Characters / The Amazing Race 31

The Amazing Race character index
United States original: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8: Family Edition | 9 | 10 | 11: All-Stars | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18: Unfinished Business | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24: All-Stars | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31: Reality Showdown | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36
Asia: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
China Rush and China: China Rush 1 | 2 | 3 | China 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
Australia: 1 | 2 | 3: Australia v New Zealand | 4 | 5 | 6: Around the World | 7: Celebrity Edition
Canada: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6: Heroes Edition | 7 | 8 | 9

The 31st installment of the title series, also promoted as The Amazing Race: Reality Showdown.

For the first time in The Amazing Race history, this season featured 11 teams each consisting of reality stars from three different shows: Big Brother, The Amazing Race, and Survivor in an epic race across the globe. The season premiered on April 17, 2019. Though the concept was an Audience-Alienating Premise for some and there were noticeable flaws in both the racecourse ^note  equalizers began many of the legs, and a finale with only one roadblock without a detour or memory task and the editing, ^note  Many episodes came off as crammed alongside questionable choices like excluding the Head-To-Head on Leg 4 in favor of showing three teams taking a long time to find a cab and leaving out a massive airport problem on Leg 10 in which the first 2 flights got delayed, leaving everyone stuck on the third flight the end result was very well received. There were a wide variety of creative and hilarious tasks and the teams, having all already been on a reality competition before, were extremely competitive and not afraid to pull big moves. This lead to a likable final 5 and perhaps one of the best-received final outcomes in a while.

Teams:

Colin Guinn & Christie Woods

Life partners ^note  According to them, they’re legally married because they’re from a common law state but they’ve never had an official ceremony from The Amazing Race 5; best known for Colin's "My ox is broken!" meltdown. Over a decade later, they competed for a second time. This time, the couple adopted a more "Zen" approach to racing and to life while still being a competitive team. They had another strong run, placing in the top half of the pack in a total of 10 legs and never placing below fourth overall. Despite experiencing setbacks such as being U-Turned in leg 8, getting on a late flight and forgetting their gnome in leg 9 and Christie struggling in the roadblock in the penultimate leg, all of which caused them to fall to last place, they managed to recover ^note  they even finished in 3rd out of seven teams when they had been U-Turned . In the final leg, the two along with Tyler & Korey alternated between first and second place and though they experienced minor problems in the final challenge, Colin and Christie managed to finish shortly before Tyler and Korey, allowing them to cross the finish line first and win the race.

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• The Ace: Colin shows he's Still Got It from the original show. While they win fewer legs, they are consistently in the top 4, even after being U-Turned in the Final 7. They actually put up a better finishing average and managed to win, this time without Colin ever showing his infamous temper.
• Call-Back: Christie refers to the ox incident in the first episode, quipping that the sand they're searching through is broken.
  • They take every chance they can to make call backs to this moment.
• Failing a Taxi: Had trouble finding a taxi on their way to the Roadblock on leg 4.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After losing the million dollars to Chip & Kim in their first race, and having to decline appearing in the first All-Stars due to Christie's pregnancy, they finally had their redemption 15 years later by manage to win the Race this time around.
• Ho Yay: Colin flirted back when Tyler and Korey flirted with him in the first Switzerland leg, going so far as to moon them. When they won, Colin went straight to hug Phil instead of Christie and even slapped his ass.
• Heel–Face Turn: They were known in their season for being manipulative, deceptive and having a quick temper. In this season, however, while they still think it is a race they are arguably one of the nicest teams that are only willing to take a darker path if they have no choice.
• History Repeats: They're the second male-female team to win over two same-gendered teams in a returning contestants season ^note not exactly an all All-Stars due to half the cast being relatively new and coming from other CBS Reality Shows after Eric & Danielle in the first All-Stars. Only this time, Colin & Christie are already an established team, won a leg prior to the finale, and raced against two all-male teams as opposed to two all-female teams.
• I Hate Past Me: Colin wasn not proud of how manipulative he was 15 years ago in Season 5.
• Love Redeems: Colin credits being a father for having calmed him down from the way he was in Season 5.
• Manipulative Editing: Leg 4 was made to look like a Miracle Rally for them, having won the leg despite having trouble finding a taxi early on and forgetting their basket at the Detour forcing them to go back and get it. However, there was an unaired Head-to-Head which most likely contributed to their victory.
• Old Shame: Colin was clearly not proud of what he was like 15 years ago and he wanted to change for the better.
• Overly Narrow Superlative: Christie is the only woman to win in a finale that had two all men teams.
• Read The Freaking Clue: They forgot to grab the basket at the "Irritation" detour on leg 4.
• Redemption Quest : Zig-zagged, while they still want to win, they also went on the race to redeem their season 5 images, Christie got herself into more roadblocks easily and Colin calmed himself A LOT to the point that in a deleted scene when someone hits a nail on his head he doesn't freak out at all.
• Same Character, But Different: Colin changed tremendously over 15 years. He and Christie are still competitive, but Colin's a lot more patient and positive compared to his intensely competitive self way back in Season 5.
• Sheep in Sheep's Clothing : You would probably think that at some moment Colin would bring back his temper issues, freak out, and return to his old himself; it doesn't happen. You probably would also think that they only help teams in a way of Emotion Control; you would be wrong. They manage to be only The Amazing Race returnees to stay out of any drama and it has shown that they have been Good All Along.
• So Proud of You: Both of them told each other this after they won.
• The Good Guys Always Win
• Took a Level in Kindness: Remember the fiercely aggressive racer who almost got himself arrested in Tanzania? You can't even tell they're the same person.
• Took a Level in Badass: Christie only really did 1 Roadblock in Season 5, like Kim and Nicole in Season 5 also did, leading many fans to feel Colin essentially carried her throughout. This time she held her own quite well, and aside for Leg 11 where her struggling on the Roadblock nearly cost them the race ^note  Which she quickly redeemed herself from by balancing the boat in the Detour she was able to help the team as much as Colin did.
• Token Good Teammate : In a sense that they are the only team of The Amazing Race returnees cast that has good intentions and could be the only one considered to be truly good on terms on gameplay. While Leo and Jamal aren't precisely evil, they scheme and manipulate others in order to get further, Becca and Floyd, despite their mostly positive attitudes, aren't against U-Turning teams down if they need to, Tyler and Korrey, while not being on the levels of their season, still are very paranoid of their place in their race. Rachel has a more cut-throat view of all of the teams, and Art and JJ still had a bit of their narcissistic attitude left in them. It is kind of ironic since this trope could be reversed in their original season. Taken even further on the Switzerland leg where Colin of all people is the one who has to calm down all the teams.

Tyler Oakley & Korey Kuhl

YouTubers and best friends from The Amazing Race 28. They were the second strongest team of the season behind Colin & Christie, usually finishing in the top of the pack and winning four legs in a row ^note  which led to them tying the record for most legs won in a career with Colin & Christie . They continued to be their over-the-top selves, usually providing comic relief when they weren't focusing intensely on the competition. They would easily make it to the finale where they stayed neck-and-neck with Colin and Christie all the way to the end, when they fell behind on the final challenge due to a lack of attention to detail.

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• Affably Evil: Despite being one of the nicer Amazing Race teams, they still have a tendency to be cut-throat.
• Failing a Taxi: Were one of several teams who could not find a taxi on leg 4.
• Have I Mentioned I Am Gay? : Their whole Uganda leg, which in itself is kind of ironic since they never brought up that on Dubai that isn't in any way better in LGBT rights than Uganda.
• History Repeats: They ran the Race for a second time, and Tyler Oakley still didn't join the other previous Tylers that won the race.
• Jaw Drop: Tyler, when he saw the size of the prawns in Vietnam.
• No-Damage Run
• Overly Narrow Superlative: They’re the only team to make it to the final mat twice without having been saved by non elimination.
• Precision F-Strike: Got blurred and beeped saying “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me!” in the finale.
• Queer People Are Funny: Them flirting with Sebastian (the Switzerland instructor) and then Colin.
• Took a Level in Badass: The first five legs saw them unable to land on the top of the pack. Then they won legs 6 to 9 and they stayed consistent until the end.

Leo Temory & Jamal Zardan

Cousins best known as "The Afghanimals" from The Amazing Race 23 and The Amazing Race: All-Stars (2014) (24). They started off very strong, winning the first two legs after showcasing their Genre Saviness. However, that fire went out very quickly and they stumbled through the rest of the race, becoming unexpected underdogs compared to the other three racing teams that remained. They came in the bottom two no less than four times prior to the penultimate leg, usually messing up on tasks that required concentration due to their (usually Leo's) ego getting in the way. All eyes were on them in the penultimate leg, as they strove to break their fourth-place curse - which they did by winning the leg. However, they immediately fell behind the following leg when Leo misread the directions for the lock-breaking Roadblock, leading to their finishing in 3rd, a long time after their counterparts.

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• Arch-Enemy: With Corrine and Eliza. Also with Rachel and Elissa.
• Call-Back: In their penultimate leg, they brought up their "Leg 11 curse" which plagued them in their first two races.
• Failure Montage: On the glow dancing Detour in Vietnam.
• Genre Savvy: Faked a fight on the first leg so teams would not follow them.
• Brilliant, but Lazy : The UK leg pretty much proved that they aren't as dumb as some people may make them be. Leo solved the puzzle quite easily and Jamal memorized the names of the cities just at his 2nd try (they only didn't finish that part of the detour thanks to Leo) also at the surprise task they also find the stuff relatively quick,proving that if they tried to focus Leo and Jamal were as capable as Tyler and Korrey or Colin and Christie to win the race.
• Fatal Flaw: Their inability to take a step back look at the small details bit them in the ass in the last leg. Leo struggled mightily with the fairly easy task of opening a bank vault because he wasn't reading the instructions right.^note  He was turning counter clockwise for the first number but kept stopping at “0” instead of “7” This put them so far behind that they never stood a chance of making up the time difference.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: They are willing to do whatever it takes as long as it takes them further in the game, but they clearly don't have anything against any of the teams and they are both nice people as long as they aren't on race mode.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: While kindhearted is a bit of a stretch, Leo's a decent guy if very competitive. He absolutely falls to pieces when he sees a cat, both in Switzerland and Netherlands. Even calling it the best thing he's seen in the race.
• Manipulative Editing: It was implied they fell into No Sense of Direction which is why they fell from 3rd to 6th on the way to the Pit Stop, however the unaired Head-to-Head was the real reason for this drop.
• Revenge Before Reason: While Victor & Nicole were a reasonably strong team, they chose to U-Turn them over the stronger Becca & Floyd who were also behind them in retaliation over the U-Turn Vote.
• Squee: While waiting for the U-turn vote to open, Leo sprinted across the parking lot to pet a stray cat.
• Sucks at Dancing: Took more tries than anyone to complete the glow dancing Detour, and it almost put them in last on leg 3.
• Third Time's The Charm: They finally reached the Final 3 in their third attempt at racing.
• Took a Level in Badass: Subverted. While they have been gradually increasing their genre savviness, they kicked it into full gear this season pulling several brilliant moves like faking fights to get teams to not follow them, misleading Victor & Nicole on the way to the Pit Stop, and convincing Becca & Floyd to use the U-Turn. However, their placements have been a lot weaker than either of their first two seasons.

Nicole Franzel & Victor Arroyo

Dating couple from Big Brother 18; and Nicole was also on Big Brother 16. They proved themselves early on to be competent racers, finishing in 2nd three times in a row across legs 2-4. However, they were far from invincible, as seen during Leg Seven in which, already behind, they decided to drive away from the Detour without asking for directions. Nevertheless, they were a possible target for the U-Turn vote in Leg 8, but they managed to evade the vote - though not without making an enemy of the Afghanimals when Victor, thrown off by Nicole, voted for them. They were quickly repaid with a U-Turn in Leg 10, though they managed to survive that by U-Turning Team Fun behind them. Despite wanting to prove themselves in the penultimate leg as the only non-racers left, they would make a fatal decision when they decided to switch detours and not even the final Pit Stop task could save them from going home in 4th.

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• All of the Other Reindeer: At their last leg, the remaining Race teams conspired to race against them in hopes of having a finale consisting of only Amazing Race teams.
• Always Second Best
• Arch-Enemy: With the Reilly sisters after their fight in Switzerland.
• Failure Montage: Victor was shown biting over 43 shoes before finding the chocolate shoe; unlike most race examples, it didn't hurt their placement as they were already so far ahead.
• Last of Their Kind: Both for Big Brother and non-racer teams.
• Jerkass Ball: In leg 7, Victor acted a lot more hostile both towards the other teams and Nicole herself. Even at one point he said Nicole is nicer than him which was an odd statement considering how nice he had been the whole time.
• Nice Guy: Victor, there isn't a single team who he hasn't been nice to, he has been even nice to the Afghanimals who would be willing to backstab them if they needed to.
• Relationship Upgrade: They became engaged between the taping of this season and its airing, during a guest appearance in Big Brother 20.

Becca Droz & Floyd Pierce

Friends from The Amazing Race 29 who brought back the same spirited personalities that made them fan favorites in their original seasons. Outside of their U-Turn on leg 2, they were a fixture in the top of the standings alongside the other Amazing Race returnees. On leg 10, they got horribly lost looking for the Detour. Though they blew through the cow lifting Detour with ease, their delay allowed for Victor & Nicole to U-Turn them. They had a chance to catch up when Nicole & Victor got lost looking for the cow-lifting Detour after getting U-Turned, but Becca landed on the bag of eggs when vaulting across the creek and didn't notice the broken egg until they got to the market forcing them to repeat the task. This put them far enough behind that finding a shortcut to the Pit Stop wasn't able to save them eliminating them in 5th place again.

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• Arch-Enemy: With the Reilly sisters due to the U-Turn.
• Broken Win/Loss Streak: They broke the streak of non-Amazing Race teams being consecutively eliminated after Art & JJ, even though Victor & Nicole were still in the race.
• Chekhov's Skill:
  • In Tokyo, Becca flew through the Mount Fuji Roadblock due to being a rock climbing instructor.
  • Becca's years of experience in musical theatre and Floyd's drum major in college helped them quickly through the "Light it Up" detour in Vietnam.
  • Floyd's drum major experience came in handy yet again at the silent rave roadblock in Dubai, as it allowed him to quickly identify a dancer who was dancing to the same song as the one he was listening to. Like in Vietnam, it led to him and Becca winning the leg.
  • Becca used to work as a landscaper allowing her to blow the the scything Detour.
  • Floyd’s experience with marching band also helped him blow through the roadblock in leg 8. He got it on the first try by himself while everyone else worked together.
• Failed a Spot Check: Both in Leg 10:
  • What got them eliminated was them failing to notice the cracked eggs at the Dry Detour until they were already at the market, forcing them to go back and pole vault across the ditch to get a new batch of eggs.
  • A slight variation, but the clue leading to the Pit Stop clearly said that "The last team to check in will be eliminated," but Becca may have overlooked it, asking Phil if they're still racing when there are no more non-elimination legs at this point. ^note  It should be noted however that at U-Turn Vote, Phil told everyone there were no more non-elimination legs.
• Fatal Flaw : Becca has temper issues; judging by her rock climbing competitive background, it shouldn't have come as much as a surprise.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Becca called the scarecrow during the William Tell roadblock a "monkey pooper."
• History Repeats: Got eliminated in 5th place on a very bike intensive Leg 10 again. At least this time around, they were eliminated at the Pit Stop.
  • They also won two legs both in this season and their previous season.
• Hypocrite: They want Tyler and Korey to forgive them (despite that they were too far ahead for the U-Turn to slow them down to eliminate them and Rupert and Laura would have been eliminated anyway), yet they took very seriously that Rachel and Elissa U-Turned them and wanted to get revenge.
• Large Ham: Both of them, once again.
• Relationship Upgrade: Referenced. Floyd claimed that he and Becca had started dating after the show, but both their reactions made it clear he was joking.
• Shout-Out: To Pokemon in Switzerland in Leg 8.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: While they aren't the meanest team out there, they certainly didn't take their U-Turn by the Reilly sisters well, despite the fact they wanted to be forgiven for U-Turning Tyler and Korey. In a sense, their rivalry with the Reilly sisters is reminiscent of Dave & Connor's.

Chris Hammons & Bret LaBelle

Friends from Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X. They started off rough but found their footing towards the middle of the season. In leg 8, they were riding high having come off a second place the previous leg (and missing first place by a matter of minutes). They and Tyler & Korey got on the first plane which left about half an hour before Nicole and Victor on the second and three hours before the rest of the teams. They got to the Detour first but chose the needle in a haystack coin challenge and ending up switching twice more. Ultimately Leo and Jamal and Colin and Christie would pass them up at the detour while Leo and Christie worked together at the Roadblock which would ultimately cause their elimination.

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• Chekhov's Skill: Bret being a cop came in handy in Leg 7 because his marksmanship allowed him to be the first one to hit the target with the crossbow.
• Epic Fail: Blew a three hour lead when they got eliminated.
• Last of Their Kind: For Survivor teams
• Manly Gay: Bret.
• Read The Freaking Clue: Bret had to climb up the inflatable Mount Fuji twice because he didn't grab the clue at the top the first time.
• Tempting Fate: Said at the beginning of leg 8 that they’d finally get their first place if they ran with no mistakes. They ended up making several costly mistakes that blew a three hour lead and got them eliminated.
• Sucks at Dancing: Admitted to it, which is why after failing the first attempt they switched to the luck based prawn fishing Detour.
• Took a Level in Badass: Watch their performance in Leg 4 compared to Leg 3. Then in the second Switzerland leg they place their highest yet, right behind the fiercly competitive Tyler and Korey.

Rachel Reilly & Elissa Reilly (Slater)

Sisters. Rachel had been in Big Brother 12 and Big Brother 13 and then ran The Amazing Race 20 and The Amazing Race: All-Stars (2014) (24) with her fiancé, then husband Brendon Villegas; while Elissa was in Big Brother 15. Racing with Elissa instead of Brendon allowed Rachel to be seen from a different angle, as even she admitted that Elissa was more capable of calming her down than Brendon was. And while she did have a few meltdowns, none were as severe as the ones she had on season 20 and 24. She was no less competitive with her sister however, as they did everything they could to get ahead, to the point of angering other teams. They managed to make enemies with Becca & Floyd after U-Turning them, Corinne & Eliza after a pit-stop dust-up when the latter got eliminated^note an unaired head-to-head was likely a contributor to that, and with Victor & Nicole after they unsuccessfully tried to allude to a possible U-Turn against them, leading to a big fight at the mat in leg 7. They mostly struggled at the race proper, finishing in the bottom 3 in their last six legs, including surviving a non-elimination in leg 5 and two head-to-heads (one unaired) where losing would have eliminated them. After the aforementioned fight with Victor & Nicole in leg 7, they headed to leg 8 with a huge target on their backs. They would indeed be the second U-Turned team that leg in the first-ever Must Vote U-Turn^note at least in the US version, it's been done before internationally, being voted for by Chris & Bret and Colin & Christie. Though they completed the cow festival side ahead of Colin & Christie, the only team to get more votes than them, they struggled at the hay making side and fell to last. Any hope of surviving when Leo & Jamal got lost and arrived at the William Tell roadblock in last was put to rest when Jamal shot his apple before Rachel did, leading to their elimination in 7th. However, Rachel did manage to break the all-time record for legs run with 32, beating Jet & Cord and Flight Time & Big Easy's record of 31...at least until Leo & Jamal broke it by making it all the way to the final leg, giving them 34.

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• Arch-Enemy: With Team Fun after U-Turning them. Also, with Corrine and Eliza. Also with Nicole and Victor after they had fought in Switzerland.... how about with just everyone?
• Bad Liar: They tried to warn Nicole & Victor about a U-Turn without directly saying that Leo & Jamal were involved, but it was clear that they didn't have their stories straight beforehand, leading to Victor & Nicole getting confused and ultimately blowing them off.
• Innocently Insensitive: After saying they were blessed (to be well-off Americans), Corrine and Eliza (who had just gotten eliminated) flip out at them thinking they were being condescending. Despite the Reilly sisters saying otherwise, Eliza broke down with raging tears.
• Humiliation Conga: Their final leg. First, they get U-Turned by two teams they thought they were on friendly terms with, then they lose their clue and bemoan it trying to get a look at Colin and Christie's clue. Then any hope they have of catching up after botching said Detour is lost when Leo and Jamal who got behind them, came to the roadblock and killed it. Ouch.
• Self-Deprecation: Rachel mocked her own whining from Season 20 when Elissa brought it up.
• Sibling Team
• Sucks at Dancing: Rachel
• Took a Level in Jerkass: In Season 24 we have a calmer Rachel who wanted to be a better person. In this season, even if she isn't on the levels of Season 20 she became more cut-throat, granted how in that season Rachel Took a Level in Cynic and she ended up with more enemies than friends when she was trying to be better, could sort of explain her attitude. Doesn't help that she keeps making enemies left and right.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Arguably after seeing all the poverty around them in Vietnam, they even said they respected Corrine and Eliza as strong female competitors, but were denied by said team. ...Only for Rachel to start making enemies left and right with pretty much every remaining team, and due to not having a strong connection with the guys they called "weak", they got their karmic retribution.
• Vanity Is Feminine: An insider clip has them fighting against each other about purchasing face soap, Rachel thinking that it is wasteful while Elissa argued back that everybody else brings them to the show.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: They switched from Find to Fall on Leg 5, because they thought that with the two spots available, by the time they got there, both teams would be finished. However, Fall was just Schmuck Bait and it was much harder than it sounded

Janelle Pierziena & Britney Haynes

Friends from Big Brother 14 and other seasons (Janelle in 6 and All-Stars (7), Britney in 12). They were mostly under-the-radar for most of their run, with most of their characterizing being that they're both moms. While they did just enough to survive the first five legs, everything fell apart for them in Uganda. First they fell to last place due to traffic and were the last team to reach the stair-counting challenge at the mosque. Then they fell even further behind at the roadblock when Janelle looked all around the market for a Rolex watch, not realizing the Rolex in the clue was actually a food dish and she needed a list of ingredients which could be found right near where she started. This allowed even Rachel & Elissa, who had a speed bump, to pass them. They still had a glimmer of hope thanks to the drum-stacking head-to-head, but Rachel beat Britney to survive, leading to their elimination in 8th. Still, they're one of only two 8th-place finishers to last six legs.

• Epic Fail: Britney took out the polar bear handing out clues while sledding down the hill earning the episode's title: "I Took Out A Polar Bear."
• Failing a Taxi: Struggled to find a taxi in leg 4.
• Poor Communication Kills: While Janelle wasn't the only one to mistakenly think Rolex meant the watch brand in Uganda, she went running around like a chicken with her head cut off because she kept asking locals where to find a watch rather than a Rolex.
• Out of Focus: They are moms from Big Brother, they have a Big Brother alliance, and that's pretty much all you know of them in the three first episodes.
• Read The Freaking Clue: Janelle on their final leg. The roadblock had people get ingredients for, and then make, a "Rolex" (rolled eggs), but Janelle thought it meant a watch and looked all around the market for something she didn't even need. Nobody else made that mistake, which meant that she probably didn't even read the part that said to get ingredients.
• Tempting Fate : The first line they say on the leg that they are eliminated in is how well they are doing.

Corrine Kaplan & Eliza Orlins

Friends from Survivor; Corrine was in Gabon and Caramoan while Eliza was in Vanuatu and Micronesia. Early on it was clear they had picked up personality traits from the other with Corrine being more patient and tolerable and Eliza being more spiteful than in Survivor. Despite their competitive spirits, they only saw a few brushes at the top of the pack, but their final placements were always in the middle or towards the bottom. In leg 4, Eliza had more trouble than anyone on passing the scooter license test dropping them into last. They seemed to have a chance at catching up when Rachel & Elissa kept failing to build the water wheel correctly, but the sisters found their mistake before the two finished the Irritation detour. They then proceeded to lose the unaired Head-to-Head against Rachel & Elissa eliminating the second Survivor team in a row.

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• Alpha Bitch. Shown early on after they made gossipy comments kind of like Kelly & Shevonne from Season 27 early on. They seemed to be evolving into being entertaining Lovable Alpha Bitches with their competitiveness and having interesting personalities. They reverted into this trope in their last leg when they got mad at Rachel & Elissa for stopping them from stealing their taxi then insulting the sisters after they gave humble gratitude for coming on the show in the first place.
• Arch-Enemy: With Leo and Jamal seeing them as cutthroat liars, which to be fair is true.
• Broken Tears: Eliza twice in their last leg, first after screwing up on the Roadblock and then again when they got eliminated.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Several of their gossipy comments about the other teams on the first leg weren't without justification:
  • They said Leo & Jamal were very shady which they showed with their constant lying in Season 23 and multiple betrayals in Season 24; and persisted into Season 31 when they faked a fight to get teams to stop following them.
  • They also commented that Rupert's weight would slow him and Laura down, which given the amount of running this show involves is a reasonable assumption.
• Manipulative Editing: Their finish was made to look like their finish was Down to the Last Play between them and Rachel & Elissa, but there was an unaired Head-to-Head which would explain why it looked so close.
• Morality Pet: Eliza is this to Corrine.
• Never Live It Down: Corrine mentions, 10 years later, she still is getting flak for her infamous "Reason You Suck" Speech from Survivor: Gabon.
• Pet the Dog: Corrine helped Eliza through her numerous breakdowns on their final leg.
• Sore Loser: Eliza got mad when Rachel & Elissa tried to be polite to them when they got eliminated and even accused the sister of being fake.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Eliza was never mean on Survivor, at worst she just had propensity for Brutal Honesty. However on The Amazing Race, she was very catty and sometimes outright bitchy.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Eliza with scooters.

Rupert Boneham & Laura Boneham

Married couple from Survivor. Rupert competed in Pearl Islands, All-Stars, and Heroes Vs. Villains; and Laura joined him in Blood Vs. Water. They quickly proved to be directionally challenged getting lost on almost every travel aspect of the leg. While they were saved by Art & JJ's penalty on the first leg, their navigation issues persisted into Laos dropping them into last while looking for the ABC Detour. Any chance they had of catching up was ruined by Rupert's elephant stopping for a snack partway through the Roadblock eliminating them in 10th place.

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• Iconic Outfit: Rupert is still wearing the rainbow tie-dye shirts he was known for on Survivor (and thanks to the race's Coordinated Clothes rules, so is Laura).
• No Sense of Direction:
  • In Tokyo, despite being the first team to receive their next clue, they got lost while trying to find the next location.
  • Then, they got lost for 2 hours in Shiba Koen, and would have been eliminated had Art & JJ not taken a four-hour penalty at the Mount Fuji Roadblock.
  • This would be their ultimate undoing in Laos when they spend so long looking for the ABC Detour it allowed Becca & Floyd to pass them on the Detour despite having been U-Turned.
• Stubborn Mule: While they spent their whole leg in last place, their elephant ruined any chance of catching up.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Rupert's explanation for getting so lost looking for the Mount Fuji Roadblock was because he was used to Hidden Immunity Idols being more of a challenge to find causing him and Laura to overthink where the clue might be.

Art Velez & John James "JJ" Carrell

Border patrol agents and friends from The Amazing Race 20. They came in a lot less aggressive than in that season; while this meant they were much less rude, they also didn't have the same drive that led them to be so successful in Season 20 despite an easier course. Their failure on the starting line challenge was negated by everyone being on the same flight. After landing in Japan they had more trouble than anyone else in finding a clue vendor. Despite that, they still had a chance to catch up after Rupert & Laura got lost looking for the Roadblock, until Art's legs cramping up led them to take a 4-hour penalty, giving Rupert & Laura enough time to catch up and resulting in them being the first team eliminated this season.

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• Game-Breaking Injury: Art's thighs cramping led them to take a 4-hour penalty.
• History Repeats: Art's failure on a hill-based challenge once again cost them the race.
• No Sense of Direction: Couldn't find one of the clue vendors in the first leg.
• Sudden Sequel Elimination Syndrome: The biggest victims of this trope in Race history, as they went from top performers who finished in 2nd in their original season, only to be the first team eliminated here.

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