Similarly, I like the cancer patients, hockey brothers, and unfortunately the firefighters.
Dislike the newlyweds, team youtube, rednecks and in the only departure from your list, the doctors.
Taking the four hour penalty was idiotic from the three teams. They don’t know if there’s going to be a bunching point in the next leg, so it significantly increases their chances of getting eliminated in the 2nd leg. I doubt finishing the sandcastles would have taken them anywhere close to 4 hours.
I got “crazy eyes” from him. And from both of them, I got “we’re not here to make friends.”
A needle in a haystack challenge straight out the gate isn’t kind.
Agreed.
It was doubly stupid because it fully relies on trusting the last place team to actively and purposely quit the game for no reason other than honor. That’s a ton of trust to put in strangers.
Consider the canoe race. Once it was clear to the firefighters that they were going to lose, they could have turned around and gone back to the sandcastles, knowing they had four hours to complete the leg. The reason (I assume) they didn’t do this is because they were the ones who called it a “blood oath” that they’d all take the penalty.
I would not have sworn any oath, and once it became clear I was last I would have turned around and gone back to the sandcastles. Not doing so is tantamount to quitting, imo.
I think once you agree to take the penalty, you can’t turn around, that’s it. You have to move forward.
So, so long as there are two or three teams who agree to take the penalty with you, it’s not a bad strategy.
One of the roller derby girls made a pretty astute comment: she noted that her “experience as a mom” would come in handy in the sand castle task, because she’d built lots of sand castles. And that really defines what that task was - it wasn’t so much a needle-in-a-haystack type task (although it was to some extent, obviously) as it was a technique-type task in building sandcastles. One of the other teams (the twins, I think) said most of the time spent was rebuilding the sandcastles, and I think the teams that did that well were, by and large, the ones that finished well.
So, first episodes rarely show much about the actual skills of the teams, and this one was no exception. Driving in the US, go-here-do-this, and a task that relied at least in part on luck. Still, lack of knowledge has never stopped me before, so it’s time for another:
Taxi Assessment:
Stuck in the Desert and Officially Detained - or, Philiminated with extreme prejudice.
Matthew and Daniel (South Carolinan firefigher friends) (down from “Rapido!”) - Well before the end of the leg (but still during the sandcastle task), my wife commented that the firefighters looked pretty slow and uninterested in what they were doing. It was probably because of the heat; but you’d think that, of all the teams, firefighters would be used to working when it’s hot. But no, not these guys. So as much as this whole episode seemed to be all about luck (as Matthew and Daniel were the only team of the last three to capsize), I’m thinking this team would not have gone very far anyway.
Flat Tire - or, not likely to get anywhere soon.
Stopping for Gas - or, not broken-down, exactly, but not a good sign.
Chuck and Wynona (Married Alabamans) (holding steady) - This team actually exceeded my expectations by getting on the first flight, and then Wynona buckled down, got dirty, and did the task. In this case, though, “exceeding my expectations” is a pretty low bar indeed, so Chuck and Wynona stay ranked here at the bottom.
Joey and Meghan (YouTube hosts) (holding steady) - Although I’m usually in favor of enthusiasm, Joey’s enthusiasm seems to shade into “exhibiting enthusiasm for the cameras” rather than true enthusiasm. I’m excited to find out at what point fatigue will make the feigned enthusiasm droop.
Max and Katie (Perky newlyweds) (holding steady) - Hi! We put far more effort into pretending to be nice than most people do into actually being nice! But it’s worth it, because we hate you all. And we hate you all because we’re so much better than you! Ugh. So it turns out that Max in person is just about as big a tool as Max on paper, and, shockingly, Katie makes a great match for him. And, as cunning as their skip-the-sandcastle-task may be, they’re starting in tied-for-last place next week, four-plus hours behind the other teams. If there is no bunching point next week (admittedly there usually is), then they’re in a race for elimination with all the other teams free to enjoy the scenery.
“Rapido! Por Favor?” - or, making meaningless ineffectual comments from the back seat, but in no immediate danger.
John and Jessica (Dating surfer couple) (holding steady) - Although I don’t think a first-place finish on this leg is due to anything more than luck, the Express Pass in their pocket should help this team in the future.
Caroline and Jen (Blonde bandmembers) (holding steady) - With the four-hour penalty, Caroline and Jen might find themselves struggling not to be eliminated next week.
Anthony and Bates (Hockey brothers) (holding steady) - Second place, no real problems. Not a bad leg at all for the brothers.
In the Passing Lane - or, ahead of the pack, but not quite comfortably.
Pamela and Winnie (Asian women) (holding steady) - It amused me that Pamela and Winnie immediately called Idries and Jamil on their “deliverymen” claim. I think, too, that shows some smarts and self-confidence to immediately call bullshit, so I still think this team is going places.
Mona and Beth (Brunette derby girls) (holding steady) - I’m a little disturbed by their glaring error in pencilling in their name on the wrong flight, but that’s probably easy to do when rushed. Still, Mona and Beth made up considerable time on the sandcastle task - partly by luck, certainly, but partly by sandcastle-building skill, too.
David and Connor (Father & son) (holding steady) - Third place, no real problems. Not a bad leg at all for the father-and-son team.
Idries and Jamil (Black twins) (holding steady) - Idries and Jamil just seemed to whine a lot more than I had expected, and they were the only team to have problems with their bat falling apart. I’m leaving them ranked here for now, but I think they may be headed for a downgrade.
Cruisin’ with Earl - or, drivin’ on the shoulder, takin’ shortcuts, and generally kickin’ butt.
No one yet
It’s only a good idea if you think the task is going to take 4 hours to complete, or if you’re sure you’ll lose by competing in the task.
It’s better to be 1+ hours behind 8 teams and fairly even with 1 team than to be 4+ hours behind. The teams can’t assume that there will be a bunching point at the start of the 2nd leg. If there isn’t one, the competition for last place in the next leg is basically between 2 teams now. If there was a smaller gap, one of the top 8 teams could make a mistake, and let the last two teams catch up. There’s a far smaller chance of that with a 4 hour gap.
Regarding the speculation if there will or won’t be bunching in the next leg, according to next week’s previews:The next leg is also in Bora Bora, so no airline bunching at least.
Didn’t they mention at one point that they’d already been at the sandcastles task for many hours and that all of the castles had been gone through at least once already?
If that’s the case, the random nature of it, the lack of any actual progress after hours of work, hours already in the sun and not even knowing if you’re looking correctly would make the pact to quit tempting. Though I’d be more tempted to get up to the PA manning that station and on the count of three when everybody said they were taking the penalty, not say a thing, and go back to the sand castles.
I think she actually said that in a voiceover, didn’t she? Or he said something like “She’s going to be difficult because she’s not naturally friendly” or something to that effect (this was during their intro, IIRC).
I got “crazy eyes” from him too, not a gay vibe. I predict they’ll be the first team to have a meltdown if they don’t figuratively kill another team first.
If I’m not mistaking, they’ve changed how they enforce the penalty. Didn’t it used be, the contestants couldn’t check in for an additional 4 hours? Not that the penalty was enforced on the following leg? Wasn’t there some controversy how they handled a similar situation last season when the Rockers lost their passports?
Yeah, I had a question about this…if the firefighters had gone back to complete the puzzle, would they have still been eliminated? I thought the teams that quit a challenge couldn’t check in for four hours, not that they’d be *starting *four hours later. Or did I misunderstand something?
Phil was willing to let them all check in, though.
Yes, I wish the rules were made more clear. When the firefighters capsized, I was yelling at them to go back to the sandcastles - they would have had four hours to find a clue and not be eliminated. But then when Phil went ahead and checked in the other two teams, I wasn’t sure if turning around would have worked or not. Phil did say something like “since the team behind you has also chosen to take the penalty…” I can’t figure out if that’s an irrevocable decision or not.
I thought so too. The teams used to have to wait on the sidelines and then check-in after the penalty time was used up. That would explain why the firefighters didn’t go back.
That said, one thing that surprised me with the sand castle thing was that no one (that we saw) thought to put the mold over the pre-formed sand castle and then flip it over so they could dig underneath. Also, if they’re getting that hot, hop into the beautiful water and cool off for 20 seconds.
I thought of this too, but they did make a “pact” and it would have been a pretty dishonorable thing to do, if it was even possible.
Once all remaining teams have taken the penalty, it doesn’t matter how the producers implement it. You let them all check in so Phil doesn’t have to wait at the mat for 4 hours. Then just add 4 hours to their departure time in the next leg - if they checked in 3 hours after the 1st place team, they start the next 7 hours after the 1st place team. That’s the same result as if you made them all sit at the mat for 4 hours, even though you already knew their arrival & check in time.
If one team hadn’t agreed to take the penalty, then they would have had to make the other 2 wait for 4 hours at the mat, to see if the third team finished the task and got there in time. But yes, this only works if taking the penalty is an irreversible action.
The NewlyClubWeds give me a vibe of being manipulative, evil, snake-faced, kid eating aliens. But, she is kind of pretty…
So why didn’t the contestants take their sandcastle bucket, and place it over the already built sandcastles, slide it aside, look for the clue.
If the clue wasn’t there, then slide the bucket back to the original spot?
I haven’t made sandcastles in a long time but I thought the same as someone above. Why couldn’t you place the bucket over the standing sand castle then move it to one side and dig for the clue? Finding nothing, fill the hole and slide bucket and sand back in place? They seemed to be wasting a lot of time filling and packing those buckets.
I can only guess that there was a rule (or something about the physics I’m not envisioning) preventing this. I wish the producers would have Phil provide more clarification of these kinds of things.
Ha! Notfrommensa and I simulpost.
They may have been worried the clue was inside the castle instead of under it, so that method would risk not finding the clue. But you could fix that by turning the bucket over & digging around in it a bit - not quite as efficient, but would still save the time of filling an empty bucket.
Also, I have to assume they had judges walking around (never seen on camera) and deciding if your rebuilt sand castle was good enough or not.
And what was with so many people not using the shovels? You get a lot more sand in the bucket with even a small shovel than using your hands. Guess you really do need kids to understand efficient sand castle building.