‘The Amazing Race 21’ review: To U-Turn or not to U-Turn

This week on “The Amazing Race,” Abbie & Ryan were made out to look like the most angry, bitter people ever. Meanwhile, the Chippendales were edited like the most sympathetic gameplayers of all time.

So was it a brilliant game move for Jaymes & James to make the move to U-Turn the only team on the race competing for $2 million? In a word, definitely. Even though Abbie & Ryan have been slowed thanks to some rather unfortunate airline incidents, they are one of the strongest teams on the race this season, and they would definitely have U-Turned anyone who was in their way had they been in this situation. These guys are running the race for more than just themselves, and they had to think of that even though they struggled with the decision.

This is quickly turning out to be one of the most strategic seasons ever on the show, as all of the top teams had a plan here: one of them U-Turned the token villains of the season, while one of the others U-Turned a team in front of them, that way the two U-Turns were used up and no one could slow down Josh & Brent. It’s pretty ironic that these guys are goat farmers, since they are quickly turning out to be the goats of the race. They haven’t finished well in any leg in weeks, but somehow, someway, they are still around.

Since it conclusion of this episode is obvious when it comes to Abbie & Ryan’s elimination, let’s focus on a few other highlights: the Twinnies finished in first place thanks to using the Fast Forward, and they are still a major threat in order to win the prize. Josh & Brent actually debated for a time staying behind with the last-place team, but they at least had enough of a competitive edge in order to finish in the fourth position.

In truth, Abbie & Ryan cannot be horrible people since the goat farmers and even the Chippendales seem to like them fine; unfortunately for them, their story on this season, like with much of their luck with plane tickets, screwed them.

What did you think about this episode, and would you have done the same thing if you were in Jaymes & James’ situation?