I try not to buy into stereotypes and stuff, but the team that was eliminated sort of struck me as maybe being Jewish, but it’s hard to tell for sure. Does anyone know if they were?
We need to know which spa down in LA that jackass Jon runs if we’re going to have any hope of burning it down without causing a lot of collateral damage. What could possibly possess a woman to stay with a man like that?
Who was the Doper with the fanatical hatred of Colin last time – the one who prayed for God to smite him? I’m looking forward to her take on Jonathan.
Gee, were they Jewish? Isn’t not like they mentioned it or anything. 
Actually, I was sorry to see them go; I kinda like them and was looking forward to listening to them snark on everyone else.
Gus and his daughter will be next, I think. He kept telling her to slow down, even when they were walking (and should have been running!). It’s a race, Daddy-O! You need to hurry!
Who made the comment about her implants being frozen? That was funny.
I also can’t believe the evil nastiness that’s coming out so soon. Who are these mean people they’ve picked this time around?
Too many actor types and models for my liking in the new race, although it was good to see the Nutty Professor waddle into the next leg with his girlfriend - oops daughter. Funniest moment had to be Avi (the) Singer losing his zest for life, his quips, his incessant droning on about Brooklyn, and his renditions of “We’re Just a Couple of Jews from New York” as the sun set on the iceberg lagoon. Only thing cooler than the icebergs was the impassive Icelandic motor-boat pilot, whose withering disdain for proceedings momentarily threatened to remind viewers of the absurdity of the whole event. Note for Phil - next time these guys will have to audition too.
I was rooting for the Mormon Sisters (all puns intended), though I have Kendra (and whatever the hell he’s called*) to fall back on should they slip up. The anonymous team who won the first leg - yes, I’ve forgotten their names - look the best team already, but I want the Tag Team to stick around a while longer. Instead of goofing around with each other on top of glaciers, though, they should use their moves to get a submission or better still a knockout from that entrepreneur. Do we need a Colin in every race from now on? (Cool car, though - if they need a home for it, I’ve just acquired a parking space in the New Territories.)
Nice to see gramps and granpa get through (thanks, Alvy). I’m really hoping that on the next leg the cars take Unleaded and that nutter with the hairdo puts Diesel in it - yeah, shoving the nozzle right though the sign that says “Unleaded”. If they don’t goof up, then the only hope for Team Cocoon lies with the Nutty Professor.
Prediction for next episode’s dialogue:
I hate you
I hate you more
I’m never going to speak to you again
Let’s go!
Try to keep up with me (insert female name and/or bitch)
Why are you so stupid?
I’m so stupid to pick you as my partner
Love you
Love you too, babe
Perhaps you are talking about rockle , LOVED all of last season’s commentary, so I’m hoping for more "Are you there, God? It’s me, rockle " this time around.
My favourite part: The couple who are bragging about their airport savvy, then promptly go to the wrong terminal and ask an Air Canada employee for help getting to Iceland.
Actually, asking an Air Canada employee for help in getting somewhere in Canada would still be showing a lack of airport savvy.
Just got around to watching the tape last night…
I had been dreading this season’s casting, but most of the teams, homogenous thought they are, have made an impression on me. It occurs to me there may have been a method to their madness beyond skewing young. Last season (if you look at the popularity and speculative polls), after a couple of Philiminations, more or less the whole country pegged who the final three were going to be, so the only option was to watch the soap opera and hope for a surprise. This season, with so many young fit teams, it may be more of a competition again, although they’ve sacrificed some diversity. While there are emotional dysfunctions aplenty for the soap fans that TAR5 may have picked up, I anticipate more compelling racing this time around.
I’m disappointed to see that there’s no “Destinations” link on this season’s board, giving the info about the locations. Perhaps it will be added later?
From the leaderboard:
Hayden/Aaron: I reeeeeally like this team, and hope they continue to do well. The words “functional” and “sane” come to mind.
Kris/Jon: Who?
Lena/Kristy: My Mom grew up Mormon, so I feel a connection to the tension between Mormons and those who have left. Hope to see more of them, especially considering they seem to be enjoying themselves.
Freddy/Kendra, Jonathan/Victoria: I feel like Colin from TAR5 underwent meiosis. Jonathan got his personality, while Freddy got Christie… I mean, Kendra.
Lori/Bolo: Team 'Roid Rage will be fun to watch until their eliminatioin some time in the first half of this run.
Adam/Rebecca: OMFG, LOSE THE HAIR! And if you’re not going to lose the hair, LOSE THE 'TUDE! Why do I get the feelin she’s been stalking her ever since their two dates sometime about a year and a half ago, and has told her if she didn’t run the race with him, he was going to grow out those two scale-model Truffulua Trees until he could tie them in knots to spell our her name. “Formerly dating”?!? She slept with that?
Meredith/Maria: These two ditzes are not long for this race.
Don/Mary Jean: Another functional couple! A bumper crop for this show! Too bad they don’t compete too well.
Gus/Hera: Hearing him say he worked for the CIA, then watching his judgement this first leg, I understand SO much more about our intelligence failures for the last 15 years.
Avi/John: I pity the students who are the benficiaries of his “logical mind”. Buh-bye.
There’s what I forgot to mention in my last post! Kendra reminds me of what you’d get if Christie and Nicole took part in a mad science experiment to combine the physical appearance of both.
Not true.
There were one, maybe two, instances in the past five seasons where there speeding violations. The one that comes to mind took place, I believe, in the desert, and was some pretty treachorous (sp?) terrain. In that case, the directions clearly stated that the speed limit must be followed while driving to the next route marker. This was also the instance where if night fell, the teams were required to pull off to the side of the road and not drive. Team Itchy and Scratchy (the guys from New York who were former roommates…one looked like Woody Allen, and one had a shaved head) violated it, and got a time penalty.
Speeding is not encouraged, but is generally not discouraged…hell, witness all the Taxi Drivers from Hell that would just as soon run down a pedestrian as run a red light…
By george, you’ve got it! This is the first explanation for the casting choices that doesn’t make me despair for the future of the show. I think we may have been so depressed by the Most Boring Survivor ever, currently being played out, that we didn’t realize that the similarity in teams might be a good thing for this show.
And if anyone sees a hole in his logic – well, la la la, I can’t HEAR you!
Greetings. I don’t watch ‘reality’ TV myself and I hope this doesn’t constitute a hijack but you’re talking about the premiere of the new Amazing Race, right? I just wanted to know if my beloved Iceland was indeed the setting for the first show and if so, did it look any good?
It’s not that I don’t know what my home looks like but I have no idea whether it was just on Vatnajokull (which would be lots and lots of white, pretty much) or if there were any good shots of the country. Reading this thread kinda makes me think they didn’t show you much, though. I’d wait for the show to air here but I don’t know which station it’s on and watching RTV physically hurts me. Oh, erm… go team Steroids!
There was a lot of flattish area and highway, and a waterfall, the name of which I have a better chance of spontaneously pulling $100 bills out of my ear than remembering. Then Blue Lagoon resort at the hot springs.
I would have to say that your beloved Iceland was not shown to its best advantage. Lots of rolling barren fog-shrouded moors; a waterfall; a glacier. There was a glimpse of mountains (a long shot of the glacier) in the distance.
Wow, I thought Iceland was beautiful. I loved the blue water at the Blue Lagoon, and the glacier and waterfall were both pretty neat.
The older couple didn’t do you any favors in calling everyone in that one town wasted though.
This site
http://hasbrouck.org/amazingrace
has some interesting insights into TAR, especially about how difficult it is getting for the show to actually run the race since it is becoming so well-known.
Really?
Because I started looking into adding Iceland to “future spots I want to vacation.” It must be amazing if it’s really better looking than that.
This is the first time I’ve ever seen the show, and it was pretty decent. Strangely, I don’t really like most of the people (I liked the ones who won Tuesday’s challenge, the male half of the wrestler couple, and the older couple (who simply haven’t got a chance).) but so far, most of the rest of the models/actors aren’t doing it for me. Though I will enjoy cheering for Team Botox to lose. And I actively hate that one set of models (Kendra and someone - they travel a lot, as models, so they know airports).
Is it usually so full of people who are so blatantly looking at this as their break into stardom? Or do they usually have people with real jobs on the show?
Do they often have “catchup” spots? (Some of the people got onto the ice several hours later than others - it seemed, from the filming. But because of the shuttling back, the leads were cut to an hour and a half at most)
What is a “roadblock”?
Oh, I’d agree. I’m not into the “sandy beach and hot sun” kind of vacation spots and I thought Iceland looked just gorgeous.
The sun rising over the foggy moors, the waterfalls - absolutely freaking beautiful.
I’d love to climb up that glacier and then sit in the hot springs.
I think reality programming in general, at least what I’ve seen of it, tends to have a lot of these mode/actor wannabees. Dunno if TAR has more than its fair share.
Many episodes will have one or two places where teams tend to get bunched up. Normally, though, this bunching happens more naturally: at airports, for instance, where flights leave at near the same time (like O’Hare in this leg) or where teams need to complete a task at a location that has limited hours of operation (e.g., 8:00 to 5:00). Only occasionally is there a more artificial bunching like the glacial slumber party in this ep. (You also might be interested to know that teams start each episode in the same order, and with the same time seperation, as they arrived at the Pit Stop in the previous episode.)
Most episodes, in addition to travelling, have a “Detour” task and a “Roadblock” task. The “Detour” you saw in this episode: teams need to choose between two different tasks, each with its own pros and cons. For the “Roadblock,” teams must complete a particular task, but must choose one and only one member team member to complete it. (For reference, a team’s choice of Detour task can be changed, i.e., teams can switch tasks; but the choice of team member for the Roadblock task is final.) Official TAR Glossary.
I’ve been watching this show too long. I actually heard the above paragraph in Phil’s voice…