BWW Recap: Epic Rap Battles of THE AMAZING RACE

Last week, there were a lot of surprises - and arguably even more fights - on THE AMAZING RACE. Who would've ever expected Team Alabama (even with the Express Pass) to climb to the top of the pack and land at the Pit Stop in first place? Not me, I'll tell you that. As for the arguing, well, the came almost exclusively from the Paparazzi, who quickly climbed into first place on my "teams that should be eliminated ASAP" list. Everybody else seems pretty content (especially the Cheerleaders, who are just loving life right now). This week, we get to watch Team Alabama rap in French. Who's ready!?

This leg, teams will be flying from Africa to France...but not without one last stop at Victoria Falls for another Road Block. Remember last week, when one person from each team had to take that incredible giant bungee-like swing across the gorge? On this leg, there's no giant bungee-like anything. There's just an actual giant bungee. Those team members who thought they got out of plummeting down hundreds of feet into a valley last week thought wrong, because in most cases, they're the ones taking the dive this week. I do have to say, it did make me chuckle when I realized that Denise yelled a lot less mid-plummet than she did while running around Zimbabwe with James Earl. Go figure.

This season seems to be the season of equalizers, because after the bungee challenge, all teams end up on the same flight to Paris.

However, the equal playing field doesn't last very long, because Justin and Diana manage to get an earlier train than everyone else, giving them a lead, however slight. Naturally, they're the team that makes it to the next Road Block first. During this challenge, one member from each team (the person that didn't bungee jump back at Victoria Falls) has to fly in a small, vintage biplane and look for those three famous words from the French Revolution: Liberaté, Egalité, Fraternité. And then they do some loops. Which would have made me throw up. This would not have been the challenge for me, the girl who hates flying, let alone flying in a tiny vintage plane. Nope.

Thankfully for these teams, though, most of them see the words right away...with the exception of the Paparazzi. Logan freaks out (oh gee, when have we seen this before?) and has to wait for all of the other teams to finish before she can take a second stab at it. Logan ends up getting it on the second try, and the Paparazzi are now finally on their way with the rest of the teams.

Except, they miss the train and now they're a good hour behind everyone else. Sorry, Paparazzi. Maybe if you had a better attitude about the Race, karma would've been a bit nicer to you.

The other teams are all pretty much even, give or take a few minutes here and there. They have to travel by train to Square Louise Michele, where they have to track down a man called Phantom Blanc. Now, judging by his name, you would probably imagine that this will be a man dressed in all white, and you could safely guess that he would be a bit...eccentric. And you would be completely correct. Naturally, though, almost all of the teams have trouble finding this man as he struts his stuff around the Square. (Although, I'm not one to criticize, since I wouldn't recognize Brad Pitt if I walked past him on the street.)

Eventually, everybody finds Monsieur Blanc (that's my new nickname for him), and receive their next clue: the Detour. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is where the entertainment begins.

The options for this Detour are Drops Mic or Bust a Crab. Bust a Crab is pretty straightforward: teams have to shuck crabs and arrange a platter to mimic one created by a master French chef. This challenge obviously requires a lot of precision and attention to detail, but in a way, it's elegantly simple. Drops Mic is where things get really interesting. Teams are required to rap, in French, with a rapper named Passi. They're then judged on flare and pronunciation. I can't wait for this.

The Green Team, still in first place, reluctantly decides to do Drops Mic. Diana doesn't want to do it, and insists she won't be good at it. Maybe she's just having flashbacks to when Justin forced her to memorize French while they were on their giant mock Amazing Race proposal journey. Just a thought. In the end, Diana ends up doing really well after a few tries. and the Green Team maintains their first place spot.

The Reporters (who, no offense to them, are the team that I kind of always forget are actually still on the Race) also select Drops Mic. They pretty much just screamed what sounded like made up words with a vaguely French accent.

I told you this would be an interesting challenge.

The Cheerleaders also chose Drops Mic, and not surprisingly, did really well. I have to say, I found them to be a bit annoying when the Race first started and I really, really expected not to like them at all, but they've been doing really well, and their attitude about this Race has been incredible, so good for them! I like you, Cheerleaders!

While those teams are realizing that they probably should've invested in Rosetta Stone before embarking on the Race, Chac Attack and the Texans are busy busting a crab or two. Not surprisingly, Chac Attack gets it on their first try. Honestly, I would've been a bit nervous if they didn't. They are, after all, doctors, and they should have ridiculous attention to detail. The Texans (who I still can't forgive for their terrible Express Pass snafu a few legs back) miss it on their first try, but nab it on their second shot after rearranging a few things.

But now back to Drops Mic. If there's one thing I've learned from this episode, it's that watching James Earl try and pronounce foreign words is my new favorite thing. Although I have to admit, he did pick it up rather quickly! Who would've thought that he'd be able to catch on to French rapping when he can't even pronounce some English words correctly? Denise, on the other hand, does about as well as I expected (read: not well at all).

Team Paparazzi (remember them?) uses this as their opportunity to make up for some lost time at the Bust a Crab challenge, which they manage to finish pretty quickly (and with considerably less arguing than I would've expected). They were an hour behind, but with Denise and James Earl struggling as much as they are, this might be the Paparazzi's chance to get back into the race.

The Pit Stop for this leg of the Race is the Arc de Triomphe, and naturally, the Green Team arrives first...and immediately continues racing. Lots of these continuous legs this year, huh, Phil? So much for that famed mandatory 24-hour rest period. The Cheerleaders arrive next, followed by the Reporters. Texans and Chac Attack round out the pack at third and fourth place, respectively, leaving Paparazzi and Team Alabama to fight for last.

Team Alabama ends up in last place, but we have no idea whether or not they're eliminated, because - once again - this episode ends with a nice "to be continued."

But wait- don't forget about the Fitbit info (not that you could - the whole Fitbit thing is blatent product placement if I've ever seen it)! Teams will need to use their tracked heart rates from this leg at some point in the next leg, which means we should start taking bets now as to which teams will forget that they needed to track this information at all. My money's on the Paparazzi.

Do you think this leg is an elimination round, or do you hope that Team Alabama is spared? Who do you want to see come in first next week? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter @CourtHenley!

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