Amazing Race 4/26: "Do You Know How Much Running I Did Today, Phil?"

Cafe Society
1

So have I become the semi-official TAR thread starter? I certainly don’t mind doing it but if someone else who’s been a fan longer wants to, feel free.

So anyway, last week, in a NEL that absolutely no one saw coming a million miles away, Team Hippie locked themselves into wearing those goddamn TTOW shirts for the rest of the race. Ray and Yolanda bickered but managed to pull it together for a third place finish, Team Gonad learned the meaning of the word “humility” (oh who’m I kidding, like they could learn a word) and in a stunning turn of events Team Frankenberry managed not to destroy their vehicle while landing an unprecedented old people 1st pace finish.

Tonight the teams are off to Australia. I am taking bets on how many minutes into the episode before Team Hippie busts out an atrocious Aussie accent (I’m betting on within a minute of their first appearance on-screen at the Pit Stop).

2

Duuuuuuuuuuuude … I just started a thread too. I swear yours wasn’t here. Great minds and all that, though. I’ve asked the mods to close my thread, because I’m a yutz.

3

Crapity crap crap. I forgot to change the channel on my cable box and missed about the first 12 minutes. Can someone please spoil them for me? Right up until Team Hippie picked up the hitch hiker.

4

Not me, Otto. My kids hadn’t gone to bed yet, so I missed some of it, too. :frowning:

I did see Team Horndog slapping each other on the butts. And I was concerned about their leaving IOU money for the hippies—didn’t Phil say they had to leave the pitstop with no cash? Does it mean they just have to walk out the door with no cash, but can acquire cash the second they leave? I guess technically they’re OK.

5

IOU money for the hippies? Explain.

6

OK, lemme 'splain … no, wait, to difficult to 'splain. Lemme sum up:

The Hippies got no money from TBTP for this leg of the Race, but other teams chose to “share” some of their money. Fran & Barry left $20 and Ray & Yo left $10. The Frats, having determined that they are just too cool for school, decided to go the (un-)funny route and leave a note that read “IOU $100 after the Race.” MoJo left nothing, even after BJ & Tyler apparently announced at the Pit Stop that they would Yield any team that didn’t leave them any money. You know, because they’re nice guys, and they’re being forced to resort to attempted extortion. It would appear that was tonight’s big scandal. Whatever.

I’m bored with everyone except Ray & Yo at this point – and I love that after the last leg, Ray & Yo took a nap, maybe had some cookies and/or some nookies, and deliberately chose to work on their communication to improve their racing. Abracadabra! They ran a pretty alright leg. Who’d have thunk it?

Hmm … on preview, it would appear that someone (me) needs a nap herself.

7

I’m confused. If Team Woodstock was left $30 at the beginning of the leg, how did they end up with $300 when they got off the plane in Perth? Don’t tell me they turned tricks in the airplane bathroom during the 16 hour flight. :eek:

8

Hurrah, one of my two least favorite teams bites the dust! I just wish it could have happened before Barry felt the need to inform us of the current status of their sex life. :: shudder ::

Now if Team Hippie goes out not next week (which pretty much has to be NEL) but the week after, I’ll be a happy, happy man.

Way too many HoYay moments for Team Gonad this week. Jeremy spanking Eric at the clue box, “I get the bottom,” surrepticiously checking out each others’ asses in the Speedos at the Detour (oh you know they were), prison.

Joseph and Monica seemed to have swapped brains for a while there. Joseph totally pulled a Monica on the bikes and at the crawfish traps, but Monica reclaimed her brain and her freakout when she got scared of the big underwater bugs. Sheesh.

And speaking of MoJo, good for them for not giving the hippies any money. It’s kind of dumb to giver your competitors money at any point on the race, but it’s especially dumb to be giving them money when it’s down to five teams immediately following a NEL. You know someone’s going home at the end of the leg, press every advantage. Screw the damn hippies for threatening their Dire Yield Revenge. And oh my god, can you imagine how horrible it must have been for those poor non-racing passengers to be trapped on an intercontinental flight with smelly begging hippies? If I’d been on the race I think I’d have called the flight attendant on the QT and complain about them to interfere with the begging.

And where are the hippies getting all those clothes from? They did have some additional shirts wrapped around their waists at the end of the NEL but hats? Where did they get the goddamn wacky hats?

9

They said they begged for money from the passengers. All in all, the Hippies handled the no money thing about as well as any team I’ve seen so far, though the extortion thing was weird. You have to admit it was cool that they picked up a freaking Bedouin, who filled up their tank for them and bought them Snickers!

10

What a difference in styles at the prison challenge:

  • Frat boy Jeremy spends lots of time paddling through the wet tunnels, gives it up as a waste of time, switches to the dry tunnels and finds a clue. What does he say to Joseph when he meets him on the way out? “You just have to get in the boat.” Clearly he’s trying to send Joseph to the same waste of time.
  • Tyler, running around the prison, meets Yolanda: “Are you looking for the tunnel entrance, too? I think it’s over this way.”

You can argue which is hte better way to play the game, but the contrast was great. And, despite the comments others have made about the advisability of giving the hippies money, just maybe it paid off for Ray & Yolanda in that moment.

11

I think the whole extortion thing was a head game they played with the other teams. If the other teams liked them, they weren’t offended and left them money, i.e. Frankenberry and RayYo. Team Gonad was amused and repaid them in kind, with an IOU. MoJo let it get to their heads and it really contributed to messing them up this leg. I thought it was a great move by the hippies myself.

And I do like the way they get along so well wherever they go. They are just so willing to get to know people, it really pays off for them. Man, did karma come through for them with their Bedouin!

I think it wasn’t till the yard of the prison that one of the Gonads busted out with a bad “Crikey.” Which was still too soon for me.

I was sorry to see Fran & Barry go; once they got over their instead total defeatism and moved to temporary defeatism (“We’re in last place right now” – definitely an improvement over their previous, “We’ve lost!”), they hit their stride and ran several really good legs. They done good for old people. :smiley:

12

I saw the whole “leave us money or be yielded” thing as a joke that the utterly humorless MoJo completely missed. At least it was a joke until they decided to psych the Hippies out with the fake donation.

Is it just me or have MoJo suddenly been replaced by the MoJo of the Antimatter Universe or something? Who were they bribing in Editing before this to make them look like human beings? They were just NASTY tonight!

13

I agree with your whole post: Hippies were joshing, MoJo were NASTY. But I can’t let it ride like that. I am hereby notifying anyone reading this board that I HATE MOJO!! I hate 'em worse than I hated Lake & Michelle. I hate 'em worse than I hate Team Gonad.

I just want the Hippies to win the million bucks!

14

This was a pretty straightforward leg. I wonder tho’ at the luck o’ the Hippies getting there justintime for the only flight to Perth. I hope the Invisible Hand of TAR Producers wasn’t involved. I did like their rapport with the Bedouin, complete with nose-bumping.

MoJo need to have the sticks up their butts surgically removed unless they want to be eliminated. Revenge is not a good motivator – it takes your thoughts away from the tasks at hand. And given those two have scant thoughts to spare, just not good.

Ray and Yolanda’s athleticism worked for them this time, though I wondered if they had done much biking before the race. Everyone knows the strongest goes to the front of a tandem. He looked like he was on a trike with his knees way up near the handlebars before they switched. Ouch!

And the Frankenberries. Nice knowing ya. They did pretty good for older people. And great on the bike – they looked comfortable (well, as comfortable as you can be on a tandem).

15

Wow, OK, thanks for explaining. Apparently I missed some crucial extortion and donation moments. I had somehow been under the impression that Eric and Jeremy gave them $100 and a note to pay them back. What did MoJo do that counts as a “fake donation”?

16

They basically pretended to leave something, just in case the Hippies were watching or something, but left some paper instead of money.

17

I was half-way expecting another NEL this week, but it was not to be. We are now down to four teams.

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 and Lake & Michelle - Outta here.
Fran & Barry (down from “Rapido”) - Of course, the week after I actually move them up in the rankings, they’re eliminated. Still, this isn’t suprising: the leg last week played to their strengths, with a lot of end-of-leg navigation. The leg this played to their weaknesses, with a forced bunch in the center of the leg and tasks requiring physical exertion and searching ability near the end. They kinda got screwed by a no-show cab, but I suspect that, had it showed, they still would have came in last.

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.
No one this week.

"Rapido! Por Favor?" - or, making meaningless ineffectual comments from the back seat, but in no immediate danger.
Ray & Yolanda (holding steady) - There’re four teams left, and Ray & Yolanda are still in it, so that’s none too shabby. However, this team is clearly the weakest of the final four, so they really have to hope another team botches a task to have a chance to slip into the final three. Not impossible, surely, but I was calling the other three teams as the final three some time ago, and I’ve seen nothing to change my mind.

In the Passing Lane - or, ahead of the pack, but not quite comfortably.
Joseph & Monica (holding steady) - This team has done steadily better than the hippies the last three weeks running, which makes them look even better for the final three. I’m still a bit concerned about Killer Fatigue, but it seems to manifest itself in bursts of frustration on Joseph’s part and bursts of crying by Monica–tense moments, but ones that blow over quickly. A couple minor mistakes this episode–getting lost and misreading the clue–makes me think that, although I still expect them to be in the final three, they won’t be first to the finish line.
BJ & Tyler (holding steady) - They caught back up and had a decent, if not spectacular, leg. I’m not sure their decision to take the earlier ferry and then a cab was a good one: anything that imposes risks of delay on you and not the other teams is bad. However, it looked like a no-brainer at first, so I can’t say that it was a huge mistake, either.

Cruisin’ with Earl - or, drivin’ on the shoulder, takin’ shortcuts, and generally kickin’ butt.
Eric & Jeremy (up from “Passing Lane”) - A first place and a good recovery from their terrible leg last week, so I’m bumping them back up to the top. You could make an argument that their Roadblock performance was awful, given that Joseph &Monica caught up with them despite taking a later ferry. However, I suspect that later teams had the advantage of observing exactly where earlier teams were going, so I’m not sure I can downrate them for that.

Next week: The next NEL?

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

18

I hadn’t minded MoJo much until this week. It’s one thing not to be able to pronounce Palermo. It’s another thing to have no sense of humor and be unabashedly nasty. They sounded like the effing Weavers, for a little while there.

I’ve become convinced regarding the theory that Eric and Jeremy are flamingly gay and trying to pass on television. It’s just too much. They looked nice in the Speedos, though. :wink:

19

I’ve done a lot of biking and I didn’t know where the stronger rider should go on a tandem. I did notice Ray sitting way too low, but it looked like everyone else was too (maybe not Fran and Barry, couldn’t tell). I would think bikes for rent would have to have an easy way to adjust the height of the saddle.

20

Go Hippies!!! I loved when they got on the plane. MoJo and the frats were so mad. Hee.

And the quote from Yolanda - “They’re old, but they’re Gooooooooood.” about the Frankenberries on the tandom bikes. I liked Yolanda a lot this week.

And I disliked MoJo a lot this week too. The more air time they get, the less I like them.