Recap: The Amazing Race 4, Episode 3 – “I Wasn’t Even Going to Touch You Until You Slammed My Head Backwards”

For the third Leg of the Race, with $480, teams must take a train to Vienna, Austria. Steve & Dave, wanting to maintain their lead, decide to go to Padua and catch a train from there upon advice from a local.

The other teams depart from the Pit Stop three hours later and they rush to the train station. But the first train out of Venice departs at 1:15pm. Teams scramble to find a different way. Reichen & Chip and David & Jeff speak with a local who suggest going to Verona via Innsbruck.

After running through Venice, Millie has an asthma attack. Chuck helps her with her inhaler. But the train to Verona is leaving in four minutes. Jon & Al, who had been with Millie & Chuck, decide to stay behind with them.

Steve & Dave arrive in Padua, but learn that it might not have been a good idea. They must now return to Venice.

On the first train are Tian & Jaree, Kelly & Jon, Reichen & Chip, David & Jeff and Monica & Sheree. On the second train, one hour behind, are Millie & Chuck, Jon & Al, Steve & Josh and Russell & Cindy. Steve & Dave are on the third train arriving two hours after the first.

On the train, Tian and Jaree again argue.

Teams arrive in Vienna in the early evening. Upon arrival, teams must find an intersection from which they will enter the sewers and follow a path to their next clue. BUT! HOURS OF OPERATION! The sewers open at 8am.

All teams check into hotels for the night before getting bunched up at the sewer in the morning.

When teams return to the surface, they open the next clue telling them to claim a horse-drawn fiacre by grabbing a ticket hanging on the carriage door. They will direct their driver to take them to Schonbrunn Palace for their next clue. The fiacres will depart in groups every 30 minutes.

It is a mad dash to the waiting fiacres. Kelly & Jon, Reichen & Chip and Monica & Sheree get into the carriages. But only Monica & Sheree grab the ticket off the door.

Jon & Al see Reichen & Chip did not grab the pass, so they take it for themselves. Reichen & Chip must now get off. Tian & Jaree, meanwhile, do the same with Kelly & Jon who now have to get off as well.

Five minutes before 9am, the teams are already whispering amongst themselves at the best strategy to grab the next group of fiacres. When the horses appear around the corner, several teams go running on the icy streets toward the carriages.

Reichen & Chip promised to get a ticket for David & Jeff who would stay behind to distract other teams. But they only get one. And that one ticket was hard fought between Chip and Millie. Chuck, meanwhile, was able to grab one of them anyway. And Jon grabs the last ticket.

Chip approaches Millie after he gets a cut on his lip. He apologizes to Millie for being so aggressive with her.

At Schonbrunn Palace, teams will find the Detour: Mozart or Beethoven. In Mozart, teams must carry a string bass six miles to Figarohaus. In Beethoven, teams must carry a portfolio of sheet music eleven miles to a little-known house where he wrote the Heiligenstadt Testament.

Tian & Jaree, Monica & Sheree and Jon & Al choose Mozart. Tian & Jaree and Monica & Sheree decide to work together.

Millie & Chuck and Reichen & Chip also choose Mozart, but Kelly decides she and Jon should do Beethoven. Russell & Cindy and David & Jeff team-up to complete Mozart.

Steve & Josh, meanwhile, decide to attempt the Fast Forward. To win it, they must put on formal attire and carry a tray of champagne glasses across a dancefloor full of waltzing locals. They successfully complete the task and can now make their way to the Pit Stop at Seeschloss Orth in Gmunden.

After completing the Detour, teams must now make their way to the Donauturm where they will find the Road Block: Who doesn’t mind hanging from their ankles?

For this Road Block, teams will bungee jump off the Danube Tower.

Tian, Sheree, Reichen and clownJon complete the Road Block and can now head to the Pit Stop where Steve & Josh are now officially checking in as Team #1.

Millie is about to jump, but her asthma is acting up. She had to leave her spray down below so she asks for some water before taking the leap. Kelly’s Jon jumps next. Russell handed David a clue first, but David ends up grabbing a number first. Those extra minutes allow David & Jeff to hop on the train that is about to depart, leaving Russell & Cindy behind.

It’s now a train Race to the Pit Stop. But Russell & Cindy end up getting on a train to Gmund instead of GmundEN.

Monica & Sheree, Reichen & Chip, Tian & Jaree, Millie & Chuck, Jon & Al, David & Jeff and Kelly & Jon finish as Teams 2 through 8.

It’s down to Team ATC and Russell & Cindy. And it is Steve & Dave who check-in as Team #9. That means Russell & Cindy are last and eliminated.

Episode Highlights

Recap: The #AmazingRace 4, Episode 3 – "I Wasn't Even Going to Touch You Until You Slammed My Head Backwards" – https://t.co/NW3L28IGQD pic.twitter.com/jkQqhJMonO

— DryedMangoez (@dryedmangoez) February 5, 2021

Episode Thoughts

This was definitely a much better episode than last week. And I think the best episode of the three so far. The Leg was much better just for the mere fact that it mostly happened in Vienna. The train before the Pit Stop was completely unnecessary though. But that’s another early TAR-type of Leg design quirk.

Back to the beginning of the episode, it looks like teams arrived at the Mat within minutes of each other last Leg. They departed a minute apart. Monica & Sheree, who looked like they and Chris & Amanda were far behind the other teams at the end of the last episode, were only a few minutes behind Steve & Josh. So that would suggest the Road Block wasn’t that difficult at all. The magic of good editing! Something that TAR does not have any longer, sadly. lol

The Hours of Operation was very welcome. And pretty much a logistics decision considering teams arrived too late in the day. And that’s fine. We wouldn’t have had the epic moment at the fiacres without the equalizer. Lol

Whenever I think about TAR4, one of the most memorable moments will always be Millie vs Chip at the fiacres. Such an unexpected, physical face off. I don’t think you’ll see that kind of drama on TAR today. Unfortunately.

The Detour was okay. Basically two delivery tasks. And the Road Block was also okay. But being the last task before the train ride to the Pit Stop, being a processional task wasn’t the best thing to have. Another linear ending with teams arriving one after the other.

Nonetheless, the teams helped to carry the episode again. But a better Leg design makes this the strongest of the three so far.

My Subjective Team Rankings

I’m sticking with Tian & Jaree and Kelly & Jon as my top two teams so far. Tian & Jaree’s bickering sometimes pops out of nowhere. But I think that’s what makes them such a funny, interesting team to watch. Kelly & Jon also definitely started showing signs of the team they will become. And it was nice to hear Kelly wanting to do the Race for herself as much as for Jon now.

Steve & Dave are chugging along and were definitely lucky this Leg. Thank goodness too for Russell & Cindy’s mistake, otherwise we would have never gotten Steve uttering an iconic line in the next episode.

Millie & Chuck shoot up my list this week thanks to the fiacre confrontation. There were really two sides to Millie this episode. At one point, she was so excited to see some other teams when they walked in the door. It was annoying. But the competitive Millie that has no problem cutting Chip in the mouth? I like it! Lol

Reichen & Chip are also settling into their roles. Not necessarily villainous characters. But on the verge I think. Even though neither Millie nor Chip were at fault for what happened at the horses.

Monica & Sheree are doing well, though quietly. Same for Jon & Al I think. It was nice of them to stay with Millie during her attack.

Russell & Cindy‘s relationship hopes come to an unceremonious end. I will say, it would’ve been interesting to see them continue on and have their relationship deteriorate more. Sad for them, but good TV. (Sorry! Lol)

David & Jeff being upset with Reichen & Chip was the first time we got to see them with any personality. So it was a good first step. And definitely hopeful for future clashes. Alliances are bad! lol Steve & Josh taking the Fast Forward removed them from any of the episodes interesting moments. So they fall to the bottom this week.

Episode Quotes

Kelly: “How many Beethovens in the world do you think there are?”