‘The Amazing Race 26’ episode 9 review: An onslaught in Amsterdam
Tonight’s new episode of “The Amazing Race” was pretty fun. Pretty predictable, but at the same time fun. Let’s start with some honesty: It is easy to telegraph sometimes what the show is going to do. Given that there were still four legs left for five teams, it was inevitable that there would be at least one more non-elimination leg.
With that being said, we did not think going into this that it would be Matt & Ashley who were faced with a Speed Bump going into the next new episode. They’ve been consistently strong as of late, and it sometimes shows you that one silly mistake changes everything. Matt is like a whirling dervish when it comes to some tasks. The majority of time, this is a skill that you welcome; however, it’s not when it is something related to patience, like making sure you find a set of matching wooden shoes in the Roadblock. He struggled with this, and there was no catching up. It’s possible they were much further behind than it appeared on TV.
Now, let’s talk about Hayley & Blair, who are almost the “Amazing Race” version of that guy you knew in college who would go out late drinking every night, never study, and somehow still get good grades. They don’t do a single thing right when it comes to their relationship, but it works for them! Despite Hayley screaming at him over directions, seemingly because she wanted the credit for being right, they still came in second behind the incredibly consistent Tyler & Laura. At this point, we have no clue how these two will not win unless they make some catastrophic mistake. They get along, they race hard, and they deflect romance questions like nobody’s business.
What’s also worth noting is the continued underdog story of Mike & Rochelle, who still managed to get in fourth place despite some minor stumbles with the Detour and directions. The Detour was a fun one, either playing a bizarre form a shuffleboard or getting in a hot tub to solve a puzzle.
So ultimately, we enjoyed the leg, though we are not going to remember anything here in a few weeks. The only thing we learned is that Matt & Ashley are susceptible to struggles if they have to concentrate on a task. Grade: B+.
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