The Amazing Race 20 Secret Scenes, Episode 5:  The Leg When Everyone Lost It

Did Vanessa & Ralph keep yelling at each other even on the walk down the hill?  Yes.  Did Rachel & Dave (pictured) say things to each other they may regret in the future?  Probably.  Did Kerri & Stacy freak out on a train and in a car?  Indeed.  Are Brendon & Rachel somehow arguing the entire time while also doing somehwat okay in the race?  Of course.  Yet it’s when Bopper & Mark actually start arguing when you know this leg stressed everyone out!  Read on for all the details!

Extra Race Footage

Featured Team:  Kerri & Stacy

Cousins Driving Nightmare:   In one of the Bavarian towns, Stacy slows the car down and verifies with a pedestrian that she can go down a certain street.  He tells her yes and as she starts to drive that way, Kerri lays into her for asking everyone the same question.  Stacy wishes that Kerri would calm down as Stacy doesn’t want to run anyone down.  Kerri doesn’t understand how Stacy could be so timid while driving as there is ample evidence that there wasn’t anything wrong with driving down this street.  Stacy insists that the road could be just for locals but Kerri just balks at that reasoning.  Some measured profanities are tossed back and forth for a while until Kerri mutters that she wishes that Stacy would drive like she had somewhere to go.  Stacy wishes she was driving with someone who knows how to act.

Featured Team:  Vanessa & Ralph

How It All Began:   In what was clearly a fully produced clip (with soundtrack and team-name subtitles) that ended up on the cutting room floor, Vanessa & Ralph are bickering back and forth while trying to find the Turin train station.  Ralph refuses to backtrack which irks Vanessa mightily as now they seem to be driving with absolutely no direction.  Ralph wonders if it ends up they are going the right direction will Vanessa apologize for her attitude.  She isn’t backing down and asks what if they’re going in the wrong direction.  While waiting at an intersection, Vanessa complains that they’re driving around in circles as if they’re not in a race and sarcastically reminds him that they are in a race.  Cut to Vanessa & Ralph at a large city directory/map and them asking for directions from a local.  As they get back in the car, Ralph doesn’t want to hear anything more from Vanessa as he’s had it. He has no idea how much more he’s going to deal with once they get to Bavaria!

Featured Team:  Rachel & Dave, Joey & Danny

Making it Personal:   This is another fully produced clip, where we find ourselves at the Turin train station with Rachel & Dave.  We join them as Dave is yelling for Rachel to hide with him at the platform so that other teams like Jersey don’t see them.  It looks like Rachel is trying to rearrange the contents of her pack on the platform and Dave would rather her do that while on the train.  At the ticket counter, Joey & Danny are still buying their tickets, while back outside, Rachel & Dave have walked far down the platform to avoid being seen (although I would imagine the camera and sound guy aren’t exactly great camouflage).  She mockingly asks if it’s okay for her to sit on the bench now but Dave wishes she’s be more cognizant of the fact that they’re in a game.  She insists that she’s well aware of that fact and that he just needs to calm down.  Rachel then throws out that Dave’s only worrying about the game and not their marriage, eventually telling him he’s a terrible husband.  Ouch!

Featured Team:  Vanessa & Ralph

What Goes Up…:   Oy.  On the walk down from Neuschwanstein, Vanessa & Ralph are still engaged in the bickering.  Vanessa isn’t forgetting that Ralph tossed her jacket at her and threw a few Eff Yous her way.  While he denies it was that bad, Vanessa insists that it’ll air on the show.  Ding ding!  Vanessa explains that her main frustration was that Ralph wanted to walk up the hill while taking a carriage would have been smarter.  Yet Ralph insisted on following the Jersey team but he tells her that walking was the faster way up as they passed the horse carriage on their hike up.   Bickering ensues as he tells her he has apologized three times but all Vanessa remembers is being told Eff You.  Ralph reminds her that all she kept telling him was to shut up and it’s possible she missed his apologies.  This relationship is doomed!   Vanessa tells Ralph she’s ready for an apology but now he wants an apology from her, and now there are no apologies for or from anyone.  Vanessa is tired of Ralph being careful to treat the other teams nicely but so willing to treat her like crap.  He tells her that he’s just doing damage control as all she wants to do is bash the other teams, and him.

Featured Team:  Kerri & Stacy

Sketchy Train Ride:   Kerri & Stacy are laughing nervously at their predicament as they are on what they call a super sketchy train.  When it pulled up to the station Kerri prayed that it wasn’t their train yet it was.  When they got in, they couldn’t believe the windows were down as it’s 30 degrees outside.  Nary & Jamie let them crash in their cabin as in Kerri & Stacy’s original cabin, they were sharing it with sketchy men.  Stacy was afraid to be awake in that cabin let alone fall asleep.  She’s even wearing her hoodie so that her body won’t come in contact with the seats.  Kerri calls it public transit at its finest, or rather, the other end of the spectrum.  Suddenly Kerri twitches forward as she swears that something just bit her on the neck.  This freaks Stacy out and now Kerri’s skin is crawling.  Both state that this part of the game is just The Race as there is nothing amazing about it.  Stacy jokes that the only way she’ll sleep is if she can put her neck pillow on underneath her hoodie to ensure proper separation from the seat.

Featured Team:  Joey & Danny

Gaining Confidence:   While driving, Joey remarks that Rachel & Dave aren’t fans of the green team (Brendon & Rachel) and adds that he & Danny aren’t fans either.  Danny doesn’t agree and thinks that he & Joey get along with everybody, which Joey sheepishly agrees with.  Joey insists that eventually they’ll have to start taking sides as if a U-Turn opportunity comes up, who will they use it on?  Both are non-committal at the moment and plan to keep working with Rachel & Dave to stay at the head of the pack.  Danny isn’t worshiping at Dave’s feet concerning navigation as being an Army pilot doesn’t mean he is necessarily the greatest at navigation.  Already this caravan has made three u-turns with Dave & Rachel guiding them.  Danny is fine with breaking apart from Rachel & Dave if the time comes.  The experience gained from the first few legs has yielded results as neither of them are reluctant to ask for directions  and their confidence has grown.  Joey tells us that Dave & Rachel have admitted they stumbled into first place those first two legs and don’t understand how that happened.  Joey has the confidence to think they could overtake Dave & Rachel at a challenge and thinks it will come to that.

Featured Team:  Brendon & Rachel

Lost in a Fairy Tale:   Brendon & Rachel wander around some Bavarian houses and Rachel realizes there is no gingerbread to be found.  Brendon is sure they’re going the right way while Rachel mutters in frustration.  We can hear someone call Brendon’s name and it looks like they found the gingerbread house assembly area, yet they still haven’t found the gingerbread.  Okay, so it wasn’t the assembly area as after a brief moment, Rachel decides to be sarcastically supportive of Brendon’s decision.  They jog forward to where Brendon wants to explore and Rachel is proved correct as there’s just more charming snow scenes but no gingerbread on the ground.  Brendon admits his error and that Rachel was right, but that isn’t what Rachel wants to hear.  She thinks he’s arguing with her just to argue but Brendon just wants Rachel to stop shooting his ideas immediately down.  Rachel argues that he never listens to her ideas either.  I love them, but seriously, their arguments are so ludicrous.

Featured Team:  Rachel & Dave

Dave Compliments His Wife:   As they drive to Fussen, Rachel explains that they went to Hohenschwangau (the wrong Ludwig castle) because a guy told them that’s where Ludwig’s bedroom was.  Another guy on the street also pointed at the wrong castle when they asked which one was the fairy tale castle.  Based on that, they thought it was the right castle.  Obviously it wasn’t and they didn’t find that out until the tour guide in the castle told them otherwise.  Rachel thinks they weren’t the only set of teams to make that mistake as she felt that the guy had told this same thing to other teams.  Dave isn’t upset too much as they asked explicit questions and the people they talked to gave explicit answers, so it wasn’t for a lack of trying.  It was just a mistake and he knows they can recover from it.  Dave is especially impressed with Rachel toughing it out, carrying her bag throughout the entire experience.  She returns the compliment and gives him a shoulder massage.

Featured Team:  Bopper & Mark

Never Like This Before:   Mark is driving through a Turin neighborhood at night and he’s letting Bopper know that it’s frustrating that Bopper isn’t of more help.   Bopper protests that he hasn’t been here before so how could he know where to go?  Mark reminds him that he’s got the map and promised that he did know which way to go.  Bopper turns to us and laments the fact that he & Mark have been fighting like they have never before since starting the race.  Mark just wishes that instead of Bopper insisting he knew where he was going, admitting he didn’t so they could ask a local.  He’s also frustrated at Bopper’s frustration, which of course is also a reciprocated feeling.  Bopper tells Mark that he’s free to pull over and ask for directions any time he wants and that he’s not stopping him.  Mark agrees that is an option.

Featured Team:  Rachel & Dave

You Drive Me Crazy:   Dave curses to himself while driving as Rachel comments that they should go back.  He asks where they should go back to and insists that the doesn’t to follow Rachel & Brendon.  He then gets upset at Rachel as he thought she had paid attention to the directions given to them to get to Neuschwanstein.  Rachel reminds him that she asked him if he heard the directions too and he confirmed that he did.  Dave mutters that he only heard the direction for the first turn.  As they drive down a street, Dave asks Rachel if this is the right street and she laughs as she has no idea.  He gets frustrated at what he considers her lack of participation as he needs some sort of assistance.    Dave begs her for any recollection of the directions she got and that prompts her to declare that he’s getting the directions next time.

At the Pit Stop

Featured Team:  Kerri & Stacy (eliminated)

Cousins Say Goodbye:   Phil comments to Kerri & Stacy that they had declared they wanted to race fairly and not play mind games with anyone.  He wonders what their families are thinking now.  Kerri thinks they may be shocked as they probably expected them to go further.  She starts to tear up so Stacy jumps in and tells Phil this would be a perfect time for him to whip out a magic save.

Phil points out that there wasn’t much love lost between them and some of the other teams, who have been a bit nasty about it.  With that said, who do they think deserves to win the race?  Both immediately say that they want the Kentucky guys (Bopper & Mark) to win as they’re racing a fair game and they like them as people.  Stacy respects Bopper’s motivations to help his daughter and hopes he can win to do some good.  She also likes Rachel & Brendon (wow!) and the “teachers” Nary & Jamie and wouldn’t mind seeing them win if Kentucky doesn’t make it.  Kerri really wants the South to get represented well and as capable of winning something like this.  Stacy adds that Bopper & Mark are real men and are great examples to their kids.  

Featured Team:  Nary & Jamie (seventh place)

“Teachers” Survive:   Phil confirms to Nary & Jamie that every other team is convinced that they are teachers.  They’re proud of their deception yet Jamie admits after their performance this leg, now the truth would be more embarrassing as they’ve been doing so poorly.  Jamie admits she’s frustrated and Nary tries to cheer her up by saying it was only the one thing with the castle, but then she adds that they were slowed up by her curling performance.  Phil has them tell the greeter what they do for a living and Jamie explains they’re “polizia federal” although in Germany, it would be “polizei.”  She pantomimes some finger-guns and the greeter gets it.  Phil lets him know that they told everyone else that they’re teachers.  The greeter feigns shock.

Phil reminds them that they’re in seventh place and asks if they’re worried.  Nary tells him that they had been doing pretty good and were running in the middle of the pack but once they got to the Roadblock, she messed up as she couldn’t curl the gnome.  Jamie immediately jumps in to defend her and tells Phil she did her best and never gave up.  She thinks where they went wrong was the castle choice, as Nary actually wanted to go to Neuschwanstein but they asked a ticket guy and he gave them incorrect advice.  Actually, as Nary continues the story, it’s clear they asked a bad question.  They asked where Ludwig’s bedroom was, and the ticket guy responded that one was the fairy tale castle (Neuschwanstein) while the other one (Hohenschwangau) was where the bedroom was.   He confirmed that Neuschwanstein did not have Ludwig’s bedroom.   

They bought their tickets and took the tour of Hohenschwangau, eventually getting to the bedroom.  When there, they peered around at every part of the bedroom and realized there was nothing race-related there.  The guide could sense their concern and after finding out what they were looking for, told them they were looking for the other castle.  Nary & Jamie asked to leave the tour then, but at that point, they had already spent an hour and a half there.  Phil asks what the moral of the story is and Jamie tells him that it is important to listen to your gut.  Phil adds that maybe you shouldn’t listen to men either!  Jamie laughs and tells him that they’ve learned those two lessons

Featured Team:  Brendon & Rachel (fifth place)

The Secret to a Long Marriage:   Phil asks if the greeter can give Brendon & Rachel any advice for their marriage.  The greeter asks if they fight during the daytime.  Both admit that was yesterday, although the other videos prove that they were arguing still today!  Lies!  His advice to them is to spend tonight together not fighting.  They both like the advice and thank him.   Phil insists they trust his advice as he’s been married five times!  That turns out to be a joke as the greeter has never been married.  What is going on here, Phil?  Rachel explains that they do want to get married and have lots of “Brenchel” babies, which confuses Phil as he apparently hasn’t heard of that nickname.

Featured Team:  Rachel & Dave (fourth place)

Consistently Inconsistent:   Phil wonders why Rachel is so happy – has she been drinking a lot of German beer?  Dave explains she’s hopped up on hair spray and pure joy and euphoria.  He tells Phil that they ran the entire leg while wearing their packs, including all the castle hills.  Phil asks if they had trouble getting the clues today and Dave confirms it was a rough leg.  Rachel explains they ended up driving 30km out of their way just to find the castles, let alone misinterpreting the clues.  Dave tells him that at the beginning of the leg, they were competing for first, but it became clear near the end they were fighting just to stay in the race.

Concerning their standings so far, Dave thinks their placement (1st, 1st, 6th, 2nd and 4th) illustrates consistent inconsistency.  Phil thinks they’re at least always up in the top half and Dave must be doing something right as Rachel is still smiling.  Dave tells Phil that he is usually cool and collected but there have been times on the race where he’s gotten frustrated when things impact them out of his control.  Phil recognizes that Dave is a control freak, and asks if Rachel is one too.  Rachel admits she is and that’s why they end up butting heads so much.  Phil wonders if this is the basis of a good relationship when there’s two control freaks in it.  Rachel laughs and calls him “Dr. Phil.”  They both explain to the greeter that the other always thinks they’re right too.  

Featured Team:  Art & JJ (first place)

The Smell of Victory:   Phil jokingly asks Art & JJ how good does it smell in the cow pen.  JJ replies that it smells like victory while Art thinks it smells better than JJ after two days.   Phil asks about their Detour choice and Art mistakenly tells him that they Fast-Forwarded it.  JJ looks at him and can’t believe he’s already confused, which gets a good laugh out of Phil.  Phil now asks if Art knows where he is or what leg it is or even who his partner is.  Eventually Art remembers that they did the beard-styling Detour, which was right up JJ’s alley as he hasn’t been able to use his hair products yet.  It was a dream come true for JJ and this confuses Phil.  He can’t believe a border patrol agent would obsess over hair.  JJ defends himself while Art insists you can’t get arrested by someone with bad hair.

JJ laughs as he had to school Art on proper hairspray and hair-dryer technique.  Art was using it sparingly and JJ had to come in and encourage him to go crazy with the hairspray.  It is all about the wet-dry, wet-dry cycle.  JJ admits it was still strange to style another man’s facial hair, which Phil agrees would be a bit strange.  Even the greeter doesn’t want to do that.  Art was proud of their performance at the Detour as they arrived third but left first.  He thinks that JJ will start to be called JJ Mitchell.  Phil thinks Metro Mitchell has a better ring to it.  JJ admits they love being on the race but knows they’ll face relentless mocking when they get back to work.  Phil points out if they win, they’ll also always have to buy the beers at the bar.  

After the Race

Featured Team:  Kerri & Stacy

Representing Mississippi:   Stacy tells us that she & Kerri are ultimate competitors and a twinkle in their state’s eye having represented themselves well.  There were a few moments where they had to keep from going off on someone, and that’s because they’re from Mississippi, the Hospitality State.  Kerri insists they raced with sportsmanship, although I wonder if the Twins or Dave & Rachel and Art & JJ would concur.  Kerri tells us that it’s important they did play that way as that’s a crucial element to their careers in athletics and recreation.  She knows that Mississippi is proud of them as they went out there with “their southern twang and did the thang.”  Their words, not mine.   They did their thing around the world and would do it all again the same way.

Featured Team:  Bopper & Mark

Kentucky’s Change of Opinion:   Bopper & Mark tell us about their adventure at the train station, as apparently the tickets they purchased out of the machine were the wrong ones.  So they went and waited at the ticket counter until it opened, but no sooner did it open did Kerri & Stacy come right up and lean in ahead of them.  So now we see that Kerri & Stacy pulled this trick on yet another team.  I don’t think they understand what the word sportsmanship means, especially after watching the Representing Mississippi video.  Bopper relates that he knows the girls did this with other teams and even lied to them about what happened with Elliot & Andrew when the girls were “strong-armed” by them.  Now Bopper understands what probably happened in reality.  He even admits that when Phil asked after one leg which team he’d like to see go, he told him that the twins should because of their alleged behavior.

Mark started putting the truth together though after hearing the same stories from Ralph & Vanessa and Rachel & Dave.  Another personal encounter with Kerri & Stacy was when they were caravaning together and after Kerri & Stacy had got the directions, they wouldn’t share them with Bopper & Mark.  Kerri & Stacy insisted that Bopper & Mark get their own directions and once they went inside to get the directions, Kerri & Stacy took off so they couldn’t be followed.  Mark reasons that is the first bit of karma to come back and get them.   The second bit of karma was at the curling Roadblock, as Kerri & Stacy lied to them about the Pit Stop being inside there.  I can’t understand why they would lie about that, but it caused Bopper & Mark to go back and get their bags.  When they came in to do the challenge, they were shocked to see Kerri & Stacy still competing as they had been led to believe that Kerri & Stacy were on their way out.  Bopper laughs as after only five tries, he & Mark were done with the Roadblock and passed the girls up.  

Featured Team:  Nary & Jamie

Guys Like Dave:   Jamie tells us about their hike up the road to Neuschwanstein and the fact that Dave kept asking them if they should get their bags. Jamie had noticed that Rachel & Dave had carried their bags through the entire first castle’s tour and throughout all the subsequent hiking and she didn’t think the clue implied that you needed your bags.  Nary is certain that Dave’s intention was to slow she & Jamie down as it was clear that Dave couldn’t believe the girls were caught up to him & Rachel.  Jamie has seen guys like Dave in her job plenty of times, the guys who define themselves by their jobs.  She recalls when first meeting him that he told her that he was a pilot and a major and in special intel when all she really asked was what he did.  Jamie admits that his job may not be that impressive to her or Nary as they too have top secret clearances and do secret missions, yet she wouldn’t ever start listing to strangers all the individual impressive facets of her career in a bragging way.  Jamie gets tired of people like that who ultimately think they are better than you and want to list all the ways they are to prove it.

Featured Team:  Art & JJ

Art & JJ Out in Front:   Art explains that being out in front means you race by yourself and while that gives you a certain buffer to fix mistakes, they don’t get any time to really interact with other teams.  They’re also out of the loop and don’t know if there is a resentment towards them and possibly a shared goal to team up against them.  JJ thinks it’s easier to race by themselves though as there’s no drama to deal with.  They just race and constantly push themselves to do well and stay ahead, especially in the complexities of travel timelines.  Yet they’re both well aware that it could be one bad leg or one bad cab ride that knocks them out of the race.  They can see the million dollars now though and feel it is within their reach.

Hobie Barnes lives in Santa Monica, California and can’t stop reading the Game of Thrones series of books.  He recently traveled to Turkey, Italy & Greece and can’t wait to see if the places he visited end up on this season of the race.  When not busy fighting the 405 and 101 freeways on the commute to Burbank, he is patiently waiting for an Amazing Race or Survivor scout to cast him!  He can be reached at <a href=”mailto:hobiewan76@gmail.com”>hobiewan76@gmail.com</a>.