The Amazing Race -- All-Purpose Thread

That was a great episode tonight -- one of the best ever, I think.

I really enjoyed it, and Laos is going onto my traveling "go-to" list. It looked beautiful, felt positive and seemed interesting in terms of culture and differences, all without it seeming alien, or bad or wrong in some way.

I love "The Amazing Race," but this episode even prompted the recurrence of a thought I've had before about this season: That is, that the show shouldn't have used recycled cast members from CBS's reality shows. Sure, I was a little jealous, maybe, but I don't think these people, who have already experienced such similarly amazing things, should get to do it again, especially not at the expense of fresh people who have never done it at all. It just seems unfair to me, and a case of lazy casting.

I'm more in favor of spreading the wealth, as it were, and would rather see new participants, letting them experience some of the amazing things these competitors already have.

 

Agreed, WT.

He was actually on Season 5, which Chip & Kim (one of my favorite TAR teams ever) won. They were the couple that nearly Yielded the Twins (Kami and Karli I think) but chose not to and they all walked up to the mat together to find out that it was a non-elimination leg.

Their zen-meditation aura is weirding me out though. And Christie has had some work done.

I enjoyed this week's episode. Sorry the pool is late, work is a beast this week and I got home at 10 last night, crawled directly into bed and fell right asleep. I know a lot of people were giving TAR flack on their Facebook for the rampant elephant abuse, but it seemed like this was an elephant sanctuary! Also, I was glad to see the two U-Turned teams make it through unscathed.

Pool update:
WolvEagle - Leo and Jamal (TAR) - 41
Iron_Chet - Colin and Christie (TAR) - 17
bumpy mcgee - Rachel and Elissa (TAR/Big Brother) - 16
MTM - Nicole and Victor (Big Brother) - 15
TigerVols - Tyler and Korey (TAR) - 13
Huggy - Janelle and Britney (Big Brother) - 10
WCIBN - Becca and Floyd (TAR) - 9
Wenders - Chris and Bret (Survivor) - 8
WriteThinking - Corinne and Eliza (Survivor) - 8
*Rupert and Laura (Survivor) - 3
*Art & JJ (TAR) - 1

*Team has been eliminated

(also am I the only one who remembers literally nothing about Janelle and Britney? I don't watch either of the other shows but either they just have no interesting soundbites and are extremely middle of the pack or they just blend in because when they landed on the mat, I was like...huh, who are they? Have they been racing those whole time?)

 

Is it just me, but have Leo and Jamal gone from fun and lovable last time to kinda annoying and dickish this time around?

 

I don't know if they've been dickish, but yes, annoying fits. Especially now that they're being so successful so far on this season, I think they're getting more serious now. They're realizing they that they could seriously win this time, and they're going for it.

 

I've been boycotting the show until Rachel and her sister are eliminated.

 

I guess they got a little bit of a come-uppance in this latest episode, huh? It was nice to see Becca and Floyd go from worst to first. They and Tyler and Korey are really my favorite teams, and I hope they continue to do well.

Vietnam traffic looks like a scary thing to navigate.

 

I think the producers were clear to stay away from that park that glorified the crashed US plane from the war. I remember they had to issue an apology the following week because of public outcry.

 

I feel like this week was just so well-suited to Becca and Floyd. They seem like they would slay any karaoke night and with their skill set in dance/band, they were always going to just fly through the dance challenge.
(I would have chosen the dance because I've seen how long fishing can take sometimes. I think the tourists/locals at the prawn place got quite the kick out of Tyler and Korey attempting to fish for prawns though.)

Pool update:
WolvEagle - Leo and Jamal (TAR) - 43
WCIBN - Becca and Floyd (TAR) - 28
Iron_Chet - Colin and Christie (TAR) - 24
MTM - Nicole and Victor (Big Brother) - 23
bumpy mcgee - Rachel and Elissa (TAR/Big Brother) - 19
TigerVols - Tyler and Korey (TAR) - 19
Huggy - Janelle and Britney (Big Brother) - 14
WriteThinking - Corinne and Eliza (Survivor) - 13
Wenders - Chris and Bret (Survivor) - 9
*Rupert and Laura (Survivor) - 3
*Art & JJ (TAR) - 1

*Team has been eliminated

 

I enjoyed that episode. It seems like the non-TAR teams are starting to get it. Felt like one that really came down to the cab situation, though.

Also, Corinne & Eliza: you can stand on the mat and go "you'll never see us again, we won't do any reunions or whatever!" like spoiled whiny brats because you lost, but you know damn well CBS has your contract and when they say you WILL be on GMA tomorrow, you don't have much of a choice.

I thought it was interesting when Colin said that they just want to finish Top 3, not get eliminated and then throw everything at the last leg and run past all the millennials. Because that's basically what happened with Chip & Kim the season Colin & Christie lost. He does seem way more zen than he was 15 years ago so that meditation is seriously working for him.

Pool update:
WolvEagle - Leo and Jamal (TAR) - 47
Iron_Chet - Colin and Christie (TAR) - 43
WCIBN - Becca and Floyd (TAR) - 34
MTM - Nicole and Victor (Big Brother) - 31
TigerVols - Tyler and Korey (TAR) - 24
bumpy mcgee - Rachel and Elissa (TAR/Big Brother) - 21
Huggy - Janelle and Britney (Big Brother) - 17
Wenders - Chris and Bret (Survivor) - 16
*WriteThinking - Corinne and Eliza (Survivor) - 14
*Rupert and Laura (Survivor) - 3
*Art & JJ (TAR) - 1

*Team has been eliminated

 

I missed part of the latest episode, and I wondered what I must have missed, or what I wasn't recalling from previous episodes, when I saw Corinne and Eliza standing on the mat, being eliminated.

It's not often that TAR teams truly express real vitriol toward another team. There are plenty of heated moments, and sometimes, no real love lost between people, but that was one of the few times I heard a team being outwardly negative and openly behaving badly toward another team -- especially in their last moments on the show -- on The Amazing Race.

The entire point of TAR is to give people greater appreciation of their experiences, and life, and to open their eyes and hearts to the world, and expand their horizons in ways that just naturally tend to make their perspective good/better, even despite the competition. In short, the concept behind it is the exact opposite, really, of Survivor, which, by its very nature, brings out the worst in people, and even actually forces that to happen at some point.

Corinne and Eliza acted much more like Survivor contestants in this instance than they did TAR participants. Phil actually seemed speechless, and even I'm not too sorry to see them go.

 

Victor seems way more into Nicole than she is into him. She always looks like she would prefer to be anywhere else.
Also, I have never seen an episode of Big Brother or Survivor and this season's TAR is not making me regret those decisions.

 

I, too, am so glad to see Corinne and Eliza go. Then again, the way the episode was edited, it built up to that final moment. You knew that two terrible people were going home, regardless of who it was. I was surprised, though, to see Corinne and Eliza carrying on just a few feet from the mat. Yes, Phil looked stunned. And, like Wenders, I thought that they weren't thinking in terms of their contract when they said they didn't want to see anyone from TAR again. Oh, and my guys Leo and Jamal need to pick it up - I had a huge early lead that's nearly gone!