Tonight was the penultimate episode of The Amazing Race: All-Stars. Four teams remain, but which three will race in the final leg for the million dollar prize? Read on to find out.
Dave and Connor came in first place in the last leg of the race, so they are the first to depart. They learn they must travel to an airport in Madrid and catch a flight to London, England. From there, they must drive to the city of Liverpool and play football at Anfield Stadium. They must score two goals each to get their next clue. Dave and Connor are eager to be the first parent-child team to win the race, but right behind them are Brendon and Rachel, Leo and Jamal, and Caroline and Jennifer. Leo and Jamal were eliminated in fourth place last season, so they are hoping not to repeat history.
The four teams are on the same flight, but it is Leo and Jamal who arrive at Anfield Stadium first. Jamal injured his knee in the last leg of the race, so he is inhibited by the brace on his leg. Therefore, Caroline and Jennifer manage to arrive at the stadium before Leo and Jamal complete the task. However, Leo and Jamal scored their four goals shortly afterwards and can make their way to the next location: Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. Leo and Jamal are in first place and are leaving just as Dave and Connor are parking outside the stadium. Brendon and Rachel have already arrived as well.
Brendon and Rachel do well at the task and they score their four goals before Caroline and Jennifer do. They are now in second place, leaving Caroline and Jennifer and Dave and Connor behind them. Despite struggling at the start of the task, the country singers are able to score their four goals before too long and can make their way to the aqueducts too. This means Dave and Connor are the last team left. Connor is especially struggling with the task, but he finally manages to score two goals, and he and Dave can follow the other teams to Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.
Along the way, Leo and Jamal stop to ask for directions, as do Brendon and Rachel. The two teams happened to have stopped in the same gas station to ask the locals for guidance, and it is Brendon and Rachel who figure out the way before Leo and Jamal. They drive off, but Leo and Jamal get back in their car and follow them. However, Brendon doesn’t want Leo and Jamal following them, and he manages to lose them.
Brendon and Rachel and Caroline and Jennifer are the first two teams to arrive at the aqueducts. They learn they have a Roadblock to complete. One team member must recite a Welsh poem to an elderly lady by memory (as well as pronounce each word perfectly). They get to practice with an instructor inside a moving vehicle traveling across the aqueduct, which is about a fifteen minute ride. Brendon and Caroline do the task for their respective teams. While Brendon and Caroline are practicing, Dave and Connor and Leo and Jamal arrive at the same time. Jamal and Connor do the task for their teams. So once again, Dave does not do the Roadblock. I thought there was a rule that the teams must do an equal amount of Roadblocks on the race. However, this is Connor’s seventh time doing the Roadblock and Dave has only done it four times. I guess the producers aren’t enforcing the rule this year.
It takes Brendon and Caroline two attempts to correctly recite the poem, but Jamal and Connor have a lot of struggles with the task. They don’t get it until their fourth attempt. Afterwards, they can finally make their way to the next location: Bolesworth Estate. Brendon and Rachel are the first ones to arrive there. They learn they have a Detour to complete: “Shoot It” or “Boot It.” “Shoot It” is basically target practice, and they must shoot down sixteen moving targets in the air to get their next clue. “Boot It” requires them to fill a boot (size 9 or 11) with water and keep tossing it until it crosses a finish line. Brendon and Rachel choose to “Boot It,” unaware that they chose the wrong size of boots. While they’re working on the Detour, Caroline and Jennifer and Dave and Connor arrive; they decide to “Shoot It.” Leo and Jamal, however, are still lost while the three teams are working on their Detours.
Brendon and Rachel are the first to complete the task, but they realize the mistake they made. Rachel breaks down crying and keeps apologizing. “I didn’t know!” she keeps crying, but Brendon yells at her to stop crying and just redo the task correctly. Brendon and Rachel’s mistake allows Caroline and Jennifer and Dave and Connor to overtake them. Caroline and Jennifer finish their Detour first, but Dave and Connor finish theirs just minutes afterwards. After Caroline and Jennifer went the wrong way to the Pit Stop (Peckforton Castle), Dave and Connor managed to reach the Pit Stop first. They win a trip for two to Fiji. Caroline and Jennifer check-in as Team #2.
Leo and Jamal finally arrive at Bolesworth Estate just when Brendon and Rachel restart the task with a boot that is the correct size. The magic of television editing suggests that it’s a close race as both teams finish their Detours simultaneously, but it is Brendon and Rachel who check-in as Team #3. They are angry at themselves for not reading the clue correctly as that is what cost them the race the last time they were competing. They assert they won’t make a mistake like that again when they race in the final leg for the million dollar prize.
That means that Leo and Jamal were the last team to check-in, and were eliminated. Once again they were eliminated at the Final Four. The cousins take their elimination in stride. Even though they are clearly disappointed, they are grateful for the opportunity and will have cherished memories from the experience.
Episode Summary:
1st place: Dave and Connor (Won a trip to Fiji)
2nd place: Caroline and Jennifer
3rd place: Brendon and Rachel
4th place: Leo and Jamal (Eliminated)
That means the Final 3 teams racing for the million dollar prize are Dave and Connor, Caroline and Jennifer, and Brendon and Rachel. Which team will win The Amazing Race: All-Stars?
Thanks for reading and join me next week for my final recap of The Amazing Race: All-Stars!
