Recap: The Amazing Race 20, Episode 6 - “I don’t want to burn the man up, it ain’t no animal here you know.”

The Amazing Race

March 26, 2012July 11, 2017

The Amazing Race 20, Episode 6 – This is Wicked Strange

The Leg

The teams leave Germany and fly to Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan. All teams are on the same flight and they arrive an hour or two before sunrise, which is when the Temple Ateshgah or Temple of Fire opens. The teams participate in the dancing while waiting.

The sun rises and the Temple opens. The teams open up the clues and find a Fast Forward.

Both Dave & Rachel and Joey & Danny decide to go for it. For this Fast Forward, teams will head to a roadside hay market where they will have to unload 150 haybales from a truck and then stack them 10 across, 5 high and 3 wide to win the Fast Forward award.

The rest of the teams decide against it and instead go to the next clue located at Occupational Training International. Bopper & Mark find the clue box first and open it up to reveal the Road Block.

In this Road Block, teams will have to go through a helicopter ditch rescue training exercise. Teams will get into a helicopter simulator which will be submerged and capsized. Teams will then have to escape through the window and swim to a floating raft containing their clue.

JJ, Jamie and Bopper go under first and they are able to complete it. Teams must now go to old town Baku and find Toghrul Karabakh Carpet Shop for their next clue.

Back at the Fast Forward, it’s close until Rachel & Dave pull ahead of Joey & Danny and finish first. They head to the Pit Stop at the Boulevard Esplanade Estakada where they claim first place and a pair of Ford Tauruses. That’s bad news for Joey & Danny who now have to make up lost time.

Back at the Road Block, Brendon goes under himself and he and Rachel head off, leaving Vanessa. As she gets it done, Joey & Danny arrive themselves.

Brendon & Rachel manage to run past Art & JJ, Bopper & Mark and Nary & Jamie as they all get the next clue at the carpet shop.

The open it up and find the Detour.
In Apples, teams head to the Yasil Bazar Fruit Market and search through old cars filled with apples to find one with the Race flag which they can exchange for their next clue.
In Oil, teams Naftalan Health Center, find the oil baths and scrape and scrub the oil off the body of a soaking patient for their next clue.

Brendon & Rachel, Mark & Bopper and Art & JJ choose Oil while Nary & Jamie choose Apples. Art & JJ finish scraping their half naked man first and head to the Pit Stop to officially finish second. Mark & Bopper and Brendon & Rachel finish cleaning their man and arrive at the Mat together to check-in 3rd and 4th respectively.

Vanessa & Ralph join Nary & Jamie at the apples, but Nary & Jamie finish before them and head to Phil to officially finish as Team #5.

That leaves the final two teams to fight it out and Vanessa & Ralph just make it as Team #6 leaving Joey & Danny in last and eliminated.

Episode Thoughts
This was a great episode. Not only were the Hours of Operation at the temple great to bunch teams up, but having them take the time to enjoy and have fun with the local culture was awesome.

The Road Block was pretty amazing too. That’s some legit stuff. Though other shows like Fear Factor have been more extreme with underwater stunts and things, this was a step up for TAR. The Detour was interesting too. The apples was good enough, but that odd oil scrubbing Detour… how strange and awkward! Probably one of the weirdest tasks ever on TAR. Weirdly hilarious.

And the Fast Forward! Wow, two! Fast Forwards in a Race! That’s amazing and surprising, but very much welcome. This Fast Forward was great for not being a luck task either. Teams actually had to work for it. What sucked was that whoever went for the FF and didn’t get would be the ones eliminated. And that’s one of the reasons teams are so afraid to go for it these days. I really would love to see the Fast Forward back on every leg. There was just a completely different dynamic back then.

Anyway, great episode, good leg.

PIT STOP
Landhannes Farm
Schwangau-Horn, Germany

CASH
$167

DESTINATION
Baku, Azerbaijan
via Istanbul, Turkey

ROUTE MARKER
Temple Ateshgah
Baku, Azerbaijan

FAST FORWARD
Saman Ot Bazary
Baku, Azerbaijan

ROAD BLOCK
Occupational Training International
Baku, Azerbaijan

ROUTE MARKER
Toghrul Karabakh Carpet Shop
Old Baku, Azerbaijan

DETOUR
Yasil Bazar Fruit Market
Baku, Azerbaijan

Naftalan Health Center
Badamdar Settlement, Baku, Azerbaijan

PIT STOP
Boulevard Esplanade Estakada
Baku, Azerbaijan

DEPARTURE
Landhannes Farm
Schwangau-Horn, Germany

Art & JJ 8:48am
Joey & Danny 9:17am
Vanessa & Ralph 9:19am
Rachel & Dave 10:57am
Brendon & Rachel 11:17am
Bopper & Mark 11:41am
Nary & Jamie 11:42am

APPLES	OIL
In order of completion > or < indicates team switched Detours. Rachel & Dave used a Fast Forward.

Who did the Road Block?
What goes down must come up.
In order of completion; Italics indicate who did the Road Block

3 Rachel Dave 2
2 Art JJ 3
3 Nary Jamie 2
3 Bopper Mark 3
3 Brendon Rachel 3
3 Vanessa Ralph 3
3 Joey Danny 3

3 ~~Kerri~~ ~~Stacy~~ 2
1 ~~Elliot~~ ~~Andrew~~ 2
1 ~~Dave~~ ~~Cherie~~ 1
0 ~~Misa~~ ~~Maiya~~ 1

PIT STOP
Boulevard Esplanade Estakada
Baku, Azerbaijan

1st Rachel & Dave +3
2nd Art & JJ -1
3rd Bopper & Mark +3
4th Brendon & Rachel +1
5th Nary & Jamie +2
6th Vanessa & Ralph -3
Eliminated Joey & Danny -5

	Brendon & Rachel – A very quiet leg from them, but a solid (and safe) performance. Looks like that will change next week, but they’ve been chugging along nicely so far. If they can step it up a little bit just to make sure they aren’t in danger, then they should be fine going into the finals.
	Bopper & Mark – They might just be the most consistent team on the Race. Even more consistent than Art & JJ. Except for that plane ticket blunder, they’ve run a great Race and have been very steady. They can also pull themselves out of the bottom if they want. Throw in their hilarious, carefree, but competitive attitudes, they’ve got the makings of a final three team.
	Joey & Danny – After steadily rising these last few legs, they take a risk that unfortunately didn’t pay off. They’ve been one of the few teams to step it up week after week and it’s sad to see them go after hitting their stride last leg. They seem like nice, laid back guys, definitely more likeable than anyone from Jersey Shore (and these guys are from Long Island anyway!).
	Nary & Jamie – It might be their strategy to lay low and stay under the radar, but one of these days, it’s going to catch up with them and they might find themselves eliminated. I think it’s time for them to drop the helpless teachers act and really step up their game because they seem to have what it takes, but they haven’t put in all the effort they can.
	Rachel & Dave – A little bit of luck brings them their third win of the Race. Their teamwork is still a little fuzzy though. After working so well in the first leg and a half, their bickering has really slowed them down. They may have survived using the Express Pass and the Fast Forward, but from now on, it’s all them.
	Vanessa & Ralph – Kind of a boring leg from them, but as we saw in the preview, that’s going to change next week. They seem like a strong team, but they’d rather focus on arguing with each other and other teams. We’ll see how far that takes them.
	Art & JJ – A good leg for them. At least they didn’t win it. But you have to wonder how long they can keep up the streak.

	Quotes from Episode 20.06 Bopper: “This guy is driving like an absolute maniac. I just hope he don’t go getting too loose with me cuz we’re gon’ have some stuff a’spewin.” Bopper: “I don’t want to burn the man up, it ain’t no animal here you know.”
	400 HD episode caps at photobucket.com/TAR2006
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