I have a friend who’s had a huge crush on Rob since his first appearance on Survivor. She tuned into TAR for the first time this season just because he was going to be on it.
I called her last night and said something to the effect of “Your man is f***ing up my show!”
It was brilliant, it was amusing–but it’s going to change the race forever. From now on, everyone’s going to be playing the Rob way, focusing just as much on delaying other teams as getting to the next clue themselves.
I’m sorry to see Debbie and Bianca go. Any woman who can pack away four pounds of meat deserves to stay in the race. It’s a shame they can’t navigate for shit.
I hope Brian and Greg stay around for a while. They’re cute, and they’re funny. I could find worse things to watch.
I think Rob and Amber must go pretty far, because this season is setting up to be “the Rob and Amber” season. Everything revolves around them. Other teams are getting short changed. Of course, Rob is staying in the spotlight with interesting play.
I know he is a war hero, and I know I shouldn’t root against POWS, but Ron is kind of an asshat.
I was also really hoping that Sissy Bitch and Mommy were going to be ousted! His mugging for the camera reminds me of Mullinator’s favorite Apprentice Candidate.
Rob’s penalty was 4 hours from when the next team arrived.
He talked the other teams into also taking the penalty.
When does THEIR penalty start? Also 4 hours after the next team arrives, or 4 hours after the next team arrives PLUS the amount of time they waited, after Rob, to take the penalty?
Well, Rob’s clearly smarter than the producers; they screwed up this challenge by 1) having a time penalty shorter than the time it took several teams to finish, and 2) doing a volume eating contest where they erred by making the task too daunting – I don’t think Rob would have quit had it been 3 lbs. of meat. Hopefully, the producers will take a hint and stop doing the volume eating roadblocks, easily my least favorite challenge type.
While I think this season will be less irritating than TAR6, my high hopes for it are being dashed. Rob makes a great villain (he’s obnoxiously cocky, but unlike some other Contestants Who Shall Not Be Named, he’s not an asshat to his partner), but I’m not feeling much love for any other contestants. I rather like Brian/Greg’s stoned affability and I’m warming up to Uchenna/Joyce but all the other teams are starting to bug me. Ron/Kelly give off an air of general mediocrity, I find Meredith/Gretchen mildly annoying for no discernible reason, there’s a streak of mean-spiritedness about Lynn/Alex that’s offputting, Susan/Patrick are turning into Adam/Rebecca, and Ray/Deanna are just dysfunctional.
Rob convinces Ray & Deana and Meredith & Gretchen to quit.
Susan and Patrick arrive. The second penalty clock begins.
Rob’s clock began 20 minutes before everyone else’s, which is why he didn’t try to convince anyone else until AFTER the team arrived that started his clock…
It was, quite simply, brilliant for a TAR strategy. No one else thought to play the penalties like that. And I just can’t see it as “ruining the game”. The rules were not broken.
They may all be “warm and fuzzy,” but we haven’t had an old couple yet who I’ve actually liked. I find “feisty” to be the old folks version of “perky,” which is at the top of my list of undesirable character attributes.
At first, I thought ganking the cab was kind of petty because Rob knew there was going to be a bunch at the carpark and the Non-Blondes weren’t going to really lose any relevant time. Then I realized that it looked like the only cab right there at the hotel at that time of morning and Rob was only playing smart, with a side helping of petty revenge. Which I can deal with.
The penalty was 4 hours from when the next team arrived + the time between you announce to the judge that you will take the penalty.
Rob’s penalty started when, I think, Uchenna and Joyce came to Camp Suizo. He then convinced Ray/Deanna and Meredith/Gretchen to give up. Their 4-hour penalty began when Susan/Patrick came in.
You know, I really **want ** to hate Rob and Amber.
I don’t watch Survivor, so I didn’t have any pre-conceived notions, but I was in the “They already got theirs: give some “real” people a chance” camp. Plus, so many people here seem to hate them, that I really did want to follow siut.
But I can’t.
They race too well, they are polite to each other and the locals, they are having a blast; these are all of the qualities that everyone asks for in a TAR team. True, Rob is playing the game differently than everyone before him, but I don’t think he’s doing anything wrong.
I can’t see anything at this point that’s going to keep them out of the final three.
Teri & Ian (from TAR3?) were most decidedly not warm and fuzzy. Though the lack of fuzziness was mostly on Ian’s part, I guess.
Rob is a double wuss; wussing out on the eating challenge, and being granted a wussy four-hour penalty. In the first season, Team Momily couldn’t complete a task, so simply decided to go on to the pit stop. They arrived ahead of Team Guido who, despite taking a Fast Forward, came in dead last. But Momily were given a twenty-four hour penalty for failing the task, putting them in last place. Twenty-four hours: now that’s a real penalty!
Now I can’t help unfavorably comparing Lynn & Alex to the Guidos. Stereotypical flaming homos can’t hold a candle to deliciously evil gay guys. Not that queening out is a bad thing. Team Cha-cha-cha showed that you can be fabulous without being annoying.
thanks. I missed that another team had come in between.
great play by Rob, then. guaranteed of having an advantage over someone. And, he didn’t completely work the system. He made a calculated decision based on his own participation, and still got a little burned because, for instance, the gay couple finished first.
No, I won’t make a joke about how much meat the gay guy could swallow. Keep your dirty mind to yourself.
Well here’s hoping that the eatting challenges are over this season. I don’t mind them much, but they should be realistic, no eatting four pounds of meat, who the hell does that? If they want to come up with something why not do something like they did with the egg a few seasons ago, make them cook the food then eat it.
I’m not liking the quiting aspect either, you’re supposed to be at least trying to do the roadblocks, not just showing up and saying I’m not doing it. While I wasn’t disliking Rob, I’m hoping that it bites him in the ass soon.
Also how the hell did the girls get that lost? I mean they had directions and everything, and I had high hopes for them, until I saw the ocean. Now the only teams I have any hopes for are the gay couple and the brothers.
Anyone know why the penalty was set at 4 hours, and not at “however long it takes the slowest team to complete the task”? It seems like that would make more sense: let the quitters go on to the Pit Stop, but don’t “officially” check them in until the last team has completed the task. Then, add the slowest time-to-complete on to the check-in time, and see where you end up then. It might not have changed anything in this case, but then again it might have, if it actually took Patrick 6+ hours to complete the Roadblock (which it looks like it did).
Point is, it doesn’t seem right that a team that actually completed all the tasks would be eliminated, when there were other teams that didn’t who got to stay in. Especially because, really, Deana/Ray and Gretchen/Meredith didn’t even appear to try. Rob at least tried to eat the yuck, for which I will give him some credit (much as I hate to do so).
Of course, if Debbie and Bianca weren’t so damned stupid …
I just don’t think so. I think, in the heat of the moment, Rob’s “effect” on TAR is being over-rated. Sure, Rob and Amber are racing well, but I think it’s more because they’re racing well, not because they’re getting into other people’s heads. Remember a certain “mental magician” last season? Remember how effective his “mental magic” was at forcing people to do his will? Yeah, not very.
And, really, is what Rob’s doing so much different and so much more clever than what other teams have done in the past? I don’t think so. He’s just racing well. Think about this: who’s telling you how clever and novel Rob’s scheming is? Rob is. And why would you believe him?
Now, let’s think about this eating challenge for a minute. Rob did it “the Rob way,” yes, but just how effective was that? Remember, it took Patrick over four hours to eat his four pounds. How long do you think it would have taken Deana? Five hours? Six? But Rob persuaded her to quit instead. So it’s completely possible that his scheme helped the other teams.
Some people are a bit peeved that Rob up and quit, but damn, TAR isn’t about doing the tasks. It’s about RACING. Race! Race race RACE! It’s about getting to the Pit Stop before the other teams. If you think you can get there quicker by taking the penalty, then you do it.
Think about last season’s last elimination. If Hayden and Aaron had read that last Roadblock (the padlocks one) better, they would have quit right away, taken the penalty, and possibly beaten out Adam and Rebecca. Point is, if the producers construct a task that will take longer than the penalty, why wouldn’t you take the penalty? Raaaaaaace!
As zut posted, Rob’s biggest edge in this game isn’t really about ANYTHING that he’s doing. It’s the other teams’ incredibly tunneled vision regarding him. How many times last night did we hear “We’re behind Rob” or “Watch out for Rob” or “Keep an eye on him” or “We beat Rob!”? As long as certain teams are so focused on Rob and Amber, they’re not paying enough attention to their own game and WILL make a major mistake sooner or later. And Rob doesn’t even have to say “Boo!” to them to get them to do it…
But it was petty revenge for having been caught lying.
He lied. They called him on it. And then he got revenge (for what? he was the one who had done something wrong!) Don’t like them. But I had no problem with what they did for the penalty.
BTW, what was the first place prize? Did they even get a prize? I don’t remember seeing anything, but I may have looked away.
jayjay thanks for reminding me about Rob taking the cab.
Did anyone else notice the absolutely horrible sound editing in Rob’s comment? There is no way in hell that Rob actually said anything about teaching the eliminated team a lesson about calling him a liar! I think they took part of a liar clip from the previous leg, and just pasted it onto what Rob actually said in the cab, which was just some blowhard comment about ‘showing them’ that somebody with more money will take your cab.
