This leg of The Amazing Race began with Phil informing us that teams will be flying to Palermo, Sicily, then look for their next clue at Teatro Di Verdura. Clips of all the couples talking about how much the race is helping their relationship are interspersed with shots of teams reading their clues and finding flights. The dentists and the cyclists book a flight that arrives at 8:00 pm the next day; the surfers, Double T, and the scientists will arrive at 8:40 pm. Production is really trying to make this boring introduction interesting, with Double T talking about how 40 minutes is such a huge lead (even though whatever challenge they have will probably be closed, forcing them to wait until the morning anyways) and the cyclists complaining about Misti & Jim (despite the fact that there is no real reason for this “rivalry” other than the dentists being big competition). The cyclists and the dentists share a cab to Teatro Di Verdura, causing Misti & Jim to comment on the so-called feud between them. According to the dentists, the cyclists weren’t very welcoming during the first few legs, and although their perception of Kym & Alli has changed a bit, they still don’t like them as much as the other teams. When teams arrive at Teatro Di Verdura, they find tambourines with 3 different departure times – 6:30 am, 6:40 am, and 6:50 am. After grabbing a clue, teams get to enjoy a festive night of dancing and eating.
At 6:30 am, the dentists and the cyclists depart to Villa Costanza to find their next clue. Next to leave are the wrestlers and the scientists, followed by Double T and the surfers. The last 4 teams are all still struggling to find taxis while Misti & Jim and Kym & Alli arrive at the next clue box. The road block On The Fast Track gives teams the opportunity to follow a route up Mount Pellegrino in a go-cart; if they can cross the finish line in less than 4 minutes and 7 seconds, they will receive their next clue and be driven down the mountain by a professional driver. All the teams except Brooke & Robbie manage to find taxis – the wrestlers are just standing on a street corner stressing over the lack of taxis. After 40 minutes, the wrestlers find a taxi and are off to the roadblock. Jim and Kym finish the roadblock on the first try, but Maya doesn’t finish in the allotted time, so she has to drive back 
to the start and do the roadblock again. The cyclists and dentists now face the detour. Painters requires teams to lay on their backs on a scaffold while painting a fresco to the standards of the restoration artist. Posers requires teams to listen to 10 opera singers perform a short section from the worlds greatest operas, match the name of the character with the costume they wore on stage, and write down the name of the character and their opera in the correct order. The cyclists and the dentists choose Painters, while the four remaining teams are racing in the go-carts to complete the roadblock in time.
Brooke, Maya, Adam, and Te Jay finish the go-cart race in time and complete the roadblock. Brooke is pretty sassy this leg, first by declaring that she will beat everyone in the go-cart race (which she did), then making silly faces at her driver, who she feels is going too slow. Most teams seem to prefer doing Painters, but only 4 teams are allowed to do it at a time, making it a rush between 3 of the teams for the final 2 spots. Bethany & Adam and Tim & Te Jay made it to the detour before Amy & Maya, so the scientists had to switch detours. The cyclists are struggling a bit to keep the paintbrushes still, because their arms are shaking fro
m holding the brushes for so long. At the Posers detour, Brooke & Robbie are initially overwhelmed once they hear the opera, because they can’t understand what anyone is singing. After they go upstairs and realize that the names of the character and the opera piece are written down for them, and all they have to do is match the outfits in the correct order, the wrestlers are more confident. They watch the opera twice, and during the second time the scientists arrive to watch as well. Misti & Jim finish the Painters detour and are on their way to Villa Niscemi, the pit stop for this leg of the race. Alli & Kym finish soon after, while Brooke & Robbie are stuck because they forgot the name of a character. They decide to work with the scientists, and both teams re-watch the opera portion of the detour. Misti & Jim come in first place (yet again) and win a 5 night trip to Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Kym & Alli reach the mat minutes after the dentists, coming in 2nd place.
Both the surfers and Double T are turned down by the judge, but since she speaks Italian, they don’t fully understand what she wants them to fix. The scientists and the wrestlers finish the detour, with Robbie lamenting the fact that they let Maya & Amy go first, since they arrived at the detour first. He thinks they could be fighting for first place, when they’re actually fighting for 3rd and 4th place. It seems that Posers was actually the easier detour, although all of the teams thought it would be much harder. I think the way the detour was described in the clue made it seem a lot harder than it actually was, because matching costumes in order is so much easier than painting a meticulous fresco while on your back. Maya & Amy come in 3rd place and Brooke & Robbie are 4th to arrive at the mat. This means that two of my favorite teams are racing against each other for last place! Even though production tried to make it look like a close race to the pit 
stop, since Bethany & Adam left the detour first, it wasn’t a shocker that they arrived at the mat ahead of Double T, making them the 5th team. Tim & Te Jay come in last, but they aren’t eliminated, because this is a non-elimination leg! Finally, one of the teams I really like gets saved in a non-elimination leg, because usually it’s a team that I’m not so fond of.
What did you think about this leg of the race? Were you surprised that it was a non-elimination leg? I was hoping for it, but I actually wasn’t expecting it this time. What do you think about the super-contrived feud between the cyclists and the dentists? I understand that they’re two of the strongest teams in the race, but it seemed to me that production was just fueling the fire to try and get some drama, because the race has been pretty drama free since the mother/daughter team left. Who do you think will be eliminated next week? Let me know in the comments below!
