'The Amazing Race' eliminates Matt Ladley and Redmond Ramos before the final leg

The Amazing Race eliminated Matt Ladley and Redmond Ramos during Thursday night's penultimate episode of Season 29 on CBS.


Matt, a 25-year-old pro snowboarder from Denver, CO, and Redmond, a 28-year-old former U.S. Navy corpsman from Murrieta, CA, were ousted from the around-the-world competition after they arrived at the eleventh leg's Pit Stop on the islands of Sevit Some in Seoul, South Korea in last place due to transportation problems.

"We were both just super happy to be here," Redmond noted.

"We wanted to show the world that nothing can bring you down. No matter what your struggle is, you can succeed," Matt said, before telling his buddy, "I'm stoked you were my partner. We had a good time."

"Thanks for picking me," Redmond replied.


The Amazing Race episode kicked off with Matt and Redmond ripping open their first clue in first place at 11:57PM in Ninh Binh, Vietnam.

The teams were instructed to fly to Seoul, South Korea, and once there, they'd receive their next clue from a K-Pop group in the Gangnam District.

"We believe there's one more team that's going to get eliminated [before the finals]. And it's not going to be us," Redmond said, adding that Tara Carr and Joey Covino were the only team left who have beaten them before.

Scott Flanary, a 34-year-old recruiting manager from West Hollywood, CA, and Brooke Camhi, a 36-year-old criminal attorney from New York, NY, left the Vietnam Pit Stop in second place at 1:48AM, saying they were the "underdogs." Scott noted they were one of two teams left who hadn't won a leg this season, but he pointed out that some teams who have never won a leg did go on to win The Amazing Race.

Tara, a 38-year-old U.S. Army officer from Alexandria, VA, and Joey, a 46-year-old police sergeant from Saugus, MA, departed in third place at 2:16AM. Joey said the previous leg was the toughest one by far but they managed to get through it.


And on their heels were London Kaye, a 27-year-old artist from Brooklyn, NY, and Logan Bauer, a 27-year-old surgical consultant from Columbus, GA, in fourth -- and last -- place at 2:26AM.

All the teams booked seats on the same flight to Seoul. Once the plane landed, three teams hopped in taxis and raced to their next destination, but not Matt and Redmond, who had heard from locals that traveling by the subway was faster.

The boys therefore purchased subway tickets and headed underground. Matt and Redmond were confident about their decision once they spotted traffic in the city streets. However, Matt and Redmond ended up missing their transfer train by a matter of seconds.

Tara and Joey arrived first in the Gangnam District and spotted a stage labeled "Gangnam Style," on which four women were dancing to music. So the team ran up to the stage and one woman handed them their next clue.

The teams' next set of clues sent them by taxi to Hanyang University Olympic Gym, where they must search for their next clue.


As they looked for a taxi, Brooke and Scott arrived in second place and received their clue from the dancer, followed by London and Logan. Back on the subway, Matt and Redmond unfortunately still had two stops to go.

Once at the gym, teams saw kids stacking plastic cups into three pyramids on tables and then breaking them down again extremely quickly.

It then became time for one member from each team to complete a Roadblock task.

For the Roadblock the participating Racers were required to follow the children's lead by stacking and disassembling the cups in under seven seconds.

Brooke took on this Roadblock task for her team, as well as Joey and Logan.


Meanwhile, Matt and Redmond had left the subway and secured a taxi to take them to the gym. Matt asked to go to the Olympic Gym at Hanyang University, and his team's driver just repeated back, "Olympic gym."

Matt had a feeling Redmond and himself were in last place because the girl standing onstage only had one clue left to give. And much to their dismay, the driver ended up taking them to the wrong location that was 20 minutes away from where they needed to be.

Back at the Roadblock, the three Racers needed multiple attempts to get the job done.

Brooke completed the Roadblock task before any of the other teams, and she was followed by Joey and then Logan. By the time London and Logan left the task, Matt and Redmond were just arriving. It took Redmond three attempts to stack and disassemble the cups in under seven seconds.

The teams' next set of clues sent them via taxi to the Mugyewon Arts and Cultural Center, where they had to search for their next clue. Tara and Joey arrived in second place, followed by London and Logan.


Once at the arts center, women were shown dressed up near tables of food. Brooke and Scott arrived in first place and ripped open their next clue, which required the teams to prepare six servings of kimchi by packing the food into ceramic jars and then burying them to begin the fermentation process.

The teams watched the local women as they combined ginger, salt, garlic, sugar, curry powder and fish sauce before spreading the recipe over each leaf of cabbage.

The second and third-place teams missed the beginning of the demonstration, so they had to wait for it to start again. Meanwhile, Brooke and Scott were arguing over whether they should keep the mixture of dump it and start over. The team, knowing Matt and Redmond were far behind them, decided to start over.

No one had their cabbages approved on the first try, but Tara and Joey completed the task in first place. London and Logan were behind them in second place, followed by Brooke and Scott.

The teams were then instructed to make their way by taxi to Seoul OGN E-Stadium. It was a three-way race to the stadium, as Matt and Redmond were still dragging in last place.

London and Logan ripped open their next clue in first place, followed by Brooke and Scott and then Tara and Joey.


It then became time for another Roadblock task which required the participating Racers to win a round of the video game "Street Fighter V" against a professional gamer, with the professional being given a handicap every ten rounds to help the Racers out. The clue added that the people who did not perform the previous Roadblock were the ones who had to play the video game.

As a result, London, Scott and Tara had to play the game, and both ladies were very inexperienced gamers. Tara said she hadn't played a video game in over 20 years, while London grew up playing with dolls and flowers instead. Because London had never played a game in her life, Logan wished he could have done it for her.

When the first 10 rounds were up, the professional gamers had to play with one hand behind their backs.

Meanwhile, Matt and Redmond arrived at the kimchi task and realized everyone else had already come and gone. The guys, however, tended to work well under pressure.

Back at the Roadblock task, London's opponent was blindfolded following another 10 rounds, and Tara also continued to struggle.

London finally won a game, and Scott defeated his opponent shortly afterwards. The two teams grabbed their next set of clues, which sent them to the Pit Stop -- the roof of Gavit Some on the islands of Sevit Some.


As London and Logan and Brooke and Scott ran for taxis, Tara's opponent was blindfolded, and Joey was really angry and frustrated that the kid hadn't let her win yet.

While Tara was working hard at the video game, Matt and Redmond finished their cabbage mixture and made their way over, remaining positive about their fate in the Race.

Tara was under a lot of stress and felt desperate to finish the job, but she got knocked out in her 27th round.

"This is my family depending on me right now," Tara told her challenger. "I'm going to have nightmares about you for the rest of my life."

Matt then arrived at the stadium and began playing the video game with confidence. Matt and Redmond were super pumped to see Tara and Joey were still there

Meanwhile, Brooke and Scott stepped on the Pit Stop mat and met The Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan in first place. They were officially declared one of Season 29's Final 3 teams.


"I don't think anybody would've thought that we would've made it to the Final 3," Brooke said. "People underestimated us, and they were wrong!"

London and Logan were right on their heels and arrived at the Pit Stop in second place. Phil told them that they went from the "underdogs" to the "top dogs."

Back at the Roadblock task, Matt felt better about his chances once his opponent had to play the game one-handed. Tara's challenge at this point, however, was already playing one-handed and blindfolded.

"What's he proving? That he can't beat up someone's mom?" Joey vented from the sidelines before angrily calling Tara's opponent a "bastard."

But Tara eventually won a round, and so she and Joey headed to the Pit Stop in third place. As the pair struggled to nail down a taxi, Matt continued to play the video game, and it didn't take him long to win a round.

It was therefore seemingly a race to the Pit Stop, but Tara and Joey got there before the boys. After Tara and Joey learned they'd be racing to the finish line in the Final 3, Matt and Redmond arrived in last place and were sent packing.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski