While the five teams still have COVID, Beau welcomes himself back and the Race must go on in the next city, Cartagena. Teams begin the Leg by hopping into taxis to take them to La Perla Negra.
Angel & Frankie pass Pako & Mori to arrive at the clue first, but all teams catch up. Here, teams will get a chance to give back to the disadvantaged kids of La Boquilla at a community art centre. Teams must make and deliver 10 arepas, a cornmeal cake, to receive their next clue.
Chelsea & Jamus are the first to present their arepas for a check and they get the thumbs up. They walk over to the community centre, but they begin passing out arepas to children they meet along the way. When half of their arepas are gone, they realize they need to deliver all of their made treats to the community centre children.
Chelsea thinks they should go back and make some more, but Jamus says they should just continue on. However, Marina, the wonderful lady who runs the community centre, has to give them the thumbs down. Heath & Toni, who are right behind them, encourage the Engaged Parents and tell them to just take the three extra arepas they made and left at the table.
Chelsea and Jamus argue on the way back while Heath & Toni get the thumbs up and their next clue. Back at the beach, the other teams get their arepas approved. But Angel & Frankie have to re-do their entire batch. They are relieved to see Chelsea & Jamus have to come back.
Many teams are emotional when they meet the nice children. But they get the next clue which tells them to travel to the old town where they will carry a basin full of fruit around a plaza and sell enough to make 20,000 pesos.
Heath & Toni luck out and run into tourists who immediately give them the P20,000 they need. Parko & Mori and Flick & Gabby have no problem getting the money as well. As do Angel & Frankie and Chelsea & Jamus, thanks to all the friendly locals.
After the fruits, teams must make their way to Parque de Bolivar to learn and perform a Colombian Salsa dance. All the teams catch up and are learning the dance together.
Pako & Mori basically say to fake it ’til you make it. And with their right attitude while dancing, they get the thumbs up. They can now make their way to the Pit Stop at Castillo de San Felipe. They must reach the Mat through the tunnel.
Like the Hubbies, Heath & Toni also pass on their third attempt. Angel & Frankie get it on their 2nd attempt and Flick & Gabby pass on their third.
Pako & Mori step on the Mat and win another Leg. Angel & Frankie arrive at the Mat, but did not walk through the tunnel so they have to go back. Heath & Toni then officially check in as Team #2. Angel & Frankie have to settle for 3rd. Flick & Gabby are 4th.
It’s down to the last two teams. Chelsea & Jamus pass the salsa on their fourth attempt and hurry to the Pit Stop. Stuart tells Glennon that he can’t do it anymore as his anxiety is increasing. Glennon tries to encourage him, but Stuart says they should just take the penalty.
Chelsea & Jamus arrive at the Mat, but did not go through the tunnel. Once they correct themselves, they can officially check-in as Team #5.
That means Stuart & Glennon are last and will not be assessed a penalty because they are eliminated.
Episode Thoughts
Okay, I was about to say. A pretty solid Leg and episode was about to get thwarted by another absurd penalty situation. Thankfully, it did not. And so this episode was pretty good. It had all the hallmarks of a typical NORMAL Amazing Race Leg, even without the Detour and Road Block.
To start off, the arepas task had probably one of the most beautiful locations. Taking advantage of the beach for that task was perfect. And the task itself was a typical TAR cooking task. But the location and then the added part of delivering to nice little kids was great.
Now, I’m not sure if Chelsea & Jamus actually did use Heath & Toni’s extra arepas. But let me be a hypocrite today and say I wouldn’t have a problem if they did just heat the extra arepas up. If children and charity is involved, cheating is okay. Lol At least Chelsea & Jamus did make the correct amount and ended up being too nice to the local children. It can be excused in this instance. Lol
Nothing will ever come close to matching TAR3’s fruit selling in Vietnam. But it was a simple extra task for this Leg. Teams were lucky that there were a lot of tourists and generous locals so they could just sell one piece of fruit for what was essentially AUS$6. But the task is the kind of thing that you like on TAR, having teams interact with (hopefully COVID-negative) locals.
The salsa was a good task as well since it involved both team members. I think it’s better like that instead of a Road Block or Detour. Having all teams need to learn it was good. And seeing all the teams bunched up there made it more exciting than it would’ve otherwise been.
The final tunnel bit of the clue was also good. And when teams are close enough to each other, it could provide some extra tension.
I think the Leg could’ve used another task. And maybe there was one, but they just cut it out. Regardless, I enjoyed this episode since, again, it felt most normal.
Team Thoughts
All the teams were fine this Leg. It’s very refreshing to see just six teams Racing instead of 31 and having all of them get a good amount of screentime.
Stuart & Glennon seem like nice guys, but with all their missteps, I think it’s the right time for them to go.
Episode Quotes
Mori: “It’s flamin’ babe. It’s flamin!”
Frankie: “I’m like a magician in the kitchen.”
Gabby: “We have a job in Colombia!”
Mori: “Don’t feed any kids along the way.”
Flick: “This is pure happiness here.”
Angel: “No offense, buy everyone else kind of sucked compared to us.”