# The Amazing Race 4/3 - "Get In That Lederhosen, Baby" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 3, 2015, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-4-3-get-in-that-lederhosen-baby/716752 "2015-04-03T22:15:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2015, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-4-3-get-in-that-lederhosen-baby/716752/21 "2015-04-05T19:13:20Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > I don’t understand how you can go on this show without knowing how to drive a stick. You KNOW you will be driving in other countries. I simply can’t understand it. Nor can I. It should be a qualifying requirement. Same thing for making fire on Survivor. ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2015, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-4-3-get-in-that-lederhosen-baby/716752/22 "2015-04-05T19:19:41Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > It’s official, I hate this season. I hate almost all the teams. Almost all of them are just unpleasant people. Beard and Single Mom seem to be the nicest and they have almost no chance. Leg design has also been terrible. Even Phil doesn’t seem himself. > > If I don’t enjoy next week I think that’s it for me this season. I bailed on the show a few years back but came back for the recent All Stars and stuck around. I will try it again next season if I do bail because I think a big part of my problems stem from the failed blind Date experiment. I don’t like this season much either. There have been a couple of episodes that I’ve missed and I haven’t bothered making them up. Meanwhile, we’ve been watching Season 1 on Netflix. My kids have never seen it because they weren’t around then. Watching it all these years later is very interesting. For the fifth (?) year in a row, I made an Amazing Easter Race for my kids, which they have to complete in order to find their baskets. Maybe it’s because we’re watching the first season, when tasks were **tasks** and not “go to this spot”, but this was definitely my best one. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-4-3-get-in-that-lederhosen-baby/716752/23 "2015-04-06T08:26:53Z")
Anybody else notice that Annoying Blonde seems to be unusually weak? Every physical task she’s had to do, she’s either struggling and last or just unable to do it. I’m pretty sure 10 of those mugs is around 50 pounds. She’s a nurse, how does she move and assist patients if she can’t carry 50 pounds? As to the couple that got eliminated, I’m thinking they were either waiting for a train or they plain ran out of money. Don’t they have a budget for each leg? (Don’t I remember people begging for money in a past season because theirs was stolen or something?) I imagine since this leg was mostly (all?) driving, they didn’t have enough cash to take them to the end. ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-4-3-get-in-that-lederhosen-baby/716752/24 "2015-04-06T13:20:55Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > It’s official, I hate this season. … Even Phil doesn’t seem himself. … I think a big part of my problems stem from the failed blind Date experiment. > [@Red\_Barchetta](#): > > Yep, pretty poor season. During the break, I watched S.3 of Amazing Race Australia, and it was soooo much better. Way better teams, less drama, and great challenges. > [@lorene](#): > > I don’t like this season much either. I’ll add my voice to the disappointment with this season. Worst ever. It’s like a perfect storm of wrongness. And I am a huge fan of the show. I too was shocked at the teams who didn’t know how to drive a stick. Unbelievable. Even my wife, who only casually follows along as I watch the show mentioned it as “how could anyone go on this show without learning how to drive a stick ahead of time?” I had no answer. And my final disappointment – where is **zut** and his weekly assessments? ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-4-3-get-in-that-lederhosen-baby/716752/25 "2015-04-06T13:22:58Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > I’m pretty sure 10 of those mugs is around 50 pounds. She’s a nurse, how does she move and assist patients if she can’t carry 50 pounds? She was only carrying **8** mugs - her partner was carrying 14! Good point about the money - they never make a big deal about that aspect of the race any more. I wonder why. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-4-3-get-in-that-lederhosen-baby/716752/26 "2015-04-06T13:54:42Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > Anybody else notice that Annoying Blonde seems to be unusually weak? Every physical task she’s had to do, she’s either struggling and last or just unable to do it. I’m pretty sure 10 of those mugs is around 50 pounds. She’s a nurse, how does she move and assist patients if she can’t carry 50 pounds? For Hailey and Blair, I’ve moved from seeing both sides as about as equally a problem to thinking Hailey is way worse than Blair. So I hate to have to defend her, but I didn’t think it was about the weight, it was about the technique. Those steins were unwieldy. The barmaids (and successful couples) were kind of hugging them in a slightly non-intuitive way while Hailey was trying to carry four in each hand (because she wouldn’t stop and pay attention to the example) and couldn’t keep a grip on them. I don’t think she would necessarily have had the same problem trying to carry a single item of the same or heavier weight. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-4-3-get-in-that-lederhosen-baby/716752/27 "2015-04-06T14:57:12Z")
She’s always right, tho. You NEED to listen to her. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-4-3-get-in-that-lederhosen-baby/716752/28 "2015-04-06T14:59:30Z")
Who else thinks this season resembles those old Battle of the Network Stars shows? Battle of the T’s and A’s, as some put it. Dumb challenges, dumb contestants, some nice eye candy. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-4-3-get-in-that-lederhosen-baby/716752/29 "2015-04-06T15:55:23Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > Oh, yes. One brother’s knee gave out and he couldn’t physically continue the race. I guess that’s technically quitting, but it’s not like they just quit because they didn’t feel like racing no more. > > The Amazing Race Wikia has, amusingly, a category called [Quitters](http://amazingrace.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Quitters). It has very few entries: > > [ul] > [li]The aforementioned pizza brothers Marshal & Lance from Season 5.[/li][li]Father/son team Dave & Connor from Season 22. Dave twisted his ankle and actually ran an entire leg in crutches before deciding to call it quits at the next Pit Stop. They later won an All-Stars season.[/li][li]Poker girls Maria & Tiffany from Season 15 couldn’t physically complete either side of a Detour, forcing Phil to come out to eliminate them.[/li][/ul] I’d argue with that list. The disgusting Pizza Bros just sat down in the sand and pouted. They’re actual quitters. And the magic knee(? back?) that only hurt when they weren’t winning wasn’t convincing. Maria and Tiffany were STILL trying to complete the task when Phil came out and asked if they wanted to stop (IIRC). Technically, they quit because he asked (why? All the other teams had come in), but for all intents and purposes, it was a philimination. Ditto with Bad Ankle Dad–IIRC he wanted to keep going, but the Amazing Doctors said “Either get it fixed now or damage your ankle forever”…AND they finished the leg. So, to me, again, Philimination, not quitting. Only one of the three actually gave up. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-4-3-get-in-that-lederhosen-baby/716752/30 "2015-04-06T16:14:26Z")
There’s a couple of couples I like and only one and a half that I don’t. I like team Truckstop even if she’s kind of high maintenance and they’re doomed. There’s a couple of “tall, scruffy, laid-back, hunk” types. The one with the shrill brunette with the huge boobs are meh. He has no personality, she’s a bit shrill. They’re the 1/2. The other one, with the cute blonde (who lost their passports) rock. I like the fact that they screwed up, figured out a strategy to deal with it and then did it with no fighting, screaming or drama. And weirdly, I really like the kind of like the muscle-guy and the hairdresser. I thought I’d hate the doc and feel bad for the nurse, but now it’s the reverse. Man, I pity that bitch’s patients. I don’t have the hate for this season I had for a bunch of others (especially Family Edition). It’s not great, but the challenges are at least vaguely not-stupid and have some vague relevance to the country\* and are at least slightly challenging\*\*. And now that Phil seems to have the Phlu (based on his voice) and he’s not doing the sleezy “Dating Game” smarm, the mat sequences aren’t gross. It’s a perfectly cromulent season. Not one of the best, but not even in the bottom half to me. \*Unlike the “Dress in a bird suit and jump in a lake.” because…hey–Chile and…reasons. Right? \*\*Relax in a sauna for 10 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-4-3-get-in-that-lederhosen-baby/716752/31 "2015-04-06T16:36:37Z")
> [@Edward\_The\_Head](#): > > Is this the first time a team has ever just given up? I know Phil has come out a couple of times, but that was when people were having problems finishing a task, not for just sitting around. I don’t think they were just hanging around, giving up. Since they abandoned their car, because it had one of those work-of-the-devil-manual-transmissions that who in their right mind could have ever foreseen…they had to take public transportation everywhere. So they were in a train station, waiting to get to the next checkpoint, when Phil found them and put them out of their misery. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-4-3-get-in-that-lederhosen-baby/716752/32 "2015-04-06T16:40:23Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > Oh, yes. One brother’s knee gave out and he couldn’t physically continue the race. I guess that’s technically quitting, but it’s not like they just quit because they didn’t feel like racing no more. > > The Amazing Race Wikia has, amusingly, a category called [Quitters](http://amazingrace.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Quitters). There’s quitting; and then there’s still working on a task in the middle of the night after everyone else has crossed the finish line. When the latter happens, Phil will come out and put a merciful bullet in your head (so to speak). The gay guys this week fell into both categories, though. ---
**Author:** ![Sweetums](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Sweetums](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sweetums)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-4-3-get-in-that-lederhosen-baby/716752/33 "2015-04-06T18:53:35Z")
I laughed all the way through this episode. They manage to get so many of the Amazing Don’ts in one giant Amazing Clusterf\*\*k! Don’t loose the Amazing Fannypack? Check Don’t compete if you can’t drive a stick? Check. Don’t compete if you are afraid of heights? Check All they needed was a swimming challenge and one of the contestant’s to be afraid of water! Honestly these people are so bad at the game, we could almost call it Natural Philimination.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Billdo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billdo/32/315_2.png) [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2015, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-4-3-get-in-that-lederhosen-baby/716752/34 "2015-04-07T02:57:14Z")
I spent half the damn episode yelling at my TV: “If you’re going to go on The Amazing Race, learn to drive stick.” I find it mind-boggling that someone who signs up and auditions for the show and professes to want to win a million dollars doesn’t learn to drive a stick shift before they start taping. It’s a skill that you undoubtedly _will_ need to use, and it’s something that can be learned in just a few hours. Fear of heights, for instance, is something you can’t readily change, though you can willpower through it (like truckstop girl did on this episode, bully for her!). If you are afraid of heights and you go on TAR, you know you’ll have to face the fear and get past it. There’s just no excuse for not learning to drive a stick shift. This season in general has been strangely flat. It seems like the challenges just haven’t been that challenging. There haven’t been the usual spate of tasks that can take either minutes or hours, depending on competence, figuring out the trick, or just plain luck. It has seemed like everything is just run through the task once or twice, get the clue and move on, until you get to the pit stop, at which time, to the extent that you aren’t already bunched, you’ll get bunched on the next flight. And the couples are pretty much all simply boring. The blind date couples concept just didn’t work out, and because everyone is a dating couple, they really don’t have much to differentiate them from each other. Most seasons you have at least a few couples that you can instantly pick out, “the Globetrotters”, “the dentists,” “the ones with the pink hair” or whatnot, and then fill out the rest of them in your mind. Here, now that the twink couple have been eliminated, we’ve got the “fighting doctor and nurse”, the “truckstop couple” and, um, the other couples, oh wait, there’s the couple about which I sometimes say: “oh yeah, they’re the Olympians.” I really don’t know who to root for or against, because none of them have outsize personalities (or even can play off another couple’s outsize personalities). I even get the sense that Phil and the editors realize that this season is a dud. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2015, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-4-3-get-in-that-lederhosen-baby/716752/35 "2015-04-07T12:18:53Z")
> [@Billdo](#): > > I spent half the damn episode yelling at my TV: “If you’re going to go on The Amazing Race, learn to drive stick.” Also wouldn’t hurt to get in some practice at map reading. At the very least, figure of which of you two is better at it – AND do some practice runs of Map Reader giving directions to Driver and find out how best to do it so that Driver understands you easily. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-4-3-get-in-that-lederhosen-baby/716752.md?page=1)