Amazing Race 33 -- It's finally back! -- January 5, 2022

[Amethyst]

It's like half the tasks on this race were specifically designed for Penn. They are the team to beat!

I was expecting teams to have trouble with the clue printed on the wrapper, but what's with all the teams who couldn't spell souvlaki, or even seem to know what it is?

[getbak]

"Do it for Mom, Dad!"
"Mom? I'm doing it for myself."


This week, the teams travel to Greece. Lulu & Lala are first to arrive at the Pit Stop... and get eliminated.

1. Kim & Penn (win $7,500 each)
2. Raquel & Cayla
3. Ryan & Dusty
4. Arun & Natalia
5. Lulu & Lala
6. Akbar & Sheri
7. Michael & Moe
8. Anthony & Spencer
9. Connie & Sam
10. Caro & Ray
11. Taylor & Isaiah

• savardandjokinen - Ryan & Dusty / Lulu & Lala
• chummer - Michael & Moe / Taylor & Isaiah
• Weitz - Kim & Penn / Raquel & Cayla
• brocoli - Connie & Sam / Arun & Natalia
• surferguy - Anthony & Spencer / Caro & Ray
• Hockey - Raquel & Cayla / Kim & Penn
• getbak - Taylor & Isaiah / Akbar & Sheri
• Fuzz - Caro & Ray / Anthony & Spencer
• WhiteTiger - Lulu & Lala / Michael & Moe
• ClubFlames - Akbar & Sheri / Connie & Sam
• Cheese - Arun & Natalia / Ryan & Dusty

Next week, the teams stay in Greece and smash some dishes. It will likely be another non-elimination... so last place for Arun & Natalia.

[AC]

Did Lulu & Lala say they've never had onion before while gagging and struggling to eat a standard souvlaki?

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by AC

Did Lulu & Lala say they've never had onion before while gagging and struggling to eat a standard souvlaki?

I think it was raw onions that they'd never eaten before. Here's an exit interview where they talk about it:

https://www.goldderby.com/article/20...xit-interview/

[WhiteTiger]

Dang, though I admit, I had expected my team choices to go the other way around, with L&L eliminated early, and M&M making it through some.

At least L&L were fun to watch. Also...people had way more trouble with souvlaki than I thought. The clue on the wrapper was a clever trick, though.

I still can't believe how bad Arun & Natalia are at navigating. Boggles my mind.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by WhiteTiger

I still can't believe how bad Arun & Natalia are at navigating. Boggles my mind.

Is there a reason she never drives? Each scene from the car, you can just see the look of panic on his face and how lost he is. Head is always moving but not looking at anything.

[Amethyst]

Watching people turn over rocks and smash plates again and again was not exactly an exciting hour of television.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Amethyst

Watching people turn over rocks and smash plates again and again was not exactly an exciting hour of television.

Capped with a non-elimination. I mean, it was obvious, but still. The fake edit to make it seem close was not helping.

[getbak]

This week, the teams stay in Greece and do one of the worst "needle in a haystack" challenges they've ever had. It was also one of the worst fake close-ending edits they've ever had. I wonder how far behind Ryan & Dusty really were?

1. Raquel & Cayla (win trip to Kauai)
2. Kim & Penn
3. Arun & Natalia
4. Ryan & Dusty (non-elimination)
5. Lulu & Lala
6. Akbar & Sheri
7. Michael & Moe
8. Anthony & Spencer
9. Connie & Sam
10. Caro & Ray
11. Taylor & Isaiah

• savardandjokinen - Ryan & Dusty / Lulu & Lala
• chummer - Michael & Moe / Taylor & Isaiah
• Weitz - Kim & Penn / Raquel & Cayla
• brocoli - Connie & Sam / Arun & Natalia
• surferguy - Anthony & Spencer / Caro & Ray
• Hockey - Raquel & Cayla / Kim & Penn
• getbak - Taylor & Isaiah / Akbar & Sheri
• Fuzz - Caro & Ray / Anthony & Spencer
• WhiteTiger - Lulu & Lala / Michael & Moe
• ClubFlames - Akbar & Sheri / Connie & Sam
• Cheese - Arun & Natalia / Ryan & Dusty

Next week, the two-hour finale sees the teams make a stop in Portugal before heading back to the States and the final leg in Los Angeles.

[Amethyst]

I'd be okay with any of the teams, except Arun and Natalia, winning. They've been back of the pack the whole race and just lucked into non-eliminations (or being brought back from elimination).

[mile]

As long as Arum and Natalia don't win, I'm good with anyone else. Arum was really whiny in this last leg.

Slightly pulling for Raquel and Cayla to win, just because of how positive and fun they've been the whole time.

[GirlySports]

I did not think the needle in a haystack task was that bad. Dusty had no plan and got mad. He's been a hothead the entire race.

How do we feel about a season with no U-Turns?

[WhiteTiger]

I thought that the Rock challenge was neat, and different from every other challenge so far this season. It seems like a lot of work, but as was said later in the show, attention to detail likely would have seen folks more quickly through it.

It also seemed that it was pretty smart of them to put all the coins close to each other...because it looked like as soon as someone found one, the other people moved further away, assuming that the coins wouldn't be close together.

Breaking plates....boring to watch, fun to do.

I'm on the "anyone but Arun and Natalia" train. I like Arun, he seems like an awesome fellow. Natalia seems like a whiny, lazy kid. She always seems to put every task she can give to Arun to him. You'd think with something like "bend over and turn over rocks", she'd be all over that, but nope...right away to "you do it, dad."

I'm hoping that either Kim & Penn or Raquel & Cayla win it. I've enjoyed watching them all season.

[Amethyst]

I like no u-turns. Classic TAR. I'd rather teams succeed or fail based on their own decisions about detours, rather than other teams u-turning them.

[Fuzz]

The only good part about U-turns are it builds more rivalries and can break friendships when the going gets tough. But I've never liked how a good team can get eliminated while the worst team skates by only doing 1 task.

Maybe if they only came as the first task on a leg with non-elimination. That way, it bumps the good team back, but they have plenty of chances to crawl back up.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

The only good part about U-turns are it builds more rivalries and can break friendships when the going gets tough. But I've never liked how a good team can get eliminated while the worst team skates by only doing 1 task.

Maybe if they only came as the first task on a leg with non-elimination. That way, it bumps the good team back, but they have plenty of chances to crawl back up.

I wonder if no U-turns is because in the last Amazing Race it was pretty dull because of that alliance which formed early on. No U-turns really reduce the effectiveness of alliances I would say.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

I wonder if no U-turns is because in the last Amazing Race it was pretty dull because of that alliance which formed early on. No U-turns really reduce the effectiveness of alliances I would say.

Well hopefully in future seasons there is never a team as dumb as the beard bros. Let's have an alliance so we can take the best two teams with us and finish 3rd.

It may suck for viewers but best teams don't all make the finale. It's fun seeing teams gang up to knock out the best team with mixed results

[Cheese]

Good finish to the race!

[WhiteTiger]

I admit, that I was pulling for Raquel & Cayla to win it all, but I am pretty happy with Kim & Penn taking the title. I liked that last leg quite a bit.

[getbak]

Leg 1: The teams travel to Portugal and get down to the final 3.

1. Raquel & Cayla (win trip to Saint Lucia)
2. Kim & Penn
3. Ryan & Dusty
4. Arun & Natalia
5. Lulu & Lala
6. Akbar & Sheri
7. Michael & Moe
8. Anthony & Spencer
9. Connie & Sam
10. Caro & Ray
11. Taylor & Isaiah

----------

Leg 2: The teams travel to Los Angeles for the final leg.

1. Kim & Penn (win $1 million)
2. Raquel & Cayla
3. Ryan & Dusty
4. Arun & Natalia
5. Lulu & Lala
6. Akbar & Sheri
7. Michael & Moe
8. Anthony & Spencer
9. Connie & Sam
10. Caro & Ray
11. Taylor & Isaiah

• savardandjokinen - Ryan & Dusty / Lulu & Lala
• chummer - Michael & Moe / Taylor & Isaiah
• Weitz - Kim & Penn / Raquel & Cayla
• brocoli - Connie & Sam / Arun & Natalia
• surferguy - Anthony & Spencer / Caro & Ray
• Hockey - Raquel & Cayla / Kim & Penn
• getbak - Taylor & Isaiah / Akbar & Sheri
• Fuzz - Caro & Ray / Anthony & Spencer
• WhiteTiger - Lulu & Lala / Michael & Moe
• ClubFlames - Akbar & Sheri / Connie & Sam
• Cheese - Arun & Natalia / Ryan & Dusty

Congrats to Kim & Penn on becoming the oldest team to win The Amazing Race... although, they're both younger than me, so that makes me sad.

Raquel & Cayla really hit their groove in the last couple of legs, but they got hung up on the piñata candy on the final challenge. If they had been able to get that right earlier, they would have won but they kept switching that and the coin and didn't have them both right at the same time soon enough.

Ryan & Dusty took too long to figure out the combination of the lock and were done before they had a chance to get started.


Nice to see Taylor & Isaiah were able to make it back for the finish line. I suspect they'll make another appearance at some time.



Now, I guess we wait to see if there will be a TAR:Canada this summer.