From the Cutting Room Floor - TAR 30.2
The Amazing Race Season 30 Episode 2: “You’re The Best French Fry Ever” – #TeamExtreme Recap
Another leg down, another country we've never been to, and Kristi and I landed on the podium during The Amazing Race once more! This week's episode was able to capture a lot more of the "real" action from the race (i.e. - the action that played a major role in any team's performance). Without needing to spend as much time introducing the teams' background's and only covering 10 teams' journeys, allowed for this. However, there's still a few details to fill in about our race.
Why were you in such a hurry leaving the mat in Iceland if all the teams were on the same flight?
When Kristi and I opened our clue, it told us that we had flights reserved for that afternoon, but that if we found a more advantageous flight, we could take it. So we were in a hurry to get there to see our possibilities! When we got to the travel agency, we found a flight that would arrive about 30 minutes earlier than the original itinerary. We were likely the ONLY team who could make this flight as it left in just over 2 hours (which would mean we had to race to the airport). It would be a longer day of travel with a connection through Oslo, but an advantage is an advantage, right?
Why didn't you book the alternate flight?
Going into this race we told ourselves that if we were the only team who could get on a seemingly advantageous flight, that we SHOULD NOT take it. We learned from watching this show that it's sometimes safer to have other teams around you, especially early on. However, adrenaline (we're on the Amazing Race) and ego (we want to maintain our lead) played a role and we were VERY close to pulling the trigger. Jody came in and left, calm, cool, and collected, so we could only assume that they took the original flight. Then we realized that the airport was not the one for which I saw the sign close by, but actually 50 minutes away. (This was when I realized we had directions from the wrong airport in leg 1).
By taking the second flight, we ended up with hours to get to the airport. So, we decided to take a bus to save money. In the bus ticket office, we took off the boots given to us in Leg 1, and asked them to take them to goodwill. Hopefully they ended up there! We took the bus with Yale, Well-Strung and Indy, while other teams, with later starts, took taxis. This was the first opportunity that we had to actually talk with Trevor & Chris, since we were on different flights to Iceland.
When did you arrive in Belgium?
We landed in Amsterdam around 7 or 8 p.m. and had to take a train from Amsterdam to Antwerp. All the teams got in an unnecessary footrace to the train station to all end up, yet again, on the same train! When we arrived at the station in Antwerp, we had to find the chocolate shop. It was after 10 p.m. at this point, but we had to assume that were going to be thrust into a challenge as soon as we found the shop. So, we started running, again. Well-Strung got their first, followed by Indy, followed by Kristi and me. This is when we learned that the shop wouldn't open until 9 a.m. the next day. Time to hunker down.
Where did you sleep?
We slept on the floor of an old hotel? Not entirely sure what the building was, but we were in a large open room that had a small kitchen/bar in one corner, and one random couch in the middle. Everyone found their spot and set up camp. Amazing Race production was kind enough to provide teams with light foam sleeping pads, but we didn't need them since we brought our own. Or so we thought...We gave Indy our sleeping pads, so they could double up, but it got really COLD overnight. Kristi and I kept adding layers until we had nothing left in our bags. Turns out inflatable sleeping pads don't hold heat well. Poor Cedric, however, didn't sleep a WINK that night. But it didn't seem to impact his performance the next day.
Kristi crushed the Roadblock, what was her strategy?
We arrived to the Sky Climb in 8th place...not where we wanted to be. Fortunately, there were 4 spots on the sky climb, so Kristi was able to go on the second ride, tying us up with the teams who arrived in 5th, 6th and 7th. Though most teams successfully completed the challenge on the first go (some of that is questionable though...), Kristi was able to get up the ladder and back down to the bottom before the ride was over. She wrapped her leg around the ladder, which helped keep her more vertical, thus making the climb faster. This enabled her to jump off, jet over to me, to read our next clue. She crushed it, passing 3 teams and putting us in 5th place, but you should have seen the bruises on the inside of her thighs!
Why did you choose to do "Old Print" and not "Diamond Glint?"
This was a very easy decision for us to make. In the description of the detours, there was an element of Diamond Glint that was very subjective: determining color and clarity. I don't think the mathematics element was actually the problem for any of the teams, but determining those values. Both of these factors changed the formula, so if you got them wrong, your answer was wrong. You'll have to ask a team who did it, but that's my guess. Old Print sounded much more straight-forward. Once we figured out that it needed to be a mirror image, we were able to move pretty quickly through it.
You left the detour in 2nd place, why did you arrive at the square in 4th?
When we got our clue leaving the printing press, we found a very nice woman who spoke flemish to translate it. Then we pulled out our "trusty" map of Antwerp and asked her where Silvius Brabo square was. We had a tourist map, which had images of historical buildings on the map. She pointed to one on the shoreline (or so I thought) and we navigated there quite smoothly, but it was the wrong building. We got hung up a little longer because we saw production equipment for post-race interviews. Eventually, we found someone who pointed us in the right direction and we made our way to the square.
What were your thoughts about the "Head-to-Head?"
For the first time in Amazing Race history, teams had to go head-to-head in a challenge. We knew signing up that the masterminds behind The Amazing Race could do anything they wanted, anytime they wanted. We were warned on the start-line that there would be twists this season, but I don't think any of us ever anticipated this. Kristi and I benefited from the head-to-head in this episode. Arriving to the square in 4th, Kristi beat Evan in the head-to-head, thus leading us to a 3rd place finish. The exciting part of the Amazing Race is that it tests racers as all-around competitors, from physicality, to grit, to intelligence, to social prowess.
The head-to-head nearly nullified our performance in all other challenges. Sure, getting there early gives you more opportunity to stay in the race, but continuing on in the race comes down to whether or not your good at the head-to-head skill. The argument can easily be made, however, that is true for any challenge you face. If you get stuck on one challenge in one moment of this race, it can be the end. Ultimately, I thought it was quite exciting to watch the Frites Race on TV. I thought it would get old after a while, but it kept me on my toes and I even knew the outcome!
Kristi's Thoughts on the Head-to-Head:
Kristi, however, felt more strongly about it. She was saying as soon as we were done, that there was only one team who would be going home that day: Goat Yoga. I was hopeful that the skill element would play more of a roll, but I wasn't the one who did the Frites Race, so I have to defer to her. Kristi asserts that if the head-to-head was in the middle or beginning of a leg that led into other challenges it would be better. That way, you would have other challenges through which you could potentially make up time. She was not a fan!
On to the Next!
Kristi and I race off to Morocco this week! We've never set foot on African soil, so we're excited to go there. Episode 3 is going to be action-packed, so hope you can tune in! 8 pm ET/PT, 7 pm MT/CT on CBS!