# Amazing Race Oct 14th **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 15, 2012, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-oct-14th/637776 "2012-10-15T14:25:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-oct-14th/637776/21 "2012-10-15T18:51:42Z")
That was a pretty exciting ending to a ‘meh’ episode. I really dislike the defeatist teachers. It seems like the dorky teams that love TAR are always overmatched by the race itself. I wanted them to lose and when they U-turned the wrong team, I laughed. And then there was the epic failure of the girls and the race to the end and I started rooting for the teachers due to the blonde’s screechiness and then the fork in the road… Wow. Tons of excitement. I can’t believe monster truck keeps succeeding. They seen totally overmatched. Highlights from next week seem to indicate they’ll be in trouble, but that probably means they managed to live another day. Team rock and roll seems to be rolling along. I wonder how they’ll do in a truly grueling physical task? Otherwise, they seem pretty smart and unflappable. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-oct-14th/637776/22 "2012-10-15T18:57:40Z")
> [@corkboard](#): > > As much as I can’t stand the shrieking of Nat & Nad, they’re a fun team, they’re strong racers, and they have a good attitude. They’re not afraid to get dirty (one of them had her long hair in the fish bucket, and then slipped on fish guts and fell on her ass & laughed about it) and I think they’re in it for the long haul. True. Their bizarre brand of screaming/chattering at each other seems to work for them. And yesterday when one bonked her head in the camera while the other noticed that their U-turn picture was “pretty cute” was comedy gold. I don’t understand why the racers almost universally took the lion over the egg challenge. The egg seemed much easier and more straightforward when Phil described it. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-oct-14th/637776/23 "2012-10-15T19:08:29Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > I don’t understand why the racers almost universally took the lion over the egg challenge. The egg seemed much easier and more straightforward when Phil described it. I would love for them to release the actual text of the documents the racers receive. Probably not during the episode since they sometimes include full pages of text but on the website as an after the episode extra would be awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Doom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Dr\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Doom)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-oct-14th/637776/24 "2012-10-15T19:13:02Z")
> [@phreesh](#): > > I wanted them to lose and when they U-turned the wrong team, I laughed. > > I can’t believe monster truck keeps succeeding. They seen totally overmatched. Highlights from next week seem to indicate they’ll be in trouble, but that probably means they managed to live another day. My conspiracy theory for this week is that this episode was originally to be a NEL, but when the only (actually) U-turned team didn’t come last, the producers didn’t need to artificially keep them around for the “Who damned-well U-turned us?” drama next leg. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-oct-14th/637776/25 "2012-10-15T19:28:32Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > I don’t understand why the racers almost universally took the lion over the egg challenge. The egg seemed much easier and more straightforward when Phil described it. I wonder if the “deliver” part is what turned people off - if one task includes self-navigation, and the other doesn’t, that’s a big hint to take the second. They may have thought they’d risk spending hours trying to find where to deliver the eggs. Though I was disappointed that the lion task didn’t include learning the dance/performance and doing it. All they had to do was follow the guy and do what he told them to finish the task. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-oct-14th/637776/26 "2012-10-15T19:51:43Z")
Based on Phil’s description of the tasks, I would have definately taken the egg cooking task. I thought I noticed that when the teams got dropped off at the park, one team paid “two” of whatever the currency was, another team paid “three,” and the blonde girls who bickered over the price for 15 minutes paid “fifteen.” Did I hear that right? I like the rock ‘n’ roll team (maybe because they are closer to my age) but I’d like to see them turn up the intensity just a tiny bit and also, not isolate themselves from the rest of the pack so much. You don’t want to be left alone when everyone else is working together. Also, good for team monster truck for using the U-Turn without any debate or drama. It’s not personal; it’s a raaaace. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-oct-14th/637776/27 "2012-10-15T21:28:54Z")
The blonde friends turned out to be pretty nasty customers, but they didn’t just have one bad driver, they had three! Once again, it was pure luck that determined the outcome of the leg. Why even bother with challenges? Just give them a destination and send them off. They can either rely on their own navigation with trains and buses, or they can put their fate in the hands of a taxi driver and go for broke. ---
**Author:** ![moejoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@moejoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moejoe)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-oct-14th/637776/28 "2012-10-15T21:32:09Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > The blonde friends turned out to be pretty nasty customers, but they didn’t just have one bad driver, they had three! > > Once again, it was pure luck that determined the outcome of the leg. Why even bother with challenges? Just give them a destination and send them off. They can either rely on their own navigation with trains and buses, or they can put their fate in the hands of a taxi driver and go for broke. It’s been a long time, but wasn’t the first season mostly just that? The team with the best travel skills gets the win? I remember Oswald and Danny going straight to the best hotels to get help from the concierge on every leg and then spending their free time wandering around a mall. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-oct-14th/637776/29 "2012-10-16T01:09:44Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > Based on Phil’s description of the tasks, I would have definately taken the egg cooking task. > > I thought I noticed that when the teams got dropped off at the park, one team paid “two” of whatever the currency was, another team paid “three,” and the blonde girls who bickered over the price for 15 minutes paid “fifteen.” Did I hear that right? I wouldn’t be surprised if they were mentally converting it to dollars. The rupiah’s about 10000: US $1, so the ‘2’ or ‘3’ could be in units of 10000. 2000 or 3000 seems a little low for obvious Americans being followed around by a camera, but it could depend on how far they actually went. 15000 = $1.50 seems like a weird amount to get in a fight over, even if it is a ripoff, especially if you’ve only been in the country a few days. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-oct-14th/637776/30 "2012-10-16T01:38:12Z")
One thing I really hate about the “new” rules of Amazing Race is that money is basically completely taken out of the equation. When I first started watching, deciding on how & when to spend your $$$ (“Is now a good time to spring for a cab, or should we use public transportation and save up for when a cab is going to really give us a huge time advantage?”) was a huge part of Race strategy (I remember when some teams would crash on park benches for the night rather than getting themselves a hotel room for the night because they were trying to save their cash for upcoming legs) and as someone who loves to travel, that aspect made it much more relatable to me… ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-oct-14th/637776/31 "2012-10-16T01:46:43Z")
> [@lorene](#): > > Yeah, that’s the moment that they lost me as a potential supporter. \* He doesn’t speak a \*\*word \*_of English!!!_ No shit. Do you speak a word of Bahasa Indonesia?? > [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > While the “English motherfucker! Do you speak it?” moment was pretty terrible, my wife noticed that all the other cabbies in the area (there had to be four or five) definitely understood English and weren’t translating for this guy because they wanted to see if he could get 50. I wasn’t minding those two bitches until this episode. It wasn’t just the “trying to pay the driver” debacle - and I agree the other drivers were deliberately not helping them. I wouldn’t have, either. If either of them had the conscientiousness to pull their egos back, they would have seen what was happening. The first time they did it was back at the train station when they pulled the oh-so-stereotypical American asshole routine: If I speeeak sloooowly and L-O-U-D-L-Y enough, you MUST be able to understand my ENGLISH!!! I was surprised and delighted this ended up being an elimination round. Wanted to reach through the screen and slap them both. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-oct-14th/637776/32 "2012-10-16T01:55:10Z")
> [@moejoe](#): > > It’s been a long time, but wasn’t the first season mostly just that? The team with the best travel skills gets the win? I remember Oswald and Danny going straight to the best hotels to get help from the concierge on every leg and then spending their free time wandering around a mall. The first season had both Roadblocks and Detours. There was also a Fast Forward on every leg, most of which were never used. There were no U-turns or Yields. Danny and Oswald, incidentally, were from the second season. ---
**Author:** ![moejoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@moejoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moejoe)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-oct-14th/637776/33 "2012-10-16T02:39:32Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > The first season had both Roadblocks and Detours. There was also a Fast Forward on every leg, most of which were never used. There were no U-turns or Yields. > > Danny and Oswald, incidentally, were from the second season. Thank you, didn’t they also come back for an all starts thing? If you’ve been watching from the start maybe you can help me figure out what’s different with the last few seasons. It feels like there’s a lot more drama, more or maybe just different kinds of challenges. Something has made it much more frenetic and less entertaining lately. I haven’t really enjoyed an episode since the cheese rolling thing. I still laugh just thinking about that one. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-oct-14th/637776/34 "2012-10-16T07:35:24Z")
Why don’t they drive themselves anymore? That was far more entertaining than this chauffeur nonesense ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-oct-14th/637776/35 "2012-10-16T13:07:31Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > True. Their bizarre brand of screaming/chattering at each other seems to work for them. And yesterday when one bonked her head in the camera while the other noticed that their U-turn picture was “pretty cute” was comedy gold. > > I don’t understand why the racers almost universally took the lion over the egg challenge. The egg seemed much easier and more straightforward when Phil described it. None of the egg people finished before all of the lion people had finished. I kind of got the impression that the egg challenge was go a few miles and get eggs then go another few miles and cook them while the lions were right there. As the Barbies showed us, sometimes it’s better to not trust transportation. My prediction since there are two groups about 3 hours apart is expect a bunching point immediately like “The earliest flight is 6:50pm.” > [@moejoe](#): > > Thank you, didn’t they also come back for an all starts thing? If you’ve been watching from the start maybe you can help me figure out what’s different with the last few seasons. It feels like there’s a lot more drama, more or maybe just different kinds of challenges. Something has made it much more frenetic and less entertaining lately. > > I haven’t really enjoyed an episode since the cheese rolling thing. I still laugh just thinking about that one. Maybe there hasn’t been any challenges involving any skill and just a couple involving luck like the ping-pong challenge. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-oct-14th/637776/36 "2012-10-16T13:29:42Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > My prediction since there are two groups about 3 hours apart is expect a bunching point immediately like “The earliest flight is 6:50pm.” I would bet that too. Mostly because I like the beginning of the leg bunching. It makes sense and lets teams race each leg as each leg instead of making it one long race. And frankly, we’ve seen seasons where there was no bunching and a team has a huge lead. It’s kinda boring then. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-oct-14th/637776/37 "2012-10-16T13:56:42Z")
There have been a lot of changes, some based on safety and some on production (and ease thereof). They drive themselves less, I’m pretty sure they’ve had a few close calls with accidents and they’d rather eliminate someone from the race due to a bad taxi driver than eliminate someone because a racer was a bad driver and killed someone. There are more bunching points since the one occasion when a team was so far behind they made Phil late to the next leg. I’ve been trying to find the details but apparently I don’t remember enough to make google effective. ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-oct-14th/637776/38 "2012-10-16T16:06:02Z")
I love AR, but this season hasn’t had ANY really difficult challenges. You know, stuff that several teams have real difficulty finishing. The kind of thing that leaves you sore and frustrated. At first I thought the ‘balance a bunch of plates on one arm and serve them’ would be hard, but only a couple of teams dropped anything, and even then they all got it by the second try. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Doom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Dr\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Doom)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-oct-14th/637776/39 "2012-10-16T17:16:47Z")
I’m anxiously awaiting someone taking a watermelon to the face. ---
**Author:** ![toast\_pakora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@toast\_pakora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toast_pakora)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-oct-14th/637776/40 "2012-10-16T17:22:47Z")
> [@](#): > > even if it is a ripoff Well for sure the becak drivers were ripping off the contestants. That’s what they do. In this case, if the others were paying 20,000 or 30,000 rupes then the Barbies were being charged 50,000 ie roughly twice as much. As always, before getting into someone’s (cab), first ask How Much. If it seems too much, go on to the next guy. The Barbies were complaining that the driver changed the agreed upon rate. In my experience, that doesn’t happen unless there were extenuating circumstances so I suppose it was a misunderstanding. They heard something different than what he said. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-oct-14th/637776.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-oct-14th/637776.md?page=3)