Recap: The Amazing Race 20, Episode 8 - "We seen animals, we didn’t even know what they was.”

The Amazing Race

April 16, 2012July 11, 2017

The Amazing Race 20, Episode 8 – Let Them Drink Their Haterade

The Leg

Teams will start off the leg going on safari through the Ngorongoro Crater towards Safari Junction in Karatu where they’ll have to look for “Hillary Clington” for their next clue. Rachel & Dave head out first and mention that the Double U-Turn is coming up and they might consider U-turning Brendon & Rachel. Bopper says he injured his knee in the last leg, but he’ll cut it off if he has to, to keep on truckin’.

All the teams, except Nary & Jamie (who still haven’t left the Pit Stop) enjoy the incredible animals they pass on their way to the next Route Marker.

But it’s time to Race and Rachel & Dave and Bopper & Mark arrive at the Hillary Clington cart where they find the Detour.
In Water Supply, teams must collect a cart of nine empty containers from a provided address, head to the communal well to fill them up, and deliver the water back to the home in exchange for their next clue.
In Air Supply, teams head to a bike repair shop and work with a local mechanic to find and repair holes in the innertube of a bike wheel without removing the wheel from the bike. After reassembling the tire, teams will get their next clue.

Rachel & Dave and Bopper & Mark choose Air Supple. Art & JJ are close behind, but they choose Water Supply. Once they get to the well, they find there’s a huge line, but they decide to wait it out.

Bopper & Mark finish the Detour first and head to the next Route Marker at the Jack Stelzer Pub. Brendon & Rachel arrive at the bike repair shop just as Rachel & Dave finish the Detour.

Back at the Pit Stop, Nary & Jamie are bringing up the rear finally starting their leg.

Bopper & Mark arrive at the Pub and find the Double U-Turn. They decide not to U-Turn anyone. The next clue tells teams to head by taxi to The Gem Gallery and Arts. Dave & Rachel get to the U-Turn and despite having discussed with Art & JJ U-Turning Brendon & Rachel a few legs ago, they decide not to use it.

Back at the Detour, Rachel & Brendon watch as Vanessa & Ralph helplessly wander around near them still looking for Hillary Clington. Meanwhile, Dave & Rachel and Bopper & Mark continue a neck-and-neck Race as they get the next clue telling teams to find Margaret’s Farm in Mto Wa Mbu.

At the U-Turn, Art & JJ are surprised that no one has been U-Turned yet and assume they are first since surely Rachel & Dave would’ve U-Turned Brendon & Rachel if they had the chance. Brendon & Rachel get to the U-Turn and are not shocked to see their faces on the touchscreen. They decide to U-Turn Vanessa & Ralph and head off to do the other side of the Detour.

At the Detour, Nary & Jamie arrive just as Vanessa & Ralph finish the bikes and hurry over to find their faces on the U-Turn. Brendon & Rachel, meanwhile, gather their water jugs and get in line.

Bopper & Mark’s taxi driver gets them ahead of Rachel & Dave’s and they arrive at the farm first where they find the Road Block.

In this Road Block, teams will have to put on a protective bee suit and harvest honey from beehives swarming with thousands of African bees. Once they’ve harvested 500g of honey, they’ll get their next clue.

Mark and Dave do the Road Block and Mark finishes first. He and Bopper get the next clue telling them to make their way on foot to the Pit Stop at Lake Manyara. As they leave the Road Block, Art & JJ arrive and realizing Dave had indeed not done what they, Art & JJ, wanted, they are pissed.

Dave & Rachel gather their things to head to the Pit Stop, but Art & JJ stop them and ask why didn’t they do as they had asked? Rachel & Dave reason that Nary & Jamie are so far behind, there was no need to U-Turn anyone. Art & JJ are still pissed and swear they will break off any communication with the couple.

Bopper & Mark reach Phil and they officially claim First Place, winning a trip to Hawaii. Rachel & Dave settle for 2nd and she points out Dave is being a sore loser. Art & JJ finish the Road Block, and JJ continues expressing his disappointment at Rachel & Dave’s apparent betrayal. They finish 3rd. They tell Phil if they could go back and do the U-Turn, they’d choose Rachel & Dave instead. JJ is sick to his stomach at what they did.

Back at Safari Junction, Brendon & Rachel finish their 2nd Detour and as they head back with their clue from the Pub, run into Nary & Jamie whom they point in the right direction and tell them they’ve still got a shot since they’ve U-Turned Vanessa & Ralph.

Brendon & Rachel maintain their place in 4th as Rachel takes the Road Block and they head to Phil to make it official.

Vanessa & Ralph stay ahead of Nary & Jamie until their taxi gets a flat tire. That allows Nary & Jamie to catch up to them at the Gem Gallery Route Marker where they also find their Speed Bump.

For their Speed Bump, Nary & Jamie must set up an art stand using a provided painting as a guide. This allows Vanessa & Ralph to speed ahead, complete the Road Block and check-in to the Mat in 5th.

Nary & Jamie finish the Speed Bump, get through the Road Block, but it’s too late as Phil gives them the bad news that they are eliminated.

Episode Thoughts
I think this could be TAR’s Emmy episode this year. It had great tasks that allowed teams to interact with locals, it had competition even though teams pretty much stayed in the same place they were at when they started the leg, and the breathtaking scenes of Tanzania could easily put it over the top for another statue.

Now I didn’t absolutely love the episode. I did like that the U-Turn happened at the beginning of the leg instead of right before the Pit Stop like it had been the last few seasons. The tasks, while great, didn’t really allow for teams to make moves ahead though, which kept them in the basically the same order as they had started. Poor leg design, but the location made up for it. (Also as has been the case in recent seasons).

I also can’t believe Nary & Jamie were three hours behind the other teams after last week’s setting up camp task. How horrible could they have been that they were so far behind, at least two hours behind everyone else. They still managed to catch up to Vanessa & Ralph though. Maybe if they hadn’t stopped for the elephants last week.

I do
hope the next episodes are able to deliver more exciting legs though. TAR needs to get away from completely linear legs, otherwise it’ll start making for a boring Race.

PIT STOP
Simba Campsite
Ngorongoro, Tanzania

ROUTE MARKER
Hillary Clington Cart
Safari Junction, Karatu

DETOUR
Bondeni
Karatu, Tanzania

Kona Ya Mbulu
Karatu, Tanzania

ROUTE MARKER
Jack Stelzer Pub
Karatu, Tanzania

ROUTE MARKER & SPEED BUMP
The Gem Gallery & Arts
Karatu, Tanzania

ROAD BLOCK
Margaret’s Farm
Mto Wa Mbu, Monduli, Tanzania

PIT STOP
Lake Manyara
Tanzania

DEPARTURE
Simba Campsite
Ngorongoro, Tanzania

Rachel & Dave 6:03am
Bopper & Mark 6:05am
Art & JJ 6:23am
Brendon & Rachel 6:48am
Vanessa & Ralph 7:18am
Nary & Jamie 9:21am

WATER SUPPLY µ µ	AIR SUPPLY µ µ
In order of completion > or < indicates team switched Detours.

Who did the Road Block?
To bee or not to bee?
In order of completion; Italics indicate who did the Road Block

3 Bopper Mark 4
3 Rachel Dave 3
3 Art JJ 3
3 Brendon Rachel 4
3 Vanessa Ralph 4
4 Nary Jamie 2

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

PIT STOP
Lake Manyara
Tanzania

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

	Brendon & Rachel – Yet another solid leg from them. They were able to get through the U-Turn with minimal frustration and they are at least staying put in their 4th place slot. They’ll need to step it up though so they can at win at least one leg. They’ve been performing tasks well, they just need that extra little bit of luck and that extra little bit of effort to finally bypass the dominant teams.
	Bopper & Mark – A great leg for them. Bopper’s bad knee was not a factor at all and they get a well deserved win. They’re continuing their strong Race performance and they continue enjoying every minute of it. I’m sure they’ve quickly become a favorite among many TAR fans.
	Nary & Jamie – Such a shame that they just never stepped up to the plate. They lacked that sense of urgency that teams need to get themselves out the bottom. They showed glimpses of greatness, but they never followed through. It’s too bad we have to lose one of the “nice” teams now. They did do a good job of catching up. But it wasn’t enough.
GAP
	Rachel & Dave – An okay leg for them. They get bonus points for not doing Art & JJ’s dirty work. And what’s good about them is while they’re guilty by association, they do focus on their own Race more than they do worrying about other teams’ private body parts and bullying others into doing what they want.
GAP
	Vanessa & Ralph – They may have quieted down on the pettiness, but they had a horribly sloppy leg. They couldn’t find their way out of a paper bag this leg. And that was without their big fights. Thanks to the Speed Bump, they survived. But they could have just as easily been the ones going home.
	Art & JJ – Moving on from Brenchel and Nary & Jamie, they go on to make more enemies with Rachel & Dave. They’ve been concentrating on so many other things than the Race at hand and that will prove to be their downfall if there’s any justice in the world.