Recap: The Amazing Race 36, Episode 10 (Part 1) – “I’m going home with a ring.”

Recap: The Amazing Race 36, Episode 10 (Part 1) – The Longest Minute of Your Life

The Penultimate Leg begins with the final four teams boarding a boat taking them to the Pit Start. Ricky & Cesar and Rod & Leticia depart first at 10am by diving into the water to pick up the next clue. Juan & Shane and Amber & Vinny depart at 10:15am.

They can open the next clue back on Sosua Beach revealing the Detour: Dive Trip or Rum Sip. In Dive Trip, teams must properly assemble four dive rigs and load them onto a boat to receive the next clue. In Rum Sip, teams must take drink orders from six of the nine pirates and then mix them up as bartenders to get the next clue.

Ricky & Cesar and Rod & Leticia both choose the drinks as do Juan & Shane and Amber & Vinny.

Ricky & Cesar end up making seven drinks, but still leave the Detour in first. Rod & Leticia are close behind.

After the Detour, teams can make their way to Cabarete Beach where they will encounter the Road Block: Who Wants to Take a Stand? For this CAP5Road Block, teams must windsurf for 60 seconds.

Leticia must do this Road Block while Ricky does it for their team. Leticia is able to pass on her second attempt after getting knocked in the head during her first.

Ricky is struggling with the windsurfing. Juan arrives and gets started as does Vinny. Juan passes on his 3rd attempt. Ricky finally gets it on his 21st attempt while Vinny gets the thumbs up on his 2nd attempt.

After the Road Block, teams must head to Olympus Beach and find their next clue on a dune buggy.

Teams must now drive the dune buggies to a beach where they will jump in a kayak and paddle to Wilson’s Bar, the Pit Stop for this Leg.

Rod & Leticia secure first place, enough Expedia OneKey Cash for a trip to Rome and a spot in the Final Leg. Juan & Shane finish 2nd and Ricky & Cesar take 3rd.

Amber & Vinny are just a minute or two behind, but are still last and eliminated. Vinny decides to propose to Amber at the Mat and she says yes.

Episode Thoughts

I’ll split this recap into the two Legs. And lolol. I’m sure many TAR fans exploded after that Mat proposal. Lol Congratulations to Amber & Vinny though.

So when it looked like this season would only be ten episodes, I figured the Penultimate and Final Legs would be smashed into one episode. Or perhaps they should split three Legs across two episodes. What this first half of the finale showed though was that TAR could really just be a 30 minute episode and have just as much substance as a regular ~44 minute episode lolol

Anyway, this was definitely a barebones Leg. I doubt there was a deleted task or something. So definitely not the most exciting Penultimate Leg. But as the first half of a finale, I guess it can get a pass.

The tasks were all very straightforward and simple. Another Detour where no one picked one side. I think both sides of the Detour should’ve just been Active Route Info tasks. Or maybe make this Leg a Scramble and have teams do the three tasks in any order. Probably would’ve been a bit more exciting.

Definitely a tropical touristy Leg. Maybe would be much better as an early Leg. But definitely not a Penultimate Leg. Oh well!

Team Thougths

Final Team Thoughts in my Season Wrap-up.