Lingo

So would it surprise anyone to learn that Kym has her own YouTube channel? It's called KymNonStop, it's been around for a couple of years, and mostly it's made up of instructional exercise videos as well as general health/fitness videos. They are very well put together. Alli features in several of them. And they are also posting "recaps" of the TAR episodes giving "behind-the-scenes" information and that sort of thing. Episode 4 discusses how they worked on snagging that early flight, for instance. If you enjoy them on the show, they are just the same in the videos, but like pumped up to 11. I enjoyed watching them. I came across Kym's channel "by accident", more or less -- it popped up after I watched a completely unrelated sports video (though YouTube of course knows that I like TAR-related videos). Just now I searched for videos of the other teams. Only Tim and TeJay seem to have their own channel, though it's very new and doesn't seem to feature much TAR discussion (I haven't watched any of their videos though). Brooke and Robbie don't have their own channel, but you can find a few videos of Brooke giving her own show recaps on the "TNT Impact Wrestling" YouTube channel (these I haven't watched yet either). I spot a short video of Robbie too. I also found a cute video of Amy and Maya on the local news talking about auditioning for the Race. Maya is the big Race fan, as you might guess.

So that first week, we get a double dose, Wednesday and Friday? More than double, actually, because the premiere is 90 minutes. That's awesome.

Well, we simply don't know for sure yet. But I'm betting that if the Save is used, then that leg becomes a non-elimination leg, and a later non-elimination leg will become an elimination leg.

To clarify, the U-Turn was immaterial because Maya and Amy had already checked into the Pit-Stop when K/W tried to U-turn them, so it's not like they had to do the other Detour or anything.

So Tara writes: And Sarah responds: And I'm just puzzled how you can think that after Season 3. Wouldn't Seth Aaron's win (especially over Korto) be proof enough against such a "fix"? And Sarah, you admitted that your story-based predictions sucked after that season. As for what the show is "about", if it's about anything, why can't it be about putting the best up against the best? (Putting aside the laughable notion that these guys are the best the show has ever had, which no.)

I remember the RB clue being something along the lines of, "Who's good at putting things together?"

Oh god, I didn't realize till just now that the show's not on Sunday anymore so it's not the Country Music Awards that are pre-empting the show! Can't TAR ever get a break from the pre-emptions? You should see him in the bonus clips. He really really didn't want to touch the goats so he kept letting the goats go (and then laughing when Brooke got pissed about it). Survivor does it all the time (or used to), but I only remember TAR ever doing it once, in Season 6. Maybe in S7 too, but they dropped it pretty quickly. (P.S. Sorry about the double post, I'm just not sure how to add quotes to previous posts.)

LOL, that is just perfect. And I'd like to see the look on Shelley and Nici's faces when the Survivor couple accuses them of not really being a mom and daughter! No way, Shelley and Nici are definitely the most combustible, and after them I'd say probably Brooke and Robbie and maybe Tim and TeJay. The Dentists are a distant fourth I think.

Are you sure it was even mentioned in the clue? I think that for a lot of these kinds of tasks, the instructions simply say, "Do this task in the same way that the locals are doing it," and they have to figure out for themselves what that entails.

Jim and Misti assumed so too (in a bonus clip).

I don't think the Race has ever not gone to Asia! These two always seem lost and frantic. I'm kind of surprised they're still in the race. But Jim and Misti are underestimating them. In a bonus clip Misti assumes that they must have been good milking the goats, because she didn't think they'd be able to build the tent.

Well, I think it was just good strategy. When you're not racing for first or for last, and when the other team isn't someone that you'd like to see eliminated for being a big threat, then it's the perfect time to team up and save some time. As a counterpoint, I was a little worried that Maya was going to help Brooke, when she should be considering the fact that it might be better strategy to get a physically strong team like the wrestlers eliminated when you get the chance. But Brooke ended up figuring it out on her own. It's also a good strategy to follow through with a promise of helping someone when you don't need to. You don't want to get a reputation for "playing dirty."

As annoying as Brooke can be when whining about tasks, Robbie can be equally annoying with all his dumb jokes and clowning around. He seems to do it intentionally just to needle Brooke sometimes. He actually says in a clip something like, "I love it when you yell at me." And he's a big diva and afraid of animals. He was afraid of the goats and refused to hold the goats down while she milked them. He was talking about how much he loves his manicures and pedicures and spray-on tans, so he doesn't like to touch dirty animals. He was also afraid of the birds at the pit stop. As much as he calms her down, she keeps him focused, and she's more serious about the Race.

That thing is like something out of Star Trek. I went to Singapore just this September and I just had to go to the top of that thing to have a look around.

I don't think they've ever shown clips from multiple upcoming episodes in the middle of the season before (which I did not appreciate -- spoilers!). It seems like maybe they're desperate to keep people watching.

So for those of you wondering if the editors are just showing the best of Misti and Jim's behaviour in the episodes, there were a couple of very moments in the Bonus Clips. The first is of Shelley and Nici at the Pit Stop. Phil asks them who they'd like to see win the Race, and Nici immediately says, "Misti and Jim. Definitely. Because they're just nice people." Which is ironic, because in another clip, of Misti and Jim headed in their car to their pitstop, they are apparently asked off-screen who they'd like to see eliminated, and after mentioning the cyclists (because they're strong), who does Jim pick? Shelley and Nici. Jim says it's because they're negative, and he likes to surround himself with positive people. They start talking about Misti's grandmother, who seems to be the inspiration for their positivity -- she never says anything mean about anybody. And just by coincidence, it happens to be her grandmother's birthday, and Misti is really happy to win a leg on her birthday.

I don't know either. My teeth are only tooth-colored, after all. (That's gonna be my go-to excuse for at least the next 7 weeks!)

It seems that they were the only ones to do it. I noticed everyone else was dragging their bags around except them.

I'm sorry, you're right. Maybe I'm desperate to see him as a nice guy. Lord knows I've spent a lot of time defending him here for some reason.

Well I watched that clip too, and I didn't get that impression. Maybe we see what we want to see.

What did Rick and Tyreese say to each other while digging graves? I couldn't hear that part. I gather that Tyreese did not confess that he let Martin live.

They're certainly flying under the radar. In a bonus clip, one of them was very happy they weren't U-Turned, exclaiming (surprised??) that "This means that people like us!" And I'm thinking, "No, honey, it just means that no one thinks you're a threat."

The bonus clips show them having a rather nasty fight at the airport. I think Robbie is playing dumb on purpose and Brooke is just over it. Whenever he starts up with his silly talk, she just rolls her eyes and mutters "Here we go again...." But they were also fighting about other things. Robbie was complaining that she acts like a know-it-all.

They did show it. At one point they watched the demonstration again and we heard Misti gasp that he was doing it one-handed. (Then they edited in a sound clip of Jim barking "Misti!" without showing him saying it, which always strikes me as suspicious.) I felt bad for Misti through most of the episode as it seemed that she was really struggling to find a way to make herself useful. But I admired the way she stepped up to do the Roadblock, passed Shelley, and then muscled her way in and out of that Roadblock traffic jam. Maybe the show is trying to paint them as villains, but I'm not going to blame Jim yet. I may not be remembering it correctly, but I didn't feel like he was making fun of Maya, he was just calling a spade a spade. He was definitely more intense this episode, and maybe a little brusquer with Misti at times. But actually the part that bothered me most was him at the Roadblock, trying to psyche Shelley out with his "blood in the water!" shouting. Now, I don't think that sort of thing is against the rules, or evil, or even bad sportsmanship, really. I just don't like to watch teams fight with each other.

I guess that history suggests that they'll reach at least 4th place! And the fact that they managed to do it even after bunching (unlike e.g. Nat and Kat, if I recall correctly) is even more impressive.