# Amazing Race 4/5: "Sleep Deprivation Is Really Starting to Irritate Me" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 5, 2006, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-4-5-sleep-deprivation-is-really-starting-to-irritate-me/351495 "2006-04-05T23:36:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Big\_Cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@The\_Big\_Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Big_Cheese)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-4-5-sleep-deprivation-is-really-starting-to-irritate-me/351495/21 "2006-04-06T12:46:39Z")
Note to self: When traveling in a foreign country where I may not speak the language, at the very least know the name of the person you are looking for. Jingo??? hello??? Is it that hard to look at the name, and sound it out? Props to Yolanda who seemed to pronounce the cities and names correctly. And this running thru the streets just saying the name. Why not stop, look at someone, and ask or at least pantomine it out, show a little respect fer crissakes. Those were too small for passport bags I believe, probably money. You really think Lake is gonna trust anyone outside of Looziana? And the nerve of Siragusa, 400,000 people and they all were right in front of him. Dang it! Dang it! Dang it! Dang it! Dang it! Dang it! I wish they had more racing after the last roadblock and before they hit the mat. It seems like it’s always whoever finishes the last event last is out. They should make it so you finish that, then have to make a long haul to the mat, add a lot of drama. Greeter looked a little out of it. All those beautiful women in that country and they picked him?? Give him a ‘C’. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-4-5-sleep-deprivation-is-really-starting-to-irritate-me/351495/22 "2006-04-06T13:26:03Z")
I think the Hippies infected Phil. That’s the only explanation for the dancing. It was cute. Gah. Work reared it’s ugly head and I forgot what else I was going to say. Poor Dave & Lori. ☹ But I still dig the Hippies, no matter what. ---
**Author:** ![Southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@Southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southpaw)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-4-5-sleep-deprivation-is-really-starting-to-irritate-me/351495/23 "2006-04-06T13:38:35Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > But we’re starting to really like Frankenberry, now that they seem to have gotten over their dithering fetish and started actually, y’know, RAAAAAAACING! They have been doing better; they’ve been in 4th or 5th place the past couple of legs. They still bug me for some reason. There’s still that defeatest attitude by one or the other and they really don’t seem to be having fun. Look at the Nerds and Hippies and even the Gonads, they all seem to enjoy the experience, yet still race. I still can’t like Frankenberry, but I’ll keep an open mind. Maybe if Barry stops wearing tank tops or takes some time at the next extended pit stop to visit a day spa and have a wax. Phil looked good this leg. He seems to have finally found some pants that fit. 😃 And orange is a good color for him. Let’s hope he can keep it up for the rest of the race. ---
**Author:** ![annieclaus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5a626/32.png) [@annieclaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/annieclaus)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-4-5-sleep-deprivation-is-really-starting-to-irritate-me/351495/24 "2006-04-06T14:00:15Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Yes, but this leg, for them, was better than they’ve done in any other one so far. Just that little bit of traffic anxiety, though it looks like they’re going to have a problem next week at Corinth. Oh, no. . . that’s just the promo. And we never believe anything we see in the promos. She’ll be fine. She’ll conquer her fear of bungees (FOB) and they’ll come in in the middle of the pack. Again. And shouldn’t she know that bungee jumping is a required TAR skill? ---
**Author:** ![annieclaus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5a626/32.png) [@annieclaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/annieclaus)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-4-5-sleep-deprivation-is-really-starting-to-irritate-me/351495/25 "2006-04-06T14:05:12Z")
> [@zut](#): > > **In the Passing Lane** - or, ahead of the pack, but not quite comfortably. > Joseph & Monica (holding steady) - Whoa. Ugly fatigue breakdown, and if anything that’ll be the death of this team. No one else seems to have had a problem finding the fishmonger. I think Monica spooks easily, and when she does Joseph can’t really handle her. This team has been in no real danger yet, so things might get… interesting when the competition gets fierce. Still, they seem less likely to crash and burn than any team behind them, so I’ve still got them tentatively penciled in for third place. Their lack of language skills is killing them! They can’t even fake-communicate with the locals because they have no feel for foreign languages. I think you’re right about third place for them, but it will be a distant third. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-4-5-sleep-deprivation-is-really-starting-to-irritate-me/351495/26 "2006-04-06T14:06:32Z")
> [@The Big Cheese](#): > > And the nerve of Siragusa, 400,000 people and they all were right in front of him. Dang it! Oh, yeah…I forgot about this. Yeah, Siracusa a little dang town in the middle of nowhere. Sure. Forget that it’s older than Rome and was the greatest western outpost of ancient Greek civilization outside Greece itself, and also served as the home of the great inventor and mathematician Archimedes (as well as the place where he ostensibly ran naked through the streets shouting “Eureka!”). It’s obviously just a little dang town in the middle of nowhere… ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-4-5-sleep-deprivation-is-really-starting-to-irritate-me/351495/27 "2006-04-06T14:52:35Z")
> [@The Big Cheese](#): > > And the nerve of Siragusa, 400,000 people and they all were right in front of him. Dang it! Aw come on, that was a funny line. It’s not like he was foaming at the mouth about it. Can you imagine if it had been, say, Jonathon stuck in that traffic? They’d have been scraping spittle and Victoria’s blood off the windscreen for days. > [@TBC](#): > > Greeter looked a little out of it. All those beautiful women in that country and they picked him?? Give him a ‘C’. He had some seriously lucious lips though. All that horn blowing no doubt. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-4-5-sleep-deprivation-is-really-starting-to-irritate-me/351495/28 "2006-04-06T15:23:39Z")
[Arethusa:](http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/ent/A0804630.html) > [@](#): > > Arethusa (ărithOO’su) [key], in Greek mythology, nymph favored by Artemis and loved by the river god Alpheus. While Arethusa was bathing in his stream, Alpheus rose up and tried to abduct her, but she fled under the ocean to the isle of Ortygia. There Artemis changed her into a fountain. But Alpheus followed her and was himself changed into a river and united with her. In ancient times it was believed that the waters of the Alpheus River flowed beneath the sea from Greece and reappeared in the fountain of Arethusa in the harbor of Syracuse. > > The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2006, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-4-5-sleep-deprivation-is-really-starting-to-irritate-me/351495/29 "2006-04-06T17:26:31Z")
Did anyone else get the feeling that TAR has had its budget slashed this time around? I mean, this was a seriously low-rent episode. A whole episode on Sicily? Count the frigging heads on the fence posts? What the hell kind of challenge was THAT? ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-4-5-sleep-deprivation-is-really-starting-to-irritate-me/351495/30 "2006-04-06T17:37:35Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Count the frigging heads on the fence posts? What the hell kind of challenge was THAT? Actually, that had the potential to go _very_ wrong, especially if you’ve got two people running quickly around trying to count together but not running side-by-side. It was simply unfortunate for us that everybody did it the smart way, which was to have each person count to themselves and compare answers. But yeah … still pretty lame. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-4-5-sleep-deprivation-is-really-starting-to-irritate-me/351495/31 "2006-04-06T17:46:09Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Count the frigging heads on the fence posts? What the hell kind of challenge was THAT? Joseph and Monica got different numbers - he said he counted 40 and she said 41. He decided she was right and they went with 41. He must have been unsure of himself. If it’d been Lake and Michelle, he would have said it was 40 and then blamed her for making him miscount. ---
**Author:** ![FlightlessBird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/cdc98d/32.png) [@FlightlessBird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlightlessBird)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-4-5-sleep-deprivation-is-really-starting-to-irritate-me/351495/32 "2006-04-06T17:54:41Z")
> [@zut](#): > > No one else seems to have had a problem finding the fishmonger. Actually I think either one of two possibilties occured. Either a) the producers started planting people in the crowd once they realized how hard it was to find him. (I doubt this, but it is a possibility), or more likely b) Once the crying woman found him, whenever those loud americans with the camera crews came in, everyone just started shouting directions. (BTW that option was written as if I was a fishmonger in the market, I know who Michelle is) Speaking of Michelle, I think she was wearing a microphone pack, because if you start looking for it, you could see it under the shirts of other contestants too. (especially the strap in the shoulder area) And speaking of that pack, THANK YOU MICHELLE! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-4-5-sleep-deprivation-is-really-starting-to-irritate-me/351495/33 "2006-04-06T18:03:06Z")
> [@FlightlessBird](#): > > b) Once the crying woman found him, whenever those loud americans with the camera crews came in, everyone just started shouting directions. > > (BTW that option was written as if I was a fishmonger in the market, I know who Michelle is) “Crying woman” was actually Monica. Michelle was speaking near-flawless Tourist Italian (“grazi” and she pronounced Jugino’s name correctly on the first try). ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-4-5-sleep-deprivation-is-really-starting-to-irritate-me/351495/34 "2006-04-06T18:06:00Z")
How soon before Monica drops these brief crying jags and goes into Full Flo Mode? I keep waiting, but it ain’t happening. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-4-5-sleep-deprivation-is-really-starting-to-irritate-me/351495/35 "2006-04-06T18:15:59Z")
> [@Draelin](#): > > Actually, that had the potential to go _very_ wrong, especially if you’ve got two people running quickly around trying to count together but not running side-by-side. It was simply unfortunate for us that everybody did it the smart way, which was to have each person count to themselves and compare answers. > > But yeah … still pretty lame. Eh, it could go wrong, but it seems like it would take about five to ten minutes longer if you screwed up. The good ones are ones where if you screw up it adds like half an hour or more. I agree that episode was horribly boring, I almost got the impression that it was something they had to maybe patch together at the last minute because of some complication with what they had originally planned, whatever that may have been. Maybe, they had originally planned to have the contestants go somewhere else from Sicily, that got 86’d for some reason so they had to patch together a leg in Sicily. ---
**Author:** ![FlightlessBird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/cdc98d/32.png) [@FlightlessBird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlightlessBird)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-4-5-sleep-deprivation-is-really-starting-to-irritate-me/351495/36 "2006-04-06T18:17:04Z")
Ack! You’re right. I’m still thinking about Michelle’s breasts being well defined by the pack. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-4-5-sleep-deprivation-is-really-starting-to-irritate-me/351495/37 "2006-04-06T18:34:36Z")
I thought that thing Lake and Michelle were wearing was some sort of money-holder - aren’t the mike packs the bigger things worn at the back of their waistbands? ---
**Author:** ![zut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zut/32/2875_2.png) [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-4-5-sleep-deprivation-is-really-starting-to-irritate-me/351495/38 "2006-04-06T19:02:08Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Aw come on, that was a funny line. It’s not like he was foaming at the mouth about it. Yeah, I really don’t think Lake was out of line at all. That was just a throwaway line expressing frustration at being caught in a traffic jam. I say a lot worse things about the people in _my_ way when I drive in Detroit. Lake’s actually growing on me. He’s kind of a spazz, but seems like he’s a lot more harmless than he first appeared. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-4-5-sleep-deprivation-is-really-starting-to-irritate-me/351495/39 "2006-04-06T19:26:52Z")
> [@BiblioCat](#): > > I thought that thing Lake and Michelle were wearing was some sort of money-holder - aren’t the mike packs the bigger things worn at the back of their waistbands? I didn’t notice any bulges in Lake’s pants while he was bare-chested and harnessed. Strike that, I didn’t notice any bulges in the _back_ of Lake’s pants while he was bare-chested and harnessed. Which is what led me to believe that it might be a mike pack, but when I watch that scene again later in slow motion with freeze frame I’ll keep my eyes on Lake’s ass…I mean, I’ll keep an eye out for the mike pack at his waist. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-4-5-sleep-deprivation-is-really-starting-to-irritate-me/351495/40 "2006-04-06T19:34:27Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > … but when I watch that scene again later in slow motion with freeze frame I’ll keep my eyes on Lake’s ass…I mean, I’ll keep an eye out for the mike pack at his waist. :rolleyes: 😃 \< snerk \> [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-4-5-sleep-deprivation-is-really-starting-to-irritate-me/351495.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-4-5-sleep-deprivation-is-really-starting-to-irritate-me/351495.md?page=3)