Back into the TAR time machine we go – this time to late 2002. After the soft relaunch and incredible finale of Race 2, season 3 goes bigger. A bigger cast with 12 teams and fewer non-eliminations. A grander route featuring an all-new slate of countries. A cast of different archetypes that feels oh-so-fresh. And, somehow, a finale that is just as good as the all-timer that preceded it. Roll the credits, it is time to take a look at the roller coaster ride that is The Amazing Race 3.
Casting Gold
The cornerstone of a great season of television begins with its cast. For my money, no cast delivers from the first through the last placed teams more than this one. Every single team gets a moment to shine, even first boots Gina & Sylvia at the marketplace in Mexico. Almost everyone is a part of a major storyline. Almost everyone gets some character development, a jarring contrast to the one-note teams of late. And the cast is so dang FUNNY!
A little quirk I picked up is that once the designated “funny team” goes out, another picks up the slack. This leads to no let down throughout the entire season, then humor mirroring the intensity of the race. First off, you have the dynamite that is Tramel & Talicia (henceforth TNT) for the best two episode run ever, complete with a magnificent reaction to not being eliminated in episode 1. Once they get rained out, we get some hilarious deadpan one-liners from Michael, with Kathy a wonderful foil to him. Aaron & Arianne’s snark and Ken & Gerard’s zaniness begin to shine through in the middle section as well. Once we hit the end game, Derek & Drew’s map-reading catastrophes become a consistent source, as does Flo’s meltdowns and the other contestants’ reactions to them. Heck, even Teri has some fun moments!
This is a season where you are genuinely upset to lose a lot of the teams. You want to see more of their adventures together. The only knock I could give it in the casting department is that your milage may vary on the wacky final 3, which features a love-them-or-hate-them couple in Teri & Ian, the loveable Ken & Gerard, and Flo & Zach, who, depending on whether you feel more strongly in your dislike of Flo’s performance or how much you love Zach’s may have you tearing your hair out.
Killer Fatigue
Over 20 years on, this gets my vote for the hardest edition of the Race. At times, it feels almost like traveling version of Eco Challenge – something designed to push people to their absolute limits as much as possible as opposed to a fun jaunt around the world.
Right from the start, The Powers That Be send teams on a wild ride through Mexico. From having to find one man (shoutout Pablo!) amongst millions in Mexico City and skydiving in leg 1, we get right into a cross-country epic in leg 2. From the Pit Stop to the Pyramid of the Sun, we get a 181 km/112-mile drive, followed by backtracking 48 km/30 miles into Mexico City to take a 24 hour (!) bus ride to Cancun. Once in Cancun, it’s a 100 km/62-mile drive to Cozumel to take a ferry to (and from!) the Roadblock. Only then is the Pit Stop a mere 82 km/51 miles from the ferry launch.
Exhausted? We are just getting started! Several legs feature multiple countries, including leg 3 (England-Scotland), leg 5 (Portugal-Spain-Morocco), leg 7 (my personal fav, Germany-Austria-back to Germany again), and leg 10 (Malaysia for some hilarious product placement-Singapore). Race 3’s home stretch is no joke either – teams traverse the length of Vietnam from South to North largely by public transportation. Oh, and every single country is appearing for the first time on the show!
Flo got, and still gets, a lot of online grief for her behavior towards Zach as the race unfolds. Certainly some of it is warranted, but I also see how she ended up checked out and wanting out. The amount of times they slept out in public places, or on planes or trains, would leave most people deeply jet lagged and out of whack. Not an excuse, for sure, but a reason.
Just Plain Fun
Despite having a similar timeline of cut-to-air (one month from the racers hitting the finish line to the first episode airing), this is a well-rounded, tidy, and smooth television product. Storylines are engaging and consistent – the Twin Hunt becomes the Race’s first meta moment, as the ghosts of previous young male winners lead to many teams banding together to knock out this year’s versions, the Wonder Twins Derek & Drew. In turn, the Wonder Twins join forces with Ken & Gerard and occasionally Andre & Damon to survive. Caught in between are Teri & Ian, who vehemently oppose making alliances. The Twin Hunt ends when the most vocal of the team’s leading the charge get axed, and Twin Hunt member Flo starts a fling with Drew. Ken & Gerard eventually go their own way, and the race gets thrown into beautiful chaos. The payoff of the alliance storylines is an epic final 10 minutes in leg 11, as the arc of Flo & the Wonder Twins comes to a stunning conclusion (more on that later!).
Once again, this season is a true testament in trusting your audience. The eliminations of two teams, TNT and Andre & Damon, showcase that trust along with some fun creativity in the editing booth. Both teams, well behind after various travel troubles, receive a short look-in on their progress right before their elimination, as opposed to the big to-do with sound effects and slow-motion commercial cuts you would come to expect now when a team realizes they are in trouble! In episode 2, as the remaining teams reach their cars and begin to make money moves to the Pit Stop, a 5 second, blink-or-you’ll-miss-it clip of Tramel diving for his clue at the Roadblock plays to ominous music. Otherwise, they stay largely out of the frame during their final 10 minutes on the show until they hit the mat last.
A similar fate awaits Andre & Damon. In episode 7, doomed from their near kidnapping the previous leg, the exhausted first responders fall asleep on their train and miss their stop. All that is shown is, again, a short clip of them asleep, the train doors opening and closing, and the train leaving again. They don’t show up again until every other team checks in, doomed to last place. I just thought this was a fun style to mix up the typical flow of an episode.
The Wildest Four Episodes Episodes
By design, Race seasons are crafted to peak at the end for maximum drama. And Race 3’s last two episodes certainly deliver. But the early game is never as strong as it is here, where a stunning run of 4 episodes each feature jaw-dropping, one-of-a-kind moments that keep the viewer coming back for more.
Fast Backwards
We kick things off with a cross-continent trip from Mexico to the UK in episode 3, where Dennis & Andrew find themselves half a day behind the nearest competition. Down to their last roll of the dice, they book it to the Fast Forward as soon as the hit the British Isles, with Dennis shocking everyone by being a tank-driving savant, barreling through what looked to be a difficult Fast Forward. For a brief second, viewers think they are about to pull off a dramatic comeback, but alas the damage was already done and they become the first team to win the Fast Forward and get eliminated.
“As defined in the Glossary of the Rules…”
Following that up is a spirited disagreement on the definition of the word “walk.” In the chaos of every team bunched up at the final clue in Portugal, lawyers Heather & Eve finish the Roadblock in the middle of the pack and appear well on their way to surviving the leg. All they needed to do was walk to the nearby Torre de Belem and check into the Pit Stop. Regardless of whether their cameraman said it was cool or not1, they roll up in a cab and then deliberately walk super slow up the stairs to the mat. It was a good try, but Phil dramatically whips out some plastic chairs for a meeting of the minds with the lawyers and Aaron & Arianne, and then hilariously spells out the meaning of the word “walk” while giving the lawyers a fatal 37-minute penalty, eliminating them over Aaron & Arianne.
A Nice Batch of Unleaded
Speaking of Aaron & Arianne, they are lead actors in next episode’s crisis, Diesel-Gate! Driving across the lengths of Portugal and Spain to take a ferry to Morocco, teams need to re-up on gas in the dead of night. A whopping 4 of the 8 teams left miss the diesel signs on their cars and put in “a nice batch of unleaded.”2 Just like that, there are 4 breakdowns on the side of the road in Spain. Two teams rally (more on this below), but for the remaining two, this is a fatal error. Michael & Kathy exit stage left this leg, and Aaron & Arianne are left in the dust the following.
Getting too Real
That is not to say episode 6 is without its own insane moment. With Aaron & Arianne’s elimination looking like a foregone conclusion, at the 11th hour comes a moment so scary the security team needs to intervene. Andre & Damon are left on the side of the road in a tough side of Marrakesh. While trying to figure out where they are and how to get back on the road, they are stopped and detained by a local official, who goes as far as trying to get them to surrender their passports. Luckily, a combination of their cool heads (as they did not give up their passports) and the show’s security negotiations secured their released. Unluckily, the producer’s kind of screwed them here. I am left feeling that they should have gotten some sort of time credit for, you know, getting kidnapped. But they did not, and fell so far behind that they were late to the airport the following leg and end up doomed by missing a connection.
Diesel-Gate: True Colors
Circling back to Diesel-gate for a hot minute, the four affected teams really show their true colors in the heat of the moment. Ian, whose *gruff* treatment of his wife and others earned him some flack, has one of his finest moments after initially refusing responsibility for his own mistake. Using his deep knowledge of motor vehicles, he is able to siphon out all of the unleaded and obtain a can of diesel to get his team back on the road quickly, an impressive performance.
Flo, struggling after refusing to rappel that afternoon, reaches her first real breaking point. And for the first of many times, Zach keeps his cool and pulls a rabbit out a hat, in this case the rabbit being a 24-hour repair shop well outside a city. The mechanic gets the car fixed and ready, and they hit the road not far behind Teri & Ian.
Aaron, too, takes this hard. Hard enough to the point where he is crying on the side of the road as Arianne keeps her team in the game by flagging down a cop, who is able to get the car towed to a repair shop. It takes a long time, but at least they tried to figure it out and did the best they thought they could considering the circumstances.
For Michael & Kathy, the tale is grimmer. A spooky shot of Michael in shock hits our screens, as they know they did something wrong but cannot figure out what they did (if it wasn’t their fault, the show would replace the car.) Eventually, Michael’s laid back nature wins out and they simply give up the ghost for the night, crashing in a hotel. I do need to give them a shoutout, though, as one of the few couples who strengthened their relationship on the Race, and are still together.
The Momentum Killer
The biggest critique I have of Race 3 is how the back-to-back non-eliminations in legs 8 & 9 totally kill the momentum. Having done the first 7 eliminations rapid-fire, the effect of 3 episodes featuring the same 5 teams is jarring. It’s not that fun either. The situation isn’t helped by how similar the episodes feel, both taking place in Switzerland. A little mix-up in environment would have at least helped, but they really should have had a break in between the non-elimination legs.
Sure, mixing up the format keeps the teams on their toes. I’m all for it – the way non-eliminations were done in the first 2 editions was stale. But why not toss one earlier on in the season for a surprise? Despite some fun character development during this period, it just isn’t fun for me. I am fine skipping these episodes, especially the second one at Lake Geneva, on a rewatch. The lack of momentum bleeds into the Singapore leg, which doesn’t do a lot for me either despite it being the last hoorah for the most wholesome of teams, John Vito & Jill.
Ian Returns to Vietnam
Teri & Ian’s rollercoaster ride deserves its own section. Ian is a very old-school guy who is a vet and former cop. He also recently quit smoking prior to going on the show, and that very much shines through in his attitude over the course of the race. He is very much the alpha of the relationship, and there are arguments to be made that certain lines are crossed. Teri, for her part, has no problem giving it right back to whom she pronounces “Eye-an.” Some of the banter is uncomfortable, at least for me, but some of it is downright hilarious (“You’re not modest!” and the whole paper underwear scene standouts)
Despite their age and old-married-couple bickering, they kept up with the young bucks deep into the race. It’s a good thing they did, too, because they got to race in Vietnam. Right off the bat, when Phil announces that the route markers will be colored different in Vietnam (although failing to disclose why!3), we know this is not an ordinary country visit. Immediately upon reading the clue to fly to Ho Chi Minh City, Ian’s whole demeanor visibly changes. You can sense this is a man who, a Vietnam veteran, struggling with a lot from his time fighting there.
Throughout his time back in Vietnam, a reflective, if somewhat haunted, side of Ian shines through. The experience is punctuated by one of my favorite moments of the entire series. On the train ride to Hue, the Race taps into something a little deeper as Ken, Gerard, Teri, and Ian himself reflect on how their perceptions have been altered by their time traveling through the country.
Wonder Twins Down!
I was but a young lad when this first aired, so I didn’t get to experience live just how stunning the end of leg 11 must have been to watch live. The first two seasons were predictably won by the youngest, fittest team of dudes, and Wonder Twins Derek & Drew were heavy favorites to continue that streak against a weak-ish group of teams. Despite a penchant for avoidable navigational errors and showmances, the twins battle their way into Vietnam in a good spot. For most of the leg, powered by a surprising umbrella appearance, things are going smooth.
Once told to return to Ho Chi Minh City and find the Road Block clue, the wheels fall off. They miss the clue box and get confused about the amount of small yellow flags along the road. Ken & Gerard, their friends and former partners, are also floundering in the same situation, but spot Flo crossing the Saigon River on a boat against all odds. They have the wherewithal to shout out asking for help, and are giving the correct location seconds before bumping into the Wonder Twins. Realizing they have no shot head-to-head against the younger, fitter twins, Ken & Gerard feign ignorance and leave the twins to their doom.
Like a slow motion wreck you can’t avert your eyes from, the twins compound the issue by hopping on their own ferry across the river, blindly following Flo. They get so far as the Pit Stop mat, and as a gleeful Zach watches on, the twins get the news that they need to cross back over the river and find the clue. A finishing Ken & Gerard volunteer the info now that they are safe, and the saddest of piano tunes plays as the Wonder Twins demise is made complete.
Flo’s Day from Hell
With the help of a superhuman partner and a non-elimination leg, Flo somehow finds herself in the final 3, with a 33% chance at her share of $1,000,000. Just days from the finish line and without any eliminations to worry about, the 12th leg should be a cruise for her. But her slow descent into madness, begun all the way back in Portugal on the cliffs of Cabo de Roca, culminates in a Terrible, No-Good, Horrible, Very Bad Day4.
Look, I have some sympathy for her in how much of a grind this race was, and to her credit she never talks badly to locals. But she just mentally checked out right before the finish line, and clearly wanted nothing more than some creature comforts and to go home. Unfortunately, the Race provides neither and what followed was a wild 45 minutes where viewers are on the edge of her seat, wondering not what place they will finish the leg in, but whether she will finish it at all. Zach, with his characteristic and borderline crazy levels of calm, convinces her to try both sides of the Detour before getting flexible with the rules.
The finale features a second 24-hour train ride in as many legs, and once again Flo wants out. I felt truly sad at that point, that a woman who is but hours from potentially life-changing money wants nothing more than to go home. Yet despite all the claims of being ready to quit, she buckles up one more time and gets on the train. While she is a passenger the rest of the way, it is ultimately good enough: while she is once again screaming at Zach, he locates the most important taxi of all…
A Heroic, One-Man Race
At some point during the finale, at least for me, my hopes for who won went from “just please not Flo” to “please, Zach deserves this money!” In the span of a two-part finale, Zach pulls not one but two genuine miracles:
At the Detour in leg 12, Flo is the closest she came to quitting the race having failed at both sides of the Detour. In a desperate attempt to keep his chances alive, he pleads with Flo, reminding her that this is his race and his chance at the money as well. That brings her somewhat back into the fold, giving him enough time to bend the rules and figure a way out. As much as I loved it, I think Zach really gets away with one by paying locals to push the boats to the clue instead of the contestants handling them. But survive without penalty he does, enough to get his ailing teammate into the final leg.
All the time they lost, though, appears to doom our intrepid travelers when they miss out on plane tickets out of Vietnam. Zach faces what appears to be the end of the road: a 24 hour train ride to an airport where tickets must already be in a team’s possession. Yet, like Rocky rising up off the mat in the final round, Zach rises up with the single greatest strategic move EVER. Knowing he had to have tickets in their possession to get on the train, they book business class tickets on the same flight as the others.
They know they are not allowed to use these tickets, so Zach spends the entire train ride hustling with fellow passengers, almost all of whom don’t speak English, to borrow a cell phone. Not only does he get a phone, he tracks down a number for a travel agency in Hanoi, who lets Zach know of an earlier flight that has opened up. Unable to wait until the travel agency opened, Zach incredibly arranges an after-hours meeting at a hotel with one of the agents, a modern hero name Mr. Huey, and somehow pulls it all off.
They keep pace with the other teams all the way to Seattle, when Zach’s quick spot of a taxi and solid memory are enough to propel him to the unlikeliest, one-man victory of all time while essentially carrying dead weight around. He has my vote as the greatest to ever do it. Here’s to you, Zach Behr. I’m glad life has smiled upon you.
Quick Hits
-Andre & Damon giving their $1 back to Phil at their elimination always cracks me up
-36 seasons in, Tramel & Talicia’s reaction to not being last in leg 1 is the GOAT. As is their use of down time in leg 2 (cite source)
-Imagine being excited to win a leg of the race and get a free trip or significant cash prize, only to be offered a Kodak Easy Share camera.
-As my girlfriend pointed out, John Vito & Jill are the biggest casting shoe-in ever. The bonus is that they are the model couple of the first 3 seasons – supportive, good communicators, teammates, and always building each other up
-Speaking of John Vito & Jill, they become the show’s first victim of a broken-down car under the new, Blake & Paige-inspired rules. While the no time credit is pretty brutal, I get why they ruled that way because determining exactly how much time they lost could be an inaccurate science in a game of seconds.
-Most underrated funny racer of all time? For me it’s Michael – he just has the dryest sense of humor and snarky, blink-or-you-miss them one liners that have me rolling. Kathy is the perfect foil to him, the straight woman to his zaniness.
-I feel like that memory challenge in the finale had to be mostly trial and error. The racers had no clue a memory challenge would come up, and some of the animals were only seen on detours that some teams didn’t choose.
-I absolutely love the escargot-selling challenge in Marrakesh. It’s just a fun time seeing everyone let their guards down and have fun, the hilarious comments from the teammates watching from above, and large crowds of locals coming to watch and get in on the action as well.
-I know the logistics of filming it must have been crazy (esp. in the early 2000’s!) but as technology has improved, I’m surprised they’ve never brought back the call with loved ones. It is awesome mid-race, as teams have to choose how long to stay on the phone with home versus continuing to race.
-My favorite moment of the Flo experience came in Vietnam when Zach’s veneer of calm finally slipped a little. Flo states that “All she has is this Diet Coke, bringing memories of real life,” to which Zach replies with a grumpy and terse “Good.” Roll the tape:
Conclusion
This is one for the ages. While your opinion rests solely on your tolerance for Flo, I think this will end up on the podium once the reviews are done. Just an absolute blast to watch, over and over again.
DVD Link
This will become an Amazon Affiliates link when set up, but for now this is a link to the DVD of the season for anyone interested. It is, as of writing, also available on Hulu and Paramount+ in the United States and Disney+ in Canada.
The Ridley Review
Your Review
Footnotes
- Lawyers Sent Home On Technicality – CBS News ↩︎
- Shoutout Aaron ↩︎
- The Amazing Race 3 – Wikipedia ↩︎
- Shoutout Judith Viorst ↩︎
