TAR 31, Recap Leg 2, 4/24/19

Welcome to Leg 2! Last time, on Fifteen Minutes of Fame Wasn’t Quite Enough, 11 teams started Amazing Race 31, Reality Show Showdown! There was a romp in a giant sand sculpture and then a flight to Japan. The Afghanimals dominated and Team Rupert got lost in a park for two hours. In the end, Border Patrol Art and JJ couldn’t climb Mt. Fuji and were eliminated. Who will be eliminated. . . next? (click for more)

Arrival at the pit stop last episode:

1st – Leo and Jamal, The Afghanimals

2nd – Colin and Christie, Team My Ox Is Broken!

3rd – Tyler and Korey, Team Hot Gay YouTube Celebrities

4th – Rachel and Elissa, The Houseguest Sisters

5th – Becca and Floyd, Team Nerdgasm

6th – Nicole and Victor, The Engaged Houseguests

7th – Chris and Bret, Team Millenials Vs. Gen X

8th – Janelle and Britney, The Friendly Houseguests

9th – Corinne and Eliza, Team Fans Vs. Favorites

10th – Rupert and Laura, Team Blood Vs. Water

Atago Jinja, Tokyo, Japan

12:42 AM Leo/Jamal (1st)

Clue: Fly 2500 miles to Luang Prabang, Laos! Pick up your tickets from Tickets Today. Once there, travel by tuk tuk to Villa Santi before sunrise. Please make sure that all your shoulders and feet are covered while in Laos.

(Toyouke: “Well at least there are still tuk tuks.”)

12:45 AM Colin/Christie (2nd) – and Colin reminds us of how he behaved in Tanzania.

12:54 AM Tyler/Korey (3rd)

1:00 AM Rachel/Elissa (4th) – Rachel pines for her husband, but gushes over how she and her sister had babies at the same time. (Toyouke: “Oh look, there's the Rachel I hate. And I am talking about the "it's hard without my hubby" part, not just the flashback part.”)

1:04 AM Becca/Floyd (5th)

1:06 AM Nicole/Victor (6th)

Chris/Bret (7th)

Janelle/Britney (8th)

2:06 AM Corinne/Eliza (9th)

4:25 AM Rupert/Laura (10th) – (Toyouke: “I'm satisfied at how far behind Rupert is. Of course they're probably all on the same flight. You know that first episode they were all on the same flight? Digging through the sand octopus had absolutely no purpose since they all got tickets to the same flight?”)

So teams make their way to Tickets Today. (Toyouke: “I don't like this spoon-feeding of travel arrangements.”) Teams arrive (we assume) in the following order:

1- Colin/Christie

2- Leo/Jamal

3- Tyler/Korey

4- Nicole/Victor

5- Becca/Floyd

6- Rachel/Elissa

7- Janelle/Britney

8- Chris/Bret

9- Corinne/Eliza

10- Rupert/Laura

Teams arrive at Narita in the following order:

1- Colin/Christie

2- Leo/Jamal

3- Tyler/Korey

4- Nicole/Victor

5- Becca/Floyd

6- Rachel/Elissa

7- Janelle/Britney

8- Chris/Bret

9- Corinne/Eliza

10- Rupert/Laura

Once there, teams all make it on the same flight to Luang Prabang. Teams arrive at Luang Prabang International Airport in the following order:

1- Colin/Christie

2- Leo/Jamal

3- Tyler/Korey

4- Nicole/Victor

5- Becca/Floyd

6- Rachel/Elissa

7- Janelle/Britney

8- Chris/Bret

9- Corinne/Eliza

10- Rupert/Laura

Anyway, we take tuk tuks, and we magically end up outside Valla Santi, because there apparently were no issues whatsoever. Teams arrive and get clues in the following order:

1- Rachel/Elissa

2- Rupert/Laura

3- Leo/Jamal

4- Chris/Bret

5- Tyler/Korey

6- Janelle/Britney

7- Corinne/Eliza

8- Becca/Floyd

9- Colin/Christie

10- Nicole/Victor

Teams are now instructed to travel to Wat Sensoukharan and participate in the morning ritual of giving gifts of rice to the monks. (Toyouke: “What is the point of this exactly? Are we trying to make everyone have a cultural experience? You know no one is paying attention to anything but how quickly they can leave. “) Once the monks passed, teams got their clues in the following order:

1- Corinne/Eliza

2- Tyler/Korey

3- Colin/Christie

4- Nicole/Victor

5- Leo/Jamal

6- Chris/Bret

7- Rachel/Elissa

8- Becca/Floyd

9- Janelle/Britney

10- Rupert/Laura

Teams are now instructed to make their way to the Big Tree on the Mekong River and search for their next clue. Teams arrive in the following order:

1- Rachel/Elissa

2- Colin/Christie

3- Nicole/Victor

4- Leo/Jamal

5- Becca/Floyd

6- Corinne/Eliza

7- Tyler/Korey

8- Janelle/Britney

9- Chris/Bret

10- Rupert/Laura

When they arrive, teams find the U-Turn. (Toyouke: “Shouldn't the U-Turn be AFTER the Detour? Also, you have a U-Turn here because you know one of your Detour options is hot garbage.”)

This is a Double U-Turn. Teams may choose to U-turn any team they wish (well, the team has to be behind them), but they may only use the U-Turn once during the race. If a team is U-turned, they must go back to the Detour choices and complete the Detour that they did not complete. This U-Turn is doubled, meaning two teams may U-Turn two other teams. Phil, during his explanation, does not say how many U-Turns there will be on this race.

1- Rachel/Elissa choose to U-Turn Becca/Floyd

2- Colin/Christie choose not to use the U-Turn

3- Nicole/Victor choose not to use the U-Turn

4- Leo/Jamal choose not to use the U-Turn

5- Becca/Floyd are U-Turned and choose to U-Turn Tyler/Korey

6- Corinne/Eliza cannot U-Turn

7- Tyler/Korey are U-Turned and cannot U-Turn

8- Janelle/Britney cannot U-Turn

9- Chris/Bret cannot U-Turn

10- Rupert/Laura cannot U-Turn

So the YouTubers and Team Fun have been U-Turned and now must complete both Detour options.

Teams open their clues after the U-Turn, and we get the Detour Clue.

DETOUR:

ABC OR BBQ

*ABC: Teams must travel to Ecole Maternelle Louang Prabang and choose a teacher to teach them the Lao alphabet. Once learned, teams must take a test of the letters in front of an elementary school class. Once the letters have been recited properly, the instructor will give them their printed clue.

*BBQ: Teams travel to BBQ Alley and create Lao barbecue skewers. They must purchase three ducks and eight tilapia, and then set up the eleven skewers properly. Once complete, the pitmaster will give them their next clue.

(Toyouke: “I would much rather shop for ingredients than learn an inflection-based language.”)

1- Tyler/Korey choose ABC – and then go back afterwards and complete BBQ because they were U-Turned.

2- Becca/Floyd choose BBQ – and then go back afterwards and complete ABC because they were U-Turned.

3- Leo/Jamal choose BBQ

4- Corinne/Eliza choose ABC

5- Rachel/Elissa choose BBQ – and choose this time to apologize to Team Fun for the U-Turn. (Toyouke: “Why are you going to apologize? You feel guilty suddenly? Tough. You were the first team at the U-Turn and you could have made someone else do it for you like Leo and Jamal did.”)

6- Nicole/Victor choose BBQ

7- Janelle/Britney choose BBQ

8- Colin/Christie choose BBQ

9- Chris/Bret choose BBQ

10- Rupert/Laura choose ABC

Much alphabet learning and skewer making ensues. So, teams complete the detour in the following order:

1- Corinne/Eliza

2- Leo/Jamal

3- Nicole/Victor

4- Janelle/Britney

5- Colin/Christie

6- Rachel/Elissa

7- Rupert/Laura

8- Becca/Floyd – after having completed their first task just after Nicole and Victor. (Toyouke: “How am I not surprised Team Fun had zero trouble learning another alphabet.”)

9- Chris/Bret

10- Tyler/Korey – after having completed their first task before Corinne and Eliza.

Teams are now instructed to travel by tuk tuk to the Elephant Village on the Nam Khan River and search for their next clue. Teams arrive in the following order:

1- Leo/Jamal

2- Nicole/Victor

3- Corinne/Eliza

4- Janelle/Britney

5- Colin/Christie

6- Rachel/Elissa

7- Becca/Floyd

8- Chris/Bret

9- Tyler/Korey

10- Rupert/Laura

When they rip open the clue, teams get the third roadblock.

ROADBLOCK:

Who likes to be in command?

In this roadblock, one team member must climb an elephant and ride it through the river while guiding it forward using Lao commands. Once across the river, the roadblocker must find two men playing Hmong music to get their next clue. Once teams reunite, they may open the clue.

The following teammates take the Roadblock:

1- Leo

2- Nicole

3- Corinne

4- Britney

5- Christie

6- Elissa

7- Becca

8- Chris

9- Tyler

10- Rupert – who loves elephants, apparently.

After much elephant riding and musician finding, teams complete the Roadblock in the following order:

1- Nicole/Victor

2- Leo/Jamal – who mislead Nicole and Victor to get ahead. (Toyouke: “How are you going to constantly complain someone blocked the road to keep you from going faster, but it's fine to tell someone the wrong directions? All or nothing guys.”)

3- Corinne/Eliza

4- Rachel/Elissa

5- Colin/Christie

6- Janelle/Britney

7- Tyler/Korey

8- Chris/Bret

9- Becca/Floyd

10- Rupert/Laura

Teams are now instructed to travel by tuk tuk to Wat Xieng Thong and board a speed boat to Prince Phetsarath’s Palace, the PIT STOP of the second leg of this racearoundtheworld. The last team to arrive MAY be eliminated!

1- Leo/Jamal – who win $2500 each.

2- Nicole/Victor

3- Rachel/Elissa

4- Colin/Christie

5- Janelle/Britney

6- Corinne/Eliza

7- Tyler/Korey

8- Chris/Bret

9- Becca/Floyd

10- Rupert/Laura

And Rupert and Laura are eliminated. But they’ve been married for 21 years and they are still together, so there’s that.

ORDER NOW:

1st – Leo/Jamal

2nd – Nicole/Victor

3rd – Rachel/Elissa

4th – Colin/Christie

5th – Janelle/Britney

6th – Corinne/Eliza

7th – Tyler/Korey

8th – Chris/Bret

9th – Becca/Floyd

Next week: To Vietnam we go! There’s glow dancing! And crawfishing! Oh and Leo and Jamal get snippy at each other. This is early. Until next time!