Recap: The Amazing Race 3, Episode 5 – “What Happens If I Slip? Am I Just Hanging Off A Cliff?”

Recap: The Amazing Race 3, Episode 5 – “What Happens If I Slip? Am I Just Hanging Off A Cliff?”

With $500 in hand, teams begin the 5th Leg of the Race by figuring out where is the westernmost point of Continental Europe is: Cabo da Roca. With all teams departing during the 2pm hour, they choose between train or taxi to get to Cabo da Roca.

Andre & Damon decide to follow the Brotherhood, believing the best strategy is to always stick with the pack. Not even knowing where the Brotherhood was going, Team 911 follow them all the way to the train station. Andre offers Gerard 30 euros to not ditch them and just help them get to the next destination.

After Ken & Gerard and Derek & Drew have a little pow wow, they decide to welcome Andre & Damon into The Brotherhood for now since they’ll be following anyway. And with the hope that they’ll repay them in the future.

Aaron & Arianne, who were last to leave the Pit Stop, arrive at Cabo da Roca first, having taken a taxi. And here, they find the Detour. Teams will need to decide how to reach the Route Marker by the Atlantic Ocean: Ropes or Slopes.

In Ropes, teams will rappel down a 300-ft cliff. In Slopes, teams will hike down a physically demanding trail.

Aaron & Arianne choose Ropes and can’t believe they are the first ones to arrive. Having also taken a taxi, John Vito & Jill are next and also choose the rappel.

Flo & Zach, who took a train, arrive and Zach wants them to rappel, but Flo is not sure.

Taxi passengers Michael & Kathy and Teri & Ian arrive next and quickly choose Ropes. While the train-riding Brotherhood bring up the rear.

Flo begins her descent down the cliff, already freaking out. Michael, going down the line next to her, tries to comfort her. But she decides to give up and gets pulled back up.

Flo & Zach decide to walk, the only team to do so.

After the Detour, teams must now drive themselves 250 miles to the port of Algeciras, Spain in order to catch a ferry to Tangier, Morocco.

Night falls as team make their long drive and see they need to fill up their tanks with gas. While some teams see the tank marked with “Diesel,” Aaron & Arianne, Michael & Kathy, Teri & Ian and Flo & Zach mistakenly fill up with Unleaded.

Aaron & Arianne are the first to experience trouble with their car when it just suddenly stops. Michael & Kathy are able to pull in to a parking lot when their car stalls. Flo & Zach have to pull over to the side of the road.

Teri & Ian’s car shuts off and Teri wonders if they put the correct kind of fuel in. Teri goes to check the fuel tank, as does Zach, and they realize their mistake.

All four teams believe their Race is over at this point. Aaron cries out of embarrassment while Flo wants to just give up, again, for fear of exploding in the car.

Teri & Ian and Flo & Zach decide to walk to nearby gas stations. Flo & Zach get their car towed to a mechanic while Ian drains the unleaded gas himself.

When their car is fixed, Flo is excited again and is grateful for Zach’s positivity.

After having conquered his fears earlier at the Detour, Michael is now very upset, much to Kathy’s surprise, at their predicament. They head inside the nearby hotel where they will spend the night until they can have the car towed to a mechanic in the morning.

Derek & Drew, who left Cabo da Roca in last, actually pass Aaron & Arianne on the road. The best friends end up getting help from a police officer who helps them call the insurance.

The leading teams, who did not put unleaded in their cars, are able to hop on the 7am ferry. Flo & Zach and Teri & Ian manage to make the 8am ferry,

Upon arrival in Tangier, the next clue awaits them at the dock and it directs them to Viajes Flandria travel agency where they will sign up for charter buses departing one hour apart. Each bus only has room for three teams.

The Brotherhood all make it on the first charter bus departing at 10:15am for the city of Fez where they will be dropped off in the Old City. John Vito & Jill are joined on the second bus by Flo & Zach and Teri & Ian.

In Fez, teams will find the Road Block.

For this Road Block, teams will search for a tannery where they must search for their next clue in the vats of dye. Clues are only hidden in three of the many vats.

Gerard starts first and easily finds a clue. He and Ken can now drive themselves to the Pit Stop, the Borj Nord. They check in as Team #1 and win a pair of Kodak Easy Share Digital Cameras!

Andre & Damon finish 2nd with Derek & Drew in 3rd. John Vito & Jill and Flo & Zach step on the Mat together to share 4th place. Teri & Ian finish as Team #6.

With Michael & Kathy so far behind, Aaron & Arianne manage to finish as Team #7.

It’s already nighttime when Michael & Kathy check in at the Pit Stop and are eliminated.

Episode Highlights

Recap: The #AmazingRace 3, Episode 5 – “What Happens If I Slip? Am I Just Hanging Off A Cliff?” – https://t.co/9gKvTnGr1k pic.twitter.com/xg3tFXH4jk

— DryedMangoez (@dryedmangoez) September 18, 2020

Episode Thoughts

My goodness this Leg design. Is this rewatch going to change my opinion on how amazing season 3 really is?

Uhh… NO! lolol

But really though, they could have easily had one great Leg using the tasks from Lisbon last week and the Cabo da Roca Detour this week. Perhaps have the Detour first then finish with the Road Block and Pit Stop at the Torre de Belem.

Then they could’ve had a Tangier-Fez Leg. Though it’s a four-hour drive between the two cities. Having teams drive in Morocco could’ve also added another Dieselgate and allowed any teams caught up in it on the drive to Algeciras to catch up. Even with the charter buses too.

Across these first five episodes, it’s like they cut up the Legs in the wrong places. It’s a little frustrating.

It didn’t matter what teams did at the Detour because again, there was an equalizer in the middle of the Leg. Even without Dieselgate, the huge jump in the middle of the Leg really negates this (excellent) first half of the Leg. Your Detour choice ends up not being consequential at all.

TAR25’s tannery Road Block was obviously much better than this one. But the luck task coming as the only task between a four-hour charter bus and the Pit Stop? Not very exciting. And that’s exactly why they didn’t even spend four minutes on it at the end of the episode.

I wonder what the episode would’ve been filled with had Dieselgate not happened. It’s so strange!

I get it though. TAR really liked flexing its #travelgoals in the earlier seasons. And I just blindly love TAR3 that I will excuse all of this. Lol But seriously, imagine a tighter Race course and Leg design, TAR3 would’ve had incredible Legs.

But I also acknowledge that we’d probably get a completely different boot order too. And honestly, the elimination order for TAR3 is pretty solid. So I wouldn’t want to mess with that. Haha.

I’m starting to realize perhaps TAR3 is so amazing only because of its teams and how they managed to stir up some fierce rivalries and competition in spite of the poor Leg design. It has great tasks, but the Legs have just been so odd. It’s a great thing that the teams are such big personalities.

My Subjective Team Rankings

I’ll have to go back and check, but I think Teri & Ian have been in every single one of Phil’s teaser questions at the start of each episode. Legends only! lol This was definitely a fun Leg for them. They were one of the Dieselgate teams, but they quickly figured out what went wrong AND fixed it themselves! So awesome!

Ken & Gerard and Derek & Drew, the Brotherhood, definitely owned this Leg. Their quick ascent to the top has begun and they’d be a very strong force. Which only makes the eventual moment later on in the season that much more insane and impactful! *giggle*

It’s sad Michael & Kathy were unable to quickly get their car fixed. Their Race ended as soon as they checked into the hotel, unfortunately. This would’ve been a great Leg for them especially with Michael finally choosing the not-safe Detour.

John Vito & Jill were a little quiet this Leg. But the show was definitely setting up their good guys storyline.

This was definitely the start of Flo & Zach‘s tumultuous Race to the Finish Line. This is the Flo we would come to know and love to hate to love for the rest of the Race. And this was really pretty tame of course, compared to what’s coming up!

On the other hand, I think the start of Aaron & Arianne‘s downfall was their close call last week. After such a strong start, they really hang on by a thread their final Legs. And this episode, I think, just sealed their fate already. Especially with TAR3’s odd Leg design.

I definitely remember Andre & Damon tagging along with Ken & Gerard and Derek & Drew for a couple of Legs. And I remember them offering money to just follow. But I definitely did not remember that it started exactly like this. That is, Andrew & Damon literally just following them and not even asking to work together or even knowing where in the world they were going. That’s pretty crazy. And considering they were doing alright so far, the fact that their strategy was to just follow others is really not a good way to win anything, let alone the Race.

Episode Quotes

Ian: “You’re unzipped! You’re unzipped!”
Teri: “Then zip it!”

Gerard: “Just pretend there’s a dozen glazed donuts at the bottom!”