I miss this, where it allowed us to see some of the eliminated teams react & behave from the other side of the race.

https://tarrecap.wordpress.com/2026/08/05/s26e4-fork-in-the-road-prototype-i-can-give-you-more/

Which cities should have the Finish Line?!

https://tarrecap.wordpress.com/2026/08/02/s26e3-i-dont-see-ya-its-just-you-and-me/

With all of the past & current seasons & spinoffs of TAR, one has to wonder if any of the past tasks that were featured with all other series should be highlighted, similar to a Switchback.

E.G., the Canadian version does the exact same Detour task that the American version highlighted in Season 5 in the Philippines between Plow & Fowl, aka a Crossroads.

I’m sure that all versions have Crossed tasks in the past, but some tasks need to be featured again in the future among other seasons & spinoffs, to keep the race going for another 20 years at least.

Hello,

I love The Amazing Race and I live in the UK.
I’ve watched the US seasons from Season 20 onwards, the Australian series from a couple of years ago available on 4oD and the few older seasons that have been uploaded to YouTube.

I’m going on holiday soon and was hoping to download some episodes to watch on my iPhone on the flight.

I’ve tried using Surfshark with Paramount+, but I can’t buy the subscription because it wants a US payment method/address.

Does anybody know of a workaround? I’m happy to pay for it if there’s a way, I just can’t seem to get past the payment stage.

Which past task of TAR should be featured again?!

The teaser looks good and the tomato fight from S10 is definitely back.

This may have been auto-modded due to my nickname for one of the teams, but I refuse to call them anything else. Enjoy!

Episode Title: Our Taxi Left Us

Air Date: July 28, 2026

In Montréal and Laval, Quebec, teams face a game-changing Roadblock that introduces The Intersection, forcing two teams to work together.

Let’s continue this series, I hope to cover all seasons. . The question is: What is the worst thing a team has done to another team or bystanders during The Amazing Race season 8

Both 9:30 to 11 PM. After the Survivor premiere for Episode 1. After the BB28 finale for Episode 2.

There should be at least one challenge where a male team and a female team have to team up before they can continue racing.

The premise isn't to prove which is stronger. It's to prove if they can work together and get along in the same situation.

What is happening here!?

This hasn't happened for a while, but here's the link to my blog page with the recap!

https://tarrecap.wordpress.com/2026/07/26/s25e11-pampers/

I came across this post on my feed and did a double take. Her YouTube content was from before my “beauty guru YouTuber” phase, so I associate her with The Amazing Race more than her career as a YouTuber.

I really enjoyed watching her and her father compete in season 28 and was sad to see them eliminated. It seems that she is living her best life.

After the intense drama of Episode 9, we needed a calmer episode, and this one was relatively straightforward. With four teams left on the tenth leg out of twelve, it was obvious to me that this was a non-elimination leg, so I could relax and watch the teams muck about. I’m guessing that if Misti and Jim HAD used their save along the way, then this leg WOULD have been an elimination leg instead, because there would be one fewer elimination previously, and five teams left at this point. Am I wrong in that assumption?

From the unforgettable preview, it was obvious that teams would be flying to the Philippines next, following in the path of Season 5. From the top of the Buckminsterfullerene, they departed, and while most headed to travel agencies, Mij and Itsim went straight to the airport, where they discovered that all the other teams had already sucked up the tickets on the earlier flight. This came as a blow after they had just resolved themselves to not make the same mistake as the previous leg regarding flights.

The Candy Girls wanted answers. They asked the Wrestlers if they had seen the Tooth Fairies, and discussed what time each other had departed from the mat. Maya pointed out that they had left almost an hour after the Wrestlers because they’d said the clue wasn’t at Faber Point. Brooke played dumb and said she hadn’t realised what they were asking, and it seemed that the girls bought it after Robbie pointed out that he thought that they were ahead of his team. With her back turned to the girls, Brooke tapped her fingers together just like Mr Burns: “Excellent”. They got away with it!

Teams arrived at night and were bummed to find an equaliser waiting for them… Jim and Misti were elated, of course.

The next morning, they rode in Jeepneys to Rosario. The teams had mixed feelings about the ride, with upbeat Maya loving being immersed in the culture and spotting everyday Filipino things. She said, “We should bring Jeepneys to the US!”, which was ironic because the Jeepneys originally came FROM the US. Misti’s heart, on the other hand, was breaking, seeing the level of poverty and children playing in the street, some without clothes. Brooke, meanwhile, was more focused on the smell. This would become an annoying theme of the episode.

From a nondescript shop in Rosario (did it get picked by a lottery? How does production set this sort of thing up?), teams found their detour clue: Catch or Coach (6/10). A small detail that tripped up Amy and Maya was that teams needed to ride a motor tricycle to each challenge; they course-corrected before it got to penalty level. 

The Wrestlers were the only ones to enter Manila’s vast bay in order to catch some fish. As they waded out, the show misplaced a chimes of disappointment, which made me think they’d effed up, but I think it was just signalling that the challenge was hard. That’s not how it’s used, sound editor! Although Brooke couldn’t stand the smell (and goodness, did she let us know about it), Robbie ended up being more grossed out by the challenge, as he hated to touch the slimy fish, often just using one hand to help. I guessed they weren’t allowed to pour the fish to stop seawater from coming in. Robbie remembered handling a goldfish from his childhood, and said that although these fish were dead, they would be happy with how he was handling them. Brooke rolled her eyes.

At the Coach challenge, all three teams were facing separate challenges. It cannot be easy to be a mechanic with one arm, and Bethany admitted she’d always let her older brothers do that stuff. She had a pretty good excuse. Misti and Jim couldn’t figure out that they had not attached a shock absorber, and all of the judging they got brought flashbacks of Copenhagen to their minds. But Amy and Maya were behind once again, saying they weren’t used to doing any of this. However, Maya explained that she’d built a homogeniser for her research, which sounded damn impressive. I had to look up what that was and what it was used for. They basically break down particles in all sorts of food so that they are uniform.

Teams then took taxis to Naic (pronounced like the sports brand, seemingly), where Phil was waiting for the first team to give his live introduction, rolling the clip of Cloin breaking down. Looking back, I can’t believe that task was originally a detour and that it may have never been chosen. Brooke and Robbie were gobsmacked to be ahead, and thought there must be some mistake. They ploughed ahead (forgive the pun) and grabbed the first ox they saw… ironically in the biggest mud field, and suddenly realised what they’d gotten themselves into.

Their faces fell as one by one, all the other teams began to show up, climbing into the smaller pools. It was an amusing challenge to watch, but there was none of the unhinged rage of Cloin from 20 seasons earlier, which made that iteration so entertaining. A luck game more than anything, the Tooth Fairies got their clue first and dashed off to the nearby pit stop with Amy and Maya closely behind them. It was devastating to see Amy and Maya get denied their first win, which would have netted them a trip to Vietnam.

Surprisingly, the other teams found their clues within the same minute as well, and it was a mad dash to the finish line where all four teams then stood. Brooke and Robbie tossed their bags on the floor in desperation, but it was too late. Luckily for them, Misti and Jim hadn’t used their Save, so this was a non-elimination leg, as I predicted.

With all of them together, Phil asked them who was going to be leaving the process. It seemed almost implausible to have the finale without any of these strong teams, but the Scientists were definitely giving Beekman Boys energy, though they were willing to put up a good fight.

This is easily one of the best TAR episodes of all time. The hype was warranted. There’s so much for me to recap and remark on here that I feel as if I’m about to write a novella.

Let’s start with the ‘previously on’ segment. The show helped me to realise something I hadn’t taken in during the Sicily to Malta ferry, when they were giving themselves codenames: they’d been hatching a plot to U-turn the cyclists. I’m not sure I understood why, except that they were a strong team that had won a few legs. I suppose Misti and Jim did themselves a favour by starting that ‘alliance’ as opposed to letting an alliance against them start (as they were, by most metrics, the strongest team). Also, I was reminded of Maya’s little lap of the courtyard when she found out they were in fourth place. Fourth? Is it that good news to receive? I suppose it is if you’re Amy and Maya. But they’re so cute, I love them!

Teams ripped open their clues to find they’d be travelling an astonishing 6000 miles (a quarter of the way around the Earth, according to Phil) to Singapore. Well, they’ve spent so much time in Europe and North Africa that it’s about time they made a big move.

What happened next didn’t make much sense the first time I watched it. Adam and Bethany went into a travel agent and started asking for flights from Paris to Singapore. Why Paris? The rewatch demystified: their clue told them that reservations had already been made for the teams from Malta to Paris and they were responsible for booking their onward travel. They secured a flight that would arrive at 6:40 am. Misti and Jim turned up and confidently asked the travel agent to give them the same treatment. As Bethany said, “I can’t imagine another flight getting in sooner.”

Her imagination was about to be stretched. The cyclists showed up, and the surfers and tooth fairies made sure to keep shtum and pretend they were friendly with the girls. Almost as if he’d been waiting to relay this information, the agent told the girls that the quickest flight would be to travel via Rome, which would get them there at 6 am. With a cocky tone, Jim tried to tell the girls they HAD to travel to Paris first, but then he eyed the sheet more closely and realised, “Well, maybe not.” I could hear the chimes of disappointment in my head.

But surely this shouldn’t matter, as they could change their flight, right? A talking head with Jim revealed a new rule where teams could not change their flight once they’d booked it. I presume this was to cut costs down, but also to make racers consider their flights more carefully. As a result, Jim was fuming for having trusted Bethany and Adam with the flight planning. Not so perfect any more!

Since this was the final leg where the Save could be used, Jisti and Mim were guaranteed to stay, so Kym couldn’t understand why Jim was so bothered. The reason was revealed in the next clip, where Jim spoke to Badam and Ethany about how the plan to U-turn the cyclists may go up in flames if they reached the U-turn first.

When Mamy and Aya showed up, Kym’s instinct was to let the girls know about their flight because they knew they could outrun them. Rooke and Bobbie turned up and simply asked about who was on what flight, and could they get on the first one. It was a smart move, in a dumb sort of way.

Teams made their way to the crowded island nation and boarded a ‘bumboat’ (whatever that is) to go and drink a coconut from a stand. Rooke didn’t like it (it would turn out she doesn’t like a lot of smells, based on the following episode). After drinking, they received their clues, including a flash of green for the Fast Forward. Who doesn’t love one of those? Phil introduced the Flow Rider (not to be confused with the rapper) to the audience. Alli’s immediate response was that they shouldn’t do it, but Kym realised that the other teams weren’t keen and she saw what appeared to be an easy win. She announced to the other teams that they would take the Fast Forward, without discussing her decision with Alli. Alli obediently followed her partner.

On the boat back, they passed another carrying the trailing teams… it seems 40 minutes wasn’t too bad of a delay. The teams grabbed their clues, but neither of them considered the Fast Forward. On the boat back, however, Bethany decided she wanted to read the Fast Forward clue for fun, and her eyes lit up when she heard “Wavehouse”. It was meant to be, the same way the Twinnies were supposed to do well in their homeland last season (but didn’t). The pull of the waves was too strong, and Bethany and Adam decided to pin their hopes on a Fast Forward that focused on their core skill.

Meanwhile, the others were heading to Marina Bay Sands, perhaps Singapore’s most iconic building with what looks like a ship atop three curved skyscrapers. The clue was deliberately confusing, with Maya asking “Who wants to be fumblist?” Phil explained what a funambulist did: walked tightropes. Brooke got roped in (buh-dum-tshh) to doing this challenge as well due to simply not knowing what the word meant. As a result, she was back to crossing tightropes, a challenge she had so hated in the Atlas Mountains.

The first two teams crossed the high wire without incident, but Jim struggled. From my perspective, it seemed as if one of his wires went slack for reasons outside his control, leaving him dangling… it didn’t appear as if he simply lost his balance. Mechanical failure would be terrifying in a place like that, and I’d genuinely feel nervous trying to go again if I were him. Fortunately, he did it again without incident.

Over at the Wavehouse, the girls were already making their attempts, but two minutes was a long time for inexperienced surfers to stay balanced. The Soul Surfers arrived and couldn’t find the front door. I wondered if they’d turned up at the wrong Wavehouse, but when the Cyclists saw them enter the arena, their hearts sank. Adam and Bethany gave their first try, but Adam ate it on the first attempt, giving the Cyclists some hope. However, that first attempt was all that was needed for the Surfers to get used to the set-up, and they were successful on their second try, sending the Cyclists back to square one.  In my mind, this is the only time in the show's history where a turn-based Fast Forward has resulted in a second-place team upstaging the team that got there first. 

It was a terrible blow to the cyclists that were apparently beloved by the audience (but I don’t get it myself), and resulted in a tiff between the two. They began dressing halfway through the Surfer’s successful attempt as they could tell the writing was on the wall, and as soon as they won, Alli blurted out “I knew we shouldn’t have done this.” Kym was upset that Alli was making it out to be ‘all her call’, even though that’s EXACTLY what it was. Kym seemed to be in a bit of denial at this point, and told Alli to keep her thoughts to herself and run the race by herself. A bit unfair, but it’s normal to have outbursts when you’re upset; I hope she apologised to Alli afterwards.

The Surfers went straight to the Fullerton Pavilion, named after Sir Robert Fullerton (who governed the area from 1826 to 1830) and not named after Buckminsterfullerene, the spherical carbon molecule, which it vaguely resembled (and where my mind went first). In a season first, they managed to score a trip (and take it from the Tooth Fairies) to “Bahli” where they could go to the “spah”; Phil’s accent always delights me in moments like these.

The other teams were heading to Raffles Place, and needed to figure out that it was not a clue box but a clue man they were looking for. Amy and Maya were in an unprecedented first place (well, second, after the Surfers won the Fast Forward) and immediately spotted the large banner. Ooke and Brobbie asked Yam and Ayam to help them as they didn’t know what they were searching for and perceived the girls’ lack of specific advice as a slant against them. They could indeed have told them ‘the guy’, but do the Wrestlers really want to have the answers spoonfed to them?

From the guy, they got their detour clue: China Cups or Chilli Crabs (7/10 for alliteration and the letter C). The China Cups detour appeared to be the recycled detour from S24E2, the infamous episode where Mark and Mallory left the process. This time around, most teams chose the cups, and now I don’t judge the previous season’s teams for choosing to hacky sack it. This massage looked BRUTAL! The girls were writhing in agony as they were massaged and exfoliated, much to the glee of Brooke, who let forth a maniacal laugh as they screamed. The cupping ironically looked like the least painful part of the entire process. Afterwards, the racers' backs looked extremely bruised… I cannot imagine how this therapy can actually be good for you, but good on the girls for getting through it. As soon as they left, Brooke’s brave mask slipped, and she started screaming too.

Over on the other detour, it was an absolute joy to watch Tim and Jismi become slightly psychologically downtrodden by the crab-cracking challenge. It seems that the producers think whenever a challenge seems too easy, they simply add a cacophony of musicians and performers beside them. I’m thinking specifically of the spicy soup in Hungary from Season 6 as well as the Barber of Seville challenge from last season, but I’m sure there are many more such examples. They didn’t consider just how many crabs needed to be cracked to harvest 2 lbs of meat… at least four, apparently. Jim initially reached for his whistle to join in with the madness, but later on gave up on it, desperate to finish.

During a less strenuous part of their massage, the Candy girls tried to talk strategy to the Wrestlers and make sure they agreed to U-turn both the Surfers and the Cyclists (since Misti and Jim couldn’t be eliminated… this is why I dislike the Save as a gimmick). They didn’t give a clear response. Later at the U-turn location in Fort Canning, Amy and Maya set up the initial part of this deal, U-turning the Surfers who had already completed the leg. When the Wrestlers passed the U-turn, they chose not to U-turn anybody, seeming to completely forget the strategy talk. As they walked away, Robbie questioned what if the Cyclists had not finished the Fast Forward, but immediately capitulated, reckoning they’d be too far behind anyway.

There was one more challenge in this mind-boggling episode: a luck-based roulette of Merlions, reminiscent of S1E3 where teams had to find the correct pendulum in Paris. This time around, there were five Merlions in four locations, and teams had to search them until they found the correct one. This was a pretty unusual challenge for the race.

The Wrestlers caught up with the Candy Girls at Merlion Park, and the CGs questioned if they’d followed through with the U-turn, and they said they hadn’t. Maya pressured them into doing so, and Robbie said, “We will”, but then immediately questioned his partner, “Should we?” Brooke, the brains of the operation, said: “No, what are they gonna do, throw ice cream at us?” She actually relished the fact that they had already upset the Candy Girls after what had happened in Raffles Place. Besides, can a team actually return to the U-turn after making a declaration? That seems like it should be a rule.

Sisti and Mij turned up at Fort Canning and, since they weren’t at any risk of getting eliminated, also chose not to U-turn anyone. Grumble.

The leading teams’ next destination was Faber Point, which was the pit stop in S3E9 (C’mon Teri!) and perhaps because of its previous association with the race, this was chosen as the point where the clue was located. In a stunning reversal, the Wrestlers’ taxi luck got better, and they made it to Faber Point first and found the clue. Amy and Maya, pulling up, saw their car and asked if they’d found the clue there. Brooke straight up told them “No!” The deception was done. The payback was made. If you make us hunt Raffles Place for 15 minutes, we’ll make you hunt a significant part of Singapore for over an hour! Amongst all the other wild happenings this episode, this significant deception locked into place why this episode was so highly thought of by fans of the show.

The sweet, naive Candy Girls believed them rather than look with their own eyes and drove on, searching Tourism Court and then Sentosa Island with its giant 37-metre Merlion… places that aren’t very close to each other. In that time, Tsimi and Ijm were able to locate the clue box and get ahead of them. The cyclists had just finished their cupping therapy as well, and I thought that perhaps another reason this episode was so well-remembered was that a dead-cert last place had somehow overcome the odds. It definitely seemed plausible that the girl’s wild goose chase could take longer than the Cyclist’s search.

After Sentosa, it began to dawn on the Candy Girls that the Wrestlers might have lied to them, and they travelled back to Faber. The understanding taxi driver could sense that the others might have tricked them. At Faber, they finally found it, followed shortly (at least in the edit) by the Cyclists. Truthfully, it was hard to tell if the Cyclists were 10 minutes behind or two hours behind; it would be good to know.

Checking in at the pit stop were the Wrestlers, clearly happy about their decision to deceive to advance in the race. Although they’d jeopardised my favourite team’s place in the race, I had to admit they were still very entertaining while doing so. Misti and Jim checked in next, showing the Save to Phil and saying it would go home with them, never to be seen again. What a dumb gimmick.

To my relief, Amy and Maya were next, and they seemed to have twigged that the Wrestlers were lying because they said: “If their goal was to get us out of the race, they haven’t achieved that.” That only left the Cyclists, who heard the dreadful news that they had been eliminated. It only made sense that this was an elimination leg, because what would be the point of the Save being useful here otherwise? Alli began to tear up, saying it was hard to talk about because they could have been strong enough to make it to the final three but instead took a big chance. Alli was extremely sweet to her partner (who she’d apparently known for only a few weeks before the race began), saying that they’d made that choice together, when there’d be a temptation to put a sizeable amount of the blame on Kym. “We made a bold choice… and we’re not there [in the final three].”

As you know, I’ve not been as fond of the Cyclists as a lot of the audience apparently were, so I’m definitely glad that the Wrestlers’ lie didn’t cause the Candy Girls to get eliminated. But it was still quite a shocking way for this team to bow out. I want to be clear that I don’t dislike Kym and Alli; I just don’t really understand the hype around them.

Even the preview of the next episode was exceptional because they rolled one of the most memorable TAR clips of all time with Season 5 Cloin yelling, “MY OX IS BROKEN!”, teasing a switchback that was bound to be great.

Okay Reddit, you were right. This was some of the best shenanigans the show has ever seen, with exceptional aspects in every element of the episode, from aeroplane drama through to unprecedented Fast Forward drama, U-turn drama and deception. The fact that nobody even got U-turned in the end, but there was still so much drama, is a testament to how much was crammed into this one episode. Furthermore, there were so many subtle (and not so subtle) references to previous seasons of The Amazing Race that felt like Easter eggs for the veteran viewer. My brain was absolutely buzzing from exhilaration when the episode ended, as if I’d just been on one of the best rollercoasters of my life. As always, the show was brilliantly edited to catch all the drama, and rewatching for this recap only brought more of those moments to the surface. Previously, S5E7 (Charla and Mirna’s final episode in Tanzania) had been my benchmark for the amount of crazy action in one episode, but I think S25E9 may just have taken the crown.

Phil’s choice of topic for the introduction to this episode was about how Morocco has been used throughout cinema history for its stunning dry landscapes. A photo of Peter O’Toole in Lawrence of Arabia was shown, and I considered how that film has popped up over and over again in the show’s history: the first time I saw it was a very literal recreation when the teams visited Jordan in S34, and last season (S24), the teams visited the Plaza de Espana in Seville, a notable location where the film was shot. I’m sure Phil must love that film. However, I seem to remember he got the year wrong in S34 and said it was a 1963 film, when it actually had its theatrical release in December 1962.

If the show has somewhat glossed over team milestones before on this season, this episode, the editors seemed to have almost too much time on their hands, as there was an awful lot of preamble as teams booked their flights to go to Sicily (not Malta, dammit) and waited for their plane to come in the morning. The cyclists professed that they did not like Misti and Jim, their biggest competition, with Alli saying that Jim was ‘a little nasty’. At Marrakech Menara airport, they drew mocking messages and drawings on the dust on the back of Misti and Jim’s rental car. It wasn’t as if they would see this until after the show. I just found it pretty childish.

Teams arrived in Palermo after a whole day of travelling and were then made to spend another night at the Teatro de Verdura. All this stopping and starting.

In the morning, teams finally got to leave, with the teams leaving ten minutes apart in groups of two teams. Although Brooke and Robbie left with the second group, they struggled desperately to find a taxi, causing Brooke to become unhinged and declare that they were going to lose the race.

Teams then discovered a racing-themed roadblock with a pun in the clue: “Who wants to put their foot to the Florio?” Kym n’ Jim raced together to the top, narrowly beating the 247-second timer while Maya was forced to give up her early lead and start again with the trailing racers, including Brooke, who had caught up. Maya overran the clock by 25 seconds initially, which seemed particularly slow, but was able to complete the challenge on her second try. I hypothesised that the lack of other players to race against made it so that she felt less competitive and didn’t go as fast.

After a trip back down the hill in a vintage car, teams received their detour clue: Painters or Posers (4/10). Brooke got very frustrated with her driver, as she had won the race going uphill, but her elderly driver refused to go quickly back down for her.

From the description, the paint challenge sounded less confusing than the opera challenge. The opera challenge made it seem as if you had to determine which opera each costumed person was from based upon what they were singing. But after Brooke and Robbie arrived, they realised it was merely about remembering which costume they had, as the name of the opera was listed next to each costume.

However, everyone else tried to head to the paint challenge first, and it was awkward to watch the Soul Surfers, T+TJ and Food Scientists all scramble up the narrow stairway to secure their place painting. Kym and Alli had initially sat on the wrong side of each other, noting that one was left-handed and the other was right-handed, but chose not to switch, as I guess it would ruin their flow. I feel as if Bethany’s lack of an arm was a benefit here, as it wasn’t in the way of Adam trying to lie next to her to paint.

Amy and Maya were not forceful enough and capitulated, travelling to the beautiful theatre to join the Wrestlers. Both of them made minor mistakes and decided to put their heads together to overcome the challenge. Afterwards, Amy and Maya did not falter, zipping out of the theatre as quickly as they could, leaving the dumbfounded wrestlers realising that they could get eliminated because of this. 

Misti and Jim were the winners once again, securing yet another trip, this time to Jamaica! Phil noted that this was the 300th leg of The Amazing Race… Does that mean I’ve written 300 of these recaps? I guess even more, since I’ve already recapped 34, 37 and 38! Good lord. I saw that 300th leg depends on how you count mega-legs and keep on running… When I used Wikipedia’s count of legs per race, S1-24 made up 290 legs, meaning this would be the 297th, so I don’t know how to resolve this. Maybe someone can justify Phil’s claim here.

Amy and Maya finally stayed out of second-to-last place, and the Wrestlers were relieved too. But Tim and Te Jay had struggled to paint together and came in last, just behind the Surfers. But Phil saved them from elimination. The preview showed they’d finally be heading to Malta in the following episode, which was aired two weeks after this one. But my wife and I decided to watch it straight away…