S32.E06: I'm Not Even Walking, I'm Falling

[Rinaldo]

8 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

... sharing answers on a Roadblock felt like it rubbed against the spirit of the game. And getting it incorrect, huddling together, and then going back to the judge without rappelling again? That felt egregiously wrong. The judge would've been within her rights to haul off and smack someone trying to take a shortcut.

I see it differently. Anagrams (unlike, say, acrostics, which are ordered) aren't airtight logical deductions, they're about trying a bunch of orderings until you find something that maybe is right. And no category was even given (that I heard) for the type of word it might be. Under those circumstances, I'm sure the judge was prepared for any amount of shared answers or getting help from others (including locals).

And I don't want judges hauling off and smacking anyone under any circumstances.

[Kelda Feegle]

Really glad to see the greeter was a punk dude instead of a beer stein holding buxom wench.

[kstar821]

6 hours ago, PrincessPurrsALot said:

  10 hours ago, displayname said:

Does anyone else think Chee is kind of handsome?

Eh.  DeAngelo is my eye candy.  Meow. 😉

[KittyMom4]

2 hours ago, Fake Jan Brady said:

I keep forgetting Arpana and Eswar are still in the race and am surprised every time they turn up at a task.

Me too. I like them tho, very low key and they seem to be  having fun. I don't think they will make it much further tho.

12 hours ago, dgpolo said:

Eh, there was no guarantee that she would even have paid attention to the letters without him telling her about them, she was pretty scared on the way down. I think he'd already done his part of the bargain

12 hours ago, Stardancer Supreme said:

lus, seeing a taxi and claiming it are 2 different things.  DeAngelo beat you to the taxi, yes

2 hours ago, Haleth said:

I am over Hung but have to hand it to her that even though she was terrified to be walking (falling) down the building she did have the presence of mind to pay attention to the flashing letters.  

I think the boyfriends got out of a penalty (that we know of) because the car probably did break down for some reason out of their control.  Maybe the producers felt running to the destination took more time than providing them with a replacement car and was thus a built in penalty.

Fun episode!  The chickens were hilarious.  Beer yoga looks fun but I'd prefer bunny yoga.

I'm not a Hung fan, I have never liked that she has to hug everyone!  And her little tirade about D'Angelo taking their cab was ridiculous, from what I saw she ran past it to another so D'Angelo grabbed it, and I agree, she never would have seen the letters if he hadn't mentioned it to her. 

[Netfoot]

20 hours ago, Hera said:

I agree with @dgpolo's point that she probably wouldn't have known to look for the letters if DeAngelo hadn't told her about it...

I'm pretty sure the clue would have told her to, so...

21 hours ago, tljgator said:

Oh, Race...they learned four-on-the-floor, so you turned around and gave them three-on-the-tree. This is why I love you.

Yes!

18 hours ago, PrincessPurrsALot said:

My first car was three on the tree.  When no one knew what one was I felt old. Very old.

My dad had several cars over the ears that were Three-on-the-Tree. (And right-hand drive, in case you were wondering.) I've driven them and I can't say I like them, but they aren't very hard once you realise they are exactly the same as Four-on-the-Floor, except... you know... Three. And on the Tree.

 

Edited November 20, 2020 by Netfoot

[lilysmom]

12 hours ago, TattooFan said:

Since Hung and Chee gave the word to the football players, I think it sucks that the football players took the only cab.  I don’t like alliances anyway, particularly when they disadvantage strong players.

But on the other hand, would Hung have known to even look for the letters the first time if Deangelo hadn't mentioned it? I don't think giving answers to each other should ever be allowed. Notice how many of them were given the answers by their alliance. I have always thought there should be a penalty for the teams who do that.

[Cotypubby]

10 minutes ago, Netfoot said:

I'm pretty sure the clue would have told her to, so...

No, the clue clearly did not say to look for the letters, since everyone who went (and wasn’t given the answer ahead of time) had no idea what the judge was talking about when she said to unscramble the letters. They were all “...letters?”

[Netfoot]

When introducing the challenge. Phil said: "This Roadblock gives teams a chance to drop into Berlin, when they do a face-forward rappel from the top of this 180' hotel. But as they plunge to the ground, they'll need to unscramble these letters to solve the word puzzle." This does not mean that the word puzzle was mentioned in the clue, but...

Maybe we will get confirmation one way or the other from racers after the race.

[Gummo]

Fun episode, but a 5-team alliance when there's only  7 teams left? Ridiculous and destroys a lot of the drama & tension of the Race. 

Still love the blonds, love their attitude, hope they somehow manage to keep sticking around.

Was hoping for more clown car antics with the Trabants, but most teams seem to get the hang of them pretty quickly. Agree that the boyfriends should have gotten a penalty.

And, cliche or not, I wouldn't have minded a mat greeter who was a "beer stein holding buxom wench."

 

 

Edited November 19, 2020 by Gummo
Because I mentioned something that happened in the 2nd episode.

[springbarb]

54 minutes ago, Netfoot said:

When introducing the challenge. Phil said: "This Roadblock gives teams a chance to drop into Berlin, when they do a face-forward rappel from the top of this 180' hotel. But as they plunge to the ground, they'll need to unscramble these letters to solve the word puzzle." This does not mean that the word puzzle was mentioned in the clue, but...

Maybe we will get confirmation one way or the other from racers after the race.

I assume it was mentioned in the clue or by the guy at the top of the building, but I think between climbing 15 stories, getting strapped into the harness, and walking down a building, the racers all missed it.

[eel21788]

11 hours ago, Cotypubby said:

As a viewer, this alliance is really starting to annoy me. We were spoiled the chance to see many teams having a meltdown when they couldn’t figure the sauerkraut puzzle. Just telling the answer to 5 teams takes so much of the fun out of watching it. 😑

 I was thinking that in the future there are going to be rules against information sharing because it is becoming so obvious that the viewers aren't enjoying this at all.

[eel21788]

2 hours ago, Netfoot said:

My dad had several cars over the ears that were Three-ob\n-the-Tree. (And right-hand drive, in case you were wondering.) I've driven them and I can't say I like them, but they aren't very hard once you realise they are exactly the same as Four-on-the-Floor, except... you know... Three. And on the Tree.

"The gear shift is where the windshield wipers are supposed to be!"

Boy, are these people youngsters.

[seacliffsal]

I was annoyed when the boyfriends did not receive a penalty.  Reading and following the clues have always been essential elements of the Race.  Plus, Alana pushed the car while Leo steered to the hotel, so at the minimum, the boyfriends should have done the same thing.  Much easier to run the short distance rather than mess with a troublesome car (or even have to push it as Alana did).

Hung needs to get over "our taxi."  They didn't claim it, they just saw it.  It would have been much better strategy to have Deangelo wait for the net alliance member, then that person wait for the next one, etc.  She was the one who said they all had to wait for each other.

[AuntieDiane6]

Quote

Because Americans would NOT use it for the purpose for which it was intended.  It would be an outhouse. 

More likely, sex or shooting up. 

[Netfoot]

53 minutes ago, eel21788 said:

"The gear shift is where the windshield wipers are supposed to be!"

Boy, are these people youngsters.

The wipers are supposed to be a toggle switch on the dash, just like the headlights.

Like that!

[dgpolo]

1 hour ago, seacliffsal said:

I was annoyed when the boyfriends did not receive a penalty. 

It could be that they did but that the penalty did not change the order of the teams so it was edited out.

[Fukui San]

1 hour ago, eel21788 said:

 I was thinking that in the future there are going to be rules against information sharing because it is becoming so obvious that the viewers aren't enjoying this at all.

I envision a future team saying the answer loud enough for ally team to hear. "The answer is 'Sauerkraut'."  Hard to enforce.

In this particular task, they could have arranged it so that each team gets a different word.

[valen]

That was not Hung's taxi. She ran past it. I cannot figure out how she thinks they stole it from her. 

[meep.meep]

1 hour ago, seacliffsal said:

I was annoyed when the boyfriends did not receive a penalty.  Reading and following the clues have always been essential elements of the Race.  Plus, Alana pushed the car while Leo steered to the hotel, so at the minimum, the boyfriends should have done the same thing.  Much easier to run the short distance rather than mess with a troublesome car (or even have to push it as Alana did).

 

I think the blonde sisters also pushed their car to the hotel.  Unless their transmission was seized up, the boyfriends should have received a penalty.

While Hung was ranting about the taxi, there was a German guy standing about 10 feet away.  Couldn't they have asked him to call a taxi for them?

DeAngelo had no problem with the Trabant at all!

[blackwing]

38 minutes ago, Fukui San said:

I envision a future team saying the answer loud enough for ally team to hear. "The answer is 'Sauerkraut'."  Hard to enforce.

In this particular task, they could have arranged it so that each team gets a different word.

It's probably just the camera angle, but it looked to me like that non-rappelling partner was only about 10 feet away from where the woman was,  Surely it would have been really easy for anybody to just overhear things.

I do think production could have set up those blocks to be able to use a display where they could input the letters and the letters could have been different for each team.  The blatant sharing was irritating.

I did like the coffee lady that the blonde asked for help.  Unlike the first couple, where the woman said "I am not feeling well" and blonde was just like "no problem, feel better".  The coffee lady was great.  "Is it an English word or a German word?"  It was a great question and one that blonde hadn't even thought of.

It would have been great if at some point along the way, teams had to eat a bowl of sauerkraut.  Just like the one time in Hungary where they had to eat goulash and it was apparently incredibly spicy.  I know a lot of people don't like sauerkraut so it would have been interesting to see a team like Will and James complaining about it.

I'm really curious about the edit that Will and James are getting... I have no doubt that when they are watching at home, they think they are getting this "we are having a great time and we are so fabulous and competitive and we are winning" edit while judging from the comments here, many are seeing the pettiness and nastiness.  I wonder what story the editors are trying to portray.  I'm hoping the story involves hubris.

[HurricaneVal]

I'm kind of surprised there weren't penalties for The Boyfriends for abandoning the car and not parking in the marked space in front of the hotel as it so clearly stated in the route directions.  But...as others have said, it may be that that ox was legit broken, and there was no other choice.  I thought, if there was a mechanical issue with a race provided vehicle, a replacement vehicle would be brought to the scene, but maybe there wasn't a spare, or maybe The Boyfriends eschewed the offer in favor of making a run for it.

I also halfway expected a consequence for the teams who danced in the disco box together--The Beards, and Hung and Chee, right?  I felt bad for Hung, dancing there at armpit level.  I thought that was a bit of a risk that wasn't really worth the four minutes they would have had to wait.  What if the photo that was spewed from the machine was an essential "ticket" for the next part of the race?  But then, I guess one team would have just had to re-do the thing, and that's just another four minutes, not a big deal.  Unless....it wasn't clear that the photo was an essential ticket, and one team would have to return to do the disco box again....  Yeah.  Not worth the risk.  They got lucky.

That anagram challenge was unexpectedly difficult.  Not only were the letters flashing and not steady as they descended, it appeared to me like they were jumping around in position, and not all the letters were lit all at once.  "Sauerkraut" while a commonly used work in English speaking countries is still a German word, so that's a little unfair.  It also has a LOT of vowels, with two repeats, so with the letters all flashing around at random, the wall walker would be left wondering if there really were two "a"s and two "u"s or if they were just seeing the same letter twice.  That was pretty diabolical.  Well done!

Now, whether they were told to look for the letters or not...that's hard to say.  Especially since the early racers were like "Uh, letters?" so at the very least it wasn't clear in the instructions.  OR...since this is the season of not reading clues correctly or thoroughly, it might just be dumb racing.  I hate alliances.  I especially hate this stupid alliance on this show.  It is one thing to do an ad hoc team-up at a challenge, and yet another thing to hang around in a group to wait out other teams completing the wall walk.  At the very least, Hung and Chee's obligation should have ended the moment she said "sauerkraut" to DeAngelo, and they should have immediately left the scene, leaving Team NFL to wait out the wall walk for the next alliance mates.  But they stuck around for all three teams, right?  Gah.  I hope Phil pointing out that was a $15,000 decision they made makes them think.

And The Blondes are still in!

[survivinmt]

Alliances make for a boring race. That is all.

[illdoc]

First, I agree that the football players helped by alerting her that there were letters/a word to unscramble and she fulfilled her part by waiting and telling them the answer. What I don't get is...why did she hang around to wait for the other teams to finish?? She told the football players so she should have moved on and had them wait for the next team to come down to tell them the answer (actually, the footballers did wait, but why did Hung???) If she hadn't waited for team #3 to come down so she could personally tell them the clue (or make sure that the footballers told them), she would have had a 10 (?) minute headstart on finding a cab! 

[dgpolo]

5 minutes ago, blackwing said:

It's probably just the camera angle, but it looked to me like that non-rappelling partner was only about 10 feet away from where the woman was,  Surely it would have been really easy for anybody to just overhear things.

I do think production could have set up those blocks to be able to use a display where they could input the letters and the letters could have been different for each team.  The blatant sharing was irritating.

I did like the coffee lady that the blonde asked for help.  Unlike the first couple, where the woman said "I am not feeling well" and blonde was just like "no problem, feel better".  The coffee lady was great.  "Is it an English word or a German word?"  It was a great question and one that blonde hadn't even thought of.

It would have been great if at some point along the way, teams had to eat a bowl of sauerkraut.  Just like the one time in Hungary where they had to eat goulash and it was apparently incredibly spicy.  I know a lot of people don't like sauerkraut so it would have been interesting to see a team like Will and James complaining about it.

I'm really curious about the edit that Will and James are getting... I have no doubt that when they are watching at home, they think they are getting this "we are having a great time and we are so fabulous and competitive and we are winning" edit while judging from the comments here, many are seeing the pettiness and nastiness.  I wonder what story the editors are trying to portray.  I'm hoping the story involves hubris.

It is absolutely against the rules for the non-paticipating partner to help the participating one so even if they did overhear they couldn't tell their teammate (I wonder if it's a loophole for the non-participating partner to help the participating one on a different team? or if the non-p's cannot help at al period?) I believe it's a 30 minute penalty that has been applied in the past. I think the mother, Shari?, and her youtuber son got that penalty.

I believe there was sauerkraut eating sometime because I like sauerkraut and thought maybe I could get through that one, but it was a large amount.

[Stardancer Supreme]

6 hours ago, Cotypubby said:

No, the clue clearly did not say to look for the letters, since everyone who went (and wasn’t given the answer ahead of time) had no idea what the judge was talking about when she said to unscramble the letters. They were all “...letters?”

I would love to see what the clues actually say.  Just a chyron on the side of the screen as the team "reads" it. The hilarity ensues every time a team skims it and never read it fully!

[chaifan]

3 hours ago, HurricaneVal said:

I'm kind of surprised there weren't penalties for The Boyfriends for abandoning the car and not parking in the marked space in front of the hotel as it so clearly stated in the route directions.  But...as others have said, it may be that that ox was legit broken, and there was no other choice.

 

Hurricaneval, you win the internet today! 

I also thought they would get a penalty, and I swore at the TV when they learned they were taking taxis to the next location.  Seriously, why?  Why give them cars and then have them switch to taxis?  Especially when they're staying in the same city.

I was surprised at how well everyone did with the cars.  Yeah, there were some problems, but I expected at least one team to be totally stuck, have to ask a local for instructions, etc. 

I did think it was hilarious when Will & James were so excited they could keep the chicken outfits.  I wonder if they have to relinquish those to production at the end of the leg?  If not, I'd be racing in chicken feet and a top hat whenever possible for the rest of the race! 

I am so glad Kaylynn and Hayley made it through!  They are my favorite team and I love their positive attitudes.  They're going this alone, but they haven't gone negative on anything or anyone. They are super nice to locals.  They do everything with minimal whining, even when everything seems to be going wrong.   I hope if there's ever another "fan favorite" type of show they are brought back. 

 

[Tango64]

Lost a lot of respect for Chee when he had no clue what the Berlin Wall was, or even when it was built. 

TAR should prohibit all alliances and sharing of answers in the challenges. It takes a lot of fun out of the viewing when you have five teams collaborating and sharing answers. I'd love to see them penalized for subverting the whole purpose of the show -- an entertaining RACE.

[chaifan]

There's an "extra" clip on cbs showing why Alana was pushing the car to the hotel.  They had originally arrived around the corner, parked and went in, but didn't see any clue box.  So they ran around the corner, saw everyone, and went back for the car.  At that point the car wouldn't turn over.  It wasn't a stick thing, it just wouldn't turn over.  So Alana pushed it around the corner. 

 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

While it's true that DeAngelo told Hung that she needed to look for the letters on her way down, I don't think it much matters. If he hadn't told her, she would have realized that she needed to look for letters when the lady at the bottom asked her for the word and then she would have just had to climb up 15 flights of stairs and come down again, which is what happened to most of the other teams. It would have caused a slight delay by forcing her to do the task again, but she was the one who actually solved the word scramble. There's no telling how long it would have taken DeAngelo, the beard bros, or the boyfriends to unscramble the letters on their own without being fed the answer. Hung and Leo were the only ones who actually figured out the answer.

19 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

I can feel all Germans rising up to yell at Phil for saying "The Trabant was built in Germany."  Correction, the Trabant was built in the German Democratic Republic, or East Germany.  It is considered one of the worst cars ever made.

Ha, as soon as Phil said that, Mr. EB said it was the shittiest car ever made and paused the episode so he could find proof of it for me!

19 hours ago, kstar821 said:

Wait - - is nobody going to talk about the Teledisko?  Why are those not a thing in Philly?  😂

The Color Factory did something similar in San Francisco a few years ago but it was free and it wasn't enclosed. They installed a disco ball and lights inside a doorway alcove and there were a bunch of different songs to choose from (each with a color in the title since it was Color Factory related). This was outside in a random doorway in SF and there was no door so when I turned on the lights and music, there were people across the street who were walking by and trying to figure out what the hell was going on. It was totally fun!

[eel21788]

1 hour ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Ha, as soon as Phil said that, Mr. EB said it was the shittiest car ever made and paused the episode so he could find proof of it for me!

Even worse than an Edsel? 

[Hera]

2 minutes ago, Tango64 said:

I'd love to see them penalized for subverting the whole purpose of the show

Losing the race because you kept helping other teams seems like a pretty strong penalty to me—and it's guaranteed to four of the teams in the alliance. If the final three are who I think they're going to be based on average leg placements, then whoever wins is going to have to race the final leg against their strongest competition, and the two teams who don't win are going to feel like chumps for every piece of help they ever gave to the winners.

[I Want My MBTV]

9 hours ago, lilysmom said:

Since Hung and Chee gave the word to the football players, I think it sucks that the football players took the only cab.  I don’t like alliances anyway, particularly when they disadvantage strong players.

I don't think the footballs players had any idea that was the only cab there were a lot of cars parked on that street and (as others have mentioned) Hung and Chee ran right passed that one. Also, the boyfriends and beards seemed to find cabs pretty fast so not sure why Hung and Chee had such a problem getting one. Lastly, I understand why Hung waited for D'Angelo but I don't understand why she waited for whichever alliance team came next (can't remember if it was beards or boyfriends) if she were going to share the word  she should have told D'Angelo "I'll give you the word but then you have to wait and give our next alliance team the word" then she and Chee would have still had their lead.  Would they have still run past "the only taxi" quite possibly but at least that would have been a fair way to do it.  Why she only had a problem with NFL when boyfriends and beards got the word from her too and found taxis faster than her I don't know but she's starting to bug and they had been my favorite team.  

I don't dislike the blondes (they're very good sports) but I hate NELs and that they got too of them I was gobsmaked.  The speed bumps are always complete jokes and I don't like the the NEL is not earned. It's not like winning immunity on Top Chef then having the worst dish in the challenge but you can't be eliminated.  It's not earned and as a competitive person it really irritates me.  I also don't understand why if you come in last in a NEL you don't just get a time penalty like you would for skipping a challenge.  When you got to the mat on the next leg Phil would say "you're the 4th team to arrive but I can't check you in until 15 minutes (or however long) has passed" - to me that's the only fair way to do it.  Guess no one asked me though 🙂

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

13 hours ago, Haleth said:

I am over Hung but have to hand it to her that even though she was terrified to be walking (falling) down the building she did have the presence of mind to pay attention to the flashing letters.  

Didn't Hung say that while she was being strapped in, she looked over to the side and saw the letters? I don't think she collected them as she was screaming her head off on the descent. 

[Guest]

7 hours ago, blackwing said:

I did like the coffee lady that the blonde asked for help.  Unlike the first couple, where the woman said "I am not feeling well" and blonde was just like "no problem, feel better".  The coffee lady was great.  "Is it an English word or a German word?"  It was a great question and one that blonde hadn't even thought of.

That was a great moment for Haley, I thought. I'm sure she suspected that was a b.s. kiss-off response (as did I), but she still instinctively said "feel better".

[scowl]

7 hours ago, survivinmt said:

Alliances make for a boring race. That is all.

Watching the teams turn on each other will be fun though.

[vousviou]

2 hours ago, eel21788 said:

Even worse than an Edsel? 

I think Edsels had problems, but as an American car they were still a lot better than East German Trabants.A big part of the failure of Edsels was styling and marketing. I think Trabants were basically aluminum foil bodies, sparking wires, wax paper gas tanks and rubber band tires.

I think Yugos may have been better cars than Trabants.

[Roccos Brother]

The German taxi driver that drove the blondes in the beginning was a hottie/cutie, especially with his accent and sense of humor.

Hung freaking out while going down the side of the building was HILARIOUS and probably how I would have reacted the entire time too.

Edited November 20, 2020 by Roccos Brother

[Cotypubby]

4 hours ago, I Want My MBTV said:

I also don't understand why if you come in last in a NEL you don't just get a time penalty like you would for skipping a challenge.  When you got to the mat on the next leg Phil would say "you're the 4th team to arrive but I can't check you in until 15 minutes (or however long) has passed" - to me that's the only fair way to do it.  Guess no one asked me though 🙂

Well that basically amounts to the same thing though. Do an extra task that takes time or have time added to your check in arrival, pretty much the same. 
 

They’ve played around with the penalties for the NEL in the past. In fact I think one season they did get a time penalty where unless they won the following leg they would have to wait out a 30-minute (or maybe an hour?) penalty. I think it was the one with the “Back Pack” alliance, and one of the teams let them win to avoid the penalty. 

[Shadow Wave]

2 hours ago, vousviou said:

I think Edsels had problems, but as an American car they were still a lot better than East German Trabants.A big part of the failure of Edsels was styling and marketing. I think Trabants were basically aluminum foil bodies, sparking wires, wax paper gas tanks and rubber band tires.

I think Yugos may have been better cars than Trabants.

Trabants had plastic bodies and two-cycle engines, like a leaf blower. Just a small step up from a motorcycle, but at least you were out of the rain.

When I visited Germany in 1990, just after reunification, Trabants were broken down by the sides of the roads all over the place. East Germans had driven them as far as they would go and just walked away.

 

[Ilovepie]

8 hours ago, Tango64 said:

TAR should prohibit all alliances and sharing of answers in the challenges. It takes a lot of fun out of the viewing when you have five teams collaborating and sharing answers. I'd love to see them penalized for subverting the whole purpose of the show -- an entertaining RACE.

THIS! I love this show, but this alliance is ruining it for me. Imagine how many times some of these teams would have had to go down that wall to figure it out if they had to do it on their own! Does anyone think the NFL guys would have come in first if they had actually had to work it out themselves? Only one person actually figured it out by herself, and maybe two if you count the blonde girl who got resourceful. I am glad Phil told Hung and Chee exactly what they lost by helping bc there is no doubt they would have come in first without the alliance nonsense, and my guess is that the rest would be a different order too. Some of these teams are doing better than they deserve bc of this alliance. It ruins the spirit of the game to me. You already come into this game in an alliance - WITH YOUR PARTNER! I hope if COVID doesn’t permanently kill this show that TAR bans alliances and helping other teams. It’s gotten worse as the seasons have progressed and now it’s completely altering the actual game to its detriment.

[Guest]

17 hours ago, Cotypubby said:

No, the clue clearly did not say to look for the letters, since everyone who went (and wasn’t given the answer ahead of time) had no idea what the judge was talking about when she said to unscramble the letters. They were all “...letters?”

That means nothing with this group. They were also all “horn?” in episode 2. 

[SVNBob]

13 hours ago, valen said:

That was not Hung's taxi. She ran past it. I cannot figure out how she thinks they stole it from her. 

I don't think she thought they "stole" the cab, but I can see a reasonable line of logic that leads to that being "her" cab.

Had she not waited to help DeAngelo, they would have discovered that was the only parked cab nearby.  And instead of trying to flag another one down, they would have taken it...and given the rest of the leg, also taken first again.  So I think she was really upset with herself for both staying to help, and for passing the cab in the first place.  Plus a little frustration at the NFLers for not paying back her help immediately.

 

12 hours ago, HurricaneVal said:

I'm kind of surprised there weren't penalties for The Boyfriends for abandoning the car and not parking in the marked space in front of the hotel as it so clearly stated in the route directions.  But...as others have said, it may be that that ox was legit broken, and there was no other choice.  I thought, if there was a mechanical issue with a race provided vehicle, a replacement vehicle would be brought to the scene, but maybe there wasn't a spare, or maybe The Boyfriends eschewed the offer in favor of making a run for it.

 

That was a rule in seasons past.  But with all the other various rule changes over the years, that rule may have gone by the wayside.

Or given the unreliable nature of the Trabant, maybe the spare also broke down on the way.

2 hours ago, Cotypubby said:

They’ve played around with the penalties for the NEL in the past. In fact I think one season they did get a time penalty where unless they won the following leg they would have to wait out a 30-minute (or maybe an hour?) penalty. I think it was the one with the “Back Pack” alliance, and one of the teams let them win to avoid the penalty. 

The history of NEL penalties does include that step. 

For the first 4 seasons, there was no penalty beyond just being in last place.  In season 5, they introduced Philching 1.0, where the team had to start the next leg with no money, so Phil took any and all Race funds they had saved to that point, and the first clue envelope did not have the Start of Leg money that all the other teams got.  Teams also could not raise any funds during their time at the Pit Stop.  In seasons 7-9, this was upgraded to Philching 2.0, where teams not only had to surrender all their money, but also every other possession they had except their passports and "the clothes on their backs".

Season 10 brought in the time penalty named "Marked for Elimination".  Teams Marked for Elimination had to come in first in the next leg, or incur a 30-minute penalty before checking in at the Mat.  David and Mary ("Kentucky" of the Back/Six Pack alliance) faced this twice.  The first they were able to nullify by taking the Fast Forward in the next leg and thus finishing first.  The second time, they weren't as fortunate, as they arrived in 5th place (of 6), and the last remaining team checked in while they were waiting out their penalty time.  The same mechanic was also used in Season 11 (All-Stars).

Season 12 saw the invention of the Speed Bump, which has been used ever since  And it's probably the best iteration of a NEL penalty.  It fits the Race better than taking all a team's money and clothes while in a foreign country.  And an extra task makes for more active television than making a team stand around and wait to see if other teams pass them at the end of a leg (although the latter can be more dramatic.)

 

2 hours ago, Shadow Wave said:

When I visited Germany in 1990, just after reunification, Trabants were broken down by the sides of the roads all over the place. East Germans had driven them as far as they would go and just walked away.

That means that Will and James were just following an old German tradition.

[Guest]

On 11/18/2020 at 8:32 PM, Giuseppe said:

I wonder what happened to the mat when the blondes checked in at the pit stop? It was gone

 

[Balmafula]

13 hours ago, dgpolo said:

I believe there was sauerkraut eating sometime because I like sauerkraut and thought maybe I could get through that one, but it was a large amount.

It was a Detour during the only visit to Hamburg back during S16 where they had to finish a plate before a polka song stopped playing or else have to repeat it.

As for this Berlin trip, it was better than the S6 original, but not S22's. 

[vousviou]

6 hours ago, SVNBob said:

Season 12 saw the invention of the Speed Bump, which has been used ever since  And it's probably the best iteration of a NEL penalty.  It fits the Race better than taking all a team's money and clothes while in a foreign country.  And an extra task makes for more active television than making a team stand around and wait to see if other teams pass them at the end of a leg (although the latter can be more dramatic.)

I agree that the Speed Bump is a good penalty, and my only complaint is sometimes they're sort of dull.

This one was quite good because they kept the facial hair for the rest of the day (except for the one moustache that started falling off). I don't know if that was just because they were having fun with it, or because getting the glue off without the right solvent would have been a pain.

But I think more Speed Bumps where there is something racers wear for the rest of the leg would be great.

[chaifan]

Re: letters & clue - the unscrambling task had to be on the clue, otherwise they wouldn't have been required to do it.  It's that simple.  TAR has never just added on an element at the end of the task without it being part of the original clue/direction.  Everyone missed it, just like the horn. 

I do wonder, though, if there was any rule as to how long you could hang out at the top of the building before getting harnessed up and go down?  Because if I didn't get it on the first try, I would have simply stayed at the top of the building, looking over the side, until I got it. 

7 hours ago, Dani said:

 

This is absolutely frickin' hilarious! 

 

[sinycalone]

It could be that the information about the letters was phrased a bit ambiguously....because I can't believe so many were surprised about having to unscramble them.  (The horn was clearly mentioned in that clue...but it's not always the case.) There is no way to know if Hung would have even been looking for the letters if DeAngelo had not alerted her.  Hard to say if DeAngelo would have gotten the word on his next try....but at least he could have been checking them out prior to his second attempt.

[Fukui San]

I really wanted blond sister to get a pen and paper and write out the letters. I think that would have helped a lot.

Was Hung the only one to actually solve the puzzle? Or did some in the middle do it as well?

[Guest]

Just now, Fukui San said:

I really wanted blond sister to get a pen and paper and write out the letters. I think that would have helped a lot.

Was Hung the only one to actually solve the puzzle? Or did some in the middle do it as well?

The racers themselves were probably prohibited from writing down the letters, but the nice German woman who helped Haley was holding a pad and pen at one point, so a non-racer might have been allowed to do it.

I can't remember how Leo and Aparna figured it out - they worked together after everyone else (bar Haley) was gone, right? So one or the other of them must have solved it themselves.

[dgpolo]

1 hour ago, chaifan said:

Re: letters & clue - the unscrambling task had to be on the clue, otherwise they wouldn't have been required to do it.  It's that simple.  TAR has never just added on an element at the end of the task without it being part of the original clue/direction.  Everyone missed it, just like the horn. 

Someone said, I can't be sure without watching again which I may do later, but someone said (it might have been Phil in his explanation, it might have been a racer) that they 'would have to answer a question' when they got down. So if that was in the clue it would satisfy the being part of the original direction but vague enough not to turn their attention immediately to the letters.

Edited November 20, 2020 by dgpolo
correction