The racers go to Madagascar, where they haul mattresses, search for stamps, and eat cow lips. Plus, the mysterious intersection!
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Nothing to say but sadness 
Hoo-rah! Finally! The harpy is gone. Yes - competing in a race makes you a dayvul.
Okay, she wasn’t the worst person ever on the race, but she was filling that role right now.
I half thought that the Cho brothers would finish with the mattresses and decide that they should wait for the back of the pack.
If you have very light but cumbersome objects to carry, it’s probably best to do it in a way that minimizes the cumbersome-ness of them.
I’m second post, so spoiler rules still apply. (Added on preview: I got sniped, I’m the third post.)
Once again, this leg was largely won and lost on the racing, instead of the luck of the travel arrangements. I was thrilled to see that.
Also, the mysterious Intersection turned out to be very interesting. I like the twist; I think they need to work with it more.
The Intersection was:
Two teams must do all tasks together and make all decisions together, until the route info tells them that the forced alliance is concluded.IMnshO, I would have held the Intersection in force for longer than the show did.
It was interesting that the cow lips took a long time. This is at least the second season in a row where a FFwd involved a Fear Factor style task of eating something that can (and did!) make a person puke, in excessive quantity. I liked the Kuwait FFwd far better.
I hate eating tasks. I hate them I hate them.
I really don’t like any of the remaining teams but the 'Wins. The Barbies seem unnecessarily mean. And it didn’t affect anything, but if you wreck a car, you should have to drive it.
Not a surprise.
She was a shrew to David, but she was pretty cool with everybody else. They seemed to be getting a lot out of the Race; I won’t personally miss them, but I wouldn’t have minded seeing them last a little longer for their own sake.
And, they let their feelings push them into making a bad decision. Alabama and Kentucky dissed the Beauty Queens and paired up, pretty much guaranteeing that one of them was going home.
Would have been much more interesting to see the last four teams pair up differently at the Intersection.
It was a bush league move to crash one car and then take someone else’s.
No double leg yet.
The Fast Forward again came on a leg when a team was Marked For Elimination. Coincidence?
What the hell kind of Fast Forward puts you in second place.
Would someone mind explaining the intersection thing in more detail? Like which teams had to work together? I had my TV on, but the volume off, and therefore didn’t figure out what was going on until the Roadblock.
This was due to my mother calling me just when the show started.
And due to the fact that my VCR doesn’t work when there has been a power outage since I used it last --and I’d forgotten, because I didn’t plan on using the thing, until my mother called to nag me.
So if no one wants to explain, I’ll survive, but I’d like a few more details if someone is feeling like typing them.
The teams had to pair up with other teams. They had free choice of which team to pair with – but the BQs were third to the intersection, and had to wait for another team to show up and join with them.
It wasn’t anything extemely difficult. Once the teams reached the intersection, they had to wait for another team to arrive. All 6 teams had to pair up and agree to work together on the next portion of the race until further notice. It actually only ended up being that one task.
Count me among those glad that Team Kentucky is gone. It’s nice they got a good experience out of it, but the whole backpack/sixpack alliance they formed with the Bamas and Cho Bros was idiotic, and they were annoying as hell with or without their alliance.
The Beauty Queens rock! This is a team that is here to RACE!
What is up with the taxi drivers and running out of gas? Is there some kind of scam going on?
Oh, and I just realized that Kandice of the beauty queens (the one that waited while the other collected stamps) kinda reminds me of Maggie Gyllenhaal. (You have to look past the blonde hair)
Say what you will about David & Mary (or just Mary) but it was refreshing to see people on the Race who weren’t all jaded and cynical and ended up appreciating the opportunity of being on the Race.
I agree with Scuba_Ben, the forced alliance should’ve lasted longer, like all the way to the Roadblock.
Note to self - before taking a taxi in Madagascar, check the gas gauge or make sure you have plenty of time.
What was up with that conversation between Kim & Rob about the locals breathing exhaust fumes and not getting enough protein? Strange.
I don’t think they’re that mean. Certainly not as mean as the *Lyns, for example. The Barbies may talk trash in interviews, but there’s been very little outward meanness from them.
Since there wasn’t any explicit rule about taking the same car they had previously, I don’t blame them for taking a different one. They used the rules (or in this case the lack of a rule) to their advantage.
Beat me to it. 
I liked the intersection, but it would have been better a few legs back when there were more teams still left in the competition. I think it was a mistake for Alabama and Kentucky to pair up with each other over the BQs because those two teams are frequently lost and behind and needed to pair with the BQs and the Chos to keep their competitive edge. They were the slowest two teams left.
I also have this weird love for the BQs. They are bitches, but they have been consistent throughout the race. They work hard and stay positive almost all the time and it is refreshing, even if they don’t feel the need to share information with other teams unless it benefits them. Why should they? It’s not a popularity contest.
I have to say that I admire the BQ’s. They’re smart, competitive, and positive. Also their sense of direction is really good. I don’t think they have been majorly lost yet.
I also really admired Tyler and James at the gross eat-out. They were extremely encouraging to each other and didn’t put undue pressure on anyone. I like the fact that they drew a crowd and ended up using them for cheering on the last puker (Mary?).
Stamp was pretty lame, but delivering the mattresses was pretty original. Sorry no one took the paper making task, looked like fun.
“They don’t get enough protein so their brains don’t develop.” WHAT?!
“You’re Asian, you can make paper.” WHAT!?
“Go back where you came from.” Not so bad on its own but following the Asian crack and the “sistahs” comment last week, WHAT!?!
I’m not surprised no one took Paper. A couple of the teams did that Rice picture a few legs back and undoubtedly remembered what a pain in the ass that was. Mattress was remeniscent of the chair delivery a few seasons back, and I think they’ve done a couple other delivery-type things too (there was the provisions to the floating village one from this season too). I thought Stamp was pretty clever, since I do like an occasional forced needle in haystack challenge.
I hope the cow lip salesman was well compensated for the ugly American throwing up all over his business. I thought there was supposed to be something of a moratorium on the gross-out eating challenges but we’ve had two this season.
Not surprised to see David and Mary go. I didn’t have the hate for them (well, her) that some of y’all did. She even more than he seemed so glad to take advantage of the opportunities that the Race offered and I’m still impressed that she repeatedly took the time to learn a few words of the languages she was encountering.
Of the remaining teams I’m pulling most for the Chos. The BQs need to stop with the double-edged racial remarks to get back in my good graces. The Models are just dumb, Rob and Kimberly are annoying but still entertaining and Bama are just whiny bitches. I didn’t like them from the start, I started to warm up to them a little then they started in with the whiny bitchery again.
And finally, let us say hooray! and welcome back Dancing Phil! I had to rewind the dance and watch it a few times. He’s so cute when he dances like a dork.
Would Mary and David have been allowed to take the FF? I thought teams were limited to one per race. Of course, since they were paired with Alabama, it wouldn’t have been very fair to deny the Alabama a team a shot at the last fast forward. A sneaky way to give David and Mary another FF shot? (unless I’m mistaken about the one FF per race rule)
It wasn’t clear. Mary and the *lyns certainly seemed to think she could, based on their discussing it.
Me, too. As someone else said, I was also afraid they were going to finish the Detour and think they had to wait for the 'Bamas and Kentucky. I’m glad they went ahead. Maybe now they’ll realize this is a Race!
Yeah, he is, isn’t he?
Kimberly was the puker. I noticed in the side interview that Rob had Kimberly practically in a stranglehold as he talked about how they are working better together, and that seemed smothering to me, but then when he went in for that big kiss after she had just struggled so mightily with the cow lips…man, I would have slugged him. I don’t like him one bit. And the comment about less protein making the locals’ brains less developed…yeesh.
I think the BQ’s are just as mean as the *lyns, but differently. The *lyns are outwardly hostile to the BQ’s, which is not entirely warranted, but at least the *lyns are honest about it. The snide comments the BQ’s made at the Intersection, about finding out who their true friends were? Bullshit. If you’re not being friendly to other people, how can you expect them to be friendly with you? Batting your eyelashes and smiling while you’re trying to beat them in a race is NOT being friendly. I find the BQ’s to be totally fake in every way, and I really dislike them. I’m not real crazy about the *lyns, either, but at least I know where they stand.
Since when is the Race about being friendly? The BQs have no obligation to be nice to their competitors, just run a clean race. Which is what they’re doing.
This reminds me of Alex/Lynn vs. Romber from Season 7.
I definitely think the BQs were wrong to take a car they didn’t bang up, but if Phil didn’t give them a penalty, I guess I won’t either.
I really liked the Intersection idea, but like everybody else, I think it should have lasted longer.
I loved the way they cut the FF footage with everything else. Model Boy: “Oh, we’re totally going to be ahead of everybody.” As the BQs check in. Aw, snap. Beautiful.