Marie’s stubbornness is really going to bite her in the ass soon. My daughter commented that this was probably the first time she’s ever not felt sorry for a team who’s missing part of their clue.
On the other hand, I disagreed with Nicole’s statement that they “earned the Express Pass” except for their mistake. That mistake means that you didn’t actually earn it.
Pretty cool to see bright daylight at midnight.
o/ Fish heads! Fish heads! Roly-poly fish heads! Fish heads! Fish heads! Eat them up, YUM! o/
My Dementoid little heart leapt when that started playing at the end…
Is Marie the one in the pink hat? What a foul unpleasant person! We had a big laugh over her comment that she is nice to everyone. I hope they end up using the express pass, only to find out that it is just a keep on racing pitstop.
The two tasks were terribly unevenly balanced in terms of the amount of time required, which really sucked.
I like the racing at night in the sun bit. That was cool.
Once again, note to Racers: Learn to drive a manual transmission BEFORE you go on the show. You will encounter them.
I wasn’t sure if the Express Pass would even help Team Pinky at this point. After all, they’re already done with all the tasks for this leg, so there’s really nothing they can skip past. They just don’t have a clue what or where the pit stop is.
Baseball wife freaking out that she lost the clue while she was holding it in her teeth the whole time kind of cracked me up.
Nicole wasn’t asking for THEIR EP. She was asking for the other one, that they have to give away to another team before the end of the next leg. Pinky and No-Brain can’t use that one anyway.
I just found this episode kind of samey.
“Oh, I can’t do manual labour, there’s bugs, bugs are gross, it’s too far, it’s too hard, I can’t drive a manual transmission vehicle, fish are stinky, it’s too cold, it’s too light, I’m great at jumping off bridges, I’m great at moving rocks with FORD™ trucks.”
Whiny entitled Americans, basically. Bit of a yawn.
Loved the bearded guys dashing into the longhouse full of drunken Norsemen. Skaal!
That’s why this show will always be better than Survivor - it’s actually got a sense of humor. My kids thought I was full of it when I started singing some of the other lyrics, and were suitably amazed when I pulled up a youtube video to prove I was right.
Hopefully not the OFFICIAL Barnes & Barnes Fish Heads video*. There’s nothing about that that wouldn’t make them think you WEREN’T right…in the head!
*probably the strangest experimental film Bill Paxton has ever been in…
I only caught the last few minutes of the episode because we went out to dinner, but yeah, ROLY-POLY FISH HEADS!!
This was a classic example of why you should pick the most obvious task instead of gambling on what sounds (and probably is) the more difficult one. But OMG, the “baseball bunnies” (who was it who referred to them as such?)…I caught one of the last scenes of them at the fish place where one of them got the cod tangled in her hair. My first reaction? “Oh, stop being such a <i>girl</i> and get on with it, will you?”
How does one sleep in the Land Of The Midnight Sun? Blackout curtains, maybe?
I wasn’t thinking about the extra EP, I was thinking about their own, and how useless it was to them at this point in the leg. Not having the clue for the pit stop, they’re pretty much screwed at this point. Although worst case, they come in last and then have to do a speed bump somewhere in the next leg.
Was anyone else a little concerned during the truck task? Specifically, it appeared they were letting one team member stand by the boulder while the other one pulled it with the truck. I thought one of the safety rules for any sort of pulling was no one standing within 3x the length of the chain/rope being used, in case it breaks and whips around. There was some kind of supervisor there, who presumably checked out their setup before letting them try moving the boulder, but accidents still happen. “Amazing Race Contestant Decapitated in Norway” wouldn’t be a good headline.
A friend of mine who lives outside Fairbanks says it’s a lot harder to be awake and productive when it’s dark all the time than trying to sleep when it’s light. But yes, black out curtains.
I wonder what happens to the other Express Pass if Marie and her partner are eliminated before it’s given away. I’m guessing it just expires as well. I cannot believe, even when they were lost and had no idea what to do, they would not trade the extra EP for directions. They think they can leverage it for help, but mostly people don’t seem to care that much.
That’s a good question. John & Jessica had already given their extra to the father and son team before they were eliminated with their own in their pocket. Pinky’s been the first one arrogant enough to think that extra EP gives them some kind of real power over the other teams. The Beards were just “We don’t even WANT anything from you, go suck cod.” Nicole wasn’t about to suck up to them for it…she waited until she could screw the gimlet into Pinky’s eye to even bring up a possible deal (for which I completely and totally forgive her the bike debacle…that scene was the second best scene this season).
The EP just isn’t game-changing enough of an advantage to make it worth a team’s dignity or annoyance to hook up with someone like Pinky in even a temporary alliance.
I loved when the bearded guys were running up the hill saying they don’t need no Express Pass.
Ooo, I really like TBC episodes, and this was the perfect time for one - all day sunlight, all day Racing. Cool.
Taxi Assessment:
Stuck in the Desert and Officially Detained - or, Philiminated with extreme prejudice.
Hoskote & Naina and Rowan & Shane - Already eliminated.
Chester & Ephraim (down from “Passing”) - [bonus from last week, when I was out of contact with both CBS and, for the most part, the whole Internet.] Chester & Ephraim decided on a risky connection strategy last week to get to Lisbon in the last episode, and everything simply fell apart. It’s pretty unusual that Phil has to eliminate a team before they do any tasks on the leg at all, but these guys were so far behind I wouldn’t be surprised if they arrived after the rest of the teams already left.
Flat Tire - or, not likely to get anywhere soon.
Nicky & Kim (down from “Stopping”) - So Nicky & Kim played a smart airport strategy last week by slipping into first place on the standby list, and managed a third place out of it. This week, though, they’re winding up in last place and dog-tired after doing “the hardest thing they’ve ever done,” presumably leaving the salt bath thing from a few weeks ago as the second-hardest thing they’ve ever done. The TBC leg will probably save them (I’m assuming no one is eliminated at the longhouse Pit Stop), but I’m not sure if they have the stamina to make it through the next leg, much less the seven or eight subsequent ones.
Stopping for Gas - or, not broken-down, exactly, but not a good sign.
Ally & Ashley (holding steady) - Ally & Ashley have never done better than sixth place, which is about where they’re positioned at the end of this episode. That’s not going to be good enough to get very far in the Race. Plus, what is it about manual transmissions that, after twenty-plus seasons, teams are still surprised by them? Although, weirdly, Ally & Ashley seem to have successfully positioned their truck in front of the sledge in spite of…not knowing how to shift out of reverse? What? Don’t automatic transmissions also have an “R” to indicate “reverse”? Or do Portugese vehicles have special markings or something?
Tim & Danny (holding steady) - Tim & Danny got hurt in this episode by picking the “wrong” Detour leg, but to be honest, I don’t think that should count against them; their choice shounded quicker to me, and it clearly wasn’t. Except for that, this team has been slowly gaining ground each week, and I’m wondering if it’s time to move them up.
“Rapido! Por Favor?” - or, making meaningless ineffectual comments from the back seat, but in no immediate danger.
Leo & Jamal (holding steady) - I’m not quite sure what to think of Leo & Jamal. Despite their almost-first a couple weeks ago, thy don’t really seem all that skilled at anything in particular, save self-aggrandizement. I’ll leave them ranked here, in the middle of the pack, and we’ll see.
Tim & Marie (down from “Passing”) - Tim & Marie still have the Express Pass, which counts for a lot. However, since the first episode, they’ve come in eighth place in episode two, eighth place in episode three, and they ended this episode wandering around cluelessly (literally! ha!) as other teams pass them by. In addition, they’ve put a U-Turn target on their back with Marie’s transparent Express Pass strategy, so they’re not in as strong a position as they ought to be. And, most damaging, they’re continually in too much of a hurry to do things right. They missed the longhouse clue because they were in too much of a hurry, missed the marked pole at the Detour because they were in too much of a hurry, and clumsily strung out the tile task last week because they were in too much of a hurry. That’s going to be the death of this team, if anything.
In the Passing Lane - or, ahead of the pack, but not quite comfortably.
Jason & Amy (up from “Rapido!”) - Jason & Amy have been slowly rising to the top, and it’s time to move them up a notch. They work together well, and have an alliance of sorts with Travis & Nicole. Not that alliances mean much in this game, but they certainly don’t hurt.
Brandon & Adam (holding steady) - Brandon & Adam are looking better and better, like I thought they might. I’m not quite ready to move them up, but I expect they might next week.
Cruisin’ with Earl - or, drivin’ on the shoulder, takin’ shortcuts, and generally kickin’ butt.
Travis & Nicole (up from “Passing”) - After a first place last week, Travis & Nicole have done no worse than fourth so far. And, I think, Nicole had an insightful remark this week when she talked about the stress of the Race. Sure it’s constantly stressful, but the stress of navigating airports is a whole series of notches down from making literal life-or-death decisions in the ER.
Actually a couple of years ago when me and the GF were in Spain we had a hell of a time getting the damn rental into reverse. We both drive stick all the time but it had a weird safety feature you had to pull up to get the stick into the right position.
I have found almost every make of standard is slightly different. Mine is simple, down and to the right, but my father’s was push physically straight down on the gear shift first and then to the right (and up) I think, the Ilitis I learned on had a small switch under the knob you had to pull up first…
It also seemed they were worried that the Ford truck was on a slight backwards incline, and would fall into the ditch behind them before they managed to get it into gear and moving forwards - a reasonable fear if you’re new to driving a stick.
Okay guys on this road block your going to drive a pickup. If you want airtime you need to rave about the truck. Be sure to empathize that it’s a Ford truck. We have some prepared lines for you take one of these and say it during the challenge. Got okay let’s go. Action.
Loving the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers more each week. Skaal!