The Amazing Race -- All-Purpose Thread

That was tough to watch. Poor Floyd gave it his all, as opposed to Brooke, who would scream "I can't" if she was asked to tie her shoe.

I wonder what her reaction is while watching the show? Scott should get the million dollars for having to deal with her.

I can see Becca and Floyd being invited back if there is another season of returnees.

 

Well, that sucked. Hate to see Team Funstoppable stopped. Especially when Floyd helped that useless whining lump when she couldn't handle the load.

 

Becca and Floyd....wow. I could tell, though, when Floyd got back after finally doing the bike thing right, that it wasn't going to end well. He did not look good. At least he understood his limitations and they had the medics on him. But honestly, Becca and Floyd was the best possible outcome of a blind partner draw at the beginning of the Race. They were well matched, they had a good time, they got along most of the time.

The climb to that temple was some sort of sadism, right? Make them bike all over Vietnam in the heat and humidity and then to get to Phil, they have to climb the world's tallest staircase?

Sorry for the delay in the pool...this week was no bueno.

Pool update:
Huggy - Tara & Joey 82
MTM - Matt & Redmond 80
*WolvEagle - Becca & Floyd 70
bumpy mcgee - Brooke & Scott 38
*Amy - Liz & Michael 34
WriteThinking - London and Logan 30
*Iron_Chet - Seth & Olive 29
*WCIBN - Vanck & Ashton 29
*Wenders - Shamir & Sara 13
*Jessie & Francesca 4
*Kevin & Jenn 1

Officially rooting for the parents. Although people have been kind of pointing to London and Logan as dark horses. They've snuck up on everyone, made it to the final four but haven't even come close to winning. And she is wayyyyyy more palatable than Brooke.

 

That had to have been one of the most grueling, intense and emotional Amazing Race days/episodes ever. It was truly good, if hard.

I noticed that I felt myself being inordinately proud of Floyd as he stood there, for the third time, trying to catch his breath, and still managing to smile, while the guy finally gave him the next clue after the Basket Case challenge. Like Becca started to feel, I was getting genuinely concerned, looking at his body shaking, and him wobbling, as he was getting medical attention, although I think we could all see it coming as he had to trudge back for the lost small baskets for the third time. Although I was wondering how they kept coming loose and falling off of his bike, and not any of the others.

I was happy and even got a little emotional myself when Logan at least had the grace to be sorry to have to leave Floyd behind after his count was off, after he'd helped her get through that challenge.

Then, I laughed out loud as Brooke looked all the way up the steps to the pit stop and cried, "This can't be right!," only to have Scott ask, "What? Why can't it be right?" and she just blurts out, "Because it's torture!" I had to give it to Brooke there. She was right, after this day.

I don't think I've ever felt more sad to see a team be eliminated than I was when I saw what happened with Becca and Floyd. I'm sure how it went down played into it, but also, I think everyone -- including their fellow racers -- just knew how likeable, helpful and easy to root for they were.

And their sayonara signoff had to rank as one of the best ever, too, right in keeping with the whole episode, and it, again, had me getting a little emotional myself.

The Amazing Race? Yeah, I'd say so. Bravo.

I have to say, I've been really rooting for Becca and Floyd, so now I don't really care that much who wins. But a thought just came to me...

What if Brooke and Scott actually win this thing?!

Wow. I'd bet the million dollars that that hasn't even occurred to anyone before, not in their wildest predictions.

 

And just out of curiosity, once I saw how much the contestants were sweating the past couple episodes, I did some checking on the weather in Vietnam. I don't know when those episodes were shot, so I just did look-ups on recent days and weeks just to, hopefully, get an idea of how it is there.

In the afternoons, there was rarely a day where the temperature was less than 92 degrees and the humidity less than 95 degrees. Given that combination, the charts also included "Feels Like" columns that had ridiculously hot readings like 107 degrees, 116 degrees, etc...

Just in case you were wondering....

And they were doing what they were doing...Yikes!

 

I did the same last night while I was watching it. This was almost 10 at night and it was showing 92 degrees with a heat index of 108. That's when your sweat starts to sweat.

 

A few thoughts ...

My assigned team, Becca & Floyd, really grew on me. They were so genuine. Irritating at times, but genuine. It was hard to see them go out like that. And, to see Becca crying about Floyd - dang. That was tough to see. And, it was really something in a previous episode to see how serious she was during the military drill.

I thought it was unusual for TAR to go from Europe to Vietnam. The pattern has been to start on one coast, go around the world and end on the other coast, but it seems like things went in reverse.

I can just imagine what Tara's reaction would have been had they entered into the "Charlie" controversy now instead of a few years back. She's so likable, but I would NOT want to cross her when it comes to disrespecting our military.

Of the final four, I'd be happy with seeing any one of three teams win. Brooke and Scott - no flipping way. I wonder if Brooke is that miserable of a person in her career as a defense attorney. For her clients' sake, I sure hope not. If so, how on earth does she have any clients?

 

Hm...I would not have thought The Boys would have been eliminated. It just shows, once again, how much the taxis and their drivers play into this race.

I loved how the video gamer going against Tara kept apologizing for beating her, whether at full strength, or with one hand behind his back, or blind-folded, or both . I'm no gamer, myself, and doubt I would've done any better than Tara, but that challenge really showed how much muscle memory must play into video games. Guess they get it from the hours and hours (and hours) of playing.

It struck me last night, a little out of the blue, although it is something that I've noticed and thought about before in this edition of TAR: That is, this season's group of competitors have generally been very willing to help each other -- sometimes pretty extensively (Michael helping Brooke and Floyd helping/leading Logan jump to mind) and to root for each other. There seems to be some real cohesion and group-like this time that included almost everyone and that I've thought has been a bit unusual.

And I am, at long last, jumping onto my team's bandwagon. I figure I might as well, what with Becca and Floyd out, and with Team LoLo being steady and competitive all race, I'd have nothing against them winning at this point.

I'll be sorry to see this season end, particularly as I think it has been determined that this is to be the last edition of TAR, is it not?

 

The decision to take the subway, then a bad cab ride, cost The Boys

Joey was pissing me off with how he was bad-mouthing the kid who kept beating Tara. He was saying stuff like "he's on an ego trip" when it was clear the guy was apologetic but was likely told not to just let her win.

I'm on team LoLo. They haven't pissed off anyone and have been fun to watch. Brooke is Brooke, although she was quite pleasant last night, and Joey lost me with his whining and his "Go Red Sox" at Wrigley Field in the preview for next week.

 

Nope, TAR has been renewed for season 30.

I want to visit South Korea. But both road blocks looked wicked hard - stacking cups or playing a professional video gamer? I knew that the boys would be fine on the video game one, so it really was the taxi in the wrong direction that sank them.

Pool update:
Huggy - Tara & Joey 84
*MTM - Matt & Redmond 81
*WolvEagle - Becca & Floyd 70
bumpy mcgee - Brooke & Scott 52
*Amy - Liz & Michael 34
WriteThinking - London and Logan 33
*Iron_Chet - Seth & Olive 29
*WCIBN - Vanck & Ashton 29
*Wenders - Shamir & Sara 13
*Jessie & Francesca 4
*Kevin & Jenn 1

 

Well, that sucked. Not watching this one any more. If they are going to fly everyone on the same flights, they should make sure the taxis are equal. Otherwise, let them get flights or not as they did previously.

Plus, there were no interesting challenges or scenery on this one. Waste of an hour in my opinion.

 

Yay. I'm glad to hear that .

Well, I didn't think it was a waste of an hour, but I sort of know what you mean. As I watched this episode, I noticed I had a sense that this one seemed almost easy, and certainly was much more relaxed, than last week's grueling experiences.

It felt almost like some recovery time, given to the contestants before the final push.