Actually, I loved the idea of a TBC (assuming they don’t just eliminate Lori and Bolo in the first two minutes of the next episode). Not necessarily because of this particular episode, but because of the uncertainty it produces for future episodes. Usually, if one team is way behind at, like 45 minutes into the ep, I figure, “ah, they’re toast.” Now, though… I’ll wonder if this’ll be be a special TBC leg. That makes it more fun.
Nothing to add here but the quote of the week.
I asked my friend/girlfriend, from Budapest, i’m just learning and know little more than “It is raining today” & “Do you like salad?”.
I didn’t catch what they were saying, it was probably slang anyway, or what exactly the cabbie’s second phrase was when he kicked them out, “finite” isn’t Hungarian. I liked how the cabbie did it so calmly too.
I was lovin’ Gus and Hera snatching those airline tickets from * by playing smart. However, I’m grudgingly impressed by * turning the traffic stop into a guided trip.
I was wondering about those Trabants: if people didn’t know that they had to open the choke up once the engine warmed up, the engines would eventually get fouled. (I’ve heard tales of spark plugs getting fouled and the engines dying, but IME all that you need to do is go, “whoops, the choke,” close it up and the engine starts running again.) The reason I’m wondering is that AR could say that if the cars die by themselves, they’d replace them, but if the contestants kill them, they’re on their own (?).
I’m a new viewer, and I’m not sure of the rules: as Lori & Bolo were reading the clue, they said, “take the train,” so I assume that the clue specifically said ‘train.’ Could they get creative and find a commuter train to West Hobokenstien that has a connection to Budapest? (What if part of that involved taking a cab to a different train station?) I like L & B; they’re well-matched and good comedic relief. I hope they somehow hang in there, but it doesn’t look good. Maybe I’m naive, but why does it seem that *'s like * prevail over lovable doofuses?
Actually, Nancy and Emily got the 24 hour penalty for skipping a task. They were supposed to search for a car, then use that car to drive to the next location. Instead, when they couldn’t find the car, they just took a train (maybe taxi) to the next location instead. The other teams that I’ve seen use the wrong mode of transportation (which is what Lori/Bolo have to do to catch up) haven’t gotten nearly that much of a penalty. Like I said, more probably an hour or two which is a hell of a lot better than being an entire day behind.
*** And we find DeVena, 14 hours later, befuddled and confused before her television, mumbling
This whole Hungarian leg has my brain on constant “My Fair Lady” playback…
o/ Ev'ry time we looked around There he was, that hairy hound From Budapest. Never leaving us alone, Never have I ever known a ruder pest o/
Don’t you guys think that the producers bought up some of the seats for the planes to eliminate some bunching? Those overbooked flights had a LOT of empty seats.
Are they empty seats, or are they seats the production teams had to buy to be allowed on with their racers?
Does anyone know if each racing team has a single production team throughout the race? Do they follow them internationally, or does the show have a new bunch of producers/camera operators at each new leg?
If they ARE assigned to a single team throughout the race, then each racing team probably has to buy FOUR seats: two for them, two for their producer and camera operator. That’s double the occupation that the teams alone do. Realize that at the beginning of the race, that means that there aren’t 22 people flying out of the US on that first leg, but 44.
I have to say that I’m not too worried about Lori & Bolo being eliminated at the upcoming Pit Stop. I mean, it’s a real possibility obviously, but their train leaves at 3AM and the hours of operation at the Net Cafe are 10PM to 10AM, so they’ll be able to get to the cafe and on to the next task before it closes. And there is plenty of time for something to go wrong for another team if the Pit Stop isn’t until the end of the next episode.
I seem to recall reading somewhere that they are rotated amongst the teams so as to not to become too buddy buddy with any one team.
There’s a scary hole in the Leaderboard this week.
With everyone bunched up at the Internet Cafe, I can’t do my usual format, so I’ll go by the results of the current Popularity Poll results
Gus/Hera(81%): I think they are improving. I wonder, however, how accurate we all are in our assessment that Gus is playing a waiting game until the field thins out. I think that strategy has failed teams in the past, and I’m not so sure that’s what Gus is trying to do anyway. Although it would be cool to see Gus pull a needed weapon or grappling hook or somesuch out of that Utility Hat of his.
Kris/Jon(79%): It’s incredible that a team that consistently does so well has had so little screen time that we don’t even know what color hair they have. I’m rooting for them at this point. The only ones who have not exhibited a serious dysfunction so far. However, their performance recently makes me wonder if they can keep it up.
Hayden/Aaron(64%): This team got weird this week. Aaron is showing his true neanderthal colors, breaking his hand in frustration at the Trabants, and Hayden is too high-strung with the whole “I can’t navigate” thing. I don’t despise them the way others do, but they are no longer my favorites.
Lori/Bolo(53%): Unless there’s a serious bunch next episode, these two are gone. I’m not surprised, they just don’t seem to have what it takes. They’ve been floundering around in the bottom of the pack the whole time, and it’s finally catching up to them.
Freddy/Kendra(49%): If next week’s previews are to be believed, Freddy finally loses his shit next week, making us, I’d say, 4.5 for 6 in the fucked-up-white-couples count (I’m not giving up completely on Hayden and Aaron yet: They vent a lot, but usually not excessively nor upon each other).
Adam/Rebecca(43%): Let’s face it. When it comes to really unpleasant people, this season has what you’d call a “deep bench”. 'Nuff said.
*/Victimia(14%): Why do I think they only got this high a score because Jonathan continually votes for himself in disguise? I wish the cabbie had been on a major freeway when he booted them out. I’m still traumatized by Jonathan’s portrait at his personal website, and I don’t want to write about him anymore.
Next week is a “best of” show according to several sources, so we will not have the resolution to our “cliffhanger” until Jan. 4. (Inside scoop: All the episodes so far have been a dream that Avi’s been having, and he and Joe are actually still in the race.)
jayjay - from what I gather, the show hires local film crews in each country, but I could be reading things wrong.
As for bunching this week, with the teams on two (three?) different flights, I don’t see how there could be less bunching unless the show had had them scramble for private Learjets the way they scramble for cars.
Unless the cars are really old the only thing that would happen if you left the choke open is you’d use a lot of gas. I’ve left the choke open on my motorcycles a number of times and nothing has happened to them. I’ve never even seen much carbon build up and I have some high mileage bikes.
I’m still hoping that they get a break because it seemed to have taken them a long time to go those 60 miles. They were right there with the other teams coming off the planes, and even if they got a bit lost, which it looked like they did, they didn’t get in until it was dark, which means it took them ~7 hours to drive that far. The maps all show the M3 to be an open highway so it shouldn’t have taken more then an hour to do the driving. It looks like they got stuck on the side of the road for a good couple of hours.
Ugh.
I just don’t know how to describe my dislike for Johnathan. I think the one image that perfectly sums up his persona isn’t the wife-beating (oddly enough), it’s the scene at the ticket counter in last night’s episode. He’s at the front of the line, trying to get a ticket, and playing the game really hard. Which in this case means describing the importance of getting on the flight, and the fact that if he doesn’t, he loses. (It’s not exactly true, but it’s a good way to play the game and get a lucky break - unlike the pity bullshit Mirna and ______ pulled last season.) He doesn’t get the ticket, which is good for us. But even after it was obvious he wasn’t going to get the ticket, and after he got tickets for the next flight, he still made a point of going by the counter one more time to express his disdain for the ticket lady “losing the race” for him. Completely unnecessary, completely assholish, complete jerk behavior.
Whenever the teams were having troubles with the transmissions of the Trabants, it was physically impossible for me to not yell out, “Put it in H!”
Ha! I was wondering the same thing! Then I realized that the lowest popularity score you can give a team is a “1” – I betcha CBS just averages the votes and multiplies by ten to get a final popularity score. Which would mean that this team is getting only 4% better than the absolute minimum possible.
Now that would be shocking. Although, if true, I would have expected to see a lox-eating Roadblock by know.
Let me also take this opportunity to protest the clearly sexist bias of the show. The ladies I know are loving the shirtless Bolo, Gus and Jonathan. So where’s the shirtless Kendra? Hayden? Kris?
I’m just sayin’.
I have to agree with the Gansta O. Kendra may be incompetent moron, but she’s friggin’ hot. And don’t forget Hera - she’s pretty hot as well.
Hayden’s cleavage has been a recurring character, and there was an entirely unnecessary (though appreciated) shot of Kris’ cleavage in Senegal. Not so sure about Kendra. They’ve also favored us with some good spandex/ clingy top moments. After Nipplegate, that’s the best you’ll get on CBS.
And I have an easier time believing the women love the shirtless Gus than the shirtless Jonathan. Although Jonathan has the technically better physique, he had established himself as an abusive * well before we saw him shirtless, and I think the number of women who could get past that in drooling over him is relatively small.
Shritless Gus never loses his cool. Shirtless Gus is amazing. Shirtless Gus is truly a force to be reckoned with. Shirtless Gus can take on Ripped-Shirt Kirk while piloting an open-cockpit plane over the barren wasteland of Antarctica.