Recap: The Amazing Race 31, Episode 3 – “Put your 35-year-old big girl panties on!”


Recap: The Amazing Race 31, Episode 3 – “Here Fishy, Fishy, Fishy”
The Amazing Race 30 Episode 3

After teams make plane and hotel reservations using the Travelocity app, they wait at the airport where Becca & Floyd have a peace offering for Tyler & Korey after U-Turning them. Rachel & Elissa also have a peace offering for Becca & Floyd, but they and Tyler & Korey just roll their eyes at them.

The Big Brother teams decide to make an alliance not to U-Turn each other.

The Amazing Race 30 Episode 3 The Amazing Race 30 Episode 3

Upon arrival in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, teams must make their way to the House of Vietnamese Medicine and pick up a pack of herbal medicine which has their next clue, the Detour: Reel It In or Light It Up.

In Reel It In, teams must head to Thanh Da Restaurant and catch eight prawns. In Light It Up, teams must learn and perform a dance routine with Asia’s Got Talent‘s 218 Dance Crew.

The Amazing Race 30 Episode 3 The Amazing Race 30 Episode 3

Colin & Christie, Becca & Floyd, Rachel & Elissa and Nicole & Victor arrive at Light It Up first while Tyler & Korey get to Reel It In. Corinne & Eliza, Chris & Bret, Corinne & Eliza and Janelle & Britney have taxi trouble.

Becca & Floyd’s performance gets the thumbs up after their 2nd attempt. They open the next clue to reveal the Road Block: Who’s ready to tune out?

For this Road Block, teams head to Kingdom Karaoke where they must learn a Vietnamese pop song and perform it.

Colin & Christie get the thumbs up after their 4th attempt, Nicole & Victor after their 8th attempt. Meanwhile, Corinne & Eliza arrive at the prawns and are able to catch enough faster than Tyler & Korey. After failing their first attempt at the dance, Chris & Bret decide to switch Detours.

The Amazing Race 30 Episode 3 The Amazing Race 30 Episode 3

Over at the Road Block, Floyd gets the thumbs up and he and Becca head to the Pit Stop at Ho Thi Ky to officially check in as Team #1. They win a trip to the Bahamas.

All the way back at the dancing, Rachel & Elissa pass on their 18th attempt, Janelle & Britney on their 6th attempt and Leo & Jamal on their 27th attempt.

Back to the karaoke, Victor and Colin are next to get the thumbs up. Nicole & Victor and Colin & Christie step on the Mat as Teams 2 and 3, respectively.

As Tyler and Eliza get through the karaoke, Janelle suggests she and Rachel work together to get through the Road Block. Leo & Jamal are the last team to arrive at Kingdom Karaoke.

The Amazing Race 30 Episode 3 The Amazing Race 30 Episode 3

Tyler & Korey finish as Team #4 while Corinne & Eliza take 5th. Janelle & Britney step on the Mat as Team #6. As they are talking with Phil, Janelle calls Rachel & Elissa over to the Mat. They are officially Team #7.

Leo & Jamal finish in 8th, leaving Chris & Bret and last on this Non-Elimination Leg.

The Amazing Race 30 Episode 3

Episode Thoughts

So this was a very interesting Leg. On one hand, it’s great to have a night Leg in Ho Chi Minh City. But on the other hand, the Leg felt very barebones, even more than the usual contemporary TAR Leg.

Actually, it felt very much like a last minute replacement Leg even. And the fact that there were two performance tasks back-to-back (dancing then singing) felt like this was a TARPHDME Leg or something with the repetitive and recycled tasks lol

Obviously, for any die-hard TAR fan out there, there was a lot of déjà vu on this Leg. First with the prawn task from The Amazing Race Asia 5 and then the karaoke task from The Amazing Race Canada 4. They’re not bad tasks on their own. But having only three (two if you count the two sides of the Detour as one) tasks and really only four Route Markers, it’s going to be a very strange leg.

What is most interesting is that it appears the teams spent an entire day in Luang Prabang between leaving the Pit Stop and flying out of Laos to Vietnam. So it must have really been a long travel day for the teams. Which could explain some of the teams complaining about exhaustion and being a little more testy and frustrated than we’ve seen them.

But even then, the Leg really needed a little more meat on it. There should’ve at least been another Route Marker between the Detour and Road Block. It would’ve been great to see traffic and taxis cause a little more drama, especially since this was a Non-Elimination Leg.

But again, the prawn side of the Detour was okay. But then we got the two performing tasks back-to-back. It really felt like this Leg was rushed and they had to just throw something together at the last minute. So they just borrowed from the most recent Ho Chi Minh City visits on other TARs.

I dunno. It was a strange Leg, but not the worst episode.

The best part was definitely the long-awaited moment of BB Legends Rachel and Janelle working together in a competition FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER! They’re good friends, but have never played Big Brother together. So seeing them finally doing so here on TAR is AMAZING!

My Subjective Team Rankings

The Amazing Race 31 Rachel & Elissa The Amazing Race 31 Janelle & Britney The Amazing Race 31 Colin & Christie The Amazing Race 31 Corinne & Eliza The Amazing Race 31 Chris & Bret The Amazing Race 31 Nicole & Victor The Amazing Race 31 Leo & Jamal The Amazing Race 31 Becca & Floyd The Amazing Race 31 Tyler & Korey

Rachel & Elissa were hilarious this episode! Lots of great one-liners and funny moments from them. This is definitely what I want to see more of!



Though I definitely hope they can have a better Leg, Race-wise next week.

Janelle & Britney, meanwhile, are not getting the airtime they deserve! The bonus clips CBS uploads to the TAR YouTube channel of them are hilarious and much more enjoyable than the nonsense that does make the episode from other teams that get TOO MUCH screentime.

Colin & Christie are certainly not the fiery couple we saw in TAR5. But they’re Racing very well. Corinne & Eliza were actually a little more subdued this Leg. Their best moment was definitely passing Tyler & Korey at the Detour.

Chris & Bret are probably the most underdeveloped characters on the show so far. Unless you watched them on Survivor (which I didn’t), you really wouldn’t know much about them. But they still seem likeable, though they haven’t been the strongest team. Nicole & Victor are definitely showing they are big contenders moving forward.

Leo & Jamal getting knocked down a peg was great to watch. Becca & Floyd were meh, especially as this simple Leg seemed perfectly designed for them. Though they certainly proved even more this Leg that U-Turning them was a good decision. And Tyler & Korey were as annoying as usual. Mugging for the camera is never enjoyable. Plus, Tyler & Korey used the U-Turn on Brodie & Kurt when they were in 1st place. So that little We’re not looking to U-Turn stuff at the beginning with Becca & Floyd was Ugh.

Episode Quotes

Rachel: “People are crazy! God bless!”

Britney: “We are ashamed of ourselves in many ways.”

Tyler: “Everyone should be dead.”

Elissa: “Pull it together. Put your 35-year-old big girl panties on.”
Rachel: “I’m not 35.”

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