The Amazing Race -- All-Purpose Thread

Sorry for the delay in the pool...I've worked 4 basketball games and a football game since it aired Friday night. So I just got around to watching it. :-\

Pool update:
TigerVols - #TheDentists Jim and Misti 91
Jay Ferrar - #SoulSurfers Adam and Bethany 68
MTM - #TheCyclists Kym and Alli 68
WriteThinking - #TheWrestlers Brooke and Robbie 35
*Huggy - #CollegeSweethearts Tim and Te Jay 34
Amy - #SweetScientists Amy and Maya 30
*Iron_chet - #TeamNashville Keith and Whitney 24
*bumpy mcgee - #MomDaughter Shelley and Nici 21
*WolvEagle - #TheFirefighters Michael and Scott 8
*Wenders - #TheDatingCouple Dennis and Isabelle 6
*#MiamiRealtors Lisa and Michelle 1

I was really rubbed the wrong way about the rest of the teams going on about how the Cyclists won't mingle. It's not a requirement. I loved it when one of them was like "Maybe we just don't want to talk to you!" Exactly! I mean, I wouldn't mind hanging out with the scientists or the surfers, but the wrestlers don't have more than 3 brain cells between both of them and the dentists are so arrogant. Also, where were the boys during that segment? I wasn't watching too closely but I had forgotten all about them until they got off the ship in Malta.

This show proves time and time again that alliances don't work, especially in the later legs. Because when the chips are down, everyone will always be looking out for themselves. I think about the only time that a team really should have yielded a team and they didn't was Chip and Kim/Kami and Karli in Season 5. The twins were literally right behind them and they were standing on the mat. Chip and Kim thought there were more teams behind them and didn't yield them. They were the last two teams and I think that's when the twins were eliminated. But anyway, I can see either the scientists or the surfers choosing not to yield the cyclists if they don't see it as advantageous for them. Yes, there are no alliances on this show, but there's also no reason to make a team unnecessarily mad at you if you are in good shape.

 

Show officials really messed up two things last night:

1. Why was there the surfing fast-forward, knowing that the surfers were on the show and would kick ass if they did it?

2. I'm guessing the three teams that did the massage/hot cups were really, really pissed off camera because of A. The pain and red marks left on their backs and B. Being naked on camera. I'm guessing Robbie was really enjoying the show, as were the on-scene and post-production crews.

And, show officials probably darn near had heart attacks when Jim was dangling from the wire. Wow.

As the show heads into the last elimination before the three-team final, I'm guessing Amy and Maya are at a serious disadvantage because they're physically weaker than the other three teams. But, they've made it this far ...

 

I don't mind that the fast-forward was something that the surfers might be good at. It was still a challenging task, and I don't think producers could've predicted beforehand who would've been the ones in a position to take advantage of the quick jump at that time in the race. You just never know, and you shouldn't always just avoid possible great events for every team all the time.

I also like that the surfers have been running a really smart race, and don't seem to be worrying too much about other teams. Strategically, they've made all the right moves at the right times in a competitive sense over the past few weeks, as well as just performing well, and they've done it all without you getting the idea that they're out for blood, to bring out claws, or lie, cheat or steal to win. They're just straight-up racing, and playing smart with the timing of whatever passes/advantages they'd had. They're reaping the benefits without anybody ending up hating them, or even not rooting for them.

That massage challenge looked/sounded agonizing. It got so extreme (or maybe just so close-up) that I started to wonder if some of the yelling might have just been for dramatics for the camera. What do you think? I know massages can, indeed, be painful, and those hot cups looked like a bad thing that I in no way would've ever thought of as "cleansing" or detoxifying. But has anyone ever been to Singapore and heard of or been through a massage remotely like that? (Hey, KJIM, do you read this thread? )

Even though it's now that time in the race when the end-game competitiveness has to kick in, if it's ever going to, I was more surprised that the candy scientists U-turned Adam and Bethany than about anything else. I still would've U-turned the dentists before anybody else. If they're near the top, they still strike me as the most dangerous, competitive and cut-throat team in the race, even beyond the cyclists.

And, I wonder if next week will be a non-elimination leg. How many are there in a season, usually?

 

It wouldn't have helped to uturn the dentists because they had the save.

 

Ah, you're right. I had forgotten that, and I really was surprised the dentists weren't U-turned.

 

But if the Dentists were U-Turned, then wouldn't the cyclists have been safe?

 

If you're running a smart race here (not a race based on "I don't like that team"), you U-Turn the Dentists. Them and Adam and Bethany are the strongest teams.

Brooke and Robbie continue to prove that there are rocks out there smarter than they. The Candy Girls are starting to annoy me. They are definitely one of the weaker teams, physically.

I can barely stand a NORMAL massage, well alone whatever that torture was. I would have gone for the crab every time.

Pool update:
TigerVols - #TheDentists Misti and Jim 94
Jay Ferrar - #SoulSurfers Adam and Bethany 83
*MTM - #TheCyclists 69
Write Thinking - #TheWrestlers Brooke and Robbie 39
Amy - #SweetScientists Amy and Maya 33
*Huggy - #CollegeSweethearts Tim and Te Jay 34
*Iron_chet - #TeamNashville Keith and Whitney 24
*bumpy mcgee - #MomDaughter Shelley and Nici 21
*WolvEagle - #TheFirefighters Michael and Scott 8
*Wenders - #TheDatingCouple Dennis and Isabelle 6
*#MiamiRealtors Lisa and Michelle 1

 

We don't know A-how long that massage was or B-how far behind the cyclists were.

 

I'm an idiot who figured out today why it was so important that the Wrestlers U-Turn the cyclists.

You figure that either the Surfers or the Cyclists got the FF. So one of those teams won't face the U-Turn. If it was the Surfers who got past, the Cyclists would be way behind. By having two teams U-Turn a team (including one that had to have been way ahead), then if the Cyclists had passed someone along the way, they wouldn't have been able to U-Turn anyone, thus saving themselves, because there would have been no U-Turn spots available.

 

Okay, let's go through this again: one team member LEADS THE OX so that it goes in a normal pattern. The other team team PLOWS and looks for the clue.

In case you guys were wanting to see the original ox challenge (leading to one of the greatest breakdowns in Amazing Race history), here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj2nf3GVsPE

I was really hoping the wrestlers would be eliminated. Hopefully it's not far away.

Pool update:
TigerVols - #TheDentists Misti and Jim 108
Jay Ferrar - #SoulSurfers Adam and Bethany 85
*MTM - #TheCyclists 69
Write Thinking - #TheWrestlers Brooke and Robbie 40
Amy - #SweetScientists Amy and Maya 35
*Huggy - #CollegeSweethearts Tim and Te Jay 34
*Iron_chet - #TeamNashville Keith and Whitney 24
*bumpy mcgee - #MomDaughter Shelley and Nici 21
*WolvEagle - #TheFirefighters Michael and Scott 8
*Wenders - #TheDatingCouple Dennis and Isabelle 6
*#MiamiRealtors Lisa and Michelle 1

 

The Wrestlers are my team, and I was kind of hoping they'd go, too.

It probably looked closer than usual because of some editing -- it seemed like the ox challenge scenes must have been shortened for TV time constraints -- but this week seemed like this must have been one of the closest legs for everyone overall in race history.

Even though it's a good, hard challenge, and I'm sure the show was hoping for the entertainment value, I didn't like that they recycled the ox task. I hate when reality shows start recycling things/people, because that's when it starts seeming less real/more staged on a consistent basis. I always feel like there's always enough new, different people and activities that they could do that you shouldn't have to do the same things over again, and TAR has always been one of the better shows about that.

And, Wenders, you're right about how the challenge should have been done, or was done previously. I wonder why they didn't call the contestants on it this time.

I'd had a feeling this week would be a non-elimination leg.

 

I can't believe the Wrestlers ended up in first place, and now appear to have a good shot at winning the final leg! They've been on the bottom and in the middle of the pack the whole time. Wow.

I hate that they continued the leg immediately upon reaching the pit stop and I hate that, for the first time, there are four teams competing in the last leg. I don't see why that needed to be done and don't think it'll add to anything, unless there's something we don't know that's going to go on. I just don't see the point.