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Subscribe via RSSAmazing Race 3 – Leg 8: Fussen to Grindelwald
The teams race into Switzerland and learn the truth about bunching: get ahead, fall behind, get ahead, fall behind. John Vito & Jill find themselves arriving last, but are spared elimination in this non-elimination round.
The teams leave Fussen and head for Switzerland. A boat ride out to the Rheinfall teaches several teams never to leave their bags on the boat. But bunching is the word of the day as the teams never manage to get more than about half an hour apart. In a foot race to the finish, the teams scramble through the tourist town of Grindelwald searching for the Chalet Arnika. John Vito & Jill arrive at the mat last, but are spared elimination when Phil informs them this is a non-elimination leg.
Well, with the Holiday and the resultant food coma, this is going to be a very brief commentary.
For a non-elimination leg, this episode had plenty of edge of your seat, nail biting moments. Would the boat with the luggage come back? Can John Vito & Jill maintain a lead for any length of time? Are any of the racers going to die of oxygen deprivation from all that running?
This was definitely the episode that hammered home the rule of bunching. Flo & Zach leave first, but are reeled in while waiting for the ferry. John Vito & Jill get out ahead at the Rheinfall only to find themselves on the same train as everybody else.
Was Derek & Drew’s and John Vito & Jill’s lying to Teri & Ian wrong? Maybe morally; and Jill did feel remorse for doing it. But this is a race, and it was presumptuous of Ian to expect the other teams to help him out. There are too few teams left for any alliance to particularly effective.
Of course, this fact didn’t stop Derek & Drew from teaming up with Flo & Zach. Although I expect that had more to do with Drew & Flo’s attraction than with gaining any real strategic advantage.
And finally, the race to the mat was fun to watch. Mrs. Cosmic was yelling at John Vito & Jill to run hoping they wouldn’t be eliminated. And Jill’s collapse when she found out they weren’t eliminated just goes to show the amount of emotion she put into the sprint to the mat. I’m hoping they make it to the end. I so want to see them sprinting past the other teams to the finish line.
