big problem, but then they do a language and rapping task, both of which neither of them seem particularly suited to do. They stay there for hours, not taking the hint and switching or taking the penalty.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is the Arc de Triomphe.

First: Justin & Diana
Second: Tiffany & Krista
Third: Joey & Kelsey
Fourth: Tanner & Josh
Fifth: Cindy & Rick
Sixth: Logan & Chris
Seventh: Denise & James Earl

It’s time to keep racing.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Amazing Race 27 Episode 7, which airs Friday at 8/7c on CBS.

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.

Having been behind the entire leg, Ernest & Jin were predictably eliminated in The Amazing Race 27 Episode 3.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Tanner & Josh
Second: Justin & Diana
Third: Kelsey & Joey
Fourth: Jazmine & Danielle
Fifth: Logan & Chris
Sixth: Denise & James Earl
Seventh: Cindy & Rick
Eighth: Tiffany & Krista

With knowledge there will be a double U-turn, Tanner & Josh have hatched a plan. They will use their express pass to skip the first task. Then they will U-turn Justin & Diana. The next team to get to the board will U-Turn Tanner & Josh to prevent Justin & Diana from U-turning anyone else, and in return that team will get the additional express pass. This is a decent plan with a shot at working, though it’s a little silly to go this far out of your way to eliminate someone based on personality conflict.

Teams must now fly across the Atlantic Ocean to Livingstone, Zambia. There are two flights separated by 15 minutes that can take four teams each.

First flight: Tanner & Josh, Kelsey & Joey, Jazmine & Danielle, Justin & Diana
Second flight: Logan & Chris, Denise & James Earl, Tiffany & Krista, Cindy & Rick

Road block (in order of arrival): Kelsey, Diana, Jazmine, Rick, Chris, Denise

The road block requires teams to spot their clue from the sky as they fly over Victoria Falls, one of the seven natural wonders of the world. As planned, Tanner & Josh skip a task with their express pass. Aside from the heights thing, this is a pretty simple task to skip and one that doesn’t take very long.

From here, teams will cross the border into Zimbabwe.

Teams are questioning Tanner & Josh’s decision to use the express pass on the simple road block rather than on the likely much harder detour, and Tanner & Josh finally realize their mistake when they arrive at the next destination and find out that there is not another task today but rather they can select departure times that are 10 minutes apart, so their lead has now evaporated. Adding insult to injury, there are two 8AM departure times, and Justin & Diana get the second one. It’s not over yet, but this was a questionable plan poorly executed.

The detour is a choice between co-op and croquet. In co-op, teams must craft an animal out of wood. In croquet, teams must play croquet and score 5 points against a local player.

Croquet: Justin & Diana, Tanner & Josh, Kelsey & Joey, Denise & James Earl
Co-op: Cindy & Rick, Logan & Chris, Tiffany & Krista, Jazmine & Danielle

At least with the croquet, you don’t have to wait for it to dry, and there is no judge questioning whether it’s good enough.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is Rose of Charity, an orphanage. Before that is the double U-turn.

Justin & Diana don’t want to waste a U-turn this early in the race. Tanner & Josh have no motivation to use the U-turn now that they can’t use it on Justin & Diana, and since this is a to be continued leg, they must choose right now who to give the express pass to, forcing them to choose a favorite, contrary to their original plan to give it to whoever cooperated with them. The plan they proposed at the start of the leg just completely blew up in their faces.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Amazing Race 27 Episode 5, which airs Friday at 8/7c on CBS.

Having lost a cab race to the mat, Alex & Adam were eliminated in The Amazing Race 27 Episode 2.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Justin & Diana – 5:45AM
Second: Tanner & Josh – 6:12AM
Third: Denise & James Earl – 6:13AM
Fourth: Logan & Chris – 6:14AM
Fifth: Cindy & Rick – 6:21AM
Sixth: Tiffany & Krista – 6:28AM
Seventh: Kelsey & Joey – 6:30AM
Eighth: Jazmine & Danielle – 6:53AM
Ninth: Ernest & Jin – 7:16AM

Tanner stupidly injured himself at the end of the last leg to gain a 1 minute earlier start in this leg. He’s still probably more mobile than most, but he’s not in peak form and could easily injure himself more.

Teams will now travel by bus to San Antonio de Areco, a small town elsewhere in Argentina. There are multiple buses presumably not very far apart.

1st Bus: Justin & Diana, Tanner & Josh, Kelsey & Joey
2nd Bus: Denise & James Earl, Logan & Chris, Cindy & Rick, Tiffany & Krista, Jazmine & Danielle
3rd Bus: Ernest & Jin

The road block requires teams to hang meat on racks to be cooked.

Road block (in order of arrival): Diana, Josh, Joey, Chris, Rick, Danielle, James Earl, Krista, Ernest

This is simply a matter of attention to detail.

The detour is a choice between horse or carriage. In horse, teams must properly equip a polo horse. In carriage, teams must detail a carriage and have it harnessed to a team of horses.

Horse: Tanner & Josh, Kelsey & Joey, Justin & Diana, Denise & James Earl, Jazmine & Danielle, Logan & Chris
Carriage: Cindy & Rick, Tiffany & Krista, Ernest & Jin

This is another case of attention to detail. I’m not sure which is more advantageous, but it doesn’t seem to matter by this point. The dancers can’t be that far behind unless there was a large gap between buses, but they haven’t seen another team all day.

The biggest problem with the carriage task appears to be teams reading the clue. Both Cindy & Rick and Tiffany & Krista neglect to take the equipment with them from the area where they get the clue, so they must return to the start after they realize it.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is Museo Gauchesco.

Denise gave James Earl a hint of sorts at the road block, which results in them getting a 30 minute penalty because only one person is supposed to participate in the task. This penalty provides them with more opportunity to bicker.

First: Tanner & Josh (win a trip to Cambodia)
Second: Justin & Diana
Third: Kelsey & Joey
Fourth: Jazmine & Danielle
Fifth: Logan & Chris
Sixth: Denise & James Earl
Seventh: Cindy & Rick
Eighth: Tiffany & Krista
Eliminated: Ernest & Jin

For some reason, as both teams reach the mat close together, Tanner & Josh tell Phil right in front of Justin & Diana that they’ll U-turn them. We get that you don’t like him, but don’t give him all the ammo he needs to get in your way.

This was a silly leg. Ernest & Jin never had a chance.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Amazing Race 27 Episode 4, which airs Friday at 8/7c on CBS.

After taking so long to solve a puzzle in The Amazing Race 27 Episode 1 Kelly & Shevonne were the first team eliminated.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Tanner & Josh – 9:40AM
Second: Jazmine & Danielle – 9:44AM
Third: Cindy & Rick – 9:48AM
Fourth: Denise & James – 9:56AM
Fifth: Logan & Chris
Sixth: Alex & Adam
Seventh: Ernest & Jin
Eighth: Kelsey & Joey
Ninth: Justin & Diana
Tenth: Tiffany & Krista

Teams will now head south to Buenos Aires, Argentina. All teams are on the same flight much later that night. This leaves them plenty of time at the airport for Justin to rub people the wrong way.

The detour is a choice between cartoneros or fletero. In cartoneros, they will pick up 100kg of cardboard from recycling bins. In fletero, teams must transport statues.

Cartoneros: Justin & Diana, Tanner & Josh, Logan & Chris, Tiffany & Krista, Ernest & Jin, Cindy & Rick, Alex & Adam, Denise & James Earl, Jazmine & Danielle
Fletero: Kelsey & Joey

Only 1 team chooses to do the statue detour, forcing Jazmine & Danielle to run around until there is an available cart, though they did have the option of switching detours, which probably still would keep them in last place anyway.

The road block requires teams to learn a tilted tango, which involves dancing on a wall for some reason.

Road block (in order of arrival): Diana, Tanner, Logan, Cindy, Kelsey, James Earl, Krista, Jin, Alex, Jazmine

The pit stop for this leg of the race is the cathedral of polo.

First: Justin & Diana (win a trip to Morocco)
Second: Tanner & Josh
Third: Denise & James Earl
Fourth: Logan & Chris
Fifth: Cindy & Rick
Sixth: Tiffany & Krista
Seventh: Kelsey & Joey
Eighth: Jazmine & Danielle
Ninth: Ernest & Jin
Eliminated: Alex & Adam

Tanner wins a footrace to the mat, which will give him a 1 minute advantage in the next leg, but pushes himself so hard that he pulls a hamstring in the process. This may be competing hard, but it’s not competing smart.

Though Alex struggled with the dancing, I thought Jazmine & Danielle were goners when they were still in last place at the end of the road block, but this time the editors weren’t playing tricks. Alex & Adam have been eliminated following the cab ride to see Phil.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Amazing Race 27 Episode 3, which airs Friday at 8/7c on CBS.

Gone are the days of the lame blind date twist that fell totally flat. This season’s 11 teams of two have a preexisting relationship with their partners.

Alex Manard & Adam Dingeman (Cousins)
Cindy Chac & Rick Chac (Married)
Denise Williams & James Corley (Mother/Son)
Ernest Phillip & Jin Lao (Brothers)
Jazmine Lewis & Danielle Littleton (Friends)
Justin Scheman & Diana Bishop (Engaged)
Kelly Berning & Shevonne Sullivan (Friends/Co-Workers)
Kelsey Gerckens & Joey Buttitta (Dating/Co-Workers)
Logan Fazio & Chris Gordon (Dating/Business Partners)
Tanner Kloven & Josh Ahern (Friends)
Tiffany Chantell & Krista Debono (Former NFL Cheerleaders)

Their first destination is Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They start off with a challenge, a water bike race that will determine which team departs half an hour prior to all the other teams. At least this time everybody is basically on equal footing, unlike the usual three teams fighting for last while everyone else just coasts. Justin & Diana win the race to get on the first flight. Tanner & Josh, on the other hand, drop from first to last after they break their transportation.

The first flight is delayed by 20 minutes, and the second flight arrives 5 minutes early, so that head start is almost completely irrelevant. Still, with a few minutes lead over the second place team, Justin & Diana take a weather dependent fast forward. They decide to take the risk because the skies are clear. Little do they realize weather means wind, and the fast forward cannot be completed, ironically making their earlier challenge win a big disadvantage rather than the advantage they thought it was. Justin is crying already. It’s a little early for this, dude.

The detour is a choice between sand or sidewalk. In sand, teams will play footvolley against local pros but will be allowed to use their hands and must score 6 points before their opponents score 18. In sidewalk, teams will put together a geometric slide puzzle.

Sidewalk: Cindy & Rick, Denise & James, Kelly & Shevonne (switched from sand), Tiffany & Krista (switched from sand)
Sand: Tanner & Josh, Jazmine & Danielle, Logan & Chris, Alex & Adam, Kelsey & Joey (switched from sidewalk), Justin & Diana (switched from sidewalk)

The soccer volleyball task seems simpler because the pros are good but are so handicapped that it doesn’t seem very difficult to beat them. The puzzle is a lot more hit or miss. Could be 10 minutes or 2 hours.

I’ve never seen this much indecision, though. Everybody is switching detours, and the battle for last comes down to two teams who thought they could do better at puzzles than volleyball, despite none of them apparently being good at puzzles.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is Arpoador Lookout. Already? That was a quick leg.

First: Tanner & Josh (win express pass, which once used must be given to another team)
Second: Jazmine & Danielle
Third: Cindy & Rick
Fourth: Denise & James
Fifth: Logan & Chris
Sixth: Alex & Adam
Seventh: Ernest & Jin
Eighth: Kelsey & Joey
Ninth: Justin & Diana
Tenth: Tiffany & Krista
Eliminated: Kelly & Shevonne

After 3 hours and 45 minutes of puzzle solving, TMZ girls Kelly & Shevonne finally finish it, but they took so long that Phil has to pay them a visit to eliminate them.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Amazing Race 27 Episode 2, which airs Friday at 8/7c on CBS.