From The Cutting Room Floor - TAR 30.4 & 30.5

The Amazing Race, Season 30, Episodes 4 & 5: "Gotta Put Your Sole Into It" #TeamExtreme Recap

My, oh, my! I think people are finally starting to understand why they're calling this season the "most competitive" season yet. Out of 30 seasons, that's quite the statement, but in the first 5 legs of this race, we haven't seen a repeat leg winner! ***Spoiler Alert*** Kristi and I did technically arrive at the mat first, but grrrrr... those head-to-heads. Guess we needed to have spent more time playing yard games like bocce ball instead of doing cool sh*t like skiing, mountain biking and wakeboarding (#NoteToSelf).

Read on to learn a few behind the scenes details about legs 4 & 5 of the Amazing Race. There were quite a few details missed in these episodes like a fender bender (our cab driver hit a car), a skipped active route info clue, half of a detour, a close call with our sound guy, and a few injuries.

Leg 4: St. Tropez, France

Why was every team on the same flight leaving Morocco, AGAIN?!

Before I get into this, I just need to tell you a little story... Leaving the palace in Morocco, there was a line of cabs along the driveway waiting for teams as we started this leg. You could hop in any old cab that you chose, so Kristi and I found one that looked a bit newer and hopped right in. Our cabby started to pull out and WHAM! Smashed into another car driving by... But, we're in a race, so we can't wait for them to get sorted. We just hop out, run to the cab in the very front of the line and tell him where we're headed. At this point we still think there's a chance of getting on an earlier flight so catching Yale & Indy was priority numero uno.

We were told we could book a more advantageous flight if we found one. Unfortunately, upon arrival at the travel agency, we learned that there were no other flights. The airlines that you can fly and the countries through which you can travel are limited. I think there are logistical and security reasons for this and in the end there were no other available flights. We asked at the travel agent for quite a while and then double checked availability on a computer later. We even discussed trying to take a ferry to Spain (only 8 miles across the sea) to catch a flight from there, but we weren't allowed. So, once again we were all bunched up.

Why couldn't #TheFirefighters figure out how to reverse their car in France?

The stick shift had a ring that you had to pull up on in order to move it into the reverse position. If you didn't know it was there, I'm sure it would be confusing. And maybe the driver's manual wasn't in english?? I had driven a stick shift like that previously, so it didn't trip me up. But they figured it out by the Les Beaux leg. I'm just glad that they didn't get t-boned while pushing their vehicle into position!

Kristi seemed to do really well at the Roadblock. Has she sailed before?

Kristi has not sailed before. She did grow up on water, but this activity was not intuitive. She understood what she was supposed to do right away, but the wind was blowing straight into the shore. They didn't show much of it, but she paddled most of the way out to the first buoy. Fortunately, she was able to catch the wind and tack all the way back into shore.

How did some teams get so lost leaving the detour?

The edit on this episode was cut somewhat short because they needed to allot more time for the head-to-head. One major detail that was missed was the second half of the detour. There was a second half, you ask?!?! Yes. After we finished making sandals (or baking bread), you had to deliver a finished pair (or baked loaf of bread) to a person in a restaurant in St. Tropez. This meant, we had another location to which we needed to find before arriving at the Place de Lices.

*There was also an additional route info clue, leaving the roadblock, that was edited out of the show. I suppose it didn't change the order at all, so they eliminated it.

What are your thoughts on the Head-To-Head now?

Ugh. The head-to-head. Blah. Well, this was a frustrating one, as you can imagine. To have run a really strong race leg and then have a few rounds of bocce (pétanque) determine your entire day, really sucks. Our thoughts remain consistent with what we said after the Belgium leg: we would be fine with the head-to-head if there was an opportunity to pick up time after it.

Kristi and I were waiting for about 25-30 minutes before IndyCar showed up. But our start times for the next day show us starting about 20 minutes after IndyCar. Had the head-to-head been upon arrival at the Roadblock, we would have had to play the same two teams, in the same order. Even with the same results (a loss to Indy & Jody) we may have been able to overcome it and still win the leg... Make sense? Another alternative would be to leave the head-to-head where it is, but if you're there for more than [xx] amount of time (say 10-15 minutes) before another team arrives, then you can check in. If there is a team right on your heels, you have to play them in a head-to-head.

Ultimately, I like the head-to-head, but think that there are better ways to implement it as to not nullify virtually everything else that had happened in the leg.

Leg 5: Les Beaux, France (Pronounced 'Lay Bow', not 'Lesbo')

Did you have any issues finding the castle during your drive from St. Tropez?

We had a great map of France, but it was of ALL of France. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite zoomed in enough to provide a comfortable level of detail to Les Beaux. Kristi did a great job navigating and found a route there, but it was not the most direct. We decided to take it anyway because the more direct route had road junctions that we couldn't clearly identify because of the scale. KRISTI & I DIDN'T WANT TO GET MAJORLY LOST. We arrived in 2nd, about 35 minutes behind Indy. So we lost a little bit of time, but still jumped in front of Jess & Cody. Guess they should have continued following us after they followed us to the highway ;).

What did you do when you arrived at the castle at 5 a.m., but it didn't open until 8:30?

When we arrived and found the IndyCar guys, we tried to hunker down and sleep on the cobblestone. That lasted for about an hour. It was FREEZING! Chomp arrived, then Well-Strung, then Jody (something like that)... we all discussed the idea of going to sleep in our cars for a couple hours and honor our arrival positions. It was very broken sleep as we kept waking up when other teams would arrive. Finally, around 8 am, we noticed that Yale was just arriving and decided to walk toward the gate. Holy bananas, they got REALLY lost. But they seemed to maintain their composure through all this adversity (frites race, chipped tooth, lost for 3+ hours...). Props.

This roadblock seemed cool, how did Kristi get it right on the first attempt?

This was a fun roadblock. Kristi joked on twitter that she "trained" for the Amazing Race by assembling IKEA furniture. It certainly wasn't intentional, but it probably did serve as excellent practice. There were no instructions, just a pile of parts and one complete trebuchet that you had to replicate. Kristi was thorough in examining the finished product before she started assembling it. Not just looking at what parts needed to go where, but in what particular order.

She also made a smart move with the big basket thingy (see photo)... Kristi anchored the long arm down with chains before trying to slide it on. She appeared to be neck-and-neck with some of the other teams at this point, but jumped way ahead with this move. I think we actually got out of there in 2nd, but I can't be certain.

Was it difficult to find the bull Arena? How cool was that place?

It was a bit challenging to find the Arena. The clue that we received from Cafe de la Fontaine only said the name of the arena and the town. According to google maps, it was about a 25 minute drive if you navigated directly there.

We found the general area quickly, but we wasted about 15 minutes just looking for the marked parking area... Turns out, the marked parking is easier to find when there are teams in front of you. Ocean Rescue saw us park and then the 4 of us started running through the town to find the arena.

The trickiest part was that the main staircase drew you straight up, but all the arches were gated closed. We ran all the way to the back of the building before realizing we weren't getting any closer to finding the entrance. At that point, I figured we should go back toward the main entrance to see what we missed. On the side of the stairs, there was a marked entrance, but it was quite hidden.

*This part of town was mainly a walking village but some of the roads would alternate between walking & driving paths. When cars were allowed in or out, these cylindrical barriers would get lowered into the earth. Then when it was back to a walking path, would pop up out of the ground. One of these popped up right in front of our sound guy, Mickey, and totally took him out! These guys are the most badass people I know. Mickey just got right back up and kept on running.

Were you in front of OceanRescue after the detour?

Once we completed the challenge at the Arena in Arles, it was a footrace back to the parking lot. Kristi and I went out a different exit and got in front of Lucas & Brittany. But we made the ultimate Amazing Race error and didn't fully read our clue. We were so used to being given very little information about where we were going, that we stopped to ask someone for directions. You can see it happen in this BTS video here. I guess we don't have compasses in our hearts, Brittany!

Brittany & Lucas realized that they had directions all the way to the pit stop, so they cruised on by and got themselves a well-deserved W. It was only upon getting back in our car after asking directions that we realized we had all the information in our clue. Our bad! Won't be making that mistake again...

What do you think about Brittany & Lucas' engagement?? Jen, why did you ruin the moment?!?!

Kristi and I are so happy for Lucas & Brittany. I love how clever Lucas was with his hiding spot for the ring and that he asked for his headphones at such an awkward time. Haha! I still want to know why Brittany thought this meant he must be cold?! They had a tough few legs leading up to this, and it was great to see their strengths shine.

I don't know why, but I knew as soon as Lucas opened his mouth that was about to propose. Brittany didn't even register what was happening. She was just gazing at Lucas in awe. That's when I realized that I shouldn't be gasping out loud and tried to hide my face by turning toward Kristi. Ooops! Too late :) Selfishly, it was an honor to be there to witness this. It was a beautiful moment. And even if Brittany wasn't fully listening, the words Lucas had to say about her truly melted hearts. I'm glad they have it on tape!

Quick Summary of Legs 4 & 5

Overall, legs 4 & 5 of The Amazing Race were incredible. The South of France is one of the most stunning places I've ever been and I hope to return to explore the mountains at greater length. We've still managed to stay in the top 3 for 5 legs (the only team to do so) and are feeling stronger with each step. We know that there is only one #1 that we need and that's where we're focusing our attention. We made one major mistake in Leg 5 that likely cost us the win (e.x.- not reading the entirety of our clue, which gave us exact directions to Hotel Benvengudo), though we have no regrets considering how that leg turned out!!

On To The Next!

Next week, The Amazing Race heads of to Prague, Czech Republic (my great-grandparents moved to the US from here), so I couldn't be more excited to see this country up close and personal. There will be a lot of beer references and a throwback to a legendary roadblock from season 15. Tune in 8/7 c on CBS!