'The Amazing Race' season 31 episode 9 ditches U-Turn drama, goes the airport way to Croatia
The remaining six teams on 'The Amazing Race' season 31 took off to Split, Croatia, for the ninth leg of the Race. Ditching the U-Turn drama that has been going on for the past few episodes, the Race's episode nine saw some major airport action, as teams struggled to get their flight tickets to Split, in a throwback to the Race's earlier seasons.
The episode started off with Tyler and Korey, as winners of the last two legs, getting their clue first that their next destination is Kasjuni Beach in Split. Teams had to pick up a gnome there and carry it with them throughout the episode. At Zurich Airport, the teams were in a frenzy as they tried to get the first flight out. Team Fun's Becca and Floyd cut in front of Victor and Nicole and the team gets super frustrated as they will not get an earlier flight to Split.
At Kasjuni Beach, the first flight landed as scheduled and Chris and Bret were the first to receive their first challenge — fill six glasses of punch for local sunbathers relaxing on the beach. Vicole, who got a standby flight from Zurich was the second team to arrive. Chris and Bret were first to finish their challenge and move on to the detour — 'Poetry in Motion' or 'Wash in From the Ocean'. The options were between racing on a fly tube while trying to remember a tongue-twisting poem and using snorkeling gear and a metal detector to find a goblin and five ancient coins. Chris and Bret opted for the latter, while Vicole chose the former and nailed it on the second attempt, launching themselves into first place.
Chris and Bret gave up on the snorkeling challenge and switched to 'Poetry in Motion', before changing their mind again, wanting to go back to the snorkeling task. The badly made decision caused the team some serious damage as they lagged behind. Tyler and Korey had also finished the poetry detour, and raced Vicole to the roadblock, getting there first. The roadblock was especially interesting, as one player from each team had to keep track of five soldiers who had red ribbons around their helmets after they covered themselves up with their shields.
Nicole and Korey tried to help each other out but still struggled at the roadblock. Completing the challenge after seven attempts, they were tied once again, racing to the pit stop: Matejuska at Split Harbor. Teams had to row there in a dingy! Tyler and Korey beat Vicole by an inch and won their fourth leg in a row. Team Fun reached the pit stop third, followed by Colin and Christie, who had to go back to the detour after they realized they had left their gnome behind. The team managed to finish before the Afghanimals and Chris and Bret even then, who finished last, right after the Afghanimals.
With just five teams remaining on the Race now, four are from previous seasons of the Race and just one (Vicole) from 'Big Brother'. The next episode of TAR 31 will air on June 19 on CBS.