S32.E11: Run On Your Tippy Toes

[raven]

Quote

In the first city sprint, the final four teams race through Manila, the capital of the Philippines.

 

[mojoween]

Well that sucked.  I knew at the beginning when DeAngelo’s hair was down that was a defeated interview. (And boy howdy was that defeated.)

And they were SO DAMN CLOSE.

I honestly do not give a shit who wins this dumb thing.  And neither does De’Angelo, apparently.

[blackwing]

WORST. SEASON. EVER.

If there ever is a future season of TAR, I truly hope they do something to prevent alliances.  I’ve been watching this show from the very beginning (August/September 2001) and I’ve never been as disappointed in this show as I am right now.

[Haleth]

I am so disgusted I don’t think I’ll watch the finale. I don’t care who wins. They are all awful. 

[mtlchick]

If the last task was a final leg task, I would have loved it.

but instead it was a final 4 where there was TOO MUCH SHARING OF INFORMATION and killed the excitement of it all.  When the show returns post pandemic, they really need to clamp down on this.  So much for the city race aspect of things if it leads to the same problems. 

DeAngelo hated his time? He could have paid for it himself? Watch him get picked for the next all stars just to torture him.

I’ll still be watching the finale because this will be the last race for a while, but it will leave a bitter taste. Beards for the win?

[weightyghost]

Oh, so DeAngelo is an asshole. 

Look, I get it. Its frustrating when teams are helping each other and not you (though they begged for help for weeks and really only got through some legs because of help from other teams). But to look down on the Race as a whole and just say you could have paid for the trip yourself and not bothered? I side eyed him mocking Gary for liking art and this just sort of cemented it. 

[Lantern7]

Bullshit. Simply bullshit.

The remaining teams basically got through from alliance, and they shared answers to get to the final three.

The worst part is that with TAR, you never know if this is the end. Yes, TAR33 had started filming, but who knows if it’ll be revived once the pandemic dies down. Phil himself could move to close any loopholes to prevent this shit from ever happening again, and it wouldn’t matter if CBS decides to pas.

I don’t blame DeAngelo for the butthurt. I know, “live by the alliance, die by the alliance,” but that was a bullshit way to fall short.

Off to watch The Challenge on DVR. They probably won’t make me as pissed off as I am now.

Edited December 10, 2020 by Lantern7

[PaperTree]

Manila is an absolute zoo!

Interesting change in the format.

The shoe race was hilarious.  I had the obligatory big platform shoes in the mid-70's, but I don't remember ever running in them.

Music challenge was killer.  That was a really shitty move by the gang of 3.

With Covid, there probably won't be another race anytime soon, but they really need to institute some rule that this isn't allowed.

As long as the boyz lose it's good enough, I suppose.

Edited December 10, 2020 by PaperTree

[aemom]

For DeAngelo to say to Phil's face that he was sorry that he came on the race and that he could have paid to do that himself, was very rude.

I understand that he was upset about how it all went down, but still.

Edited December 10, 2020 by aemom
Typos

[ElleryAnne]

Well, that was an unpleasant last couple of minutes to an otherwise good episode.  

I was just starting to think I didn't dislike James/Will anymore, and then they reminded me how smug they can be.  Beard-bros have gone down in my estimation, also. 

I'm going to give DeAngelo some slack for the bitterness, but that wasn't a pretty way to go out.  If that side of his personality was present throughout the race, I'd understand why NFL became the team the others decided to drop.  But Gary kept it classy, and I feel bad for him.

 

[raven]

Well that was terrible; the race around the city was not fun, though the last task was a good one, ruined by the dumb alliance.  Until the final task, I actually wondered if the show intentionally changed things up on this leg BECAUSE of the alliance but that would be too difficult logistically.

I had a feeling G&D wouldn't make it to the final three after hearing about Aparna's interview.  With G&D being eliminated next, I can see why she is still going on about how they made the wrong move last week.

Though I understand it, I was disappointed in G&D's giving up on the final task; also disappointed in DeAngelo's attitude at the mat, though I understand that too.  He acted like a jerk but OTOH, having basically no chance at the end would have pissed me off too, though I doubt I would take it out on Phil.   Wonder how they felt when they realized they were off by only 1 country not once, but twice?

Never thought I'd say this, but there should have been a rule that teams could not share the answer at the final task. 

I have no doubt the Beard Brothers will win it all.

 

[sinycalone]

6 minutes ago, weightyghost said:

Oh, so DeAngelo is an asshole. 

Look, I get it. Its frustrating when teams are helping each other and not you (though they begged for help for weeks and really only got through some legs because of help from other teams). But to look down on the Race as a whole and just say you could have paid for the trip yourself and not bothered? I side eyed him mocking Gary for liking art and this just sort of cemented it. 

And G/D helped the other teams, too....that's what probably really pissed him off.  The Alliance ruined the season for me, too.

 

[Caseysgirl]

Haven’t been with this franchise since the very beginning - was there ever a racer who was as bitter as DeAngelo?  Poor Gary.

[wintrygal]

D'Angelo's shitty attitude towards Phil at the end was rather telling, perhaps giving a clue as to why they fell to the bottom of the alliance, we don't get to see everything.  I'm sure there were lots of other people who would have loved a chance to be on the show, even some who could afford to 'pay for it themselves'.

[alihart41]

FWIW, DeAngelo now says he doesn't regret it but wouldn't go back. And Gary blames the editing.
 

 

I don't blame him for being pissed in the moment, especially since he asked if they wanted to work together and was flatly rejected, and then the other three weren't even trying to hide it after, what, a minute? 

[Grizzly]

I thought the race around the city was a nice changeup. And I'm impressed all the teams knew all the flags. But I'm very disappointed in how it finished. Turned the channel before they did scenes for next week and I always watch scenes. May not tune in for the finale.

[Browncoat]

I hate this season.  I hate the alliance.  I really hate James or Will or whichever one said, "Good." when Phil said one team was missing.  I hate that Phil told them where they're going next.  

Some of this episode might have been fun and interesting but for the alliance.  I did like the lions at the marketplace.  They looked like they were having fun.

 

[chaifan]

So who's the bitter one?  Signed,  Arpana.

OK, I'm actually glad for once that this was a "oops, didn't read the clue" moment.  Because I really thought I was losing it when the teams were just blindly guessing at the order of the songs.  But again AGAIN teams collectively didn't read the clue??? Seriously, what is with this bunch of racers?

I was really expecting them all to band together to take the penalty.  That would have been the smart move at a certain point in time.  And that really would have pissed off Phil.

I hope Phil gives an honest interview when this season is over. 

 

[raven]

Ugh, just thinking on it.  I think it's annoying me more this episode because there was only one non-alliance team left. 

First of all - READ THE GODDAMN CLUE.  Idiots, all of them.

Then to see the whispering and conniving and the sharing of the answer is just so non-sporting.  Yuck. 

If there's another race, they need to fix this.  They can do whatever they want (race producers).  I would have been endlessly amused if they allowed the alliance and then at this episode, if anyone shared the answer with anyone else, imposed an hour penalty on both teams; some kind of penalty if not an outright ban on answer sharing.   Of course the teams would have to know beforehand.  Interesting choice they would have had to make.

Except for how beautiful Manila is, this was a bad episode of TAR. 

[shura]

I, for one, liked DeAngelo’s honesty.  Yes, maybe it was rude, and I am both surprised and impressed that the show did not edit it out.  But I don’t know if he owes it to anybody to be pleasant and polite instead of honest.  It certainly was better than the stupid gushing over the Travelocity app -  ooh, we can see pictures of the hotel, wow!...

[MerBearHou]

It was DeAngelo’s chance to tell Phil — aka straight to the ears of the heads of the show — exactly how he felt.  I would’ve felt the same way.  Absolutely horrible ending and I won’t tune in for the rest of the episodes.  I do not care who wins.  I’ve watched every season and I’ve really, really, really not enjoyed this one because of the bitchiness of the alliance.  Loathe it.  

[MartyQui]

I empathize with DeAngelo...hearing the other teams sharing and knowing that they had conspired against you all along must have sucked.  He’s an athlete...when you pick a team you stick with the team, you don’t decide halfway through that you’re only going to work with part of your team.  This season is full of unlikeable characters.

[raven]

2 minutes ago, shura said:

I, for one, liked DeAngelo’s honesty.  Yes, maybe it was rude, and I am both surprised and impressed that the show did not edit it out.  But I don’t know if he owes it to anybody to be pleasant and polite instead of honest.  It certainly was better than the stupid gushing over the Travelocity app -  ooh, we can see pictures of the hotel, wow!...

Yeah, I didn't love it but it doesn't bother me too much.  On his twitter someone calls him a sore loser and he says "Yes very lmao". 

To compare to Aparna and the U-turn fiasco, D&G were actually using race tactics when they u-turned.  The brothers burned it because of the Unholy Alliance.  Then this episode D&G asked if anyone wanted to work together and were rebuffed, then had to stand and watch the others all whispering together and obviously sharing the answer.  I can imagine it felt really unfair, even if not against the race rules. 

Would I have liked a more gracious loser?  Yes, but the Unholy Alliance has now left a bad taste in my mouth too.

[Pepper the Cat]

That music challenge was just brutal. The music the band was playing did not sound anything like the music heard on the legs.

Very disappointed to see DeAngelo and Gary go. I was so,hoping they would get it right first and leave the alliance behind. 

[blackwing]

6 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

I hate this season.  I hate the alliance.  I really hate James or Will or whichever one said, "Good." when Phil said one team was missing. 

 

I count Will and James among my least favourite teams ever in the history of TAR.  James is a whiny little shit and the one that’s always playing for the camera and oh so twee about everything.  But I’ve concluded that Will is a nasty person as well.  The way he was yelling at the minibus driver was inexcusable.   “Turn around!  Turn around!”  “No we just got passed!”   The guy isn’t your slave, Will.

I loathe these two so much but I’m convinced they win next week.  I wish there was a way to teleport these two to Antarctica.

[xcrayon2215x]

The way that Gary and Deangelo were sent home was really disappointing. I am fine with teams helping each other but with only four teams left on the last challenge really is not right. Especially with three teams working together. Deangelo's talk at the end wasn't great but the way they went out was very wrong. Will and James got on my nerves tonight.

[bmoore4026]

I'm done.  I'm freaking done!  The last team I liked is gone and the remaining three suck.  I'm sick of bad triumphing over good!  I'm sick of unlikable people winning!  I'm with DeAngelo - this race sucks!

And what's with that last challenge!?  They would have been there all day if they hadn't cheated.  Who ever came up with such a challenge needs their asses kicked, along with the three remaining teams.

Once this Covid crap settles down and the series can start up again, there needs to be a ban on alliances.  Sick of this shit!

Edited December 10, 2020 by bmoore4026

[chaifan]

Does anyone have real information on the "decoy" racers?  I've heard that at a certain point eliminated teams stick around and keep racing as decoys, so the final doesn't get spoiled.  Is that really the case?  If so, I wonder how that went over with DeAngelo.  😧 "I am never going to do this again!"  Phil: "Yeah, you have to keep racing as a decoy team.  Sorry, it's in your contract."

[raven]

One last complaint - lol, I'm still irritated and I've been pretty mellow about this season until now!

The interviews during the eps are absolutely giving away who's eliminated.  So in addition to the Unholy Alliance, we have these interviews showcasing everyone's emotions.  Blah!

[ByaNose]

6 minutes ago, bmoore4026 said:

I'm done.  I'm freaking done!  The last team I liked is gone and the remaining three suck.  I'm sick of bad triumphing over good!  I'm sick of unlikable people winning!  I'm with D'Angelo - this race sucks!

And what's with that last challenge!?  They would have been there all day if they hadn't cheated.  Who ever came up with such a challenge needs their asses kicked, along with the three remaining teams.

Once this Covid crap settles down and the series can start up again, there needs to be a ban on alliances.  Sick of this shit!

Cheated is a strong word but the 3 all helped each other...basically cheating but not. LOL!!!! The ending was kind of uneventful even though no one was getting the flag right. The worst part was that Gary & DeAngelo only had one wrong. Of course, they all didn’t read the clue correctly. It still blows my mind when teams still misread the clue. 

2 minutes ago, raven said:

One last complaint - lol, I'm still irritated and I've been pretty mellow about this season until now!

The interviews during the eps are absolutely giving away who's eliminated.  So in addition to the Unholy Alliance, we have these interviews showcasing everyone's emotions.  Blah!

I still don’t understand why they can’t just have a simple drop back for the confessionals. A shower curtain would even do. I knew the NFL lost because they weren’t even shown in a confessional. Ugh!

[dgpolo]

I really think that this alliance was serendipitous. The stars were in alignment for those teams, at that time, at that place. I don't think it will be repeated because these teams won't be there. Some teams in the future (fingers crossed) may -try- to repeat it but then one team will take a wrong turn and get lost for six hours, or one teammate will break down at a task and won't be able to finish (Mika, Jen, Flo), or a team will decide to break away (Karlyn & Lyn), or the tasks won't lend themselves to 'sharing' (swimming, diving, dancing, needle in a haystack etc.) I think this was a pretty unique set of circumstances that will be hard to replicate rather than becoming common.

[speedroc]

I had been rooting for Gary and DeAngelo to win for most of the race but I knew they were done once they used the U-turn since it guaranteed the remaining Alliance would then target them going forward.  And for a minute when they almost got lucky with the order of the cases I actually thought they might pull it off.

[wintrygal]

I get D&G's disappointment, and how it would make a person feel, no problem there, but, they were a willing part of that alliance all along and in part, helped and got help in staying ahead of the other teams who were eliminated, anyway, it is what it is.  I watch so many shows now where alliances are a big part of the game, I've become desentized to it, so it really didn't bother me that much.  

I wouldn't mind seeing Gary on the race again, he's a very well rounded person, seems like a great guy.

[sinycalone]

1 minute ago, dgpolo said:

I really think that this alliance was serendipitous. The stars were in alignment for those teams, at that time, at that place. I don't think it will be repeated because these teams won't be there. Some teams in the future (fingers crossed) may -try- to repeat it but then one team will take a wrong turn and get lost for six hours, or one teammate will break down at a task and won't be able to finish (Mika, Jen, Flo), or a team will decide to break away (Karlyn & Lyn), or the tasks won't lend themselves to 'sharing' (swimming, diving, dancing, needle in a haystack etc.) I think this was a pretty unique set of circumstances that will be hard to replicate rather than becoming common.

We can only hope  and pray that does not happen again.

[TiredMe]

Man this season really sucks. The alliance sucks. The final three sucks. I’m think I’m done. Enjoy the finale everyone.

[Giuseppe]

I have been one of the biggest fans of this show from season one, episode one. I have never disliked a season (not even family edition) as much as this one. IMO, this season is ass. The alliance was ass. The provided/group travel to each country was ass. Some of the tasks were fun, but they were mostly ass, too. The final 3, well you get the point. I'm sorry, I don't think I've ever made such a negative post on these boards in my life, lol. I actually did like the concept of this leg. Reminded me a little of the roadblock in Sydney that Wil and Blake both messed up in season 2. 

44 minutes ago, mtlchick said:

If the last task was a final leg task, I would have loved it.

but instead it was a final 4 where there was TOO MUCH SHARING OF INFORMATION and killed the excitement of it all.

Agreed. Would have worked much better as the final task of the race.

[SuburbanHangSuite]

20 minutes ago, raven said:

Never thought I'd say this, but there should have been a rule that teams could not share the answer at the final task. 

 

So my husband is only a casual viewer and he watched with me tonight.  When The Alliance got the right answer and were on their way to the mat, Hubby says, "Didn't Phil say they couldn't work together on this leg?"  And for a second, I got really happy thinking that the three alliance teams would be penalized for helping each other.  Then that hope got dashed when Phil checked in the Beards.   Oh well.  Anyone but the Boyfriends, I guess.

[FlyingEgret]

I am thinking that D&G actually read the clue and were placing the flags in the correct order but with one mistake. Which means that one of the other teams could have saved a lot of time by working with them.  Obviously that would never have happened but I take pleasure in knowing they got that part right without help from anyone else.  Doesn't equal a win, but still...

[chaifan]

4 minutes ago, SuburbanHangSuite said:

So my husband is only a casual viewer and he watched with me tonight.  When The Alliance got the right answer and were on their way to the mat, Hubby says, "Didn't Phil say they couldn't work together on this leg?"  And for a second, I got really happy thinking that the three alliance teams would be penalized for helping each other.  Then that hope got dashed when Phil checked in the Beards.   Oh well.  Anyone but the Boyfriends, I guess.

If memory serves me right, Phil said teams shouldn't share information, as they were down to the final 4.  But he didn't say "couldn't". 

[ByaNose]

The TPTB could have been prevented the Mine 3 from helping each other by not allowing them to return to the circle fountain. They should have had to exit stage left. I guess the 3 could have mouthed it but Gary and DeAngelos might have seen it. That might have prevented a clean sweep by the 3 with the flags. 

[North of Eden]

Infuriating....absolutely infuriating and I wasn't even rooting for Gary and De'Angelo.

That last 20 minutes of this episode violated everything about the spririt of a race! At the start I think Phil was so disgusted by all the helping that he actually advised against it but no...did not matter.

This alliance thing has been crap all season but that was a bridge too far.

If TAR doesn't get cancelled because COVID makes world travel impossible for years to come and it does return they ABSOLUTELY must put rules into effect banning any alliances or working together. Please Reality Show gods don't let TAR go out on a whimper like this.

If anyone but Chee and Hung wins next week the season will be a complete bust. Will and James are two of the most vile, petty, offensive and narcasisstic (they have to be...they are both the same person so they basically fell in love with themselves) racers ever to come on this show. I was not wrong in hoping the driver would turn around and knock a couple of Will's teeth right out of his head when he was rudley screaming at him to turn around. As far as the beards go...too many times has it been young men duos winning the race...I just don't want to see that anymore.

D'Angela had a right to be bitter when he was trash talking the race but in that one moment I hope he had a moment of clarity on how Aparna was feeling last week.

Edited December 10, 2020 by North of Eden

[SuburbanHangSuite]

4 minutes ago, chaifan said:

If memory serves me right, Phil said teams shouldn't share information, as they were down to the final 4.  But he didn't say "couldn't". 

Yeah, that's what I thought too but when Hubby mentioned it, I didn't feel like rewinding to check his verbiage because I didn't want to miss anything.  But I thought that would've been poetic justice if a small technicality like that bit all three teams in the ass and DeAngelo and Gary could vault to 1st place. 

[ByaNose]

7 minutes ago, chaifan said:

If memory serves me right, Phil said teams shouldn't share information, as they were down to the final 4.  But he didn't say "couldn't". 

Yeah, he didn’t say couldn’t. I think he was trying his hardest to put the fear of god in them helping each other. I think Phil was over the Mine 5 weeks ago. I’m curious if this was “fixed” the following season which was stopped early by Covid-19. 

Edited December 10, 2020 by ByaNose

[sinycalone]

From Gary on Twitter.  Interesting:

Gary Barnidge

@garybarnidge·

1h

@DeAngeloRB

just for clarification we made an alliance with the Beard Bros after the 1st episode to get us two teams to the final which is why we say they didn’t keep their word.

AND

Not upset about any of that from the edit it may seem that way but we actually had an alliance after 1st leg with beard bros and didn’t know they turned on us til then. Plus he was upset with other things not deal with race and just boiled over

 

Edited December 10, 2020 by sinycalone

[BusyOctober]

I started watching on the DVR & so I could FF’d thru ads.  I was about 20 min in, and I got a bad feeling. Plus I couldn’t stand James and Will much beyond that.  So, I deleted it from my DVR a and came here to see what happened. My intuition was right, and the only team I liked is out.  I didn’t see the sharing of info on the final task, but I am infuriated after reading what the 3 asshole teams did.  

2020 continues to be one of the shittiest years on record, at least in my 45 years on the planet. A deadly pandemic, racial (and racist) violence, a crapfest of an election cycle, economic devastation, remote (non) learning for my kid...all the horrible awful misery going on certainly doesn’t equate to my disappointment in stupid tv show. But now 2020 is ruining my escape from the daily crap?!?  So, I am doubling down on my prediction I made a couple of episodes ago...in the Year of the Pre-Apocalypse aka 2020, James & Will will be the winners.  I hope The Beards and Chee and Hung relive their stupid game play in a never ending loop in their dreams every night.

Edited December 10, 2020 by BusyOctober
Punctuation matters

[Michichick]

Well, that sure was a disappointing episode but at least next week I won’t have to debate about whether to watch TAR or The Challenge. The behavior of the alliance in this episode felt particularly unsportsmanlike to me and it makes me dislike what used to be my favorite show. Phil was way too nice to the alliance at the end. Bah, what a bummer of an episode.

[Kleav]

1 minute ago, Michichick said:

Phil was way too nice to the alliance at the end.

I was sure he'd say something disapproving, especially with Will & James crowing "We did it! We did it!" No, you didn't do it. Grrr....

[ByaNose]

After, living through the BB mob alliance it was horrible to live through another one on TAR. I seriously wonder if that’s why CBS held on to this for so long. Granted, they couldn’t have foreseen the BB debacle but just seeing their own (boring) show play out it might have given them pause. 

[Mountainair]

My cable company is having a fight with CBS or somebody so I’ve had to pay extra for the CBS app just to watch this and happily I can now stop. Except of course if the Panthers game happens to be on CBS but usually it’s on Fox so I should be good. The alliance thing is bullshit and I wasn’t upset at Deangello’s attitude at the mat. Yes he should have not said what he did but I’d probably be pretty salty too. I followed his career in football and he’s really a good guy. I hope the boyfriends lose miserably as I think they did the least amount of work in the alliance to get to the final three. I won’t tune in to find out. 

[Door County Cherry]

 

2 hours ago, raven said:

Though I understand it, I was disappointed in G&D's giving up on the final task; also disappointed in DeAngelo's attitude at the mat, though I understand that too.  He acted like a jerk but OTOH, having basically no chance at the end would have pissed me off too, though I doubt I would take it out on Phil.   Wonder how they felt when they realized they were off by only 1 country not once, but twice?

He had a chance.  He and Gary could have figured things out before the other three teams.  I think the U-Turn they did to another team is more of a challenge than the other three teams working together.  I think the bitterness is largely from not realizing that the other three teams had formed a smaller alliance from the five before this episode.  They likely would have made other choices.  

2 hours ago, chaifan said:

But again AGAIN teams collectively didn't read the clue??? Seriously, what is with this bunch of racers?

I found it easier to believe they all misunderstood the clue than I did that the married couple and boyfriends both realized their mistake at the same time.  TAR was deliberately tricky by changing up the order of the songs. I liked that touch of cleverness. 

Quote

I was really expecting them all to band together to take the penalty.  That would have been the smart move at a certain point in time.  And that really would have pissed off Phil.

So the penalty was two hours.  I wonder how long they did that task.  If I were Gary and D'Angelo, I think I might've gambled with the penalty earlier once I realized we were the odd team out.  Especially given how frustrating the task was proving to be.  It would've thrown a wrench in that alliance because it would have created a time limit before they were all racing against one another again.  Then the question would become whether or not another team opted to take the penalty or if they'd all continue to try to solve it.  

The strategy was there.  

2 hours ago, raven said:

Ugh, just thinking on it.  I think it's annoying me more this episode because there was only one non-alliance team left. 

Gary and D'Angelo were part of an alliance.  Including a much smaller alliance, it turns out.  I agree that alliances aren't fun to watch.  But CBS seems to love them and Survivor has infected all of their reality shows. 

2 hours ago, SuburbanHangSuite said:

So my husband is only a casual viewer and he watched with me tonight.  When The Alliance got the right answer and were on their way to the mat, Hubby says, "Didn't Phil say they couldn't work together on this leg?"  And for a second, I got really happy thinking that the three alliance teams would be penalized for helping each other.  

I thought perhaps the leg might have been created to limit the influence of an alliance but when the final task happened, I realized that wasn't the case.  But he only suggested that people not work together given the fact that much of this was pure speed racing (although, not that much?  They were just easier roadblocks until the final task). 

One thing they could do in the future, though, is make sure the teams remain separated.  For this, they could have put them in separate areas of the park and had a radio playing the music via separate vans. 

I didn't like the alliance but the time for me crying about the fairness of it was once the last non-alliance team was eliminated and that happened before this episode.