What, have NONE of these people EVER seen a soccer ball before? And they have the reaction times of a Galapagos tortoise on a barbituate overdose. That was one of the silliest displays I’ve seen.
"Ok, when the ball comes toward you…watch it for two seconds to be sure you know where it is headed. Then, with your feet planted solidly, move your hips away from the side the ball is, put your arms weakly above your head, and lean in the general direction of the ball that has already passed you.
“Alternatively, stand on one leg and wildly kick the other about. It’s sure to hit the ball at some point.”
I got the sense that there was a maximum # of balls kicked before the soccer team was told to dribble it straight at the contestant.
These sports-themed roadblocks SUCK. Do you remember last year’s (I think) “play ping-pong against a chinese master”? The so-called table tennis masters were a couple of 9-year olds who could barely play the game themselves. Now you get the soccer team with The Weakest Penalty Kicks In The World.
Other than that, I love this show.
A) Ken & Gerard
B) Too early to say. I think it’s much less clear cut in TAR than in voting type shows. One small mistake or one small bit of bad luck can ruin your race. But K&G are strong contenders, so I hope they’ll buck the “teams everyone likes finish fourth” trend and win it all. Based on what I’ve seen so far, teams I don’t think will win are Mike & Kathy and Teri & Ian. All the others could still make it. But anything can happen.
C) I’d like A&A, Ian and Flo to get caught in a stampede.
D) A&A or Teri & Ian. Please.
I think we’re due a non-elimination point soon. I hate those.
a) I’ll also hope for Ken and Gerard.
b) But it’s more likely that the Twins may take it. Good physically, and seem to be smartening up mentaly.
c) Without question Ian, although A&A are irritating, he just makes me want to crawl through the screen with an ax.
d) Probably Teri and Ian, they’re just barely holding on.
And I thought I read in an Phil interview someplace, that he said that this year, any time they had a non-elimination point, that night would have back to back episodes…or maybe that was last season. I get them confused.
Yes, but the teams are fairly bunched up with each other. There was only 31 minutes between Heather & Eve and Aaron and Arianne and, with Heather & Eve Eliminated, there is probably less than 30 minutes between all of the teams. Unless there is a very tight travel connection at the start of the leg everyone is pretty much even at this point.
Of course, whoever tries to run a diesel engine on regular gas is in for a bit of a problem :rolleyes: and that could be the deciding factor next leg.
A) I’d like to see Ken & Gerard or the Twins win. I’m leaning towards Ken and Gerard, since the last two editions have been won by the youthful/inshape/male teams. It’d be nice to see a slight variation.
B) Ken and Gerard again. They seem to have the right combination of smarts, hustle and luck. The twins have also recovered nicely from a disastrous first episode, and look strong.
C) Flo, Ian and both members of team AA. Flo and team AA because I’m tired of their constant bitching about the twins (I haven’t really noticed Zach doing too much complaining about them, so he gets spared the wrath of Yak). Ian because I’m sick of him yelling at his wife, making her do all the work, blaming her for any problems, and taking credit when things go well.
D) Ian and Teri. Despite my wish for their trampling by a Yak, A&A seem to be fairly good racers. With all the teams so close, I don’t think they’ll have much trouble getting out of last place (much as I’d like to see them go).
I’m making my prediction for D without having seen any previews for next week. Just as they were going to show “scenes from the next episode of the Amazing Race”, they switched to a different program (damn you CTV!!).
The big revelation in the previews for next episode are that Ian makes his wife get out of the car and fill up the tank, and she does…with deisel fuel…in a car that takes unleaded gas. And Ian bitching her out again.
He’s such a sh*thead.
Fenris
PS: I just checked. You can watch a promo for next episode on www.cbs.com, but it’s not THE promo that they showed at the end of this episode.
It also appears that Flo & Zach do the same thing, which is fine by me since the 3 teams I wouldn’t mind seeing set upon by a group of rabid dogs are Flo/Zach, Aaron/Arrianne, and Ian/Wife.
I thought it was the reverse. No, no, not Teri bitching Ian out (though I would really love to see that), but rather Teri putting unleaded gas into a car that takes diesel.
Why does she do all the work, anyway? Put gas in the car, haul the barrel of wine, throw the log, drive the jetski…
You may be right. As a matter of fact, you probably are, since (at least in the US) diesel nozzles are too big to fit into unleaded tanks.
Although the little I remember of auto-shop, it would be a whole lot funnier my way: unleaded in a diesel car will cause it to stop running. diesel in an unleaded car could cause some MAJOR engine problems. Heh.
**
Because for all of his faux-macho posturing, Ian’s a sissy-wimp. Allegedly he’s a private detective. Heh. Can you imagine what he must be like on a stake-out?
I must say I am quite pleased to see more Dopers involved in this season of TAR. I cannot believe the freaking Bachelor gets better ratings the The Amazing Race.
Regarding Heather and Eve and how the host found out – they claimed on the CBS morning show that they came forward and confessed because they thought it might have been wrong. They even went so far as to claim that they asked the cameraman and he said it was okay, and that the tape wouldn’t have been reviewed for another 48 hours if they hadn’t said something.
Frankly, I think their claim is total BS. As somebody else pointed out, they are lawyers. They were apparently given a rule book with definitions, including what the word “walk” means in this context. The rationalization about walking into the pitstop was idiotic. In fact, I’m in the process of writing up a Reality TV Hall of Shame entry for their actions, which will probably be posted Monday.
Huh…so much mean-spiritedness. Definitely didn’t experience it when I was kicking it off every week.
Anyhoo…
I think the sports-related challenges are fair. Of course they’re not top-tier athletes…that’s because the contestant has to win at some point. If this were an actual sporting event, this would be known as a “fix”; for The Amazing Race, it’s a simple necessity.
I don’t think it’s fair to rip on someone just because of age. Ping-pong players in China start very young; against someone who’s never played that sport on a competitive level, even a preteen is a worthy challenger. Even more so with the teenage soccer players, who probably weren’t even using their full ability.
Also, there’s this thing about penalty kicks…no matter how tall, strong, or fast you are, you cannot move an inch until the ball’s on it’s way. Furthermore, you don’t know where the ball is going…it can be left or right, high or low, or even right at you (which is still bad for you if you move as soon as the ball’s kicked). Yeah, sometimes the ball’s barely a yard to your left…you don’t know that, and you still have to get in the right spot to stop it (if you move more than a yard to the left, goal in).
AR, like many reality programs, requires the contestants to shift on the fly and take on all kinds of challenges they’ve never done before. Some don’t handle it very well. That’s just the nature of game shows.
I’m as baffled as anyone on the constant harping on the twins (Derek & Drew). It’s really inexplicable. The whole beef against them is that they’re “an Abercrombie & Fitch campaign gone horribly wrong”, or “fruity-looking”, or something. Certainly heated rivalvies have sprung up for less, but to focus obsessively on that one team is ridiculous.
Unless…maybe it’s something they repeat to themselves as a motivating factor. You know, something to spur them on and push them ahead. What the hell, makes about as much sense as screaming “You’re an idiot!” every fifteen minutes…
David B - While there are some good stories here (and I hope nobody mentions Colby Donaldson out of spite; I don’t think even he cares anymore), “Hall of Shame” is laying it on a bit thick. I can bring up all kinds of memorable game show blunders, flops, and meltdowns. (Example: The woman on Perfect Match who ran almost the entire board and left empty-handed because she never figured out that the can with a cherry on its label was “cherry” and not “can”.) For all the perfect hindsight, second-guessing, and head-shaking, the truth is simply that a lot of contestants just can’t take the heat.
Is there another website for more traditional shows of this nature?
Trust me. I’d wallow in my so-called ‘mean-spiritedness’ regardless of who started the thread. Half the fun of this show is rooting for the ‘good guys’, but the other half of the fun is jeering the ‘bad-guys’. And that snot-ball Ian is as bad as they get. I mean, he’s not even evil and competent: If he were in first place at least his jaskassishness would have served a purpose. But he doesn’t even have that going for him… He’s just a banal sort of nasty…kind of like a lingering aroma from a fart.
I hope that next time he starts screaming in an airport, some jackbooted thugs with truncheons decide he’s a security risk and really give him something to shriek about. Did I mention that I loathe Ian?
See? Even when you start it, I can turn it into “mean-spiritedness”.
Colby will be mentioned eventually, as we catch up. Not as a full Hall of Shame inductee, but his choice to bring Tina instead of Keith will get him a Hall of Shame Moment because it was one of the most stupid plays in any reality show ever. And that’s what Heather and Eve will get as well.
You mean for Heather and Eve, or just in general?
Well, we don’t cover the “usual” gameshows, but if somebody can’t take the heat, they shouldn’t be in the kitchen. Besides, we don’t just pick out the routine stupid blunders (like Shii Ann and the Sook Jai crew giving away the flag challenge by going down to 6 flags before realizing they would lose by doing that). The blunders or behavior must be, well, shameful in order to get a mention in the Hall of Shame.
What do you mean? Another Hall of Shame for other shows, or a different site for reality shows?
