I thought it was really interesting that the two teams that had taxi problems (Jeremy and Sandy: breakdown, and Amani and Marcus: incompetent driver) actually had that work to their advantage in the end, because just about everyone else had to go back and settle up with their cab driver before heading for the mat.
In the bicycle challenge at the beginning, when Ernie and Cindy lost a pedal, my wife and I were both wondering if the producers had randomly sabotaged one bike just to make it interesting.
I noticed that, too and immediately thought of a classic one-liner from Judge Judy to a litigant who repeatedly mentioned the “I’m a single mom” mantra: “I don’t care if you’re a single mom. I don’t care if you’re a double mom…”
Well, considering they’d have to lug their mostly-full bags back to the grass pile, they were essentially starting the task over from scratch. And now they knew what the task entailed, so they probably figured the other option would be quicker.
On the beware-of-any-challenge-involving-animals principle, I would have chosen the rice task from the get go. I think the teams that did that finished faster than went to the grass-and-sheep task.
I think Single Mom was speaking in code. She was trying to say “I’d hoped to stay in longer, because I’m a Single Mom AND I REALLY NEED THE MONEY”, but nobody talks about prize money for non-winners.
I was confused by the taxi kerfuffle. Why was it so important for the contestants to find their taxis again?
The bicycle task was completely worthless. No effort, no strategy, as long as you could avoid driving into a ditch and require a helicopter airlift out.
And it doesn’t really count as an animal task if you can lift your animal and carry it to the destination. Although sheep are surprisingly mellow about that, apparently.
Like twickster said, they didn’t know that the Pit Stop was actually on the grounds when they got there, so they didn’t release their drivers, which meant that when they did find out that the Pit Stop was right there, they had to go settle up and get their bags, since they absolutely can’t check in with a taxi fare outstanding (which almost knocked Uchenna & Joyce out of the win back in their season).
The advantage might carry over. Everybody gave away their money at the orphanage, so they’ve only got the money from this leg. The teams that didn’t pay their taxis to wait for them are probably carrying over more money to the next leg.
There is no doubt she was constantly mentioning that she was a single mom in order to try and elicit sympathy, as if suddenly the rules of the Race would magically change for her and she would be instantly whisked to the finish line in a glorious Single Mother Matter Transporter…:rolleyes:
Also, IS there actually any prize money for non-winners? (I had never heard about that, thinking that the opportunity to travel on CBS’s dime would be incentive enough for most people to want on the show)
One of the nice things about TAR is that the team’s personality and relationships with other teams does not make a helluva lot of difference. So: so what if there’s a Surivor contestant team, or if a contestant is pleading for sympathy? Doesn’t cut much ice, as we have seen. This ain’t Survivor or Big Brother.
Yes, there is prize money for non-winners, although it drops off steeply (but the source for this info is a few years old)
When I heard the “I’m a single mom” thing from the showgirl, I remarked that she was going to get eliminated in this leg. Like a guy in a war movie who shows a picture of his fiance, when a racer suddenly starts talking about their home life, and how hard it is, you know they’re a goner!
I’ve been to Yogyakarta and Borobudur. The temple is quite impressively large. It’s also set some distance away from the parking area. It’s just a short hike, though; football wife shouldn’t have gotten winded getting to the clue guy, unless she’s seriously out of shape. Clue guy wasn’t even at the top of temple, just at the first or second level. There are also a hell of a lot more Buddha statues than what they counted. When you get to the top, there are dozens more. (According to Wikipedia, there are 504 Buddhas in all.) They must have just been counting the statues on a single level.
I was just about to post the same thing; the episode description on our DVR said the same thing. Based on the way Cathi kept falling over during the Detour, I were betting on ‘broken femur’, but nothing ever happened. Perhaps it’s foreshadowing for next week?
Just wondering - how recently did you go? I was curious if they just require all visitors to wear sarongs now, or it was just something TAR did - it seemed everyone there that day had them on. That wasn’t so back when I visited about 4 years ago. My sister went a couple years back and they didn’t do it then either (she actually had lunch at the restaurant they showed).
I’m also wondering how much has been repaired. I know that several headless and otherwise broken buddha statutes near the lower level were prominent when I went; they didn’t show them and I doubt they had to count them.
All in all, I didn’t much care for this episode aside from the restaurant task - that was one where “300 rice plants” sounds like a lot but it was probably quite a long walk to the sheep pen.
My DVR blurb says “A mechanical catastrophe leaves one team stranded in Indonesia as they watch their competition race by”, presumably referring to the broken bike pedal.
Definitely no sarongs when I went, more than a decade ago. It does look like they require everyone to wear them now.
The thing about planting rice is that, not only do you have to wade in the mud, but you also have bend all the way down to do it. Not very easy if you’re not used to it. I’m sure that the producers were hope for some juicy footage of a team melting down, but the animals were more interesting in the end.
According to Phil’s twitter feed on Sunday night (he’s been live tweeting along with the eastern airing this season) the sarongs are issued by the government and must be worn by all tourists. Everyone in the background also had them on from what I could tell.
Huh…I could have sworn my program guide said “medical” too. I was thinking maybe the description got mixed up with a future episode when no one got hurt or sick (didn’t want to post about it because it might be spoilery if it truly was a mix up).
Although sheep are surprisingly mellow about that, apparently.