Or (4) Grandson saw that it was a physical task but it wasn’t a “parkour across seventeen rooftops in downtown Mumbai” sort of a physical task. Since each team member has to do six Roadblocks and in the grander scheme of things this was a relatively easy one having Grampa get a Roadblock out of the way was decent strategy.
The saggy black man-panties was just collateral damage inflicted on an unsuspecting viewing nation.
For the sake of brevity, we can do what we do in my household and refer to these as “manties”.
To wit: I nearly shrieked when I had to watch NearlyNekkidGrampa trying to pole vault across the mud in his saggy black manties. His saggy white man-boobs didn’t help the situation either.
And the way he said it was hilarious. “Ooooooh. Sheep.” Yeah, 'cause any task involving sheep would naturally fall to the more acrobatic one.
I had forgotten that.
I think I love Vixsyn. Um, Vyxsin. Vixen. Whatever.
I was so hoping that Ronald and his daughter would be eliminated just so she could have been put out of her misery. He is horrible!
Ha! Mine does that, too. I’m so glad my mother was staying with us last night, so my yelling at the TV didn’t seem as insane as when I do it alone.
During the airport drama, I mentioned that a lot of people on the internets say they don’t like the airport drama, but we love it. When Grandpa and Grandson commented that they would get the last two seats and then lost it to a slow counter worker, I cheered. That kind of thing can make or break you at times.
At one point, during one of Ronald’s many tirades, my husband turned to me and said, “I really think it would be best for all involved if they just got eliminated.” Ronald seems a little bit off his nut, in a true, dementia kind of way. That part about “I’m just telling you what no one else will, that you have boogers in your nose.” Unless that’s some kind of ancient chinese proverb, he is just a wee bit ker-azee.
Yeah, I like her because she tied her knots successfully, and so got stuff hoisted while others were still struggling with the knots, and then when she decided that her muscles were not going to be up to lifting the last item, she informed Kynt that they needed to switch places without sounding all whiny and helpless.
What made the sheep line was the follow-up shot of the sheep, with the dramatic music sting.
Kaeiou-sometimesynt’s “I’m kind of prissy” line was pretty good too. Either of those would’ve been a much better episode quote than the 35 year old Archie Bunker reference.
Hey, you know what? I just noticed that there are no all-young-male teams this season. That’s encouraging, since the Race tasks seem to be slanted toward those types of teams.
Taxi Assessment
Stuck in the Desert and Officially Detained - or, Philiminated with extreme prejudice.
Ari & Staella - I’ve totally forbotten these people.
Kate & Pat (down from “Stopping”) - I thought this team might last a little longer, but only because other teams were likely to make a really stupid mistake. However, no one made a horrendous decision this week, just minor instances of poor judgment. What’s worse, Kate & Pat didn’t run the flawless Race they needed, slowly slipped to the very back of the pack, and wound up having that very unpleasant conversation with Phil on the Mat. And that’s that for this season’s token old-people team.
Flat Tire - or, not likely to get anywhere soon.
Ronald & Christina (down from “Stopping”) - Clearly disfunctional. Mr. Log-in-his-own-eye Ronald will be the downfall of this team eventually, and I wouldn’t be surprised if “eventually” means “next week.” I don’t think I really need to point out that blaming your teammate for poor decision-making when the decision was primarily made by you is a bad strategy and just overall bad manners. Although I should point out that, although his identification of the cause was misplaced, Ronald’s determination of the problem was spot-on. They may very well have snagged seats on the earlier flight if they hadn’t stopped on the way to the airport, and they foolishly broke TAR rule #4: “Never pick the needle-in-a-haystack Detour [sub][sup](unless you’re in last place and the competition has chosen the other option)[/sup][/sub],” as well as lost time waffling about which Detour to take. Without a bucketfull of luck (not that that’s unusual) they’re gone next week.
Stopping for Gas - or, not broken-down, exactly, but not a good sign.
Marianna & Julia (up from “Flat Tire”) - Boy, I dunno. I’m still cautiously bullish on this team, so I guess I’ll move them up. They did actually beat one team (Nicolas & Donald) who were on the earlier flight as well as both other teams (Ronald & Christina and Kate & Pat) on their later flight to snag a seventh place. That’s definitely a step in the right direction. However, taking the long road to the airport in Ireland almost cost them the entire Race, and choosing the wrong Detour option (although it worked out for them) doesn’t bode well either. A team to watch next week.
Jennifer & Nathan (up from “Flat Tire”) - This team got Very Lucky this episode: Marianna & Julia’s alternate route, Nicolas & Donald’s flat tire, and Ronald & Christina’s (and Kate & Pat’s) stop for information allowed Jennifer & Nathan to sneak onto the first flight, erasing their poor performance last week. A good show at both the Detour and Roadblock catapulted them into second place: much better than the 10th place they took last week. Now, luck is an important part of the game, but I think I’m more concerned with this team’s breakdown last week than I am encouraged by their performance this week. I’ve bumped them up a notch for now, but I still expect them to collapse sooner or later.
Nicolas & Donald (down from “Rapido!”) - This team had no excuse for picking the wrong Detour, and, much as I enjoy seeing 68-year-old muddy, balding men wearing only skivvies pole-vault across manure-filled Dutch ditches, I believe Nick probably should have done the Roadblock. To be blunt, Donald just isn’t as fit as most Racers on the other teams, and this team needs a strategy to accomodate. What would they have done if Donald simply couldn’t perform the task? We might get to see in a few weeks.
"Rapido! Por Favor?" - or, making meaningless ineffectual comments from the back seat, but in no immediate danger.
Azaria & Hendekea (down from “Passing Lane”) - I think this team still looks pretty good–they started well and the decision to hop on the train before buying a ticket (and gaining ten minutes) was brilliant. However, the wrong Detour choice dropped them back quite a bit (and demonstrated pretty effectively why it was the wrong choice). I think, for this week, I will drop Azaria & Hendekea a notch, but I won’t be suprised at all to see them come roaring back.
Rachel & TK (down from “Passing Lane”) - Another team who I wouldn’t be surprised to see come roaring back. I’m disappointed by TK’s bumbling at the Detour, but I am ecouraged by their teamwork: a lot of other teams would fall to petty bickering almost immediately, and this team calmly worked it through and Rachel finished things off (and, I’ll point out, Rachel rocked the Roadblock also–an impressive episode for her). Missing the bike drop-off point lowered their final standing by a couple places, and so I’m reluctantly dropping their assessment rating, but we’ll see what happens next week.
In the Passing Lane - or, ahead of the pack, but not quite comfortably.
Shana & Jennifer (up from “Rapido!”) - An impressive performance on the Detour puts them on the first bus and lands them in third place.
Kynt & Vyxsin (holding steady) - Good work at the Detour, and I’m happy to see Kynt had no hesitation when it was his turn to get waterlogged. A little scrambling made them miss the first bus, but I’ll note that they were the first finishers from the second busload, so I’ll keep them rated here for now.
Lorena & Jason (up from “Rapido!”) - A win this week gives them the best average placement of all the teams. Really impressive performance by Jason on both the Detour and Roadblock… which, of course, leads to the question of what Lorena is bringing to the team. She’s the only person who hasn’t done a Detour yet, and while I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see that she’s fully competent, she’s still a question mark.
Cruisin’ with Earl - or, drivin’ on the shoulder, takin’ shortcuts, and generally kickin’ butt.
No one this week - teams have to prove worthy of being rated here, and doing well in two episodes doesn’t cut it. Maybe next week…
Next week: Camels, which are alway good for a larf.
[sub]Props to Mullinator and his Raj Ratings.[/sub]
Ronald is our first meta-Racer*: He doesn’t actually race – he talks about the best way to race.
*A nod to The Daily Show’s reference to Bush as our first meta-president (“I’m here to tell you that the government cares about you”), of course.
Who was the woman in the bike cart who (a) hawked & spit and then (b) referred to one of the other contestants as a “freakin’ little bitch”? (and who was she referring to?)
She must’ve somehow *seriously *pissed off the editors.
I don’t think Nicholas in any way pushed NNG into tdoing the roadblokck. NNG immediately said “I’ll do it” and after he left, Nicholas said “I think this may have been a mistake.” He was willing to let Grandad do his thing, though.
Christina’s lucky her dad worked away from home all her life - imagine having to sit down to dinner with that freak every night.
I’m surprised that Azaria & Hendekea, two engineers, didn’t think they’d be able to do the “Haul it” challange. Knots and block & tackle - not a big deal.
I need to read what Wee Carissa has to say.
StG
That guy is tiny. When he got to the mat Phil towered over him, and I don’t think Phil is that big. And his sister is even smaller.
As it was, several of the big guys couldn’t do the “Haul It” challenge either, since they didn’t know how to tie a knot. They had to get their much smaller partner to lift the big heavy object.
He’s in sales, too. What kind of sales strategy does he have—badgering people until they buy things? I can see placing an order just to get him the fuck away from me.
You reminded me that I hadn’t checked it out last week. I nearly died when I read*:
Her surprise when she finds out that they are male/female is hilarious.
*From the tarflies website, in case I need to give proper credit
I’m surprised at how many teams missed the bike drop off at the Pit stop, but I was wondering; aren’t these usually tagged with a red and yellow TAR flag? I didn’t see one on the post, and perhaps that would explain why so many teams went right past it.
Phil isn’t that short, he’s about my height (6’… I met him on the book tour, and he’s just as awesome and hot in person :D).
Ronald kinda reminds me of my Dad, except Ronald seems worse. But if my Dad and I were the ones doing this I’d probably be the one crying in the middle of god knows where.
I now have a total girl-crush on Vyxsin. She is an awesome racer. First, she used her mad macrame skills for the hoist challenge, then she knew when to let her partner take over and help. Finally, she saw a potential meltdown in the making at the roadblock and defused it (“we can rinse you off later” [paraphrased]). I love how the goths support each other. I loved “Way to go pink kitten” from last week too. I do think that Kynt is the potential weak link in the team.
I now reserve my hate for Nathan and Jennifer. He treats her like dirt and she’s a bitch. They can go any time. There are no words for Ronald; he is just that bad.
Much as I hate the blondes, they are fairly good racers, passing teams both last week and this week.
Other than that, most teams are likeable this season and the challenges are great. I love how the hoist challenge really depended more on knot-tying skills than on physical strength. Can’t wait for next week’s camel-milking meltdown.
According to someone over at TARflies, one of the L.A. Blondes is currently “dating” Ryan Seacrest.
I just checked the TIVO to see if my perception was correct, and unless some wierd perspective thing is going on, when Azaria and sister arrived on the mat, Azaria was dwarfed by Phil and TK. I’d guess he’s no more than 5’3" and 125 lbs, and his siter is a couple inches shorter.