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Naples, Italy, welcomed the remaining teams on this week's episode of The Amazing Race, treating contestants to magnificent views, challenging tasks, and the chance to create authentic Neapolitan pizza in its birthplace.
The five pairs – Ana and Jonathan, Carson and Jack, Brett and Mark, Alyssa and Josiah, and Hans and Holden – faced a series of Italian-themed challenges, including cheese braiding, grocery shopping in Italian, and pizza making. Former Domino's employee Ana's pizza-making expertise propelled her and Jonathan from third to first place, while gamers Hans and Holden struggled throughout but narrowly escaped elimination when the leg was revealed to be non-elimination.
The Italian adventure brought back memories for some teams, with Carson and Jack recalling their previous visit where they were yelled at by grandmothers for being loud Americans.
Despite communication challenges and navigational confusion, all the Amazing Race teams completed the course with some surprising position shifts along the way.
What happened in this episode of The Amazing Race?
The Naples leg of The Amazing Race began with teams catching a funicular train up a hillside for breathtaking views and their first clue. Though beautiful, the scenery proved distracting, with precious seconds lost to sightseeing. The real equalizer came when contestants needed directions, everyone struggled with the language barrier, and received conflicting information from locals.
At the Pulcinella Statue, teams faced their first decision: create a traditional mandolin or braid mozzarella cheese. Only Ana and Jonathan chose the musical instrument route, while the other four teams tackled the deceptively difficult cheese challenge.
Six separate pieces of mozzarella needed to be twisted in a particular way, and this proved trickier than expected. Despite their Italian heritage, Brett and Mark required multiple attempts, just like friends Jack and Carson. Surprisingly, Alyssa and Josiah nailed it on their first try, jumping to third place.
After completing an Italian grocery shopping task, where teams had to purchase specific items using a list written entirely in Italian, the Amazing Race contestants arrived at the highlight challenge, making authentic Neapolitan pizza in its city of origin.
Ana's background working at Domino’s for two years gave her team a significant advantage. While Carson struggled repeatedly with dough preparation, Ana completed her pizza perfectly on the first attempt, launching her team from third to first place.
The experts demonstrated the proper technique for kneading dough, spreading sauce, and adding cheese and basil, but execution varied dramatically between teams. Brett and Mark secured second place, while Alyssa and Josiah—still holding onto their unused Express Pass—finished third in this episode of The Amazing Race.
Carson finally mastered his pizza after Hans and Holden arrived at the station, giving him the motivation to finish.
The surprise reprieve
The episode highlighted how relationship dynamics impact performance under stress. Hans and Holden's sibling-like bickering intensified when they fell behind.
Meanwhile, Carson and Jack worked to maintain their composure, having learned from their previous Italian misadventure. They've made improvements that helped them maintain fourth place despite pizza-making struggles.
The final dash to Castel Nuovo determined placement, with Ana and Jonathan claiming first place. Brett and Mark took second, followed by Alyssa and Josiah in third, and Carson and Jack in fourth.
Hans and Holden arrived only a few minutes behind Carson and Jack, seemingly ending their race journey until host Phil Keoghan revealed this was a non-elimination leg. The siblings earned a reprieve, giving them another chance to improve their communication and racing strategy.
As the Amazing Race team savored their handmade pizzas (every contestant got to keep their creations), they prepared for the challenges ahead, knowing the competition would only intensify as they approached the final legs of this global journey.
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The Amazing Race airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on CBS and streams the next day on Paramount+.
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