Recap: The Amazing Race 32, Episode 7 – “We only hate you a little!”

Recap: The Amazing Race 32, Episode 7 – Give Me a Beard Bump

The other teams are shocked the Blonde Bandits have survived once again. Anyway, teams must now fly to Almaty, Kazakhstan

Upon arrival in Almaty, teams must find Kazakhfilm Studio where burning warriors toss them their clue which reveals the Detour: Great Khan’s Spy or Knock Out Guy. In Great Khan’s Spy, teams must watch a movie scene in production and answer questions from the Great Khan. In Knock Out Guy, teams must learn and perform a choreographed action sequence. Leo & Alana and Hung & Chee choose the observation, but they fail their first attempts. The other teams choose the action.

Hayley & Kaylynn must first complete the Speed Bump by applying prosthetic beards on each other. They then choose Knock Out Guy. But it is a Limited Stations Detour so they have to go to the other side of the Detour instead.

Riley & Maddison pass their action scene and open the next clue revealing there is a Yield ahead with only two more Legs left to use it. Hung & Chee are close behind and end up arriving at the Nomad Village in Karasay District first.

The Mine Five Alliance stay in front. At the village, teams must guide a camel to help set-up a yurt. They must also make sure to have a cooked lamb’s head on the table.

Leo & Alana are struggling as they are now in last place and on their 10th attempt at the Detour.

Will & James and Riley & Maddison pressure Hayley & Kaylynn to Yield Leo & Alana. The sisters cave and Yield Leo & Alana for 20 minutes. When Leo & Alana arrive, the sisters apologize.

DeAngelo & Gary have no idea what they are missing with their, but Hung tells them where to find the head and then regrets it.

Will & James move into first place and must now make their way to Zelenyi Bazaar in Almaty and search for the next clue in the meat market. They find the clue directing them to the Pit Stop at First President Park where they claim the first place win and a trip to… Las Vegas.

Phil says the next Leg is a “MegaLeg”.

Riley & Maddison are Team #2 and Hung & Chee are Team #3. DeAngelo & Gary are Team #4.

It’s down to the last three teams and they have trouble finding a taxi. It’s then a foot race to the Mat with Kaylynn & Hayley checking in as Team #5, Eswar & Aparna as Team #6 and Leo & Alana in last and eliminated.

Episode Thoughts

Oh brother. Thank goodness Kazakhstan is beautiful and TAR blew its budget on the Detour. Because otherwise, it’s just more of the same. This Mine Five Alliance is really doing its best to erase any excitement from this season and make it as predictable as possible.

You can’t go wrong with putting a yurt together on TAR. It’s a great TAR staple of a task. So it was nice to have as an Active Route Info. But they really should’ve put a Road Block at the market as well.

The Detour was awesome. Chaotic and fun. A huge production. It was really most enjoyable just to see all the local extras putting on that big show for both sides of the Detour. The competition aspect of it was meh. But seeing the elaborate production was great. The episode also rightly focused on the Detour to maximize exposure for the wonderful talent there. And the beautiful gathering of locals at the Pit Stop as well.

So the tasks were pretty great. But since I’m still fuming over what happened in Berlin, the feeling bleeds over into this episode. And Will & James and Riley & Maddison definitely did their best to fan the flames with their pressuring of Hayley & Kaylynn to Yield Leo & Alana.

Leo & Alana would’ve, sadly, probably been eliminated whether they were Yielded or not. And it’s certainly a smart decision for Hayley & Kaylynn to Yield when they know they’re second to last. But just having the other teams gleefully pressure another team to do their dirty work? Yeah, wonderful, enjoyable television right there.

My Subjective Team Rankings

GAP

Leo & Alana absolutely deserved to survive this Leg. I think they would’ve been eliminated anyway, Yield or not. But as one of the only remaining teams not in the Mine Five, I obviously would love to see them stay and take those teams on. I think they grew into becoming a really great team. Fun personalities who knew what a competition is truly about. It’s too bad they weren’t part of the clique. That’s really all there is to their elimination.

Eswar & Aparna continue to fly under the radar. Alliance members, but only as a number and not really as a contributing or even benefiting member of it. And I appreciate that very much so I can still like them and root for them.

Hayley & Kaylynn being the last non-alliance team standing is definitely a big surprise. But they’ve been able to balance a lot of luck with stepping up when they need to. And they did that here. I hope they can make it far. But seeing how the alliance works? I’m not holding my breath.

I wish Hung & Chee were not part of the alliance. They are such fun personalities and great Racers WITHOUT any help from other teams. Hung telling Chee how long he can be frustrated is hilarious. But Hung AGAIN telling DeAngelo & Gary the critical info when she talked about being annoyed at them? Come on Hung!

Again, I’m sort of rooting for DeAngelo & Gary if only to result in the hilarious moment that they beat their fellow alliance members. I wish they would do things on their own. They’d be so fun to watch if they did.

Riley & Maddison and Will & James are doing their best to position themselves as the villains of the season. Which probably means they’re going far. =( I hope not after what happened in Berlin and then their peer pressure display toward the sisters. Not a good look and certainly not something I’d want to root for more of. And I want to root for them because before any of this alliance stuff popped up, they were very good Racers who were very competitive. But not now.

Episode Quotes

Alana: “We only hate you a little!”