Recap: The Amazing Race 32, Episode 3 – “I didn’t realize that drama was happening.”

Recap: The Amazing Race 32, Episode 3 – We’re Makin’ Big Moves

Teams must use the Travelocity app to book flights to Manaus, Brazil. All teams will be on the same flight armed with $285 for this Leg.

On the way to the airport, Will & James discuss wanting to U-Turn Leo & Alana after learning of their maneuvering in trying to get strong teams out of the Race. At the airport, Will & James form an alliance with Riley & Maddison and decide on bringing in DeAngelo & Gary, Hung & Chee and Eswar & Aparna to get each other to the end.

Upon arrival in Manaus, teams must make their way to the Mercado Municipal Adolpho Lisboa.

Eswar & Aparna are in the lead when they find the next clue telling teams to purchase 11 items on a Portuguese list from the market. The Big Five alliance work together to help each other with the items.

Michelle & Victoria get pointed in the wrong way and Jerry & Frank follow them all the way to a ferry until they both realize the market is back up the hill.

Teams must take their items to the dock manager who will hand them the next clue. Teams will now make their way to Dessana Village by boat. Chief Pinon will help them retrieve their next clue with a blowgun.

Riley & Maddison and Eswar & Aparna have to go back to the market to buy gloves. Will & James read their clue and see that they need to keep all their items until further notice. Other teams, however, do not take their items and just run off to find the waiting boats.

Will & James look over their items to make sure they have everything. But they don’t. They have to return to the dock manager to find their missing items. Meanwhile, the other teams are running around trying to find the boats and end up realizing (by seeing the others) that you need to bring your items with you.

Some teams are missing a few of their things since they had just dumped all their stuff on the beach. They need to go buy new ones. Eswar & Aparna help Jerry & Frank figure out what they need. Michelle & Victoria, however, leave their items. DeAngelo & Frank make sure not to tell them until they are 15-20 minutes in the water. That forces Michelle & Victoria to have to go all the way back.

Arriving at Dessana Village, teams encounter the Detour: Shelter from Trees or Well Done Please. In Shelter from Trees, teams must build a section of roof. In Well Done Please, teams must use the items they bought to prepare a traditional meal.

Riley & Maddison, Eswar & Aparna, DeAngelo & Gary choose the roofing. Will & James. Kaylynn & Hayley, Hung & Chee, Leo & Alana choose the cooking.

Riley & Maddison see DeAngelo & Gary are doing their roof wrong so they help them.

Back at the dock, Jerry & Frank see the other teams running up with their bags and realize they have to head back.

James & Will finish the meal and can now look for the U-Turn on the beach. They decide to U-Turn Leo & Alana.

James & Will make their way to Barco Correa Filho, the Pit Stop for this Leg where they check in as Team #1 and win a Travelocity trip to Bali. Hung & Chee finish as Team #2.

Kaylynn & Haley get to the U-Turn and decide to U-Turn Jerry & Frank to save their friends Leo & Alana. The sisters check in at the Mat as Team #3. Riley & Maddison are 4th with DeAngelo & Gary in 5th.

Michelle & Victoria check in at the U-Turn, but miss the clue basket. They go running down the beach and then have to go back.

Eswar & Aparna take 6th. After 34 minutes, Michelle & Victoria finally find the basket and head to the Pit Stop as Team #7.

It’s down to the final two teams. But with Jerry & Frank needing to complete the other Detour, that allows Leo & Alana to check in as Team #8.

That means Jerry & Frank are last and eliminated.

Episode Thoughts

One word to describe this week’s episode of The Amazing Race: CHAOS!

I don’t know of a more chaotic episode of TAR in a long time. And it was mostly fun and exciting to watch. I say mostly because my favorite team the Asian Cajuns were in a little bit of trouble because of the chaos. Lol So if Michelle & Victoria had been eliminated, I’d have a lot of different things to say about this episode and Leg! But they’re safe, so I’m not as upset. Lol

Anyway, this Leg was really just a tale of two halves. The first half was the very TARPHDME task of buying things at a local market. The second half was the Detour. But the little bit of chaos with teams not reading their clue and the HUGE alliance that formed really made the Leg and episode.

It’s a great first visit to the Amazon, but we didn’t really get much of the travel pron aspect of the adventure since the episode was focused on teams not following the cardinal rule of The Amazing Race. A wonderful visit with the Dessana peoples. But this episode was really all about the drama. (That Hung apparently had no idea about lol)

Like I mentioned, the market task is a very TARPHDME task. That is, it’s an easy stock TAR task that you can insert on any Leg anywhere in the world when you can’t think of anything else. Giving teams a list of items in the local language/dialect and setting them free in the market is an easy and simple way to get teams flustered while also getting them to interact with the locals. Which is always a great thing.

It’s a wonder though how teams did not actually get all the things on their lists. And this was before they realized they had to collect their stuff and bring it along with them. Teams had actually missed a few items on their lists. And considering teams can take note of what they bought, it’s very interesting to see a couple of teams needing to go back.

Then you add the chaos when teams realized (thanks to seeing other teams) they had to bring their items along with them. So it was a frantic sequence that was made possible by having nine teams going crazy side-by-side. This is the kind of task and situation that you want on an early Leg, not a later Leg. Which is why tasks like these, which are usually found on Asian Legs, need to take place earlier in the Race with more teams. You are not going to get the same level of chaos and frantic-ness with just four teams. (That’s why I will always push for westward routes that start in Asia.)

It was so chaotic that the crew was visible multiple times. And that’s the way it should be. TAR shouldn’t be afraid to show cameramen or sound technicians in the shot as long as it shows a full picture of what is going on. Thankfully, the show has eased up on trying to hide the crew in shots.

The interesting aspect about this though is that the clue told teams to keep things until further notice. But I will assume that teams could conceivably still finish the Leg and without penalty even if they didn’t bring their bag o’ stuffs with them. That is, Michelle & Victoria and Jerry & Frank could’ve just done the roof building Detour instead of the cooking. Yes? I don’t think they needed anything from their purchases to build the roof.

So a team could’ve realized they left their things as late as the Detour, but would merely only have one choice at the Detour. The only thing would be if the team was U-Turned, then they’d be screwed if they didn’t bring their ingredients. Interesting dilemma.

Now that I think about it, that’s also very TARPHDME too. Keeping things until further notice with the hopes that a team or two will NOT keep things until further notice and end up getting screwed. Lol

Some nitpicks about the edit though. The teams were obviously neck and neck most of the Leg. But things got a little screwy towards the end. Eswar & Aparna, for example, had spent a very long time with the roof. But Leo & Alana, who had just completed the cooking Detour, was almost done with their roof while Eswar & Aparna was still looking for the U-Turn and clue basket? Uh… yeah. I don’t think so. Especially when Michelle & Victora apparently wandered the beach for 30 minutes and still finished 7th. Just an awkward sense of time here which is something that’s been a problem for TAR the last couple of years.

Anyway, this Leg was really just two tasks. But the teams really delivered with the chaos and drama and that made for the most exciting episode so far this season.

My Subjective Team Rankings

So first of all, alliances. I am not a fan of big alliances on the Race. The Amazing Race isn’t really a team sport. That is, it’s just you and your partner controlling your destiny. Alliances can be okay when not taken to an extreme. (See: The Amazing Race Philippines 2) That is, I don’t want to see alliance members giving each other answers or completing things for each other. Like, in such a way that a team does less work than another team. I’m not for such shortcuts like that.

That’s not to say we saw any of that this week. But having large alliances definitely worries me. It’s not fun to watch at all. Especially when they may end up dominating the Race. Let’s hope that won’t be the case.

Working together and helping each other from time to time is alright. Scheming about overly strategic things, nope. Apply for Survivor or Big Brother instead. Anyway…

After being almost invisible last week, it’s great to see more screentime for Michelle & Victoria. But at the same time, I’d prefer if it wasn’t them in danger of elimination! lol I love their energy and their fun personalities. But they definitely needed to just take a breath a few times this Leg in order to focus. Hope to see them get back on track next Leg.

Hung & Chee are just a force to be reckoned with. They look unstoppable. I’m definitely still rooting for them. But if they do become too dominant, I would hope they won’t get cocky or anything like that. (Though I don’t see that happening.) And if they do, that they get knocked down a peg or have to overcome some big hurdle to prove just how great a competitor they are. That would be a great story for them.

Eswar & Aparna had a great Leg. They can speak Portuguese? Wow! That’s awesome. This seems to be the team that they can be. The first Leg was iffy for them, but they’re coming into their own and could be a big contender moving forward.

It’s sad to see Frank & Jerry get eliminated like this. It’s always great to have a parent-child team and they had great potential. But they made a big mistake. And perhaps, they were the biggest losers of the brewing war between the two factions of the season.

I prefer the funny DeAngelo & Gary like them arguing over the roof vs. wall. Their laughing at Michelle & Victoria didn’t sit well with me. But that’s of course partly because I love the Asian Cajuns. And I don’t blame DeAngelo & Gary for not telling them about needing their bags from the start. It’s a game, after all. But the glee in seeing the sisters mess up was just maybe a little too much. The Race is certainly different from the football field of course.

Will & James were the ones that put the alliance together. And it’s very interesting to see their thinking into targeting Leo & Alana. They really portrayed Leo & Alana as some masterminds. Which, I don’t think they necessarily are. It was Haley & Kaylynn who were talking about getting out the Olympians in the first Leg. But I don’t fault them for U-Turning this early. There’s no such thing as “early” when it comes to being competitive on the Race. So using the U-Turn now is perfectly fine. Still, I’m weary of the big alliance and hope it won’t become something not enjoyable.

Riley & Maddison were alright this Leg. Their time was mostly centered around the alliance story of the episode and their part in putting it together and executing their alliance duties during the Leg.

I certainly don’t think Leo & Alana are masterminds of anything right now. But I would hope that they maybe take this U-Turn as a fire lit under them. Go after Will & James. That’s perfectly fine. If they can step it up as Racers, then it’ll be good to see. We saw much more of Hayley & Kaylynn this week. I hope that continues as we see them as a more competitive team. Maybe working with Leo & Alana will also help them to step it up even more and become a big contender as well.

Episode Quotes

Hung: “The fish is as big as me.”

Hung: “I didn’t realize that drama was happening.”

Michelle: “They don’t trust me with knives. But I’m a ninja in the kitchen.”

Victoria: “She was just a boss bitch the entire time and I hated that.”