Starting this thread in anticipation of…
“My ox is broken!”
More like “My ox is poopin’!”
Poor Brooke and Robbie. They WOULD get the ox with a serious case of IBS.
No one to blame but themselves. As soon as they showed the task I said “choose the smallest field.”
I wonder if it was the same ox as all those years ago.
Karma comes in many shapes and forms. On The Amazing Race, she occasionally appears as a water ox.
“Water ox” is not, to my (somewhat specialized) knowledge, used anywhere as a common name for Bubalus bubalis. I’m pretty sure they just called them that so they could call back to Colin’s meltdown. They’re water buffalo.
Fun episode, what a giant fuss those wrestlers made about touching fish. And mud/poop. And the smells. And, woah, Misti freaking out about seeing a kid in the street. Way to project your values, darl.
I’m even more confused now than last week in trying to figure out the timing of that FFWD. What I said last week for easy reference:
This week, the scientists started the leg just shy of 2.5 hours after the surfers, and a full hour behind the wrestlers. That means that the cyclists spent over an hour on the FFWD, including travel time to and from it.
To put it another way, after the cyclists left the FFWD, they had 2.5 hours to get the massage and find the merlion. The editing implied that they found the merlion on the first try, and that the scientists wasted a full hour circling back after the wrestlers gave them bad intel.
Just how long was that massage? An hour? Sheesh. In any case, it appears that just driving to the FFWD and not completing it (even if you didn’t spend a single minute trying it) was a guaranteed last place.
Taxi Assessment:
Stuck in the Desert and Officially Detained - or, Philiminated with extreme prejudice.
Lisa & Michelle (#MiamiRealtors) and Dennis & Isabelle (#TheDatingCouple) & Michael & Scott (#TheFirefighters) & Keith & Whitney (#TeamNashville) and Shelley & Nici (#MomDaughter) and Tim & Te Jay (#CollegeSweethearts) and Kym & Alli (#TheCyclists) - Already eliminated.
Flat Tire - or, not likely to get anywhere soon.
Brooke & Robbie (#TheWrestlers) (down from “Stopping”) - Brooke & Robbie made a good call in choosing the fish Detour, but a combination of bad choices (opting for the largest pond) and bad luck dropped them into last place. And with that comes a Speed Bump on the next leg. They’re starting with essentially no time penalty even over the first-place dentists, so they catch a break that way, and the Speed Bump is usually a realatively short task. Still, the Wrestlers are the weakest team standing, and are up against the toughest competition heading into a certain-Elimination leg. Chance of making Final Three: 35%
Stopping for Gas - or, not broken-down, exactly, but not a good sign.
No one.
“Rapido! Por Favor?” - or, making meaningless ineffectual comments from the back seat, but in no immediate danger.
Maya & Amy (#SweetScientists) (holding steady) - I’m not impressed with Maya & Amy’s clue-reading skills, but they did recover admirably on two unfamiliar tasks: tuk-tuk assembly and field-plowing. Admittedly the latter contained more than a little luck, but Amy seemed to get the hang of plowing pretty early. Too, they hit upon what looked like the best strategy for getting tickets, by hailing a cab to the airport and reserving tickets on the way, so they wound up getting tickets before Jim & Misti. Chance of making Final Three: 75%
In the Passing Lane - or, ahead of the pack, but not quite comfortably.
Adam & Bethany (#SoulSurfers) (holding steady) - Adam & Bethany just about landed in last place, but they didn’t. They have in general been better than both Brooke & Robbie and Maya & Amy, and I expect them to be again. Chance of making Final Three: 95%
Misti & Jim (#TheDentists) (down from “Cruisin’”) - The dentists are on a roll, getting their fifth top-three finish in a row and third first in five legs. I still see them as the most likely to win it all… however, I’m downgrading them a bit this week because Jim, once again, shows how he’s so focused on getting things done fast that he neglects to get them done right. A final-episode task like, say, assembling totem poles (form a few seasons back) - where mistakes are penalized by having to redo a big chunk of work - has a bigger chance of hurting the dentists than other teams. Still, first place heading into the final Elimination is a good place to be. Chance of making Final Three: 95%
Cruisin’ with Earl - or, drivin’ on the shoulder, takin’ shortcuts, and generally kickin’ butt.
No one.
Well, to be fair to Misti, they’re travelling through places that pretty clearly don’t have the kind of prosperity we take for granted in the US. I think it might be kind of hard to express, particularly in the heat of the moment, exactly what it is that makes that prosperity difference hit home. That, I think, is what Misti was trying to express.
I heard a rumor that there might be a wrestler or two in the race (Sorry, PRO wrestler.) They are strong, but he must be about 5’6" tall. Bethany and her guy tower over him by a full head. If you have it on DVR, look at the last scene when all the teams are on the mat. The wrestlers are bigger than only the black food scientist, despite being the team closest to the camera.
The other thing I noticed is that some teams, notable the surfers and the scientist, were actually plowing. The mud was coming up out of the water like snow flying off a snow plow. The wrestlers looked like they were just letting the plow bounce along the surface of the mud without putting any downward pressure on it.
The episode has just finished airing here in the Philippines, just as we’re getting hit by a typhoon. I was concerned that we’d lose power and/or cable service, but the storm - while extremely strong - has slowed to a crawl and is ambling its way to Manila. We’re probably going to get hit sometime tomorrow.
I’ll repeat what I said after the first broken ox episode a decade(?) ago: They’re called water buffalo or carabao, not water ox. I like that this time they made the teams ride public transport, rather than being driven around. Given the rainy weather and the freshly-transplanted state of the rice paddies, I’d say this episode was filmed sometime in June.
Water Buffaloes in the African Nature shows I have seen are pretty ornery creatures.
Are the Phillipines Water Buffalo the same species, or are they tamer, gentler cousin?
African buffalo (no water in the name) are a different species, yes. Water buffalo are a domestic form of the wild water buffalo, native to Southeast Asia.
“What are these cowboys doing in the Congo? They look like cows but they’re water buffalo, everybody’s heading for the Watusi Rodeo. Rodeo-de-ooo…”
I literally couldn’t look while Adam and Bethany and Brooke and Robbie were racing towards the mat. It seemed to me that the surfers more found the clue because Bethany stepped on it with her bare feet and recognized there was something there. Jim and Misti kept their composure even when things were going badly. I don’t really like them, but I do respect them a lot. It was so funny to see the wrestlers so squeamish about everything. Robbie picking up one fish at a time in one hand. Silly man. And the Sweet Scientists prove the Slow and Steady theorem. I wonder if it’ll take them to the final three. I hope so, just to see Brooke and Robbie bite the dust before them.
StG
No question your knowledge of this leg’s locale as well as the attendant flora and fauna greatly exceeds my own, but on the other hand I’ve got a chipper Kiwi possessed of bionic eyebrows who calls them water oxen, so water oxen it is for me.
“What time is that in American?”
“I just figure, let the guys do it.”
“I feel manly, 'cause I never do anything manly or feel like a man.”
Robbie and Brooke are still my favorites, followed by the dentists. Robbie is such a ham.
Bethany always wears a tank top even when other racers wear short sleeved shirts.
Why do the women wear skin tights everywhere? That’s an odd thing to wear around in public in most other countries, I’d think.
I have to admit, “My buffalo is broken!” doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.
Eh, I thought it was pretty obvious it was gonna be a non-elimination leg. Bunch all the teams together, some not-really-challenges at the start (go here, get a clue, ride a cab, get another clue…) followed by challenges which were just physically arduous but somewhat luck.
Also it had to be a NEL because the save wasn’t used.
I was in the moment.
StG