Author: Eric
This year we have followed the travels and experiences of the Amazing Race Season 21 using the Travel Goal Getter iPad App which allows you to mark your own map of the world with states visited, countries visited, and continents visited and keep track of bucket-list travel experiences. One of our favorite travel related shows on television, Amazing Race Season 21, Episode 11 and the finale left me wanting to learn a foreign language (or at least learn how to say hello and goodbye in more than a few languages)! Read on for the full story.
This year we have followed the travels and experiences of the Amazing Race Season 21 using the Travel Goal Getter iPad App which allows you to mark your own map of the world with states visited, countries visited, and continents visited and keep track of bucket-list travel experiences. One of our favorite travel related shows on television, Amazing Race Season 21, Episode 11 and the finale left me wanting to learn a foreign language (or at least learn how to say hello and goodbye in more than a few languages)! Read on for the full story.
The final map! Racers ended up visiting 3 continents (Asia, Europe, North America), 9 countries (Bangladesh, China, France, Indonesia, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Turkey, United States), and two US states (California, New York).
All teams flew to Barcelona, Spain where they boarded a train to the Loire Valley in France. Josh and Brent had a slight advantage because Josh could speak French. Teams first had to pick up 8 empty crates from a cafe and then drive them to Chateau de Villandry which is home to the worlds largest ornamental gardens. Teams then had to find their next clue at a stone dog which directed them to Leonardo da Vinci's final resting place, Chateau d'Amboise.
Since Natalie and Nadiya finished in last place on the previous non-elimination episode, they had to complete and extra task called a speed bump. The speed bump involved lacing up a corset on woman who was getting dressed in an 18th century outfit. They finished this task quickly, and proceeded to catch up with the other teams.
This season was filled with a lot of team cooperation which was different from past seasons where teams would be much more reluctant to help each other. For example, even with the race nearly over, some teams agreed to follow each other to the next stop where teams had to choose between the tasks "plow" or "chow".
► In plow, teams had to use a traditional horse and plow and till four rows on a field. Trey and Lexi and Jaymes and James plowed and they finished rather quickly.
► In chow, teams had to make a daily meal for a pack of hunting hounds which involved sorting and removing the bones from various cuts of meat. Brent and Josh worked strategically by selecting the cuts of meat carefully in order to save time while Natalie and Nadiya did not finish as fast.
Next, the clues instructed teams to drive to La Cave de Roches. We learned that many of the castles in the Loire Valley were constructed from locally sourced limestone. Many caves were left from the quarried limestone which now provides an ideal environment to grow mushrooms. Teams had to search the caves and find 10 mushrooms of three varieties. Trey and Lexi and Jaymes and James were nearly neck and neck completing this task. Likewise, Josh and Brent and Natalie and Nadiya were nearly neck and neck as well.
Jaymes and James ended up finishing first while Trey and Lexi came in second. Despite leaving the caves last, Josh and Brent finished third because Natalie and Nadiya had some navigation trouble and went the wrong direction to the pit-stop.
1) Jaymes and James - each won 2013 Ford Escapes
2) Trey and Lexi
3) Josh and Brent
4) Natalie and Nadiya - eliminated
FINALE TIME!
All teams flew to New York, New York and were instructed to go to Coney Island. At Coney Island, teams had difficulty finding the clue which was part of a sign. Trey and Lexi found the clue first, Josh and Brent second, and Jaymes and James about 15 minutes after the other teams left. The clue instructed teams go to the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
At the Navy Yard teams had to complete the roadblock, "Amazing Escape". This roadblock was adrenaline inducing in that racers had to hang upside down, in a straight jacket, suspended 15 stories from a crane! Trey, who conquered his fear of heights finished quickly. Brent who was the second to go up also finished quickly and Jaymes finished very fast as well. I was actually very surprised that panic did not set in for any team members which is what I thought would happen being that they were upside down, in a straight jacket, 15 stories up! I also learned that in order to get out of a straight jacket you need to get your arms over your head. Hopefully, I will never find myself in that predicament!
Next, teams had to figure out that the pizza restaurant recognized as America's first was Lombardi's. Jaymes and James ran into trouble when they realized their taxi had left which kept them in last getting to Lombardi's. At Lombardi's, teams had to deliver three orders of pizzas to addresses that they memorized. Trey and Lexi arrived first and completed the task on their first try. Josh and Brent zoomed through the task but they messed up the orders and had to redeliver. Jaymes and James arrived last but finished quickly and made no delivery errors.
Their final roadblock task led them to the United Nations. If you were paying attention this season, you will remember that at each pit-stop, racers heard "hello" and "goodbye" in the native languages of the countries they were in. This task required teams to match up the correct hello and goodbye words and join them with the correct country flags. Once completed, they could raise the UN flag which lowered their final clue. Teams struggled with this task and at one point the show flashed that it had been over 2 1/2 hours into the task. Prior episodes had similarly difficult final tasks and this was no exception. Josh had the upper hand and used his language skills to match up the words the quickest.
Although Josh and Brent did not win a single leg prior to the finale, they won the most important one and were declared the winners of season 21.
1) Josh and Brent - won a million dollars!
2) Jaymes and James
3) Trey and Lexi
All teams flew to Barcelona, Spain where they boarded a train to the Loire Valley in France. Josh and Brent had a slight advantage because Josh could speak French. Teams first had to pick up 8 empty crates from a cafe and then drive them to Chateau de Villandry which is home to the worlds largest ornamental gardens. Teams then had to find their next clue at a stone dog which directed them to Leonardo da Vinci's final resting place, Chateau d'Amboise.
Since Natalie and Nadiya finished in last place on the previous non-elimination episode, they had to complete and extra task called a speed bump. The speed bump involved lacing up a corset on woman who was getting dressed in an 18th century outfit. They finished this task quickly, and proceeded to catch up with the other teams.
This season was filled with a lot of team cooperation which was different from past seasons where teams would be much more reluctant to help each other. For example, even with the race nearly over, some teams agreed to follow each other to the next stop where teams had to choose between the tasks "plow" or "chow".
► In plow, teams had to use a traditional horse and plow and till four rows on a field. Trey and Lexi and Jaymes and James plowed and they finished rather quickly.
► In chow, teams had to make a daily meal for a pack of hunting hounds which involved sorting and removing the bones from various cuts of meat. Brent and Josh worked strategically by selecting the cuts of meat carefully in order to save time while Natalie and Nadiya did not finish as fast.
Next, the clues instructed teams to drive to La Cave de Roches. We learned that many of the castles in the Loire Valley were constructed from locally sourced limestone. Many caves were left from the quarried limestone which now provides an ideal environment to grow mushrooms. Teams had to search the caves and find 10 mushrooms of three varieties. Trey and Lexi and Jaymes and James were nearly neck and neck completing this task. Likewise, Josh and Brent and Natalie and Nadiya were nearly neck and neck as well.
Jaymes and James ended up finishing first while Trey and Lexi came in second. Despite leaving the caves last, Josh and Brent finished third because Natalie and Nadiya had some navigation trouble and went the wrong direction to the pit-stop.
1) Jaymes and James - each won 2013 Ford Escapes
2) Trey and Lexi
3) Josh and Brent
4) Natalie and Nadiya - eliminated
FINALE TIME!
All teams flew to New York, New York and were instructed to go to Coney Island. At Coney Island, teams had difficulty finding the clue which was part of a sign. Trey and Lexi found the clue first, Josh and Brent second, and Jaymes and James about 15 minutes after the other teams left. The clue instructed teams go to the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
At the Navy Yard teams had to complete the roadblock, "Amazing Escape". This roadblock was adrenaline inducing in that racers had to hang upside down, in a straight jacket, suspended 15 stories from a crane! Trey, who conquered his fear of heights finished quickly. Brent who was the second to go up also finished quickly and Jaymes finished very fast as well. I was actually very surprised that panic did not set in for any team members which is what I thought would happen being that they were upside down, in a straight jacket, 15 stories up! I also learned that in order to get out of a straight jacket you need to get your arms over your head. Hopefully, I will never find myself in that predicament!
Next, teams had to figure out that the pizza restaurant recognized as America's first was Lombardi's. Jaymes and James ran into trouble when they realized their taxi had left which kept them in last getting to Lombardi's. At Lombardi's, teams had to deliver three orders of pizzas to addresses that they memorized. Trey and Lexi arrived first and completed the task on their first try. Josh and Brent zoomed through the task but they messed up the orders and had to redeliver. Jaymes and James arrived last but finished quickly and made no delivery errors.
Their final roadblock task led them to the United Nations. If you were paying attention this season, you will remember that at each pit-stop, racers heard "hello" and "goodbye" in the native languages of the countries they were in. This task required teams to match up the correct hello and goodbye words and join them with the correct country flags. Once completed, they could raise the UN flag which lowered their final clue. Teams struggled with this task and at one point the show flashed that it had been over 2 1/2 hours into the task. Prior episodes had similarly difficult final tasks and this was no exception. Josh had the upper hand and used his language skills to match up the words the quickest.
Although Josh and Brent did not win a single leg prior to the finale, they won the most important one and were declared the winners of season 21.
1) Josh and Brent - won a million dollars!
2) Jaymes and James
3) Trey and Lexi
Read all our posts from Amazing Race Season 21:
Amazing Race Season 21 Episode 1 Recap
Amazing Race Season 21 Episode 2 Recap
Amazing Race Season 21 Episode 3 Recap
Amazing Race Season 21 Episode 4 Recap
Amazing Race Season 21 Episode 5 Recap
Amazing Race Season 21 Episode 6 Recap
Amazing Race Season 21 Episode 7 Recap
Amazing Race Season 21 Episode 8 Recap
Amazing Race Season 21 Episode 9 Recap
Amazing Race Season 21 Episode 1 Recap
Amazing Race Season 21 Episode 2 Recap
Amazing Race Season 21 Episode 3 Recap
Amazing Race Season 21 Episode 4 Recap
Amazing Race Season 21 Episode 5 Recap
Amazing Race Season 21 Episode 6 Recap
Amazing Race Season 21 Episode 7 Recap
Amazing Race Season 21 Episode 8 Recap
Amazing Race Season 21 Episode 9 Recap
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