One other comment: Yeah, TAR has always been product placement whores, but I was getting really, REALLY sick of the constant ‘beauty shots’ of those fucking gnomes they had to schlep around for 3/4ths of the episode. The gnomes got more face time than Pinky did.
Yeah, you need sponsors, but c’mon–this is too fucking obvious. (Although it’s better than the “LOG INTO AOL” Challenge of a few years back :rolleyes: )
Big Easy is a much better shooter than Flight Time. Also loved him saying “This clue should just say Big Easy can’t do this” at the ride.
Megan’s psych-out of Cheyne was hilarious. I didn’t think she had it in her. The look on his face was priceless.
I hope Gary and Matt can catch up. I would hate to see them go.
I couldn’t believe Cheyne made Meghan do the hay thing – it involved serious physical labor (the gay bros were there already, they could see what was involved when they started), and so it seems obvious to me that the physically bigger and stronger partner should do it.
And I say this as a feminist who’s been carrying that card longer than either Cheyne or Meghan has been alive.
I was surprised at how easily the teams found the arrow while on the big drop ride. There was a lot to look at in the park. I wonder what would’ve happened in both Globetrotters had been taller than 6’4" (which I’m surprised they aren’t). And I loved them trying out names for their gnome (“How about Louisiana Shorty?” “No, that’s too ghetto. Let’s go with Harlem Gnome.”)
Brian’s speil at the mat about how proud he was of his useless wife just made me want to slap some sense into him.
And the fact that Meghan and Cheyne got to a task which was obviously strength-based, and Cheyne basically abdicated it to the smaller team member was frustrating. It’s a race!
I could empathize with Pinky talking about how hard it was to sit on the sidelines watching his dad do all the work. After all, that’s what he also did in th ehookah challenge. He’s pretty useless, but his dad still loves him anyway. They should’ve stopped and asked for directions far earlier, IMHO.
Sam & Dan can go any time, as far as I’m concerned. They irritate me.
StG
I disagree-this task is pure luck–speed matters, but it’s not that important. If they’ve been squandering their roadblocks and he’s only got one or two left*, it would make sense to give her this endurance task, saving him for one that’s nothing but pure muscle later.
*Remember, since season…5? each team member has to do half the roadblocks (Chip did 100% of his team’s tasks and Colin did like 90% of his–which screwed the Bowling Moms).
You’re still better off having the stronger teammate do it. There’s a huge element of luck, but the more bales you can search, the better your chances.
Prior to this ep, Meghan and Cheyne had each done 3 Roadblocks, so neither is really in danger of hitting the limit. (That’s a lingering advantage of taking the Fast Forward; skipping that Roadblock buys them some flexibility for the later ones.)
This rule will hit Brian and Ericka, though. He’s done 5 Roadblocks. I still say their fate hinges on how she performs at the tasks. Unless there’s a baton-twirling-and-wishing-for-world-peace Roadblock, they’re in trouble.
Yeah, exactly. Meghan was clearly getting very close to the end of her physical reserves … what would have happened if she’d had to rest for more than a few minutes before resuming? And what if it had taken her several hours longer than anyone else, simply because she took longer to unroll each bale? It wouldn’t’ve made a difference on that day, because it was non-elimination – but would you really want to start 4-6 hours behind everyone else because the person doing that task was significantly weaker than the competitors?
Oooh, snap! 
Or a “putting foodcoloring in her opponent’s toothpaste while taping her boobs” roadblock.
Heh–Robot Arm is completely correct given the numbers–I thought it was Shane/Meghan with the 5/1 roadblock rule. If they were 3/3, there’s absolutely no reason she should have taken it.
You know, I got a non-elimination vibe near the end of this leg. At first I thought they had the Pit Stop at the farm so Phil could easily step in when there was only one team left. But then he didn’t, so it seemed like a non-elimination was likely. And Brain just kept plugging away at the task without getting too fatigued or frustrated, so it all worked out okay.
But what if it hadn’t? I did not see the original hay bale Roadblock, but from the desriptions it sounds pretty grim. There could have been a similar performance this time; someone out in the field long into the night, physically spent, headlamp fading. But it’s a non-elimination leg. There’s no Phil coming to put you out of your misery. At what point would it just become too evil to watch?
This brings me back to how last week’s show ended. Phil came to the poker girls and said something like, “I understand you want to quit the race.” He didn’t say, “All the other teams have checked in so you’ve bean eliminated.” So if last week had been the non-elimination leg, the girls would have been dumped anyway because they ‘quit the race’, that is, chose not to finish the golfing task.
Speaking of Pinky and the gnome: did you notice that he improvised and used it as a seat while watching his dad? He flipped it upside-down so the pionty hat was sticking in the dirt, and sat on the base. It was awsome! If for no other reason than the other racers were “protecting” and he was sitting on it.
My understanding is that they are saving her up for the Swimsuit and Eveningwear Roadblocks.
I have a bad feeling that she’d still fail.
i have a bad feeling they have that sort of challenge and win the whole race because of it.
Nah. The one reality show I’m pretty confident wouldn’t stoop to something like that is TAR. Unlike Big Brother…in Season 3, after the former beauty queen Amy was voted back onto the show after being evicted, the very next Head of Household competition (the one that Amy HAD to win to stay in because they were going to reboot her out of there toute suite if she didn’t) was to run an obstacle course while balancing something on your head! Oh, no producer manipulation there…
I wonder what the penalty for refusing to complete the task would have been. Could a team have got there and said, “No way.” and had Phil assess a penalty and wait while the others slogged through? When Rob did his during the gluttony task, it was 4 hours from when the next team arrives. The smart part of his plan was that he convinced others to take the penalty after his time started. I wonder if the same could have worked here.
2 other observations -
What I noticed was that usually Phil gives the advantages and disadvantages of both tasks, but didn’t this time – was that just because no one took the second alternative?
I first read that as “Beauty Queen Army” and thought for a second I was missing something fun by not watching Big Brother…
I wasn’t surprised that no one choose the other task. Who doesn’t want to blow stuff up!
Even if the choice had been “blow stuff up to find the box with your next clue, or just flip this card over to get your next clue now without doing anything,” I think I’d still take the first choice.
Wiki says it’s 4 hours from when the next team arrives. Since all of the teams had arrived, I assume they would start as soon as they forfeited the task.