‘Amazing Race’ Week 2: Raleigh’s Holderness duo dash through Scotland. How’d they do?
Kim and Penn Holderness, part of the Raleigh family known for “Christmas Jammies” and other viral videos, are competing on this season of CBS’s “The Amazing Race,” and The News & Observer is following their journey on the show each week.
During last week’s 2-hour season premiere, we saw the Holdernesses and 10 other teams start their trek around the world, leaving their homes to complete the first leg of the race in London.
Both last week’s and this week’s episodes were filmed in early 2020 — and in this week’s episode, we see the contestants learn that, for the first time in the show’s 33-season history, production will be suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Production resumed in this past fall, and we’ll see those episodes in the coming weeks.)
Before that announcement, though, the racers completed challenges throughout Scotland, keeping their eyes on making it one leg closer to the show’s $1 million prize.
What else happened on this week’s episode? How did the Holdernesses do? Who was eliminated?
Here’s a recap. (Warning: Spoilers ahead.)
How did the Holderness duo place this week?
Kim and Penn came out to an early lead this week and held it all the way through the episode, ending at the pit stop in 1st place.
In addition to moving on to the following leg of the race, they also won a trip to Cape Cod.
What challenges did teams complete this week?
After last week’s pit stop on a double-decker bus in London, the teams traveled by train to Glasgow, Scotland.
After running through the train station, the teams found their next clue on cars that they then drove to find another clue.
Many teams struggled with the cars’ manual transmissions and having to drive on the right side of the car and on the left side of the road, but Kim and Penn came out to an early lead, finding the next clue, which led them to a road block challenge, in 1st place.
At the road block, teams had to correctly assemble traditional Scottish bagpipes and then play a song on their new instruments.
Kim handled assembling the bagpipe, noting that it was a confusing task and that she had never actually seen a bagpipe in person. But she managed to finish the task first, belting out a few notes before she and Penn left the road block, still in 1st place.
After the bagpipe task, teams went to Alexandra Park to find their next clue.
Kim and Penn arrived to the park first, where they found a clue for a detour challenge. For the detour, teams could pick between a singing and dancing challenge or a barrel-refurbishing one.
Naturally, given their experience singing and dancing in their many online videos, Kim and Penn chose the musical challenge.
After a quick rehearsal, Kim and Penn took the stage in traditional Scottish kilts.
Penn, in his own words, turned into a “diva” after a few missteps in the performance, but the pair managed to leave the detour in 1st place — even earning a few smiles from the challenge’s judge — then raced to the University of Glasgow for this leg’s pit stop.
After everyone made it to the pit stop, show host Phil Keoghan announced to the group that the race is being suspended.
The group of contestants disbands for 19 months, but the end of the episode shows them reuniting in Switzerland, where next week’s episode will pick up.
We’re left with a “To be continued...” screen to end this week’s episode.
Episode highlight from the Holderness duo
The highlight of this week’s episode for us was Kim and Penn’s singing and dancing routine.
On The Holderness Family Instagram account Tuesday, Kim said she had never sang in one of the family’s videos, so she was nervous about debuting her vocal skills on national TV.
But we think the pair was made for the challenge, and their performance was fun to watch.
How did the other teams do this week?
▪ Best friend pairs Ryan and Dusty and Spencer and Anthony had another strong showing this week, finishing in 2nd and 3rd places respectively.
▪ Connie and Sam Greiner, from Charlotte, finished in 4th place this week.
▪ Newly dating couple Ray and Caro struggled from the start this week, with tensions building early, but managed to finish in 5th place.
▪ Flight attendants Raquel and Cayla finished 6th.
▪ Twins Lulu and Lala finished 7th.
▪ Married couple Taylor and Isaiah finished 8th.
▪ Married educators Akbar and Sheridan were near the back of the pack for most of the episode, but pulled narrowly ahead at the singing and dancing detour. They finished in 9th place.
▪ Father and daughter pair Arun and Natalia were in the middle of the pack through the bagpipe road block, but slipped behind after Natalia stayed behind briefly to help other teams finish the challenge. Their bad luck continued as they originally chose the barrel detour, then switched to the singing and dancing option, putting them behind even more.
Which team was eliminated?
After falling behind and switching detour challenges, Arun and Natalia never made up lost ground. They were eliminated this week.
Looking forward to next week
Since filming was paused due to the onset of the pandemic, next week’s episode picks up more than a year after this week’s.
The preview shows the teams restarting the race in Switzerland, with some teams apparently unable to make it back and some “familiar faces” rejoining the competition.
Will Penn and Kim continue to do well after almost 20 months away from the race?
We’ll find out next week. See you then.
More about Kim & Penn Holderness
Most people today recognize Kim and Penn from their online videos posted on “The Holderness Family” accounts — most notably “Christmas Jammies,” which went viral in 2013 and has more than 18 million views to-date.
Prior to making the switch to full-time content creation, Kim and Penn both worked in TV news. They have a combined 25 years of experience in the industry, including Penn’s six years as an evening anchor at WNCN in Raleigh.
Following the success of “Jammies,” the Raleigh couple, along with their two children, now “chronicle their marriage and their family with funny music videos, vlogs, skits and a podcast.” The couple also released a book in March 2021.
Previous ‘Amazing Race’ recaps
Catch up on our previous coverage of Kim and Penn and their journey on “The Amazing Race” with these stories:
▪ Raleigh’s Holderness Family of ‘Christmas Jammies’ fame to compete on ‘The Amazing Race’
How to watch ‘The Amazing Race’
New episodes of “The Amazing Race” air Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on CBS.
You can also stream episodes after they air at cbs.com/shows/amazing_race.
This story was originally published January 12, 2022 at 10:14 PM with the headline "‘Amazing Race’ Week 2: Raleigh’s Holderness duo dash through Scotland. How’d they do?."
