As stupid as the hike into the clouds was I am amazed that they found the key in the brush. Though I probably wouldn’t have tried and just immediately gone for another coffin.
How is that different from any other leg?
As far as the length of this pit stop, supposedly some pit stops are longer than 12 hours for whatever reason. You’ll know when it’s a longer one because instead of Phil saying “Mirna and Schmirna, who were first to arrive at 10:15 p.m., will depart at 10:15 a.m.” will say “Mirna and Schmirna, who were the first to arrive… will depart at 10:15 a.m.” He leaves out the arrival time and only says the departure time. That’s what he did tonight.
The team that was eliminated tonight… Were they even in last week’s episode? I swear I don’t remember them at all.
In most legs he presumably can bypass a lot of the racer’s roundabout travels and potentially shoot cover during the racer’s pitstops; the racers could be instructed to drive but he flies, for example, or they have to hang out for hours of operation while he’s got a driver hauling him around while he sleeps. This time he was bound by the similar travel complications (two cities to shoot in and I suspect that a train might have been faster than a private car), a fairly complicated set up that he had to be on location to shoot cover for that was too far from the pit stop to go back and had to be at the pitstop in time (they can reshoot there but changes in lighting can be a real problem). That’s what’s making me think that he was on a tighter schedule than normal for this leg.
Usually a longer than normal pitstop for production delays is still a twelve hour offset. So 12 hours, 36, 60, and so on. I can’t recall another time where the pitstop was an 18-hour delay (I’m assuming 18 hours since it would make the sunset from the last episode work out).
You’re probably right, but it’s also just possible that this leg was a sufficient wake-up call, and he’ll be less pigheaded in the future. I’m hoping for this, because the two of them are the best eye candy in the show this season.
I’m torn. I want to root for Mel and Mike to win, but I generally don’t like to see celebrities put on a show that’s supposed to be about regular people.
Yeah, didn’t sound like anything my Hungarian friend has brought back from Romania (she likes going to visit there because even though Hungary is cheap, Romania is cheaper. She usually picks up booze and cigarettes there.)
Neither of us was impressed with the Asian team.
Victor and Tammy seem like the kind of team that does amazing when they are up front, but when they fall farther behind they get exponentially worse. Like how Tammy was psyching herself out doing the gymnastics or Victor was going crazy pulling that coffin. They spend too much time worrying about the other teams.
As soon as I saw that a) Brad & Victoria were stuck overnight in Amsterdam, and b) the gymnastics salon was open for the other teams, I knew the outcome of the episode was foreordained. Less exciting, I suppose.
Anyway, time for the…
Taxi Assessment
Stuck in the Desert and Officially Detained - or, Philiminated with extreme prejudice.
Jennifer and Preston - Working out their relationship in Sequesterville.
Linda and Steve - Probably secretly glad they’re not Racing any more.
Brad and Victoria (down from “Stopping”) - So it turns out that lack of screen time doesn’t always translate into an extended stay in the Race, as Brad & Victoria leave without any associated story arc at all. Listen, Brad & Victoria, here’s the point of all TAR legs but the final one: do not come in last place. Getting a jump on the other teams is nice, but not at the cost of introducing additional risk, like an unnecessary layover in a foreign airport. The outcome underscores why seperating from the group is chancy: the eternal pain of being in last place far outweighs the momentary pleasure of being in first place. So Brad & Victoria are screwed by the airlines, yes, but also by their own miscalculation of risk v. reward.
Flat Tire - or, not likely to get anywhere soon.
Christie and Jodi (holding steady) - This team has worked their way up from second-to-last all the way to fourth-to-last. A major improvement, certainly, but due less to a sudden surge of competence and more to the fact that the last-place team had major airport issues and the second-to-last place team was literally wandering in the wilderness for hours. I haven’t seen anything yet out of this team that would convince me that they’re not the most obvious candidate for the next Philimination.
Cara and Jaime (down from “Stopping”) - It’s time to look at the cumulative standings for each team. Christie & Jodi have by far the worst average finish on the three legs so far, but Cara & Jaime are the only other team not to have a top-three finish–in fact, their best finish is all the way down in sixth. That’s possibly just a string of bad luck, but more likely a sign that they’re simply not as good as the other teams.
Stopping for Gas - or, not broken-down, exactly, but not a good sign.
LaKisha and Jennifer (up from “Flat Tire”) - No intra-team blow-up this week, and a third-place finish is enough that I’m bumping them up a notch this week. However, they’re still probably the least stable team, and only a smidgeon behind Cara & Jaime for poorest average finish.
"Rapido! Por Favor?" - or, making meaningless ineffectual comments from the back seat, but in no immediate danger.
Amanda and Kris (holding steady) - “I left my fanny pack full of cold hard cash as well as our American passports which can bring large dollars on the black market right here and now it’s gone! How could that be?” Kris? Are you really that dumb? Please tell me you’re not really that dumb. And for God’s sake, I hate to stereotype, but… but… you left it in the middle of a Gypsy camp! Gypsies, for God’s sake! Is this a joke? Now, despite this little lapse in judgment, this team did wind up in second place, and although they could have been first, the lapse didn’t really hurt them. Still, I had hopes for them, and my confidence is shaken, I’m afraid. A good leg next week and I’ll gladly move them up, but this week’s flagrant violation of TAR rule #0 (that’s “don’t do anything head-splittingly stupid,” for those of you keeping score at home) keeps them mired here in the middle of the rankings.
Mark and Michael (holding steady) - In the middle of the pack. I sort of expected this team to do better than they are, but they’re not (by definition).
Tammy and Victor (down from “Passing”) - Wow. This team is so, so lucky that Brad & Victoria got screwed. Note to Victor: if you can’t articulate just why something is in any way a good idea, then it’s probably exactly the opposite of that. Now there are a few things that could happen from here on out. One is that Victor learns his lesson, both Tammy and Victor are respectful of each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and everyone lives happily ever after. Another is that Victor pulls some other boneheaded move and they get eliminated. A third is that Tammy asserts herself at the wrong moment, and they wind up doing something stupid and getting eliminated. A fourth is that Victor gets passive-aggressive and forces Tammy to make the decisions he doesn’t want to make, and then blames her when they get eliminated. My money’s on the last one, but I’m not ruling out any of the others, up to and including the first. Look for a good leg out of this team next week as Victor re-adjusts, and a pivotal leg in two weeks as the intra-team dynamic changes.
In the Passing Lane - or, ahead of the pack, but not quite comfortably.
Mel and Mike (up from “Rapido!”) - An amazing first place, and I really have no excuse for not bumping this team up. Mel & Mike now have a first, a second, and a fourth, by far the best average of all the teams. I’m still concerned about Mel’s age; as we saw last week, they’ll have to catch some lucky breaks to avoid testing his limits. I really thought they were going to be screwed when I saw how physical the cart-loading task was, but at least the teams got help from the locals, and they credibly kept pace with the much-younger Kris & Amanda.
Margie and Luke (holding steady) - Another solid leg from Margie & Luke. It’s a bit early, but this team is my frontrunner to make the final three. Although… I sympathize with Luke about the difficulty of communicating with the other teams without relying on his Mom, but has this not been an issue for him earlier in, like, real life? If this is the first time the issue has occured to him, then I’m very surprised.
Cruisin’ with Earl - or, drivin’ on the shoulder, takin’ shortcuts, and generally kickin’ butt.
Still no one this week. Maybe next week.
[sub]Props to Mullinator and his Raj Ratings.[/sub]
Exactly! I noticed that, too. I’m like, “why, exactly, do we have lower expectations for deaf people? Are they fundamentally weaker or stupider than non-deaf people?”
Yeah. My wife remarked that this was a crappily-designed task if doing what you’re supposed to do (drag the coffin down the hill) results in extra work (looking for the damn key).
Right. Unstable system. Not unusual, but not really a survival trait on TAR, either.
Agreed. I actually just thought he was being stupid and stubborn again, and overthinking things. I was surprised there was even a key to be found!
I’m sorry, I just don’t need to hear another word about Mel’s groin. Ever.
Tammy and Victor can sure pull defeat out of victory, can’t they? Tammy has never done a cartwheel? Victor the Drama Queen is going to get a rude awakening when he sees the footage of his “breakdown”.
Brad and Victoria risked everything on the hope that they’d be able to make an unmakeable connection? “The team to arrive may be eliminated!”
Amanda and Chris. You don’t put your bag with all your money and your passports down. Especially in a gyspy camp (although having all those cameramen was fortunate). Maybe you should invest in a fanny pack.
I can’t remember the two white female teams. No sniping between Jennifer and Lakisha, which is good.
Mark and Micheal don’t seem to be racing fast, but they aren’t making mistakes, either. If they can hold up to the fatigue, they may be able to float into the final three.
Luke thinks it might be nice to know what everyone else is saying? He presumably chose not to learn to read lips. If you’re going to survive in a hearing world, you need to make accomodations, because the hearing folks aren’t going to learn your language. Still, this team is racing well.
StG
I can’t figure out whether he’s Deaf or deaf. Did he say that he chose not to learn to lipread, or did they just say that he doesn’t lipread? He appears to wear glasses sometimes…maybe the window for easily learning to lipread passed before they realized his eyesight wasn’t so good, which would appear to be a problem for lipreading?
Either way, he needs to start thinking with the big head soon…the longer he spends out of the game thinking about the redheads the sooner it’s going to show up in his team’s standings.
Although Mike and Mel have done well, Mel is really struggling at points. I thought he was going to fall over dead just walking up that hill to the pit stop. I fear at some point it will catch up with them.
You know who got the rawest deal in this episode?
Tammy and Victor’s cameraman.
I don’t know how he didn’t just come out and say “Hey you two blundering idiots, I’m freaking exhausted. How much higher are we going to hike up the [cough]wrong mountain[cough].”
This seems to be the season of natives drinking and laughing at Americans. Entertainment galore, although the “gypsies” seemed a little forced.
I have learned here at the SDMB that the Roma do not like to be referred to as gypsies
And they love the notion that their homes are the rusted-out front halves of trucks and their possessions are old tires and assorted junk and their music is, well, I actually have no idea what that was… At least nobody accused them of gypping the Amazing Fanny Pack (or did they?).
The Roma got a raw deal from this episode, that’s for sure.
I don’t think that band of junkyard dwelling carnies were Roma.
I wanna see a season of Amazing Race where there’s a team of former AR cameramen. They’d probably end up finishing two days before everyone else, bunching points and all.
Tammy & Victor got pretty screwed by Lufthansa. They were free and clear, alone on the earliest flight (of course, they may have used that advantage to hike clear to the Black Sea), and then it had to return to Munich. But it took them long enough that they even missed out on the second flight.
I’m almost surprised there aren’t allegations of tampering by the Amazing Producers. I really expected a bunching point at the gym, with T & V on track to be the only team to get there before it closed for the night. I don’t believe CBS has the clout to tell Lufthansa to turn one of their planes around. That kind of diversion is very rare, but it did happen to me once.
We were watching last night on Tivo, but the picture was pretty low-res because we only have a standard-res Tivo which doesn’t record the HD channels. Anyway, at one point during the Tammy & Victor key incident, one of them says something like “now we’ll never find the key with all of these leaves”, or something along those lines. At that point the camera sort of zoomed in a little on one spot along the path, as if to say to the viewer there’s the key, right there!, and the cameraman found it before they did.
But as I said, our picture was too grainy to see if it was the key. Does anyone remember that, and was it the key?
Overall, I thought it was a pretty shitty turn of events for any team, much less those two who were alreay sort of starting to unravel, for the hoops they had to jump through to complete the task to have failed. It’s not like missing a flight; if you’re designing a task, the task itself should work right. It would be as if the balance beam had broken in half so the remaining teams wouldn’t be able to complete the gymnastics- it would be a crappy way to come in last.