The Amazing Race -- All-Purpose Thread

Brooke's crying and complaining that "I can't" got on my nerves a little bit, but it was nice to see all the other players helping her out as much as they could.

Sara and Shamir were a train wreck. I wasn't sorry to see them go.

Liz and Michael were almost as bad with each other this week, and that was surprising. I was sitting there going, "Wow."

 

O thought Liz was pretty blameless for Fatty Mcredbeard being an antagonizing jerk.

Wouldn't listen, blamed her for everything. Lost a lot of goodwill built up with the audience.

 

They are getting the full tour of Italy. Wow.

Glad that Liz and Michael got themselves sorted and back on track. Becca was something else on that rockwall...dang girl! Also, I don't think that even if Vanck and Ashton hadn't run all the way around Lake Como and had found the U-Turn before other teams that they would have been able to complete both legs and get to the Pit Stop first. This was sooooo not the leg to get lost and wander around for an age. But you have to have reeeeeeeally built up some negative energy to get every other team to want you out (especially a team as harmless as Vanck and Ashton. Conspiring against a team that could actually do some damage on this race is one thing. These two were never going to sniff the final 3.)

Brooke needs to either pull herself together or get Scott to do some of the challenges.

Pool update:
Huggy - Tara & Joey 58
WolvEagle - Becca & Floyd 47
MTM - Matt & Redmond 40
Amy - Liz & Michael 32
*Iron_Chet - Seth & Olive 29
*WCIBN - Vanck & Ashton 29
bumpy mcgee - Brooke & Scott 25
WriteThinking - London and Logan 20
*Wenders - Shamir & Sara 13
*Jessie & Francesca 4
*Kevin & Jenn 1

 

Loved that episode! Good challenges and great scenery. Lake Como is spectacular.

 

I'm going to have to add Milan and Lake Como to my bucket list of places to visit after that episode.

But I don't know, I saw Vanck and Ashton as pretty harmless. They weren't a real threat, and they never seemed overtly off-putting or unlikeable, so I don't really get why the other teams targeted them so easily and completely. As one of the other players said, it must have just been a social thing -- with them being somewhat less social with the rest of the group than everybody else, and that was the decider. Kind of a dumb reason to pick on a non-leading team, but I guess you don't always think of things as you should right when it's going on.

Also, watching Liz and Michael implode on themselves last week and in the early part of this episode, watching Brooke's struggles and the little arguments that get caused by such scenes, and Michael's clear and continuing struggles with steps/climbing -- he really IS "the guy who just follows you (Liz) around," as he whined, it's a reminder, I think, of just how much sheer exhaustion must play into this race. Watching it on TV, and knowing that most of the teams/players are relatively young tends to make you forget about that issue. But it has got to be a very real factor.

 

Yes. If I ever decided to go on the Race, I would be in the gym 5 days a week preparing: weight-lifting, running, building up my endurance. Running with a bag full of stuff. But it's not just physically exhausting - it's mentally exhausting. You're jumping time zones, hemispheres, dealing with language barriers, in unfamiliar territory and doing a combination of physical and mental tasks...it's a crazy game.

 

Plus there is a lot of downtime waiting for flights and in lines at customs we never see. That is exhausting, too

 

When I was younger, I could have killed at this game. Now, I wouldn't make it halfway through the first episode.

 

Not to mention, I have yet to find a seat in an airport that is at all comfortable to sit in for any length of time.

 

Related to all this, of course, is the fact that you always have to be RACING.

I still consider TAR to be the best reality-type show out there. Because of all the travel, adventures, life experiences and exposure to different countries, cultures and cultural activities -- all the actual learning and perspective you can earn, in a generally more positive way and in more positively encouraged relationships than most other competitive reality shows prompt -- I believe TAR must be a genuinely good, enriching and life-enhancing experience for almost everyone.

Sometimes, I think it's a shame, though, that the challenges/experiences can't really be done at the participants' leisure or at their own pace, and that they have to hurry and run through everything as quickly as possible (if they want to remain competitive, or even stay in the race, that is). It makes it so that, yes, they get exposure to things, but often, they don't really have time to process and appreciate what they're doing, and why. They miss out in that way, usually, and the racing aspect also adds to the mental stress under which they constantly run.

I'll always remember the season in which they had contestants spend time during a detour at the prison in which Nelson Mandela languished for so many years, and one of the teams brought up exactly this point, lamenting that they wished they could have stayed, lingered, and taken more time than just passing through it.

I oftentimes get this sense when I watch TAR, too. I know it's part of the game, and that it probably can't be helped. But it's too bad it has to be a nearly constant element.

 

Good lord, listening to Michael talk about how much he missed his daughter...it was a little dusty here.

I would have crushed the gondola challenge, as I had to memorize classic songs in Italian for choir competitions in high school. However, the luggage thing seemed much faster...if you are not prone to getting lost and had a person to do the heavy lifting.

Pool update:
Huggy - Tara & Joey 62
MTM - Matt & Redmond 56
WolvEagle - Becca & Floyd 52
Amy - Liz & Michael 33
*Iron_Chet - Seth & Olive 29
*WCIBN - Vanck & Ashton 29
bumpy mcgee - Brooke & Scott 28
WriteThinking - London and Logan 22
*Wenders - Shamir & Sara 13
*Jessie & Francesca 4
*Kevin & Jenn 1

 

Liz opened her big yap about being a great painter. Oops.