'The Amazing Race' recap: Nicole Franzel and Victor Arroyo survive non-elimination leg after drama with Rachel Reilly and Elissa Slater

The Amazing Race featured a non-elimination leg in which Big Brother's Nicole Franzel and Victor Arroyo avoided being ousted from the Season 31 competition during Wednesday night's broadcast on CBS.


Nicole, 26, and Victor, 28 -- who raced as an engaged couple from Ubly, MI -- arrived at the seventh Pit Stop at a church in Zurich, Switzerland in last place but were informed by The Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan it was a non-elimination leg and they could continue racing for the $1 million grand prize.

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The Amazing Race broadcast began with former Racers Tyler Oakley and friend Korey Kuhl leaving the Uganda in first place and ripping open their first set of clues, which instructed them to fly to Zurich.

After touching down, teams were required to catch a train and head to the town of Meiringen, where they must race on foot for three kilometers to a gorge.


Korey noted every The Amazing Race team left has had a first-place finish this season.

Former The Amazing Race racers Colin Guinn and life partner Christie Woods left in second place, and they were followed by Nicole and Victor and then former Survivor castaways Chris Hammons and friend Bret LaBelle.

Former Racers Becca Droz and friend Floyd Pierce took off in fifth place, and on their heels were former Racers Leo Temory and friend Jamal Zadran.

Leo and Jamal noted they had about six hours to kill before the flight, and the teams seemed to believe a U-Turn awaited them.

Former Big Brother houseguests Rachel Reilly and Elissa Slater left the Uganda Pit Stop in seventh -- and last -- place.


While waiting to take off, Rachel and Elissa bonded with Leo and Jamal as well as Becca and Floyd. The three teams determined they should not U-Turn each other going forward.

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After Rachel and Elissa pointed out Colin and Christie were the strongest team, the others disagreed and thought it would be necessary to U-Turn Nicole and Victor when given the opportunity.

Rachel and Elissa, however, were working with Nicole and Victor since both teams represented Big Brother, so the girls decided to warn Nicole and Victor that the other teams were scheming.

Rachel and Elissa personally wanted to U-Turn Becca and Floyd since they were a threat to win, so the sisters decided to throw "Team Fun" under the bus in particular by telling Nicole and Victor that Becca and Floyd were gunning for them and wanted to U-Turn them.


But Rachel and Elissa's strategy backfired because Nicole and Victor thought the girls just wanted them to do their "dirty work."

Nicole and Victor weren't sure they could trust Rachel and Elissa because the girls were a bit wishy-washy in their story, saying they had their backs turned when multiple teams were talking about potentially U-Turning Nicole and Victor.

Victor therefore noted it was "fishy" Becca and Floyd had been called out specifically, and a bit of arguing ensued between the two teams.

Victor didn't want to act on anything when Rachel and Elissa weren't 100 percent sure about what they had heard.

Rachel then told Nicole "her brand" was watching, and Victor said the conversation was over because she had clearly taken a shot at his fiancee.


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Not long after, Victor and Nicole shared with the other teams how Rachel and Elissa had thrown Becca and Floyd under the bus, and Rachel and Elissa were frustrated Nicole and Victor were trying to play "the victim."

After hopping off the train, Tyler and Korey bragged about how the run was easy because they had prepared for this physical aspect of the Race.

Once Tyler and Korey arrived at their next destination in first place, it became time for one member of each team to complete a Roadblock task.

The Roadblock task required the participating Racers to jump into "an imposing" glacial gorge, a 70 mile-per-hour free fall that was 400 feet above a raging river. Once the Racers returned to solid ground, they'd have to search for their next clue somewhere in the gorge.


Becca and Floyd found their next clue in second place, followed by Leo and Jamal and then Colin and Christie.

Nicole and Victor ran to the clue in fifth place, and then behind them were Rachel and Elissa in sixth place and then Bret and Chris in seventh -- and last -- place.

The Racers who chose to jump were Korey, Becca, Christie, Leo, Nicole, Elissa, and Chris.

Nicole was terrified to free fall and almost backed out of doing the Roadblock, but she finally gathered up the courage to jump.

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When both Nicole and Elissa completed the jump, they hugged and congratulated each other -- but Victor shook his head and told the cameras he was no longer going to work with the Big Brother sisters.


Tyler and Korey finished the Roadblock in first place and were then instructed to fly via helicopter to the next Detour task.

Becca and Floyd completed the task in second place, and they were then followed by Leo and Jamal, Colin and Christie, Nicole and Victor, Rachel and Elissa, and finally Chris and Bret.

Each team then had to choose between one of two possible Detour tasks: "Water Power" or "Water Down."

"Water Power" required the teams to ride the world's steepest funicular -- which is basically a slow roller coaster up and down a mountain -- while logging the names of eight water basins and the corresponding amount of water they hold.

Upon stopping at the top, they had to place the names of the basins on a technical map simply from memory. If a team made a mistake on the map, they'd have to ride the coaster again and pay closer attention.

"Water Down" required teams to rappel 150 feet down a canyon into a glacial river and then grab their next clue before continuing downstream.


Tyler and Korey selected "Water Down," as did Becca and Floyd, Colin and Christie, Rachel and Elissa, and Chris and Bret.

The Detour was a surprising decision for Bret, who's apparently afraid of heights.

But Nicole and Victor and Leo and Jamal chose to ride the funicular. Like Bret, Nicole also struggles with heights, so she wasn't happy to ride up the mountain.

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Leo and Jamal nailed the map on their first attempt and finished the Detour task in first place. They were then told to head to the Pit Stop at Michaelskirche, a beautiful church that dates back 600 years.

However, Leo and Jamal had to wait about 15-20 minutes for the coaster to come back and get them so they could return to their starting point and leave the Detour. They saw Nicole and Victor while waiting.


Tyler and Korey took off to the Pit Stop in second place, and they were then followed by Becca and Floyd, Colin and Christie, and Nicole and Victor in fifth place. Nicole and Victor also successfully completed their map on the first try.

Rachel and Elissa were behind them in sixth place, and finally Chris and Bret were running in seventh place.

Tyler and Korey stepped on the Pit Stop mat in first place and won a spa day so they could de-stress and refocus for the next leg of the Race.

Nicole and Victor got lost on the way to the Pit Stop and had to stop and ask a local for directions. The pair feared this mistake would end the Race for them.

Meanwhile, Rachel and Elissa followed Bret and Chris on their way to the church, but neither team knew where they were going. Elissa just figured they had a better shot not to finish in last place if they tailed Chris and Bret's car.

Both teams ended up stopping and asking for directions at the same time, and then Rachel and Elissa managed to grab a slight lead when getting into their vehicle.


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Colin and Christie finished the leg in second place, with Becca and Floyd meeting Phil only seconds behind them.

While those two teams were standing on the mat, Leo and Jamal then arrived in fourth place.

Rachel and Elissa placed fifth, and Phil told Rachel she had tied an Amazing Race record by racing the highest number of legs on the show -- a total of 31 legs when taking all of her seasons into account. If Rachel completes the next eighth leg, she will hold the record for most legs run.

Bret and Chris then made it to the mat in sixth place.

Finally, Nicole and Victor completed the leg in last place.


Rachel and Elissa let Nicole and Victor know on the mat how they had been trying to help the lovebirds by warning them about other teams' U-Turn plans.

"You let us down," Rachel noted.

Nicole then broke down into tears, and a confusing conversation unfolded in which the teams talked over each other.

"I had a rough day!" Nicole eventually cried. "I don't want to be yelled at about anything! I didn't intentionally do anything to hurt anybody's feelings."

Victor then added to Rachel and Elissa, "We didn't want to be in this mess at all. You should've just never told us anything and we should've just played the game... Just stop it. That's it. It's null and void."

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When Phil told Nicole and Victor it was a non-elimination leg, Rachel and Elissa appeared disappointed and annoyed.

"I can't believe it!" Nicole said in a confessional. "[The sisters] are going to work really hard to make it difficult for us."

"Unnecessary," Victor noted.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski