Recap: The Amazing Race 23, Episode 3 – "Forgot the dang zero."


Recap: The Amazing Race 23, Episode 3 – “King Arthur Style”

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The third Leg of the Race begins as teams scramble to find the first flight into their next destination; Lisbon, Portugal.

Chester & Ephraim are first to leave the Pit Stop and head to the travel agency. But the agent books them on a flight that leaves on another day. During that time, Nicole & Travis are able to get on the correct flight that arrives in Lisbon via Sao Paolo at 7am.

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Chester & Ephraim have to settle on a flight that gets them in at 12pm with Brandon & Adam.

At the airport, Leo & Jamal and Ally & Ashley want to hook Tim & Danny in with them on their fight via London so they can beat them just in case they are last. But the Oklahoma boys decide not to get sucked in, seeing right through Leo & Jamal’s BS.

They and Brandon & Adam get on a flight via Madrid getting into Lisbon at 10am.

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Chester & Ephraim leave first, but have two connecting flights. In Sao Paolo, Jason & Amy, Tim & Marie and Nicky & Kim hurry to try and get onto the same early flight as Nicole & Travis. While Jason & Amy and Tim & Marie wait for the counter to open, Nicky & Kim head to the executive lounge of the airline to get themselves on the standby list first. The two couples are surprised and while Jason & Amy manage to get onto the flight as well, Tim & Marie get left behind and now are not likely to be giving their former new friends the Express Pass.

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Meanwhile, Chester & Ephraim end up running into several delayed flights and missed connections.

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After all that airport drama, the first flight finally arrives in Lisbon and teams must now make their way to Martim Moniz Square via Tram 28. Nicole & Travis and Jason & Amy decide to work together when they receive their next clue, a painting which they need to figure out points them to the Museu Nacional dos Coches.


There, they find the next clue, the Detour.
In Tiles, teams must assemble a life-size puzzle using porcelain tiles.
In Miles, teams need to use a giant navigation instrument to measure the distance traveled by Ferdinand Magellan to ten destinations from Seville to the Philippines using a large map at Padrão dos Descobrimentos. Once they are within 500 miles, they’ll get the next clue.

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The couples choose Miles and complete it together. Meanwhile, Nicky & Amy decide to do Tiles.

As Tim & Danny and Brandon & Adam arrive in Lisbon, the couples head to the next clue at Clube Portugues de Tiro a Chumbo. There, they find the Road Block.


In this Road Block, teams must put on a knight’s suit and armor and using a giant ballista, must hit a shield 150 feet away containing their next clue.

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Jason manages to hit the shield first, but he and Amy get lost on their way to the Pit Stop at Castelo dos Mouros, allowing Nicole & Travis to beat them to the Mat and claim 1st Place and a trip to Costa Rica. Jason & Amy have to settle for 2nd while Nicky & Amy are 3rd.

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Back at the Detour, Tim & Danny choose Miles while Brandon & Adam choose Tiles. Tim & Danny figure out they need to measure from the other side of the map, as the world is round, and they head to the Road Block first, then the Pit Stop where they officially finish 4th. Brandon & Adam take 5th.

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Leo & Jamal and Ally & Ashley finally arrive in Lisbon with Tim & Marie close behind. The married teams choose Miles first, but get confused with how to measure from one side of the map to the other. The girls give up first and switch to Tiles, while the Afghanimals follow soon after.

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Tim & Marie head straight to Tiles and Leo & Jamal try to trick them into using the Express Pass. The exes struggle with the puzzle, but push through it. Leo & Jamal and Ally & Ashley finish 6th and 7th respectively.

Phil messes with Tim & Marie at the Mat, but they are relieved to be Team #8, nonetheless.

Night falls in Lisbon and Chester & Ephraim finally arrive at the airport. But their hearts drop when they see Phil walking towards them to say they are the last team and that they are eliminated.

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Episode Thoughts
This was a strange Leg. The airport drama was insane, but took up a big chunk of the episode. It was strange because TAR has been pretty tight with their logistics in terms of flights, so to see all the different flights and the Leg being performed in groups made this a not very good episode. Airport drama is classic TAR, but a lot of what we got last night didn’t really make for any exciting developments.

Leo & Jamal’s attempt at screwing with Tim & Danny was lame while Marie’s “You’re dead to me” after Nicky & Kim outsmart them felt so hollow and forced. Definitely not the days of blocking airport doors or sneaking around ticket offices.

The Detour and the Road Block were incredibly unexciting, especially when there was no competition between the teams at each of the tasks.

This sadly might have been one of the weakest TAR episodes in a while. And that’s not something we should be saying after losing an Emmy to The Voice.

The Teams
in subjective order

This Leg, I think I was most impressed by Tim & Danny. They were great at the airport wanting to go their own way and not fall for Leo & Jamal trying to use them. And they proved they aren’t just country bumpkins with solid performances in the tasks, especially being able to finish the Detour, which two teams, together, couldn’t even do.

Jason & Amy and Nicole & Travis have been doing alright. But I’m definitely looking forward to Nicole’s gameplay next week.

Chester & Ephraim ran into a lot of bad luck this Leg and it’s a shame since they seemed to be getting into a nice groove. That travel agency fiasco killed any momentum they had. They could’ve gone far.

Ally & Ashley were okay, but still hanging around their husbands and then giving up on the Detour are things that could be trouble going forward. Brandon & Adam are chugging along too.

Tim & Marie are less grating this week and in fairness to them, they are a lot more competitive. Nicky & Kim recovered well from their horrible Leg last week and get kudos for working to get flights. But Leo & Jamal are still trying too hard to play up to the camera and seem to be playing too hard too with nothing to back it up.

One thought on “Recap: The Amazing Race 23, Episode 3 – "Forgot the dang zero."

  1. It is a very interesting episode. Love the airport drama but seeing Chester & Ephraim stranded and to be eliminated without reaching the first route marker was so unfortunate probably the worst airport luck in TAR. Both side of the Detour was challenging. The roadblock was simple enough but the beautiful view of Portugal made up for it. Overall, it is an okay leg but still not as epic as the Portugal Leg of TAR 3 with the infamous Heavegate.

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