Recap: The Amazing Race 26, Episode 3 – "We were picking out each other's underwear."

Recap: The Amazing Race 26, Episode 3 – #MurphysLaw

During the Pit Stop, Jelani & Jenny and Tyler & Laura stay in separate rooms, but Jeff & Jackie stay in one. Bergen & Kurt have decided to just stay friends since their ideal type is big, strong men, not their twin.

Next afternoon, Jelani & Jenny open the first clue telling teams to fly to Phuket, Thailand. All the teams head to Narita, but everything is closed for the night.

When counters open the next morning, teams rush to get the earliest flights they can. On the first flight on AirAsia arriving in Phuket at 4:50pm are Matt & Ashley, Aly & Steve, Jeff & Jackie, Hayley & Blair and Mike & Rochelle. On the second flight on Philippine Airlines arriving at 9:10pm are Jelani & Jenny and Tyler & Laura. On Cathay Pacific arriving at 11:59pm are Bergen & Kurt. Harley & Jonathan are the only team on ANA arriving tomorrow morning at 9:35am.

Once in Phuket, teams must find their next clue waiting at Patong Beach along Banghla Road. Matt & Ashley’s taxi driver says plenty of ladies there. “Ladyboy!”

Teams get to the Patong Beach sign and find a “streetwalker” who has selfie sticks with departure times on them. Teams can enjoy the nightlife and then share rooms at a bed and breakfast.

Next morning, the teams wonder where Harley & Jonathan are. Team New Kid are just getting on their last flight out of Singapore.

At 8:30am, Matt & Ashley, Aly & Steve and Mike & Rochelle depart for Baan Teelanka, the upside-down house. Jelani & Jenny, Jeff & Jackie and Hayley & Blair leave at 8:45am. And at 9am are Bergen & Kurt and Matt & Ashley.

Teams must search Baan Teelanka for their clues hanging out of a toilet. And those clues reveal the Detour.
In Ski, teams head to the Phuket Wake Park where they must stay aloft for one lap.
In Tree, teams must deliver a full meal without spilling anything by zipline to waiting guests.

Aly & Steve and Jeff & Jackie choose Ski while everyone else chooses Tree. Meanwhile, Harley & Jonathan have just arrived in Phuket.

Jelani & Jenny and Hayley & Blair are first to pick-up their food. They believe they only have to take one foodstuff and one drink. But Hayley sees there is a board with a list of things including: fruit plate, sandwich plate, bowl of soup, 2 spoons, flower vase, glass of champagne and a glass of juice. Blair says it doesn’t matter. The other teams, however, do pay attention to the list.

Jelani & Jenny reach the customers and they shake their heads. They think they’ve spilled too much. Hayley sees the teams behind them have trays full of stuff and tells Blair this is why they shouldn’t just follow others since they could be wrong.

Hayley lets Blair have it once they reach the customers. Matt & Ashley go next, but Matt spills everything and drops his plate. Hayley is still laying into Blair as Mike & Rochelle are the first to successfully serve their customers.

Teams must now make their way to My Way Cabaret. Mike & Rochelle tell their tuk tuk driver where they’re going and the driver says it’s “ladyboy show.”

Jelani & Jenny and Matt & Ashley fail their 2nd attempt, but Hayley & Blair and Laura & Tyler pass. Over at the other side of the Detour, Aly & Steve have failed their 8th attempt, so they decide to switch. Jeff & Jackie also leave after their 2nd attempt.

Back downtown, Phil is in front of (blurred) naked statues as he welcomes Mike & Rochelle to My Way Cabaret. Here, teams must dress up and then learn a routine to perform on stage with the pros.

Over at the Detour, Bergen & Kurt finish on their 2nd attempt. Jelani & Jenny get it on their 4th attempt. Matt & Ashley grow frustrated, especially when Aly & Steve arrive. Matt spills his champagne before they even start down the zipline.

They go back to get fresh food while Aly & Steve pass on their first try. Matt & Ashley finally finish on their 5th attempt. Jeff & Jackie get it on their 2nd.

Back at the Cabaret as the other teams are dressing up, Bergen & Kurt open the clue and find the Date Night award.

As the other teams arrive, Mike & Rochelle get started on stage. They fail a couple of times, but are able to quickly try again since no other teams are ready to go yet. They get the thumbs up on their 8th attempt.

Mike & Rochelle can now head to the Pit Stop, Baba Nest Rooftop Bar.

Hayley & Blair and Tyler & Laura go up on stage together, but they fail. Tyler & Laura go again with Jelani & Jenny, but they still fail.

Jelani & Jenny go for their 2nd attempt with Hayley & Blair, but only Hayley & Blair pass. Jelani & Jenny finish on their 5th attempt.

At the Mat, Mike & Rochelle officially check in as Team #1. They win a trip to Prague.

Matt & Ashley are on their 3rd attempt and they pass. Laura & Tyler get it after seven tries, Aly & Steve on their 3rd and Bergen & Kurt after their 6th.

The teams are on the way to the Pit Stop, but Matt realizes he’s left his fanny pack back at the Cabaret. They head back and grab it just as Jeff & Jackie finish after three attempts.

All the teams somehow arrive at the Mat within seconds (or minutes) of each other. Stepping on the Mat in order from 2nd to 8th: Hayley & Blair, Jelani & Jenny, Laura & Tyler, Aly & Steve, Matt & Ashley, Bergen & Kurt and Jeff & Jackie.

With everyone here, Matt decides to take out a ring and propose to Ashley who accepts. Bergen & Kurt want to give them their Date Night pass.

“You don’t have to do that!”
“We really want to!”

Phil asks why Bergen is crying. Bergen says he thought he’d be able to find something like what Matt & Ashley have found by coming onto the Race. But…

“One day.”

Later, Harley & Jonathan finally arrive at the Mat in last. But this is a Non-Elimination Leg.

Episode Thoughts

Okay, this episode and Leg wasn’t that bad. It was actually kinda fun. Mostly because of the Cabaret though. TAR does love featuring Thailand’s ladyboys. Lol

But it was a fun task. Though Active TV, I see you! Totally took the Priscilla task from their first Leg of TARPH2. lol

The Detour was alright. The wake boarding was a pretty boring task though even if a team did finish it. But the zipline waiters was good.

And working on my upcoming TARPHDM3 (woohoo!), Phuket is definitely on the list. And Baan Teelanka is the first Route Marker. I definitely want to visit that. Looks awesome.

The meh parts of the episode were that dumb selfie stick Route Marker and all that “Woohoo! Let’s get drunk tonight!” stuff that’s too-Bachelor or worse, MTV Challenge really. They could’ve just had the street vendor selling something else since the teams didn’t even use the selfie sticks. Really, come on now.

I’ve wished we could see the teams “mingle” during the Pit Stop like they used to do. But here, they’re just wanting to imply teams are having sex during the Pit Stops or overnights. No thanks.

But again, this wasn’t a bad episode. It was definitely interesting to see all the teams basically arrive at the Mat at the same time despite the first come, first served tasks they had to do all Leg.

As for the proposal, it was kinda blah. Hayden & Aaron (TAR6) and Chad & Stephanie (TAR17) were much more enjoyable. As well as TARAu’s Sally & Tyson. I guess it’s because we already go to know each of those teams before the proposal. Here, we don’t really even know Matt & Ashley yet on this 3rd Leg.

My Subjective Team Rankings

I still love Jelani & Jenny and am probably rooting for them to win the most. But this Leg was all Blair & Hayley. They were hilarious! Especially Hayley being a “biotch” and Blair obviously (as he has been) so over this whole relationship. lol But Hayley definitely has a point. She’s actually been right on point most, if not all the time against Blair’s wrong turns and wrong decisions. And Hayley does seem like a nice, sweet girl. So her getting all upset, but in the nicest way possible, was just a lot of fun.

Jelani & Jenny, meanwhile, appear to not be as dominant as they were the first 2 Legs. Plus that preview for next week, it looks like things aren’t as smooth as they were between them. It is surprising though seeing them miss such an important detail considering they were very thorough in their “legal analysis” in the first Leg Pit Stop clue.

Rochelle & Mike were great this Leg. After two bad Legs, they win this one. There may be some big potential for them moving forward. That’d be awesome. Bergen & Kurt are another fun blind dating team because they obviously aren’t interested in each other. (They’ve said as much too.) But them on the Mat, wanting to give away their Date Night pass and Bergen being upset that he hasn’t found love on this Race was hilarious.

Tyler & Laura are kinda boring, yet one of the “nice” and “normal” teams that will probably go far. I hope to see more from them though in terms of personality. Harley & Jonathan were pretty non-existent this Leg. And they were definitely lucky to have survived.

Not much from Aly & Steve either. I think I like Jackie more than Jeff. She seems a lot more interesting and fun. And Matt & Ashley are just alright too.

Episode Quotes

Jackie: “We were picking out each other’s underwear.”

Jelani: “Let America see all this sexy.”

Jackie: “It’s nice and moist, for sure.”

Hayley: “Not to be a complete biotch, but I told you, you have to listen to me.”

Hayley: “Your listening skills are subpar.”

Jeff: “What was that?”
Jackie: “A lake enema.”

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