Amazing Race May 1: Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen

Cafe Society
41

I am also not as clever as zut, so I’ve contacted Asylum Studios to do their own low budget version of

Cab Assessment:

Stuck in the Dessert and Officially Stopped - or, Philiminated with extreme prejudice.
Amanda & Kris and Mel & Mike and Jaime & Cara and Margie & Luke and Ron & Christina and Jet & Cord - Already eliminated.
Kent & Vyxsin (down from “Pausing”) - The stress of being Kent’s partner finally got to Vyxsin this leg. An easy 1st or 2nd place finish turned into the Goth’s second 5th place eviction with a 30 minute penalty. It’s hard to tell how it all went wrong, considering they both read the clue several times and said it might be easier to walk AND noticed everyone else walking.

Deflated Tire - or, not likely to get anywhere soon.
No one.

**
Pausing for Petrol** - or, not broken-down, exactly, but not a good sign.
No one.

“Schneller! Bitte?” - or, making meaningless ineffectual comments from the back seat, but in no immediate danger.
Gary & Mallory (holding steady) - Holding steady is the best way to describe Gary and Mal. It’s been four legs since their last 1st place finish, and they haven’t done better than 3rd place since then. Most telling is this roadblock, where they were the last of the 4 teams arriving at the same time to finish. And Mal is still down one roadblock.

**Riding the Carpool Lane **- or, ahead of the pack, but not quite comfortably.
Kisha & Jen (holding steady) - It’s they’re second second place finish. On one hand, Kisha and Jen are steadily improving each leg, and they have never once been close to danger. On the other hand, they’re the only team left without a first place finish, and in the finale that’s all that matters.
Flight Time & Big Easy (up from “Schneller”) - Worst to first indeed. Despite taking time out to deal with the gnome incident, the Globetrotters powered through to first place, even after finishing the roadblock second. Obviously the most physical team left, mental tasks are still their weak point. It will be interesting to see how the perform in the finale, which is usually a series of physical tasks culminating in some sort of “previous legs” puzzle. Can they build up enough of a lead to complete the challenge in time?

Cruisin’ with Mega Earl - or, drivin’ on the shoulder, takin’ shortcuts, and generally kickin’ butt.
Zev & Justin (holding step) - Zev and Justin were only saved by someone else’s mistake, so it’s tempting to drop them down a rank. But they’ve got more first place finishes than any other team, and Zev clearly sped through that Roadblock. (They arrived 25 minutes after everyone else, but still beat the 30 minute penalty after getting slightly lost). They do have a tendency to melt down sometimes at a challenge, but if they can keep it together, they should be meeting Phil at the mat first.

Props to zut and Mullinator and his Raj Rating

42

Very well done enalzi, I do like the touch of German.

Justin, Jen, FlightTime and Gary have done 5 roadblocks.
Zev, LaKesha, Big Easy, and Mallory have done 4 roadblocks.

If Mallory had started the dinosaur task (skipped with the Express Pass) then Mallory would have one ahead of Gary.

http://homepage.mac.com/yakc/tv/tar18.html

43

Not sure I agree 100% with your rankings there, enalzi. (And I filled in for zut once before; was going to do it again if you hadn’t beat me to it.)

I nominate Gary as the unsung hero of the Race. He plowed through the Search task, despite a couple facefuls of snow from the fruit of his loins. They got to the task after Zev & Justin, but finished ahead of them. Gary is better at physical tasks than Justin, and Mallory is mentally stronger than Zev.

Are the Globetrotters bankrupt? There was only $1 for this leg, and that seemed to be all they had. You’re supposed to save from the early legs to pay for the later ones. And the final leg always relies on taxis. If they’re already tapped out, that could be a problem.

44

some insight from Kent and Vyxsyn in their TV Guide Interview.

45

Usually when there’s an infraction, the team has the option of taking the penalty or going back and correcting the error. Would it have taken less than thirty minutes to go back to the kitchen and return to the Pit Stop on foot?

Of course, if they had done that, they might still have been facing a penalty for paying a cab to lead them somewhere.

46

Are they? I thought they were just making a joke about getting a dollar. I will laugh hysterically if they do actually give it back to Phil on the mat.

Nah, usually if they can’t pay a cab for directions it’ll say that specifically in the clue. So they can still walk but follow a cab.

47

I thought it had been made a Rule not just a clue by clue prohibition?

48

I believe the “you can’t pay a cab for directions” thing has been made an official rule (as has the “no Fern” thing). There were complaints from everyone (critics, fans, etc) around season 15 that all the racers were doing was paying cab-drivers to lead them around the world, which didn’t make for a race, amazing or otherwise.

The season before last or so, it abruptly ended–100% full stop. And we heard at least one clue-reader say “…you may not follow a cab or ask one for directions” or words to that effect.

I suspect that it was one of those things that had just gotten so badly out of hand that the Amazing Producers just put a complete kibosh on it. It’s certainly made for better races since they did.*

*Although the total insanity of Mirna and Schmirna, freaking out over a taxi driver who wanted to (gasp!) be paid to lead them to the next clue (“We’re just two young girls of 40 years who want to go to < location >. Why you no take us there?! You want money? I give you money schnell! I no eat tonight! My cousin, she go hoongry! You take the food from her cabeza! She starve! But here your filthy moneey!”) will always have a warm place in my heart.

49

I don’t miss the cabs at all - it was making for boring races. However, I do miss the Ferns. Some of the local guides were great.

50

About next week’s preview…

It looks like they’re going for a “get a Brazilian in Brazil” task, but the can’t really show someone getting a Brazilian.

51

I remember one where the guide just directed them to where she actually wanted to go, as opposed to where the team wanted to go, then just abandoned them.

52

I gotta think that’s one task that Mallory will ace.

53

Wow. Stay classy, guys.

54

I thought that much of what those two showed on the show was an act. Apparantly not.

“Wah! The athletes are beating us up, just like in high school!”

“Wah! I had broken ribs during the entire race! Well, not broken, but Kent fall down get boo-boo!”

55

Per other sources, Justin twittered/tweeted/whatever the following, re: the TV Guide interview.

and apparently either Keisha or Jen (I think Jen) said the same thing, plus she complained about Kynt making vaguely racist comments (“You so ghet-to!” type stuff if I’m understanding Jen correctly).

Also, nobody believes that Kynt had a broken rib that he hid for 3 or 4 episodes. (I certainly don’t-he’s never demonstrated anything remotely resembling fortitude or toughness.)

And if it’s a choice between believing generally mellow, low-key Justin or hyper-hysterical drama-queen Kynt, I know who my money’s on.

56

I can see that. I sort of got that vibe just from the stuff they did show him saying and doing when he was mocking Big Easy.

It’s actually hard to imagine how he would act if he really did experience something as painful as a broken rib.

You really don’t spend all that time and attention on dramatic and distinguishing make-up and costuming if your shit is really together.

57

Right on. I’ve had broken ribs, and it’s hard to walk or even breathe without wincing, even if you’re not the type to whine because your hood isn’t up. I’ve seen some mighty stoic types become at least a little cranky because of broken ribs. Kynt would probably demand to be Medi-vacced somewhere, with Vyxsin wiping his tears away the whole time.