Amazing Race 31 episode 9 recap: How did Survivor teams finish?

Team Bromance has had its ups and downs, with Chris Hammons and Bret LaBelle representing Survivor players in The Amazing Race 31 for episodes.

If there’s anything that’s been holding the lone Survivor team left in The Amazing Race 31 back, it’s been their physicality. In all other regards, Chris Hammons and Bret LaBelle have been rockstars, showing audiences that you can have a lot of fun, be funny on television, and do so without being aggressive, mean or paranoid like we’ve seen from the other teams.

The slow, but steady, team found themselves heading into leg nine of the race going from Brienz, Switzerland to Split, Croatia, in second place. Kasjuni Beach is a tourist spot where teams must pick up their leg’s infamous Travelocity gnome; a garden gnome mascot they must carry around with them for the entire leg.

For the first time in, perhaps, the season, the first two teams got the opportunity to take the first of multiple trains towards the airport, bringing forth a potential opportunity for them to get an earlier flight and an early lead in the leg. Surprisingly, that actually happened, as the earliest flight for the first two teams arrived an hour earlier than what the majority of other teams encountered.

The Amazing Race 31 had an airport ticketing moment similar to what Colin and Christie would have encountered back when air travel strategy was a significant factor for the teams. Victor and Nicole found themselves in a line with a ticket agent that ended their shift, forcing them to rush to another agent and get a standby for a 3rd place landing in Croatia.

Bret and Chris’ first task of the leg was to serve up drinks to beach-goers on Kasjni to pick up their gnome, which was easy enough to not even include in the show. That led them to their next clue, as they needed to head to the Marjan Cave church to help their gnome hand a loaf of bread to a monk to receive a Detour clue.

Having a Survivor team in the lead and explaining each part of the race was a wild, unexpected journey for them in The Amazing Race 31, as they read between Detour challenges “Poetry in Motion” and “Washed In from the Ocean.”

The first option saw teams read and memorize a poem while riding on a flying tube, requiring perfect pronunciation to pass. The second option saw teams use snorkeling equipment and metal detectors to retrieve a golden goblet and five coins from an algae area of the beach to advance and get their next clue.

It made sense that Bret and Chris chose to go treasure-hunting, as they have snorkeling experience from playing Survivor. However, as they said, the task was like searching for needles in a gigantic haystack, as the waters on the beach were coated with rocks and pebbles hiding their treasure below. They did manage to get two coins short of completion before the final three teams touched down in Croatia, which is a huge leg up.

Meanwhile, Victor and Nicole tried their flying tube luck six times before reciting a long poem on their seventh attempt, passing Bret and Chris and advancing to their next clue at Diocletian’s Palace. Tyler and Korey were on the beach with the Survivor team before switching, and it only took them four flying tube attempts (just two poem attempts) to complete their Detour, as finally Bret and Chris switched over to the easier task.

By the time they switched, however, the other teams were starting to catch up. After one poem attempt, however, indecision cut into the morale of Bret and Chris, who opted to go after the two last coins they needed. As that happened, Korey arrived at Diocletian’s Palace and competed in the Road Block, “Who’s Ready to Get Their Marching Orders.”

This challenge saw 18 Roman soldiers move around in a phalanx-like formation and hide five of their soldiers wearing red headbands. The Road Block competitor then placed their statues on a grid to indicate where they thought those soldiers were, with a senator judging yay or nay to get their pit stop details.

As Korey and Nicole worked together to find the proper answer, the Afghanimals and Team Fun arrived at the flying tube challenge, and Colin and Christie joined the Survivor team in diving for treasure. However, that last team saw how bad Bret and Chris were doing, so they all moved over to the poem challenge (the third challenge swap for Team Bromance).

It was a very frustrating, challenging Detour that just absolutely demolished Bret and Chris, as both Nicole and Korey worked together after many frustrating attempts to complete their Road Block and row their way in a dingy to the Matejuska at Split Harbor to meet Phil and end the leg. Tyler and Korey finished in first place for the fourth-straight leg, proving them to be the biggest threat in the game.

The pacing of this episode was an absolute joke, as the final five minutes saw four teams racing to complete the Detour, the Road Block and row to the pit stop mat all in quick succession. Team Fun saw Floyd use his marching band skills to nail it and help the team finish third. Colin and Christie were quick to solve the poem but left their gnome at the Detour, giving Leo and Jamal a chance to finish in fourth place by completing the Road Block.

In the span of three minutes, three teams found themselves racing between the Detour, the Road Block and the pit stop, as Christie arrived at the Road Block at the same time as Leo finished a failed attempt. To keep themselves alive, they teamed up to finish the Road Block and officially knock out the last Survivor team out of the race.

Here’s how the Survivor teams fared after the ninth leg of The Amazing Race 31:

• Bret LaBelle and Chris Hammons: Eliminated in 6th place
• Eliza Orlins and Corinne Kaplan: Eliminated in 9th place
• Rupert and Laura Boneham: Eliminated in 10th place

Let’s give it up for Chris and Bret; perhaps the most hilarious, rootable team on The Amazing Race 31. They may have had a brutal first-to-worst leg, but they left the race with their heads held high and in great spirits. They earned another shot at whatever CBS wants them in, whether it’s another Amazing Race season or a second shot at Survivor.