Recap: The Amazing Race 3, Episode 2 – “This Seems Like The Path Straight To Hell!”

Recap: The Amazing Race 3, Episode 2 – “This Seems Like The Path Straight To Hell!”

To start the second Leg of the Race, teams must drive themselves to Teotihuacan and walk up the 248 steps of the Pyramid of the Sun to find their next clue. They have US$360 for this Leg.

Ken & Gerard, leaving first, say they’ve named themselves Team Oh Brother as in “Oh brother! There they go again passing us.”

Flo & Zach, meanwhile, wait for Aaron & Arianne who are a few minutes behind them so they can work together to get to Teotihuacan. Aaron & Arianne see the sexual tension between Flo & Zach and wonder why they haven’t “just done it.”

Michael & Kathy and John Vito & Jill also decide to work together as they too leave minutes apart. But they manage to catch up to Flo & Zach and Aaron & Arianne.

Andre & Damon arrived 7th in the last Leg, but Dennis & Andrew and Teri & Ian leave before them as the cop & fireman did not follow the map in the donkey Detour. They are penalized 48 minutes for the time gained and the standard 30-minute penalty. Not only that, they have also overslept.

Aaron & Arianne talk about teams possibly working together to get Derek & Drew, whom they call the “doublemint twins,” out of the Race.

Derek & Drew, leaving the Pit Stop last, decide to go for the Fast Forward. For this Fast Forward, they must fly with the Voladores at the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City.

Meanwhile, the leading four couples get lost. That allows Heather & Eve to arrive at Teotihuacan in 2nd despite leaving the Pit Stop 6th.

Those six teams are able to enter Teotihuacan at the 7am opening and they open the next clue telling them to hop on a bus to Cancun.

Teri & Ian and Dennis & Andrew are surprised to find Andre & Damon, who had a local accompany them to Teotihuacan, are already leaving when they arrive.

At the bus station, the first six teams get on the first bus leaving at 10am. On the second 1:30pm bus are Andre & Damon, Teri & Ian, Dennis & Andrew, Tramel & Talicia and the Fast Forward-holding Doublemint Twins.

In the middle of the night, a car crashes into the second bus, pushing them further behind when they have to wait for a replacement bus.

After the 24-hour bus ride and upon arrival in Cancun, teams head to the San Marino Marina.

Aaron & Arianne hop into the first taxi and Arianne decides to change into her bathing suit in the taxi.

At the marina, teams find the Detour: Man Power or Horse Power. In Man Power, teams will use a kayak to search a specific area in the water for their next clue. In Horse Power, teams will use a wave runner to search a different, larger area for the clue.

Aaron & Arianne, Flo & Zach and Heather & Eve choose the jetskis while Ken & Gerard, Michael & Kathy and John Vito & Jill choose the kayaks.

Flo & Zach are in the lead and must now park their watercrafts at Las Velas Beach Club where they will choose a jeep to drive to a ferry that they must take to Cozumel.

John Vito & Jill decide to switch to the jetskis and are able to find the clue faster.

All the teams except for Ken & Gerard make the 1pm ferry.

Meanwhile, the second bus finally arrives in Cancun. While Derek & Drew head to the Pit Stop, the other teams arrive at the Detour and all choose the jetskis.

Tramel & Talicia ad Teri & Ian have a little trouble staying on their jetskis. But they eventually find the clue.

Over in Cozumel, teams must make their way to Chankanaab Park where they find the Road Block: Who’s ready for the swim of a lifetime?

For this Road Block, teams will put on goggles and swim with dolphins in a lagoon to find their next clue.

Performing the Road Block first are Arianne, Zach, Heather and Michael who says he does not know how to swim.

Arianne finds the clue first which tells them to head to the Pit Stop at the Diamante K Bungalows in Tulum.

As Ken and John Vito start the Road Block, Flo & Zach are already back at their jeep when they run into Andre & Damon. Flo & Zach realize they are a full two hours ahead at this point.

Andre & Damon, Teri & Ian and Dennis & Andrew make the next ferry. Tramel & Talicia are fully in last.

Derek and Drew argue on their way to the Pit Stop and are now fearing their Fast Forward could mean nothing if they can’t get to the Mat in time. But they do and they claim their first-place finish.

Aaron & Arianne, Heather & Eve and Michael & Kathy finish as Teams 2 through 4, respectively. Flo & Zach take 5th with Ken & Gerard in 6th and John Vito & Jill in 7th.

Damon, Ian and Andrew take on the Road Block and they hurry to the Pit Stop.

Darkness has already fallen when Tramel swims in the lagoon.

Andre & Damon finish as Team #8, Dennis & Andrew are 9th and Teri & Ian are 10th.

That means Tramel & Talicia are last and eliminated.

Episode Highlights

https://twitter.com/dryedmangoez/status/1299409160140922882

Episode Thoughts

So this is a classic early season Leg. Lots of traveling. Legs lasting more than a day! No equalizers. It’s definitely a different time. There’s pros and cons to it. The pros are that the show still had a budget back then and teams got to experience a lot more. The con though is the stifled competition when teams are so far apart from each other. A tighter Leg can have teams side-by-side and neck and neck which can make for a more exciting episode.

But still, it was a solid episode with a lot of fun. And interestingly, every team got their chance in the spotlight too which is surprising! You definitely don’t see that anymore these days.

It’s so interesting to watch the older seasons to see the originally typical “Eat, sleep and mingle with the other teams” Pit Stops. These days, TAR likes to sequester teams during the Pit Stop. If I remember correctly, it might have started during season 13 with the whole “sports bra off the ledge” drama during one Pit Stop. Lol Since then TAR wants to get all the drama on camera since they need to fill episodes with something when the tasks are horrible and unexciting.

ANYWAY!……

Getting teams to Teotihuacan was a no-brainer. Obviously an iconic location. And it would be crazy if they didn’t squeeze it in somewhere. Having a task there would’ve been nice though. But there were a lot of miles on this Leg, so they just inserted that quick stop. And driving to it too was great.

TAR3 still had Fast Forwards on every Leg. And this was also when the Fast Forward didn’t necessarily guarantee first place. This Leg was so long, it’s really crazy how sometimes a Fast Forward really needed thought about when it was most advantageous to go for it.

The Fast Forward task here was good and could’ve been a great Road Block as well.

We didn’t get to a Detour until halfway into this episode! The Detour was fine. It’s the kind of simple task that can trip up teams. And with 11 teams still in it, there’s plenty that could’ve gone wrong. As we saw with Teri & Ian and Tramel & Talicia. The Detour was given an appropriate amount of time in the episode.

The Road Block was similar to the Detour though. Lots of water enjoyment this Leg. Which makes sense for a Cancun Leg, I guess.

But most of this Leg was really about the long travel times and distance.

Again, I’m not a fan of having teams falling so far behind because of buses or trains like that. Perhaps it’s the contemporary Leg design that makes me think that way. But looking back, I can see how competition could’ve been much more exciting and maybe even cutthroat and competitive if all teams were closer together.

Still, a good episode with lots of fun moments from each of the teams.

My Subjective Team Rankings

Not much movement on the rankings for me this week other than Aaron & Arianne zooming up. Which is very surprising for me since I remember definitely not liking them at all during the season. But I’m older now. And in hindsight, their cattiness and snark is actually hilarious to me. And having that bit of levity amidst already some brewing heated competition is a good balance.

Teri & Ian stay atop my list this week. I remember wondering why they had so much trouble with the jetskis considering in the opening credits, they’re on the water in Florida. lol They should be very experienced with watercrafts.

Ken & Gerard definitely showed the wittiness and fun they would come to be known for in this episode. They had plenty of hilarious one-liners. And I was surprised to hear it was them who came up with the “Oh Brother” name. I totally forgot that.

John Vito & Jill aka Rambo and Rambette definitely fit the bill as the all-business, competitive dating team. But the difference with other dating teams is that Team JVJ had very likeable and down to earth personalities. They actually weren’t some super serious team. So I think that’s why they were one of my favorites.

I definitely forgot about Michael’s very laidback personality. Michael & Kathy can be very quiet at times. But when they step out into the spotlight, they deliver unexpectedly funny moments. Their contrasting personalities definitely could’ve been fun to watch for a longer period of time on the Race.

Watching these two episodes for the first time in a while and being more observant, I’ve really come to appreciate Tramel & Talicia. They could’ve been such a fun team. They had the kind of fun, positive personalities that you enjoy to watch on the Race. It’s too bad the Leg design didn’t do them any favors. But they did make a good impression in these two Legs.

Heather & Eve had a great Leg and I think they really could’ve made a strong run. (Emphasis on “run”… skip, jump, walk… *giggle*) They definitely showed some good Racing these two Legs.

Flo & Zach continue to have that fire bubbling up. It’s really hard to believe what was to come from them if you just watched this episode for the first time. But when you watch knowing what’s ahead, you can definitely see the embers starting to catch fire. lol

This is definitely the start of Derek & Drew‘s Wonder Twins domination. After a terrible first Leg, this Fast Forward definitely energized them and recalibrated them I think. It’s easy to see how a win here reignited their fire and helped them overcome that first Leg.

Quieter Leg for both Dennis & Andrew and Andre & Damon. And that’s despite them being in the back of the pack the entire Leg. They were never really in danger of getting eliminated, so the spotlight definitely turned to the other teams this episode.

Episode Quotes

Michael: “My driving skills are way above these fools.”

Aaron: “They’re just too damn pretty.”

Arianne: “This seems like the path straight to hell.”

Gerard: “Rambette and The Rock are ahead of us.”

Ken: “Can we get bigger vests here, for God’s sakes. Big vests. Big vests for fat guys. Muy grande.”

Ken: “I felt like the Queen of the Nile on the back of the kayak.”

Talicia: “This is just a comedy of errors.”
Tramel: “I know. At least I get to pee, though.”

Aaron: “They’re an Abercrombie & Fitch campaign gone wrong!”