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In this ninth episode of The Amazing Race Season 38 (U.S. Edition), all teams departed at different times but flew on the same airplane — therefore starting this leg of the race together. Teams left ROMANIA 🇷🇴 and arrived in Athens, GREECE 🇬🇷 and quickly proceeded to Pnyx (Pnyka) Hill near the National Observatory, Parthenon, and Acropolis. This area of ancient Greek civilization 🏺 is the birthplace of democratic voting. The Amazing Race chose this setting to conduct a Double U-Turn Vote. Each team voted two teams to slow down, requiring them to complete both Detour tasks 🚧. For coming in last place in the previous episode (↗), Adam and Joseph were penalized with one U-Turn Vote. This turned out to be a trivial disadvantage for the team since the most votes were against Eric/Tucker (4 votes), Jag/Jas (3 votes), and Kyland/Taylor (3 votes). The teams of Adam/Joseph, Chelsie/Jack, and Izzy/Paige only received one vote each. Here is a team-by-team vote tally in sequential order:
→ Adam and Joseph voted against Chelsie/Jack and Eric/Tucker.
→ Eric and Tucker voted against Jag/Jas and Kyland/Taylor.
→ Chelsie and Jack voted also against Jag/Jas and Kyland/Taylor.
→ Jag and Jas voted against Eric/Tucker and Kyland/Taylor.
→ Izzy and Paige voted against Eric/Tucker and Jag/Jas.
→ Kyland and Taylor voted against Izzy/Paige and Eric/Tucker.
While there were supposed to be two teams having to complete both Detours, Jag/Jas and Kyland/Taylor both tied in votes so a tiebreaker vote was held. Just like in the first round of voting, both teams received three votes. Therefore, Eric/Tucker, Jag/Jas, and Kyland/Taylor were required to complete both Detour challenges: “Music in the Air” 🎶 and “Olives Everywhere”. In “Music in the Air,” team members chose to carry or took turns carrying a Greek laterna piano 🎹 on her or his back to a nearby town square. They performed the musical instrument and caught everyone’s attention with various shenanigans (and begging) in hopes of earning at least 10 Euros 💶 from nearby pedestrians. Jag and Jas earned €12.20 relatively quickly, Eric and Tucker earned €18.40, Kyland and Taylor earned €11.10, and Adam and Joseph earned €13.03. For the “Olives Everywhere” Detour task, teams tasted, visually identified, and memorized 10 varieties of olives grown throughout Greece. They then quizzed their newfound olive knowledge by going to a different table somewhat close by to match 10 bowls of olives with their variety name.
Visiting another hill in Greece, teams went to a place called Hill of the Muses to roll a giant ball on it. Teams were then tasked with memorizing the 24 lowercase Greek letters, and they recited them as an elderly gentleman in ancient Greek garb pointed to each letter in random order. If I was a contestant on The Amazing Race, I would have loved to complete this task because these letters are used for designating stars in almost all the constellations in the night sky! I created the Amazing Astronomy Blog (↗) to share my passion for 🔭 stargazing and learning about the cosmos 🌌. Visitors accessing the Amazing Astronomy Blog may notice lowercase Greek letter symbols (α, β, γ, δ, ε, ζ, η, θ, etc.) within constellation maps and various posts.
Now back to recapping this episode! Jag memorized the letters in alphabetical order but did not realize the elder sage was going to point to them in random order. Nevertheless, he completed this task in first place. Meanwhile, Tucker struggled at this task despite usually finishing something in first or second place. Jag and Jas arrived at the Kotzia Square Pit Stop first and met Phil — and a lady dressed as Athena. Phil gave Jag and Jas a trip to CAMBODIA 🇰🇭 including the following destinations and activities: the world-famous Angkor Wat temple, the city of Siem Reap, ATV adventures, a Cambodian culinary tour, and Ta Prohm temple. Phil noted that Jag and Jas is the first team ever to have arrived first at the Pit Stop 🏁 after being U-Turned! Chelsie and Jack arrived at the mat in second place, followed by Adam and Joseph in third, Izzy and Paige in fourth, and Kyland and Taylor in fifth. Despite being a competent team and winning in four episodes in a row, Eric and Tucker arrived last at the Pit Stop and ended their Amazing Race journey in this episode.
In this eighth episode of The Amazing Race Season 38 (U.S. Edition), teams searched for an Easter egg, visited the world’s heaviest building, learned and performed a folk dance routine, played a handmade flute, and made street food in Bucharest, ROMANIA 🇷🇴! The first task of the day involved searching for an Easter egg in a meadow and forest area to match one of the giant decorated eggs. Someone in a chicken costume accepted the eggs found by the teams and gave them their next clues. Jag and Jas used their Express Pass to skip the egg hunt and proceed to the Detour challenge near the People’s Palace (Casa Poporului) at Union Square (Piața Unirii). The People’s Palace of Romania is the world’s heaviest building weighing in at 4.1 million metric tons (tonnes) which equals over 9 billion pounds!
Adam and Joseph arrived to the Detour last because Adam struggled to find a hidden Easter egg. Teams who chose the “Find the Beat” task learned and performed a Romanian folk dance routine. Deciding that learning and performing this dance would be time-consuming, Kyland and Taylor was the second team to use the Express Pass in this episode. Teams who chose the “Hit the Note” task assembled two Romanian pan flutes (nai) and played a particular tune to a flute player’s liking. Teams completed their Detour challenge and visited the Green Hours jazz café. Here, teams learned about mici (mititei) street food which tends to involve a mixture of meat, herbs, and spices. Teams formed, grilled, and culinarily plated 20 sausages made with black pepper, thyme, garlic, paprika, and a mixture of beef, pork, and lamb. Team members were encouraged to try one, and most of them were impressed by the deliciousness.
The “navigational frustration” mentioned in the episode info above especially occurred to Chelsie and Jack. The father-daughter duo struggled to find almost every location in this episode, but they have had similar moments in previous episodes, too. They managed to surpass Adam and Joseph in arriving at the Royal Palace ( Mogoșoaia) Pit Stop location. Built in circa 1700, the palace is in the village of Mogoșoaia across the Colentina river northwest of Bucharest. Jag and Jas arrived at the Pit Stop in 1st place and won a trip to BERMUDA 🇧🇲 with an itinerary including an aquarium visit, crystal cave exploration, catamaran sailing, and an eatery and culinary tour in the town of Hamilton. Eric and Tucker arrived at the Pit Stop in 2nd, Kyland and Taylor in 3rd, Izzy and Paige in 4th, Chelsie and Jack in 5th, and Adam and Joseph in last place. Thankfully, Phil gave Adam and Joseph a non-elimination chance, so the brotherly team stayed in the competition!
I am thankful as always that you visited the GeoFact of the Day Blog today. I hope you and yours have a wonderful, happy, and blessed Thanksgiving!
First of all, I want to express my thoughts and well wishes for everyone in JAMAICA 🇯🇲, HAITI 🇭🇹, CUBA 🇨🇺, and other places in the Caribbean dealing with Hurricane Melissa and its destructive aftermath.
In the sixth episode of The Amazing Race Season 38 (U.S. Edition), teams drove a manual stick-shift vehicle northwest from Dubrovnik, CROATIA 🇭🇷 (HRVATSKA) to the town of Trsteno. Here, they visited the Trsteno Arboretum featuring trees that are over 500 years old. 🌳 Teams found a clue near the arboretum’s Neptune statue then drove further northwest along the Adriatic Sea coastline to the partially walled town of Ston. They encountered the “Bag It Up” versus “Pull It Up” Detour challenge. In “Bag It Up”, teams filled ten bags of local raw salt — each bag weighing slightly over 20 pounds each. In “Pull It Up”, teams visited a major oyster harvesting area known as Mali Ston Bay. They rowed a boat to find buoys with oysters attached; the teams then gave those oysters to a local restaurant known as Bota Sare. 🦪
Overview map of Trsteno — a town northwest of Dubrovnik and known for its arboretum
Remaining in the town of Ston, teams visited Park Komarda for the “Who Knows Their Way Around Croatia?” Roadblock. 🚧 With the navigational help of a 3D relief map of Ston, a member of each team visited several locations throughout the town to find and remember Croatian (Hrvatskan) facts. These facts involve multiple topics: letters not featured in the Croatian alphabet (Q, W, X, and Y), one of the several mottoes of Croatia (“As long as there is heart, there is Croatia”), highest mountain in Croatia at 6,007 feet* (Dinara), famous poet in Croatia (Ivan Gundulić), original length of the Walls of Ston (22,965 feet*), the date when Parliament proclaimed independence from Yugoslavia (June 25th, 1991), first king of Croatia (King Tomislav) 👑, and Croatia’s coastline length (3,625 miles*). Amazing Race contestants arrived back at the map and were tested with three questions asked by a Croatian. Contestants who did not answer the questions correctly had to answer a different set of questions for their next attempt, so some of them went back to the locations to memorize all facts.
Overview map of Ston — the second town featured in this episode
Prapratno Cove was the Pit Stop for this episode. 🏁 Eric and Tucker arrived in first place and both won another trip — this time to various locations in EGYPT 🇪🇬 including Cairo, Alexandria, and the famous pyramids. Tucker excitedly mentioned that Egypt was always on his bucket list, so it is awesome that he can check that one off! ☑ Kristine and Rubina were the eighth and last team to arrive, so they were eliminated from The Amazing Race.
* 6,007 feet equals 1,831 meters, 22,965 feet equals 7,000 meters, and 3,625 miles equals 5,834 kilometers.
Season 38 of The Amazing Race (U.S. Edition) rolled off to a good start; teams enjoyed playing a NETHERLANDS 🇳🇱 version of bowling! One teammate was positioned on a sled, and the other teammate pushed him/her into the ten bowling pins. Some teams earned a strike right away, while others took many attempts before knocking all the pins down. Kyland and Taylor earned an Express Pass for completing the task first. They were also given a pass to give to another team, so they chose Jag and Jas. Other teams were puzzled given that Jag and Jas were known as strong competitors on CBS’ Big Brother show and therefore wouldn’t necessarily need help in this competition — indeed, they finished first in this leg of The Amazing Race!
I found it interesting that teams completed the first task before meeting with show host Phil Keoghan. Usually teams would meet Phil first, then after “ready, set, go” they would run (or drive, or fly, etc.) to the first challenge. Enzo and Jack were the last team to accomplish a strike, so Phil gave them a Hazard card. This rarely seen feature was last used in Season 19 (2011) and gives the team a penalty, sort of like a Speed Bump. Enzo and Jack had to complete two penalties: eat a herring (some folks wouldn’t mind it but it is an acquired taste, after all) and ride an interesting clog bike that was hard to steer. I was very intrigued by the clog bike… part of it is a big yellow wooden clog shoe. What’s more Holland than that 😃? Jack was seated in the clog, while Enzo struggled to steer the clunky bike.
Teams drove to the Port of Volendam; some teams easily found it, while others took practically hours before arriving at the correct place. They rode a tandem bike to the canal-facing Edam Cheese Market where they had to stack Beemster cheese spheres on a platform that both teammates carried. As he often does, Phil gives us a factoid. However, this one might not be totally surprising if you know anything about Holland or Amsterdam: people of the Netherlands are #1 in the world when it comes to bike riding. I sometimes wonder how globally ranked facts are figured out — “how would you know for sure?” — but this one makes total sense. After cheese-stacking, teams visited Van der Wilt Gerberas, a massive greenhouse with possibly hundreds of thousands of gerbera daisies! Out of 42 different varieties, teams had to choose the correct nine colors and arranged 36 flowers (four per color) in a pattern. Finding the correct color out of many subtle color variations would be difficult enough, but the greenhouse facility actually turned on huge shades that blocked the sun. Teams literally had to wear a head lamp — as if they were searching for gold instead of flowers! Jag and Jas completed this challenge relatively quickly and arrived first at the Pit Stop: Museum Square. They earned $2,500 each and proved once again they are winning competitors like they were as Big Brother contestants. Jack and Enzo were the last to arrive out of 13 teams and could not proceed to the next episode.
The next episode will be Wednesday, October 1st at 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time on CBS and soon streaming on Paramount+.
December’s GeoFact of the Day Blog quiz centers on the mighty and wonderful continent of Africa. After testing your African trivia prowess, you can further test your geographic knowledge (↗) with other geography quizzes from GeoFact of the Day. The answers to this quiz are listed below; enjoy and good luck!
1) Fill in the blank: the Tsodilo Hills in northwestern Botswana are nicknamed the “_________ of the Desert” for having more than 4,500 ancient rock paintings in the area!
A — Louvre
B — Lascaux
C — Paint Palette
2) True or false: the “official car” of the SEYCHELLES is the mini-moke, a Tonka Truck-style Jeep powered by the engine of a Mini brand car.
3) Fill in the blank: at the civilization’s societal peak, the kingdom of Meroe in present-day ___________ geographically stretched all the way to LEBANON and SYRIA.
A — BENIN
B — SUDAN
C — TANZANIA
4) In 2002, Swaziland’s parliament voted against a government request to buy a $50 million USD luxury jet for which of the following kings (two of the names below are fictional)?
A — King Mbabane XII
B — King Mswati III
C — King Mhlambanyatsinhlangano
5) During its heyday, the renowned university at Timbuktu gave approximately 25,000 scholars of all ages opportunities to study and learn. Where is Timbuktu?
A — MALI
B — LIBYA
C — EGYPT
D — MAURITANIA
6) Which of the following is not a typical ingredient in a slow-cooked stew known as calulu, the national dish of SÃO TOMÉ AND PRÍNCIPE?
A — eggplants
B — prawns and smoked fish
C — turnips
D — spices
7) The DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO (DR Congo) is Africa’s second largest country, containing a geographic area that is 36,330 square kilometers lower than ALGERIA’s area. DR Congo is also 80 times larger than neighboring BURUNDI and which other relatively small country?
A — CAMEROON
B — CHAD
C — NAMIBIA
D — RWANDA
ANSWERS
Question 1:
A . . . . . Louvre, named after the famous Paris art museum established in 1793
Question 2:
True
Question 3:
B . . . . . Sudan
Question 4:
B . . . . . King Mswati III
Question 5:
A . . . . . Mali
Question 6:
C . . . . . turnips
Question 7:
D . . . . . Rwanda
“Souvlaki” Episode Description: Teams travel to Halkidiki, Greece, where they are tested on their spelling and memory skills.
Episode Airdate: Wednesday, February 16th, 2022 on CBS
After experiencing two episodes worth of various picturesque locations in Corsica, FRANCE, teams flew eastward to another picturesque destination: northeastern GREECE. Episode 8 of the The Amazing Race mostly centered around the Halkidikí (Chalkidikí) Peninsula. Once they arrived at Peraía Beach in the town of Peraía near the city of Thessaloníki…
● Teams drove to the Konstantinos Olive Grove in the village of Néa Gonía and were tasked with finding a clue high up in an olive tree. Cayla and Raquel made use of the shoulder-stepping method — which displayed their dependable teamwork — to reach the clue. Unfortunately, they did not have to resort to the clever but shoulder-hurting maneuver because The Amazing Race showed a ladder close by! Teams traveled to Marianna’s Vineyard and encountered the episode’s first…
● Roadblock (“Who Likes to Wrap?”): Marianna’s Vineyard typically grows grapes to harvest the fruit’s leaves and not necessarily to make wine. One member on each team combined a mixture of rice, vegetables, and spices and filled grape leaves to make 60 dolmades, which are essentially “leaf burritos” as Dusty said. Kim successfully prepared her wraps first, maintaining Team Kim and Penn’s longstanding lead in the competition. Meanwhile, Raquel had difficulty in wrapping the dolmades to the satisfaction of the vineyard’s proprietor but finally found success after some trial and error.
● Teams visited Mamo’s Kantina Stand near Heraklia Beach about 13.4 miles and 21.6 kilometers east of Mount Olympus (Olympos). They asked the food cart vendor about the Dish of the Day and were instructed to spell the name of this cuisine: souvlaki. Teams then had to make a decision that would make some vegan and vegetarian viewers cringe or change the channel: choosing whether to eat a chicken souvlaki or a pork souvlaki. While clues for the next stop are typically found in an iconic black-and-yellow envelope, this clue was simply a place name (Saint George Church) printed on the souvlaki’s wrapper. Many teams did not notice the clue at first, including Lala and Lulu who ate several souvlaki servings and were puzzled about not receiving a traditional clue envelope in hand.
● Roadblock (“Who Wants to be Iconic?”): Néa Irákleia’s Saint George Orthodox Church is a circular and three-tiered structure featuring an octagonal bell tower. Outside in the church’s plaza, one member on each team took about ten minutes to listen to a priest as he taught them about Saint Anastasia (of Sirmium), Saint Christopher, Saint David (the Dendrite), Saint George, Saint Irene, Saint John the Apostle, Saint John the Theologian, Saint Mercurius, Saint Nicholas (of Myra), and several other saints. He or she had to correctly identify the illustrations of five saints — St. Anastasia, St. Christopher, St. David, St. Irene, and St. Mercurius — based on a vendor’s variety of quiz questions. Penn successfully completed this task first.
● Pit Stop: Néa Kallikráteia — a fishing port overlooking the Thermaic Gulf (Thermaïkós Kólpos) which is a component of the Aegean Sea
● An extra GeoFact: the Aegean Sea is home to over 1,400 islands.
● Before arriving at the souvlaki task(s) mentioned above and consuming way more souvlaki then they would’ve liked, Lala and Lulu somehow found the Pit Stop and show host Phil Keoghan before finding the souvlaki stand! While having the “advantage” of knowing the Pit Stop location ahead of time, this sneak peek ultimately did not help them since they ended up in last place and were eliminated from the competition. In this season, the twin duo occasionally argued with each other but quickly became one of my favorite teams as they tried to make the most out of their traveling mishaps — especially when they attempted to eat not-so-yummy meals! Their Amazing Race journey seems relatable; for me, traveling is not 100% enjoyable but I try to make positive memories nevertheless!
● On the next episode of The Amazing Race and even closer to the $1 million finale, “Teams leave no stone unturned”…
Season 33, Episode 8 Results
1st — Kim and Penn [same as previous episode]
1st place prize — $7,500 each
2nd — Cayla and Raquel [same as previous episode]
3rd — Dusty and Ryan [same as previous episode]
4th — Arun and Natalia
5th — Lala and Lulu
Eliminated from the competition
“Gently Down the Stream” Episode Description: Teams continue racing through Corsica, France, where each team member must try a piece of casu martzu.
Episode Airdate: Wednesday, February 9th, 2022 on CBS
On this episode of the The Amazing Race, teams remained on the island of Corsica — located southeast of mainland FRANCE but geographically closer to ITALY and Italy’s Sardinia island. After teams slept overnight in tents near the banks of the Tavignano river…
● They left Cardiccia and drove T-Roc convertibles south to the Tour de Fautea watchtower overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The previous episode and this episode both involve a dairy-related challenge. As the episode description indicates, every remaining contender in this season had to partake in eating casu martzu — let’s just say this cheese is not the most appetizing option available in the world! Lala, Lulu, and others were understandably gagging while trying to chow down the casu martzu. After entirely eating the mortifying morsel, teams encountered a…
● Detour, choice between “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” or “Gently Down the Stream”: teams choosing the Row, Row option sailed in a transparent kayak and sought to unhook and gather ten fish decoys from the water. Teams then exchanged the fish for a clue. After catching eight of ten fish, Dusty and Ryan capsized when the kayak sunk and filled with water; they recovered the kayak and their fish and subsequently found the other two. The second Detour option includes the same style of colorful fish decoys, which are likely made of metal or plastic (or something else). Teams choosing the Gently Down the Stream option boarded an Aquavision tour boat, which resembles a submarine since passengers can look underwater at the landscape and aquatic life surrounding them. Teams memorized which fish decoys they saw in chronological order then chose the pictorial card containing the correct order of fish. Teams noted some of the fish by their resemblance to national flags: France (vertical blue/white/red stripes), Jamaica (green/gold/black), and Japan (white fish with red spot).
● After completing the fishy Detour, teams visited the marina (port de plaisance) in Bonifacio. Bonifacio is a community of more than 3,000 residents in the southernmost area of Corsica, although several places such as the Pertusato Lighthouse and the islands of Cavello, Lavezzu, and Piana (not to be confused with a Piana island off the northwest coast of Sardinia) are more southerly and southeasterly. In Bonifacio, teams encountered this episode’s…
● Roadblock (“Who’s Feeling Knotted Up?”): alongside the harbor on a wide sidewalk, one member on each team fixed the large gaping hole in a fishing net with the help of string and a knotting technique. Completing this Roadblock yielded a clue directing teams to spot the man dressed as emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, and he would then lead teams to the apex of the chalky and picturesque…
● Pit Stop: Bonifacio Cliffs — 200 feet above the Mediterranean Sea
Season 33, Episode 7 Results
1st — Kim and Penn [same as previous episode]
1st place prize — vacation to TURKEY
2nd — Cayla and Raquel [same as previous episode]
3rd — Dusty and Ryan [same as previous episode]
4th — Lala and Lulu
5th — Arun and Natalia
Eliminated from the competition? No; non-elimination leg
Episode Info and Summary: Racers travel by private jet to Corsica, France, where they go canyoneering through the beautiful landscape of national rockslides, waterfalls, and rivers.
Episode Airdate: Wednesday, February 2nd, 2022 on CBS
On this episode of the The Amazing Race, teams flew about 400 kilometers (250 miles) southward from Lugano, SWITZERLAND to an island sparkling with stretches of sandy coastline and 200 beaches: Corsica in southeastern FRANCE. Once the contenders arrived in Corsica…
● They visited the Pont d’Altiani (Altiani Bridge), a 14th century bridge built in the Genovese architectural style inspired by the Italian city of Genoa. Speaking of Genoa, teams flew past the city and the rest of northwest ITALY in their journey from Switzerland to Corsica. Outside the city of Corte (Corti) in Corsica, teams encountered a…
● Detour, choice between “Say Cheese” or “Mule, Please”: teams choosing the Say Cheese option cooked up three baskets worth of fromage (cheese) by heating/curdling goat milk then delivering the finished product to a storage cellar. Dusty and Ryan had difficulty with this cheese challenge since the milk was not heating and curdling in a timely manner. They likely realized that “patience is a virtue” and decided to wait out the hours-long task to successful completion. Teams choosing the Mule, Please option strapped a harness with several milk transport cans onto their mule. The relatively cooperative mules then helped deliver the milk along a rugged trail to a fromagerie.
● After completing the cheesy Detour, teams visited Altipiani, an ecotourism agency at the Verghellu Canyon. Altipiani almost translates from Italian to English as “highlands” or plateaus.” Altipiani was the location of this episode’s…
● Roadblock (“Who Wants to Make a Splash?”): at Altipiani, one member on each team had to hike and travel via Tyrolean traverse (“slow zip-lining”) to a waterfall, find a waterproof clue, slide down what is basically a natural waterslide, and hike back to his or her teammate. During this Roadblock, several teams — including Dusty and Ryan who had difficulties with the cheesemaking Detour — surpassed Akbar who participated in this Roadblock. Sheri took a breather after completing several consecutive Roadblocks in previous episodes. Worried when other teams’ teammates arrived before Akbar, she yelled out “Booby, let’s go!” with a sense of urgency to a faraway Akbar who was practically miles away.
● The clue discovered at the Roadblock instructed teams to head to the 88.5-kilometer (55-mile) Tavignano river. Teams were tasked to inflate a plastic kayak and paddle up a portion of the river to the…
● Pit Stop: Cardiccia Dam
Season 33, Episode 6 Results
1st — Kim and Penn
1st place prize — $5,000 each
2nd — Cayla and Raquel
3rd — Dusty and Ryan
4th — Arun and Natalia
5th — Lala and Lulu
6th — Akbar and Sheri
Eliminated from the competition
Episode Info: Teams race through Switzerland, where racers bungee jump over 700 feet off the Verzasca Dam.
Episode Airdate: Wednesday, January 26th, 2022
The Amazing Race episode 5 brought teams to the canton of Ticino in southeastern SWITZERLAND. The area may be familiar to longtime viewers as it was the majestically mountainous setting for an episode in season 14 (2009). The six remaining teams of this season 33 quickly encountered a…
● Roadblock (“Who Wants to Get Down with the Travelocity Roaming Gnome?”): one member on each team took on a death-defying task indeed. Holding the iconic garden gnome figure, he or she had to bungee jump 722 feet from the top of Verzasca Dam. In several flashback scenes, teams from season 14 were shown completing the same task despite being terrified. The dam is Europe’s highest bungee jump drop-off. In regards to the team of Akbar and Sheri, Sheri unfortunately was compelled to complete the frightening quest despite her fear of heights (acrophobia); this was due to Akbar being deemed by medical staff as too overweight to safely bungee jump at the insane height. While understandably frightened, Sheri found enough courage to face her fears and do something thrilling. Cayla, Dusty, Kim, Lala, and Natalia also completed the harnessed jump.
● Teams received a small satchel for their gnome and then drove to Lugano, an Italian-speaking city very close to Italy. They proceeded to Piazza Carlo Battaglini in hopes of finding and completing a…
● Detour, choice between “Bartender Race” or “Sausage Encase”: teams choosing the Bartender Race option — Akbar/Sheri, Dusty/Ryan, and Kim/Penn — found twelve wine bottles and twelve cone-shaped containers of chestnuts and delivered them to a cocktail party. The Bartender Race was good exercise for teams because they had to climb up and down dozens of stair steps to deliver all the items. Teams choosing the Sausage Encase option — Arun/Natalia, Cayla/Raquel, and Lala/Lulu — made a type of Italian sausage (Luganega) by encasing ground sausage into a tubular lining. They coiled the sausage links into separate spirals and pinned them with long “toothpicks.”
● Upon Detour completion, clues instructed teams to bring out the photograph from their gnome’s satchel and investigate where the depicted but unidentified building is located. Villa Ciani is an 1800s mansion, conference center, and picturesque wedding venue situated steps away from the Pit Stop for this episode: Parco Ciani, a 15-acre park near Lake Lugano. Speaking of lakes, Switzerland is home to over 1,500 lakes.
● Pit Stop: Parco Ciani in the city of Lugano
● In the next episode, teams continue their European adventures in Corsica, FRANCE.
Season 33, Episode 5 Results
1st — Dusty and Ryan
1st place prize — five-night resort vacation in DOMINICA
2nd — Lala and Lulu
3rd — Kim and Penn
4th — Cayla and Raquel
5th — Akbar and Sheri
6th — Arun and Natalia
Eliminated from the competition? No; non-elimination leg
● Episode info: Eleven teams begin their journey and travel to London.
This post recaps the second hour of The Amazing Race season 33’s two-hour premiere episode on January 5th. Teams continued their journey in London, England, UNITED KINGDOM. After the episode 1 Pit Stop at the National Museum of History, teams then visited the Royal Mail Center (Mail Rail) in Clerkenwell. That facility has sorted and delivered mail by train for over 75 years. The current mail transporting vehicle resembles a modern, domelike version of a small train that an amusement park might have. At Mail Rail, teams encountered a…
● Roadblock (“Who Still Gets Mail?”), in which a team member searched among hundreds of letters and other mail to find the The Amazing Race clue. While the clue cards’ coloration was not as vibrant as usual, the clues were relatively straightforward to discover compared to most tasks in the shows’ extensive history of clue-finding tasks. An example of a task on the other extreme of the clue-finding scale would be the season 31, episode 9 (CROATIA) Detour in which Bret and Chris took hours to find a goblet and three rusty medallions underwater; they gave up the task after struggling to spot the two remaining medallions! Therefore, finding the season 33 clue among several large bins of mail was a relative cake walk compared to the season 31 clue. With relatively few motions of rustling through the mail, Penn and Ray found their clues right away but did not redeem their clues right away; they second-guessed themselves due to how easy the task was! Penn and Ray searched some more to see if there is something else to find, but this allowed other teams to catch up. Let’s just say that the other teams did not second-guess themselves upon finding the clue, so a couple teams found an opportunity to surpass Penn and Ray.
● Teams redeemed their “snail mail” clues and subsequently travelled to Leicester Square (Theater City) to find the episode’s Detour.
● Detour, choice between “Bull’s-Eye Mate” or “Decorate”: teams choosing the Bull’s-Eye Mate option visited the Flight Club Victoria pub and had to throw three darts per team member in each round. Within a round of three throws, each member has to throw one dart that hits the bull’s-eye to advance to the Pit Stop. Teams choosing the Decorate option visited a bakery that displayed fruit-topped cakes resembling the flags of about a dozen or so countries. Before advancing to the Pit Stop, teams were tasked to figure out the flags of two European Union member nations then decorate their cakes — to the best of their artistic ability — to resemble those flags. Flag possibilities included Chile, France (correct), Germany (correct), Hungary (correct), Italy (correct), Jamaica, Lithuania (correct), Norway, South Africa, Thailand, and the United Kingdom. Some teams initially decorated their cakes based on the flags of Norway and/or the United Kingdom, but all Decorate Detour teams eventually chose France and Germany. France’s flag cake was topped with blueberries and raspberries, while the top of Germany’s flag cake featured blackberries, peach slices, and raspberries.
● Pit Stop: Russell Square Metro Station area
● At the sort-of “Pit Stop,” contestants arrived on a double-decker bus parked near the Russell Square Metro Station and enjoyed a cup of tea. Since Phil Keoghan told them to continue their Amazing Race journey right away with a trip to Glasgow, Scotland, no prize was awarded to Dusty and Ryan who arrived in first place. Continue watching The Amazing Race on CBS and/or stay up to date with these recap posts! The next episode is coming very soon: Wednesday, January 12th.
Season 33, Episode 2 Results
1st — Dusty and Ryan
1st place prize — nothing
2nd — Connie and Sam
3rd — Arun and Natalia
4th — Cayla and Raquel
5th — Kim and Penn
6th — Caro and Ray
7th — Anthony and Spencer
8th — Akbar and Sheri
9th — Isaiah and Taylor
10th — Lala and Lulu
Eliminated from the competition? No; non-elimination leg
After waiting since the December 16th, 2020 finale of The Amazing Race season 32, I and my fellow American viewers of the globetrotting show eagerly turned our TVs, apps, or streaming devices on to CBS for the two-hour season 33 premiere on January 5th, 2022. Indications of the coronavirus pandemic’s effects on TV production were felt right away on this season — all teams were virtually connected and therefore did not line up at the starting line in a physical location such as Los Angeles. When fan-favorite host Phil Keoghan announced that teams were able to commence the competition, they flew from their various places of residence to London, England in the UNITED KINGDOM. Once they arrived in London…
● Teams proceeded to Trafalgar Square in search of someone dressed in a red phone booth costume. Their clue card took them to the richly ornate Canada Gate near Buckingham Palace. Teams then encountered a…
● Detour, choice between “Artist Den” or “Digiben”: teams choosing the Artist Den option used wallpaper paste to assemble an artwork mural "puzzle" of the Union Jack flag. Several teams had difficulty determining the artwork’s correct orientation on the wall. The major difficulty of the Digiben detour is figuring out what (or who) a “bobby” is. Teams choosing the Digiben option had to find a bobby — a blackly uniformed London Metropolitan Police officer — who handed them a clue taking them to Parliament Square. At the square near Victoria Station, teams were on the lookout for Little Ben, a miniature version of the Big Ben clock tower (Elizabeth Tower). The final detour clue took them to the Underground subway’s Piccadilly Circus train station where a deejay played music and offered the next clue.
● Teams visited The Chipping Forecast restaurant in Soho. They found "Queen Elizabeth II" and "Boris Johnson" lookalikes seated at a table having a "nosh" — of course, they were eating fish and chips! The queen and prime minister impressionists gave teams their Pit Stop clue.
● Pit Stop: National Museum of History, London
Season 33, Episode 1 Pit Stop Results
1st — Anthony Sadler and Spencer Stone (childhood friends)
1st place prize — vacation for two to the Turks and Caicos islands
— resort, spa day, and snorkeling
2nd — Dusty Harris and Ryan Ferguson (best friends)
3rd — Cayla Pratt and Raquel Moore (flight attendants)
4th — Kim Holderness and Penn Holderness (social media-savvy couple)
5th — Caro Viehweg and Ray Gantt (dating couple)
6th — Akbar Cook and Sheri Cook (educator couple)
7th — Connie Greiner (store manager) and Sam Greiner (coach and teacher)
8th — Isaiah and Taylor Green-Jones (YouTuber couple)
9th — Arun Kumar and Natalia Kumar (father/daughter duo)
10th — Lala and Lulu Gonzalez (quarreling twin sisters)
11th — Michael Norwood and Moe Badger (singing police officers)
Eliminated from the competition
The Amazing Race’s finale episode of Season 32 aired on Wednesday, December 16th at 8 PM Eastern Time. Teams embarked to New Orleans, the most-populated city in the Pelican State: Louisiana (southern UNITED STATES). If you have not yet watched this thrilling episode and want to do so: spoiler alert! This post reveals the team that won $1 million!
● After leaving Manila in the PHILIPPINES by air to New Orleans, teams arrived in the Crescent City and proceeded to Louis Armstrong Park to find their next clue.
● “Let’s Party”: after arriving at the famous Bourbon Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, teams joined a parade and were tasked with collecting a total of 50 red beaded necklaces and 50 gold ones. These necklaces were thrown out by partygoers in the spirit of Mardi Gras. The necklaces — some of which had quite giant “beads” — were similar to the ones worn by the parade’s Grand Marshal.
● “Who will be left holding the baby?” Roadblock: teams searched for a small baby figurine inside one of many king cakes. They were then treated with the delicious duty of eating six powdered beignets.
● The next item on the teams’ itinerary was not for the faint of heart. One member of each team was harnessed to the Crescent City Connection Bridge, and the three competitors bungee jumped 180 feet off the bridge to grab a clue suspended over the Mississippi River! All six finalists then slowly rappelled down to a lower level near the bridge.
● “Let Good Times Roll”: with the help of arrow signs, teams rolled a large ball to an enormous warehouse containing plenty of Mardi Gras decorations and accessories. Teams rummaged through the warehouse for a crate containing 32 large “puzzle” pieces. Teams positioned the pieces atop the large ball to create a globe of the world.
● After visiting 10 different countries (or 11, if you include the USA) and 17 cities all while traveling a total of 33,000 miles, teams arrived to the last Pit Stop of the season: Mercedes-Benz Superdome, “where the [New Orleans] Saints go marching in!”
● After winning $1 million as a team, James and Will experienced another amazing moment. Will offered a marriage proposal to James! Winning $1 million in an exciting city on a fantastic TV show is sure to make one of the best engagements ever!
In the extended YouTube clip below, Will noted that about six months ago before the win, James picked a fortune cookie enclosed with a spot-on prediction: “You’re going to embark on a great adventure.” Additionally, the number of this season of The Amazing Race (32) was one of the lucky numbers listed on the fortune cookie paper!
● This post concludes GeoFact of the Day’s coverage of The Amazing Race Season 32. I hoped you enjoyed my recap posts — and one of my favorite shows on TV!
Season 32, Episode 12 Pit Stop Results
1st — James and Will
1st place prize — $1 million as a team!
2nd — Chee and Hung
3rd — Maddison and Riley
You may know about Ralph Waldo Emerson, the famed poet and philosopher who began inspiring people in the 1800s with his words and wisdom. There are two towns in Columbia County in southern Arkansas that, together, seem to pay tribute to Emerson. Combining the names of these towns with the town of Ralph in Marion County, Arkansas results in the full name of the talented man!
However, the town and depot of Emerson is actually named in dedication to Reuben Logan Emerson, an early Columbia County pioneer who encouraged the incorporation of the town on Friday, March 10th, 1905. Some locals colloquially called the town Reuben instead of Emerson. Reuben Emerson pursued a variety of employment opportunities in his lifetime; he was a politician at the state level, banker, merchant, Columbia Banner newspaper owner, and teacher. Nowadays, some of the 368 people living in Emerson are employed with jobs in various sectors including agriculture, bromine, local banking and business, natural gas, petroleum, timber, etc. Since 1990, the people of Emerson and surrounding areas organize the Purple Hull Pea Festival. The annual June celebration honors the local cultivation of the purple hull pea crop and includes a cook-off competition for cornbread and peas, pea-shelling competition, Purple Hull Pea Farmer of the Year award, Walk for World “Peas” (Peace), and World Championship Rotary Tiller Race.
Home to 1,372 people in the year 2010, Waldo is like Emerson because it, too, was not named after Ralph Waldo Emerson (nor the Where’s Waldo guy). According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas (↗), Waldo was named “after a railway officer in 1884” and was soon incorporated on August 13th, 1888. The town thrived with a railroad, timber industry, and various businesses before a catastrophic tornado — and later the Great Depression — pummeled the community in the 1930s. Beginning in 1938, the extraction of natural gas and petroleum from the Magnolia Oil Field helped the town recover. Since the beginning of Waldo’s existence, the local banking and timber industries still employ residents. In fact, one of the town’s National Register of Historic Places is the Bank of Waldo, established in 1899 — the other is a circa-1935 water tower.
While the Arkansan towns of Emerson and Waldo are not named after the revered Ralph Waldo Emerson, American society is commemorating his legacy in other ways: museum exhibits, reading his books and poems, statues, artwork, and even personal poems that are inspired by Mr. Emerson.
According to National Geographic MapMaker (mapmaker.nationalgeographic.org) and MIT's Observatory of Economic Complexity (atlas.media.mit.edu), the following items are major exports of TOGO: awnings and tents, beans, beverages (especially beer and flavored water), cassava, cement, clothing and textiles, cocoa, coffee, concentrated milk, confectionery sugar, corn (maize), cotton, delivery trucks, fertilizer, gold, groundnuts and tree nuts, handicrafts, limestone, luggage, marble, millet, motorcycles, palm oil, phosphates, plastic lids, plastic sheeting, re-exports from other countries, refined petroleum, rice, seafood, sorghum, whey, wood products, and yams. According to February 2017 statistics from the International Monetary Fund (data.imf.org), countries and territories buying and importing most of those exports include Benin (top importer), Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, India, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Canada, Republic of the Congo, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Pakistan, China, Belgium, Australia, Senegal, DR Congo, France, and Bangladesh.
— Cocoa icon by Amos Kofi Commey, Noun Project
— Coffee icon by Georgina Ionescu, Noun Project
— Gold icon by Bakunetsu Kaito, Noun Project
— Recycle icon from the Noun Project's public-domain Noun Collection
According to National Geographic MapMaker (mapmaker.nationalgeographic.org) and MIT's Observatory of Economic Complexity (atlas.media.mit.edu), the following items are major exports of TIMOR-LESTE (East Timor): automobiles (small amounts), bananas, cabbage, cassava, cloth, coffee, corn (maize), excavation machinery, gold (small amounts), handicrafts, integrated circuits, mangoes, marble, motor-working tools, oilseeds, pasta, petroleum and petroleum gas, plastic pipes, rice, sandalwood, scrap aluminum, soap, soybeans, spices, sweet potatoes, and vanilla (small amounts). In 2015 according to the OEC, a whopping 93% of Timor-Leste's exports were crude petroleum. According to February 2017 statistics from the International Monetary Fund (data.imf.org), countries and territories buying and importing most of those exports include Belgium (top importer), Germany, the United States, Indonesia, Sudan, Cyprus, Australia, Lebanon, Liberia, the Philippines, Italy, Pakistan, Japan, New Zealand, Libya, China, Uganda, Hong Kong, Russia, Mauritania, and Kenya.
— Coffee and oil well icons by Georgina Ionescu, Noun Project
— Pasta icon by Artem Kovyazin, Noun Project
— Integrated circuit (microchip) icon by Vectors Market, Noun Project
According to National Geographic MapMaker (mapmaker.nationalgeographic.org), the following items are major exports of SWAZILAND: canned fruit and other packaged food, cassiterite, citrus fruit, clay, clothing and textiles, coal, corn (maize), cotton yarn, diamonds and gold (small amounts), gravel, pineapples, refrigerators, rice, soft drink concentrates, sorghum, sugar, talc, tobacco, and wood pulp. According to the International Monetary Fund (data.imf.org), countries and territories buying and importing most of those exports (February 2017 statistics) include South Africa (top importer), Namibia, Italy, Mozambique, El Salvador, the United Arab Emirates, Botswana, Chile, Lesotho, Sri Lanka, Zambia, South Korea, Cambodia, Thailand, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Switzerland, Guinea, Barbados, and Colombia.
According to National Geographic MapMaker (mapmaker.nationalgeographic.org) and MIT's Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC), the following items are major exports of SOUTH AFRICA: animal food, antimony, apples, automobiles, beverages (especially juice and wine), centrifuges, cereal, chromium, citrus fruit, clothing and textiles, coal, copper, corn (maize), dairy products, diamonds, equipment and machinery, fertilizer, furniture, gemstones, gold, grapes, iron, jewelry, manganese, meat, natural gas, nickel, nuts, packaged food, pears, phosphates, pitted fruit (e.g. nectarines and peaches), platinum, rare earth elements, rolled tobacco, salt, steel, sugarcane, tin, vanadium, wheat, and wood pulp. According to the International Monetary Fund (data.imf.org), countries and territories buying and importing most of those exports (February 2017 statistics) include China (top importer), Germany, the United States, Japan, India, Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana, the United Kingdom, Belgium, South Korea, the Netherlands, Zambia, Zimbabwe, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Spain, Lesotho, Swaziland, Italy, Kenya, Taiwan, Australia, Angola, and France.
According to National Geographic MapMaker (mapmaker.nationalgeographic.org) and other sources, the following items are major exports of PAKISTAN: carpet and rugs, chemicals, clothing, coal, construction materials, copper, cotton, dairy products, electric appliances, fertilizer, iron ore, leather goods, limestone, mangoes, manufactured goods, meat, minnow oranges, natural gas, packaged food, paper products, rice, salt, seafood (especially shrimp), sports equipment, sugarcane, textiles, wheat, and yarn. According to the International Monetary Fund (data.imf.org), countries and territories buying and importing most of those exports (February 2017 statistics) include the United States (top importer), China, Afghanistan, the United Kingdom, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Spain, Bangladesh, the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Saudi Arabia, France, India, South Korea, Turkey, Hong Kong, Kenya, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam.
According to National Geographic MapMaker (mapmaker.nationalgeographic.org), the following items are major exports of OMAN: alfalfa, asbestos, bananas, chemicals, chromium, construction materials, copper, date fruit, gypsum, limes, limestone, livestock, marble (small amounts), natural gas, petroleum, petroleum products, re-exports from other countries, seafood, and steel. According to the International Monetary Fund (data.imf.org), countries and territories buying and importing most of those exports (February 2017 statistics) include China (top importer), the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, India, Yemen, the United States, Iraq, Pakistan, Malaysia, Australia, Qatar, Iran, Somalia, Kuwait, the Netherlands, and Thailand.
According to MIT's Observatory of Economic Complexity (atlas.media.mit.edu), the following items are major exports of MAURITANIA: amber, animal meal and pellets, citrus fruit and melons, copper ore, electric batteries, fish oil, frozen fish, gold, industrial food-prep machines, iron ore, iron pipes, malt grain, mollusks, oilseeds, petroleum, scrap copper, suits and tee shirts, and tea. According to the International Monetary Fund (data.imf.org), countries and territories buying and importing most of those exports (February 2017 statistics) include China (top importer), Switzerland, Spain, Germany, Nigeria, Portugal, Côte d'Ivoire, Italy, Russia, the Netherlands, Vietnam, France, Turkey, Ghana, Mali, Japan, Cameroon, the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Taiwan, and Greece.
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