‘The Amazing Race 27’ episode 8 review: A surprising finish in Krakow

Let us start out this “Amazing Race” review with the worst part of the episode: There was no competition at all for first place. While we enjoy Justin & Diana’s passion for the race, there was never any doubt that they were going to win. They hopped an earlier flight to Krakow, Poland, and therefore there was never any doubt as to who would be #1 at the end of the leg. They continue to dominate, but we still don’t think a first-place finish at the end is assured. For whatever reason, we’re going to continue to say that the winners’ edit lies with Kelsey & Joey.

Structurally, what we did like about the leg is that they crammed a lot into a short period of time, and a wide mixture of different tasks to go along with it. You had some fun with the piano-playing / salt-mining Detour, and then a serious moment as teams visited Oskar Schindler’s Factory. You then had a tribute to Jewish culture and food in a way that you do not often get on the show.

Despite the variety of tasks, we thought we were going to come into this review with a pretty singular focus, and that was completely burying either Tiffany & Krista or Tanner & Josh for some of their actions. The former cheerleaders could have made an enormous mistake in helping out Team Texas at the food-themed Roadblock; if they were jokes, they could have run right past them. We know some out there are going to kill the guys for basically putting themselves in position to be eliminated, but we don’t blame them. Image is clearly important to them, and they would’ve looked awful to allow the cheerleaders to finish behind them after they were the only reason they finished when they did.

It’s great for these two teams that this was a non-elimination leg … but can you imagine the discussion that we’d be having right now if it was? It would probably be one of the most controversial endings to any episode ever. Episode Grade: B-.

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