Amazing race 10/23

Cafe Society
1

What can be said other than "Holy shit! They went to Harvard??!!

Yes ladies, when it says you have to walk, you can take a taxi.

Aren’t they lawyers? Aren’t they Harvard grads? Aren’t they over the age of 4? What is wrong with them? You would think reading comprehension would come up in their learning sooner or later. Loved how Phil had to explain to these brainiacs what “walk” meant.

We were thisclose to getting rid of Aaron, Arianne, and the nonstop barrage of “Twins. Get the twins!” chants but they stay another week thanks to the idiocy of the Harvard girls.

And I hate Ian and Teri (by association). Insufferable.

2

I assume you’re talking about a TV programme - an American TV programme?

3

You know, I actually kinda liked it better when I was the one who kicked it off every week…

BBF - The Amazing Race. CBS’s third “reality”-style game show. Wednesdays, 8:00 PM in Hawaii, 9:00 in the rest of the country. Go to CBS.com for details.

everyone - Before the inevitable grumbling about how “ridiculously easy” or “stupid” the challenges have been so far, remember, AR is all about moving quickly, and thinking quickly. I guess they learned that the race is simply more exciting when everyone’s together and there’s no clear winner.

Sometimes you just don’t know what’s coming up next. Sometimes the big gamble at the airport helps you, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes every second counts; sometimes all you gotta do is keep your head on straight and not stumble hours behind. You really can’t tell, and that’s one of the good things about this contest. If it’s nothing but a straight up physical & intellectual challenge, shoot, may as well just hand it to Derek & Drew after the second leg.

And now that I’ve mentioned it…I’m always just a bit iffy when a challenge involves beating a human opponent. (Props to CBS, of course, for never picking anyone too hard.) From what I’ve seen, though, if you just stay calm and find a tactic that works, you’ll pull it out without too much trouble. And the final stretch was just a test of endurance, mental toughness, and the will to win…nothing unusual for AR, I can assure you.

Updated standings & prospects. (First number is the finish position; number in parenthesis is start position for the next stage. An asterisk indicates a team that’s used a Fast Forward.)

2 (1): Ken & Gerard *
Looking very good, and finding themselves in first will only boost their confidence even more. Slowly progressing from darkhorse to contender.

3 (2): Flo & Zach
Now that they’ve finally “beaten the twins”, which they’ve beaten us over the head with for nearly the entire freaking race, things are looking good for them. We’ve seen the first hints of dissention, though…can they keep it up?

4 (3): Derek & Drew *
Slipped a bit, but it means nothing at this point. After the close call at the very beginning, they’ve really turned it on and look very strong. Making that airport gamble pay off was huge.

5 (4): Andre & Damon
One of them mentioned a gain of two spots; they’ll be very happy to find out that it was actually four. They caught a break at a very good time, but I sense a lot of combativeness from this pair (really evident after getting stuck behind Heather & Eve, which was their own damn fault for not making the deliveries in order anyway). They just don’t seem comfortable anywhere, anytime, and I think this’ll be their undoing.

6 (5): Teri & Ian
Well, they got a second wind…let’s see how long it lasts. I still don’t have any hopes of them making the final three.

7 (6): John Vito & Jill
Still pluggin’ away. They actually don’t have a bad chance of making it to the first nonelimination point.

8 (7): Michael & Kathy
Starting to flag a bit, but there’s still time to turn it around.

9 (8): Aaron & Arianne
Almost nothing went right for them in this leg. Arianne was really bagging it in the Roadblock challenge…excuses, halfhearted attempts…a sure sign of failing resolve. At the bottom spot, they don’t have any room for error.

Prediction…uh, the twins continue to annoy the hell out of two, maybe three teams for some weird reason, and Teri & Ian’s breakdown continues. I think those are pretty safe.

4

This show blows Survivor outta the water!

“I crashed the caaaaaaar!”

Bwahahahahaha!

Good times.

5

Man I love this show. I agree with LolaCocaCola, the Amazing Race is much more enjoyable than Survivor. Popularity counts for nothing in this game, its all about quick feet, quick thinking and a the occasional helping of luck.

I was very dissapointed that the Legal Eagles screwed up and took a cab. Not because I’m all that fond of them, but because I was sooooo looking forward to seeing Aaron & Arianne gone! After all their talk with Flo and Zach about “going on a twin hunt”, it would have been sweet, sweet TV to see their expressions when they were eliminated. Oh well, maybe next week.

I could not believe how many teams decided to deliver the wine “new school” instead of “old school”. If you’re in a city you’ve never been to, whose traffic patterns and laws you don’t know, I’d think going to one place instead of three places would be a given. Sure enough, pretty much all of the teams that decided to drive had loads of problems.

And is there a rule that says team members must take turns driving? If not, why the heck did the Legal Eagles put the one who can’t drive a stick (can’t remember which one that was) behind the wheel!? That part of the race put a whole new meaning to “backseat driver”, since the one in the back kept having to find first and reverse for the one behind the wheel. I couldn’t believe it when she smashed into that bollard! The producers of the show must have been relieved to see them eliminated, so they don’t have to pay for any more repairs.

As you mentioned DKW, Flo and Zack managed to beat the twins, but they have maybe a minute head start. I’m pretty sure I saw one of the twins in the background when Flo and Zack were being greeted by Phil. I think if they hadn’t gotten such a slow cab driver to the soccer field, the twins would have stayed in front of F & Z.

And I agree about Ken and Gerard. I said it last week, and I’ll say it again. I think most of the teams (and viewers) have seriously underestimated these guys. They knew when an alliance would help them, but they also knew when to say “sorry guys, it’s every team for themselves”. I wonder how the Z & F/A & A alliance will pay out, now that there is about 1/2 hour between them.

6

A) To Brittle Eve: “Crashed the car” doesn’t mean “dented the fender”. Has there ever been an incident in your life that didn’t cause you to panic or cry? I’d love to see you in your first court case:

Judge: BrittleEve, do you have something to add?
BrittleEve: OmigawdOmigawdOmigawdOmigawdOmigawd!
Judge: Then objection sustained.
BrittleEve: < sobs >

Buh-bye and good riddance.

B) Shrewbitch Flo: Shut up. Your bad-hair buddy is doing all the work, has a decent attitude and more brains than you. Why are you shrieking at him? (Although I have to credit her for rooting for him in the soccer bit)

C) Ian. You disgusting worm. You make your wife do all the physical work (she had to do those Scottish games, she had to push the barrel, you bitched at her in the boat) and you’re shrieking that she’s not pulling her weight. I would award her a 1 hour bonus if she took an axe to you. Plus you have a stupid hat. I loathe you.

I personally think that Flo and Ian should be locked in a cage where they can gnaw on each other’s intestines and Whatshername…the doormat wife and Bad-Hair Zach should team up.

Fenris’s Favorites
[ul]
[li]I’m still rooting for the Bald Brothers, but I don’t know if brains alone are enough. If they are, they’ll win. I want them to win.[/li]
[li]John Vito and Jill are my second favs, but they have the stink of loser about them, which is a shame, 'cause they seem cool and are showing teamwork and True Grit. [/li]
[li]My third favs are the Wonder Twins, who aren’t nearly as dumb as they appeared in the first episode.[/li][/ul]

When it comes down to it though, I’m kind of in a “rooting for anyone but Ian.” mode.

Fenris

7

Ya know, I was thinking after the end of the episode “I sure hope I never get Heather or Eve as my lawyer.” I mean, come on! Lawyers are supposed to understand laws and rules, but these two couldn’t figure out the difference between “walk” and “ride in a taxi”?

They were right about one thing though, that is really a bad way to lose the Race.

OK, who is starting to find Aaron & Arianne’s constant griping about the twins (and now Ken & Gerard as well) really, really annoying? Can someone tell me what it was the twins did to get on everyone’s target list? Did we miss something at the first Pit Stop? And does the fact that they are playing up this “rivalry” indicate that Aaron & Arianne and Derek & Drew wind up in the final round (and that no other rivalries of any interest ever develop)?

It does look like Flo & Zach are starting to show signs of tension with each other. There was a bit of that between Michael & Kathy last episode but they seem to have overcome that. We won’t even mention Teri & Ian, who I seriously doubt are long for the race. All the other teams seem to be fairly cohesive; Derek & Drew, Ken & Gerard and John Vito & Jill especially so.

Weakest teams at this point: I would have to go with Teri & Ian and Andre & Damon. Teri & Ian are having too much infighting and I’m not sure how much longer they can keep up in the physical challenges. Andre & Damon just don’t seem to be focused enough; going to the restaurants in the wrong order was a bad mistake. Also, given those two’s backgrounds, I am finding their choices in the Detours a bit odd. They took the donkey cart instead of skydiving in the first leg and here they chose to make the deliveries by truck instead of taking the (obviously) faster route by boat. I would have expected them to excel at the physical challenges but they almost seem to be avoiding them.

Strongest Teams: Derek & Drew and Ken & Gerard are still looking good. John Vito & Jill are also solid players at this point and are doing a very good job at supporting each other.

I think Aaron and Arianne are still a strong team too, despite their last place finish this time out. They simply got a bad taxi (which is pure bad luck and nothing they could control). I think Arianne simply got rattled at the thought of being in last place (though starting there may rattle her more next leg). They did get lucky with Heather & Eve’s screwup, which kept them in the Race.

Michael & Kathy and Flo & Zach are definite second-tier teams at this point, despite Flo & Zach’s position this time out. Both teams are starting to show signs of internal tension and that isn’t good unless you are a very strong team otherwise and neither of these have impressed me as such so far.

Well, we’ll see what happens next leg.

8

Great show…better by far than any other “reality” program out there. I wondered as well why the lawyers put the girl that couldn’t drive a stick up front driving. There must be some kind of rule that we don’t know about. At first I was surprised that Phil didn’t tell them at the check-in that they had done it wrong, but I guess that once you check in, that’s it. If they had just turned the taxi around, and gone back, they probably still would have beaten at least some of the other teams. I’m not sure what happened to A&A…it’s hard to tell from the editing, but they would have had to finish the roadblock a long time after Teri and Ian in order to not be able to catch them on a mile and a half walk. I’m thinking that you could probably have finished 5 to 10 minutes behind them, and still caught them. And why for the love of god, didn’t anyone ask directions to the pit stop before they ran out of the stadium? Before I took off for an unknown location in the middle of the night, I might have taken a few moments to ask one of the 20 locals there if they knew a general direction to head.

9

tansaafl said:

At the same time, lawyers are also quite good at reading a statement that means something and being able to get a whole different meaning out of it.

“I think it just means we need to walk into the pitstop.” Yeah, that’s it. I couldn’t stand the, but it would have been nice for them to stick around a couple of episodes so we could all watch Eve’s descent into madness.

The previews sure looked fun. It will be interesting to see what happens to the cars filled with the wrong fuel. That normally means really bad things, especially if they have a long drive ahead of them. It might come down to whichever team has better luck with a stranger’s help.

10

I would bet that the wine delivery rule said something like One Person Drives, the Other Shleps the Crates! No way wimpy Eve could have shlepped a crate. Too bad she couldn’t drive either.

And I think Phil didn’t tell the girls about their elimination when they checked in because it was dependent on the remaining teams’ times. Heather and Eve were penalized 7 minutes because that was their estimated time advantage by taking the cab. And they were penalized 30 minutes for not following the rule. Aaron and Arienne had arrived 31 minutes after Heather and Eve, so with the 37 minute penalty the first team became last and were eliminated.

And, of course it would have been smart to ask for directions to the Pit Stop. Sometimes “smart” is not what this show is all about!

11

I don’t know about that annieclaus. I’m pretty sure I remember Andre and Damon both bringing crates off the truck. I think I head one of them say to the other “I’ve got two, you get the other one”, or something to that effect.

12

Crap, I had a message all typed out, and forgot to copy it before clicking submit… and you know what happens when you do that :frowning: Retyping, but the first message was much funnier. Really.

I pretty much agree with everything Fenris (whose name for some reason I always type as Fensir) said above. From my favourites, Ken & Gerard still rock, and they actually seem in pretty good shape. They didn’t look that tired at the end of the very exhausting leg, while some other teams looked shattered (notably Mike & Kathy). Derek & Drew did great without saying a mean word about anyone, and they’ve had enough provocation. JV & Jill didn’t do much this time, but please stay away from team AAnnoying and the anti-twin alliance, guys, or I might have to stop liking you.

Flo is still screeching at Zach for no reason (why is he supposed to know how to get to the harbour in a small town in Scotland, for God’s sake!), but she’s but not as annoying as team AAnoying, Aannoying and Aannoyinganne. Damn the lawyers for their stupidity. At least I hope this near elimination makes them a bit less cocky, and every sentence out of their mouth doesn’t contain the word “twins”. Not holding my breath though… Stupid lawyers!

Ian is hateful as ever. Go away! Andre & Damon are still to really make an impression, despite having a lot of screen time. They broke a crate of Port, which would make me dislike them, but there’re just too many teams in the hate list ahead of them. Michael & Kathy looked dead tired at the end, I don’t think they’ll be around much longer.

Next week looks very interesting. Could someone tell me what happens when you put wrong fuel in your car? Is it just random funky stuff or something specific?

13

I’m quite sure most teams asked directions there, they just didn’t show it. A couple of teams were shown asking taxi drivers, while the rest must’ve asked directions at the stadium. I don’t think anyone was too lost, there were just 31 minutes between Heave and A&A.

I totally agree that this is the best reality show on TV. I don’t understand why it doesn’t do as well as some of the others.

14

I’m not sure that Phil knew what had happened at that point. While I think the crews with the teams are in some form of contact with the production crew I don’t think they know exactly what happened during the leg until they review the tapes and talk to the crews during the Pit Stop. After all, Phil had to be in place and at the mat waiting for the teams to arrive; he couldn’t be watching them along the way.

In AR2 two of the teams (Tara & Wil and Blake & Paige) screwed up a Roadblock in Australia. They caught their mistake before heading to the Pit Stop and both of them did the Roadblock over correctly but both teams were pretty upset. (They were the last two teams and were afraid of Elimination; fortunately it turned out to be a non-Elimination leg.) When they got to the mat Wil was obviously upset and Phil even asks “Are you OK?”, which implied to me that Phil did not know about the mistake with the Roadblock. So, I don’t think he realized that Heather & Eve had done the final segment wrong when they checked in.

15

Right…but when Phil was talking to the two teams later, he said that “You even admited that you took a cab”. So I’m wondering if they asked him once they got to the checkpoint. If he had told them they did it wrong, I wonder if they would have been able to take a cab back, and walk to it…or if once you’re “checked” in, that’s it.

16

blah blah blah twins blah blah blah twins blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah evil twins blah blah blah blah twins blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah twin hunt blah blah twins blah blah get the twins blah blah blah blah blah evil twins blah blah blah twins blah blah twin hunt blah blah blah blah blah blah

SHUT UP Aarron and Arrian, you are a couple of Aassholes!

17

Y’know, other than what Tretiak said above, Aarron and Aarriiaann have no personaality. None. I hadn’t realized it until I read his post, though!

Michael and Kathy don’t have much either but at least they’re not suffering from twin-envy.

Ok. So everyone:

A) Who do you want to win?
B) Who do you think will win?
C) Who do you hope to see trampled by a Yak?
D) Who do you think will be next eliminated?

Mine:

A) The Bald guys, or John Vito and Jill
B) I’m not sure yet. This is the first reality show I’ve watched, so I don’t have a feel for it yet. But again, if brains ‘ll win th’ thing it’s Baldilocks and Co, if teamwork is key, it’s the Wondertwins or John Vito and Jill
C) Ian, followed by Flo
D) Aadrianne and Aaron or Ian and Terry. Being in last is NEVER good, but Ian’s an incompetent dick who pisses off the locals.

Anyone else wanna place a guess?

Fenris

18

A. Either Ken and Gerard or Derek and Drew
B. Ken and Gerard, with JV and Jill coming in a close 2nd
C. Ian, but a yak isn’t heavy enough. Also, Eve, even though she was already Philiminated.
D. Flo and Zack (wishful thinking) or Aaron and Arianne. Both teams have had quite enough coverage, and I think Ian and his numbnut wife are gonna hang on for one more week.

But when is the first non-elim point???

19

I think it’s next week, isn’t it?

I woulda voted for Flo and Zach for D), but they’re currently in the top three and it takes monumental stupidity to drop that far in one episode.

Fenris

20

Which is the one who flashed her ta-ta’s in the back of the taxi–Flo or Arianne? I’ll vote for keeping her.