Amazing Race 4/12 - "Herculean Effort for Some Herculean Dudes"

Cafe Society
61

One would also hope that if you were preparing for a race around the world, you’d pack your own damn compass.

Speaking of which, we’re running out of legs and they’re only in Greece. Are they going to wimp out and not go around the world again?

We don’t know how much time there was between trains; the station they were supposed to go to looked pretty small and out-of-the-way. Once they got off at the wrong station, it may have been faster to take the bus and accept the penalty. I think it was odd that three teams all made the same mistake. Someone must have just looked at the name of the town, said “here we are” and everyone went along. But who?

I was also sort of expecting L&M to sit for 15 minutes before finding out they were toast, but it would have been needlessly cruel.

I don’t think we’ve got as good a read on the remaining teams as some people seem to think. The Hippies and the Horndogs have been out in front for a while, but there hasn’t been a bunching point in a long time. Were all the teams on the same flight to Moscow? I don’t think they’ve all been together since then until the train to Rome. Once you’re in the lead, you just have to avoid mistakes keep it. After they were bunched, and apart from the Fast Forward, the former leaders didn’t look so invincible anymore.

I’d still love to do the race, but I just don’t know if I could bungee jump.

So, what do you think, would Dave and Lori have done Herculean Effort or It’s All Greek to Me?

62

They’d do “It’s All Geek To Me”…

Honestly, I’d bet a ton of money that they’d do “It’s All Greek To Me”, if only because they probably wouldn’t have to have the “spectators” translate letters. If their nerdity is anything like mine, it’s something they already know.

63

I’ve always wondered about the use of navigation tools on the race. I’m assuming a GPS, and a laptop computer with satellite broadband would be off limits, but where are the limits? Maps and tourist guides are clearly allowed. A compass? They can tell the direction they’re traveling in by the sun most of the time(clearly they’re allowed watches). What about a compass, ruler(for map scales and calculations), distance conversion charts, or “mileage to/from major sites/cities we’re in” chart? I’m sure this has been covered on TAR boards, but I don’t know where to look. Anyone had a similar discussion or thoughts?

Enjoy,
Steven

64

I was so, so sure this would be a NEL, and it wasn’t. Wow. At least we finally had a buching occuring, instead of the top few teams cruising easily as they did for the last few weeks.

Taxi Assessment

Stuck in the Desert and Officially Detained - or, Philiminated with extreme prejudice.
John & Scott and Lisa & Joni and Wanda & Desiree and Danielle & Dani and David & Lori - Outta here.
Lake & Michelle (down from “Rapido”) - Wow. I’m completely bamboozled how they managed to screw up worse than BJ & Tyler. However, I’m not completely bamboozled that they dropped out of the race because they did something stupid. Maybe Lake’s fault, maybe Michelle’s, but I definitely think their team dynamic did them in.

Flat Tire - or, not likely to get anywhere soon.
No one this week.

Stopping for Gas - or, not broken-down, exactly, but not a good sign.
Fran & Barry (holding steady) - The clearly benefitted from other teams’ screwups this week. Not that there’s anything wrong with that–capitalizing on other people’s mistakes will take you a long way in this race. Still, they’re old and slow, and what were they thinking going after the Fast Forward when they knew they were old and slow and other teams were sure to get there before them?

"Rapido! Por Favor?" - or, making meaningless ineffectual comments from the back seat, but in no immediate danger.
Ray & Yolanda (up from “Stopping for Gas”) - Once they got a chance to bunch up with the leader, Ray and Yolanda turn in a solid leg, so I’m bumping them up. Maybe it’s too early, because this team still has some sketchy directional skills, but they siezed the opportunity, so good on them.

In the Passing Lane - or, ahead of the pack, but not quite comfortably.
Joseph & Monica (holding steady) - Fairly solid leg, as usual.
BJ & Tyler (down from “Cruisin’”) - Oho! A sign of weakness! I can’t exactly bump this team too far down–a single mistake doesn’t really outweigh weeks of smart racing. However, but for Lake and Michelle, this team would be Philiminated, so they really have to count themselves lucky. I’m interested to see how this team handles themselves when they start in last place instead of near the front of the pack–hopefully next week won’t have an early bunch, because I’d like to see what BJ and Tyler are made of.

Cruisin’ with Earl - or, drivin’ on the shoulder, takin’ shortcuts, and generally kickin’ butt.
Eric & Jeremy (holding steady) - Another week, another top finish. Clearly a good decision to go for the Fast Forward. As dumb as they seem, Eric and Jeremy are racing plenty smart. The odds-on favorite to win it all.

Next week: Finally a nonelim? Or are we just going to eliminate every team, one at a time, and just watch the scenery in the last episode?

[sub]Props to Mullinator and his Raj Ratings.[/sub]

65

The last episode will consist in its entirety of Phil dancing.

66

I thought for sure that Michelle would smack Lake right in the mouth when he called her a bitch. So damn is cursing, but calling your wife a bitch is okay? What the hell?!

Did anyone else notice how tenderly Tyler kissed Phil? It was sweet, and if Tyler isn’t gay, I’m taking my gaydar back to the shop for a tune-up.

67

But you know what was awesome? It looked like Eric and Jeremy were thinking exactly the same thing. When they were doing their commercial thing for how cool it was to go see the movie, their faces were completely unanimated.

I totally agree. I hate the mugging and the begging, and I much prefer the added pressure of a non-stop leg.

68

Wow, I didn’t realize that bridge was there. Way back in 1998, I visited Greece and took a ferry to get over that. Hard to believe they replaced it with a bridge.

(We also went to the Corinth canal, which is just ridiculous in person.)

69

Wild thing, I think I love you.

70

I have a 2003 and don’t have a built-in compass.
Just saying. I do have a little hand-held one for my own dorky benefit.
I’m pretty sure we’ve seen teams with hand-held compasses in previous seasons - I wonder if they’ve been allowed to bring them or if they’ve purchased them along the way.

If Lake and Michelle had arrived at the Pit Stop before the Hippy’s 15 minutes was up, I’m sure Phil would have given them their penalty, too. As it turned out, it wasn’t needed.

71

:eek: The horror…

Must scrub brain.

:eek:

72

Actually, this is exactly the Fast Forward when it would be advantageous for them to go for it. The teams are bunched at the Ancient Agora and everyone’s getting the FF clue at roughly the same time. It’s less than a mile to the restaurant and the FF is a non-physical needle in haystack. If they get there before the FF is found they have as good a shot as anyone else there of finding it and maybe finally finishing out of the middle range. If they get there after it’s gone, they’ve only lost the time it takes them to get to the restaurant.

If they have indeed eliminated NELs then we’re going to get at least two more TBCs. I’m not as violently opposed to the NEL muggings as others are, but they’re just pointless for the most part. If they actually had an impact on the race then fine, but they really tend not to and while I don’t care if the begging makes people uncomfortable or if people find it unseemly to show Americans begging in foreign countries or whatever, the worst part about the begging is that it’s boring to watch. It eats up screen time that could be used to a better purpose.

73

With Eric, Jeremy, BJ and Tyler stuffing dollar bills into his g-string with their teeth.

74

Unfortunately the differences between NELs and TBCs are pretty obvious. If, in the next episode, we get to the 45 min mark and no one has hit the Amazing Mat, then we know it’ll be a TBC. Nonetheless, TBCs are far preferable to the viewers than NELs.

75

As best I can recall from comments from racers in previous seasons:

  • Handheld compasses are allowed, but mechanical only.

  • NO electronics are allowed. Nada, zero, zip, zilch. No iPods, CD players, electronic phrasebooks, cell phones, anything whatsoever electronic. I assume you can take your own headphones for use on airplanes, but nothing they would attach to.

  • NO books, conversion charts, mileage charts, airport code lists, phrase books, or even pre-drawn pictures (i.e. a train station, an airplane, to communicate with no common language) are allowed. Apparently in an early race one of the teams found a great travel picture book that they hoped to take along, and it was nixed by production. You’re probably allowed to bring along reading material, but even that may not be permitted since they don’t want you to have ANY access to any type of cheat sheet.

  • A blank notebook and writing implements ARE allowed. You can keep a journal, draw pictures, write down anything you like, but not until AFTER you’ve left the starting line. You can’t have anything prepared in advance. And if you keep a journal, you’re supposed to give it to production when you get eliminated and not get it back till after the show are completely aired, although I’m not sure how strictly that’s enforced as long as it’s not posted on the internet till after the winner is declared (but CBS may still claim ownership of it then; it’s a grey area, since I’ve seen portions of racer journals posted well ex post facto).

  • You can buy anything you want en route, as long as it’s with only the money provided. But, of course, your funds are VERY limited.

  • You’re not allowed to contact anyone you know anywhere in the world, by phone, by email, or any other way (although you can memorize a travel agency phone number, for example, to call to set up flights; numerous teams have done this in the past and it’s been allowed, as long as it’s a general agency and not a personal acquaintance).

  • You can use any resources you find en route such as internet, including booking flights/making travel arrangements, with the caveat that you’re not allowed to send any emails, post to any blogs, or in any other way get help from any person you might know or give away any clues as to your whereabouts while en route. Production keeps your family notified periodically that you’re alive and well, and that’s ALL they know.

All in all, production is very stringent. They even go through racers’ backpacks before departure to make sure nothing disallowed is being smuggled along. And if you haven’t brought something they want you to bring – like the NFL wives from a few seasons ago, who were told to bring their husbands’ jerseys and didn’t – production will get it from your family before you leave. That’s right, production had those jerseys FedEx’d in so the poor women could wear them in the opening sequence.

The rules are definitely draconian, but they do make for a level playing field. Which is the whole point, obviously.

76

I totally notice that! It’s like he was almost embarassed to do it.

77

Unless you were their navigator. Left on a map is West, right is East (assuming North is up, as you did.)

Is their a navigational variant of Gaudere’s Law?

78

Re: the 15 Minute Penalty

I remember a penalty being administered as “the length of time gained by not going in the prescribed manner.” Maybe the teams that were penalized only gained 15 minutes by not waiting for the next train. Who knows? I’m not gonna worry about it.

79

I have stupid class during TAR now so I’m going to be late to these threads.

Last week: Team Nerd got eliminated and there wasn’t even one reference to a saving roll? For shame. I miss those goofy bastards.

This week: So jealous. Syracuse, Rome, Athens, Corinth. They’re on my dream vacation.

Eta (the Greek letter that looks like an “H”) is a long “e,” damnit. What’s this “i” bs?

Lake and Michelle: they were kinda growing on me in a Richard Bey Show kinda way. Dangit, I’ll miss them.

80

Actually, looking at Wikipedia, modern Greek eta is pronounced [ i ].