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shortsummers

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  1. It's amazing what a bitch (bastard?) karma can be. If Angelina hadn't manipulated the vote to get rid of Jeremy instead of Natalie (apparently for personal reasons) earlier, then she wouldn't have Natalie as a teammate and might well have had Jeremy instead. And now she finds herself in a very exposed position on the weakest team. Natalie's ineptness cost them about 20 seconds in the obstacle portion of the immunity challenge. Since the challenge was decided by mere seconds, they probably wouldn't have even gone to tribal council if they had Jeremy. Even if they had gone to tribal, Jeremy and Mike were so tight that it's almost certain that Mike would have stuck with Goliath and Lyrsa would have gone home and the backcountry lawyer would be in the exposed position. Of course, with Jeremy choosing the bandana instead of Natalie the three teams may have been very different than the current configuration, But it's hard to think of any situation any worse than Angelina finds herself now. And in all of these configurations she still wouldn't have a jacket.
  2. The eight semi-celebrity teams on TAR30 makes me flash back to TAR27, which is one of only seven of the first 29 TARS that I disliked so much that I will never own them on DVD. But on the plus side: 1) I watched the last season of Big Brother and liked Cody and Jessica. I found the charges that Cody was a bigot and anti-gay to be totally unwarranted. Both of them are smart and athletic and will probably make a very strong team. 2) The Indy car drivers sound like they will be a team to route for. Hopefully they will do better than the Indy car racers on American Ninja Warrior, who have basically bombed. 3) There is more geographically diversity among the contestants. We aren't overrun by contestants from California and the Eastern Seaboard as in many past TARS. 4) There are 2 1/2 teams with ties to my home state, which is 1 1/2 more teams than ever before. 5) Hopefully, I will finally find out what goat yoga is.
  3. This season has been a great example of the Butterfly Effect. The ripple started very early when Cole helped Joe find an immunity idol. Because Joe played the idol, it kept him from being eliminated after the tribes were mixed. Because there were still six Healers left in the next episode, it led to Brian voting off Roark instead of Chrissy. Because Aly sided with the Healers in this episode, it led to her getting voted out in the next episode. Because the Healers still had a plurality at the merge (and because they hated Joe so much), this helped lead to the Hustlers and Heroes combining forces and voting out a Healer. All because Cole recognized the square in the tree drawing as the well instead of a raft and told Joe instead of finding the idol himself. As a long time engineer I find myself analyzing everything, including traffic lights. If I were on Survivor I would be analyzing 24/7. As an actuary, that is the same way Chrissy is playing the game, which is probably why I respect her so much. If she has a smug look it's probably because she run all the numbers through her head many times and realizes that she is about to succeed. It's probably the same look she gets when she's run all the statistics on a particular stock she has recommended and knows it is going to be a winner. Even though I don't like him very much. I really have to admire Brian's social game. Before the merge, he was on the losing tribe four of the six times, largely because he is so inept at challenges. As the weakest person in his tribe, he should have been an easy vote. Yet not only has he not been voted out, his name never even came up. And now with the merge, he is going to be considered a nonthreat and will probably make to the end.
  4. If TAR uses the same format it has utilized in recent seasons, the teams will have to equalize the Roadblocks in the next leg. According to Wikipedia, Matt, Scott, Joey and London have used their 5 RB's. That means that Redmond, Brooke, Logan and Tara will have to preform the RB in the next leg. People keep comparing Brooke to Flo and express concern that, like Flo, Brooke will win TAR. But, remember, Zach and Flo raced before the RB equalization rule. Flo only did one RB and that was well before the end of the race. Brooke will have to do the RB against three fairly strong teams with the final 3 on the line. If I were Scott, this would scare the hell out of me. Of course, if Brooke had done the bungee jumping instead of forcing Scott to do it, they wouldn't be in this predicament. Since Redmond has to do the last RB, what if it's something he can't physically do because of his leg? Since bungee jumping seems to involve strapping the chord around the ankles and Redmond had no ankle to strap, I assume he couldn't preform that RB. What if the next RB is similar? The recent format for TAR in the last leg is two RB'S that the teams have to split. So even if Brooke makes it into the final 3, she will probably still have to do one more RB with the race on the line. Also, Flo and Zach were up against one of the weakest final 4's in TAR history, while Brooke has to compete two very strong teams in mom&dad and the boys. So I think there is very little chance she will win.
  5. I have the following comments on Becca and Floyd using the Fast Forward instead of the Express Pass. The FF does not allow you to skip all tasks as someone suggested. It just means you're doing one task instead of two. Pretty much the same advantage the EP gives you. The EP is always an advantage, the FF is not always an advantage. The super strong Green Team of TAR 27 almost got eliminated on the first leg because they went for a FF that couldn't be run. Using the FF instead of EP did not make for a less stressful and physically easier leg than the EP would have, as some have suggested. Becca would have run right up the tower and loved it and then they would have pretty much gone straight to the pit stop. How is that more stressful than what they did? Becca saying that by not using the EP the other teams would not know they were deceitful because they hadn't told them that they had the EP made no sense to me. If someone had a secret EP and told everyone about it, I would think that they were an idiot because it would made them an immediate target at the U Turn. Had they used the EP, they would have aced the Roadblock and skipped the detour and finished well ahead of the other teams, won $5000 and gotten a head start on the next leg. Though I realize that this is hindsight. Most importantly, The EP was gone after this leg whether they used it or not. But because they did use the FF, that too is gone for them in all future legs. Granted, them getting a FF in future legs might only be 20-25%, it's still better than the 0% they have now. Having written all this, I also realize that using the FF may give them an unintended advantage later in the race. I just got through watching TARS18 and 20 on DVD. In both races the teams that were eliminated in the penultimate leg probably would have been spared had they been able to pick the person doing the Roadblock instead of having it dictated by the number of Roadblocks they had previously performed. By not doing the Roadblock on the FF, which they almost certainly would have done if they had used the EP, Becca and Floyd probably will have a choice as to which one of them will do the final Roadblock. This can be a big advantage since they have different abilities. But they have to make it to the final four first.
  6. The bad news for TAR may be that it has low ratings in its crappy time slot this season, but the good news is that it has won its time slot for all three weeks its been on so far. I'm a glass half full type of guy so I take this as a win for TAR.
  7. Some things I like about the cast this season: There are no celebrities, especially no former Big Brother contestants. There are no beauty queens and only one model and she is already gone. There aren't that many contestants from California. One of my pet peeves of TAR casting is that there are usually way too many people from there. I like geographical diversity. The contestants are generally likable. The only person I dislike so far is Harvard, though 140 IQ is close. Things I don't like about the casting: The contestants are too close to the same age. Among other things it makes it harder to tell them apart. The singles concept also makes it harder to tell the teams apart. I had to go back and look at the first 10 minutes again to get the teams straight. The best line of the night was Jenn saying "How can two Asians get so lost? I don't understand." The funniest part was that she was completely serious when she said it.
  8. I'm not convinced that the Green team didn't throw this challenge. Survivor didn't show them owning up to it, but Survivor doesn't like to advertise the fact that teams do throw challenges. The Green team got to slingshots well ahead of the Orange team and still only knocked down two targets to the Orange team's five. And this is a team that had dominated in other challenges. And Michaela, who may be the most athletic woman ever on Survivor, couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. I'm just not buying it. If she did help throw it, then she got what she deserved. I couldn't decide what was better, her reaction to being voted out or Hannah's. This is the most entertaining Survivor in years.
  9. I think there is probably very little chance that the Purple or Orange teams will throw the next challenge. The merge may well not place for several more episodes, and if they throw this challenge they might be in a position to have to vote out a member of their alliance in the next episode. But the Green team has little reason not to throw the challenge since they have two GenXers to eliminate. However, if the other teams perceive that the Green team is throwing this challenge, they may well try to throw the next immunity challenge. That is when it could get interesting. Though there are many challenges where it might be obvious the teams are throwing it, there are some where it won't necessarily be obvious. The complicated word puzzle they had earlier comes to mind. I'm terrible at word puzzles and I could have been there all day and not solved it. How would Survivor know the teams aren't trying?
  10. As soon as the Green team sees that Figgy is gone it has to occur to them that the best thing is to throw the next immunity challenge to get rid of one of the GenXers. At some point it has to occur to the Purple and Orange teams that it would be advantageous to lose the challenge to vote out Taylor and Michelle. This could prove interesting because I think that Ken has too much honor to throw a challenge and Michaela and Chris are too competitive to throw one. Of course, the Green team can just leave Michaela out of the challenge and solve that problem. What happens if all three teams refuse to win an immunity challenge? What does Survivor do then?
  11. Just read reviews from critics for new fall shows and they came down pretty hard on both CBS's Bull and McGyver. Bull in particular seems doomed to me. I can't believe that CBS can find room in their schedule for a show about guy who selects jurors for trials but can't find room for The Amazing Race. That is both Amazing and Bull.
  12. This is the first season in a long time that I remember money being an issue in TAR, and I assumed it was because contestants got so good at begging for money during down time at airports that money was no longer a factor. I remember Jonathan of TAR6 had over a thousand dollars in his pocket when he was eliminated. Do they no longer allow contestants to beg for money?
  13. Justin's response to Team Texas threatening to U-turn them was, "Cool, you U-turn us I'm just going to U-turn the team behind us, and then when there's another U-turn, its time to pay you back." But once Team Green has used their U-turn, they can't use another, so how exactly do they plan on paying them back? Personally, I think that Team Texas's use of the X-press is quite inventive, and it doesn't preclude them also doing the U-turn. As Justin inadvertently pointed out, for the Double U-turn to be effective against a good team, you need two teams to work together. Team Texas would be the first team, and the team they bribe with the X-press pass would be the other. That's not being sleezy, that's being smart.
  14. I was extremely disappointed in the Green Team. Super fans have rarely done well on TAR, but in the past it has been because of poor task performance. Mark and Bill of TAR13 are a classic example. But the Green team almost got eliminated because they did not learn from previous season of TAR, and that is inexcusable for a super fan team. From TAR14 they should have learned going hang gliding is a huge risk and it is not dependant so much on the weather as the wind. They should not have tried the FF. From TAR2 they should have learned that getting 6 points in this version of volleyball is not that difficult if the team is athletic at all. They should have gone immediately to that detour instead of wasting time with the puzzle. I was initially routing for this team but now I can hardly wait for them to go.
  15. My daughter and I just got through watching the movie Soul Surfer and I went from being a fan of Adam and Bethany to a huge fan of them. I highly recommend it, it's very inspirational. It's especially interesting to watch how much Bethany struggled with mundane tasks right after losing her arm and how effortlessly she preforms them now. At one point she says something to the effect of "How am I ever going to get a boyfriend with one arm?" Well, not only did Bethany land a boyfriend/husband, but one who is smart, good looking, exceptionally nice and loves her very much. I bet she feels pretty foolish now.
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