Not really surprised at the outcome, but am surprised at how the situation played out.
Scrolling down to bury spoilers 
If the rockers were told they couldn’t check in without their passports, why were they able to check in later? They still didn’t have passports.
I really love the Chippendales. They’re just…fun.
There seemed to be some Shenanigans going on. But the Russian Professor Kingsfield made up for it.
Pencils Down!
So a diabolical task…yet so fricking easy if you know what you are doing.
The Russian Cab Drivers were hilarious!
Sorry to see James & Abba go, seemed like two quality guys…
I hadn’t really noticed before, but Abbie is really very attractive, and also seems like a decent sort. I hope she and Ryan are able to walk away with a cool two million bucks.
Bummer about the rockers. I liked them.
It was frickin’ hysterical that the goat farmer got the puzzle right on the first try. Loved the demented professor.
And, yeah, the Chippendales turn out to be a team I like. Whoda thunk.
The reference map had “UTC +x” in each time zone. UTC stands for Coordinated Universal Time, which is the successor to GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), and basically synonymous with it. So the map was basically saying that the Moscow time zone was UTC+4, or 4 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time, and so forth eastward across the map.
As a map geek, I noticed that immediately, but Brent seems to be the only racer who actually got it right off.
I’m sort of wondering if James & Abba weren’t just ready to go home. After all, one of them has a screwed up knee (although the catalog of injuries made it seem like many teems have some injury or another) and the father of one of the rockers is dying. I can see being ready to call it quits after the loss of the passport.
I was impressed with the lack of whining that Ryan showed when he was having such a hard time with the puzzle. He knew he had on the first go, and although he was frustrated, he didn’t whine too much.
The costumed Russian leaders thing looked like it was pretty easy, after all.
StG
There was actually a lot of direct cross-team aid in roadblocks that I would have thought to be against the rules tonight: Josh basically unlocking Abbie’s locks for her, and Lexi and Jaymes each doing half of the time zone thing. The rule must be just that your TEAMMATE cannot help you, not that NO ONE can help you.
They really are.
And Ryan is really kind of awful. He pales in comparison to some of his competitors (thieves), still kind of awful.
Second, why do only the farmers know how time zones work? Or what UTC means? Or at the very simplest, a city in the same general longitude as Moscow is going to be about the same time? That task did not speak well for the American educational system.
I know! They’re dumber than a box of hair, but they’re good guys and they’re actually funny. I hated them at first, but they’ve grown on me.
IIRC, this has always been the rule for Roadblocks.
I think it was just that the map was written in a style that Americans aren’t used to. Everybody knows that LA is three hours ahead of NY, but as soon as you throw UTC into it (which isn’t really used here, when you think about it), that makes people overthink it.
Ryan may be kind of a douche, but during the time zone task there was none of the intra-team bickering with Abbie that usually happens to other teams when frustration mounts. This redeems him in my book. (Can you just imagine the twins trying to do that task? GO TWINNIE! YOU’VE GOT IT, TWINNIE! CAN’T YOU DO MATH, TWINNIE? SHUT UP, TWINNIE!)
What’s the deal with Russian taxis? While I don’t expect them all to be yellow, I do expect them to have a sign says “TAXI” (or rather “ТАКСИ”). A lot of them just looked like somebody’s personal car.
Taxi Assessment:
Stuck in the Desert and Officially Detained - or, Philiminated with extreme prejudice.
Rob & Sheila and Amy & Daniel and Caitlin & Brittany and Gary & Will and Rob & Kelley - Already eliminated.
James & Abba (down from “Stopping”) - Color me overly optimistic that I thought the Amazing Race producers wouldn’t opt for an episode where the last-place team is not only far behind, but also can’t even legitimately check in once they do get to the mat. Given the startlingly common occurance of passport-loss recently, you’d think the producers would have a better solution to the concurrence of passport-loss and NEL than sadly trailing behind the last-place team as they fruitlessly wander into local police substations in the vague hope that their taxi driver would have turned in the passport. In any case, smart money had James & Abba as the ultimate losers after the cyclone of poor decisions lask week, and indeed here they are.
Flat Tire - or, not likely to get anywhere soon.
No one.
Stopping for Gas - or, not broken-down, exactly, but not a good sign.
Josh & Brent (holding steady) - Fun fact: There are five teams left, and Josh & Brent have finished a leg higher than fifth place exactly once so far (when they finished fourth). To their credit, they’re the only team (that we saw) that picked what seemed like the easiest Detour option, and the only team (that we saw) that rocked through the Roadblock on this episode. That would have been impressive had they not started the leg four hours behind everyone else; as it is, it just means they get to start the next leg three hours behind everyone else. I imagine a planned airport bunching will pull them into a tie with everyone else, but I don’t expect that to last. Josh & Brent aren’t terrible racers, but they’re clearly the weakest team left, and I would be surprised to see them in the final three.
“Rapido! Por Favor?” - or, making meaningless ineffectual comments from the back seat, but in no immediate danger.
Jaymes & James (holding steady) - I’m a little bit uncomfortable keeping Jaymes & James a step below the other three teams. After all, they did just win this leg, they seem pretty relaxed, and on the whole they’re racing smart. Still, James’s ankle seems a little worrisome (particularly since he just aggravated it), and if any of the top four teams makes an error, it seems more likely to be Jaymes & James than anyone else.
In the Passing Lane - or, ahead of the pack, but not quite comfortably.
Natalie & Nadiya (holding steady) - Natalie & Nadiya had to turn in their Express Pass on this episode, so they don’t have that advantage any more. While they’ve been running a consistent third or fourth for quite a while, they’ve also never really been in danger of elimination. Although I’m not sure I’d bet on them to win the entire race, they look like the team that has the best chance of making it to the final three.
Trey & Lexi (holding steady) - This team placed second to Jaymes & James this week, but they had a pretty comfortable leg, being well ahead of even the third-place Natalie & Nadiya.
Abbie & Ryan (down from “Cruisin’”) - Abbie & Ryan did indeed finish as high as they could have, given their substantial time deficit left over from the last leg. On the one hand, I hate to drop them a place in the rankings based solely on one mistake. On the other, they seem to be making poorer decisions lately: not only the layover choice that cost them dearly last week, but also the odd choice to stick with Josh & Brent, and Ran’s hilariously poor performance at the Roadblock. On the flip side, Abbie was clearly in her element at the dancing Detour, but on the whole this team looks more vulnerable than they did three weeks ago.
Cruisin’ with Earl - or, drivin’ on the shoulder, takin’ shortcuts, and generally kickin’ butt.
No one.
The last 2 times I remember teams losing passports, they either didn’t check in at all and continued searching for their passports until Phil came & told them they were eliminated (Dallas & Toni), or didn’t realize it was missing until after they checked in (Zev & Justin) and had no idea where it had been lost and couldn’t find it before all the other teams checked in.
I guess since this leg had the combination of non-elimination, AND the next leg was in the same place so the passport wasn’t needed for travel, that the producers just decided to let them try to find the passport & continue racing.
I was pretty surprised how many people took the dancing task. The famous Russians task looked pretty easy. Does Catherine the Great have the same reputation/claim to fame inside Russia that she does outside?
Apparently that’s actually the case. From Fodor’s: “Gererally, everyone with a car is a potential taxi driver in Moscow; it’s common for Muscovites to hail an ordinary car and negotiate a price for a ride. This is generally a safe practice, but it’s best to avoid it, particularly if you don’t speak Russian.” I think that may have been what caught James & Abba: if I recall correctly, they took an unmarked car, and their driver probably had better things to do than wait for them.
It is used here, when you’re setting up an online account with a time stamp and want to specify what time zone you’re in.
What I don’t get is why the Rockers weren’t allowed to check-in the first time with Phil?
I’m sure it didn’t make a difference in the grand scheme of things, but it’s BS that they first arrive and Phil says sorry you can’t check in without a passport, then a few hours later they come back with no passport and Phil says, no problem you’re last better luck tomorrow? WTF?
Also what was up with the Goat farmers getting their penalty, THE NEXT DAY? Every other time when someone fails to complete a task they’re penalized before the check in, not the next day.
There were all kinds of fishy going on here, reminds me of the plane returning to the terminal incident.
MtM
If you lose your USA passport in a first-world nation, how long until the State Department can hook you up with a new one so you can go home?
BTW, I had the “trick” to the map puzzle figured out immediately.
That’s not universal. Which is what I was saying.
Those are all fair points. I think the producers probably looked at this as a unique situation and bent the rules to fit the reality of the situation. I also don’t recall a challenge venue closing like the pool and the library in Moscow.
Agreed that there’s a whole lot of WTF going on with the rockers. Plus, goat farmers had a four hour penalty and still started the next leg before the rockers? And the rockers waited until after their leg of the race started before calling the embassy about the lost passports?
Agree with all of this.
Very strange episode, all 'round.