S32.E12: Now It's About Winning

[Netfoot]

32 minutes ago, Brookside said:

I was getting really skeeved out by their constant beard grooming...

Yeah, those guys didn't have good beards.

[leighdear]

From the actual cafe.  Those suckers are NOT just a couple of bites.  They may be hollow inside, but they are pretty dense.  3 are a regular order.  

https://www.cafebeignet.com/menus/

 

[HurricaneVal]

It is one thing to have an alliance that forms naturally, like teams gravitating to each other during pit stops due to mutual likes and dislikes.  It is completely another to have an alliance form on purpose from the top five teams that reached a race location at the same time.  It is also one thing to have an alliance that buoys lagging members along, but completely another to have a massive alliance turn and target "the others" like a pack of wolves ganging up on strays.  I think that's my biggest problem with this "Mine Five" alliance.  It wasn't an organic alliance, and they were bullies.  Everything seemed to be calculated, and the Beard Bros and The Boyfriends were the ones making those calculations.  The rest of the teams in the alliance were actively participating for the good of the alliance, but they seemed more along for the ride than leading the strategies. 

I'm OK with Will and James winning because they were superfans, they did practice, and they did seem to enjoy the trip and were respectful to the locals.  I'm not OK with them winning because of my aforementioned aversion to the alliance, and because they are reality TV attention whores.  Sure, they're TAR superfans.  But I'll bet they're also Survivor, Big Brother, ANTM, Project Runway, Top Chef, The Challenge, The Bachelor, Paradise Island etc. superfans as well, and have audition tapes sitting in casting offices of every one of those shows they remotely qualify for.  Their goal wasn't to be on TAR, it was to be on any reality show.  And I really don't like that at all.  Apparently Will was already on ANTM, and you could see that's part of what attracted James--he had stars in his eyes because Will had been on reality TV.

In a thread a few shows back, there was a whole discussion on what did and did not constitute "mugging for the camera" or "mugging for attention" and how Will and James were terribly guilty of that throughout the show.  Some folks here didn't know what we were talking about, and some thought Will and James were unfairly called out for it.  But all through the king cake drama all I could think of was how Will was non-stop mugging his way through the whole thing.  Even James seemed to be over it when Will was being all dramatic about eating the beignets.  Then, right at the very end when Will dramatically proposes to James and they embrace, they showed us everything we need to know about them.  Instead of sharing the moment and focusing on the love of his life, the man he just proposed to, and professed undying love to, Will chose to face outwards during the embrace and mug for the camera and his audience of defeated racers.  That right there makes the case for the charges of pre-meditated mugging in in the first degree, punishable by completely fading into obscurity as the final winners of the most boring episode of the most hated season of TAR ever.

[Guest]

On 12/22/2020 at 12:56 PM, HurricaneVal said:

I'm OK with Will and James winning because they were superfans, they did practice, and they did seem to enjoy the trip and were respectful to the locals.  I'm not OK with them winning because of my aforementioned aversion to the alliance, and because they are reality TV attention whores.  Sure, they're TAR superfans.  But I'll bet they're also Survivor, Big Brother, ANTM, Project Runway, Top Chef, The Challenge, The Bachelor, Paradise Island etc. superfans as well, and have audition tapes sitting in casting offices of every one of those shows they remotely qualify for.  Their goal wasn't to be on TAR, it was to be on any reality show.  And I really don't like that at all.  Apparently Will was already on ANTM, and you could see that's part of what attracted James--he had stars in his eyes because Will had been on reality TV.

I wasn't Will and James' biggest fan, but this doesn't quite seem fair - to presume that we know how and why any couple became attracted to each other. I couldn't see any evidence that Will's reality TV "fame" is what attracted James to him, and even if it was, there are a lot of relationships out there that start with an initial, superficial attraction and then grow into something more serious. Will's season of ANTM was 6 years ago (and I guess 4 years before the events of this Amazing Race season), so there must be quite a bit more to the relationship than that.

[Alapaki]

TAR didn’t use to be like Survivor.  It didn’t use to rely on sabotage like Yields and U-Turns.  It used to have Detours that “each had their own pros and cons” (which is where needle/haystack tasks fit perfectly). 

It used to be awesome then. Now, it’s . . . not.  

Edited December 28, 2020 by Alapaki

[Me from ME]

Their biographies indicated that James was a producer on ANTM. I did a quick check on line and found this

Quote

In 2014, Will competed in the 21st season of AIn In 2013, James competed in Capture with his sister Rebecca.

So yeah, it's about the reality show fame.

[Kawaiiko]

On 12/17/2020 at 10:28 PM, SoTheresThat said:

Some of them are cinnamon roll like.  Others are more like a brioche bread.  They are not like traditional flour based cakes at all.  You can also get them filled with things like cream cheese, pecan praline, strawberry filling, apple cinnamon filling, etc.  Some have white sugar glaze icing, some have just granulated sugar sprinkled on.  There are many different types and most people have a definite favorite.

Most bakeries don't put the baby inside anymore.  I've heard it's a liability/insurance thing, I don't know if that's true though.  The tradition of the baby is that at an early Mardi Gras ball, the queen was picked by whoever got the piece of cake that contained the baby (or something of that sort).  Another tradition is that whoever gets the baby in their piece has to buy the next king cake for the office or party or whatever the occasion.

There is also a Spanish version of that, La Rosca de Reyes, which is a lot like a king's cake. It's a round circle which represents the crowns the wise men (the "reyes magos") who were looking for Jesus to give him gifts (i am probably remembering this wrong) wore. It has candied fruits on top to represent jewels. I have never had it, but I've heard it's like a dry croissant bread. There is also a figurine inside of it, and if you bite into it, you become the host of whatever party you are at next year! It's also customary to put a dried bean in there, and whoever bites into that has to pay for the cake... i think. It's a little bit like Mardi Gras.

Edited January 16, 2021 by YoukaiMoe
Final thought