Amazing Race 3/25 (spoilers as always)

[Fenris]

Where are all you regulars? I never get to start these! :)

Remarkably low-drama episode. Picking apples was a dumb decision for the teams that did it. Clearly, scraping hot crude-oil off hairy guys is better TV, so it's a faster task.

I keep thinking Vanessa and Ralph are better than they are..but they're not.

[MPB in Salt Lake]

Though I missed the first 10 minutes or so, this is one of the only episodes that I can ever remember when everyone acted decently, with no meltdowns, freakouts, interpersonal drama or nastiness of any kind.

I even was a tiny bit sorry to see the Jersey Guys go, as they seemed to show a real appreciation for the various places & things they got to experience on the Race....

[Fenris]

Hit submit way too early.

Some thoughts:

What's with the stoopid trend for people from Jersey to have a noun in their name? What's up with that? "Joey Fitness", "Bob The Situation"(or whoever)? It sounds idiotic and I'm glad to see them gone if only so that we never have to hear Phil say "Joey Fitness" again.

I really hate the music for team Kentucky. Amazing music guys? Stop it. Also, Mark? I hope you're carrying barf-bags. If you're puking on cab floors, it's pretty obnoxious. Also, Amazing Editors? Stop playing the sound of him barfing. It's gross and this isn't Fear Factor. Just have Bopper tell us that he's puking.

The editors blew it on the commercial where Vanessa(?) was under water. There really wasn't any suspense at all and the phony drama seemed really, really, really lame.

Good fast-forward. I liked that it was one where teams could compete. I'm not going to argue with success, but I'd think throwing the bales down would be far easier than stacking them. I'm surprised they divided the tasks the way they did.

I hate inter-team drama, so I'm not looking forward to two weeks (what's next week? The stupid Country Music Awards that always interrupt the show?). I like Vanessa and I hate the Big Brother bimbo, but both of them sound like they're about 12.

[notfrommensa]

At least Team Kentucky get to go to Africa, next week. well in two weeks, anyways. CMA awards next week.

I like the fast forwards when there are two teams competing. Non-Psycho Rachel did a good job with the hay bales.

Another gorgeous greeter (https://twitter.com/#!/PhilKeoghan/status/184088353367531521/photo/1).

[fiddlesticks]

I was going to log on and post that the show was going to be 20 minutes delayed but dinner got in the way. Hope not too many of our usual posters had their DVR recording cut out early. Thanks for posting Phil's tweet, the picture and the text are both great. :)

Guess this episode ran short a few minutes, the Jersey guys got a longer post elimination interview than usual, and it included flashback. A tough way to lose, but at least they were philosophical about it. I was very impressed with Rachel handling the baling task.

[StarvingButStrong]

Is this the first episode where the Big Brother Rachel didn't cry?

[Robot Arm]

Though I missed the first 10 minutes or so,...The leg was decided in the first ten minutes. As soon as it was two teams going for the Fast Forward, one was gonna win and one was goin' home.

...this is one of the only episodes that I can ever remember when everyone acted decently, with no meltdowns, freakouts, interpersonal drama or nastiness of any kind.Well, Mr. Army Chopper Pilot Guy was being kind of a dick at the FF. "Don't throw the bales on top." Thump, right on the stack. But as they got closer to being finished, it seemed to work pretty well for them.

[magnusblitz]

Man, lots of filler at the start. Seemed like they spent an overly-long amount of time on the airplane tickets when they all ended up on the same plane, and then also the dancing and stuff at the temple which didn't open until sunrise.

[zut]

This is an odd episode, where all the important stuff--who comes in first and (even more importantly) who comes in last--is decided in one early task. All the other action in the episode decided the unimportant way that teams middle teams were scattered about.

Taxi Assessment:

Stuck in the Desert and Officially Detained - or, Philiminated with extreme prejudice.
Misa & Maiya and Dave & Cherie and Elliot & Andrew and
Kerri & Stacy - Already eliminated.
Joey & Danny (down from "Passing") - And as soon as I started believing Joey & Danny had promise, they go and get themselves eliminated. Such is the luck of the contested Fast Forward: if you lose, there's a big risk you're going home. I had thought Joey & Danny had a pretty good shot at beating Dave & Rachel (and apparently Joey & Danny agreed), but Dave had the better bale-tossing/pile-building technique, and it's Joey & Danny who go home.

Flat Tire - or, not likely to get anywhere soon.
No one right now.

Stopping for Gas - or, not broken-down, exactly, but not a good sign.
Brendon & Rachel (holding steady) - A pretty good leg for Brendon & Rachel, which by their standards means "low drama." It also means low screen time, because, honestly, who wants to see this team unless they're caterwauling at each other? Well, me, I suppose, if the alternative is seeing them when they're caterwauling at each other. However, CBS disagrees and so here we are, and we'll see how Brendon & Rachel and their caterwauling fare next episode.

"Rapido! Por Favor?" - or, making meaningless ineffectual comments from the back seat, but in no immediate danger.
Vanessa & Ralph (holding steady) - Vanessa & Ralph pick the wrong Detour option, but get a lot of help from having two teams go for the FF, and remain in the hunt.
Mark & Bopper (holding steady) - Not a lot of screen time from Mark & Bopper this episode that didn't reference bodily functions or other men's 'nads, but they ran a decent leg and finished in the top three.
Nary & Jamie (holding steady) - Nary & Jamie, Mark & Bopper, and Vanessa & Ralph all seem about the same level of competence to me. One of them, though, will make it through to the final three, and now that Joey & Danny are eliminated I'm leaning slightly toward Nary & Jamie. They made an error this episode in choosing the apple-in-an-applestack Detour, but they still had two other teams finish behind them, so it worked out.

In the Passing Lane - or, ahead of the pack, but not quite comfortably.
Dave & Rachel (holding steady) - Dave & Rachel grab another first place finish. They're now tied with Art & J.J. with three firsts apiece (to zero by all the other teams combined). Although their overall performance isn't quite as good as Art & J.J.'s, it's still a darn sight better than everyone elses's. I'm not so sure attempting the FF was a good strategy for this team, as the downside of losing it is far more negative than the upside of winning (witness Joey & Danny), but it did pay off for Dave & Rachel. Look for them to still be around in the final episode.

Cruisin' with Earl - or, drivin' on the shoulder, takin' shortcuts, and generally kickin' butt.
Art & J.J. (holding steady) - Art & J.J. continue their unbroken string of top-three finishes. They have a correct, if cocky, notion that their second-place on this leg is effectively a win, since they were prevented by the rules from attempting the Fast Forward. And that's important, because they're making a habit of making good decisoin and finding ways to beat the other teams.

[zut]

Man, lots of filler at the start. [...] and then also the dancing and stuff at the temple which didn't open until sunrise.
I actually liked the dancing in the temple stuff. I mean, I know it's a photo op by the producers, but I enjoy seeing snippets of things that teams do because they want to, because they're in a certain time and place, and not because they have to, because it's a Race task.

[Fenris]

I actually liked the dancing in the temple stuff. I mean, I know it's a photo op by the producers, but I enjoy seeing snippets of things that teams do because they want to, because they're in a certain time and place, and not because they have to, because it's a Race task.

Ditto. I miss the old days where we'd be seeing "eating and mingling" between the teams. There was a very early episode (season 2 maybe?) where they were in the India leg of the race and in the middle of their 12 hour eat/sleep/mingle period, some sort of wedding celebration happened outside their hotel. The racers got up and partied with the locals. Which was one of the coolest bits ever.

[Edward The Head]

This was a really boring episode. I could have sworn that at least one of the teams could not get the window open and they were helped out. Plus no one really seemed to have changed places and the tasks were pretty boring. I thought it was going to be a non-elimination stop as well and I'm kind of upset to see them go.

[Drain Bead]

The Roadblock task this week was pretty much my worst nightmare. I was anxious just watching it, even though I knew perfectly well nobody was going to drown on national TV. I would have had a full-on Rachel meltdown if I had to do that one.

We now know that Nary and Jamie and Vanessa and Ralph are casual Race-watchers at best. Nobody picks the needle-in-a-haystack unless the alternative involves getting animals to do what you want.

[jayjay]

Ditto. I miss the old days where we'd be seeing "eating and mingling" between the teams. There was a very early episode (season 2 maybe?) where they were in the India leg of the race and in the middle of their 12 hour eat/sleep/mingle period, some sort of wedding celebration happened outside their hotel. The racers got up and partied with the locals. Which was one of the coolest bits ever.

There was also the time in Africa when Chip & Kim ate dinner with a local family. Those moments are few and far between in recent seasons. They're focusing too much on inter-team drama and not enough on documenting teams enjoying the experience. Not that there wasn't inter/intra-team drama before...remember Tara's flirtations with Alex in Season 2 and her constant fighting with Wil (and the mysteriously slow run to the mat by Tara that let Alex & Chris win the season)? I don't think anyone fought more than Tara and Wil until Jonathan & Victoria.

[Sally Mander]

The closed captioning was really off in this episode. When Rachel and Dave were heading to the Pit Stop, Dave's comment about smelling Phil's cologne came out as, "I can smell Phil's colon."
:D

[jayjay]

The closed captioning was really off in this episode. When Rachel and Dave were heading to the Pit Stop, Dave's comment about smelling Phil's cologne came out as, "I can smell Phil's colon."
:D

Wow...it's a totally different show if you're deaf!

[Fenris]

There was also the time in Africa when Chip & Kim ate dinner with a local family. Those moments are few and far between in recent seasons. They're focusing too much on inter-team drama and not enough on documenting teams enjoying the experience. Not that there wasn't inter/intra-team drama before...remember Tara's flirtations with Alex in Season 2 and her constant fighting with Wil (and the mysteriously slow run to the mat by Tara that let Alex & Chris win the season)? I don't think anyone fought more than Tara and Wil until Jonathan & Victoria.

Actually, I'd argue that Tara and Wil fought more than J & V. Jonathon was far, far more abusive, both physically (the number of times he "just happened" to slam doors on her hands, trunk lids on her head, etc) along with punching/shoving her, but in terms of screaming at each other, Victoria was generally too cowed to fight back. Wil and Tara fought constantly. The best fight was the "get the clue out of the huge ball of ice" one where he was having a psychotic melt-down.

[Hal Briston]

What's with the stoopid trend for people from Jersey to have a noun in their name? What's up with that? Yeah...it's almost as annoying as the stoopid trend of billing people from Long Island as being from Jersey.

[Fenris]

I thought they were from Jersey. Didn't they refer to themselves as "Jersey boys"? Or was that other racers referring to them?

[Angie1]

Hit submit way too early.

Some thoughts:

What's with the stoopid trend for people from Jersey to have a noun in their name? What's up with that? "Joey Fitness", "Bob The Situation"(or whoever)? It sounds idiotic and I'm glad to see them gone if only so that we never have to hear Phil say "Joey Fitness" again.

I really hate the music for team Kentucky. Amazing music guys? Stop it. Also, Mark? I hope you're carrying barf-bags. If you're puking on cab floors, it's pretty obnoxious. Also, Amazing Editors? Stop playing the sound of him barfing. It's gross and this isn't Fear Factor. Just have Bopper tell us that he's puking.

The editors blew it on the commercial where Vanessa(?) was under water. There really wasn't any suspense at all and the phony drama seemed really, really, really lame.

Good fast-forward. I liked that it was one where teams could compete. I'm not going to argue with success, but I'd think throwing the bales down would be far easier than stacking them. I'm surprised they divided the tasks the way they did.

I hate inter-team drama, so I'm not looking forward to two weeks (what's next week? The stupid Country Music Awards that always interrupt the show?). I like Vanessa and I hate the Big Brother bimbo, but both of them sound like they're about 12.


Actually those 2 guys are from Long Island not Jersey.

[Angie1]

Yeah...it's almost as annoying as the stoopid trend of billing people from Long Island as being from Jersey.

Big difference people from Long Island, the Jersey people are giving us a bad name LOL!

Its the people that hang out at the Jersey Shore that give NJ people a bad name. Thes Idiots (yes I have dated a few) should not be compared to the rest of the state.

[Palo Verde]

I thought the Jersey boys made a great decision to pick a car with green apples, so that the red and yellow race flag would stand out a lot more clearly than with red apples.

But in general none of the tasks were that demanding. Scrapping an oily dude is a little weird, but not hard. Find one apple out of thousands is frustrating, but not hard. And getting out of the 'sinking helicopter' was nerve wracking, but also not really hard.

I think the hardest task was the Fast Forward, and Rachel did an amazing job with those, because they are really heavy.

[Angie1]

Why does Vanessa feel it necessary to make fun of Rachel and Brendon? I really want to smack her. Brendon and Rachel are a strong team, they were strong on Big Brother obviously Rachel won. Looks like a cat fight next week.

[Drain Bead]

It's necessary to make fun of Rachel because she's a histrionic idiot.

[Angie1]

Why set her off though? She does enough whining without someone adding fuel to the fire. I hate the way Rachel is like a 2 year old but I respect her as a player because aside from her acting like a child she is a good competitor.

[Moonlitherial]

Why set her off though? She does enough whining without someone adding fuel to the fire. I hate the way Rachel is like a 2 year old but I respect her as a player because aside from her acting like a child she is a good competitor.

We don't see the lead up so we don't actually know who set who off but I think Vanessa might be one of those women who revert to high school when dealing with other women. I don't think either of them are a beacon of light but at least Vanessa's insanity seems to be limited to dealing with Rachel. Rachel's is freely shared with the entire world.

I felt sorry for the oil guy this week. With no indication of any reaction from him at all she immediately leaps to "Oh I think he likes that I'm doing this" while she's scraping the oil off.

[Angie1]

We don't see the lead up so we don't actually know who set who off but I think Vanessa might be one of those women who revert to high school when dealing with other women. I don't think either of them are a beacon of light but at least Vanessa's insanity seems to be limited to dealing with Rachel. Rachel's is freely shared with the entire world.

I felt sorry for the oil guy this week. With no indication of any reaction from him at all she immediately leaps to "Oh I think he likes that I'm doing this" while she's scraping the oil off.

LOL your right about the Oily guy and I have to agree about Rachel being shared with the world too. She made quite a spectacle of herself on Big Brother. She is obviously spoiled by Brendon who puts up with her tantrums. Its a shame because in reality Rachel is an intelligent woman she just has a very bad disposition when things don't go her way.

[lorene]

Its a shame because in reality Rachel is an intelligent woman she just has a very bad disposition when things don't go her way.

Do you know Rachel IRL? This sounds like you do.

I thought this episode was pretty boring. I missed the last 10 minutes of it getting my son ready for bed, and I found that I just didn't care.

[Angie1]

Do you know Rachel IRL? This sounds like you do.

I thought this episode was pretty boring. I missed the last 10 minutes of it getting my son ready for bed, and I found that I just didn't care.

LOL no I don't know her IRL, I watched her 2 seasons on Big Brother that was enough to pretty much get to see who and what she is capable of.

[Fenris]

It's necessary to make fun of Rachel because she's a histrionic idiot.


Plus, can you imagine being around Rachel say, 15 hours a day, 7 days a week, for weeks at a time? Or being trapped on a 20 hour bus ride with her?

And then imagine her tantrums and hysterics detracting from a once-in-a-lifetime round the world race. I would have smacked her by now.

[notfrommensa]

In what alternate Universe, besides the TAR universe, is a shoe-horn an appropriate device to clean crude oil off a human body?

[StGermain]

In what alternate Universe, besides the TAR universe, is a shoe-horn an appropriate device to clean crude oil off a human body?

I wonder if it really was a shoe horn, though. There are sweat scrapers (http://www.statelinetack.com/item/plastic-sweat-scraper/SLT050751/)for horses that look like long shoehorns, but are meant to remove water (either from bathing or sweat, usually bathing).

StG

[muldoonthief]

I wonder if it really was a shoe horn, though. There are sweat scrapers (http://www.statelinetack.com/item/plastic-sweat-scraper/SLT050751/)for horses that look like long shoehorns, but are meant to remove water (either from bathing or sweat, usually bathing).

StG

It's cooler to call it a strigil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strigil). Props to AJ for making the Roman connection.

[Quimby]

I refuse to believe someone who said "I have no idea what a beard is" is intelligent. Also Vanessa gets a pass because I think she is hilarious. And hot. But mostly because I find her funny. Mostly. She is pretty hot though :)

[Hal Briston]

Also Vanessa gets a pass because I think she is hilarious. And hot. But mostly because I find her funny. Mostly. She is pretty hot though :)Using "cheese and crackers!" as an exclamation four times in one episode (as a team) should be grounds for automatic elimination, though.

[obfusciatrist]

I was wondering about the cheese and crackers thing. Didn't she get bleeped a few times in teh first couple episodes.

I like to think that one of the producers said "please stop swearing so much" so they decided that every other sentence out of their mouths would be "cheese and crackers."

I thought the Jersey boys made a great decision to pick a car with green apples, so that the red and yellow race flag would stand out a lot more clearly than with red apples.

It worked out, but I don't think they knew what they were looking for (the others didn't seem to know) so it was probably luck.

[SpoilerVirgin]

It's cooler to call it a strigil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strigil). Props to AJ for making the Roman connection.As soon as I saw what the task was, I said, "Cool, strigils!" Then I was pleasantly surprised when AJ said the same thing.

Anyone who's read as much Lindsey Davis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindsey_Davis) as I have is very familiar with strigils.

[corkboard]

There is no way in hell I'd choose to scrape oil off a guy's body. I'm pretty squicky about laying my hands on anyone who isn't a member of my family, and when you bring another person's feet into the equation, I'm out. I'd do the apple thing twice before I'd do that.

Also, maybe it was my imaginiation but when Vanessa & George are picking through the apples, George said something about one of the guys nearby trying to check out her "melons" she said "I don't think he can see my melons... but I am going commando!"

Did I hear that right?

[muldoonthief]

I felt sorry for the oil guy this week. With no indication of any reaction from him at all she immediately leaps to "Oh I think he likes that I'm doing this" while she's scraping the oil off.

There may have been a nonverbal reaction that would have required blurring if they showed it on TV.


Also, maybe it was my imaginiation but when Vanessa & George are picking through the apples, George said something about one of the guys nearby trying to check out her "melons" she said "I don't think he can see my melons... but I am going commando!"

Did I hear that right?

I heard the same thing.

[Ellis Dee]

I felt sorry for the oil guy this week. With no indication of any reaction from him at all she immediately leaps to "Oh I think he likes that I'm doing this" while she's scraping the oil off.I can't stand Rachel, but I found her charming at the oil task. Not charming for Rachel, but actual real-person charming. I just loved the way she said "Oh, this is real oil." Totally won me over for that segment.

It was reminiscent of how Vanessa won me over early on with that food challenge where George (I thought his name was Ralph for some reason) said something like "I so want to eat that" and Vanessa chirped right up with "No joke."

I don't know what it was about those two moments, but I really connected with them. I still hate Rachel, though. And in an honest moment I have to admit that Vanessa appears to be a total bitch, but I still kinda like her.

[jayjay]

Vanessa's boyfriend/teammate IS Ralph.