Tough As Nails - General Discussion

[PhD-Purgatory15]

That's the first Individual Competition challenge that was just infuriating to watch. In a Season and a 1/3rd.

If you are going to have the "get the four sheep in a closed pen" set up as a duo, then have each of the five pairs go one at a time and the slowest pair by time should've gone to OT. The way that happened was so much about random luck and a weird team set up that shouldn't even of come into play for this part of the overall competition..

[AuntieDiane6]

I'm not enjoying this as much as last year.  I HATE that the contestants only have those really stupid nicknames--funny how contestants on other reality shows can figure out how to use real names, but the one with blue collar workers has to use patronizing names like "Knuckles" and "Freight Train."  

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Agree.   Same when someone talks about how much that want it, they really, really want it.   Neither need nor desire are the criteria for winning.  

Angel comes across as a sad victim.  He needs Go Fund Me, not a competition. I did really appreciate how that woman told him he needed a union job. Of course, he's in Florida.  

And all this for their families... C'mon!  They're perpetuating the stereotype that blue collar trades don't pay well.  Not one of them says, "Hey, I want to buy an RV and travel!"?  "Or, I want to visit Italy?"

I think I'm ... bored.  

 

  

[Grizzly]

Scott really messed up that team task. In which of his jobs can 3 people do more than 5 people? At least he owned it. But that advantage he got for the individual challenge was just too big. It could've changed the course of the whole competition. I like PhD-Purgatory's idea of each team being timed. I'd take it a step further and not let teams who haven't competed yet watch. This way they can't copy an effective technique. Of course the show would be 3 hours.

[mtlchick]

The sheep task is something they have done a few times on Amazing Race but each team or racer (if it was for a roadblock) had to do it themselves.  So 1) clearly none of the contestants here watch TAR and 2) why they felt they had to do it as a team effort and Phil was encouraging it. 

[mertensia]

Phil's comments in the early part of the sheep task had me laughing. "This could be a documentary on how not to herd sheep". 

I wonder how much time it took to explain how to make the horseshoes.

[Quickbeam]

49 minutes ago, mertensia said:

Phil's comments in the early part of the sheep task had me laughing. "This could be a documentary on how not to herd sheep". 

I wonder how much time it took to explain how to make the horseshoes.

At least my many hours of watching “Forged in Fire” with the spouse came in handy. I’m not overly emotional about animals but I didn’t like the sheep being used as a tool for their amusement. I found it hard to watch. 

[mlp]

Both teams went about the sheep herding all wrong.  Apparently, none of them has ever watched a video of border collies doing it.  The way they all went at it would scare any animal.

I just can't warm up to Angel.  I'm glad Patrick won.  

[Hooper]

That sheep penning competition was horribly designed.  Skilled shepherds working cooperatively could have managed to shed off sets of four sheep and then maneuvered each packets of four sheep to different pens in widely separated parts of the field.  But clueless teams working against each other at a central penning location are just going to interfere with anyone getting any sheep anywhere near any pen.  As was suggested above, each team should have worked individually and been timed.  That would have been plenty challenging and gone far more quickly than having five teams all running Willy Nilly together, preventing anyone from having any success.  And it would have been far less stressful for the sheep. 

[Diana Berry]

My late father never graduated high school, due to circumstances, but was a strong union man.  Hopefully, Angel can makes some contacts through the show and be able to use his skills in a better manner.  It may be more important to earn a living wage than win 200k and a truck. 

[Lamb18]

The sheep breed looked like Finnish Landrace or Icelandic. Maybe Icelandic as they looked to be a little fluffy. All the sheep that were jumping around were having fun (they jump when they're in a good mood), so I think the young ones were enjoying themselves. The mothers weren't having much fun. 

The setup was weird for herding sheep. It may work if the herders were shepherds who knew their own flocks & whose flocks know them, but all the people were strangers which would be confusing. 

[bunnyface]

13 hours ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

That's the first Individual Competition challenge that was just infuriating to watch. In a Season and a 1/3rd.

If you are going to have the "get the four sheep in a closed pen" set up as a duo, then have each of the five pairs go one at a time and the slowest pair by time should've gone to OT. The way that happened was so much about random luck and a weird team set up that shouldn't even of come into play for this part of the overall competition..

I agree with this, except that each team should go into it blind, without watching the other teams.  The last person to go in these competitions almost always has an advantage because they've watched all the other runs and learned from their mistakes.  They should go into it as cluelessly as the first person did.  

[TVMovieBuff]

It was a shame that Patrick felt guilty about the horseshoe making contest. To go so far as to say maybe he should let Angel win, he needs the money so much. I am glad Patrick managed to (mostly) shake that off, and realize that he is a competitor in this contest too, and has a right to win, if he  can get the task done.

[HurricaneVal]

8 hours ago, Diana Berry said:

My late father never graduated high school, due to circumstances, but was a strong union man.  Hopefully, Angel can makes some contacts through the show and be able to use his skills in a better manner.  It may be more important to earn a living wage than win 200k and a truck. 

Bingo.  As attractive as a lump sum payment/windfall is, increasing your base rate of pay is something that is always going to grow (if you're not lazy or incompetent) and get better as time goes on.  Instant gratification vs. delayed gratification.  Most people living paycheck to paycheck though need both: a lump sum to get out of a hole instantly, and an increase in base rate to stay out of the hole.  The more Angel's team wins, the more team money he wins, so he'll still get a nice bonus at the end of the series.  And hopefully a union job where he's got steady work at better pay.  Right now I think he's in the unskilled labor part of the construction market.  If he gets hooked in with a union, he'll get trained or at least have opportunities to do OJT and start to make much, much more money as a skilled laborer.  Carpentry, drywall, HVAC, plumbing, concrete work, bricklaying, tile etc. all probably pay better than what he's doing now.

I don't find Angel to be compelling, so I'm not really rooting for him like I am some of the others, but I feel for his situation and hope his time on this show makes his life better later. 

I was impressed with Celi last night, she may be small but she is strong and really puts herself into it. 

I also suspect that if Angel had been any better at the horseshoes Patrick might have slowed down some to make it a closer race, but I think Angel was just doing so very badly at it that he couldn't take a dive without making it completely obvious.  I'm glad he kept going, but it didn't strike me that Patrick was charging hard, and was hoping that Angel would catch on and catch up.

[DEL901]

I’m going to stereotype here, but I hope financial advice comes with the cash because some people who aren’t used to money and who come into sudden money often lose the whole thing.  Then there is tax planning.  All the money they win is taxable and I’m guessing taxes may not be withheld which could result in a nasty shock at tax time. 

[Eolivet]

On 3/1/2021 at 9:10 AM, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

I'm tipping Scott as the winner at this point. He gives me major Murph vibes.

He's felt very Danny-like to me, but I can see this. I did not appreciate him making the moment after Angel and "Freight Train" lost the individual competition all about him. He disadvantaged them, and he needs to own that. When they're commiserating about their kids and their families, chiming in, "well, now I feel bad" is just disingenuous. His strategy worked. He doesn't get to feel bad about it now.

[TeapotWakeen]

According to this blog, Mikey Eyebrows broke a rule that meant he had to go....
https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2021/02/tough-as-nails-mikey-eyebrows-tara-out/

I'm enjoying this show (not as much as season one) but the lack of posting here makes me worried for its ratings...

[HurricaneVal]

Interesting.  They're being very close-mouthed about it, which is odd.  The article linked to above also says it sounds like Phil's announcement about Eyebrows was dubbed over whatever he said to the group at the work site during post-production.  Something is (hag)fishy here.

[DEL901]

They said he “broke a zero tolerance rule” which usually refers to sexual harassment, although in these strange times, I’m guessing...purely guessing... it was related to Covid safety protocols.  

[TeapotWakeen]

39 minutes ago, DEL901 said:

They said he “broke a zero tolerance rule” which usually refers to sexual harassment

or making homophobic comments, or threatening violence. Sounds like good riddance...

[HurricaneVal]

Makes you wonder how he even got through casting in the first place. 

Please don't let the TAN casting philosophy go the way of BB, and cast borderline and controversial types just to bring the drama.  I'd rather have them go the GBBO route to casting qualified individuals who may or may not have interesting back stories. 

[BarneySays]

On 2/25/2021 at 4:19 PM, bunnyface said:

Somewhere else there was speculation that when Mikey slipped down the steps and landed on his back, he really hurt himself.  But Phil didn't say he had an injury, which he did say with Tara. 

This was my immediate thought as well.  That was a very hard fall.  I imagine the show didn't want to make any comment on him because they've probably already heard from eyebrows' lawyer.  That was a dangerous condition that they shouldn't have allowed.  Very stupid- and potentially costly- move.

[DEL901]

3 minutes ago, BarneySays said:

This was my immediate thought as well.  That was a very hard fall.  I imagine the show didn't want to make any comment on him because they've probably already heard from eyebrows' lawyer.  That was a dangerous condition that they shouldn't have allowed.  Very stupid- and potentially costly- move.

That was my second thought after him pushing the other guy into the water snd showing no remorse or concern for the guy’s welfare.  You should check out the link up thread.  Mikey broke a rule and was removed from the show.   

[BarneySays]

9 minutes ago, DEL901 said:

 You should check out the link up thread.  Mikey broke a rule and was removed from the show.

Yeah, just saw that.  It sounds a tad fishy to me.  Ordinarily, these shows are quite happy to scold an offending contestant on air.  It's odd they would say he "had to go home," clearly creating the impression in the viewer's mind that he had a personal matter to tend to, if he in fact broke a hard and fast rule.  That means they chose to lie to the viewers.  Not a good look.  When you consider the initial statement and then the announcement that they determined his action was not intentional, this late breaking rule violation seems like a clumsy- and false- attempt to stop the speculation.  That's a shame because I've always thought highly of Phil.

I like the show and particularly enjoy seeing real regular americans- instead of mactors, fame whores, and the overprivileged- working together, ethically, like most people do.  Freight Train's sincerity during that challenge was touching in its decency and concern for his fellow (wo)man.  

As for the nicknames, that it extremely common in the trades.  Sometimes, it is just a shortened last name, but often it's a nickname given to them on the job.  I wouldn't be surprised to learn that knuckles got her nickname because she kept rapping her knuckles when first working a wrench.  My father was a tradesman and his friends had names like Cozmo, Buff, Legs, Bozo, etc.  I never knew their given names.  You can't yell out, Joey or Johnny, hand me that because there were likely more than one who would turn around.  

As for the talk of needing the money, this seems very sincere from those who have brought it up.  Just because one has a decent job (although some here are not making decent money), doesn't mean they and their families don't have basic needs.  Some of these folks don't work- and don't get paid- if the weather is bad (too hot, too cold, too wet, etc.).  I think these folks are very differently situated than most reality contestants who complain about needing the money.    

My major disappointment with the second season is that the losers no longer complete their task once they've lost.  I really respected that they would continue to work to get the job done.  For example, when the tall woman lost the elimination challenge last season and people came over to help her, I had major respect when she told them no and got it done on her own.  I hope they fix this problem if there is another season.   

[SVNBob]

7 hours ago, TeapotWakeen said:

8 hours ago, DEL901 said:

They said he “broke a zero tolerance rule” which usually refers to sexual harassment, although in these strange times, I’m guessing...purely guessing... it was related to Covid safety protocols.  

or making homophobic comments, or threatening violence. Sounds like good riddance...

Or it could be something as simple as a "no alcohol/drugs (even legal recreational ones)" rule.  Which would make extra sense, given what both the challenges in Episode 3 featured; operating heavy machinery.  Since they could be called upon to do that at any time during the show, the crew would want to be sure that none of the cast would be trying to do so hungover or the slightest bit stoned.  So a zero-tolerance rule for that would make sense.

Mikey does seem like a guy that would barely think anything of cracking a brew or two during his off-work time.  Which is fine in his normal life; not going to knock the guy for that.  However, he does also seem like a guy that doesn't necessarily read/understand his contracts, or one that thinks the rules don't necessarily apply to him.   So it could have been a case of him defaulting to thinking "Off work; time for a beer" not realizing or remembering the show contract forbade that.  Or him thinking "They'll never know if I sneak a drink or two" and getting caught.  (There's even a slim possibility that he was hungover in the fishing boat task, and that contributed to his attitude that led to the Splashdown.  But that's even more speculation than the rest of this.)

 

4 hours ago, BarneySays said:

  Ordinarily, these shows are quite happy to scold an offending contestant on air.  It's odd they would say he "had to go home," clearly creating the impression in the viewer's mind that he had a personal matter to tend to, if he in fact broke a hard and fast rule.  That means they chose to lie to the viewers.  Not a good look. 

Not necessarily.  By airing what they did, they made Mikey's exit look as good as possible.  Meaning that they weren't trying to bury him on the show, and make things harder for him back in his real life (as other shows on CBS have done to players they've pulled, even if some of those contestants deserved the dragging).   That makes my scenario of him thoughtlessly having a drink after the hagfish as he would after a normal day's work make even more sense.  Still a contract violation, so he'd deserve the punishment, but something relatively minor, so he wouldn't deserve backlash.

[Maverick]

I'm sure there's a hard and fast rule about drugs, but I doubt they're that uptight about drinking since they gave them all beer after a challenge this season.  Interestingly, it looked like a lot of them took a non-alcoholic option. 

[BarneySays]

9 hours ago, SVNBob said:

Not necessarily.  By airing what they did, they made Mikey's exit look as good as possible.  Meaning that they weren't trying to bury him on the show, and make things harder for him back in his real life (as other shows on CBS have done to players they've pulled, even if some of those contestants deserved the dragging).

I would applaud the show not trying to bury him and would like to think this was their motivation.  But then they could have simply said Mikey has left the competition.  Saying he had to go home would have been a false statement.  It doesn't make sense that the show would lie to protect a contestant.  I still contend the likely scenario is that he sought immediate medical treatment (after that fall, he would have wanted to do so to make sure he was not injured) and then decided to seek legal redress.    

[Maverick]

 I think those words were very specifically so as to not be a lie.  "He had to go home" is ambiguous enough to be taken a couple of different ways.   It could be like many have taken it as in "he had to go home....because he had a personal situation to deal with".   Or it could be "...because he didn't think he was up to this" or "...because he looked at Phil and saw his girlfriend's face and tried to kiss him".   Or it could also apply to what apparently happened "he had to go home....because he broke the rules."    I think the show was trying not to be a drama queen about the specifics while not outright lying about what happened.  

[BarneySays]

YMMV, but stating someone had to leave implies the agency lays with the actor.  Yes, it could mean he had a personal situation or missed his girlfriend or decided he didn't want to compete any longer (although in the latter two cases, they would typically say he chose to leave the game).  He wouldn't have to go home because he broke a rule, he simply would not be permitted to continue because of it.  They also went out of their way to make it clear to the audience that he didn't do anything wrong in the nets incident.  This incident was handled very oddly.

[sharkerbaby]

Why does the TV viewing audience even need to know the reason anyone went home?  It's nice to know and satisfies our sometimes intrusive curiosity but really we are not owed any explanation what-so-ever.  Even the contestants don't NEED to know, they were likely informed it was a rule violation but anything more than that is absolutely extraneous and could venture into divulging more than is appropriate, warranted, or prudent.  Saying someone "had to go home" in a neutral tone (as was done here) is far from a lie or even a false statement, it is actually quite factual and implies only that they had to go home, any assumptions beyond that are invalid.  An argument regarding reason could be made if the tone was forceful and direct, or sorrowful, or upbeat and excited, or with any number of affective variances but this was delivered in a unqualified, flat and neutral manner so no inference can or should be made.

They likely made it clear that the incident on the dock was unintentional so that the viewing audience or even the contestants didn't start speculating that that was the reason for his departure, or so they didn't complain that he was allowed to compete in the individual challenge, or to try to brunt some of the vitriol or negative aspersions that may have been being spewed his way due to something that was truly an accident.

It's funny how all the hype and good feelings about this show is because, in part, it seemed above the shenanigans of all the other shows while shining a positive light on down to earth, hard working, honest, and honorable people with good ethics then when the show exhibits these characteristics itself suddenly we think they should be airing the "dirt" and assume there is some sort of conspiracy and cover-up happening.

eta:  highly unlikely Mikey could sue over his fall on the dock as the contracts reality show contestants sign are pretty tightly written so that it has to be something so egregious that an injury pretty much has to be anticipated and/or expected; to have been able to foresee a potential injury is not enough.

Edited March 9, 2021 by sharkerbaby

[BarneySays]

On 3/9/2021 at 2:14 PM, sharkerbaby said:

eta:  highly unlikely Mikey could sue over his fall on the dock as the contracts reality show contestants sign are pretty tightly written so that it has to be something so egregious that an injury pretty much has to be anticipated and/or expected; to have been able to foresee a potential injury is not enough.

The legal term is gross negligence.  Although they can waive their claims for acts of simple negligence, public policy would not permit the show from insulating itself from its own acts of gross negligence.  Whether having contestants run back and forth on a wooden dock covered in slippery material constitutes gross negligence is a determination for the trier of fact (jury).  Certainly, the harm that ensued was foreseeable.    

Edited March 13, 2021 by BarneySays

[Grizzly]

I liked the show tonight. The challenges required different skill sets. And who doesn't love a beer task? I wanted to try them all. Scott is turning into the guy I'm rooting against.

[wintrygal]

Freighttrain was looking more like the 'little engine that maybe could' for a while there, but he got it done in the end.  I'm kind of rooting for Dirty Hands, can't warm up to Scott at all, tho he's likely a nice person.

[Diana Berry]

So did the team give the full 12k to Angel ? Or did I get a wrong impression? They kept saying they were playing for him and he was handed the money.

[HurricaneVal]

Hasn't Scott been married and divorced multiple times?  Sometimes that's a warning flag.

[mertensia]

That individual challenge was lackluster. 

 

[preeya]

10 hours ago, Diana Berry said:

So did the team give the full 12k to Angel ? Or did I get a wrong impression? They kept saying they were playing for him and he was handed the money.

I thought the same way. He was handed the entire stack of bills and there was nothing shown or mentioned about a split.

Although if that was the case, (all the $$ to Angel), it would have been a huge announcement.

[Browncoat]

I was only half-paying attention, but was Angel the crew boss?  Phil always hands the crew boss the stack o' cash to distribute to the rest of the team.

[RunningMarket]

12 hours ago, HurricaneVal said:

Hasn't Scott been married and divorced multiple times?  Sometimes that's a warning flag.

I turned to my husband after one of Scott's many rants and said, "Remember he said he's been married three times?" I get being competitive, but his "I want them to see me as a threat" reeked of wanting to be on something closer to Survivor, not a show that heavily relies on team cooperation for a good chunk of it.

I liked how the tasks in this past episode required a good deal of mental aptitude and not just physical strength. Although the OT task was more straight forward. Whoever didn't struggle with their lines as much was going to win.

Edited March 11, 2021 by RunningMarket

[DEL901]

I really like Zeus.   Calm.  Competent.  Compassionate.  

[Scarybuttercupp]

2 hours ago, DEL901 said:

I really like Zeus.   Calm.  Competent.  Compassionate.  

And he's not too hard on the eyes, either.

[TeapotWakeen]

I want Meryl to be my next door neighbor, available for coffee and chats and positivity and bitching.

[Tigregirl]

1 hour ago, TeapotWakeen said:

I want Meryl to be my next door neighbor, available for coffee and chats and positivity and bitching.

She’s my favorite so far.

[preeya]

8 hours ago, Browncoat said:

I was only half-paying attention, but was Angel the crew boss?  Phil always hands the crew boss the stack o' cash to distribute to the rest of the team.

 

8 hours ago, Browncoat said:

I was only half-paying attention, but was Angel the crew boss?  Phil always hands the crew boss the stack o' cash to distribute to the rest of the team.

Freight Train was the crew boss. When Phil handed him (FT) the money he said "you did say you were going to do this for Angel." Freight Train nodded and handed all the money to Angel.

I'm still not sure if they (Dirty Hands) opted to "donate" all their winnings to Angel, although it surely looked like they did.

Edited March 11, 2021 by preeya

[HurricaneVal]

I'm rooting for Meryl, Zeus, and to a smaller extent, Patrick.

I have a soft spot for Liz, but I don't see her going far.  Some of the remaining folks are complete blanks to me, like Iraida.  I liked how she was talking to herself on the individual task but I think that's the most we've seen of her.

I did appreciate production showing the conversation between Liz and Sarah clearing the air.  Production made a big deal about the tension and bad feelings, but then they also showed the resolution.  Some shows (Big Brother, I'm lookin' right at you) only show the fight and tension and not any resolution.

[Audpaud]

I'm with those that aren't enjoying the show as much as last season. It really may be the focus on "who needs the money the most" angle. If they gave all that money to Angel? Ridiculous! Same if Patrick had thrown the comp to him.

I think Eyebrows just quit because it was too hard on him.

[candall]

On 3/10/2021 at 10:22 PM, Diana Berry said:

So did the team give the full 12k to Angel ? Or did I get a wrong impression? They kept saying they were playing for him and he was handed the money.

That was the question I brought as well.  It looks like that's what happened. 

I'm surprised they missed giving Angel a TH to express his appreciation, considering how many times he's expressed his other feelings.

(I don't intend that to sound mean.  I like learning about the players, their families, backgrounds, motivations.)

 

I like this show and I like the gimmick of everyone sticking around to contribute even after the prize money is reduced.  Can you imagine Survivor with the eliminated players staying to help their old tribe members?  Ha!  Complete sabotage.

[AuntieDiane6]

Can you imagine Survivor with the eliminated players staying to help their old tribe members?  Ha!  Complete sabotage.

Uh, yeah. Edge of Extinction season.

 

[jabRI]

I didn't get the vibe they were all donating their money to Angel, rather that they had an extra motivation to fight for the win so he'd continue to get his share of the winnings (1200) since he is out of the running for the big prize.  I don't think these people can afford that kind of grand gesture.  Heck, I wouldn't do it for a relative stranger.

[SVNBob]

4 hours ago, jabRI said:

I didn't get the vibe they were all donating their money to Angel, rather that they had an extra motivation to fight for the win so he'd continue to get his share of the winnings (1200) since he is out of the running for the big prize. 

$2400, but agreed.  I was under the impression that Freight Train handed Angel the cash wad in the manner of a sports team captain handing a trophy to the team's MVP, which allowed his hands to be free to receive the other trophy, the "badge". 

If Dirty Hands had decided to give all the team challenge cash to Angel, we would have heard about it, including another teary-eyed TH from Angel himself thanking them for doing that.

[Eolivet]

Increasingly negative edit for Scott, reinforcing my suspicions he's definitely not the Murph of this season. And his teeth are distractingly white. I hope he didn't get veneers for Tough As Nails.

I was wondering what would happen if "Knuckles" or Celli attached the wrong keg? Would the producers have told them? Would the beer not have flowed out of the tap? Would we have gotten the signature Amazing Race "cymbal of doom?"

Solid episode, interesting challenges all around, even if Overtime was a bit anti-climactic.