Recap: The Amazing Race 4, Episode 8 – “The Priestess Reminded Me of My Grandmother. She Was Very Old But Still Very, Very With It”

During the Pit Stop mingling, Reichen & Chip celebrated their one-year anniversary by telling the other teams about their story of how they met. Reichen had been in the Air Force when he met Chip and actually left because of being gay. Millie & Chuck, meanwhile, come out as virgins.

Anyway, teams learn they will be flying to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia with $120. David & Jeff, Kelly & Jon and Jon & Al head to the domestic terminal in order find a flight to Mumbai where there should be more flights to Malaysia.

Reichen & Chip, however, go to a ticket office where they hope to secure their flights. Millie & Chuck spot them and they try to listen in. Reichen & Chip try to close the door while Millie tries to hold it open.

The other teams are arguing with locals who have cut them in line. But they get the first 8:30am flight to Mumbai. Millie & Chuck head inside the terminal and are able to ask Jon & Al which flight they need.

Reichen & Chip, meanwhile, are whisked away by a travel agent to his office an hour away hoping to get onto flights that will have them arrive before the other teams. But when they finally speak with the agent, the possible flight is booked.

Kelly & Jon and Millie & Chuck arrive in Singapore. Kelly & Jon decide to get some sleep since their flight leaves ten hours later. But Millie & Chuck work to find an earlier flight to Kuala Lumpur. They suddenly come to the realization that they are not getting married. Reichen & Chip and Jon & Al catch up with them and are on the same flight to Kota Kinabalu.

Upon arrival, teams must make their way to Monsopiad Cultural Village. The first flight arrives and they hurry over.

Millie & Chuck run into the village first and Millie thinks the blessing is very strange. She wonders if the elder was putting a voodoo spell on her. Jon & Al, Reichen & Chip, David & Jeff and Kelly & Jon, however, think it is a wonderful experience.

Teams must now make their way to the Kota Kinabalu Boat Jetty and choose a marked boat to take them to a fishing trawler where they will find the Detour: Net or Trap. In Net, teams must take their boat to a fishing platform and use a net to catch 15 fish. In Trap, teams will take their boat to a lobster boat and pull up a lobster trap with their next clue.

Millie & Chuck choose lobster, but their boat driver takes them to the fish where they struggle. Jon & Al and Reichen & Chip get to the lobsters and quickly pull up their traps.

After the Detour, teams can make their way to Manukan Island where they will face the Road Block: Whose skills are the most on target? For this Road Block, teams must hit three different target using Malaysian weapons: bow and arrow, blow pipe and spear. Once completed, they can run down the beach to the Pit Stop.

All three teams arrive. Jon, Chip and Chuck do the Road Block. Chuck finishes first, but he and Reichen have no idea where to go. That allows Jon & Al to run ahead. Chip actually asks the Clowns for them to hop on the Mat together. But Jon & Al are Team #1 and Reichen & Chip are Team #2. Millie & Chuck take 3rd.

It’s down to David & Jeff and Kelly & Jon who are far behind. The Goats end up finishing 4th with Kelly & Jon in last. But this is FINALLY a Non-Elimination Leg.

Episode Highlights

Recap: The #AmazingRace 4, Episode 8 – "The Priestess Reminded Me of My Grandmother. She Was Very Old But Still Very, Very With It" – https://t.co/vSLf8jWhjJ pic.twitter.com/skVgywEjwE

— DryedMangoez (@dryedmangoez) March 12, 2021

Episode Thoughts

Well, if a Non-Elimination had to save any team, I’m glad it’s Kelly & Jon at least lol But really, they should’ve had one much earlier. At the same time, these Legs are so awkwardly designed back then, it really might not have mattered. Also, I know about the budgetary reasons that has less teams traveling farther in the Race.

Anyway, another episode where the first HALF of the episode is airport drama and ticket finagling. Damn, honestly I can’t see why anyone would want to bring back this airport drama to the Race. I used to be one of those people. But after watching TAR3 and TAR4 again in a more critical way, this airport drama is so irrelevant now.

Maybe it’s just a sign of the times. When you can book tickets on your phone and all that, maybe running around airports looking for tickets is just not fun or interesting anymore. So having TAR give teams tickets and having all teams arrive in the destination at the same time is perfectly fine now.

All the tasks this Leg were so simple. It’s no wonder why they spent the entire first half of the episode on buying tickets. They had nothing else to show.

Also, did they really travel for two whole days?! Wow.

Overall, a pretty meh episode.

My Subjective Team Rankings

I’m certainly happy Kelly & Jon were saved this Leg. I really wouldn’t have any other team I felt like rooting for if they were eliminated. Their lax attitude at the Singapore airport is the kind of thing that’ll get you eliminated though. It actually is kind of disappointing. You gotta hustle every minute of the Race. So if they had been eliminated this Leg, I would be sad. But I couldn’t say it wasn’t well deserved.

Jon & Al shoot up my list this week for a great performance. They really stepped it up and made their case for the first time this Race I think. David & Jeff as well. Perhaps it’s because there’s only five teams left. All the other interesting teams are gone, so they’re looking much better lol

Reichen & Chip can get very abrasive sometimes. Especially to locals. But you can’t say that they’re not competitive. They do what they can to win. And it isn’t at the expense of other teams. So that is a good thing. Modern-day Racers can learn from that.

Millie & Chuck really rubbed me the wrong way this week. I don’t know why. Maybe they felt a little judgmental? I know TAR probably edited their possible comments about Reichen & Chip. But we definitely saw their reactions at the table. However, Millie at the cultural village was just WOW. What was that? Very uncomfortable to hear her talking like that. Very closed-minded and maybe not so surprising? Sadly.

Episode Quotes

Jeff: “The Race really isn’t about your sexual preference, or whether you’re a virgin or not a virgin. Or you’re a whore in the bedroom. It’s about two people working together and taking advantage of their strengths that they have.”