S33.E04: Ready to Restart the Race

[ProfCrash]

9 minutes ago, Haleth said:

In Feb 2020?

She said that she had a German passport and could not participate because she could not re-enter the US with it. I know that the US had restrictions on travel from specific countries if you were not a US citizen, I don't know when those restrictions were lifted. 

I still think it is because the two of them were broken up and the passport issue lets them cover that up. (shrugs)

[Haleth]

I think we’re talking about two different things, Prof. I mean her returning to the US right after the race was suspended, in Feb 2020.  I don’t believe she would have been barred at that time, no?  I understand there was a restriction in effect when the race was completed in the fall of 2021 that would have kept her from returning to the US. Sorry if I wasn’t clear.

(eta:  The travel ban began 3/13/20 and was lifted 11/8/21.)

Edited January 22, 2022 by Haleth

[Rootbeer]

27 minutes ago, Haleth said:

I think we’re talking about two different things, Prof. I mean her returning to the US right after the race was suspended, in Feb 2020.  I don’t believe she would have been barred at that time, no?  I understand there was a restriction in effect when the race was completed in the fall of 2021 that would have kept her from returning to the US. Sorry if I wasn’t clear.

(eta:  The travel ban began 3/13/20 and was lifted 11/8/21.)

Yes, I think the issue was that, if she left the US for the resumption of the race in October 2021, she wouldn't have been able to re-enter on a German passport a few weeks later to get to the finish line.  The travel ban wasn't lifted until weeks after the race was completed.

[PaperTree]

On 1/21/2022 at 12:24 PM, Netfoot said:

Many people when confronted with a map simply throw their hands in the air and give up

Mom was like that.  We found out decades after the Hawaii incident that she was dyslexic.  Growing up in Duck Dynasty NE Louisiana land, she was undiagnosed.  High School in Houston, too.  She could read prose, but anything with patterns threw her.

[greyhorse]

23 hours ago, illdoc said:

If you follow TAR on FB, they just dropped a video which has the non-returning teams stating themselves why they didn't continue (well, Spencer speaks for Anthony, but you get to see Sam & Connie's baby). Ray and Caro speak separately (both mentioning the citizenship issue).

Just watched these.  

Sam states that this is the first baby "born during a pitstop" or something like that.  Don't remember the exact words and now I can't find it on my feed again.  Is he saying the baby was conceived during a pit stop, or that he's counting this as a 19 month pit stop?  I'm sure there were most likely some babies conceived during pit stops...

Ray and Caro had separate videos, obviously because they didn't live together and were on separate coasts.  But yes, they didn't address the obvious that we all know they're no longer together.  The visa is an excuse.  Even if she had the visa, if the couple is broken up, would they really have run together?

Agree that Spencer looks like he has gained a lot of weight, since all we could really see was his face as he was wearing a black t-shirt.  Where was Anthony?  Why couldn't he put together a little blurb and speak for himself?

Husband's brother had Covid before they left to restart, I think?  And then just took a turn for the worse?  Unfortunate and sad.  He said "hopefully we get a chance to compete again".  So I'm guessing that these at least one of these teams will show up in future episodes.

Completely forgot that there was a whole season of YouTube stars.  At that time, I'm not really sure there was such a focus on social media, or at least I myself had no clue and was dumbfounded that people recognized these unknowns to me while they were traveling the world.  Guess it's such a different time now.  But it's still interesting that nobody has brought it up with Kim and Penn.  Of course they may have chatted about it and we just haven't seen it make it to the final cut, since it's pretty irrelevant to the race.

[SG429]

3 hours ago, greyhorse said:

Even if she had the visa, if the couple is broken up, would they really have run together?

They're reality tv people, of course they would have.

[SVNBob]

9 hours ago, greyhorse said:

he's counting this as a 19 month pit stop?

TPTB have been jokingly calling the 19 month suspension "the Longest Pit Stop ever".  It was even in the pre-premiere ads.  So he was rolling with the joke.

And given that she was 7 months pregnant near the end of a 19 month "Pit Stop"...well, even a football coach can do that math correctly.

[Fretful]

I think if I were the cops, I would have switched the direction I was working on the belt.  Worst case scenario- you're both wrong and have to start over.  If you're both right, you're a couple of minutes behind and can out run the other team.  As it turned out, father\daughter got lost, so cops  had an opening and probably would have avoided elimination.

[Zonk]

On 1/20/2022 at 4:21 AM, meatball77 said:

Sherri and Akbar have been married a while and he's a coach.  I suspect that she just stays out of situations where he would feel the need to coach her.  If I went on TAR with my husband we would probably resemble Zach and Flo, I'd be crying and he'd be raging and nagging, which is why I'd never go on TAR with my husband.

It's been a while but that's not how I remember Zach and Flo at all. I remember Zach, while being understandably frustrated, having the patient of a saint and sometimes literally carrying Flo to the finish line.

Good thing we have the split roadblock rule now (because of them). With that they would have been out after a few legs and we wouldn't have had to suffer through that.

[Netfoot]

5 minutes ago, Zonk said:

I remember Zach, while being understandably frustrated, having the patient of a saint and sometimes literally carrying Flo to the finish line.

This is true, but Zach has always maintained that Flo did contribute to their race efforts, in particular with her interaction with staff in aeroports etc, back when travel management was a key element of the race.

And one thing I have to say about Flo is that she never denied what a harpy she had been, unlike subsequent real horrorshow racers who routinely blame the editing. I may be wrong here, but wasn't she for quite some time, the youngest racer ever to compete on TAR? (Not counting The Family Edition, obviously.)

[Zonk]

2 minutes ago, Netfoot said:

This is true, but Zach has always maintained that Flo did contribute to their race efforts, in particular with her interaction with staff in aeroports etc, back when travel management was a key element of the race.

My main point was that Zach certainly wasn't "nagging and raging", like @meatball77 said.

Travel management was a part of the race, I wouldn't say big, it seldom made a big difference, so if that was Flo's only contribution it was really minor. But I have to say it was always exciting when it did make a difference and I'm sad that the Amazing Race really isn't about racing around the world anymore, but just a gameshow set in multiple countries. You still see spectacular vistas, but the sense that these teams are traveling around the world is gone.

7 minutes ago, Netfoot said:

And one thing I have to say about Flo is that she never denied what a harpy she had been, unlike subsequent real horrorshow racers who routinely blame the editing.

That is true. I saw interviews of her where she fully admitted it. I still wanted to strangle her by the end of the season and it really wasn't fun to watch. That's one of the seasons I caught up on with a binge though. Maybe she wasn't quite as bad spaced out over 13 weeks.

11 minutes ago, Netfoot said:

I may be wrong here, but wasn't she for quite some time, the youngest racer ever to compete on TAR?

Zach is 6 months younger than her, so not possible. He also wasn't a crying self-absorbed mess because of his age, so there goes that excuse.

I also was younger than Flo when I watched that season and I still could never fathom acting like that.

[Netfoot]

2 minutes ago, Zonk said:

Travel management was a part of the race, I wouldn't say big, it seldom made a big difference, so if that was Flo's only contribution it was really minor.

No, according to Zach she was very good at interactions with all sorts of people they had to deal with during the race, and easily charmed everyone they met along the way. I'm not trying to suggest that this made up for all the negative aspects of her character. Just saying that she wasn't completely useless.

4 minutes ago, Zonk said:

That's one of the seasons I caught up on with a binge though. Maybe she wasn't quite as bad spaced out over 13 weeks.

I caught up on that season with a binge as well. She was maddeningly annoying at times, but in comparison to others we've seen since, she is hardly a blip on the Annoy-O-Meter for me. 

6 minutes ago, Zonk said:

Zach is 6 months younger than her, so not possible.

Ah! My mistake. She certainly acted like a very immature person.

Again, not trying to whitewash her negative qualities, but I do think she wasn't all bad and certainly not the most unpleasant we've ever seen. But I guess that last is a subjective position; we will each have our own "most annoying" racer.

[blackwing]

2 hours ago, Zonk said:

Travel management was a part of the race, I wouldn't say big, it seldom made a big difference, so if that was Flo's only contribution it was really minor. But I have to say it was always exciting when it did make a difference and I'm sad that the Amazing Race really isn't about racing around the world anymore, but just a gameshow set in multiple countries. You still see spectacular vistas, but the sense that these teams are traveling around the world is gone.

I do miss when teams made their own arrangements at the airport.  I am trying to remember the last time a team chose to take a risky connection over what everyone else was doing.  I think it was more exciting when teams went off on their own, there was always the element of teams not seeing each other and wondering where everyone else was.  Sometimes it paid off, sometimes it didn't.

Question, did this change after one team almost ended up nearly a day in advance of everyone?  Nowadays it seems they are mostly spoonfed flights so that everyone gets equalised at the airport.  Of course, this season it will be all charter flights and each leg that goes to a new country will be like its own individual leg, a mere race to avoid last place.  I wonder if even after Covid subsides, if this will be the way things will be done in the future.  I guess the days of seeing a team get Guidoed or a team like the Not-So-Gutsy-Grannies getting Philiminated on sight when they finally reached their destination are long gone.

I think one of the things past Racers have mentioned is the need to try and get seats as far in the front as possible.  Now with charter flights, that aspect of the race is gone.  No taxis, which will eliminate the random good or bad taxi luck, with a driver who doesn't know where he is going or one who stops for gas.  I'm glad that there will be more self-navigation.

I also miss the days when money was an issue.  In TAR Classic, some teams took a taxi in Thailand, others took the bus because of money problems.  It doesn't seem like money is going to be an issue anymore, if it even was in recent editions.

[chaifan]

13 minutes ago, blackwing said:

Question, did this change after one team almost ended up nearly a day in advance of everyone?  Nowadays it seems they are mostly spoonfed flights so that everyone gets equalised at the airport. 

From everything I read, a number of factors caused the change in good ol' fashioned airport drama that existed in early TAR.  First, 9/11.  The whole airline industry was affected, and the number of flights/connections to any destination decreased.  So post-9/11 there simply weren't as many possible choices.  Second, costs.  There was a recent article where BVM said one early team spent $300,000 on airline tickets, booking so many multiple combinations.  $300,000!  I'm almost positive (someone correct me if I'm wrong here) that at some point rules were changed so teams could only purchase tickets for one route. 

Season 32 had a lot of spoon fed flights, or at least that's how I remember it. 

We will see on Wednesday, but I hope that with the TAR jet they will release teams from the airport (or some central destination) in the order/time lag of their arrival at the pit stop mat.  I haven't seen anything state this or otherwise, but it certainly makes sense to do so. 

[Rootbeer]

46 minutes ago, blackwing said:

I do miss when teams made their own arrangements at the airport.  I am trying to remember the last time a team chose to take a risky connection over what everyone else was doing.  I think it was more exciting when teams went off on their own, there was always the element of teams not seeing each other and wondering where everyone else was.  Sometimes it paid off, sometimes it didn't.

Question, did this change after one team almost ended up nearly a day in advance of everyone?  Nowadays it seems they are mostly spoonfed flights so that everyone gets equalised at the airport.  Of course, this season it will be all charter flights and each leg that goes to a new country will be like its own individual leg, a mere race to avoid last place.  I wonder if even after Covid subsides, if this will be the way things will be done in the future.  I guess the days of seeing a team get Guidoed or a team like the Not-So-Gutsy-Grannies getting Philiminated on sight when they finally reached their destination are long gone.

Yes, back in Season 6, Colin and Christy, who were absolute geniuses at airport maneuvers, managed to arrive at the next stop, in Paris, I think, before everyone had even checked in at the previous check-in point.  Phil wasn't even there since he was still checking people in at the previous country.  TPTB had to quickly adjust hours of operation at the next task to give Phil and the other racers some time to catch up since, the way Colin and Christy were tearin' it up at every challenge and then figuring out the fasted route, they were going to end up days ahead if they didn't slow them down with HoO.

9-11 happened after the first season filmed and there was still a lot of airport drama in subsequent seasons, although of a different sort.  Recall that, in their race to the finish line, Colin and Christy checked their backpacks and were unable to retrieve them when they wanted to change to a better flight since safety regs post 9-11 required everyone  to travel with their bags.

What happened, I think, was that airlines began consolidating routes and joining together to provide service to less served destinations; so the number and variety of flights available decreased significantly.  TPTB also decreed certain airlines and airports off limits to racers due to political unrest, safety issues and assorted other problems which gave the racers far less latitude to try to find a quicker route.

Edited January 24, 2022 by Rootbeer

[Taeolas]

I don't mind the loss of the airport drama and such, since ultimately the flights are out of the racer's hands; I prefer the race to be decided on the racer's actions, not on the luck of the flights. 

I don't mind taxi luck being deminished this round as well, but I don't mind taxi luck in general (compared to airline luck), probably because taxi luck is limited to a single team (for better or for worse).

 

Staggered starts after transporting the racers en masse seems like a very fair way to continue the race going forward; it keeps the action ultimately in the racer's hands. 

 

And if by some miracle one or two teams get way ahead (or way behind) the other racers, it ultimately means all the racers get a longer pitstop to rest between legs. It'll be interesting to see if that becomes a tactic in the future. After all if Team A gets to the mat at 11AM and the last team gets in at 11PM, then the restart is still going to need a 12 hour separation after transportation.

[Maverick]

But the airport drama was based on the Racer's decisions and skill.  It was up to them to explore possible flights and connection combinations.  If they were persistent and skilful enough the could come up with something better.  Sometimes there was a narrow connection and the had to decide if the risk of missing it was worth the time gained.   Sometimes a team had to decide that even if the alternate flight wasn't too risky was it better to stay with the pack in case something went wrong.   

[Netfoot]

8 hours ago, Rootbeer said:

Yes, back in Season 6, Colin and Christy, who were absolute geniuses at airport maneuvers, managed to arrive at the next stop, in Paris, I think, before everyone had even checked in at the previous check-in point.

There was also the time Snarla & Charla were a full day ahead. Where was that now? Zanzibar? Then a High-Seas warning delayed the ferry or something, until the other teams caught up.

Then there was another team that ended up so late they didn't arrive in-country until everyone else had checked in to the pitstop. I can't recall who it was. Uchenna & Joyce?

I enjoyed a bit if travel-related drama, and it was nice when a clever or imaginative team could jump ahead by taking a risk. Stories of Team #1 and Phil simultaneously racing to the mat from different directions are funny, but must be a nightmare for Production to deal with. But I can well understand why they would prefer if things were more predictable.

[SVNBob]

12 hours ago, Rootbeer said:

Yes, back in Season 6, Colin and Christy, who were absolute geniuses at airport maneuvers

Season 5, but yes.  Colin was the one who abused the TAR credit card used only for airline tickets by buying up seats on every possible flight or set of flights from destination to destination to the above stated tune of $300K, before using the "fastest" options.  There's a a few scenes in airports in that season of him saying to a ticket agent, "Go ahead and book that...then let's look for something else."  His justification was that he believed TAR and CBS would be able to get refunds for the unused tickets, whether or not that was actually the case.

But I don't money was the issue here.  What Colin was doing was gaming the system.  He essentially had unlimited funds and no other restrictions to try to find the best flights, so why not do exactly what he did?  That's part of how he and Christie were always near the front of the pack (the other part being them being very good at the rest of the Race as well).  So I think the changes were instituted to make the Race more competitive, and not to save money.

[ProfCrash]

I think the changes were made to save money and force the Racers to be more careful in making their plans. There is no reason they could not have asked the Travel Agent to look for all the routes and then booked the one they wanted. What they really wanted was the ability to change flights if the best one was delayed. 

It was expensive, because they are booking at least 4 seats, not two, and it abused the system. It was allowed at the time but they are the reason that ability went away.

[Taeolas]

As I said, I don't mind losing the Airport Drama aspect of the race, because it feels like an aspect that is mostly outside of the racer's control; it relies on luck of the flights and luck of the travel agents. (One agent may decide connections are too tight and not suggest a flight, while another agent may go for it and suggest connections , meaning the agents gave a team a lead, not the team itself). And that also doesn't account for plane luck (weather events, mechanical break downs, trouble from other passengers, etc....).

 

MAYBE if all the teams always had to book their flights through Travelocity (so they'd have the same selection of flights and could pick that way) I'd see it a bit farer; but ultimately the airport aspect of the game feels like it takes too much control from the racers, so taht's why I don't mind it going away. It also isn't all that photographic, so watching them huddle around a travel agent isn't all that interesting. (*Maybe* If they had a talking head going over the possible routes and why they picked it, with flying airplane infographics it would be more watchable; but not by much). 

 

I'd rather that time taken up with more unique views of the countries and territories they're travelling through, not generic airport XYZ.  

[blackwing]

11 hours ago, Netfoot said:

Then there was another team that ended up so late they didn't arrive in-country until everyone else had checked in to the pitstop. I can't recall who it was. Uchenna & Joyce?

Not sure if it's the team you are thinking of and I can't remember if it happened more than once, but this describes the Not-So-Gutsy-Grannies in Season 2.  The teams had to get from Brazil to South Africa.  The ladies overslept their alarm clock.  Then they somehow ended up flying from Brazil to New York, then to London, then to South Africa.  I believe everyone else went from Brazil to somewhere in Europe and then to South Africa.   By the time they arrived, they got the "DO NOT PASS GO, DO NOT COLLECT $200" instructions to go straight to the Pit Stop.

1 hour ago, ProfCrash said:

I think the changes were made to save money and force the Racers to be more careful in making their plans. There is no reason they could not have asked the Travel Agent to look for all the routes and then booked the one they wanted. What they really wanted was the ability to change flights if the best one was delayed. 

It was expensive, because they are booking at least 4 seats, not two, and it abused the system. It was allowed at the time but they are the reason that ability went away.

Agreed, I think the rule that Racers can only have one set of tickets at a time is a good one.  $300,000 is ridiculous... if they realised he was doing that every single time, they could have put a stop to it, but maybe they didn't want to change "the rule" midway through the race.  They at least could have said that teams had to book refundable tickets.

Would be interesting to see how much it costs to charter a plane vs. all the money they would normally spend on plane tickets for the teams and all the crew.  Also, I believe that normally the crew will get to the destination in advance of the teams and set up the tasks and clues.  I wonder if the crew will be on the same charter plane, and then when everyone gets to the new country, the teams get a free day in the hotel while the crew goes out and sets up that day.  If so, then killer fatigue will no longer be an issue.  Or whether the crew will still be on a different charter plane and be ahead of the teams.

 

[Netfoot]

53 minutes ago, blackwing said:

I wonder if the crew will be on the same charter plane, and then when everyone gets to the new country, the teams get a free day in the hotel while the crew goes out and sets up that day.

I always assumed they had local helpers do the set-up of all challenges, and the crew only had to get to the location and be ready for filming.

[Rootbeer]

22 minutes ago, Netfoot said:

I always assumed they had local helpers do the set-up of all challenges, and the crew only had to get to the location and be ready for filming.

Yes, I would expect, at most, just a few hours' delay from the time they arrive until they're ready to go.  Considering there won't be any waiting around the airport for scheduled flights, I expect the timeline isn't going to expand much even if the production crew is traveling with the racers.

[Netfoot]

2 hours ago, Rootbeer said:

I expect the timeline isn't going to expand much even if the production crew is traveling with the racers.

Pitstops have traditionally been 12 hours, but in more recent times the length of a pitstop has been variable. However, I doubt they will  ever be shorter than 12 hours.

Since only the longest of flights is likely to be anywhere close to 12 hours, the racers may well be expected to finish out the pitstop on the ground. So, if there is a delay between arrival in the Amazing Plane and departure from the pitstop, the crew should have a few hours to get ahead of the teams, so as to check and confirm that the challenges are set up and ready.

[millennium]

While everybody else seems to be frowning upon Akbar, I will take the opportunity to gripe about Arun.   I was dismayed to see he had been given a second chance.    His incompetence in the Scottish challenge was painful to watch.   He seems ... how do I put this kindly? ... fundamentally unprepared and ill-equipped to be on this show.  

I cringe while watching him and I feel bad for his daughter that she has to assume the role of cheerleader in the face of his abject cluelessness.   What the hell was Arun thinking when he accepted the invitation to be part of the cast?   Better yet, what were the producers thinking by casting him not once but twice?   Weren't there any more qualified father/daughter teams out there?

 

Edited January 27, 2022 by millennium

[ProfCrash]

1 hour ago, millennium said:

While everybody else seems to be frowning upon Akbar, I will take the opportunity to gripe about Arun.   I was dismayed to see he had been given a second chance.    His incompetence in the Scottish challenge was painful to watch.   He seems ... how do I put this kindly? ... fundamentally unprepared and ill-equipped to be on this show.  

I cringe while watching him and I feel bad for his daughter that she has to assume the role of cheerleader in the face of his abject cluelessness.   What the hell was Arun thinking when he accepted the invitation to be part of the cast?   Better yet, what were the producers thinking by casting him not once but twice?   Weren't there any more qualified father/daughter teams out there?

 

Arun didn't want to do the Scottish Dance, Natalia insisted on it. Arun flat out said he is awful at tasks like that and that he knew that he was going to struggle. Natalia insisted that there was no way they could complete the barrel task and they left. Never mind that they would have been fine if they had rewatched the demonstration and realized that they were hammering the wrong way initially. 

Arun did just fine on the first two legs of the race and in this last leg. The main reason they came in 6th was because of the unseen speed bump. They probably would have beaten Akbar and Sheri if they hadn't had the speed bump. 

Arun and Natalia's biggest issue is directions. They can't navigate for crap. I suspect that they will be fine if they avoid the performing tasks.

[millennium]

1 minute ago, ProfCrash said:

Arun didn't want to do the Scottish Dance, Natalia insisted on it. Arun flat out said he is awful at tasks like that and that he knew that he was going to struggle. Natalia insisted that there was no way they could complete the barrel task and they left. Never mind that they would have been fine if they had rewatched the demonstration and realized that they were hammering the wrong way initially. 

Arun did just fine on the first two legs of the race and in this last leg. The main reason they came in 6th was because of the unseen speed bump. They probably would have beaten Akbar and Sheri if they hadn't had the speed bump. 

Arun and Natalia's biggest issue is directions. They can't navigate for crap. I suspect that they will be fine if they avoid the performing tasks.

But you can't have tasks you're awful at on shows like this because sooner or later circumstances will present you with one you can't opt out of.   I am constantly shaking my head at people who go on Survivor but don't know how to swim or make fire, or on the Challenge but are deathly afraid of heights or bad at puzzles, or on the Amazing Race and somehow can't find the wherewithal to successfully perform a one-minute song and dance. 

 

 

[bearcatfan]

While trying to see if there was another preview for tonight’s episode I came across Lulu and Lala’s podcast. They had the husbands on. The husbands said they had to do the Scottish dance about 4 or 5 times while Lulu/Lala said they did it about 15-20 times before they were given the clue. Didn’t the editing make it appear that they got through it rather quickly?

[Zonk]

On 1/20/2022 at 4:50 PM, bunnyface said:

But to be fair, the guys are not raising two kids (and a husband) and running a family and an after-school program.  At what point was she supposed to magically produce an extra 12 hours a day to train and the $$$ to leave home and go mountain climbing and hire someone else to run her life?

I mean, half an hour cardio a day does wonders. You don't need 12 hours and bench 1000kg to be good on the race.

That being said, I know how hard it is to keep the siciplin to actually stick to it, especially during these unsteady times. So no shade from me.

On 1/20/2022 at 5:06 PM, ProfCrash said:

As for Akbar and Sheri, I only made my comment that Sheri felt like she had to do it because she said that and the way she said it made it sound like there was some type of restriction in play. We saw that there was a task that one of the Globetrotters couldn't do because of his height so I don't think that it is a stretch to say that there might have been a restriction in play. 

It is a stretch because production would have said so. The only worry about Akbar's size came from Sheri.

Also Penn did it and he is about as tall as Akbar.

On 1/20/2022 at 6:58 PM, blackwing said:

I'm right there with you.  I really dislike this team.  Oddly, one of the many things I didn't like about him was his unkempt hair, so at least he got it cut this time around.  But I was hoping for him to trip and fall, to show that you don't always have to be trying to get ahead in life, in the end, it really doesn't make that much of a difference.  He is almost certainly the guy that is weaving in and out of traffic, just so he can get to his destination a few seconds faster.  I agree that Kim's flag was all furled up, if the judges are going to be so exact on the moves and the look, why allow her to pass?  She clearly must have done something wrong with her movements in order to get the flag furled, since nobody else did that.

They are in a race! It's right in the title of the show.

I doubt he is an unsave driver. You certainly can't get that from how he runs a foot-race. If he was a shitty driver, they probably would have shown it this and last episode, as he was the one driving.

On 1/20/2022 at 6:58 PM, blackwing said:

Agreed, I am shocked that Phil has never won.  He was nominated four years in a row in the second to fifth year the award existed, and lost to Jeff Probst three of those times.  Hasn't been nominated in years, while RuPaul has won the past SIX years in a row.  Nothing against RuPaul, but what does Phil have to do to get an Emmy?

Phil isn't present enough. He's only really there at the pit stops. Yes he explains the tasks, but there is no interaction. One season they tried to have him there when racers started the tasks, but it didn't add much and was probably a production nightmare.

Sucks, since I think what he does he does really well, much better than Probst, but it's probably not enough

[bunnyface]

5 minutes ago, Zonk said:

I mean, half an hour cardio a day does wonders. You don't need 12 hours and bench 1000kg to be good on the race.

That being said, I know how hard it is to keep the siciplin to actually stick to it, especially during these unsteady times. So no shade from me.

 

Expressed well or not, my main point was that I think she probably has a really busy life with everything going on and I don't see Akbar as the kind to say "let me take over these chores so you can find half an hour to do cardio today."  I think he probably piles everything on her and then complains when things aren't done the way he thinks they should be.  But all that being said, I do think I see a difference in her body between the first two legs and the restart.  So I thinks she did do "something" exercise wise.  It just wasn't a full-time occupation for her.  

[SVNBob]

14 hours ago, Zonk said:

Also Penn did it and he is about as tall as Akbar.

Similar height, but Penn looks to be about half the weight of Akbar.

[ProfCrash]

5 hours ago, SVNBob said:

Similar height, but Penn looks to be about half the weight of Akbar.

Penn and Akbar have different builds. Penn is also a runner who has stayed in shape and does exercise a good amount. I don't think that if Akbar was regularly working out he would be stick thin the way Penn is, I think Akbar is more muscular and just a different body type then Penn. 

That said, Akbar is in crappy shape and has not done much to take care of his body. You can see that he is over weight and out of shape. In shape for Akbar would probably lead to his being heavier then someone like Penn because of the differences in body type. I suspect that he would be more of a body builder type look then the pencil thin look. 

[SnarkShark]

I'm starting to think Arun probably gets lost on the way to the bathroom in his own house.

Also, Sheri clearly doesn't miss being an athlete.  She's over it. 

 

[TV Anonymous]

Is that a remembrance poppy statue near the pitstop or just regular poppy? Switzerland did not participate in WWI so I wonder if the symbolism of remembrance poppy means anything there.

[ApprenticeFan]

According to Kim in her video from the last episode, all of the participants had issued Nepalese visa documents to travel to Kathmandu, Nepal as part of the original route before COVID hit. It should have been visited right now if COVID did not happen.

Edited March 5, 2022 by ApprenticeFan