Recap: The Amazing Race 30, Episode 8 – “Don’t worry about looking like an ass.”


Recap: The Amazing Race 30, Episode 8 – All’s Fair in Love and War (Hour 2)

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Teams are on their way back to Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare and Khan Fabrics and Haberdashery.

There, Lucas & Brittany and Alex & Conor find the Double U-Turn. Lucas & Brittany decide to U-Turn Cody & Jessica while Alex & Conor choose Henry & Evan.

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They then open the next clue revealing the Detour: Handle with Care or Just Get It There. In Handle with Care, teams must pick up seven packages and deliver them to the businesses in the Eastgate Mall in exchange for outgoing mail. In Just Get It There, teams must deliver two used tires by rolling them to a truck.

Alex & Conor are first at the tires and they get started rolling their tires through the market. Kristi & Jen and Lucas & Brittany also choose tires. They decide to work together. Henry & Evan are next to arrive at the tires while Cody & Jessica start at the mall with Eric & Daniel arriving last.

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Kristi & Jen and Lucas & Brittany deliver their tires first and can now make their way to Harare Gardens. On the way back Kristi & Jen run into Henry & Evan. Jen decides to point them in the right direction much to Kristi’s annoyance. Alex & Conor, meanwhile, get lost looking for the truck.

Henry & Evan arrive at the mall and get a little help from Eric & Daniel.

Over at Harare Gardens, Kristi & Jen find teams must learn a popular local song and perform it in front of the audience. Lucas & Brittany are close behind.

Cody & Jessica arrive at the tires and stop Alex & Conor to get help from them.

Fast forward to Harare Gardens and all the teams have arrived. Some teams have already had multiple attempts. And on their 5th attempt, Lucas & Brittany’s performance get the thumbs up.

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Teams can now make their way to the First Street Pedestrian Mall, the Pit Stop for this Leg. Lucas & Brittany step on the Mat and are Team #1, winning a trip to Saint Lucia.

Kristi & Jen are on their 6th attempt and finally find the right pace to get the thumbs up. They head to the Mat as Team #2.

Alex & Conor pass on their 3rd attempt and finish the Leg as Team #3. Henry & Evan pass their 2nd attempt and step on the Mat as Team #4.

Cody & Jessica are on their 3rd attempt after Cody gets frustrated and refuses to rehearse. A kiss from Jessica gets him focused and they get the thumbs up. They head to the Mat as Team #5.

That means Eric & Daniel, on their 3rd attempt, are last and eliminated.

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Episode Thoughts

Certainly a fuller and better Leg than the previous one. It still lacked a Road Block though and could’ve really put this episode over the top.

Still, it was a solid Leg. I mentioned how I think a pre-Detour U-Turn should come after one Route Marker so teams have a chance to reposition themselves on the Leg before coming to the board. Instead, since the last Leg was Keep Racing, it basically carried over from there. At the very least the (only!) other task on the Leg after wasn’t the easiest.

The Detour itself was fine. Getting teams out there in the heat and with physical tasks is always great. Especially after having just Raced through a whole other Leg done another Detour earlier in the morning. The mall looked stunning. I don’t think the footage in the episode really did it justice. Both tasks though are good for the physical aspects.

I do think teams probably could’ve done the delivery Detour more logically by finding out where everything was before just carrying them out. Unless the rules stated otherwise. But there was certainly a more efficient way of doing it I think.

The dancing and singing task is great as it gets teams out with the locals and obviously very immersed in local culture. There’s always a subjective nature to these kinds of tasks. And if I were judging these teams, I wouldn’t have given any of them a pass based on what we saw in the episode. lol Their pronunciation was completely different from the singer on stage and their instructors. And most, if not all, teams were completely out of rhythm. I don’t even know. Lol

I definitely think there should’ve been a Road Block on this Leg. Preferably at the end of the Leg after the performance. Maybe even in the same area so teams remain on foot. It also negates the predictable aspect of a first come, first served task at the end of a Leg. But oh well.

Overall, a pretty good episode with great tasks. But definitely had potential to be really amazing.

My Subjective Team Rankings

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I’m actually pretty sad Eric & Daniel were eliminated. They’ve really stepped it up in recent Legs and looked to be on track. They might have survived if there were another task after. Though they really didn’t look all that great at the performance. lol

Henry & Evan did well to overcome the U-Turn. Lucas & Brittany have really stepped it up and are proving to be a strong contender for the Final Leg. Alex & Conor are still the bickering couple of the Race and are really in the middle right now.

Kristi & Jen had an okay Leg. Though Kristi certainly had a little trouble at the performance. Cody & Jessica survive another Leg. But Cody’s attitude at the performance was exactly what I imagine during Big Brother last season when I read all the tweets about him and his personality. Jessica is definitely the more competitive of the two and obviously the more positive one.

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