It’s actually NOT a stadium. That would have been useful.
Ron and Kelly drawing devil horns on Rob and Amber’s picture was the best part of the night, and one of the funniest moments ever.
Crap!!! The ONE TIME I don’t vote for Team Weeble, and look what happens…
When I saw the Millennium Dome I thought, “Well, they must have been able to rent that place dirt cheap!” So many things to do in London, I spent a college semester there and it was amazing. And the Underground is indeed the only way to get around, that is if you wanna get somewhere fast…
Did anyone catch where they’re going next week? It looks like they avoided eastern Asia entirely, because of the tsunami (which I think happened only a week or two before they started racing.) Unless they go straight from London to Tokyo or someplace.
Maybe they were just talking absentmindedly, but you don’t see Buckingham Palace when you’re going from Paddington to Johns Wood. I heard Gretchen say something like that while I as making a sammich…
I don’t like how next week looks. Looks like Romber gets a flight and Joyce/Uchenna don’t…
Maybe all is not lost. Chip & Kim didn’t get on the same flight as Colin & Christie and Brandon & Nicole in TAR5, and look where that got them. I hated Colin & Christie, but they were excellent racers, leading the pack almost the entire time, and this is the point in the Race where smugness, arrogance, and complacency bit them right in the ass. You can’t take your eye off the ball for one second here on out. And Rob? Makes Colin look like Mr. Wonderful half the time. So, here’s hoping. (Hey, I’m going to hold on to whatever little bit I can.)
I also thought tonight would be another NEL. Yeah, they start the 2-hour finale with four, someone’s eliminated right away, then they go with three… wait, that’s Survivor. :smack:
I’m also PO’ed that Uchenna and Joyce are the only first-place finishers who didn’t get a prize, especially since they completed a FF. Ray and Deanna got cars, didn’t they?
That Roadblock looked pretty hard. I certainly never would have been able to do it. Makes a good arguement for switching off and taking turns - if my husband and I were doing this, he would have had to be the one to do it. He’s a volunteer fire fighter and drive a fire engine, so he could easily drive a bus.
A final elimination leg. I’m curious just how Joyce/Uchenna and Meredith/Gretchen managed to catch up with Ron/Kelly at the Roadblock. Was the yield time that long? Did it take Kelly a long time to finish the Roadblock? Was ROn and Kelly’s taxi ride that slow? Oooh, taxis! It must be time for the
Taxi Assessment
Stuck in the Desert and Officially Detained - or, Philiminated with extreme prejudice.
Ryan/Chuck and Megan/Heidi and Debbie/Bianca and Susan/Patrick and Ray/Deana and Brian/Greg and Lynn/Alex - Out of contention.
Meredith/Gretchen (downgraded from Stopping) - Finally! Finally, Meredith and Gretchen are eliminated. I’ve been predicting their elimination for weeks, but there’s always been another team that’s slower, or stupider, or unluckier. This week, none of those teams were left, and it was Meredith and Gretchen’s turn to go. I’m glad they did go, too, instead of getting lucky once more; this makes the finale a competitive three-way race, rather than a two-way race with lagging oldsters. Still, as Ambuh said, luck is part of the game, and this team had it in spades, so objectively, you’ve gotta be impressed with their fourth-place finish.
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.
"Hey, Homes!" - or, making meaningless ineffectual comments from the back seat, but in no immediate danger.
Ron/Kelly (holding steady) - This team’s intramural squabbling is getting hard to watch. Not as bad as some TAR6 teams I could name, but… gah! Spending all that energy scoring points off each other isn’t conducive to winning the race. I also don’t agree with their strategy of getting standdby tickets – sure, it worked, but it was a big risk. I think the risk would have been OK in the final leg, where the payoff is about $1,000,000 higher, but here the chance of elimination should things go sour is too great.
In the Passing Lane - or, ahead of the pack, but not quite comfortably.
Rob/Amber (holding steady) - Ditto the above Ron and Kelly comment about standby tickets. I also think they yielded the wrong team. A yield here is strategically good – it’s the last yield in the race, and if you think you can knock out a strong team, you should. However, Rob/Amber and Ron/Kelly landed an hour and a half before the other two teams. Rob/Amber had no expectation that Ron/Kelly would be as far behind as they were, so the yield should have had essentially no effect on Ron/Kelly. A smarter choice would have been to yield Uchenna and Joyce, leaving the relatively weak Meredith and Gretchen in the final three. Also, by my count, Amber has to do the final two Roadblocks. That just might hurt. Still, though, a first place finish, and an intelligent use of a local guide. Good work all around.
Uchenna/Joyce (downgraded from Cruisin’) - Not a terrible leg, but a few hints of navigation problems, this team’s Achilles heel. Something not quite clear to me is whether Joyce and Uchenna were allowed to use the Yield once Rob and Amber had. If they were, it was a tactical error not to yield Meredith and Gretchen. If not… well, they were lucky not to be yielded themselves.
Cruisin’ with Earl - or, drivin’ on the shoulder, takin’ shortcuts, and generally kickin’ butt.
No one this week.
Next week: The finale. Woohoo!
[sub]Props to Mullinator and his Raj Ratings.[/sub]
Yep, they did. However, the “Happy Boys” Lynn and Alex got stiff when they finished first as well.
Great episode this week. Especially enjoyed seeing London (first time I’ve seen a location I’ve been to on the show).
Agreed with everyone who says Rob and Ambuh should have yielded Uchenna and Joyce. I’m glad they didn’t though - this looks like it’s going to be a heck of a finish.
And what the hell happened to Ron and Kelly on the way to the roadblock? Seems like it took them forever to get there.
Uchenna’s strange accent made a brief appearance again. 
Why did Team Geritol choose “brawn?” I’m glad R&A and R&K did the clues challenge - that looked like fun. I knew it was 221B Baker Street too - I used to play the computer game when I was a kid.
A better question is, why did Rob & Amber pick “Brains”? Because they don’t have any, and they didn’t solve a single riddle on their own - Stuart did everything for that Detour. (I hope he got the promise of a cut of the money in writing.) I do think the Weebles would have done better with this Detour, but it looked like it consumed an awful lot of time. Not familiar with the Tube, but I imagine riding back and forth on the subway does take a while.
And: Ron & Kelly impressed me, just a wee bit, on the “Brains” detour, because they actually DID do a bit of puzzle solving, there. Although I wanted to smack the snot of Kelly for pronouncing the word “nekkid” – not that I really need a reason to smack the snot out of her. That was just the Issue Of The Moment. She is irritating. As they are saying over on another board: Free Ron!
I’m pretty sure only one team can use the Yield.
Kelly–borrowing lipstick?? Yes, we know you’re a beauty queen, though I think your pageant may have been fixed. You didn’t need the lipstick. I’m just terribly amused that she wasted time and energy thinking about this.
I’ve never been to England (but I’m going next year! *happy dance), and I couldn’t help but laugh at the fact that I knew exactly where everyone was going before they did. I’m sitting on my couch, yelling out “Abbey Road!!” and “Baker Street!!” like they can hear me. sigh People in horror movies don’t hear me, either.
As much as they sometimes got on my nerves, I am sorry to see Meredith and Gretchen go. They had spunk, no matter how much they whined.
Please, please pretty please let Uchenna & Joyce win. 
ok so some of my personal fave moments from last night’s episode in no particular order…
- gretchen getting hit in the head AGAIN as they were trying to finish the boat challenge
- joyce yelling at uchenna from the bus, but them still being so loving and cute when she did it.
- uchenna saying “she’s doing a lot better since i’ve kept my mouth shut”
- that it took rob more than one attempt at the bus challenge, and how rude the guy was telling him to just “exit the cab”
- in a couple scenes joyce was just running around with her bald head! so cute!!
- i’m not a fan of ron and kelly, but when they got all the same flights as romber, rob’s face was priceless
- meredith still saying that the whining pain in the ass gretchen was the love of his life.
- seeing kelly’s acne!!!
moments i hated…
- rob’s annoying ass voice and stupid comments
- when romber actually did get on the frankfurt connecting flight, i was SO hoping for them not to make it
- watching meredith with the boats, i thought he was going to keel over at any moment.
- even though i hated watching gretch and mere lose, they were so cool about it.
- that romber one a home entertainment system. i don’t think they need anymore prizes.
- stupid beauty pagent dumbass asking a stranger for lipstick, yeah cause now we can’t see all the blemishes.
i have to agree that they do play the game well, but that’s what i don’t like about them, they make the game less fun. and rob’s cockiness really sets me off.
I gotta disagree with you about that. Rob has never treated Amber the way that Colin treated Christie. I can’t think of any run-ins with the “law” that Rob has had on the show and though he’s certainly been arrogant, sneaky and devious on the show, he’s never been hateful like Colin was. In what way does Rob make Colin look like Mr. Wonderful?
IIRC, Ron and Kelly said their cab ride took over an hour. This is what put them so far back, combined with the yield to be battling with M & G and U & J.
The yield can only be used once per leg and once by any team.
I’d forgotten about the lipstick!! That’s f*in’ disgusting! Damn girl, I don’t share lipsticks with my friends, and I know they don’t have cooties. It’s just not done. Makeup is not something you swap back and forth. If I were the girl behind the window and I’d said yes (which I probably wouldn’t have) I would have either told her to keep it or I would have thrown it away. Crazy ass “beauty queen”.
Abbey Road = easiest clue evah.
See next week’s preview – it does look like Rob & Amber have some words or something with a cop, because Rob is bitching in VO that “that cop could have cost us a million dollars.” Although probably it’s nothing like the trouble that Colin got into in Africa (Tanzania, was it?). Maybe Rob hasn’t been actively hateful, but he is still all together loathesome, IMO. I can’t explain why I hate Rob so much, but I always have, way back to when he first polluted my TV screen. It’s a gut-level reaction that I try to control (but obviously I still need to work on it). Maybe Colin looks like Mr. Wonderful by comparison because he had the decency to just go the hell away.
You are right, though, Rob has never treated Amber the way Colin treated Christie – but then again, Christie treated Colin the same way right back, and for Amber to do the same to Rob, I think she will need to grow a personality first. Not that either of those things justifies Colin’s behavior in any way, or Christie’s for that matter. (And just for the good of the order, I will admit that I dislike Amber even more than I dislike Rob, if such a thing is possible, for reasons I absolutely cannot comprehend.)
Looked to me like they were getting a speeding ticket. To which I say “Ha-ha!!!”
I’m totally with you on that. Rob has a personality, loathsome as it may be. (And even if I don’t like him, I absolutely cannot deny that he’s got a wicked sense of humor.) Every now and then, more here on AR than on Survivor, we’re seeing a small glimpse of Amber’s actual self. I might hate her less if she weren’t so frickin’ bland.
I missed the first 10 minutes, what did the whole Rob & Amber “we’re taking a big risk” thing turn out to be? Was that just the standby tickets to London?
What was the clue for Abbey Road?
I recognized Frankfurt airport. I flew that exact same trip, Frankfurt to Heathrow, about four months ago. Even though they should have already cleared EU customs, I think you still have to get through another border check to enter Britain, but that may still be faster than the full inspection you get coming from Istanbul.
I wonder if the teams that changed in Frankfurt could have caught flights to Gatwick or even London City airport and saved some time on the train ride in from Heathrow, which is kinda out in the boonies.
The standby tickets were the risk. The Abbey Road clue was “Go to a zebra crossing made famous on a Beatles album cover”.
uchenna and joyce would never yield gretch and mere, because they aren’t like romber. this may hurt them when it comes to winning, but i think their only soft spot was our older friends, so now they are going to lay the smack down.
ron and kelly’s comments are annoying as hell. but ron pisses me off way more now. yes kelly’s pow comment was out of line, but he was a real jerk last night when he was all “i could drive the bus in one try.” ok we all know you are a military man, and you are wonderful. i don’t give a shit what you can fly, what you can drive, or how much training you’ve had, so shut up!
OH and meredith shows what a good sport he is again by giving ron and kelly money. i’m gonna miss him!!!
Sweet. I am headed to London for the first time on Sunday and viewed this episode as the ultimate teaser. (I’ll still be in London during the finale next week, so hopefully I can avoid spoilers about who wins!)
After reading every website possible, travel guides, and bugging the hell out of the Dopers over in the IMHO section, I felt I could have done a better job than Romber’s guide!
I was screaming at Ron and Kelly for taking a cab!
I forget the names of the stops, but if anyone still has them on a DVR, you can calculate the approximate time it should take to get from one stop to the next on this website.
I do remember that they went from Victoria Station (after exiting the Heathrow Express) and headed to Abbey Road (St. John’s Wood…hehheh!) That trip can be made in 15 minutes by Tube.
A few random thoughts:
-
Didn’t Phil say in the recap from last week that Ron and Kelly received the second of THREE NEL? How will they have a third one now? No one else can be eliminated! It is the final three. Does the last leg count as a NEL because technically no one is eliminated? Or did I hear him wrong?
-
Many people were ABB in the 2004 Election. I am officially ABR&K in the final three. I have positive feelings for J&U (and a Houston homer thing) and I’d love to see Romber take it because it is fun when evil triumphs over good (c’mon. Empire Strikes Back is the best film for a reason.) If Rob loses, I want to see it be because he out thinks himself. That would be fun, too.
-
Yield- I would have used it on either Joyce and Uchenna (to try to weaken the final three with the inclusion of Weeble) or Team Weeble (to guarantee myself a spot in the final three). Yet in typical Rob arrogance, he wanted to go for first place (and probably also to try to somehow eliminate his toughest opponent).
-
Did anyone else think that when Ron was bragging that he could have done the bus roadblock because he could fly a zillion dollar helicopter, that Kelly was going to say “Yeah, but you crashed it!”? That would have been kind of funny, actually. As much as I am hating her, I don’t advocate “FREE RON” because he is pretty bad himself.
-
What happened to the early Romber alliance with J&U. At what point did it become R&K? Not that there is a true alliance, but they have kind of stuck together. I liked Uchenna’s comments that maybe they’d ignore him and Joyce and they’d steal the victory.
Next week will be a two-hour special with a Pit Stop in the middle. So the first hour will be the last NEL, and the second hour will be the race to the finish.
If I recall, correctly, Rob was muttering about not wanting to waste the yield if they couldn’t force Ron and Kelly to be eliminated. So I think it was more of a miscalculation of where Ron and Kelly were in relation to the other two teams rather than a bid for first place.
Yeah; guilty. I haven’t seen it so much before, but Ron was being kind of a prick there. Jesus, dood; just say “good job, honey” and let it go.