Recap: The Amazing Race 26, Episode 12 – “Monster Truck Heroes”
Mike & Rochelle open the next clue telling teams their final destination is Dallas, Texas.
Once in Dallas, teams must make their way to AT&T Stadium where they will find the Road Block: Who wants to score?
For this Road Block, teams will dress up in football uniforms then make their way onto the field to retrieve their playbook 200 feet above. Once returning to the ground, they must catch a touchdown pass and kick the extra point to receive their next clue.
Mike is first out on the field, followed by Tyler, Blair and Jelani. But it is Tyler who scores first. Mike has trouble catching the football and then kicking the extra point. That allows Blair to finish next.
Teams must now head to P2 Ranch. Tyler & Laura’s cab driver has no idea where it is, but Hayley & Blair does. Tyler & Laura decide to wait and follow Hayley & Blair.
But Hayley & Blair don’t want them to. Mike & Rochelle are next out of the stadium, but their taxi earlier would not wait for them. As the other teams exit the stadium, Tyler & Laura decide to follow Jelani & Jenny instead.
Hayley & Blair arrive at P2 Ranch where they must work with an experienced cowboy horse to corral at least six longhorns in a pen. Tyler & Laura and Jelani & Jenny are next to arrive.
Meanwhile, Mike & Rochelle’s new taxi needs gas. Now.
Hayley & Blair are still in first and must now make their way to Reunion Tower. Jelani & Jenny are in 2nd and Tyler & Laura in 3rd.
Mike & Rochelle finally arrive at the ranch, but Phil is there to eliminate them.
Over at Reunion Tower, Hayley & Blair find the 2nd Road Block.
For this Road Block, teams must search the Dallas skyline as they rappel down for their next clue, a row of flags.
Hayley must do this Road Block and as she rappels down, she sees a parking garage, but no flags. She is confident that’s the clue and she and Blair leave just as the other two teams arrive. Tyler is pissed.
Up top, Jenny tells Laura that they “need to beat fucking Hayley & Blair.”
They rappel down and see the parking garage, but they also see the row of Race flags.
Hayley & Blair arrive at the garage and see nothing, so they frustratingly decide to go back.
On the way to the flags, Tyler & Laura and Jelani & Jenny go the opposite directions. And it turns out Tyler & Laura have gone the right way.
After driving a monster truck through a mid pit, teams will take part in a selfie memory test.
They must first unlock a shed containing their selfies. A list of locations from the Race will reveal the code to open the padlock using the Leg numbers each location appeared on: (Buchhandlung – 8, Baan Teelanka – 3, Munttoren – 9 and Kanda Myojin – 1)
As Hayley finally sees the flags, Jelani & Jenny open their shed first. Teams must now grab the selfies from the shed and place them on a map wall in chronological order from right to left.
Tyler & Laura finally open their shed and speed through their selfies. The monster truck judge approves their selfie timeline (?!) and they head back into their monster trucks just as Hayley & Blair drive past.
Jelani & Jenny are close behind, but it is Tyler & Laura who keep their lead to the Finish Line, the Continental Avenue Bridge.
Tyler takes one last selfie as they run to the Mat where Phil officially declares them Team #1. They win 1 million dollars.
Phil asks them what kind of love they found on the Race. They say they only found love for the world and a friendship.
They take another selfie.
Jelani & Jenny come running in to officially finish as Team #2. Hayley & Blair end up as Team #3.
Episode Thoughts
Welp.
I thought it was one of the better Final Legs actually. I don’t really like first come, first served tasks, especially not in the Final Leg. But the production for that AT&T Stadium task was amazing. The TAR logo plastered all over the stadium, big Race flags like it was some big college game, it was all pretty awesome.
The longhorns at the ranch was a good Texas-y thing to do and at least it was an extra Route Marker.
The rappelling and similar tasks in the Final Leg have become almost boring in the finales, so it was good to see that extra element of looking for the clue below (which is also a typical TAR task). I hate that it caused Hayley & Blair to lose, but I love it for being somewhat fresh.
I’ll talk more about the dumb selfies in my season wrap-up, but the Final Task was definitely not the worst. At least there WAS a Final memory task. But that it involved the stupid selfies just removed any good vibes that final task had. So it appears teams were required to take selfies, but not necessarily in specific places. Since I’m writing this recap days after the original airing of the episode, interviews with the teams have already popped up and Jelani & Jenny said most of their selfies were in the backseat of cabs or on planes.
Those places are certainly much harder to distinguish from the landmarks other teams may have taken selfies at. So if Tyler & Laura gained an advantage in that Final Task from being so self-involved during the Race, then… well. Ugh.
Mike & Rochelle’s taxi troubles are very suspicious and their abrupt elimination after their gas Detour was not handled well.
But the episode otherwise started out fine enough until that huge downer of a Finish Line. But oh well.
My Subjective Team Rankings
Nooo! Definitely sad for Blair & Hayley. It sucks that Hayley’s mistake cost them the million dollars. They built a pretty sizeable lead that probably would’ve stuck to the Finish Line barring a huge meltdown at the Final Task.
Phil described Jelani & Jenny as consistent Racers. This Leg pretty much showed that “consistent” is just another word for “not stepping up.” Just like they’ve been doing the last couple of Legs, Jelani & Jenny seemed to just keep their stride instead of run at full speed. Moreso Jelani than Jenny.
Speaking of not stepping up, it seems it was never in the cards for Rochelle & Mike. The taxi troubles these last two Legs seem very suspicious. But oh well. I still would’ve preferred they were one of the final 3.
Definitely not too happy about Tyler & Laura winning.
Episode Quotes
Rochelle: “His pants are falling down.”
Jenny: “I cannot hit the wall ma’am.”
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