Episode Report Card M. Giant: A- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT All About the Melons
By M. Giant | Season 20 | Episode 3 | Aired on 03.04.2012
Mark is the next to finish the Detour, and Nary looks like she's close, but Kerri drops her bottle on the final move. Team Kentucky gets their clue just ahead of Nary and both teams read that they need to get to the next Pit Stop. Where, according to the onscreen clock, Other Rachel and Dave have five minutes left to wait. Both teams head off that way, with six blocks to go. Other Rachel and Dave stand up from the bench, with only eighteen seconds left, but that's just enough time for Team Kentucky and Team Undercover to gain the mat, almost simultaneously. "You girls rocked today!" Bopper says, high-fiving Nary. Phil asks them to scootch over to make room for Other Rachel and Dave, then checks in Bopper and Mark as team number four, Nary and Jamie as team number five and Other Rachel and Dave team number six. Phil tells the latter team, "This is the first time ever on The Amazing Race that a team has not completed a challenge on a leg and stayed in the Amazing Race." That calls for some clarification, which Phil provided on Twitter this week. Yes, Boston Rob also quit the Meatblock challenge in TAR7, and convinced other teams to do the same, but what Phil means here is not just that Other Rachel and Dave didn't complete a task; they didn't complete either task today. Or any task. They completed fuck all. Other Rachel claps at their historic accomplishment, but Dave just has this kind of pissy half-smile that's worse than a glower. He interviews, "The leg was a complete and utter failure, and Rachel and I can only improve from this point forward." On the mat, Bopper twangs about how they're still here, and Dave can't entirely suppress an actual smile. After all, they're still here too. Sure, their Express Pass is gone, along with their aura of invincibility, but they're going to be a lot more rested than all the other teams tomorrow.
Elliot and Andrew are still stringing, with less bickering this time. Ralph tells Vanessa they'll be here until midnight. "You down?" "I'm down," she says gamely. Yes, she was a dick to Rachel earlier for no apparent reason, but they're paying that karmic debt now. Both teams continue working. The sun goes down, clouds pass in front of the moon, and Kerri and Stacy are checked in as team number seven. Any other leg, they'd be done now. But there are still two teams out there in the field: Ralph and Vanessa and the twins, still working alone on their respective Detours. The twins get final approval on their harp, just as Ralph has two melons left to stack and soon Elliot and Andrew are en route to Plaza de la Democracia in eighth place. "That was disheartening," Andrew says in the cab. Ralph places the last melon on his pile and the crowd of locals with nothing better to do applauds. Now there are two teams on their way to the Plaza.