Amazing Race 22 Episode 7 Discussion and Recap *Updated*

We had a non-elimination leg last week which seemed like two in a row but that is only due to the weirdness of Team Kickass taking themselves out of the game. Even still I wished they had waited a week before dropping the non-elimination leg.

Team Newlywed finished in last so they will have a Speed Bump to perform this week which at this point shouldn’t hurt them too much since they are a faster team then Chuck and Wynona especially with Wynona needing to pull her weight in Roadblocks. But crazy things have happened before. I just think this is the end of the road for Team Old Timers.

For last week’s poll results Team Hockey was the favorite to win the season with just over 43% of the vote. Team YouTube (Just over 23%) and the Besties (22%) were within two votes of each other for second. Surprisingly Team Newlyweds finished last tied with the Old Timers at 2% of the vote.

Last Week’s results:

  1. Bates Battaglia and Anthony Battaglia (Team Hockey)
  2. Pamela Chien and Winnie Sung (The Besties)
  3. Chuck McCall and Wynona McCall (The Old Timers)
  4. Joey Graceffa and Meghan Camarena (Team YouTube)
  5. Caroline Cutbirth and Jennifer Kuhle (The Stealing Angels)
  6. Mona Egender and Beth Bandimere (The Derby Moms)
  7. Max Bichler and Katie Bichler (The Newlyweds)

Come back later for my recap and feel free to discuss the episode below.

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I apologize in advance because she some reason my DVR started recording Amazing Race for the first 20 minutes and then switched over to 60 minutes for the remaining of hour. By the time I got to the West Coast feed for the show it was 30 minutes in so I am missing about 10 minutes of the episode that I have no clue what happened. I am hoping most of those 10 minutes was commercial.

As for the start of the episode we begin with all the remaining teams enjoying a little down time watching elephants in Botswana. We don’t get to see the teams really just enjoying their surroundings so it was nice to see them enjoy something outside the game.

Team Hockey starts off at 5:39 am and must drive themselves to Boro Village where they will find their next clue.  They are nervous being up front with no one really leading the way. They are followed by the Besties who plan on racing alone and not dealing with other teams. Within the next hour the other teams all get started on the leg.

The Newlyweds run the wrong way and have trouble finding the cars. The Hockey Players stop for directions and lament not being able to follow another team as they don’t trust themselves in the lead. The other teams all get on what appears to be a highway but the Stealing Angels are pulled over by the police and try to talk themselves out of a ticket for speeding. The boss is having nothing to do with that and hands out the ticket telling them the ticket needs to be paid today. Meanwhile they are passed by the Derby Moms.  I have to laugh as the cop tells them to have a nice day as they drive away.

The Newlyweds finally find their car and they are off.  The hockey players arrive at the village first and discover that it is time for the first Fast Forward of the season. They choose to do it. The task is to water ski for a mile without falling in. There is a danger sign for crocodiles. Bates worried he won’t be able to stay up but Anthony talks him into giving a try.  Bates has a little trouble getting up but once he is up it seems to do it with no issues.

The Besties arrive and it is time to do the Roadblock. Teams must canoe up river to deliver two goats and then travel back to get their next clue. I’m kind of scared since if these are actually crocodile invested waters the cute goats could make a good meal.

The Hockey Players finish the task as they see a crocodile jumping into the water. They are given the next clue and are sent to the next pit stop for a big lead. The country girls arrive at the police station but they cannot pay in American money.

The old timers arrive for the road block and as Wynona places the second goat in the boat it runs off. They finally get the goats in the boat and since Chuck has done too many road blocks Wynona has to push the boat and has trouble. At this point the Derby Moms have also arrived.

Elsewhere Team YouTube drives up to a random spot populated by little kids and the are obviously in the wrong place. The Newlyweds are still driving and as Max tries to look on the bright side Katie starts correcting his grammar because she is pissed they are in last.

The country girls are looking for a bank to exchange money and for some reason Jennifer hands a complete stranger a $100 to go exchange for her as she does not want to leave Caroline behind and the police will not let Caroline leave the station without paying.

It’s at this point that my taping cuts out. I have no clue what I missed but when I caught the west coast feed the Hockey Players were at the pit stop there were finishing in first and I missed what they won for finishing first.

Elsewhere both Team Besties and Team Old Timers are on speed boats traveling down the river. If I heard the Besties right they are off to the Royal Tree Game preserve.

The Country gals seemed to have luck and the guy returned since they are shown finishing a task with the Derby moms and grabbing a water taxi. The Newlyweds are leaving the police station for whatever reason and as Max backs up he hits a pole behind him. Too bad this season doesn’t have cars that are used to promote rear view cameras on cars.

I apologize again for my DVR messing up for those reading without watching the episode. I hate that I messed what seems like a big part of the episode with no clue what happened. I really should have just set the West Coast feed to record as well but when the recording started showing Amazing Race I made the incorrect assumption that CBS did not have any pre-emption.  Luckily this is the last Sunday with March Madness basketball.

Back from the commercial Team YouTube seem to finally find the village but Team YouTube must have really been lost because they have just arrived. Max and Katie have to complete their speed bump which requires them to bead a skirt and do a dance to the satisfaction of the villages. They get to work and Team YouTube starts the Detour.

The Besties arrive at the Game Reserve in second place and it is now time for the Detour:

  • Brains: Teams must go on a Horse Safari and take note of the animal cutouts they see. They then must arrange tiles with pictures of the animal and place them in the order they were seen.
  • Brawn: Teams must stack firewood on a cart and using a carrot lead donkeys half a mile to drop off the firewood.

Team Besties choose to do Brawn while the Old Timers go for Brains. Chuck and Wynona are rolling on their horses while the Country Girls and Derby Moms arrive and choose Brawn as well. The Besties show why they are better when they are  not around other teams as they start stressing as soon as the other two teams arrive. They panic and jump to the other detour.  The Country singers abd Derby Moms seem to be able to get their donkeys moving.

Back at the Roadblock Joey is having trouble pushing the canoe as the current is forcing a change in direction. Max and Katie are now done the skirts and start dancing with the villagers. They actually look to be having fun with smiles which is actually a nice change for them.

The Besties start the safari as Chuck and Wynona have now seen five animals. In the Roadblock The Newlyweds are closing in on Team YouTube.

The Country gals get stuck on a tree and the Derby Moms pass them on the road. They are able to get going again. The Derby Moms finish the Detour in second followed shortly by the Country Girls hitting the pit stop in third.

Chuck and Wynona have a little doubt in the last animal they see but Chuck remembers correctly and they finish in fourth. The Besties miss a cutout and when they see the hippo with the bird on top they think it will count as two cutouts which is incorrect.

Team YouTube arrives at the Detour and choose Brawn and they are followed by the Newlyweds. The Besties arrive at the camp but are told there sequence is incorrect and they must go back.

The Newlyweds are in the early lead as Team YouTube has trouble getting the donkeys to start moving. But when they get moving the donkeys are really moving but they are going too fast and run into a tree.

The Besties miss the cutout again and rather than trying the safari again they decide to go back to the donkeys.  It’s a shame as Team YouTube finish in fifth and the Newlyweds are shocked to discover that they finish in sixth and are not the last team to arrive.

The Besties arrive in last and are now eliminated. It’s really sad since they were a strong team but they allowed themselves to get panicked by seeing two other teams and rather than pushing through and getting the donkeys moving they talked themselves into switching Detours. In the end they beat themselves.

There is no episode next week due to the American Country Music awards so I get a Sunday off but in two weeks it looks like we are heading to the snowy atmosphere of Switzerland and we get to see a return of a classic challenge and Wynona looks to be having trouble rock climbing. The Old Timers should have been move careful on how they split up the roadblocks.