The Amazing Race -- All-Purpose Thread

I worked with those print trays in junior high print shop in the mid 70s, but never as a journalist. And my dad was a bit of a jeweler, so either would have been fun.

I’m glad Team Yale was able to advance.

Phil was a little too much like Jeff Probst on Survivor doing obvious play by play on the french fry race.

 

The printing press challenge would have been cool to experience, but having to figure out that it needed to be a mirror image first -- although that actually does make perfect sense -- probably would've thrown me off and I might've become frustrated with it if that didn't happen pretty quickly, (just as occurred with my team, The Firefighters). I think I might have chosen the diamond-analysis task -- just because I'd have thought it would have been more straightforward.

I was so happy for Henry and Evan when they finally won a round of the French Fry race. That would have been so discouraging and exhausting to have to do that so many times. I, too, was yelling by the end of it, "Get in the middle, stay in the middle! Stay away from the curbs!" When Henry finally cut in front early in the last round, though, I thought he finally had a good chance to win.

 

There was something off about that whole thing. I kept thinking maybe they looped it in post, but I finally decided he just sucks at it.

 

I wonder if they're going to have more of these face-off races/challenges?

 

As with most of the legs that happen around the Equator, this one was another brutal one. They always make them run around a foreign city (preferably where most of the signs are in a non-Latin alphabet) when it looks like it's about 105 out. Poor Cedric...I think taking the backpack on the zipline Road Block was his biggest mistake because he was totally gassed by the time they were hauling oranges all over the place.

This was definitely one of those times where the Detours may have seemed evenly balanced but clearly, the three teams that went for the delivery one were nuts. Especially cruel and unusual punishment for the team member that just ran all over Tangier, chasing after the zip-lining gnome. Glad that the NBA guys got the non-elimination break.

Definitely cool to see how many teams were able to use their language skills to get ahead. That's a very underrated skill, to me, on the Race, and one most don't think of. They (usually) get the hang of driving a manual transmission, of navigating, etc. but being able to at least speak some key phrases in the major foreign languages would be on my to-do list if I ever went on the Race. (First I gotta find someone willing to jump out of a plane because I am not skydiving.)

Pool update:
Huggy - Cody & Jessica 36
Wenders - Kristi & Jen 36
WCIBN - Henry & Evan 31
WolvEagle - Trevor & Chris 1
Iron_Chet - Joey @ Tim 14
Tigervols - Alexander and Conor 14
MTM - Cedric and Shawn 13
nietsroob - Lucas & Brittany 12
WriteThinking - Eric & Daniel 9
*bumpy mcgee - April & Sarah 3
*Dessie & Kayla 1
*team has been eliminated

 

It's been very noticeable how topsy-turvy this rendition of the race has been, how much those who started legs in the top one or two have finished in the bottom one or two, or vice versa. It happened with Cedric and Shawn, and Henry and Evan this week, with Cody and Jessica and with the Kristi and Jen last week, and even Eric and Daniel, briefly between last week and in the midst of this leg.

Just wild swinging back and forth, both between and during the legs, more so than usual, it seems to me.

And who knew Morocco was so overrun with cats?

Next week in the south of France looks like it's going to be a fun, adventuresome leg. I'm looking forward to it.

 

I loved the exchange at the mat where referring to Team Yale, Phil said “For a smart team, they’re pretty physical, don’t you think?” to which racer Alex Rossi replied, “For a physical team, we’re pretty smart, man!”

 

WT, I think that's because of the flights. So far, everyone's been on the same flight to start the leg, so there's been an equalizer at some point, rather than the time you leave the mat really having a major impact. I suspect that'll end soon and we'll have a few carry-over legs and that'll widen the pack out.

But yeah, this episode, everyone was practically on top of each other all the time. Cedric cracked me up, the way he was just quietly trying to hide as he did the Road Block. You know, as stealthy as a 6'7 dude can be on a narrow-ass cobbled street.

 

When did Evan from Team Yale get the nose ring? Was it always there and we were blind to it or did she pop it in at some point?

We saw the two episodes out of order because of a DVR mishap and first saw it when she was in the stockade. Perhaps that up nose shot made us aware and she had been wearing it the whole race and we just hadn't noticed.

We were thinking it may have been part of a challenge, but no one else had one.

EDIT: It's not just me. This is from the Entertainment Weekly recap: Speaking of artwork, Evan got her tooth fixed after the Pit Stop, and I am utterly relieved. She also seems to have…gotten full bangs and a septum piercing??? Did she have those things before?

 

Yeah, that was not the most pleasant sight. To each his/her own, but I always wonder when I see that on a person.

 

I wondered about the size of those little sailboats that were used. Eight feet? I felt bad for Cedric, but it was funny watching him trying to sit/lie in the boat. With all the water he kept letting in by sinking/capsizing, he looked like he was lying in a bath tub .

 

Sorry for the pool delay this week, y'all. Between the double episode and the fact that a film festival has caused me to work 2 straight 12-hour days... I didn't get around to it until this morning.

I was also thinking that Evan did not have the piercing previously. Maybe she just wasn't wearing it in previous legs? (IDK, due to the amount that I blow my nose due to non-stop allergies, I can never get a nose ring and don't really want it anyway.)

I laughed at the dunder who was like "guess they don't teach sailing at Yale!" Actually, Yale and Harvard have intercollegiate sailing teams. But anyone who is stuck in a child's dingy is gonna struggle if they are given what looks like zero info on what they're supposed to be doing. (Poor Cedric. He needed the adult-sized dingy.) I was a rower, so my advice was to use the paddle to get going, use the wind and adjust the sail to get you moving and steer with the rudder. So you have one hand on the sail, adjusting, and one hand on the rudder, steering. It also looked like it was pretty windy that day.

The catapult thing was pretty cool. Also, did the brother firefighters EVER figure out how to get their car in reverse?! (Learn. How. To. Drive. Manual.)

You can see Eric & Daniel, though, getting stronger as the Race goes on. I like them. Also, favorite moment of the Race so far: the firefighters and the NBA'ers and their shoe-related humor at the detour.

Pool update:
Wenders - Kristi & Jen 50
Huggy - Cody & Jessica 47
WCIBN - Henry & Evan 40
Tigervols - Alexander and Conor 37
WolvEagle - Trevor & Chris 28
*Iron_Chet - Joey @ Tim 21
*MTM - Cedric and Shawn 14
nietsroob - Lucas & Brittany 32
WriteThinking - Eric & Daniel 18
*bumpy mcgee - April & Sarah 3
*Dessie & Kayla 1
*team has been eliminated