Hello, my name is Steven, and I will be recapping The Amazing Race for the remainder of the season. Eric has done an excellent job with these recaps, so I know I have a lot to live up to.
Like every other episode, we get a quick rundown of what happened last week. The teams traveled from Norway to Poland in a leg with the Double U-Turn in play. Tim and Danny used the U-Turn on Leo and Jamal, who consequently used the U-Turn on Brandon and Adam. So it was no surprise that Brandon and Adam were eliminated as a result. Also worth noting was Tim and Marie handing over the second Express Pass to Nicole and Travis. However, Nicole and Travis now have the only Express Pass left in the race as Tim and Marie used theirs last week. Anyway, onto tonight’s episode:
Seven teams remain, and they all must travel by train to Vienna, Austria. They must go to Vienna’s Opera House and be led by Rigoletto through the house where they can find their next clue. All the teams catch the same train to Warsaw except for Leo and Jamal and Ally and Ashley, who are behind the other teams. However, they all catch up and are on even playing field by the time they arrive in the train station in Warsaw. Here, Leo and Jamal decide to tell a pointless lie by saying that they did not U-Turn Brandon and Adam. They probably thought it would make the other teams think highly of them that they did not U-Turn a team, but it doesn’t matter as no one believes them. Any team that has been U-Turned would use the U-Turn on another team. So it was a very senseless lie that did not make the other teams dislike the Afghanimals any less.
The teams arrive in Vienna and make their way to Vienna’s Opera House. They find Rigoletto, and he leads them up some stairs to the clue box. All teams rip open their clues to decide which Detour to complete: Light Brigade or Masquerade? Light Brigade entails assembling an intricate crystal chandelier that will crash to the floor if a chamberlain deems its construction improper. Masquerade requires teams to waltz in a Viennese ball, where they must match their own decorative masks with another waltzing couple. Every team chooses Masquerade, so we don’t get to see any crashing chandeliers today.
However, there is a Fast Forward option for the teams! But only one team (like always) is allowed to participate. Nicole and Travis and Jason and Amy are the two teams that decide to go for the Fast Forward, but Nicole and Travis change their minds and choose to go waltz with everyone else. Jason and Amy find their way to the location of the Fast Forward, where they have to bungee jump from the highest building in Vienna – the Donauturm. However, Jason and Amy are informed that it is too windy and the task is too dangerous to attempt. They do have the choice to wait out the weather and see if the wind dies down. Amy wants to wait, but Jason wholeheartedly disagrees. Nonetheless, he waits for a few minutes, before Amy finally realizes that it is better to just leave since the wind showed no signs of slowing down. So they go waltz with everyone else. But by the time they have changed their minds, four teams have already finished waltzing.
Tim and Marie were the first team to correctly match their own detailed masks with another waltzing couple, followed by Nicky and Kim, Leo and Jamal, and Ally and Ashley. Jason and Amy haven’t even arrived at the Detour by the time Tim and Danny finish waltzing, with Travis and Nicole right behind them. So Jason and Amy finish the Detour with everyone else in front of them.
However, even though Tim and Marie were the first team to complete the Detour, they spend a lot of time searching for a cab, and they ultimately lose their lead by a large margin. We get to see some more of Marie’s erratic shouting as she expresses her anger at the world. “Is this a sick joke?!” she yells. They finally find a cab, but are already way behind most of the teams.
Teams must now travel to Wiener Sängerknaben, the Vienna Boys’ Choir. The Roadblock requires teams to join the choir and sing “Die Forelle” by Austrian composer Franz Schubert. They will be judged on pronunciation and musicality. Everyone must spend time training with a vocal instructor before they attempt the Roadblock, which gives Jason and Amy enough time to catch up with the rest of the teams. During the training sessions, we learn that Ally loves performing, yet admits to struggling with other languages. Nicky, on the other hand, has a Czech grandfather who speaks German, but her teammate Kim teases that Nicky is like Cameron Diaz in My Best Friend’s Wedding – a hot girl who cannot sing. Oklahoma boy Tim spends a great amount of time training, and gets conflicting advice. He’s told to perform like Justin Timberlake at one point, and then the vocal instructor says to be like an opera performer. The latter advice might be more appropriate, but Tim is clearly struggling.
Travis, on the other hand, is confident as he declares that he loves to sing and he plays instruments too. He is the first to attempt the Roadblock, but instead of receiving the next clue, he has to endure the giggles and snide looks from the choir boys behind him. But every team is laughed at by the choir boys, with no one excelling on his or her first try. However, Travis gets it correct on his second attempt, which puts him and Nicole in first place.
Nicky and Kim are the second team to complete the task after the director deemed Nicky’s performance as “acceptable.” Nicky and Kim rush outside and contemplate stealing Jason and Amy’s cab, especially after the cab driver removes the backpacks from the vehicle. Nonetheless, Nicky and Kim agreed that it would be unsportsmanlike to steal another team’s cab, so they go look for a cab of their own.
Leo and Jamal are the third team to complete the Roadblock, and they cheer at the possibility of Jason and Amy’s elimination since they were the last team to arrive at Wiener Sängerknaben. And Jason and Amy get more unfortunate circumstances after Tim and Marie complete the Roadblock first. And without missing a beat, Marie exclaims, “Let’s go steal someone’s cab!” right after she and Tim receive their next clue. They see the discarded backpacks on the ground and help themselves inside Jason and Amy’s cab, with Marie noting that a million dollars is worth more than drinks with Jason and Amy after the competition is over. Marie even suggests framing Leo and Jamal as the culprits since everyone already hates them anyway, but that proved futile later. The cab driver realizes that Tim and Marie are different people after they’re already on their way to the next location (a garden maze at Schönbrunn Palace) for the clue to the Pit Stop. But Tim and Marie assert that it’s no big deal and tells the driver that everyone is on the same team anyway.
With Tim and Danny and Ally and Ashley still struggling, Jason and Amy finish the Roadblock fifth and notice their cab is gone. And they are understandably livid. They realize someone stole their cab, and it infuriates them that someone would do that.
Nicky and Kim and Nicole and Travis are the first two teams to the garden maze, with Leo and Jamal right behind them. After navigating their way through the garden labyrinth, they find the clue box and are informed the Pit Stop is the Gloriette, which is walking distance and nearby on top of a hill.
And the first team to reach the Pit Stop is…Travis and Nicole! They win a trip for two from Travelocity to Angola. With two wins and an Express Pass in their possession, Nicole and Travis do seem to be the team to beat at the moment. Phil even notes their new nickname (the Power Parents).
Nicky and Kim and Leo and Jamal arrive at the mat at pretty much the same time, but get second and third respectively. Afterwards, Tim and Marie are team number four, and Jason and Amy arrive just seconds after them. Minutes earlier, Jason peeked inside the cab Tim and Marie stole since Jason recognized the cab driver and saw Tim and Marie’s backpacks inside them. So the altercation is pretty heated when Jason and Amy confront Tim and Marie. Tim and Marie insists that Jason and Amy wouldn’t know what they would’ve have done if they were in their situation, but that was an absurd argument since Jason and Amy were in the exact same situation. They could’ve stolen another team’s cab, but didn’t. Jason and Amy are furious with Tim and Marie, and it’s clear this friendship is over.
So that means only two teams are left: Oklahoma boys Tim and Danny and ice hockey girls Ally and Ashley. Ally and Ashley finally finish the task, but Tim and Danny finish it shortly after them. And with the magic of television editing, it seems like it will be a close finish to the end, but it is Ally and Ashley who barely avoid elimination yet again. They’re always at the bottom of the pack, but at least they manage to survive and continue on.
Tim and Danny arrive at the Pit Stop last and are sadly eliminated from the race. Both of them are clearly disappointed, but handle their elimination well (Danny actually handles this better than he did wearing a dress last week). They note how they have never even left the United States before, so they’re proud of how far they made it in the race and will have memories that will last a lifetime. I thought Tim and Danny were very nice and likable guys, as well as good competitors, so it is sad to see them leave.
Final Results of Episode:
1st place: Nicole and Travis
2nd place: Nicky and Kim
3rd place: Leo and Jamal
4th place: Tim and Marie
5th place: Jason and Amy
6th place: Ally and Ashley
Eliminated: Tim and Danny
Next week on The Amazing Race:
Teams travel to Abu Dhabi! Racecars are involved! And Marie goes mad again, with Tim commenting that she has some “serious, serious mental problems.” But I think everyone is already aware of Marie’s crazy ways.
Thanks for reading and join me next week for another recap of The Amazing Race!
