OK… while Phil was giving the “Congrats on coming in first AGAIN” speech to Nick and Starr, did anybody else imagine in their head him tagging on to the end “…and its pronounced suh-ril-ik.” No? Nobody else? Just me? OK, then.
I can’t fault any of them for having trouble with statues. Statues are sometimes difficult to recognize; the mediums sometimes do not lend themselves to clear carvings, and people look different over time. Not to mention 20th century world history is really NOT emphasized in US public education nearly as much as anyone thinks it is/ought to be. Not to mention nearly all of the people doing the challenge were likely born somewhere between 1985-1990. They probably have not seen many photos of Gorbachev either. HOWEVER, the fact that all of the statues were labeled, makes it kind of inexcusable. (Also, Tina had trouble too and by my best guess, she is as old as Andrew and Dallas combined.)
Poor Dallas. Who hasn’t had one of those moments? I think he did try to chase the taxi, but it could have just been editing.
Did anyone else fall over laughing when the announcement for the speed bump task was dancing? That Russian dance teacher should have been as picky as the marching instructor last week. They’d still be there. My favorite line was when they were watching the girls dance and Dan says “Just do what she’s doing.” and Andrew says “But we’re guys.” That should have been the title for this episode- “But we’re guys.”
Well, earlier in the show, I *was *wondering what this newfangled acrylic alphabet was.
Well, parts of her are.
No seriously, I’m 35, fairly well educated, and I’m not sure I could have identified a statue of Stalin without considerable help. As others have said, you can learn all about events without having pictures to go with the history. I also think it could be kind of hard to ID using the Cyrillic names, depending on how your brain works and how tired you were. Some people are really good at learning new symbols and “holding” them in their heads, and some people aren’t.
I feel so bad for Dallas. I think he’ll spend the rest of his life kicking himself for ruining his mom’s chance at $1M. And she is such a sweetheart - her reaction is a good model for those of us whose five year olds tend to spill things on the couch and whatnot.
Fratboys were second? Seriously? I can’t wrap my brain around this.
Toni and Dallas need to be at the end with all the other couples cheering on the final 3 at the final destination. My money is they tracked down the cab.
I mentioned that a couple couldn’t identify Stalin and Lenin to our weatherman (who doesn’t watch TAR) and he said “I bet they were young.” So okay, I’ll cut 'em some slack on that.
I’m sure that within a few minutes of the event happening, one of the small army of PAs and Associate Producers and other whatnots that must surely travel with the production were on the horn with the cab company, the local police, the U.S. Embassy and anyone else they could think of, saying, “Yeah, one of the players on our show is a dumbass who doesn’t know that the first rule of travel abroad is, ‘always, always, always know exactly where your passport is,’ and left his in a cab, and we need some help to get it back ASAP.”
Maybe it would have helped, maybe not…but CBS is pretty unlikely to say, “Huh, lost your passport, eh? Well, sucks to be you. We’re all getting on our plane now, but why don’t you drop us a line if you ever happen to get back to the USA, mmmkay?”
I find it interesting that 2 of the final 3 teams actually came in last on previous legs, only to be saved by having them be non-elimination legs. Has this ever happened with even one team before, as far as making the final three after previously coming in last?
Several teams in past seasons have made it to the final three, or even won, after being saved by NEL’s. In season nine, the “Hippies” got NEL’d twice (B.J. lost his shoes & pants at one pit stop) but ultimately went on to win the entire race.
An A-90 Orlyonok. The picture in that link is probably the same one.
There’s a phenomenon called “ground effect” that happens to aircraft when they’re within about one wingspan of the ground. The cushion of air between the wing and the ground creates additional lift. There have been some planes designed to take advantage of this (primarily by the Soviets for use on the Caspian Sea), and to regularly operate within a few dozen feet of the ground.
Not that I know of; it was just the first example of “something concievable, yet so stupid that there’s no reason to have a seperate unoffical rule instructing teams not to do it” that I could come up with.
Closest I can think of was the time there was some old group of people (Gutsy Grannies? Some grouchy old ladies, IIRC) who decided the best way to get from the southern end of South America to…um…Africa, I think…was via New York. Everyone else went directly to Europe first.
It feels to me like we haven’t seen as much travel via plane during this season. Several episodes have had them staying in the country for the next set of tasks.
I’ve mentioned this before, but I think Nick and Starr are just “benignly evil”.
Every evil thing they’ve done is not really that bad and every other team is doing similar things, they’re just not crowing about how evil they are in a confessional.
It’s annoying, but at least it makes it easier to not hate them.
The sub task counted as a bunching point; three teams entered it at the same time. Dan & Andrew were so far behind, that for the second time this season the trailing team missed the bunching point.
And then D&A went to the wrong park. They knew they were going to lose; it was very clear even to them.
Then suddenly, Dallas lost the pack. D&A’s spirits soared, as they realized Toni & Dallas were hosed, meaning that D&A would beat them to the Mat!
D&A let themselves be beaten – until someone else’s single big mistake allowed them to recover.
Just a note here: I finally saw this episode tonight, online, since my TiVo SUCKS. I am not happy with the fact that Dallas and Mom were eliminated. I had a sick feeling in my stomach for them when he lost the bag - I can’t imagine how they must have felt.
