The Amazing Race 24.6 - Down and Dirty

Cafe Society
1

Yeah…there’s a reason that no one has started a thread. I hope that I did it correctly, nonetheless.

Very, very meh episode. I did not expect a NEL. Kinda pissed that it was one, actually.

Other than that, not much to comment on. Thank you producers, the first time in this race, for not having to remind us of Dave’s injury in a previous race.

I will say that the tuk-tuk racing was giving me heart palpitations. I don’t know if I would have handled that was well as the teams did. Also, wish there was more interaction with the elephants, but I totally understand why there wasn’t.

Mods: Please feel free to change the title, if need be!

2

Except for the flashbacks to Deliverance I has having while that nutter was squealing “GREEEEEEENNNN!!! GREEEEENNNNN!!! GREEEEEEENNNN!!!” and totally doing it wrong.

I was also really hoping this would be the last episode for the blonde bimbos. Dangit.

But yeah, kinda meh.

Wasn’t fond of the elephant segment as I’m not keen on handlers using bullhooks on them. Seemed like they tried to keep their use off camera as much as possible, but it was inevitable.

3

Taxi Assessment:

Stuck in the Desert and Officially Detained - or, Philiminated with extreme prejudice.
Natalie & Nadiya and [del]Bopper[/del] Mallory & Mark and Joey & Meghan and Margie & Luke - (already eliminated)

Flat Tire - or, not likely to get anywhere soon.
Caroline & Jennifer (down from “Stopping”) - Caroline & Jennifer are right, in that they didn’t really make any mistakes on this leg, yet they still wound up in last place, with a Speed Bump to perform on the next episode. And that’s Caroline & Jennifer’s problem, really: they’re not realy good enough to beat any of the other teams without someone else making an error. That (and Jet & Cord’s express pass) has carried them this far, but really they can’t count on other teams eliminating themselves for much longer.

Stopping for Gas - or, not broken-down, exactly, but not a good sign.
Brendon & Rachel (holding steady) - Finally Brendon & Rachel will be leaving the Pit Stop in something other than last place. That’s no thanks to Rachel, who can thank John that she’s not still pumping gas into random green tuk-tuks rather than carefully reading the clue. They’re really lucky they were able to bunch onto the same train as the other teams; combined with the Globetrotter’s near-fiasco with their cab and Caroline & Jennifer being Caroline & Jennifer, Brendon & Rachel sneak into fifth place.

“Rapido! Por Favor?” - or, making meaningless ineffectual comments from the back seat, but in no immediate danger.
John & Jessica (holding steady) - John & Jessica finally make it into the top three. I’m not sure they can stay there; they essentially got lucky (or skillful, if you prefer; the point still holds) coming off the train bunch and getting the “right” Detour option. Good for them, but let’s see how they do on the next episode.
Flight Time & Big Easy (holding steady) - Speaking of the top three, guess which team has not yet had a top three finish? Yes, the Globetrotter, who so far have managed, at best, an uninspiring fifth place. Yes, they’re right that all you need to do is beat one team every leg, but that sounds to me like a rationalization rather than a strategy.

In the Passing Lane - or, ahead of the pack, but not quite comfortably.
Leo & Jamal (holding steady) - Finally Leo & Jamal wind up in first place. They seem to be getting slowly better as the season progresses (or maybe the competition is getting worse). Stll a tentative pick to make it into the final three.

Cruisin’ with Earl - or, drivin’ on the shoulder, takin’ shortcuts, and generally kickin’ butt.
Dave & Connor (holding steady) - Dave & Connor might be losing half a step: they went head-to-head with the Cowboys and the Afghanimals (the other two top teams) and came out behind. That was only on this task in this episode, but it does make me wonder if Dave is slowing down now that we’re deep into the Race.
Jet & Cord (holding steady) - The cowboys battle for first place yet again. This time they wind up literally seconds behind, but they’re always in the front of the pack, and should be a shoo-in for the final three.

4

A couple notes:

  1. Yeah, boring episode. First a bunching at the museum cancelled any time differences from the last episode, and then a bunch on the train cancelled any performance differences from the Roadblock. Then the limited number of elephants seperates lead teams from trailing teams, so how well teams did on over the whole episode essentially boiled down to the ten seconds of action of finding the clue on the riverbank.

  2. I am getting inordinately annoyed by Brendon and Rachel’s repeated references to having a baby if they win this season. Maybe it’s a joke between the two of them or something, but deciding on whether or not to have a child based on how well you do on the Amazing Race strikes me as an even worse idea than the oft-repeated “figuring out your relationship” based on how well you do on the Amazing Race (in itself a terrible idea). I get the idea that having a monetary cushion is nice when deciding to have children, but that perspective would make sense only if Rachel hadn’t already pulled down a cool half-million of Big Brother money.

5

What I want to know is, if they don’t win the race, then does that mean Brenda *can’t * have a baby? Because if that’s the case, all the more reason to root against them. :smiley:

Yeah I was kind of annoyed at John for cluing her in, and was hoping they wouldn’t finish in time to make the train. And it might have just been the editing, but I don’t remember seeing them buy a train ticket. (I assume if they actually hopped the train without paying, there would be some kind of penalty involved.)

6

I really liked this episode, it had a very race-like atmosphere all the way through.

Pretty good editing job by the producers this week kept the excitement level up.

7

:hangs head:

I’m usually right up there in starting these threads, but in all seriousness, I haven’t watched the last two episodes, and it’s not just because of the time delay due to the March Madness playoffs: It’s also been running right into The Walking Dead.

Individually I enjoy these teams, even Brendon and Rachael. I enjoyed their original seasons. I didn’t mind some of them competing on the Unfinished Business seasons.

Enough is enough, though. So far this season is like one huge phone-it-in. There are no surprises because we, the audience, already knows these teams and how they approach things.

My theory is that CBS tries saving money by inviting back previous players (this goes for Survivor, too, btw). If you invite back previous players, you don’t have to spend money traveling around the country interviewing people. You don’t have to spend money inviting those people to LA for the final interview. It makes economic sense, but for the viewers it usually turns into one big yawnfest. And I NEVER in my dreams thought I’d say that about TAR, of all shows :frowning:

8

In John’s defence, he only clued her in because she wanted to fill up one of “his” tuk-tuks.

We also wondered about not paying, but maybe you can pay a conductor or something if you hop on without a ticket. You used to be able to do that.

I really doubt that’s the reason. Despite the complaining around here, I have a feeling that the producers honestly think familiar faces is a draw.

9

I was going to start a thread with:TAR March 24 :what the Tuk. Tuk?:smiley:

10

That too.

I’d love to see the ratings for a show where previous players return.]

My wild theory is that the first time a returning player plays, the ratings either stay the same or go up slightly for the novelty “Oh, there is X, wonder how things have changed since the last time?”

But…do the ratings stay the same or go down the more times they reappear? I’d imagine the producers think they’d go up if it was a controversial player (or players) – hello Brendon and Rachael – or a player (or players) who were great but didn’t win the first time around (think Cowboys). But do they, really? I’d think by the third time around most viewers would be “Oh, it’s THEM again.” Which is where I am right now.

But then again maybe it’s just me and my sudden disinterest in reality competition. I’ve stopped watching Survivor. I haven’t watched Chopped in ages. I didn’t watch Top Chef last season (I shocked a lot of people IRL doing that because I’ve been a devoted TC fan since Season 2). I stopped watching Project Runway a couple of seasons ago. Maybe it’s a phase, I don’t know. I just never dreamed I’d say it about TAR, but honestly, there’s nothing overly compelling me to keep watching this season…at least not at the moment :shrug:

11

Is there some reason that the threads for this season keep being named “TAR” instead of “The Amazing Race”? It makes it so if you miss a thread you will never find it by searching.

12

I liked it. The Afghanimals didn’t lift anyone up. Watching Rachel so totally oblivious in the tuk tuk fill up challenge was fun. Elephants! My cowboys were in good form. I was sort of afraid when they got the “We do stuff like that on the ranch all the time. We’ve got this” edit that they’d screw up royally. Watching Big Easy stuck his legs outside of the tuk tuk because he was too big to fit inside was fun.

StG

13

Agreed. Not a slam on the OP, but it would be a lot more helpful for new viewers for at least the OP to avoid any acronyms and just spell out the name of the show. It’s easier to find on the front page, and no longer impossible to find via search.

14

Sorry about the TAR title if it ticks y’all off! I really thought all the threads were titled like it. Thought I was just missing the epi title!

I’ve reported for a change to the mods if they so choose.

But, then again, I have no clue how to report this thread so if some one else could, great!

15

It was just dumb luck that the train after the tuk-tuk task was a bunch point - it could have easily divided the teams into at least two groups if the timing had been a little bit different. Compare that to the very first clue, where bunching was obviously the intention of the task.

I think all the teams that annoy me the most are now gone, although I would not shed any tears saying goodbye to the blondes or Brenchel. But I agree with zut that the writing is on the wall for the blondes.

This episode and the last have really made me want to take a train ride through Sri Lanka, though.

16

I’ve send the mods a requested to see if they’ll change the thread title to “The Amazing Race 24.6 - Down and Dirty”.

StG

17

Big Easy had me cracking up when he started manhandling the tuk tuks.

The cowboys are pretty impressive; I felt they performed poorly the entire leg and yet they still managed to finish seconds out of first.

18

Really? The elephant task had them immediately grasp how the logs were to be chained, first to get logs on the truck, carrying their logs individually rather than two en per log. They did okay at the fueling station task, and going around the others and backing into the fueling station was a stroke of genius, I thought.

StG

19

As a person who got bored by the show and went away for a few seasons and came back I can say that familiar faces are definitely a draw because it was what drew me back.

20

They commented on how their tuk tuk at the start was a slow one, were last to get their blessing from that guy at the start, performed poorly at the gas station, killed it in the elephant task, then slacked in the sprint at the end. Overall a poor showing.

(Leaving the train station running to the pit stop both cowboys had at least a 30 foot lead on the slower afghanimal.)