‘The Amazing Race 24’ review: The river runs wild for Brendon & Rachel
What an entertaining season of “The Amazing Race” this has been! Who said that all-stars typically make for lame seasons of this show? We weren’t big on either one of the past editions of the show with returning racers, but this cast is bringing it. You had subtle shade being thrown around, great challenges that were actually hard, sweet moments, and above all racing that was actually based on skill more so than luck.
The setting this week was the lush jungles of Malaysia, and that made for some different sort of tasks regarding waterfall-climbing and rafting. These were mostly based entirely on your experience in doing some of these things, your teamwork, and also your attention to detail: All important elements to winning the race. This is why Dave & Connor, Jet & Cord, and Leo & Jamal are all threatening teams this season. They all are strong enough to withstand problems that come their way and keep racing. Heck, all three of them made errors in the course, but still were first, second, and third respectively.
The one team we did genuinely feel for? Brendon & Rachel. Despite starting in first place, a bad taxi got them on the second flight to Malaysia, and then competing with John & Jessica and Joey & Meghan for last place. After completing the roadblock, they actually built a better raft than John & Jessica en route to the detour. However, they didn’t have the experience of the other couple rafting, and were actually in a somewhat-dangerous situation lost at sea. By far, this was the craziest situation we’ve ever seen for a team all season, but they still found a way to push through it.
In the end, though, Joey & Meghan just couldn’t compete against the other teams this season. It never felt like they had a serious chance at winning, but more than skill tonight, they were eliminated thanks to them forgetting to keep a taxi and that left them far behind. Even with this ending telegraphed about 20 minutes in, this was still a heck of a riveting hour. Kudos to the challenge producers for actually giving us something that was challenging. Grade: A-.
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Photo: CBS