OK - Flo and Zach are my new Terry & Ian. I just want them to go. Now! Flo couldn’t rapel (is that how you spell it?) Waaaaahhhh! Zach couldn’t read “DIESEL” on the gas tank flap. Waaaaahhhh! “I just want to go home!” Can we take up a collection and send them a ticket?
In the meantime, the Brothers coalition has grown to add the Black Brothers. Cool!
I was sincerely hoping Terry would haul off and smack that stupid Ian across his ugly mouth either during the zipper thing or the fuel thing. But, no. He actually kind of redeemed himself in my mind by the cool way he got his little team out of the fuel debacle. Now, I’m not saying that I like him, I just respect his craftiness and his absolute determination NOT to give up.
And good-bye to Michael and Kathy. They just plain did give up after screwing up on the fuel. It’s just as well that they leave us now. Anyone want to make bets on how much longer their “long distance” relationship will last?
NO SHOW NEXT WEEK! Ack! Ack! Ack!
I don’t like country music to begin with. . . and now stupid country music awards are preempting my Favorite Show! Rats!
The only thing I’m going to say about the rappelling debacle is this: If you can’t do it…if you absolutely, positively can’t do it, no discussion…LET YOUR TEAMMATE KNOW RIGHT AWAY so you can get going on the other option! There’s no dishonor in chickening out, but backing down after you’re already taken the first step…bad.
Didn’t hear anything about having to “beat the twins” (which clearly won’t be the cakewalk it looked like in the first stage), so I guess that’s done with. Thank goodness.
Man, who woulda guessed that the big mistake for this leg would be putting in the wrong fuel. That’s another great thing about AR…you never know when you’re going to be tested. Something as mundane as gassing up can kill you if you’re careless.
Updated standings & prospects:
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Ken & Gerard
Man, are they cleaning up or what?
Seriously, they have to be considered a strong favorite at this point. They’re like the Drew & Kevin of this race, only stronger and more focused. Judging by how some of the teams have fared, that may be enough to win this thing. Using up the Fast Forward early hasn’t hurt them at all. -
Andre & Damon
Just when they looked out of it, they made some good decisions and have come on incredibly strong. They’re definitely good to make it to the first nonelimination point, maybe the second. The real question is, when it comes to crunch time, will the pendulum swing the other way again and knock them out? -
Derek & Drew
Making utter fools out of everyone who dissed them. Definitely not over for them until it’s really over. -
John Vito & Jill
Finally caught a break and are right in the thick of it. They have a ton of heard and won’t go down easily.
4 (tie). Flo & Zach
Sheesh, talk about going to Hell and back. But they had the presence of mind to correct what went wrong and keep going, and that made all the difference. I still think they have the edge over the J’s (hey, my thread, my silly nicknames), but it’s obviously a lot smaller than it used to be.
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Teri & Ian
Yeah, it was nice for Ian to take charge…for a change…but this couple has absolutely no chemistry, and it doesn’t get any easier from here. They’re constantly on the verge of total meltdown, definitely not a winning attitude. -
Aaron & Arianne
On the bubble, and with all the hopeless teams out, they might need an absolutely flawless leg just to stay alive.
It’s getting exciting now, folks. Or at least extremely tense. Okay, definitely extremely tense.
What Annie and DKW said.
Four good teams left, three evil teams left.
Ian’s still an ultimate prick, but A) He rapelled better than anyone else (he also repels better than anyone else, the dickhead) but A) he took responsiblity for filling the tank with the wrong fuel (he actually apologized!)
B) he fixed the problem and was damned clever about it
C) he actually got his hands dirty in the dye vats rather than making whatshername do it.
So he went up a notch in my opinion. Not much of a notch since he still screamed at his wife and since he’s still got the idea that one can make oneself understood if one SCREAMS AT THE NATIVES. But still…
I still want Whatshername to pull a Lorena Bobbit on Ian the next time he shrieks at her.
I told you all last week how Flo doesn’t do ANYTHING but bitch. See? SEE? 
Flo had a hissy fit on the cliff, she had a hissy fit in the car, she had a hissy fit (and was a shrieky bitch) in the ferry station, etc. Zach is a contender (ok, there was the diesel thing, but since 3 other teams made the same mistake…) and imagine how well he might have done if he wasn’t saddled with evil-Flo.
Aaron and Adrianne: Heh, how’s your twin hunt now, boring people?
On the non-evil side, Ken and Gerard just keep getting better and better. I like the fact that they gave that hint to the Wonder Twins in the Dye area: they’re “playing fair”. The little one of the pair is smart (and competent). I loved the “We have to drive, so let’s hire a taxi and follow” stunt!
The black guys: Their strategy is to follow the brothers? Heh. I can’t decide if that’s pathetic or clever. I think clever.
John-Vito and Jill. I still want 'em to come in second, but like I said…they seem to have the stink of loser about them. Their entire strategy seems to be “I dunno. Let’s wing it.” I hope I’m wrong.
Man, how’d I miss this show until now?
Fenris
Another great episode. Loved the fact that not one, but 4 damn teams made the same mistake. Maybe it’s just me, but I’m fairly sure that every diesel vehicle I’ve ever been in has had a very distinctive sound to the engine.
I give big props to Ian for this leg, as Fenris said, he rapelled better than anyone, and managed to fix the car by himself on the side of the road. Still irritating as hell, but kinda impressive.
Aaron and Adrianne just need to go. Specifically, Aaron is a total dweeb. Mincing his way down the cliff, and then sitting down and crying on the side of the road when the car broke down. I mean, could he have given up any faster? The way I look at it is this…if they provided you a car that broke, then you could probably argue against elimination since it was provided for you. If you did something to break the car (like put the wrong gas in), see if you can get if fixed. Maybe they just didn’t know anything about engines, but still, it wasn’t that big a disaster. Suck it up, and try and find a place to get it fixed. Like Flo and Zack did.
Speaking of Flo and Zack, while I agree that you should tell your partner that you just cannot do something, of all the shows, in the 3 seasons that this has been on, she seemed to be truely the most terrified of anyone I’ve ever seen. She wasn’t just “girly nervouse” like one of the lawyers was at the skydive, she was completly terrified. Sure some of the other constestants have done the “This is my biggest fear” thing, but this was the first person I’ve seen that totaly broke down. Kinda interesting.
Ken and Gerrard are going to win this thing. They just are dominating at this point. Able to do the physical challenges fairly well, and keeping focused on the individual tasks, and the larger picture. I think they probably learned a valuable lesson from last episode, where they gambled everything for a 25 minute lead, only to see that the bunching made it a moot point.
I was also impressed with John-Vito (think it was him) trying to help Flo down the cliff. Encouraging her, and telling her that he’d be right beside her. Even when he obviously could have gone much faster by himself. That was a nice thing to do.
Great show as always. Fenris, you should see if they have the first season on VHS or something. Season 2 was just so-so, but the first season was great…much harder challenges.
I had almost the same reaction Fenris. Ian actually had a few redeeming moments this episode, but I still think he’s an idiot. When they’re coming into the pit stop, and Teri is urging him to hurry up, he says something like “You might as well wait for me.” I see, so when you’re yelling at her to hurry up, your the hero of the team, but when she’s trying to get you moving, she’s being a pain.
She really took bitching to a whole new level this week. Zachs puffy hair will be greatly diminished by the end of the show, since he must be tearing it out dealing with her.
Wasn’t it Aaron who had a personal breakdown after their car had one, and wanted to go home? It was good to see him huddled up in a ball on the side of the road, sniveling and crying when things didn’t go his way. This is the second week they’ve come close to elimination. Damn you Mike and Kathy. You don’t spend the night in a hotel, and then figure you’re still in contention. You could have gotten rid of A&A this week!
The two brother teams are still looking to be the ones to beat, especially Ken and Gerard. I’m pretty sure Andre and Damon are going to fall back to the end of the pack again soon. They can’t follow other teams around all the time, and the it seems like if they hadn’t followed the brothers, they’d still be wandering around Portugal (although I was glad to see them finally do a “scary” stunt. After riding a donkey instead of sky diving, I wasn’t sure if they’d rappel).
Funniest line this week: When the brothers are rappelling down the cliff: “Just pretend there’s a box of glazed doughnuts at the bottom!.. Look at him, it’s like he’s running down!”
I’m not even remotely proud of this, but frankly, the fact is that I hate Flo so much that I got a kick out of seeing her total emotional collapse. Given that I’d probably react exactly the same way if I had to bungee jump or skydive, my reaction isn’t something I’m impressed with.
Frankly Michael and Kathy seemed bored and I got a good laugh out of the whole “Eh, we’re in the rear. Let’s just hang out at a nice hotel and have a luxury breakfast on the show. If we’re gonna lose, let’s lose in comfort” thing.
Why didn’t any of 'em use a fast-forward? I thought you always had one available.
**
**
I don’t think they will. I really, really want 'em to, but I have a bad feeling about the fact that EvilIan and a couple others havn’t used his Fast Forward.
**
Yeah, a couple of the teams have shown some class like that. No one’s lost sight of the fact it’s a game, but I’ve heard the story about the sshles (Guido) in the first one that tackled the little old lady. There’s a middle ground of sportsmanship while still playing to win.
On the other hand, based on the previews, it looks like EvilIan is gonna swipe a taxi or something from Jill. And won’t the John-Vito, EvilIan confrontation that’ll follow be fun to watch?
Fenris
Well, what all of you said. Almost exactly. Are we like the borg or something here? Or is the love-hate thing just very clear-cut this season? Anyway , some mostly random thoughts follow.
Props to the guys who dealt with the SUV problem, ie, Zach and (BOO!) Ian. I think both of them showed very good composure, calmly figuring out what they have to do and solving the problem, while Mike & Kathy (giving up) and A&A (sitting on the road crying, and luckily getting rescued by the police), showed that it couldn’t have been easy.
I hope JohnVito decks Ian for the taxi thing next week. Or even better, Jill. Didn’t look like they did it, but I can hope. Actually, Ian went up a little bit in my estimation too, but as he’s still below the level of a wife-beating dung-beetle, it wasn’t much. He does look like a very good competitor though, which is scary. And they still have the FF, which is scarier. Let’s hope they’re out next week.
Also, if FloZach do win (let’s hope not), Zach should get $999,950, and Flo should get $50 for showing up. He does everything, he encourages her, ok, he screwed up, but he then got it fixed (while she was ready to give up)… What’s her function in that team?
B’bye, Mike & Kathy, wish you hadn’t given up so easily so that we could’ve seen AA get knocked out. Didn’t care about you much though.
Btw, Atrael, I’m quite sure it was Mike who did the encouraging. Anyway, whoever it was, it definitely was classy.
I still don’t care about team 911, and I still don’t think they’ll go far. Still, they’re not looking the complete non-competitors like earlier, and if TAR has taught us anything, it’s to expect surprises…
And another thing that I just remembered, is it just me or are they getting a LOT more money this time around? Money conservation was a definite factor in the first race, it pretty much knocked the Guidos out, IIRC, and I think the second one too. Why in the world do they need $500 for driving through Spain? Is gas that expensive in Europe? I’m quite sure they’ve been getting hundreds of dollars earlier too. And I’m quite sure I remember a leg in TAR2 when they got 1 dollar. Have the producers just decided to remove this as a factor?
Can’t wait for the next episode. Go K&G!
sc913 the leg last season where the teams got $1 was the last leg of the race.
From the sounds of things, the teams this episode really did need that much money. Ken or Gerard (can’t remember which) was giving the other a hard time about buying a sandwich when money was tight. They would have had to pay for a taxi or train to the cliff rappel detour, then gas on the way to Spain, then for the ferry ride. Of course, Ken and Gerard had enough money left to pay a taxi driver to lead them to the pit stop, so who knows.
I seem to remember in the first season that the guys who won the race (the lawyers) had enough money in the final round to buy a cell phone from someone at a gas station in Alaska. They used it to book seats on a flight as they were driving to the airport.
I thought the sandwich-money thing was just a joke. (I really hope so, I don’t want to see K&G in money trouble)… I also seem to remember them getting a lot of $ on every leg… I don’t think the cell phone incident says anything. I’m quite sure the Guidos ran out of money, and I think the cell phone thing just showed the value of money conservation in season 1.
I don’t know, I guess I might be wrong, as the rest of our collective haven’t seen this 
Yes, it was Michael who was encouraging Flo.
Excellent episode, even though there wasn’t any real tension as to who woul dbe eliminated. It seems to me that Michael and Kathy had the "misfortune’ To stall out right in front of a hotel whill AA were on the side of the road. I think M&K actually asked the hotel about help but were told they couldn’t get a tow truck until morning. Or they thought they were screwed and saw a hotel and, well what they heck. A&A were “lucky” to stall in the middle of nowhere so what other option did they have except to wait and cry and then let the police help you out. They could’ve done what Zach and Ian did, but it wasn’t clear to me how close they were to a gas station.
Although Gerard and Ken have looked strongest, they have already used their Fast Forward and as the teams get eliminated the smallest mistake can lead to elimination.
A pox on my electricity provider for the power outage that resulted in me not seeing this episode while I was out of town. I would give anything to see Aaron break down like a 5 year old girl. Since my 3 favorite teams are the brothers, the brothers, and the brothas I am pretty happy with the way things are going.
Any idea on the time differences between each check in?
Mullinator - The top three teams all made it to the ferry station easily, but because the ferry didn’t leave until 7:00, some 4 to 4 1/2 hours later, it wasn’t that big a lead. John Vito & Jill as well as Flo & Zach missed the first ferry, but the second was only an hour later, so they caught a bit of a break.
From what I could see, it’s still pretty tight up top (and yes, two teams did take a “gentlemanly tie” for 4th), but the bottom two are really straggling.
Aaron wasn’t really all that bad off, considering the circumstances he was in. I mean, he was stranded in the dark in the middle of the night, for crying out loud (and no cell phone or radio to get help). I’ve certainly cracked up for less. (In fact, I recently did, which I’ll be glad to tell you about just as soon as my regular computer gets fixed.)
JV&J didn’t miss the first ferry, but they missed the first charter bus, which allowed FloZach & TerIan to catch up. The first 3 teams left in the 10.15 charter bus, the next 3 at 11.15, and though it didn’t say, I think A&A took the ferry at 10 (they were shown missing the 9 am ferry), and made the 12.15 bus. The tasks at the tannery didn’t seem to cost anyone any time, so if I’m right, then A&A are about 1 hour behind TerIan & 2 hours behind the leaders.
Guess we’ll only find out for sure in 2 weeks (Damned awards show :mad: ).
Is anyone else disturbed that a policeman and a fireman had such trouble with the concept of using a map to find the Westernmost point in Europe?