Amazing Race: Unfinished Business

[Spiderman]

Well, Vixxen and Kent caught up due to one train leaving in the early evening. And they do get a penalty for taking the wrong flight, just at the next Pit Stop...

I think overall, the U turns were reasonably played, given the reasons; Kent & Vixxen had a team right there so they knew they could U-turn them, as opposed to their first season when they U turned someone who was already ahead of them, and Jaime and Cara U-Turned a team they were fairly sure was behind them (I lost track at that point). Jaime just couldn't do the fossil challenge to take advantage.

And it turned out that Kent & Vixxen only lost one position from their time penalty, so that was fortunate on their part.

It didn't seem that a lot of people were checking the fossil diagram to double-check their work, since they made a show of showing the cowboy doing it and not showing others. So I'm going to conclude that not a lot of people indeed didn't check and it turned out to be a poor decision for most, since a lot of people had to take apart their skeleton to redo the "crux" piece and turn it around.

Funny how Mallory and dad used their Express Pass (which was a pretty good decision) but didn't get first, as the cowboys "sped" through the fossil challenge and beat them to the Pit Stop.

 

[train]

Man - there's so much catching up to do, and we only missed the one episode this last Sunday because we went to the comedy club...

But - We're for the boys again - see if they can pull it out this time...

 

[EricBess]

Yeah, I think Gary and Mallory realized that a lot of the teams were already a good deal finished with the challenge, but everyone was there, working on it, so they were hoping to get first, but the Cowboy's were right on their tail. A bit of bad luck for a couple of teams with their taxi driver leaving, including Gary and Mallory.

The two detour challenges didn't seem to be anything fancy - just a matter of doing them. No one really had any particular difficulties, though a few teams were able to carry multiple boxes, which had to help, but how much?

Ultimately, the double U-turn clearly mattered, but it wasn't nearly as big of a deciding factor as it has been in the past. There are some times when the detour challenges each take so long that getting U-turned hasn't given people even the chance to catch up. It looked like there were some taxi issues, but both teams that were U-turned made it to the road block before some of the other teams did.

I agree with you about the diagram. I don't remember which is Chet and which is Cord, but they did make a point of him saying that he seemed to be going back to the diagram way more than anyone else. And the deciding factor of how quickly the teams finished that challenge seemed to be whether or not they got the hip bones alligned properly the first time or if they had to tear it all down and start over. Ultimately, had the red-heads had it right the first time, they wouldn't have been eliminated.

 

[Spiderman]

Well, last night seemed pretty "quick". Everyone got on the plane to India, there wasn't any drama there The starting times were interesting though - aside from the first three, the rest were all clumped together, maybe 30 minutes between them all, when I thought some teams were taking longer than that to finish in last episode.

The Roadblock seemed to to decide it all. Luke was just very unlucky, not sure if his deafness also affects his sense of taste or smell? The ones who finished quickly seemed to all "smell" out the mango, so not sure why the others didn't pick up on that or just couldn't smell it. It was slightly amusing to see them near the end just bring up every cup they tasted in hopes of getting it And it was great to see the tea servers applaud Luke at the end.

The Detours didn't seem that bad; at first, I thought the Delivery was the way to go but then it showed the teams doing the Paint ones going 2, 3, and 4, so I guess that didn't take as long as I thought. Nice to see the Globetrotters give Luke a hug when they arrived too.

 

[EricBess]

Haven't seen it yet and I didn't even realize it....weeks are going by so fast now days. I'll have to catch it online before the next episode goes up.

 

[Spiderman]

Fortunately, I don't think it's on this Sunday, so you have time

 

[EricBess]

Yeah, it wasn't.

 

[Spiderman]

Saw Sunday's episode.

Cowboys are coming on strong; despite choosing a later flight (why are they so trusting? ), they finished the Roadblock ahead of Christina and dad and then somehow got to the pit stop before some other teams. Whew!

Kent pulled a sneaky move with Mallory's dad... so much for the "I won't screw you" statement he made at the beginning of the teamup. That was just wrong.

 

[EricBess]

I did see the previous episode. Caught it on Saturday. I think the ones that did well taken the time with the tea at the beginning. It didn't seem like anyone clued in that handing a mango and a papaya to the tea guy was an indication of the type of tea they had sampled previously. If anyone did, they didn't show it.

Beyond that, I'm not sure anyone knew what they were trying to smell.

But yeah, a bunch of them were just gathering whatever, so it came down to luck for the last few teams. However, the teams that did so well were because of their own perception, so anyone could have suceeded. The only way to have made it fair beyond that is if all of the teams that did poorly lost and you can't really do that.

 

[train]

Man - just finished watching it,but need to stay tight-lipped... :-0

 

[Spiderman]

It didn't seem like anyone clued in that handing a mango and a papaya to the tea guy was an indication of the type of tea they had sampled previously. If anyone did, they didn't show it.

Beyond that, I'm not sure anyone knew what they were trying to smell.

I think they knew although they might not have shown it beyond the Asian dad and other team who tried to smell it, but they already said that they didn't know what they were tasting when they first tried the tea so trying to smell it probably would have been hopeless, I'm guessing...

Didn't see last night's yet.

 

[train]

On the tea bit - I wonder if they had freshly made it there, or if they just poured it out of a bottle... hmmm.. who knows...

 

[Spiderman]

I'd bet it was freshly made.

 

[EricBess]

Sigh...I really need to find some time to watch this today, don't I?

 

[Mooseman]

Hurry up and watch it, I want to read what happens next....
You know, I tried to watch this show, but I just can't care about the people or the challenges..... not sure why, maybe the way it's edited or produced seems so disjointed that I lose interest very quickly.
For some odd reason, you guys write about it better than they produce it....
oh well.

 

[Spiderman]

LOL... that's funny. Well, the people on this show are past participants, so you're already supposed to be familiar with them... and maybe either rooting for them and/or seeing how they changed from when they were first on.

Still haven't been able to watch Sunday's show, but maybe tonight...

 

[EricBess]

Okay, watched last week's (still need to watch this weeks). Not a lot to say. I was glad the cowboys caught up. I hate when someone gets eliminated based on a bad flight. In this case, they can't blame anyone but themselves, but fortunately, they were able to make up the hour and stay in it, even if they are near the back of the pack right now (they've come from behind before).

I don't know if I agree with you about Kent. He did stay long enough for them to get the clue, but yeah, if you are going to team up, you should probably establish up front for how long. Still, Mallory and her dad ended up passing them up anyway....not sure what the deal was with that water taxi.

By the time the asian team got to the pit stop, it was hitting dusk, so I think they were further behind than they seemed anyway. I was figuring that the cowboys would have ended up in the final two and their attempt at suspence that they always have, but they got ahead of Kent and Vixen as well.

The road block is what really did them in this week. Even the cowboys had finished by the time the asian guy even had the first part of the clue, so I'm not sure what happened there. He should have hung around the other teams a bit to see what was going on. I suspect he wandered off down the wrong street, but they didn't really show the details.

Meant to comment - I was pretty impressed with Kristina. Even after the cowboys past her Dad, she didn't get upset at him. She just stayed focused on doing the best they could.

Also - I'm not autistic, but the noise level just watching the show in that town was almost too much for me...I can only imagine how bad it was for him.

 

[Spiderman]

Even the cowboys had finished by the time the asian guy even had the first part of the clue, so I'm not sure what happened there. He should have hung around the other teams a bit to see what was going on. I suspect he wandered off down the wrong street, but they didn't really show the details.

Yeah, I think he did wander down a wrong street since they showed him near the docks (although actually, from his comments, it sounded like he intentionally went down there looking for holy men who were bathing/swimming? but admitted he might have been overthinking the clue). But he seemed way out from where he was supposed to be.

Saw the latest episode last night... actually, not much really. The cowboys took a different flight intentionally this time but it didn't pay off, although they were only 30 minutes behind. I'm not sure what was up with Mallory and her dad not following the directions in the car to back up - I wonder how long it actually took for them to figure it out. They showed the cowboys landing but I think that was just an editing job - I have a hard time believing they spent 30 minutes trying to figure out where to go (although it's possible )

The Detour challenge seemed aimed at you had to pick the couch or it was a time-waster, although the Globetrotters might have been able to do the food challenge.

But Mallory and dad avoided elimination this leg... lucky....

 

[EricBess]

They seem to be sort of vague on things recently. Perhaps its just me not paying as much attention, but the cowboys made a comment about not wanting a flight with 2 layovers, which is why they took the flight that got in later. Perhaps because the layovers turned out to not be important...?

I think as soon as I had figured out that you were supposed to look at what was on the ground behind you, I might have just jumped out of the car and read it. Seems like a few teams had trouble backing up at the right speed and ended up taking more time than really necessary.

I agree about the eating challenge. That was a lot of food. Probably right about the globetrotters, but I was glad the cowboys didn't attempt it. I'm not sure they would have caught up if they had.

The road block seemed pretty uneventful. I guess the chimney sweep was pretty straight-forward. No real challenges to overcome. Honestly, this whole episode was sort of that way. The only real issue that happened besides the eating was the team with the autistic guy going up 3 flights of stairs that they didn't need to.

I can't believe what a whiner Kent has become, though. Vixen really seems to be losing patience with him, but she's right that so much whining just serves to demoralize both of them. The way Kent is complaining, you would think that they are at constant risk of elimination and yet they ended up third if I remember correctly (might have been forth).

 

[Spiderman]

Perhaps its just me not paying as much attention, but the cowboys made a comment about not wanting a flight with 2 layovers, which is why they took the flight that got in later. Perhaps because the layovers turned out to not be important...?

Well, they said the reason why they did that was because all the previous times, there had been delays during the layovers in that country. So I guess they were relying on past experience... and it turned out that this, everything was on time.

I guess the chimney sweep was pretty straight-forward.

yeah. There were a couple of comments from later teams that the cleaning ball-thing was heavy, but that was about it. Nothing too complicated.

I can't believe what a whiner Kent has become, though. Vixen really seems to be losing patience with him, but she's right that so much whining just serves to demoralize both of them.

Word.

Haven't seen last night's yet...