The Amazing Race

Observations from the Race tonight:

The surfers are Christians! But haven't been making a giant deal of that the whole time! I love them. Although the beardy one was a little snotty about the Buddhist temple. Jennifer or whatever her name is was much more respectful.

Zac's dad is kind of a condescending ass, no?

I LOVED how excited Liz and Marie were about the elephants. They didn't even care that they had an extra task. I'm bummed that they got eliminated. They haven't been my favorites but I'd definitely take them over Barely Existent Jeremy & Sandy.

Taxi drama!! Both cab drivers (rightfully) insisting on being paid fairly, and cab drivers generously giving rides for free.

Bill and Cathi screaming with joy that Amani and Marcus were team number one was awesome. Damn, I love the Race.

Between Zac & his dad getting off the bus when they didn't need to (and losing more time than they probably would have with a penalty anyway), that woman just running off with the surfers' clue, and the sisters running out of money, this was one of the weirdest legs I've ever seen.

The grandparents and Amani & Marcus have really grown on me, so I was happy that they did well this week.

Barely Existent Jeremy & Sandy

I seriously keep forgetting about them. Every week they pop up on my screen and I go, "Who are they?"

Instant Monkeys wrote:Zac's dad is kind of a condescending ass, no?

Now that's an understatement! I really liked Laurence up until this leg, with his whole "We don't need to take notes, we need to quickly get this disassembled!" to "We didn't take notes, don't put that on me!" Dude, at least own up to the fact that you made a mistake. And him stating that memory wasn't Zac's strongpoint wasn't very supportive.

I didn't think that Zac and Laurence getting off of the first class bus was that dumb of a move. They didn't know for sure if it was against the rules, so they played it safe to avoid a penalty. That seemed like the smarter thing to do at the time. In retrospect, it does seem idiotic.

I'm rooting for the snowboarders and Amani/Marcus. They're a lot of fun. Everyone else is pretty much "meh." I would have taken the twins over personality-free Jeremy/Sandy in a hot second, though. Still not digging the grandparents. There's just something about Cathi's tone of voice that irks me.

I'm still not sure I understand how the twins ran out of money. Expenses were tight for some but no one else completely ran out of cash. Where did the difference go?

Miss Moneypenny wrote:

Barely Existent Jeremy & Sandy

I seriously keep forgetting about them. Every week they pop up on my screen and I go, "Who are they?"

Seriously, same. I didn't even know their names.

Getting off the bus seemed so stupid, especially since the penalties so far this season have been like 30 minutes, and it took them longer than that to run back to the bus stop. And all of the taxi drama was crazy, but that all of the fights about how much to pay the taxi drivers had to happen seemed weird too -- was there just bad advance work for this leg? Why were the taxis so expensive, and why did people run out of money? Those taxi drivers were so nice to the sisters, though, who had totally grown on me, and I was sad to see them go. But I was delighted that Amani and Marcus came in first, because they were awesome in this leg (her stuff about wanting to be respectful to someone else's religion was so nice, and she was so tender with all of the things from the temple thing) and she was SO excited.

jcpdiesel21 wrote:

Instant Monkeys wrote:Zac's dad is kind of a condescending ass, no?

Now that's an understatement! I really liked Laurence up until this leg, with his whole "We don't need to take notes, we need to quickly get this disassembled!" to "We didn't take notes, don't put that on me!" Dude, at least own up to the fact that you made a mistake. And him stating that memory wasn't Zac's strongpoint wasn't very supportive.

People being belligerent, and then being completely wrong, and still managing to turn it around so they're not wrong and call the other person stupid, are like an immediate shortcut (a Fast Forward, if you will) to total rage for me. I wanted to deck him when the kid went back to take notes, after having tried to do so before and being shouted down by his father -- and the dad, instead of going "Whoops, guess we should have taken notes after all" was like "I think I could have done this easily...He's not really good at this kind of thing...I can't believe all the time he's wasting." And then was all snotty about how it wasn't HIS fault Zac hadn't taken notes. BLAH.

Getting off the bus seemed so stupid, especially since the penalties so far this season have been like 30 minutes, and it took them longer than that to run back to the bus stop.

Seriously. Wasn't their last penalty 15 minutes? Sometimes they're half an hour. I kind of doubt it would have been any longer than that. It did look like they JUST missed the bus that left an hour after their original bus, and ended up on one that left FOUR hours after their original bus. So they came close to wasting much less time than they did.

Typically when the penalty involves transportation, the penalty is 30 minutes on top of whatever time they saved with the transportation but still it was stupid. Though I could sort of see how they talked themselves into because they saw other teams on the other bus and since the only research they did was say "we want the next bus to Bangkok" they most likely wondered why the other teams were on the other bus. I mean still stupid particularly if you think about it, but since they have made such stupid mistakes on each leg they over thought it like they did with the navigating in the last leg.

I like the snowboarders but Andy's "it's pretty obvious if you read the Bible," after his One True God statement rubbed me the wrong way, though since they seem like pretty nice and affable guys who have been respectful along the way, I wonder if that was edited oddly or something.

Maybe one of the editors was Buddhist. Which would actually be kind of funny.

I felt so bad for those girls. I think if they had just had enough money to not be walking and not have to worry about how they were getting where they were going, they could have made up the time. The sun didn't look too different between the 7th place people and them. And I loved seeing how much fun they were having with the elephant.

curryalley wrote:I'm still not sure I understand how the twins ran out of money. Expenses were tight for some but no one else completely ran out of cash. Where did the difference go?

I think I heard one of the teams before them saying they were lucky they had money from the last leg because the cab had been so expensive. And I believe the sisters had run out of money the leg before, so maybe that's why?

I was sad that they were eliminated. I also loved how they enjoyed they were so excited about the speedbump, and even though they weren't the best racers I thought they were nice and fun.

Yeah. After their beach umbrella meltdown last episode I was prepared to hate the twins, but their joy over getting to wash an elephant was just too irresistible. I also liked how uncomfortable it made them to have to beg for rides. Good on them for having a good final leg.

After their beach umbrella meltdown last episode I was prepared to hate the twins, but their joy over getting to wash an elephant was just too irresistible.

They were so delightful with the elephants! They didn't even seem to mind shoveling a ginormous pile of poo, because they were around elephants.

And that speedbump was way more time-consuming than a lot of previous speedbumps have been! I remember one that was "sit on a block of ice for a few minutes."

I like the snowboarders but Andy's "it's pretty obvious if you read the Bible," after his One True God statement rubbed me the wrong way

I wanted to sit Andy down and point out the parts of the Bible that contradict each other.

I liked the snowboarders, but any and all game show contestants who use the "God wants me/us to win" line automatically lose me forever. No, brah, God is not concerned with your performance on The Amazing Race. Boo to you.

Amani and Marcus are my favorites now-- I love that he seems like a huuuuuuuuge dork trapped in the body of a professional athlete. And that she just rolls with it.

I'm glad it was nonelim last night. Pro football player working a foot-pumped sewing machine to make his grandma proud!

I am also anti-snowboarders based on the God remarks last week, but they seem like a mortal lock to make the finals.

I still don't really like Ernie and Cindy but was happy that when she got trapped under her bedframe, she was laughing and not sobbing hysterically.

I loved how touched everyone was by making toy trucks.

But Lawrence needs to shove it. "You can't sew? But you're a woman! How will you keep a husband? Cause you're a woman! In conclusion: woman!" Shut up shut up shut up.

Ugh, Lawrence is officially my least favorite one now, after that bullshit. I knew as soon as the sewing task was mentioned that Ma Kettle would kill it, and lo and behold she did.

I'm very glad it was non-elim too, since it was a tight leg with not a lot of opportunities to make up time and it looks like Amani & Marcus just got screwed by the taxi thing.

Also weird: apparently last night was the "what do you do for a living?" ep-- Justin's a doctor, Jennifer's a teacher, and Sandy's an NP.

I abhor Laurence. And I feel a little bad rooting against him because I do like Zac. But he can take his sexist comments and shove them up his ass. What an incredible jerk.

While I was glad that Amani and Marcus were saved last night, there have been WAY too many nonelimination legs so far this season. I think there have been the same amount of episodes where a team (or teams, due to the double elimination) got eliminated as nonelimination legs. I hope there are no more from here on out.

Both Jeremy and Bill have done five Roadblocks apiece. Looks like Sandy and Cathi need to start stepping up, fast.

While I was glad that Amani and Marcus were saved last night, there have been WAY too many nonelimination legs so far this season.

By my reckoning, we should only get one more. The first non-elim on Leg 1 was canceled out by the double-elim on Leg 2. We've had two more since. Most seasons have three, one of which is during the Final 4 or Final 3. This is all assuming they haven't added an episode or anything like that.

I'm curious to see if next week's Speed Bump is a non-event, like "sit on a block of ice for 10 minutes" or a time suck like, "shovel a mountain of elephant poo, then wash an entire elephant." There isn't any consistency with the SBs at all.

I can't wait to hear the story behind Amani and Marcus leading a rabbit on a leash through an obstacle course.

Was anyone else yelling to Jennifer through the TV, "Go back to your brother and get the damn clue!" Because I spent a good 15 minutes doing that.

Also, why did the jerk and his hot son U-Turn Marcus and Amani? I didn't understand seeing as they saw those two pass them.

dionneshea wrote:Was anyone else yelling to Jennifer through the TV, "Go back to your brother and get the damn clue!" Because I spent a good 15 minutes doing that.

Yes, I have to admit that I did that every time she was onscreen.

Also, why did the jerk and his hot son U-Turn Marcus and Amani? I didn't understand seeing as they saw those two pass them.

Honestly, the only explanation I can come up with is that they're really dumb, which I think has been borne out by their other screw-ups.

I think this week broke Cindy. It's got to be absolutely crazy-making for someone as Type A as her to keep being juuuuust not quite good enough. I find her frustration far funnier than I probably should.

Next week: RABBIT DRESSAGE

It was painful to watch Jennifer sit there and dither over the missing clue. I should have figured they were goners after the episode opened with her brother's heart-warming coming out story.

I should probably be sick of the Snowboarder Dudes winning 5 out of 7 legs, but there's something so charming about them. I love how much fun they seem to be having.

Amani and Marcus put up a good fight, and I'm glad they managed to beat out Team Brain Trust to the U-Turn and move up from last place.

Next week looks truly awesome. I can't wait to see Marcus hollering at a rabbit on a leash.

Now that Jennifer is gone (and great story this week about your brother coming out but still not enough to like you because you were TERRIBLE in both race and personality) my biggest hate-on is Laurence. But good news for me is he's both a dolt and and the team's strong arm. His dipshit decision to U-Turn a team running directly away from the U-Turn box tells me that he's sunk. I'm sorry for Zac who seems awesome and a better racer, but it makes me wonder if he actually wanted to sail around the world or just wanted to be away from his dad for a few months.

Miss Moneypenny wrote:
Next week: RABBIT DRESSAGE

YES that will RULE.

I can't see how anyone other than a NFL football player would have made it through the people-unloading part of the other half of the detour, and it looked like it practically killed him anyway, so I am almost sorry we didn't see anyone get U-Turned if only to see one of those tiny other people try to try it.

I like Marcus, but I'm getting a bit tired of him relating every single thing that happens to his experience in the NFL. "Carrying people off a boat? This is just like that time that I CARRIED my team to victory!" I double-dog-dare him to associate leading bunnies over fences with the NFL. I TRIPLE-dog-dare him.

According to their TV Guide interview, Jennifer waited at least an HOUR at the fish place, hoping to see another team. I seriously cannot fathom how she thought that was a good idea. I mean I get just freaking out but for over an hour? At least go back to the beginning so you know what you are missing so even if you have to go back you didn't lose an hour!