'The Amazing Race' 31 episode 3 sees 'Survivor' team Chris Hammons and Bret Labelle nearly eliminated
'Survivor' team Chris Hammons and Bret Labelle most likely must have seen an elimination coming for them on episode three of 'The Amazing Race' season 31. The Race went from Laos to Vietnam on its third leg, at the beginning of which Hammons said they were the "old guys" on the Race now, with Rupert Boneham and Laura Boneham eliminated at the end of leg two.
Art Velez and John James "JJ" Carrell, who were the oldest team on the Race, were the first to face elimination in season 31. While Hammons and Labelle seemed to have been joking about their ages at the beginning of the episode, things turned out to be pretty tough for the team, and they were almost eliminated from the Race.
In Vietnam, the nine remaining teams on the Race went on a night leg and was all about performance, and prawns! The Roadblock on this leg was karaoke and Detours were to either perform a synchronized dance or to fish for prawns.
Teams started off by picking up a bag of herbal remedies from a doctor at the House of Vietnamese Medicine, after which teams who U-turned each other on episode two decided to give each other peace offerings. While the drama unfolded, Hammons and Labelle laughed at the antics and said that on this episode, they would change their strategy and try to move with the pack. This did not work out too well for the team as they still ended up finishing the leg last.
Hammons and Labelle were having trouble right from the start of the tasks in Vietnam, as they got lost searching for the Detour. But they were not alone in this as a few other teams were lost as well. Finally catching up, the team made another mistake of picking the Detour of learning a Vietnamese dance.
After struggling as other teams completed the Detour, Hammons and Labelle finally gave up and went to the other Detour: Fish for eight slippery prawns. The team met Tyler and Korey at the Detour, who finished soon, leaving Hammons and Labelle cursing themselves for not choosing fishing first.
At the next Roadblock, they had to learn a few lines of a Vietnamese song and get approval from a respected karaoke singer. Here they went against team Afghanimals Leo and Jamal, who were lagging behind as well. But the Afghanimals raced past Hammons and Labelle, and the team arrived last at the Pit Stop Ho Thi Ky, in the middle of a bustling market.
To their great relief, host Phil Keoghan let the duo know that the episode was a non-elimination one. They’ll have to complete a Speed Bump in the next leg of the race. At the end of episode three, Becca and Floyd won the leg, followed by Victor and Nicole, Colin and Christie, Tyler and Korey, Corinne and Eliza, Janelle and Britney, Rachel and Elissa, Leo and Jamal, and Chris and Bret.