"Have to wait for another season" — The Amazing Race fans react to not learning of Melinda and Erika’s penalty

The Amazing Race 37 episode 8, aired on April 23, 2025, saw the end of the road for Melinda and Erika Papadeas. The mother-daughter duo, who had managed to survive several legs with a cautious approach, were eliminated following a key mistake.

While tackling a cipher challenge and navigating through Bulgaria, Erika misread a clue and incorrectly believed that they were only allowed to take taxis for the rest of the leg. This misstep ultimately led to their elimination.

However, what caught many fans' attention wasn’t just the duo’s exit—but the lack of clarity on what penalty they would have received for the mistake had they continued. Since Melinda and Erika were eliminated before a penalty could be enforced, the show never revealed what consequence the misread would have triggered. This left viewers questioning what could have happened if they hadn’t been last.

Online, the reactions focused heavily on this missing piece of information. Fans took to X, reacting to the episode and the mystery left behind.

"When you wanted to hear what the penalty will be for taking a taxi, so you have to wait for another season in the future if another team doesn’t read the clue. How in the world where they last; I will never know," one user commented.

Viewers expressed disappointment over the unanswered detail in The Amazing Race.

"Would have been interesting to know how long the penalty would have been but it did not matter. The last time an all female team won was Season 25," another fan said.

"So we didn't even learn what the penalty for using multiple cabs would've been. I wish they hit the mat in front of another team, so the penalty would've been announced," an X user wrote.

"Every time the use a taxi should be a hour penalty but there in last so we won’t know," a tweet read.

Meanwhile, some fans of The Amazing Race guessed that the penalty could have been a time penalty.

"I think there's two possibilities. Either they'll get a time penalty or they'll be required to retrace their steps before they move on," a fan wrote.

"Honestly I didn't want them to get last cause I wanted to see what their penalty was. But it didn't matter cause they were eliminated anyway," one netizen tweeted.

"A team makes a fatal mistake in the first 30 minutes of the episode. Is there any chance to tell the audience what their penalty will be and give us a hope to keep watching if they had a chance to fight back?" another user commented.

"I feel like one of teams will accidentally take a taxi and get like a massive penalty that will eliminate them," another tweet read.

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What happened to Melinda and Erika in episode 8 of The Amazing Race?

Melinda and Erika entered leg 8 as one of the six remaining teams racing through Bulgaria. This episode of The Amazing Race featured a challenging set of tasks, including decoding a cipher at a library and completing a traditional dance. While many teams found the tasks difficult, Melinda and Erika struggled the most, especially when it came to interpreting the travel clue.

The clue instructed teams to avoid taking taxis for the next section of the leg. However, Erika mistakenly believed the opposite and insisted they could only use taxis. This misread led them to violate the rules, although it went unnoticed at first since they were already running behind.

Despite finishing the challenges in The Amazing Race, the time they lost and the incorrect transportation choice sealed their fate. They arrived last at the pit stop, where host Phil Keoghan informed them they had been eliminated. Since their elimination happened before any penalty was formally applied, the show didn’t mention what would have happened if they had arrived earlier.

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Catch the latest episode of The Amazing Race, currently streaming on CBS.