New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Previously on The Amazing Race, #TheGreenTeam almost noticed that a team was feuding with them, #TeamTexas discovered that it’s unsatisfying to feud with a team that is unaware of your ire, and #TeamAlabama learned that if you give them a free pass to drive to the finish mat, they can beat #TheGreenTeam by almost 50 steps.

Meanwhile, every other team that wasn’t #TheReporters performed so poorly that a three-team elimination would have been completely valid. It was legitimately one of the worst run legs in the history of the show, and that’s really saying something. We can’t remember a recent season where so many teams struggled so much with such simple tasks. Suffice to say that if you aren’t in Green, aren’t from Texas, and aren’t a news anchor, you’re not going to win this year.

Well, you might, but you won’t deserve it.

We begin tonight’s leg at beautiful Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. Our first question is whether #TeamAlabama is delusional enough to feel like they achieved something by getting first place. Normally, teams will talk about how big of a threat they are while never quite realizing that they owe it all to dumb luck.

James Earl, or as we like to call him, “The Good One,” pleasantly surprises us by saying that he believes they owe it all to being kind to other people. His mother tempts fate by point blank asking Josh of #TeamTexas why they gave her and James Earl the Express Pass. He politely mumbles something about connections and getting along and whatever. She expresses relief, because she had feared that it was because she was old. Josh accepts her hug while quietly thinking it was exactly for that reason, and also because she and James Earl are terrible at the Race.

Anyway, Denise & James Earl will be the first team to start at 5:40 a.m., and the clue doesn’t send them to a new location. Instead, we’ll begin with a Roadblock – “Who wants to get their heart pumping?” At this point, any change in the Race format is good, but on the other hand, watching a bunch of these teams bungle through a challenge first thing in the morning does not inspire a lot of confidence or excitement.

One person will have to jump from the Victoria Falls Bridge. When they have completed the jump, they’ll check their heart rate on their Fitbit and write it down to turn in. Ordinarily, we detest this sort of product placement, but we like our own Fitbits so much that we’ll overlook this one. Also, it’s a much more natural placement than many others we’ve seen. Apparently, we’re just now learning that they’re doing this throughout each leg of the race, and will use this information at some point later on (probably the Final 3, we’re guessing).

And… we pretty quickly realize that it doesn’t matter what time anyone is leaving, because the Falls don’t open until 7 a.m. Denise & James Earl say that everyone will catch up to them by the time the rope drops.

Continued:       1       2       3       4       5