The Amazing Race, 29 April -- "I Need Hair to Be Pretty"

20 minutes in and they’re dropping like flies.

Well I don’t think anyone can say anything about the Speed Bumps now. The last two seem to have taken longer then some tasks. Mark and Bopper were quite far behind, it looked like the tasks today took about 3 hours or so.

It looked Like Phil was deliberately trying to stir up some trouble on the mat. I don’t like that. I know television craves drama, but I like thinking that Phil, at least, is above the fray.

Do later teams know whether or not the fast forward has been taken or do they have to go there only to find it taken and then return to the tasks?

Kentucky started about 3 hours after the 4th place team.

If the roadblock and detour took ~3 hours apiece, they should have easily caught up if the speed bump was a normal duration. ~30 minutes.

The head shaving should take about 30 minutes. I wonder if it was out of the way?

This was written stream-of-consciousness while I was watching, sorry for the incoherence

Dear, dear Rachel.

Children are starving in the streets within 10 miles of where you are. Whining that you’re a half-a-millionaire who spent $500.00 on “extensions”* and crying about it? Please die in a fire.

Joyce (of Uchenna and Joyce fame) cried because it was weird, but she never, EVER, EVER tried to stop or back out. She just kinda…cried. (She also looked far hotter bald than she did with hair)

Vanessa and Ralph went up a billion points in my book tonight–when she fell, I liked the general feeling of care for her. And the way he just took her backpack without asking. Classy.

AAAAAAAGGGGHHH! Furries!!!

I’d have gone for the elephants.

Art & JJ? Why didn’t you go for the FF? Are your balls too tiny?

Bopper and Mark’s decision to go for the FF was…interesting. They may have said "Fuck it, we’re so far behind anyway, who cares if we’re 2 minutes later?)

Geez Phil, way to earn those Emmys for classiness. Yeah, let’s have a catfight on the mat.

I don’t believe the “closeness” of Kentucky vs Border Patrol. Not even remotely.

Geezus Bopper, shut…UP. Buh-bye and SHUT UP.

Finally, I’m rooting for Vanessa and Ralph–you guys?

*What the hell are extentions? Do they tie extra hair onto yours? That seems way gross. Ew.

Nope. You have no idea until you get to the FF site. There have been plenty of times when the FF’s been done and a second team went there and the whole kit & kaboodle was gone or closed. I think it happened a few seasons ago when the Doctor-Friends did the sheep’s head FF (“tastes like $1 million”) and that season’s Bickering Couple showed up after they were done and gone and the whole tiny little chalet/restaurant was closed and locked up.

In the olden days, you knew if a FF had been take by going there. Teams actually lost by going to the FF (which was I’d guess 30 minutes in the wrong direction from the mat and/or the other tasks) Now days, who know?

Duh. Rachel.

Artificial bullshit like this is why overall, my enjoyment of The Amazing Race is only a fraction of what it once was.

There is not one single member of one single team still left in the running that I would like to see end up $500,000 richer.

Border Patrol team are both immature assholes who doubtless love their work as it must give them ample opportunity to lord power over others with impunity.

Helicopter Pilot is an arrogant prick, his wife can be a nasty shrew when she feels like it.

Team Big Brother’s Rachael is one of the most self-pitying, whiny cunts I have ever seen, and while her boyfriend is mostly inoffensive, there is clearly something wrong with any man who would put up with her nonsense; She’s not nearly attractive enough to compensate for her vile personality. (“I just spent $500 on my hair!!!”)

Vanessa is a stunner, but is clearly someone who thrives on drama and conflict, and while it probably makes me a judgmental prick to say so, all I really need to know about Ralph as a person is made crystal clear by his Oh-So-Bitchin’ tattoo sleeves…

Art and JJ already did a FF. They did the landing the helicopter challenge in Italy.

Rachel and Dave already did a FF, stacking hay-bales.

Vanessa and Ralph could have done the FF, but they correctly assumed Big Brother would have done it.

I’m rooting for Team Big Brother to win it all and I’ve liked them from the start. I thought Brendon handled things well and was supportive of Rachel. I thought Rachel handled Vanessa’s insincere apology with class.

As far as Rachel deciding not to do the fast forward, it seems like a strategic move not to do it. The reason Team Border Patrol tried to convince Rachel to go back and do the FF was the very reason they shouldn’t have done it.

By not doing the FF, Border Patrol had a chance of being eliminated and they are much stiffer competition than Team Kentucky. Also, Big Brother saved their FF another leg, to possibly use it next episode and maybe prevent Vanessa and Ralph from getting it.

As far as the lost $20k prize for first place, Rachel has already won $500k on BB, so perhaps $20k is not worth the haircut to her. But if I were Brendon, I would’ve at least mentioned to her that a million bucks buys a lot of wigs.

I’m betting that’s the last FF we’re going to see this season, though. There are usually only 2 or 3 in each season and tonight’s was #3 (as someone said upthread, Border Patrol and Army Couple both won one).

From the previews it looks like next week is the finale. I thought the last leg usually had only three teams, not four?

I didn’t watch the previews. Is next week scheduled for 2 hours? Two legs in one night? Did all 4 teams give the traditional “We’re going to win because…” speech in the previews? Because David & Rachel were talking about winning the next TWO legs to break the record for most #1 finishes.

I was sohopingthat Rachel and Brandon would be eliminated because she is too vain to have her hair shaved. Of course I wouldbehopingforthem to be eliminated regardless but it wouldhave been allthe sweeter for her vanity to have been the stumbling block. I have waist length hair that has not been cut in well over a decade and Iwould so cut it off for th advantage that Fast Forward would have given me. She is such a whiney ass drama queen and “I” hate her cheesy sequins if Vanessa doesn’t.

Team does a fast forward and finishes in last. That’s gotta be a first, right? Almost seems like bad race design. I suppose they decide everything in advance so they couldn’t have a shorter Speed Bump or bunching on an airplane, but if the team in last is 3 hours behind, and the whole day is going to take about 3 hours, the producers should’ve come up with something to give them a chance.

When team BB showed up, clearly not completing the FF, could V & R not have gone back and done it?

Yeah, Art (or was it J.J., whoever) was whining about how nobody knows how to play the game properly. If Team Big Brother had taken the Fast Forward, clearly Team Kentucky would have been knocked out. By not taking it, they had their best chance to knock out Team Border Patrol. A smart move, even if it wasn’t deliberate.

Did anybody catch J.J. (or was it Art, whoever) saying that Rachel was really a nice girl? You like her so much you had an arrangement with another team to U.Turn them.

Is there another U-Turn still to come? I’m pretty sure you can’t use a U-Turn twice (Border Patrol and Big Brother have used them already); can you be the victim twice?

Lots of position changes this episode, mostly in the taxis/rickshaws. The order they left the start was not the order they arrived at the first clue, and then different again at the Roadblock, etc.

Watched it three times and it really looks like the cameraman tripped Vanessa. She went down, for no reason at all as he was passing her pretty close on the left. Seemed like he might have unintentionally crossed feet with her.

Or not.

I was thinking that as well, though I wonder if they would show it if they were trying to conceal that fact.

Also, did anyone else feel like next week’s preview gave too much away?