Recap: The Amazing Race 30, Episode 3 – “I’m so sorry you’re dead.”


Recap: The Amazing Race 30, Episode 3 – “It’s Gonna Be a Fragrant Day”

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Teams fly to Tangier, Morocco where they must sort and neatly arrange fish at the first port to receive their next clue.

Cody and Evan use their Arabic skills on the way to the fish port. While everyone else gets there easily, Kristi & Jen are lost and end up going the rest of the way on foot. They arrive last, but are able to leave 8th, pushing Alex & Conor to last.

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After the fish, teams must make their way on foot to Kisaate Jbala Souk. They must greet the merchant with “As-salam Alaykum” so he can hand over a Travelocity Roaming Gnome.

Henry & Evan arrive at the merchant first and open the next clue revealing a Road Block: Who’s ready to rock the kasbah?

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For this Road Block, teams must join the Travelocity Roaming Gnome on a mission as he ziplines across the rooftops of the medina. Teams, however, need to follow him on foot only and bring him to two ziplines.

Henry, Jessica, Trevor and Conor work together, but Cedric manages to pass them to the 2nd zipline. Jen and Brittany manage to catch up to the rest of the pack as well.

Cedric keeps his lead and must now find a telephone at Tele Boutique where he will receive a secret message (“Sabah al-khair” or “Good morning.”) that he must relay to the shopkeeper before returning to his partner.

But that lead doesn’t last for long as the other teams get to the phone first.

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Henry finishes the Road Block first and reunites with Evan. They open the clue to reveal the Detour: Drop It Off or Shake It Off.
In Drop It Off, teams must pick up oranges, squash and chickens and deliver them to different stalls where they will receive stamped receipts revealing the Pit Stop location. In Shake It Off, teams must belly dance around the tables looking for three words that reveal the Pit Stop.

While the twins choose Drop It Off, Henry & Evan, Kristi & Jen and Alex & Conor choose Shake It Off.

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At the back of the pack, Jessica holds on to Brittany’s Gnome while she makes the phone call. But Brittany leaves without taking her Gnome and Jessica decides not to tell her because she knows they are last.

Brittany realizes she forgot her Gnome and hurries back, calling for Jessica. She doesn’t want to think Jessica did it on purpose. Cedric gets lost on the way back to Shawn, even though he just passed the entrance.

Over at the Detour, Henry & Evan quickly find the words and reveal the Pit Stop location is Moulay Hafid Palace. They officially step on the Mat as Team #1 and win a trip to Zurich, Switzerland. Alex & Conor are right behind them as Team #2. Kristi & Jen are close behind as Team #3 with Trevor & Chris taking 4th.

Cody & Jessica finish 5th and Joey & Tim are 6th.

It’s a three-way Race for last. Eric & Daniel finish 7th, Lucas & Brittany are 8th. That means Cedric & Shawn are last. But this is a Non-Elimination Leg.

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Episode Thoughts

Well this was 10x better than the first two Legs. No question. An excellent Leg perfect for a Non-Elimination as well. Certainly much different than the most recent Morocco Legs (TAR25). But just as exciting and fun. This is how The Amazing Race is supposed to be. No need for extra twists. Just a well-designed, physical Leg with great competition.

We start off with the fish Route Marker which was fine. It was a good first thing in the morning task. Simple, straightforward. But it set up all the walking this Leg. And that’s most important.

The Road Block was pretty great. It of course added to the Leg’s walking and it was just a physical, tedious task. A creative task at that. Very refreshing to have a new task on the Race.

The Detour was much more familiar and straightforward. A simple delivery task vs a searching task.

But really, the Leg’s main attraction was seeing teams Racing side-by-side, on foot, through the medina of Tangier. Teams getting lost, moving up and down the placements. It was excellent and I hope the rest of the season comes close to matching this. (Though next week’s Head-to-Head might throw a wrench into that wish.) Also nice to not see teams giving each other answers like candy.

Elsewhere, there was another quality control issue this week:

Reminds me of this insanity from TARPH2’s first week:

Anyway, overall this was an excellent episode and Leg. Maybe my expectations were too low, but I really enjoyed this one.

My Subjective Team Rankings

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Imagine that, a much better Leg and episode and we get much better insight into the teams.

It was a close Leg, but Henry & Evan did just enough to get themselves to the front. They showed they can handle physical tasks. Kristi & Jen also recovered from a poor Leg last week and looked like the team that won the first Leg. Alex & Conor look to be a solid team that could go far.

A few more Legs and Brittany might just redirect her snippyness from Lucas to other teams, maybe Jessica. And organic rivalries on the show (read: not forced or made-up rivalries by the show) are good and fun.[/Rachel] I hope we get a mini-confrontation next week about the Gnome! lol

Joey & Tim, Eric & Daniel, Trevor & Chris and Cedric & Shawn are all okay so far. Nothing that stands out from most of them. But Cedric & Shawn definitely need to step it up. They’ve been lagging behind the first three Legs.

2 thoughts on “Recap: The Amazing Race 30, Episode 3 – “I’m so sorry you’re dead.”

  1. This episode absolutely killed it. Really good, much better than before, with a leg where I genuinely felt like Cedric was going to pass out. Somehow, he went from like 5th, to first, then walked past his partner (Who even shouted his name, which I thought was against the rules?) and came down in last. Then they decided to do the really physical task that was always going to take longer than the other task. Weird.

    I think the detours this season have been really one sided. So far we’ve had a printing press and assessing a diamond, towing food across a busy city up hills against finding some names. Both seem really obviously easier on one side. Maybe I’m harsh.

    Again on Penalties, how did Jessica not get a penalty? I know she didn’t go miles away with the gnome, or hide it, but I thought you couldn’t play with other team’s objects like that?

    I’m really liking the debators, and Kirsty and Jen to win.

    1. I’m certainly not really a fan of Cody and Jessica, but I think it was just an honest mistake. Just the way it was edited, seemed like she had set her Gnome down and then offered to hold Brittany’s who then forgot to get it back before leaving. The one she held on to probably was Brittany’s but didn’t remember either.

      Usually, the penalty is when you mess with personal belongings like backpacks. I think it might have been season 9 though when a team might have gotten a penalty for messing with another team’s tools at a task or something.

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