aradia22

Based on past "delivery" tasks I would be wary as well (even if this one was not in a hot climate). I think they took it easy on them as the locations didn't seem very far apart but if you didn't know that in advance, I can see thinking a memory task would be simpler.

One good thing about the proliferation of decent covers. I think something like Glee has to pay for rights but all those people on youtube probably don't, even when they release the music on Spotify. (I might be wrong about that.) I don't seek out his music but I won't turn it off or walk out of the Duane Reade. PYT is the one that's just... rough. Even if it's just the Kevin McHale version.

I don't think she meant generally. But at that point she was admitting defeat since he was constantly stalling the car and her directions were getting them no closer to the destination. I think that might have been when they just asked for directions.

I think the teams struggled with timing on anatomy if they didn't already have a background. Yeah, there were easy ones like "clavicle" but then you were trying to find words you'd just heard among the blocks. It didn't seem to change so after the first or second round, I'd just memorize the order of the blocks on each side if I was still there. I think they sped it up but from watching Michael at Ducati, getting the outer pieces to align seemed to be a bit of a struggle. I agree on the casting except I already like Quinton and Mattie and I would downgrade Abby and Will to meh. There are many teams I'd be happy to see win and I probably won't be upset with eliminations unless one of them goes early.

Is Derek that much stronger than Claire? This isn't like Team Miami (firefighter/Pitbull dancer) or Motivational Speakers (Rich/Dom) where the guy is clearly bigger and more muscular.

Phil said 90 seconds. I think it's a decent challenge for 16 IDs because you're stressed and you also have to mess around with the blocks... and a bigger challenge for the teams who knew very little about the anatomical terms. Possibly... No one was rude about not giving another team a hint (e.g. put it in neutral) so maybe it was a rule to not help and everyone understood that. I only saw Will trying to ask the guy doing the demonstration and getting rebuffed.

I couldn't really tell what was going on this episode. It's not that I was confused, more that the editors seemed to be getting tricky. The early tasks seemed to take so much time (Anatomy/Cheese Wheel) but then everyone bunched up at Ducati in a way that made it seem like the leads were not that substantial. And then I couldn't really tell if the motorcycle task ate up a lot of time. Obviously some people struggled more than others but the Military Brothers kept their lead, the Twins were able to catch up, and most people still left around roughly the same time. Sneaky editors. I thought it was an interesting choice to have "class times" which allowed racers to bunch up at the Anatomy task. Rather than say, getting started as soon as one team walked in the room. But I don't think it made a huge difference because everyone ended up together at the motorcycle task anyway. 16 identifications in 90 seconds doesn't seem that intense but I do think it's a mild challenge for a memory task even if you know the answers. Three or five minutes would have been a little more generous. But I liked that they pushed them a little. Combined with the delivery task, it felt like classic TAR. Yay to Mattie (cheerleader) and Mollie (twin) for acing the Anatomy task on the first go. I wouldn't go out of my way, but if I'm ever in Bologna, I want to visit that room. It doesn't stress me out as much as say, watching an awards show in a fully packed theater where mask-wearing runs the gamut or watching a fully unmasked crowd but the mix of racers sometimes having masks on and sometimes not was a little unnerving. I don't know how to drive any kind of car and I know stick shift is a race trope but what makes it so difficult? Why do people stall so much? And how do people who drive stick shift regularly seem to manage fine? Dom was a little less annoying this episode because she wasn't the main one doing tasks but she did still give off backseat driver energy. While Rich was very 'yes, dear.' Back to back quotes from him during the motorcycle task... "Yes, baby." "Yes, sweetie." I did think it was cute how excited Michael (military brother) got about going to the Ducati factory. Unfortunately I don't think there was nearly enough insurance to let them actually ride bikes. Did we know that David was a helicopter mechanic??? I forget his wife's name but I thought they were sold as both being dancers. Kudos to Emily for finishing the motorcycle task so quickly just by being attentive and focused and patient. Derek seemed to be getting frustrated. I wonder how they're deciding which tasks Claire should take. I do think people who had some sense of how to use tools had an advantage (how would you even know to twist that wrench thing in the other direction?) but while I don't blame her at all for struggling, the tasks she chooses don't really seem to be playing to her strengths. I just wonder what their strategy is. Maybe let Derek do more tasks so he can struggle and pipe down with his sideline commentary. I know they keep losing their lead but they're not that far behind.

I watched the videos on their website and there are just too many other things I want to spend money on this year (now that opera, concerts, etc. are back in the budget). Funny Girl, Encores, Camelot, A Man of No Importance... and maybe some actual Broadway shows ;) https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Photos-Original-TITANIC-Star-Victor-Garber-Visits-TITANIQUE-20221005

https://www.gawker.com/celebrity/cara-delevingne-and-margot-robbie-involved-in-confusing-incident-with-paparazzo I don't know what to believe with this little information but random guys chasing celebrities is not normal just because they have cameras in hand. Are these photos really that interesting to anyone? (A celebrity calling photographers and then being photographed at a safe distance or photographers on the red carpet are different matters.)

Try Guys response

Have they mentioned where they live? (Because I completely missed Will and Abby saying they're from Alabama.) I imagine if their home states are super far apart, that might be why they're cherishing their time together in person, as well as the lack of normal responsibilities.

The one mark against Glenda and Lumumba right now. Thank goodness it's only a planned nickname. Can't tell if you mean a child or a goat 😄 After what I learned here, I definitely watched him through the Bells task thinking "this is a man who knows how to coach a losing team." I feel like in a past season they might have made them memorize the songs and the pattern for the bells. They definitely went easier on them by providing lyrics for yodeling and a music sheet with labeled bells. Not entirely sure what was going on there and if everyone cheering was a potential instructor but I only saw the blond woman and the brunette (or redhead?) teaching. The latter seemed much more enthusiastic but I think the blond instructor had teams who did many more rounds... and she didn't seem to be wearing earplugs. I'd need to sit down too.

Have you met Dom? She was bringing so much intensity to the Bells task and was pouring sweat when they got back with the hat. If they weren't young and fit, I'd be worried about them (okay, her) keeling over each leg. Each leg seems so much more exhausting for her than anyone else, even when they're ahead of others.

Quinton (one of the cheerleaders) won me over early when he told the map "stop it right now." It was a little thing but I deeply relate to channeling my frustration into speaking to the inanimate objects causing said frustration. This felt like a real public embarrassment sort of leg with the costumes and two performance tasks (though I guess bells could be done in a bit of privacy... it's still all being filmed for TV). Having so many performance tasks was a little rough but then again there are apparently even more dancers than we originally thought so it makes sense to show that off. When the yodelers were initially introduced, their skill/talent level seemed to... vary. Especially the one who looked like a knockoff James Corden. I wonder if the choice in judge affected how well the racers learned the songs. It was a little rough to watch so I'm glad they edited it to mostly focus on the people with some musical ability and give us a choppy version of everyone else's multiple attempts. I was impressed with Michael (military brother) and Glenda the most. Not only did they finish quickly but you could tell from pitch and especially some of Glenda's soprano notes that they have some musical ability. Now that we actually spent some time with them, I started to like Claire more. She was clearly struggling but she didn't get KF and I found her dry asides pretty funny. Also, the off camera "we love bells" made me crack up later in the episode. Linton (father/daughter team) is so wholesome. There are still too many teams but I'm starting to get attached to them. I didn't expect the dance instructor to get confused by having to teach a dance with gendered parts... and then getting two identical twin sisters. That was pretty funny. I didn't really noticed the teeth but after everyone kept mentioning it in the last thread, all I could see were those chompers. I kept waiting for the hat thing to come back and looking at everyone's heads... glad there was some payoff at the end. I enjoyed the first episode more overall but this episode had good moments and they built up a lot of drama with the last three teams. While not following the rules (hat) and navigating poorly are fair reasons to get eliminated, I kind of liked that the losing team just struggled a lot (10 attempts) at their last task. The only thing diminishing the drama was that I would have been equally happy with any of those teams going... or staying.

Not excusing anything but I think the Try Guys situation is more complicated than say Adam Levine. It's an ongoing workplace affair rather than a fling or whatever with a stranger. Meanwhile Ariel (Ned's wife) is deeply enmeshed with their business and they work together a lot on videos and projects. Also, 25 isn't that young, but for his circle I think it was young to get married and to now have two young children. Alexandria (the person he cheated with) was apparently with her fiance for 10 years since college. And there has been some speculation about addiction issues on Ned's part which have been briefly mentioned before. I'm bracing for this to be messier than it already is.

I think Jake ran a lot of the social media stuff and things for Patreon subscribers. It'll be interesting whether they can keep this all professional and PR-approved when so many people in their circle are the definition of "too online."

I just found out now as I was reading Gawker. I get that they're decently internet famous, but is it a slow news day for the NYT and CNN?

https://www.gawker.com/celebrity/what-is-going-on-with-the-try-guys-ned-fulmer-cheating-explained That Try Guys story is wild. Of all four of them, for it to be Ned whose entire brand is being the "wife guy." I never even remember Alexandria and Ned interacting much in videos since she seems to work more with Keith on the food stuff. And she is was engaged. It would be crazy if they'd actually edited him out of videos the way it's described in the article.

The amount of frustration for tasks (and navigation) that took less than 3 hours doesn't bode well for some of the teams.

https://www.vulture.com/2022/09/constance-wu-alleges-sexual-harassment-fresh-off-the-boat.html

https://variety.com/2022/music/news/netflix-bridgerton-musical-lawsuit-dropped-barlow-bear-1235382454/

Episode 2 With the first quiz, the bag was obviously the cake. Like Johnny, I got confused because it was so obvious and forgot you just had to identify the one cake and started looking for one thing that wasn't a cake. April's portfolio was okay. Strong sculpting, meh painting, some cheats like the sushi "rice." It was difficult to get a read on Nina's portfolio because there was some impressive sculpting like the cat and mostly good painting but she also did some cartoony things and cheats like the labels. The wedding cakes were gorgeous but aside from the flowers, you can do that with molds and other aids. Nina's shoes were crazy. Fun to look at but even with a chunky heel, I can't believe she stood in those for 8 hours. The clutch was almost ridiculously easy compared to the other two. Nina made the interesting choice to do a more detailed bag than the example she was given, but it was lumpy as hell. And ugly. It should have been obvious. She got lucky Michael went rogue and chose the pink bag. I'd have been more impressed if she'd made the pink bag. I feel like April's shoe was a little too smooth and the sole gave it away. The closer you get, the more obvious it is but from a distance, it was a good attempt. Johnny's hat cake was a little too lumpy but under the lights, it worked. I would have picked 1. I wonder if the judges were instructed to pretend not to know because these fake cakes didn't impress that much. I didn't think there was any incentive to make a delicious cake but then it was factored into judging. Nina winning was crazy to me. There were textural details but it was SO LUMPY in a way no display bag would ever be. It looked like there were rocks inside it. I picked correctly on Cash or Cake. I'm really starting to see more lumpiness in the cakes.

Yeah, it was suspicious how often the military brothers were back at the same intersection. I wasn't sure what their relationship was for most of the episode (too many people to keep track of) but they mention seeing each other like once a year and explicitly talking about being brothers and a family dynamic at one point. Same. Though if borrowing phones goes on for as long as it did with the eliminated team, that's annoying. Agreed. It was already feeling less and less like the early seasons so I'm happy they've dropped it for the (hopefully safer) chartered plane. I appreciate them trying to be responsible with the racers' health as well as the health of the people in the countries they're traveling to. And I agree people got nasty in the airports. Part of what I liked about the Scramble (though it might have been early-race friendliness) was that not knowing placement seemed to helped people get on rather than being resentful (though some of that did come out in the Saw task anyway). I like seeing people run their own race. I don't enjoy watching KF or seeing bickering. I like TAR because there's less drama and the main drama is related to the race and not interpersonal relationships.

Em Rata has the worst "feminist" takes. I've stopped listening to her.

I hope they don't get too much KF, but it seems likely unless they get tasks they can breeze through. The first location is a big landmark so I wasn't surprised at a bunch of American tourists in the parking lot.