Perhaps the most anticipated part of The Amazing Race 33’s second episode and third leg came in its final scenes: Phil Keoghan announcing that the race was halted, which was followed by a 19-month break between the pit stop at the University of Glasgow in Scotland and the new starting line in St. Gallen, Switzerland.
That is not a surprise. We knew TAR 33 halted production on Feb. 28, 2020, and then resumed last fall.
But what is a surprise is that four teams weren’t able to return. In December, Variety reported that “Two pairs fell out, but seven teams managed to return.” But the first part is actually not true, as this episode revealed.
First, after the elimination, host Phil Keoghan gathered the teams and said, “from day one our number-one priority has been to make sure all of you are safe.” (For details about the safety that began on day one, read this.)
“We believe the best choice for all of us is to suspend the race,” he said. “In an ideal world, the planets will align, and we will pick this race back up again and hopefully have all of you starting the race again. We understand the sacrifices that all of you have made; I know to have you all come back and start on this race again would be challenging.”
What’s interesting to me is that Phil seemed kind of prophetic here. This was weeks before the world shut down, and in mid-March, we were all thinking that this would pass in two weeks. Ah, to be young again.
Anyway, Phil told them they’d “regroup and come back better and faster than you were in the beginning”—and it turned out they had 19 months to do that. Had I been on the race, I would have had 19 months to carb load.
Phil welcomed them back in Switzerland by saying, “Before we were interrupted, the world was waiting for you, and I’m please to tell you the world is waiting for you once again.” Okay, that got me a little misty.
Only five of the nine remaining TAR 33 teams heard Phil say that:
- Raquel and Cayla
- Ryan and Dusty
- Kim and Penn
- Lala and Lulu
- Akbar and Sheri
That means, in those 19 months, the race lost these four teams:
- Anthony and Spencer
- Taylor and Isaiah
- Connie and Sam
- Ray and Caro
What’s interesting, though, is that, in the last seconds of the episode, an overhead shot showed seven teams standing in front of Phil. In the preview for next week’s episode, Phil says, “There are some teams missing in the lineup. So, we have a few familiar faces taking their place.”
In other words, two teams are being added, bringing the total to the seven teams Variety mentioned.
I assume those two teams will be the two already-eliminated teams: Michael and Moe, and Arun and Natalia, who were last to check in during the third leg. I cannot imagine the race bringing in brand-new teams, like alternates, or all-stars from a previous season.
And I thought for a moment that CBS’s press photos confirmed the return of those eliminated teams, because the first two photos (which are usually the most-recent chronologically) were of first two teams eliminated with captions that said “We’re back!” But upon closer inspection (i.e. I clicked on them), I realized those photos were actually from episode one.
So, the two additional teams remain a mystery, at least until people have time to examine the promos frame by frame—or CBS just tells us who it is before next week’s episode.
If the two teams to return are the first two teams eliminated, Phil’s “Is everybody ready to restart this race?” would take on some interesting new meaning, because it would be like starting over again.
Update, Friday: CBS’s press site has added photos from episode four, and those confirm the two teams that are returning are the first two eliminated:
- Moe Badger and Michael Norwood
- Arun Kumar and Natalia Kumar
TAR 33’s teams take an equalizer from London to Glasgow
Speaking of restarts, the start of the third leg was a train ride from London to Glasgow, and all the teams ended up on the same train, which was disappointing—though great for them, since they got cute little sleeper cars and actual beds to sleep in.
I was trying to savor these final glimpses of the Before Times, with teams sticking their heads into open taxi windows, and blowing virus-free bagpipe air all over each other, and shaking hands with strangers. But there was actually less of that this episode than there was in London.
What reassures me, though, is that what will never change, no matter how much destruction this pandemic causes, is the entertainment value of manual transmissions.
Yes, the producers gave the teams cars and had them drive themselves through Glasgow using paper maps, and hopefully warned all of the residents first.
Here are some of the other moments from the episode that stood out to me, and my juvenile thoughts:
- Ray actually said he “learned to drive stick shift just before I came here,” while Caro planned by not getting a driver’s license. Ray’s move was smart; if only he’d learned to negotiate a relationship with another human being in that time, too.
- Phil introduced the bagpipe Roadblock by describing the “undeniable sound of the bagpipe,” which is an curious word to choose, “undeniable.” I suppose that’s better than “incredibly annoying.” By the way, there were some cool special effects with Phil explaining that a team member had to assemble the bagpipe while a person demonstrating did that, but in high speed, while appearing to actually be standing next to him. How fancy!
- Kim struggled with the assembly, because all they got were instructions, which had only pictures and words. “The pictures are confusing,” she said, and “it looks very complicated.” But she also finished first, so maybe that was just some self-doubt and the editing making a big deal out of it.
- To prove that they’d successfully assembled the bagpipe, the team member doing the Detour had to play a note that approximated the sound of a dying cow.
- Arun was frustrated that Natalia stopped to help two other teams who couldn’t figure out their bagpipes, and told her, “you can help somebody, not take five minutes to help somebody.” I think the editing wanted us to think this put them behind, but they made so many mistakes, including switching Detours that seemed to not be close to each other at all. They were so far behind that Arun and Natalia found time to have a good bonding moment (“Dad, seriously, I’m so proud of you”; “Dad, you didn’t fail me”) while crying in a store.
- While terrorist-stopping train hero Spencer assembled his bagpipe, he said, “This is nothing like I’ve done in the Air Force. I was a medic.” Okay, no one talks like that unless they’re on a reality show and being prompted by a producer whose one note is like MAKE EVERYTHING ABOUT THE ARMY AND TRAIN TERRORISTS.
- The Detour was a choice between repairing a whiskey barrel and learning a song and dance and then performing it alongside two kids, who were there just to make them feel worse about not being able to do it. (Anyone count how many kids there were? They kept swapping out, which I noticed once I realized that some of the kids were much better than others at performing.)
- Penn said he “turned into a little bit of a diva” when he and Kim failed to get the song and dance right the first time. I guess if the judge had been familiar with their YouTube videos he’d have known what real talent looks like.
- I will never get “Donald, where’s your troosers” out of my head.
- We saw a video of Taylor and Isaiah’s “viral wedding dance video,” which explains why they’re “YouTube sensations” instead of just “married couple who style themselves identically.”
- Ryan and Dusty were among the teams that chose the barrel task, and made it much more exciting when one of them said, “You hold it, let me pound it” and later, “you hold, I’ll pound.” Sign me up for that Detour.
- Cayla said she and Raquel were “probably the only all-girl team that did that” barrel-fixing task. It is hard to figure out who did what, since there are a total of two all-female teams.
- Of the conflict between her and Ray, Caro said, “now we just have to figure out these little minor details that will make us more like in harmony.” Like breaking up.
Why do you have to be so bitchy in your reviews? Amazing Race is my favorite show but your review tears it down. I suggest you get therapy for your resentfulness and need to make snide remarks just for the sake of doing so. You’re not at all funny.
Hi Beth! I’m glad you like Amazing Race so much. So do I! I got my start writing about reality TV in 1999 by recapping The Real World: Hawaii, and having fun with being snarky. In the 2000s, I often recapped Amazing Race in the same way, until I burned out on it, and lost interest in TAR for a while. So, that’s what I’m doing here. If you don’t find that approach funny—it’s probably because my jokes suck, or just that my recaps are not for you.
@Beth, if you’re telling someone they need therapy over a TV show recap you probably need to take a long hard look in the mirror 🙂
@Beth,
hey Beth, wheres your troosers?
@Andy Dehnart, your remarks are entertaining. Your recap golden. I didn’t notice the kids were swapped out until you mentioned. I thought they just got tired of repetitions. I’ll subscribe/follow your reviews. I too been a TAR fan for years. Lost interest a few seasons but always come back.
@AussieJack1788, ?
@Beth, I got different vibes from his newsletter. I was choked up with laughter! Try to Take it easy. ❤️
@AussieJack1788, now THAT’S funny!
@Beth,
You’re very mean, shame on you!
@AussieJack1788,
I’m dying!
@Beth,
You seem a little uptight and angry. There’s a lot of that going on right now!
Instead of trying to censor Andy maybe you should take a chill pill and get in touch with your less hostile side. You’ll be a lot happier and everyone will appreciate it!
This is the first time reading one of your articles and I’m in tears laughing.
I’ve just finished the 3rd episode and wanted to check out what’s going on with the teams. I have no life right now, so I need to know!
My father and I used to watch this together (he passed in 2019) and one of his favorite things was the people trying to drive stick shift; it never failed to entertain him, so that brought a happy/sad tear to my eye.
I’m old, but I guess my juvenile side came out because I was laughing so loudly when the guys were talking about pounding the barrels that my daughter messaged me asking if I was okay.
Love your review. I can’t wait to see the upcoming ones.
I’m off to stalk the internet and find out which teams came back and what happened to the other teams. I’m guessing that long distance and Covid-hell did not work out well for Caro and Ray.
Happy New Year!
Spot On ??
@Heidi, thanks! I couldn’t believe they said that pounding line twice. Glad you found the recap, and glad to have you as part of our Amazing Race-watching community!
Thank you for confirming I wasn’t seeing things. TAR flashed the reassembled team groups from afar so fast, I was trying to count them before they cut away to an ad! I rewound the DVR several times and was coming up with 5, maybe 6 teams?? THEN, went back to the were Phil gathered everybody. NINE teams there. What the heck? Let the 19 months later play out again….seeing team members line up….where’s Spencer & Anthony? The married guys? Oh….Caro and Ray are missing….NOT surprised there. THAT had ‘doomed’ written all over it – especially with the Mail Rail task & Ray wasting 30 minutes (and Penn) looking for a Clue he’d already had. Never got a feel on Connie & Sam – other than cringing – if I have the right couple with the ‘Little Ben’ task – and the guy calling “BOBBY!!!!” and walking all over that section looking for ‘Bobby’ and the wife saying “I told YOU there’s NO ‘Bobby’ here!!!” That couple not having a CLUE that a British COP is called a ‘Bobby’. Plus so many not having any idea of who Boris Johnson was!! OR that Britain had left the EU via ‘Brexit’ which was all over the news. Moving on: When Phil said, to the reassembled group: “You’ll recognize some familiar faces.” then saw jaws drop and Phil say “GO!”, I was puzzled. ‘Familiar faces’? I hoped they had NOT brought back previous winners or players to finish Season 33. WHY do that? They’d have to be disqualified from winning since they didn’t START the race with the others or do the various tasks. Thirty minutes later, it dawned on me that they might have brought back ELIMINATED players from Season 33…..to fill in for those teams that dropped out (or in the case of Caro & Ray – likely imploded and no longer on speaking terms – Caro, you can much better than Ray!). Your speculation aligns with mine. We’ll just have to wait until next Wednesday to see how it all played out and if Phil divulges additional information on WHY the 4 teams didn’t come back.
I can confirm Connie and Sam do not make it back; Sam is the head football coach at my wife’s high school and we went to most of the games this fall. They had a good team making to the second round of the playoffs here in North Carolina. He was busy coaching and his wife was pretty well along in her pregnancy at the time as well.
My memory is fuzzy here but I think Sam missed a game (spoiler??) as coach so maybe he and his wife participated in the some sort of finale. Too bad for he and his wife – ironically he was NOT coaching football at all during the initial race timeline. He was out of coaching (still teaching) at the time. He is a good coach, and his backstory is really great.
@Chris, thanks. I was worried. Thgt COVID-19 affected their health. ?
The only 2 reasons for racers not returning I know of are Caro and Ray split in July 2020 (Big Shock there) and Connie was 6 months Pregnant when the race restarted. I have read rumors on Anthony/Spencer and Taylor/Isaiah, but nothing concrete – it wouldn’t surprise me to see either again in future seasons.
I am wondering if it’s a combination of having to drive stick AND drive on the left, combined with driving through the city.
Donald – Where’s your Trousers – go read the Wikipedia article – the song is from the 60’s and made it back into the UK Top 10 in the late 80’s on the back of Breakfast DJ pushing it as a Novelty Hit.
Finally – I enjoy the Snark throughout all your write ups, its why I keep coming back and why you have been around for 20 plus years – keep it up!
I’m very happy the race is back. I’m disappointed all nine teams couldn’t come back, of course, but this isn’t some hare-brained production decision like Edge of Extinction. Bringing back the two eliminated teams seems like a reasonable compromise. And, with all due respect, we haven’t seen anything that makes me think those teams are likely to compete for first place at the finish line, so I can’t imagine the remaining teams are too put out by that. Their competition went from 8 other teams to 6 other teams, including the two worst performing teams so far.
I’m glad they didn’t bring back All-Stars to flesh out the roster, as that seems unfair, but if they did want additional teams, perhaps bringing back teams who got DQ’ed early from the race for injury or other reasons (lost passport) might have been a fair shot at redemption for those teams as well. I can’t remember more than a couple of teams over the years to do that, but you don’t need more than a couple of teams. In that case, everyone in the race would have had a similar amount of race experience, so there wouldn’t be a huge advantage to the returnees.
The speculation for why the 4 teams did not return (for those interested):
– Caro & Ray (broke up on July 2020; were on EOTB 1 month before TAR production picked back up)
– Connie & Sam (Connie was 25 weeks pregnant when the Race resumed filming)
– Anthony & Spencer (were accepted to return; but one of the pairs injured around the summer)
– Taylor & Isaiah (were accepted to return but family member tested positive and later died)
@BadMitten, oh no for Taylor & Isaiah. My biggest fear was Covid-19 death May have affected one of the non-returning teams. I’m glad they’re doing alright and life just happened. Congrats Connie on baby. Did Ms Kumar get married? Guess we would find out next week! Can’t wait!
@BadMitten, And Sam was a little busy coaching football which is his passion.
@Chris, I meannnnnnn running the race was a non starter due to his wife’s pregnancy, so the world will never know if he would have returned or not because of football
As long as it isn’t Rachel and Brandon I don’t care who they bring back.. but if I never have to see those two insufferable nitwits again, it would be too soon.
I had first thought the two eliminated teams were brought back, which is still the most logical possibility. Another possibility though is that members from the 4 non returning teams were put together to form 2 new teams of people who were still in the race when production was halted.
LOVE Your Commentary!!!!!!
I’m with you Andy, when Phil said the world waits I chocked up a bit. TAR has had to change as the times have changed. The first two seasons teams were allowed to wander all over, (one team was an entire day behind by the end) but 9/11 changed that. Now COVID has changed it again (there have been other smaller changes along the way).
I can drive a manual transmission vehicle, but shifting with my left hand would be very interesting! I’m going to be sympathetic to the drivers!
I enjoyed your take! I too wondered how the father/daughter had time to reflect while so behind. Made no sense. I’m so sad to see that the heroes won’t be returning. But it’s still my favorite show.
I want SAM to come back!
So, two loser teams are coming back? Pfff. This is like Survivor’s Edge of Extinction.
Though I was happy when Chris won since the Anchorman didn’t.
I think we forget how rampant Covid was in Europe before hitting the States. We also don’t know where leg 4 was heading next and if it was italy, there was no way that was going to happen.
Feb. 28 would line up with that. Plus I think the husband and wife hinted on a podcast that the producers realized that night that it was time to shut things down.
@RaceFan, The plans for the original route were to be Sweden, the next location after Glasgow, Scotland leg. They were set to travel to Luleå in Swedish Lapland and the countries on that route were to be Innsbruck, Austria; Brenner, Italy; Kathmandu, Nepal; Da Nang, Vietnam; Krabi, Thailand; Melbourne, Australia; Santiago, Chile; Lima, Peru; and the finish line was to take place in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Phil and BVM were in Sweden on February 26, and Phil had to travel back to Scotland on February 27 to inform the teams on the Race’s suspension the next day. BVM and half of its crew remained in Sweden at the time of the suspension.