Recap: The Amazing Race 36, Episode 8 – “Babe, I don’t need you to think.”

Recap: The Amazing Race 36, Episode 8 – That’s What Being Strong Will Do

The Race travels to Barbados for the first time ever. And teams will begin the 8th Leg at Swing Bridge in Bridgetown. Angie & Danny and Ricky & Cesar depart first at 7:40am and open the clue telling them to drive to the neighborhood of Fairfield/Black Rock.

Angie & Danny ask the boyfriends for a little help with directions. Ricky & Cesar give them a little, but quickly try to get going. Angie & Danny hate to do it, but they decide to just follow. They end up stopping at a gas station for some directions, but also to put their roofs up as it starts pouring rain,

The second group starts the Leg at 7:55am and Amber & Vinny and Rod & Leticia also have to stop for directions by asking locals. Juan & Shane and Yvonne & Melissa depart at 8:10am as the rain turns to a torrential downpour.

Ricky & Cesar arrive in the neighborhood first and find the Road Block: Who wants to get in the swing of things? For this Road Block, teams must play road tennis against a talented local athlete and score 11 points to get the next clue.

Ricky decides to play and he is able to score 11 points before any other team arrives. They open the next clue directing them to Rihanna’s childhood home.

Angie & Danny arrive and Angie decides to do the Road Block. She’s excited because she actually plays and coaches tennis. Angie also scores 11 points before any other teams arrive.

Yvonne & Melissa are next to arrive and Yvonne chooses to play. Rod & Leticia are next and Leticia quickly chooses to do the Road Block.

Meanwhile, Amber & Vinny are a bit lost and have a wet map. Amber already thinks they’re going to be eliminated.

Juan & Shane arrive at the Road Block and Juan decides to do it just as Yvonne scores her 11th point. Leticia scores her 11th point right after and she and Rod leave just as Amber & Vinny arrive and Vinny gets started with his game.

Juan & Shane leave before Amber & Vinny.

On the other side of town, Ricky & Cesar arrive at Rihanna’s home and get the next clue out of the mailbox. The clue directs teams to Long Bay Beach in Christ Church Parish. And because of the long drive, Ricky & Cesar have some trouble finding the way and grow frustrated. They stop and ask someone and get pointed in the right direction.

Yvonne & Melissa and Rod & Leticia stick close together arriving at Rihanna’s home as do Amber & Vinny who is able to just arrive right before Juan & Shane.

Meanwhile, Angie & Danny are driving along from Rihanna’s home to the next Route Marker. But Angie is worried about losing their crew who is driving behind them in another car. The crew reassures them via walkie talkie. But while in a roundabout, their crew end up exiting while Angie drives through. There is a rule that you are not allowed to continue the Race without your crew. They try contacting them through walkie, but they get no answer.

Angie tells Danny they should stop and look for them, but Danny says to just keep going and the crew will catch up at the next Route Marker.

Speaking of, Ricky & Cesar arrive at the beach and learn of the Detour: Seaweed Clearing or Fish Pot Building. In Fish Pot Building, teams must use tamarind sticks, wire mesh and thin pieces of wire to build a fish pot to catch fish. In Seaweed Clearing, teams must clear and collect one blue barrel full of seaweed that is cluttering the beach.

Ricky & Cesar initially choose the seaweed, but then they realize it might be faster to build the fish pot, especially because it is difficult to run on the beach so they switch.

Angie & Danny arrive at the beach and tell the location producers that their crew is lost. The producer says they know and that Angie & Danny must wait until the crew arrives before they can continue,

Yvonne & Melissa arrive and choose to do the seaweed. But they decide to switch to the fish pot as well. Amber & Vinny arrive next and immediately choose to do the fish pot. Vinny commends Amber for her great navigation here.

Rod & Leticia arrive and choose to do the fish pot.

Angie & Danny’s crew finally arrives and they can continue to the cluebox. Danny decides to do fish pot as well and they hurry to catch up.

Ricky & Cesar take their fish pot and ask for a check. They get the thumbs up and the next clue which is a photo of the Pit Stop: Hastings Rocks.

Angie & Danny run into Ricky & Cesar on the way to the beach and ask which task was easier. Ricky & Cesar tell them the seaweed wheelbarrows were too far.

Juan & Shane, now in last, finally arrive and they choose the seaweed thinking that it gives them a better chance since the other teams are already building their pots.

Juan & Shane realize they made the right decision when their first wheelbarrow already filled half of the blue barrel. They think they only need one more. But they just need 10% more after the second one. So they hurry and get their final wheelbarrow of seaweed. And that is enough to get them their next clue.

And at the Pit Stop, Ricky & Cesar officially check-in as Team #1 and win $7500 each. From last place, Juan & Shane arrive at the Pit Stop in second place.

Back at the beach, Amber & Vinny get their pot approved next followed by Yvonne & Melissa. Rod & Leticia, however, are missing their corner supports and get two thumbs down. So it is between them and Angie & Danny.

Rod finally realizes their mistake and they put the supports on after arguing over who overlooked their mistake. They get the thumbs up and leave before the mother and son.

At the Pit Stop, it is a footrace with Amber & Vinny stepping on the Mat as Team #3 and Yvonne & Melissa arriving seconds after as Team #4.

Now it’s down to the last two teams. Rod gets their jeep stuck in the mud and has to push it out as Leticia revs up. That delay doesn’t affect them though as Rod & Leticia arrive at the Pit Stop to officially check-in as Team #5.

That means Angie & Danny are last and eliminated.

Episode Thoughts

I think this was the best episode of the season. It had a little bit of everything. Good competition. Solid tasks. New country. Unexpected production moments. Flooded roads and rainstorms. All the teams getting lost. It was a lot of fun!

I actually really love that this is a rainy Leg. Some spoiler hounds were upset when it was learned that it rained on this Barbados Leg. (Anything to be annoyed by this season I guess.) But I really like it because we rarely get teams running around in the rain. It’s an extra challenge for the teams. And it kind of heightens the “realness” of the Race.

One of my favorite moments of any TAR is in the first Leg of TARPH2 where teams literally waded through flood waters just to get to the Pit Stop. Even though sadly, the flooding basically cost the first eliminated team their Race.

What made it better this Leg was teams driving in the rain with no roof up. I don’t think TAR anticipated the rain, but it was perfect. It’s like driving the Road to Hana in Maui in a Jeep with the roof off and one second it’s hot and sunny and the next, it is a downpour. Lol

This Leg also had lots of teams interacting with the locals. And the locals were all so friendly and welcoming. We don’t always get these kinds of interactions. Especially during COVID. So it was great to see here. Lots of Google Maps use too.

The Road Block was fine. I always like tasks that get teams in daily life of the locations they visit. And the road tennis in this neighborhood is quite homey. A typical sport task, but with the added bonus of being very local.

Next up was the fascinating moment with Angie & Danny. TARUS has increasingly become more loose with showing crew members in episodes when in the past, they would do everything to edit them out almost to the detriment of the finished product.

So seeing Angie & Danny talking to their crew via walkie and showing the crew in another van following them, that’s stuff we wouldn’t normally see under any circumstance. They’d just get passed off as “production delay” or something like that.

So I really liked seeing that moment here. Especially for the exciting drama of it too. Now the question is, was it really Angie & Danny’s fault that the crew didn’t follow them though? Who knows.

The Detour was a good way to utilize the beach location. Again, two tasks relating to local life of Barbados. These aren’t touristy activities. It’s daily life. And that’s always some great moments for TAR. I’m sure TAR also anticipated a hot, sunny day too lol

And as we saw, it resulted in an amazing comeback for Juan & Shane. Who knew it would be a deceptive Detour. The harder-looking task might have been the better choice. I don’t think it would’ve been too difficult, tbh. Even going slowly with the wheelbarrow would be faster than building the fish pot, it seems.

And finally the Pit Stop. Peggy is awesome! One of the most memorable Pit Stop Greeters! How fun to be welcomed by her.

Overall, I really enjoyed this episode.

Now, let me take this opportunity to talk about something concerning regarding TAR in recent weeks. There’s definitely been a lot of discussion about Amber & Vinny’s relationship. And the way he treats her on the Race. That’s fine. But some of the discussion has turned very nasty and hateful. Some of the worst vitriol I’ve seen from supposed TAR fans.

A good, or really disgusting example is this racist exchange on the TAR Reddit:

Amber & Vinny Recap
by inTheAmazingRace

If you want to see how toxic and horrible #AmazingRace fans have become, look no further than Reddit or the Facebook comments section for racist comments like this, telling a Filipino-American Racer to "go back" where he came from. pic.twitter.com/VndPKYZIYS

— DryedMangoez (@dryedmangoez) April 26, 2024

Really? Telling Vinny to go back to the Philippines? And worse, painting the entire Filipino culture as being abusive?

Absolutely abhorrent behavior. And this isn’t the only example of it, sadly. TAR used to be a show that really brought a diverse audience. But lately, it seems like a very loud, but small group of fans are overwhelming the discourse surrounding this show. And it’s really starting to affect how I enjoy it. Really sad.

Team Thoughts

All the teams were pretty great this week.

I really enjoyed seeing Ricky & Cesar a bit frazzled and anxious while driving. Again, it shows that even with how well they’ve Raced so far, they are not invincible. And they struggle just as much as other teams. The difference with them is they are able to find ways to overcome those hurdles. And it’s hard not to call them one of the strongest teams to have Raced. No downplaying or disregarding their success due to the route or whatever. They Race well and are a strong team. And this Leg again showed that.

Amber & Vinny were not as combative this week. And they did very well to overcome some directional troubles too. Loved hearing that little story of Vinny’s life in the Philippines.

Juan & Shane definitely staged a great comeback. It was only one task, yes. But any team could lose hope at that point. But they recognized their strengths, took a chance and it paid off.

Rod & Leticia had an alright Leg. Some fun moments, but some struggles as well. They’re still very much in it thought. Yvonne & Melissa‘s slow, but steady strategy could pay off as well! Good to see them actually Racing alongside the other teams after always trailing in early Legs.

And finally, Angie & Danny. Sucks for them that they were eliminated basically because of losing their crew. I guess they really should have looked for them, but I’m sure this is will be the next point of arguing… I mean, “discussion” by TAR fans. Still, that horrific alliance-focused Leg/episode aside, Angie & Danny fought hard and definitely had skills that other teams did not. So they could have easily survived this Leg if not for that wrong roundabout exit. Again, they Raced hard and overcame a lot of struggles on their own. They did not need an alliance to carry them. And really, even during that infamous Leg, they still could’ve survived without Amber doing the task for Angie. Too bad. But it is what it is.

Episode Quotes

Angie: “I don’t want to just follow somebody.”

Danny: “I hate following people.”

Amber: “Babe, I don’t need you to think.”

Leticia: “I’ve never driven through a flood before.”

Angie: “Who’s Rihanna?”