It was cool to see a clue that needed at least a little work, instead of “Go here”.
I wonder if all that puke was what attracted the fish.
Fenris, I wouldn’t get so hung up on the creative editing, they’ve done that every single episode of every single race. But you’re right – the shadows were much, much different when the last two teams arrived. At least a 3-hour difference, I’d say.
Hard to say which was the creepiest moment: Jonathan handing out poisoned candy to children and saying how much he wants to have kids (now there is a man whose genes should NOT be passed on, if there’s any justice under Darwin!)…or Gus’s boobs. :eek: :eek:
And LOL at Bolo’s line, “We beat those three girls!” referring to Hayden, Kendra…and Alex. 
Yep, just like chumming!
I must remember this for next time I go fishing. Nope the best bait isn’t cat food, cheese, corn, marshmallows or worms… it’s vomit!
And my first reaction to hearing Victoria say Jon would make a good dad and that he would love kids? :eek: :eek: :eek: He’s more of an asshole than my dad was when I was younger!
ditto on Kendra. Is she the one that said the ‘ghetto of Africa’. I love watching these whitebread spoiled suburban types go somewhere out of their element.
Was she with the guy who wouldn’t pay the $10 for the cab ride and only paid $7 because “I didn’t ask you to stop for air”. What an ass. Rip him off of $3, hope it makes you feel good.
i like Bolo and his wife, I hope they win.
I disagree–the one rule they’ve always followed strictly is that they don’t fool around with the actual sequence of events–what they’ve done is compressed time, but not changed the actual order that things occur.
For example, if team one gets to the pit-stop before team two finishes the challenge and team three hasn’t even found the clue-box, they’ve always been very strict (from what I’ve read and seen) about not screwing with that sequence of events–they wouldn’t edit it such that it looked like team one and two were at the challenge at the same time if they weren’t, for example (That’s why you see the “Team two finishes the challenge and mere seconds later team three arrives” bit so often.) They might cut out a bunch of stuff that happened to teams two and three to make it look like the two teams are neck-and-neck (they do that every episode and it doesn’t fool anyone), but they won’t actually change the order that things happen in–and it looks like that’s what they did do on tonight’s episode.
To use a bad analogy, it’s considered ‘cheating’ for a stage magician on TV to use editing to make his tricks work. But it wouldn’t be considered cheating simply to use fast-motion to make parts of the show go faster.
And ditto what’shername’s line to Alex (something like “Well, if you weren’t such a wussy-boy”) right before his…um…3d(?) suicide attempt.
I’ve got money on Kendra and whatshisface. I was appalled at her. Has she been this bad in previous episodes?
I was bummed that there weren’t more consequences to the frontrunning teams taking the local’s advice as to when City Hall Tower (or whatever it was) opened – that was a totally boneheaded mistake (go over and look at the freaking sign if you’ve got so much time to kill!) that I wished they’d been more screwed by it.
I would like to second all the Kendra-hate and add my own Hayden-hate. Freddy and Aaron seem alright, though. Shame they’re stuck with those sticks. (Oh, and Hayden? For the love of all that is holy and righteous, please wear a bra. You clearly do not have implants, because you’re flopping all over the place. They’re going to sag if you don’t give them some support. Trust me on this one. Mine are real, too, and they ain’t pretty any more. Just sayin’.)
So far my favorite teams are Don & MJ and Lori & Bolo. Don & MJ rock! I hope that someday I am the same kind of older woman that MJ is. She could totally kick my ass. Gotta love how all the locals were applauding her at the salt task, and how they were applauding Don, too, for supporting her. And Lori & Bolo are meatheads, but they totally love each other in their own warped kind of way. They give and take evenly. Awesome!
Even funnier–Wussy-Boy said “Maybe I should just jump off this boat?” and she replied, 'That would be awesome!" 
While I did have a momentary chuckle at that, on thinking about it I realized it’s just sad. Adam is (amazingly) not the real villain in this abusive relationship. She is. Adam is crazy, deluded, dependent, and lovesick, but he’s not anywhere near as coldly abusive as Rebecca was this episode. Makes me wonder what was edited out of her segments in previous eps…
Kendra ain’t long for this show. Unless she has a defeatist personality and this is normal, she may have set a record in shortest amount of time to go from “smiling beginning of race face” to the “dear Lord, kill me now just so I can get away from here” face. She looks pretty much done for mentally. Freddy hasn’t shown enough skill to overcome that obstacle. They are likely out soon.
Is anyone else intensely curious about the names Jonathon and Victoria have picked for their offspring? You just know it’s something tooly. Probably stuff like Maximus Dartaignan and Precious Cinnamon.
Mary Jean is going to be quite sore for the next leg. They will lose due to the accumulation of aches and pains of previous legs, which is what seems to get the older folks now more than just being slow in one leg.
Gus and Hera are deceptively good, but are in trouble if he has to do anything involving speed on land by foot. That will get them in trouble at some point.
Jon and Kris rock. All the competence of Colin and Christie, all of the great attitude of Chip and Kim. And, they are well-balanced. Even without the new equally split roadblock rule, she would still likely be doing tasks. That’s refreshing. How could anyone not love this team?
Somewhere along the lines, I predict a major blow-up for a team. I don’t think I’ll go so far as to say a team will quit in the middle of a leg because they can’t stand each other, but I do think some team will basically have a major fight that goes far beyond the bounds of expected bickering.
What did we learn this week?
- Don’t blindly trust locals. Take the info they give you and try to confirm it if possible. A clearly posted sign that lists operating hours shouldn’t be overlooked. They had 8 hours to kill. 1 of those could have been spent getting confirmation.
- Know who you are going on the show with. It’s great that Freddy and Kendra came on together as lovebirds, but if he truly wants to win, he should have picked someone else with more of a spirit of the race. At the same time, he should know Kendra well enough to know that she will be completely uncomfortable which means he loses a lot of bickering rights.
- Usually, a correct detour choice is obvious (fast and dangerous is good to do, slow but safe is not). If, like last night, the choice isn’t so obvious, it’s a good idea to do the one you have more control over. Arranging fish might seem tedious, but it’s all on you. Catching 4 fish may not seem like much, but your fate is in the fish hands.
Or fins. Unless you’re fishing in Chernobyl.
I dunno; I didn’t really read it that way. I might not be remembering totally correctly, but Rebecca seemed pretty supportive during the roadblock. The scene on the ferry was kind of weird; I read it like this: Adam realized he didn’t exactly rock the roadblock challenge, so he’s trying to shift the blame onto Rebecca by accusing her of no being supportive enough. She sees through this and is having none of it. Adam realizes she’s pissed, and Bam! goes into I’ll-leap-under-the-train mode. Since this is probably the hundredth time Rebecca’s seen it, she’s not impressed by this either.
I’m willing to give Kendra a bit of a pass on this episode – they’re rolling into a third world country in the middle of the night, and, truth be told, those cab drivers were looking pretty sketchy. I’m thinking she was just really really uncomfortable in the situation.
I really like Jon and Kris, but I second what someone said upthread: not checking hours of operation was a really boneheaded move, and I would have liked to see some repercussions from that through the episode, rather than the inevitable bunching. Still, despite a couple wrong moves, they didn’t get rattled, nailed the roadblock and detour tasks, and had another #1 finish. Wow.
And to echo rockle, I’m liking the meatheads a lot more. I was hesitant after the first episode; I can do without Lori’s yelling. But they seem fun and competitive, and I’m on their side. Plus, for some reason, Bolo cracks me up when he’s running around asking directions from the locals. I can just imagine me watering my lawn or something and having some musclebound racer with a huge backpack come jogging up and asking me for directions. With the intense look and the facial hair and all.
I wonder what the Hayden/Bolo tiff is about next episode. Bolo sounded so aggrieved when Hayden accused him of being on steroids that I can’t help but feel a little sorry for him already.
And finally, I echo Mullinator on the detour choice. I think the detour option where you can make steady progress is the right choice (provided it isn’t obviously longer). This ep, you can make steady progress on the stacking; with the fishing, your progress is in fits and starts, and not controlled by you. Last ep, you could make steady progress on the building, with the counting, if you counted wrong you were back to square one.
Man, I REALLY thought Rebecca was unsupportive of Adam at the Roadblock. She was calling him a wuss. Telling him he was girly. Shaming him about other females finishing before him. That is GREAT locker room motivation for a jock, but for a guy who still lives with Mommy and has her clip his toenails, it is just harsh!
Oddly enough, he LOOKS strong. The guy is big. He should be able to do that challenge. So while she WAS correct that he was a girlie-man, it might not have been the best strategy to repeatedly tell him that.
And then, on the ferry she calls him her “girlfriend.” At least we know she realizes that he is a gay man.
A few other random thoughts:
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No! No kids! Your line must end!
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I’ve taken to calling Kendra “Princess.”
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I like Bolo. He seems like a nice guy. Contrary to his protestations, he HAS to be on the juice. I still like him. He’s one of those guys who sounds dumber than he really is. He absolutely LOVES Lori. And his crack on Adam was funny, “She’s stronger than he is!”
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I like the Long Distance Daters (Kris and Jon?). They seem to be the team to beat. She is HOT! And she also had a nice positive comment about how enlightening the experience was. A little depth. And I swear, at the pit stop, I thought it was Britney Spears! Even in the face.
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Why did Gus and Hera get flack at the cab stand? Was that a racial issue? Did the locals think blacks would have no money? Were they resentful of Western Blacks?
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I wished last night wasn’t a non-elim leg. I like Don and MJ (moreso MJ) but I think the race would be better without them. I’d have prefered to see a non-elim benefit a good racer on a bad day than a team that has no chance of winning.
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Add me to the list of people who don’t like the bunching. It takes away many of the twists. The tower opening time SHOULD have been more of a factor.
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Gus needs a Mansierre!
Overall, I thought this was a pretty weak episode. Glad to seen Don and Mary Jean stick around for another leg, but eh. Bunching killed most of the suspense until Dakar, both detour tasks were boring to watch, and there wasn’t much shuffling of position at the roadblock.
Aaron/Hayden
I really liked this team after the first leg, but high-strung Hayden is starting to annoy me. And judging from the previews … Hayden, that’s just low. Aaron still
seems like a fairly likable chap, though. Still 2nd-most likely team to win.
Adam/Rebecca
Actually managed to overpass * in the Asshat sweepstakes. Adam is a whiny
infantile mama’s boy, and Rebecca really isn’t much better. Only team where one member has done all 3 roadblocks so far; I suspect major meltdown
Freddy/Kendra
Finally this team makes an impression on me: they’re Colin/Christie without
the racing talent.
Gus/Hera
After a couple of strong finishes, drift to the back of the pack after a bad detour decision. Gone before 2005, I predict.
Jonathan/Victoria
Did someone in production have a little chat with * at the Stockholm Pit Stop? While he’s still an annoying ass, he seemed more supportive of Victoria this leg. And it hurts to say this, but they’re looking like the third-best team racing-wise. They’re not good enough to actually win a leg, but they’ve been in the front half of the pack every time.
Don/Mary Jean
If they don’t get Philiminated next week, it’ll be a miracle. Nice to see them stick around so long, but they’ve been really, really lucky the last two legs.
Kris/Jon
Put me on the love train for these two. Still not exciting personalities, but they’re nice and the most competent pair of racers I’ve ever seen on the Amazing Race. (So competent, that if they don’t get into the top Three, it’ll be the biggest surprise in the history of the show…)
Lori/Bolo
Eh. I don’t particularly care for these two, but they ran a good, solid leg on one that played well to their strengths.
What watsonwil said about Rebecca and Adam. She was kind of supportive at the roadblock. Kind of. Interspersed with her “crybaby” and “big wuss” and “mama’s boy” comments. Then on the ferry, with the “wussyboy” comment and her very chilly “That would be awesome!” to his umpteenth suicide comment (which, I’ll admit, I’d probably be forced to emit if I were her with him and the suicide thing)…put them all together in this short a time and it adds up (IMO) to major indicators of an abusive relationship (on both their parts, admittedly, but my opinion of which side carries more of the responsibility has changed this week).
Yeah, Adam’s a codependent, whiney, crying, mildly psychotic mama’s boy who can afford to be “weird” because he’s supported by his mother instead of having to actually, you know, get a job and act adult and stuff.
But Rebecca KNOWS this, she knew it before she ever got back together with him (with a 95% probability that it was solely to get on the Race, and a good 70% probability that HE doesn’t know that), I don’t really see that she cares about him much past the necessities of keeping him racing. There’s no chemistry. He kisses her and she just lets him.
Rebecca’s more of a bitch than Adam is a nut.
Yes you did. I was painting at the time and listening more than watching it so when he said that, I stopped immediately, paintbrush still poised in the air, with my mouth open in disbelief. Then I laughed hysterically!
Oh, and Jonathan a good father? What kind of home did she come from? I suppose since she’s dating Jonathan, her dad may have been abusive, too. I feel very sad for her.
Exactly.
Maybe I just haven’t been paying close enough attention, but I haven’t bonded with this team yet. I admire their skills. They haven’t finished any leg lower than second, right? But I don’t feel I know anything about them. They just don’t stand out for me. . . until they jump onto the Pit Stop mat.
The Ugliest American Award of the Week goes to… Gus! No, it isn’t Kendra (there is nothing wrong with complaining about a filthy cab when it is in fact filthy). It goes to Gus for cheating*, not getting called on it, forcing the older couple into last place and subjecting us to those man-boobs on national television.
*The rules clearly stated not to take salt from the boats. He clearly heard Hera read out the rules, but was playing coy as he shovelled pounds of pure salt into his basket. I was completely expected Phil to penalize them for it, but am appalled he got away with it.
I also disagree with **twickster ** and **jayjay ** regarding Rebecca. Adam has pulled that same suicide crap before, and she’s clearly allowed him to do so. Taking a stand and not putting up with it cannot be admonished. Remember, these two are a *former * couple. I have no sympathy for Adam, at all.
My point is that I don’t know if HE knows that they are a former couple. He’s certainly not acting like it. And neither is she when she’s trying to keep him going. Do former couples kiss like these two do at Pit Stops? Do former couples cuddle up like these two do? Knowing the background on her (that she was turned down for the last Race because her then-boyfriend and she had dull chemistry), that she got back together with Adam for this Race seems suspicious in both timing and attitude.