TAR E7: The Gladiators Are Here!

Our teams headed off to Rome, Italy.

After a brief hiatus of TAR, it's time to jump right back into the action. (Image credit CBS)

But first, let me just say that I finally got my audio scrutiny with Ethan recorded tonight and it should be up and ready sometime tomorrow.

We returned to the Amazing Race course as our teams headed off to Rome, Italy, the "Eternal City." I liked that throughout the leg, teams had to find each destination--it was a nice change of pace from having the places given to them and the detours just feet away from each other.

The challenges in Rome also delivered much more than we have seen so far this season (with the exception of Mix Master/Master Mix). While they were still not very hard, they were fun to watch and brought some excitement to a leg that featured very little drama.

The Charioteers task was at least relatively difficult, even though it seemed straightforward at first. Teams had to navigate their way five times around a track under 1:30...but with the arrival of more teams to take up space on the track, the task grew harder, to the point where Leo and Jamal decided to switch Detours.

Brenchel is/are looking like strong
contenders going into the
back half of this season.

They were obviously getting frustrated, but the Afghanimals should have known when the other teams arrived that they were still at the front of the pack and it would have been better for them to stick it out. Switching put them in an automatic 4th or lower place.

On the other hand, Brenchel stayed solid and ran a strong leg, taking 1st place yet again this season. They're much less whiny this time around, as I've touched on before, and are looking like strong contenders going into the back half of this season.

The other Detour was much easier than the Charioteers, and also much more fun. Who wouldn't want to dress up and fight like a gladiator? At least John and Jessica got to go through an enjoyable task before being eliminated (I'll save my sadness over their defeat for the end).

Caroline and Jennifer are also a force
to be reckoned with going forward. 

And Caroline and Jen were also able to complete what looked like could be a moderately difficult Speed Bump rather quickly. They swiftly identified the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as the correct landmark and jumped back into the race, being beaten this leg only by Brenchel. Caroline and Jennifer are also a force to be reckoned with going forward.

The Roadblock of the leg was a little disappointing; I like when they have puzzle tasks, and on the surface it looked like this one would be difficult, but it ended up being made easy for most teams due to locals' help. Now, there's nothing wrong with asking for help from the local people, of course; it's a smart strategy. It just sapped a little of the difficulty out of this particular Roadblock because people were so eager to assist the teams.

The final three teams weren't quite so lucky, though, and I was devastated when John and Jessica were sent packing. It all came down to a footrace between them and the Globetrotters when the Afghanimals gave those two teams the answer to the challenge...which really was a foolish decision. Yes, it pays to be nice to fellow teams, and yes, there's a U-Turn coming up, but the Afghanimals had no idea how far the Pitstop was; they could easily have gotten lost and eliminated.

It all came down to a footrace.

In the end, though, John and Jessica were eliminated. I will miss you, Team J! Their downfall was the confusing directions to each location this leg; at least they didn't make a huge Express Pass-worthy mistake this time around.

Looking ahead, I think that (sadly) the Cowboys are safe for another week. It's the last chance for them to use their Express Pass, so even if they're U-Turned, they should be fine. Teams could be angling to take out another power player, however, so Leo and Jamal or Dave and Connor could be in trouble.

As I said, tomorrow I'll have the audio scrutiny of the past two episodes of Survivor (focusing on the most recent one) as well as a quick recap of the How I Met Your Mother finale from a couple weeks ago. Also tomorrow will be the BBCAN Sunday night recap, so stay tuned!