Leg 7 (Sri Lanka → Italy)
Airdate: April 13, 2014
Colombo (Bandaranaike International Airport) to Rome, Italy
(Leonardo da Vinci International Airport)
- Rome (Hadrian's Bridge)
Rome (Parco del Celio or Parco del Colle Oppio)
Rome (Pantheon and Altare della Patria)
- Rome (Piazza di Spagna – Spanish Steps)
- Rome (Piazza del Popolo)
This Leg's Detour was a choice between Gladiator and Charioteer; for both Detours, teams dressed up in ancient Roman costume. In Gladiator, teams learned a series of sword maneuvers to "battle" a seasoned gladiator, to receive their next clue. If teams strayed from the battle sequence they were taught, they had to start over. In Charioteer, teams raced around a track using a radio-controlled chariot, with one team member controlling speed and the other controlling direction. Once teams completed five laps within one minute and thirty seconds, indicated by a "fire" going out, they would be given their next clue. For their Speed Bump, Caroline and Jennifer had to head to the Pantheon where they picked up an antique Olivetti typewriter. They then had to search for the building it resembled, the Altare della Patria which locals call "the Typewriter", before they could continue racing. In the Roadblock, teams had to count the steps of the Spanish Steps, not counting the sidewalk at the bottom, and then add the total to the Roman numerals on the Obelisco Sallustiano in front of the Trinità dei Monti, indicating its year of construction. They had to write down their answer in Roman numerals on the back of a postcard they got from a chestnut vendor. Once they had the right answer (MCMXXIV or 1,924), they showed it to a couple of Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn impersonators at the top of the Steps who would give them their next clue. If they were wrong, they had to go back down to the chestnut vendor to get a new postcard and try again.
- Additional tasks
- At the start of the leg, teams were told to head for "The Eternal City", leaving them to figure out that it meant Rome, and when there head to Hadrian's Bridge, the Ponte Sant'Angelo, for their next clue.
- After the Detour, teams were told to visit the "Piazza of John Keats' unhappy Roman Holiday", leaving them to figure out it referred to the Piazza di Spagna at the base of the Spanish Steps.
- After the Roadblock, teams were told to head to "where the race's leg ends, but the Via Flaminia begins": the Piazza del Popolo
Leg 8 (Italy)
Airdate: April 20, 2014
- Bagnoregio (Civita di Bagnoregio)
- Bagnoregio (Hostaria del Ponte (Italian))
- Orvieto (La Badia di Orvieto)
Orvieto (Orvieto Funicular)
- Orvieto (Pozzo di S. Patrizio) (Unaired)
- Orvieto (Piazza del Duomo)
This Leg's Detour paid homage to Bagnoregio's traditional mode of transportation: the donkey. In Donkey Run, teams had to pick a pair of donkeys and then participate in a traditional donkey race, Palio della Tonna. If they could make three laps before the band stopped playing, they would win their next clue. In Donkey Build, teams headed to "Geppetto's Workshop" where they built a wooden donkey-shaped trolley, using all of the pieces provided, including the crate the pieces were held in. Once they were done, it was loaded with wood and they then had to deliver the wood to "Geppetto" himself for their next clue. In the Roadblock, one team member had to copy a page out of anilluminated manuscript, just as monks traditionally did before the invention of the printing press. Once they properly copied the page's calligraphy and gold leaf to the head monk's approval, they received their next clue.
