S33.E07: Gently Down the Stream

[Whimsy]

Quote

Teams continue racing through Corsica, France, where each team member must try a piece of casu martzu, also known as maggot cheese.

Original airdate 2/9/22

[danm]

Too bad about the non-elims.....  

The biggest thing I learned during this leg was that Phil isn't wearing any kind of a necklace.  

I am, really, very happy that TAR has a current season being released now. 

To production and associates: keep up the good work and don't let any negative comments get you down!

[Netfoot]

Who had the most fun this leg?  Without a doubt it was... Cheese-Guy!

I like some blue cheeses. Stilton, Gorgonzola, Blue Shropshire, etc, are yummy!. But I gotta admit that cheese looked raaalph! Definitely a close-eyes, hold-nose delight. But the bread was so crusty you could hear it crackling in their mouths. I would have asked for another piece to help clear my palate after getting the clue.

Clever those teams that used their knowledge of flags to help remember the fish. Also clever, those teams that split up the memory tasks to two fish per person. But why did they wait until their second attempt to do this? And why not 1+2, 3+4, etc?  Instead of 1+5, 3+8, 2+7....

The final run up past Napoleon would have been the death of A&S who were eliminated last week. 

I am now completely over Ryan & Dusty. They can go first chance.

On the other hand, I heart Raquel & Cayla. They are lovely ladies, having more fun than everyone else put together, and have my blessing for the win.

I think the NEL was obvious. They have only two more racers to eliminate and this is only leg seven. So I was expecting this NEL and probably another in two weeks time.
 

[Door County Cherry]

1 minute ago, Netfoot said:

But I gotta admit that cheese looked raaalph! Definitely a close-eyes, hold-nose delight. But the bread was so crusty you could hear it crackling in their mouths. I would have asked for another piece to help clear my palate after getting the clue.

The funniest part about it to me was I think more people complained about the dryness than they did about the maggots.  But cheese guy?  He really zoned in on the women having the most difficulty with the cheese.  "They jump inside."  Oof.  Brutal. 

I think Father & Daughter are going to non-elim their way into the finals.  And that would crack me up. It'd be a two team race.

I love a video parody as much as anyone but I honestly was prepared to not like Kim & Penn.  But I do.  In fact, I'm a full on Kim fan girl.  She got me with the way she took a leap without making a sound. And in this episode, she just shoved that cheese in her mouth and carried on a conversation with cheese guy like they were sipping on wine.  

I did not foresee the kayak filling with water.  I thought that might be the easiest challenge but I do think everyone else was smart to do the "Gently down the stream" because I don't think they would have been able to handle the water as well as the guys did. 

[Shermie]

I think Gently Down the Stream was easier if done in pairs of two teams. I don’t think Dusty would do that; he comes across as thinking they’re superior to everyone there and deserve to win. For that, I hope they’re eliminated soon, but I fear they will win. The editors are giving us too many “oh no, Dusty and Ryan are soooo far behind, their boat flipped, they’re lost, they might be eliminated!!!” Too many fake outs, which aren’t necessary for a team that does get eliminated. So I assume they win. Blech to that. I’d be okay with any other team winning, but do like Kim & Penn and the flight attendants.

I always wonder about the racers after they eat challenging foods. Traveller’s diarrhea is a thing, and I would assume that eating food with maggots (or other difficult foods from past races) might do a number on their guts. And yet, they have to race the next day.

[Ananayel]

I have to admit I am coming around on Penn. They are doing well, but he's still a handful. 

That path to the top would have done me in completely - well, whatever was left of me after the maggot cheese.

[bankerchick]

7 minutes ago, Ananayel said:

I have to admit I am coming around on Penn. They are doing well, but he's still a handful. 

Agreed, but I did laugh out loud when he said that when the boys took off their shirts, he put on his nerd glasses to balance things out.

[iMonrey]

I understand they have to have non-elimination legs, and more than usual this season. The problem is all the bunching. Which, I understand, is necessary to some extent. But this leg was a total wash because of the bunched start times. No shake-ups in placements. A no-brainer for teams to work in pairs on the "gently down the stream" detour, especially for the first two teams. And I have to believe that really benefited Raquel and Cayla more than Penn and Kim. 

Also, self navigation wasn't a problem when three teams are all leaving together and two of them can just follow the team in front.

If there's a U-Turn (and I assume there will be) I'll be calling BS if there's no real chance to pass anyone because of the bunched start times.

I'm all for classic "gross food challenges," classic TAR. Who can forget the live baby octopi or the spicy soup? But it didn't look like they had to eat much of the cheese, and I noticed toward the end the cheese was on top of a chunk of bread. So there wasn't actually that much cheese, and it was the bread that they were commenting on being so dry.

The Roadblock looked tricky on the surface but didn't really stump anyone in the end.

In all, I'd have to give this episode a poor grade because you could essentially skip right over it and never even notice.

 

Edited February 10, 2022 by iMonrey

[Starchild]

Cheese guy was awesome. "They jump inside." I felt bad for him that he couldn't manage to actually induce vomiting. What a glorious bastard.

I found myself super annoyed at the ex-flight attendants ("did we mention we lost our jobs?") going on and on about what a strong team they are when they accomplished nothing on their own this leg. Following another team around and switching their detour choice to avoid doing it by themselves. The twins have realized that they'll blow you off if you're not helping them out (and rightly so, it's a race after all), but I kept yelling at Kim and Penn (my faves) to just. stop. helping them.

I said the same thing during the last two at the roadblock and Nat read my mind lol.

[Netfoot]

6 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

So there wasn't actually that much cheese, and it was the bread that they were commenting on being so dry.

Dunno about that! Looked like a big, old hunka maggoty cheese trying to crawl itself right off that bread. Not a thin smear!

2 minutes ago, Starchild said:

What a glorious bastard.

Absolutely! Is there a special prize for challenge-masters? He gets my vote.

[Lady Calypso]

Yeah, when you have teams working together all leg, it does make the anticipation of a shake-up less likely. The only team who didn't work with anyone was Ryan/Dusty. But even so, the leg was fairly straightforward. I guess the Gently Down the Stream task could have not had teams pair up, but I get why the decision was made. 

Arun and Natalia didn't get horribly lost! But all they had to do was follow the other teams. 

At least the location was pretty! 

[xcrayon2215x]

Penn's nerd glasses bit was over the top but him and Kim do come across as decent people. Arun and Natalia get so many chances now, it is almost comical. The views were great to see. I thought they would have to eat more of the cheese than they did.

[Lantern7]

I feel like I'm going through the motions. Or maybe it's because I'm distracted by trying to post witty stuff on the live thread. I've been DVRing the episodes, and I should binge before the finale.

Speaking of the live thread, @PaperTree compared Arun & Natalia to "gum on your shoe," and that's as apt a comparison as you can make. It's not that they're the worst Racers. They just . . . don't race well. I think all four non-returning teams could outrace them, which just magnifies their mediocrity. Once again, they are saved by a non-elim, which would be the third time they finished last. Is that a record for this show? I know a few teams that won and wound up finishing two legs in last place, but three times?

It feels like it's going to come down to Ryan & Dusty and Kim & Penn, with the flight attendants waiting for one of them to make a major mistake and the twins doing their best to keep up.

I still think TAR is the best reality show CBS has right now. Survivor forfeited that title long ago, and you can't cast "celebrities" on a reality show and expect quality. Well, there's stuff like The Masked Singer, but that feels more like a game show format, if that makes sense.

How did maggots get involved with cheese? I would've been frantically trying to draw up a crude Express Pass to get out of it. I don't eat cheese other than mozzarella on pizza. I wouldn't have wanted to handle maggot-infested cheese. Shit, the big blocks of cheese that JVJ had to eat in TAR3 would have hampered me.

1 hour ago, Starchild said:

Cheese guy was awesome. "They jump inside." I felt bad for him that he couldn't manage to actually induce vomiting. What a glorious bastard.

Indeed. For me, the "Gently Down The Stream" guy looking blankly into the distance as Phil did exposition . . . he looked like Roger Daltrey in Tommy.

[Leeds]

Within seconds of The Race starting I was yelling at my TV, "RaquelCayla (don't know which is which), please put your tits away."   I have nothing against a modest amount of well-supported cleavage, but that is not what she was giving us.   And then next thing, in the car, she said something about putting the top down and I could only think, "Lady, you already did."

Edited February 10, 2022 by Leeds

[ByaNose]

Kim and Penn are really coming into their own. They are sure to make the Final 3 unless something horrible happens. Of course, the boys always manage to make up time so they are still good. The FA are also very strong. The twins are good when they keep calm. Unfortunately, while Arun and Natalia weren’t totally horrible I can’t see them making it to the Top 4.  I’m enjoying the people and the locations but the task haven’t been all that challenging. There doesn’t seem to be anything all that hard to could anyone up. I guess I like the race a little more tense. 

[HurricaneVal]

I think I saw the maggoty cheese on an Anthony Bourdain show?  Supposedly tasty, but I also think that it isn't usually served all maggoty, and that the live squirmers are either not there or not live.

Did you notice that Natalia accidentally dropped a hunk of maggoty cheese on the ground, then looked up all distressed at a production assistant like "Do I gotta eat it off the ground, or get more?"

Deep sea diver guy freaked me out with Phil, because he was standing so still, I thought he was a statue.  Then he moved.  I screamed a little.

Penn had me at nerd glasses.  I'm officially a K&P TAR fan now.  I'm predisposed to despise Instagram and YouTube "influencers" or "stars" so they started at a deficit for me.  But the self deprecating sense of humor and self-awareness win me over.

Dudebros gotta Dudebro.

[30 Helens]

I thought it was very rude of the maggot-cheesemonger to not offer any of the wine that was sitting right next to the maggot cheese. Everyone knows maggot cheese is best paired with a good Chablis.

I kept yelling for the first group to split up the fish: One person memorizes the first two fish, second person takes the next two, etc.  It’s so much easier to memorize a small list of things on your own than to memorize a long list in tandem with other people who may remember them differently. But, apparently the long-list option worked for them. (Sounded like YouTube guy is a bit of a memory savant and carried them.) At least the second group listened to me! (Eventually.)

I’ve never heard of a T-Roc, but that was quite the extensive car commercial they were doing.

[mertensia]

I suspect they thought there would be more drama at the cheese task. 

They shouldn't have let them team up in the fish task, but I appreciated that they wouldn't let them write anything down.

[Racj82]

Call me an A Hole but I've always hated the idea of non elimination legs and really hate it this season.

[Leeds]

3 hours ago, Shermie said:

I always wonder about the racers after they eat challenging foods. Traveller’s diarrhea is a thing, and I would assume that eating food with maggots (or other difficult foods from past races) might do a number on their guts. And yet, they have to race the next day.

Montezuma's Revenge is as likely (if not more likely) to be caused by unclean drinking water, or produce washed in unclean water and eaten raw, than by maggots that had presumably been starved until their intestines had cleaned themselves out.  Even changing between different cities/countries that have good water treatment plants can cause gut distress.

[LennieBriscoe]

PLEASE, FTLOG, GET RID OF THE IDIOTS!

I now actively detest Arun and Natalia.  

Edited February 10, 2022 by LennieBriscoe

[QuantumMechanic]

This is the first time in a lonnnnnnnnng time that I have not actively hated at least one of the final 5 teams.  So that's a pleasant plus.

I do wish the tasks were more challenging, though.

Oh, and Arun and Natalia had better not fluke their way into the final three.

 

Edited February 10, 2022 by QuantumMechanic

[aghst]

They pretty much finished in the order in which they started.

Arun held up well running uphill.  They got to Bonifacio before the twins but Natalia didn't fix the net as quickly and she struggled up the hill more than Arun, it seemed.

They came in a minute or two behind the twins so if it's going to be an NEL this is not such a bad one.  The teams had little chances to make up ground unless the first two teams had to do the fish-spotting again.

The flight attendants say they've been out of work for over a year.  But a lot of airline traffic resumed last year.  Especially during the holiday travel period from Thanksgiving to New Years there were days where the traffic was greater than in 2019.

But then the Omicron wave led to a lot of flight cancellations because crews were getting infected and unable to work.

So they night have been able to go back to working on flights in the summer and fall, but is it possible that they had such chances and they opted to return to the race instead?

If they didn't win, it would be interesting to find out if they went back to the airline jobs after the race or will go back soon.

 

 

 

 

[Mediocre Gatsby]

1 hour ago, 30 Helens said:

I kept yelling for the first group to split up the fish: One person memorizes the first two fish, second person takes the next two, etc.  It’s so much easier to memorize a small list of things on your own than to memorize a long list in tandem with other people who may remember them differently.

That's what I was thinking! Most people can remember 7 things (phone numbers, for example). If I'd been just a two-person team on the boat, I would have split the list in half and NOT said things out loud that could distract the other person. But it was hard for me to tell how the fish were appearing -- if it was one on one side of the boat, then the next on the other side, etc. At least Arun noted which fish were the same on all of the lists (the last two, I think?) so they didn't need to be worried about those. (But then again, he only had the chance to notice that because they had to go back and do it again.)

If I were the flight attendants I would have at least honked my car horn when I made the turn that the other team had missed, since they had benefited from Penn's French-speaking ability. But then, I would be terrible on the Raaaaaaaace. 

 

[shura]

6 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

How did maggots get involved with cheese?

Some (possibly drunk) cheesemaker looked around, saw that everybody was doing mold and decided to kick it up a notch.  Apparently, the maggots digest the cheese and that adds something to the texture as well as the flavor.  I still don’t understand why anyone would choose to eat live maggots though.  Aside from being icky, they may carry some parasites that can make you sick.  For that reason, selling and buying casu marzu is actually banned in the EU (and in the US, for that matter), I am not sure how exactly TAR legally procured that particular wheel of cheese.

[Haleth]

That cheese was so gross, I couldn't even watch them eat it.  But the cheese guy will go down as an icon in race history.  "They jump around inside."  Oh, cheese guy...

59 minutes ago, shura said:

Apparently, the maggots digest the cheese and that adds something to the texture as well as the flavor.

Yeah, that something is maggot poop.

I've got to hand it to Penn for memorizing all the fish.  I would have gotten lost after a couple.  

3 hours ago, Mediocre Gatsby said:

But it was hard for me to tell how the fish were appearing -- if it was one on one side of the boat, then the next on the other side, etc.

Yeah, it seemed like they alternated sides.  That would help keep the order straight.

Corsica is just gorgeous.  Every shot was breathtaking.

Those little cars the teams were driving around were loaded with cameras.  When we first saw the cars I wondered how the camera and sound crews were going to fit.

I don't have a problem with any team left, however Arun and Natalia have been bailed out so many times I'd hate for them to win.  Dusty is way too competitive, but it is a race after all, so his over enthusiasm is ok in this context.  I think it's going to come down to them or the FAs.

[ProfCrash]

5 hours ago, Leeds said:

Montezuma's Revenge is as likely (if not more likely) to be caused by unclean drinking water, or produce washed in unclean water and eaten raw, than by maggots that had presumably been starved until their intestines had cleaned themselves out.  Even changing between different cities/countries that have good water treatment plants can cause gut distress.

This. Most Americans are not going to have an issue in western Europe because the water is treated and clean. I have a water purifier I bring for travel just to be safe but I have never used it in Europe. I am not as certain about Eastern Europe. The last time I travelled through Eastern Europe the USSR was still around and the wall was still up, it is possible that their water treatment has improved since then, but we drank bottled water because of water issues. 

I dislike cheese in its whole form. Melted on pasta or in a sandwich or on pizza and I am fine but in its raw form? Yuck. It is a texture thing. My cheese loving husband, who enjoys all the stinky cheeses, was revolted by the look of this cheese. It is totally doable but my god did it look awful. 

The rest of the leg was boring. This fish task would have been better if they could not team up. I suspect Penn and Kim would have gotten it on the first go around. I think the other teams would have taken 2 or 3 tries.  The kayaking task ended up being harder then I thought but they should have spaced the buoys out a lot more then they did. I think the dude bros made it harder then it needed to be by being overly aggressive in their paddling and filling the kayak with water. I actually wonder what the weight limit on those things were. Ryan and Dusty are in great shape but there is a lot of muscle there. I would not be surprised if they were both in the 200 pound range. They started lower in the water then I would have expected. Add in Dusty's enthusiastic paddles and the water was causing issues. 

The net task looked like one that could have caused a shake up but didn't. I am surprised that they only had to fix one hole. 

Overall, a pretty boring leg. I am not a fan of the bunching on the legs and I am growing to dislike it more and more. I don't see the point on tasks like the one they had today. The navigation shouldn't have led to huge issues so there is no real reason to expect hours of operations issues. They could have released them in 10 or 15 minute increments and prevented some of the free riding/collaboration today.

[grandmabegum]

I know that the teams chose the right Detours cause none of them would seemingly be as strong as Dusty and Ryan in the kayaks. But with how close the buoys were I really wanted at least one other team to choose that task for some bumper boat action.

[Netfoot]

50 minutes ago, Haleth said:

Yeah, that something is maggot poop.

Well, essentially all cheese is bacteria-poop... but I'd imagine maggot-poop is a little more grainy and lumpy. That is (for me) more up-chucky, too. <yeeeech!>

52 minutes ago, Haleth said:

Yeah, it seemed like they alternated sides.  That would help keep the order straight.

From the aerial shots, the boat followed a course between two rows of buoys, each presumably with fish attached below. The buoys were alternating left/right as the vessel moved forward, so I guess the fish must have done so as well.

I believe the cars were T-Roc Cabriolet models made by Volkswagen.

 

[topanga]

8 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

It feels like it's going to come down to Ryan & Dusty and Kim & Penn, with the flight attendants waiting for one of them to make a major mistake and the twins doing their best to keep up.

This is my first season of TAR. Is the final race an actual footrace? Meaning, it doesn't matter how you did on prior legs--it all comes down to that final leg? If so, I hope there are challenges that require plenty of strategizing and team work, and not just brute strength or speed.

 

7 hours ago, ByaNose said:

Kim and Penn are really coming into their own. They are sure to make the Final 3 unless something horrible happens. Of course, the boys always manage to make up time so they are still good. The FA are also very strong. The twins are good when they keep calm. Unfortunately, while Arun and Natalia weren’t totally horrible I can’t see them making it to the Top 4.  I’m enjoying the people and the locations but the task haven’t been all that challenging. There doesn’t seem to be anything all that hard to could anyone up. I guess I like the race a little more tense. 

Based on all of your comments, it sounds like the race is more controlled and self-contained now because of COVID. No more flagging down taxis in crowded cities as in the first few episodes.

[seacliffsal]

Although beautiful, this was a non-epic leg as there was not any order shuffling even though it seemed like Arun and Natalie had a chance to overtake the twins.  So, Ryan and Dusty are portrayed as the team to beat even though I think Penn and Kim have now won more legs.  I do wish the departure times were more staggered because it seems like the producers are encouraging teams to work together by releasing them in groups.  

[Blergh]

1 hour ago, grandmabegum said:

I know that the teams chose the right Detours cause none of them would seemingly be as strong as Dusty and Ryan in the kayaks. But with how close the buoys were I really wanted at least one other team to choose that task for some bumper boat action.

I wonder how many of the other teams would have also gotten their canoes totally waterlogged but NOT been able to dump the water out and climb back in without capsizing it all over again. Irony was that since it was made of transparent material, the audience was able to see they were in trouble before THEY noticed. 

[Leeds]

3 minutes ago, Blergh said:

I wonder how many of the other teams would have also gotten their canoes totally waterlogged but NOT been able to dump the water out and climb back in without capsizing it all over again. Irony was that since it was made of transparent material, the audience was able to see they were in trouble before THEY noticed. 

I think any team arriving after Rusty and Crusty would have seen them struggling and turned right around.  "If they can't do it, no way we can."

[Haleth]

49 minutes ago, topanga said:

This is my first season of TAR. Is the final race an actual footrace? Meaning, it doesn't matter how you did on prior legs--it all comes down to that final leg? If so, I hope there are challenges that require plenty of strategizing and team work, and not just brute strength or speed.

 

Based on all of your comments, it sounds like the race is more controlled and self-contained now because of COVID. No more flagging down taxis in crowded cities as in the first few episodes.

It sometimes comes down to a foot race, depending on how close together the teams are for the final task. It’s often a mental challenge, and after 3 weeks of disorientation and jet lag it’s no simple task. Every race is different so time will tell.

The race is absolutely more self contained. This one has been lovely but it’s nothing like the chaos that usually ensues when teams have to navigate a crowded city. Hopefully someday we can get back to that.  My only complaint is that start times of each leg had always been staggered, based on how far apart each team finished the last leg. No group starts. This kept them spread out more, which now creates logistical problems in the age of Covid.

What hasn’t changed?  Stunning locations and photography, Phil being charming, entertaining tasks, and generally nice racers (YMMV).

[chaifan]

10 hours ago, iMonrey said:

But it didn't look like they had to eat much of the cheese, and I noticed toward the end the cheese was on top of a chunk of bread. So there wasn't actually that much cheese, and it was the bread that they were commenting on being so dry.

Yeah, all teams got the chunk of bread with the cheese on top, slightly smushed into the bread.  I think this is why they were told to leave their packs in the car - so no chance of anyone having a water bottle on them at the challenge. 

10 hours ago, Starchild said:

but I kept yelling at Kim and Penn (my faves) to just. stop. helping them.

I was the exact opposite.  I wanted Kim and Penn to keep helping the FA's.  There is strategy there.  As long as K/P and R/C are the first two, Dusty and Ryan aren't.  Kim and Penn are keeping the next strongest team in the second departure bunch by bringing Raquel and Cayla along with them.  I still really dislike this new aspect of TAR, and don't think it's necessary (for the most part), but it's part of the game, so use it to your advantage.

My problem is that at this point I am only rooting for 2 teams to be in the final 3.  Kim & Penn and Raquel & Kayla.  Nothing against Ryan & Dusty, but they're not bringing anything to the table for me from an entertainment perspective.  They're strong racers, but that's about all they've got on screen.  I really enjoy watching K&P and R&C race.  I guess I'd be ok with Lulu & Lala or Nat and Arun lucking their way into the final 3, but I hope that they would then get left in the dust and really have it be a 2 team race to the finish line.

1 hour ago, topanga said:

This is my first season of TAR. Is the final race an actual footrace? Meaning, it doesn't matter how you did on prior legs--it all comes down to that final leg? If so, I hope there are challenges that require plenty of strategizing and team work, and not just brute strength or speed.

The final leg is similar to all prior, with detours & roadblocks, but it leads the teams back home.  (Though I don't know if they will end in the EU or US on this one.)  Yes, there usually is a good bit of running to get to the final mat, but that's not the whole thing.  The final challenge used to be rather complicated and could really switch up any order of the teams, but there have been a couple of really lame ones, too.  (Let's count poker chips!  ugh.)  Most of the time it is some sort of "memory test", where you have to put flags or pictures of greeters or items from the race in some sort of order.  If you don't plan on watching full seasons, pull up the final episodes from past seasons to get an idea of what they will be in for. 

Edited February 10, 2022 by chaifan

[QuantumMechanic]

56 minutes ago, topanga said:

This is my first season of TAR. Is the final race an actual footrace? Meaning, it doesn't matter how you did on prior legs--it all comes down to that final leg? If so, I hope there are challenges that require plenty of strategizing and team work, and not just brute strength or speed.

The final three teams will go on to the last leg.  Whoever comes first in the last leg wins the $1mil prize.  The previous legs only matter in that they collectively determine who the final three teams are. 

Well, they also matter in that the final leg usually has some memory task that relates to past legs (past memory challenges have stuff like "Here are a bunch of flags, both of countries you've been to and countries you haven't.  Put the flags of the countries you visited in the order you visited them."  Another one (IIRC) was drawings of objects the pit stop greeters had with them, and again to put them in the order you visited those places. 

Of course, these days teams all (presumably!) keep notebooks where they write this stuff down when they finish a leg (I don't believe they can take notes during the leg) and cram study on during the flight to the start of the final leg.

[Leeds]

26 minutes ago, chaifan said:

Yeah, all teams got the chunk of bread with the cheese on top, slightly smushed into the bread.  I think this is why they were told to leave their packs in the car - so no chance of anyone having a water bottle on them at the challenge. 

 

Did anyone else notice though that either Ryan or Dusty hadn't finished his mouthful?  He was still chewing when they reached the staircase.  To his credit, he swallowed, but he could easily have spat it out.  The satanic challenge master really shouldn't have let him leave without swallowing.

[grandmabegum]

1 hour ago, seacliffsal said:

So, Ryan and Dusty are portrayed as the team to beat even though I think Penn and Kim have now won more legs. 

They both have 3 wins. Anthony and Spencer, who did not return, won the first leg.

[shura]

Reading about the cheese on Wikipedia, isn't this a colorful description :)?

"Because the larvae in the cheese can launch themselves for distances up to 15 centimetres (6 in) when disturbed,[4][11] diners hold their hands above the sandwich to prevent the maggots from leaping. Some who eat the cheese prefer not to ingest the maggots. Those who do not wish to eat them place the cheese in a sealed paper bag. The maggots, starved for oxygen, writhe and jump in the bag, creating a "pitter-patter" sound. [Much like when "The worm jump inside," as the greeter so cheerfully put it, and for the same reason, no doubt.] When the sounds subside, the maggots are dead and the cheese can be eaten.[12][8]"

[grandmabegum]

17 minutes ago, shura said:

Because the larvae in the cheese can launch themselves for distances up to 15 centimetres (6 in) when disturbed,[4][11] diners hold their hands above the sandwich to prevent the maggots from leaping.

I honestly wasn't grossed out by the maggots until I read this. I'm not going to seek maggot cheese out, but I'd try it. But, just imagining trying to take a bite and a maggot hopping into my eye or up my nose is more upsetting that the idea of eating them. I guess I could wear goggles and hold my nose but that seems like a lot of effort.

On the other hand, something about the "pitter patter" of the maggots in the bag seemed soothing.

[BusyOctober]

My 15 yo and I watch TAR together, but after I read the episode description, I told her we’d let it record until 9:40, then start it so we could FF thru the cheese thing whenever it came up.  Thankfully it was in the beginning so we didn’t miss much.  I have a very weak stomach combined with a very strong gag reflex.  My daughter isn’t usually squeamish.  Her only deal breakers are worms and caterpillars.  She knows that maggots are teeny worm looking things, so she was not going to watch any of those scenes.  I would rather jump off the world’s tallest bridge than be within 10 feet of that cheese.

Father /Daughter team is exhausting.  Who knew a sweet dad traveling with his very nice daughter would be more annoying than a couple of “social media influencers”?  

As for Kim and Penn, they really are growing on me.  I hope they are in F3 with the flight attendants.  I’m sure Dusty and Ryan will be in F3, but I don’t mind for Ryan’s sake.  That guy deserves as much fun, travel, limelight as he can grab.  Not so much his racing partner.

[iMonrey]

Quote

My only complaint is that start times of each leg had always been staggered, based on how far apart each team finished the last leg. No group starts. This kept them spread out more, which now creates logistical problems in the age of Covid.

I really don't see how it would have been a logistical problem for teams to start this leg staggered based on their finish times in the previous leg. It's not as if they all arrived in Corsica on a plane, they were already there and weren't leaving. They drove themselves to the Detour and then to the Roadblock. Each team still has their own cameraman. What were the logistics of this leg that forced them to group in bunches?

As for all you cheese complainers out there, you've all grown soft. Soft as brie! This challenge was a snap compared to some of the more gruesome eating challenges of the past. Granted, some of those were Fast Forwards, like when they had to eat live baby squid or when they had to finish a big meal on a ferris wheel ride, but there have been others that were straightforward roadblocks, like eating two pounds of meat (which Boston Rob famously cheated on) or the time everyone had to eat the really spicy soup and half the teams were all vomiting into buckets. 

Yeah, the maggot cheese was pretty gross but you could close your eyes and chomp it down in about three bits. Big whoop.

[survivinmt]

Pretty sure it was 4 lbs of meat - maybe some of the weight was bone but still. And BR didn't cheat, he took a penalty. I thought it was really smart. Can you imagine how sick you'd feel for the next - however, one to 12 hours or more? - after eating all that? While still trying to get good rest and run the race? That little 3 bites of cheese was nothing (I mean dry is hard because of swallowing) but I thought Kim wasn't doing it she was so matter-of-face and just DONE. 

Penn's thing with the glasses was really funny and while sometime they are annoying it is usually genuinely fun to see people so comfortable with cameras that they can come up with stuff like this.

Corsica looks fantastic.

10 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

eating two pounds of meat (which Boston Rob famously cheated on)

I need to travel. The end.

[grandmabegum]

I wonder if the group starting times is less of a logistical problem and more of a keeping things fair issue. Like the producers might not have thought it was fair to bunch them on one leg when a team had a lead and not bunch them on the rest. Maybe? Though I don't know if they're bunched next leg or not.

[Brynnjk]

I love having the race back.  It's my favorite reality show by far.  I do think this was a pretty easy leg with very little opportunity for anyone in the 2nd group to catch up with the first.  The driving was pretty straightforward on the island too - it seemed to be straight down.    And sadly, the maggot cheese seemed like a pretty easy eating challenge.  I remember Season 7 where that had that huge platter of meat to get down.  It was fascinating to watch the strategy played out with Rob bailing first and others following him to take the penalty and then watch those who ate all that meat like Uchenna (spelling?) powering through it.  Or the race where they had to eat the balutes!  This seemed like a pretty easy eating challenge.  But I'm still loving having them back.  Just make it a bit harder please producers.  Add some suspense!  

[iMonrey]

Quote

And BR didn't cheat, he took a penalty.

Yes but he was allowed to take it there at the RB rather than proceed to the mat and wait as was the precedent. This ensured he was able to wait around for another team and talk them into also taking the penalty, so he would remain ahead of at least one other team. (CBS had the fix in for Rob and Amber that season because of their upcoming wedding special.)

TOPIC: Why did all the "Stream" teams say the first fish was purple? It was clearly pink. It was the same color Ryan and Dusty chose to fish for which they correctly called pink.

[Brynnjk]

15 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I really don't see how it would have been a logistical problem for teams to start this leg staggered based on their finish times in the previous leg. It's not as if they all arrived in Corsica on a plane, they were already there and weren't leaving. They drove themselves to the Detour and then to the Roadblock. Each team still has their own cameraman. What were the logistics of this leg that forced them to group in bunches?

As for all you cheese complainers out there, you've all grown soft. Soft as brie! This challenge was a snap compared to some of the more gruesome eating challenges of the past. Granted, some of those were Fast Forwards, like when they had to eat live baby squid or when they had to finish a big meal on a ferris wheel ride, but there have been others that were straightforward roadblocks, like eating two pounds of meat (which Boston Rob famously cheated on) or the time everyone had to eat the really spicy soup and half the teams were all vomiting into buckets. 

Yeah, the maggot cheese was pretty gross but you could close your eyes and chomp it down in about three bits. Big whoop.

Oh I just commented on this without seeing your post.  We both thought of the same thing!

 

[grandmabegum]

4 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

TOPIC: Why did all the "Stream" teams say the first fish was purple? It was clearly pink. It was the same color Ryan and Dusty chose to fish for which they correctly called pink.

Maybe if they were moving around under water the color looked different at different angles? They also said it was murky so it could have been hard to tell. I'm color blind so I would have been at the mercy of everyone else.

[survivinmt]

7 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Yes but he was allowed to take it there at the RB rather than proceed to the mat and wait as was the precedent. This ensured he was able to wait around for another team and talk them into also taking the penalty, so he would remain ahead of at least one other team. (CBS had the fix in for Rob and Amber that season because of their upcoming wedding special.)

TOPIC: Why did all the "Stream" teams say the first fish was purple? It was clearly pink. It was the same color Ryan and Dusty chose to fish for which they correctly called pink.

I don't doubt that Rob and Amber were the producers favs, but the Globetrotters waited out their penalty at the Franz? thing.

 

Edited February 10, 2022 by survivinmt

[Chicago Redshirt]

3 hours ago, topanga said:

This is my first season of TAR. Is the final race an actual footrace? Meaning, it doesn't matter how you did on prior legs--it all comes down to that final leg? If so, I hope there are challenges that require plenty of strategizing and team work, and not just brute strength or speed.

It doesn't matter how teams did in the final leg of the race, generally. Back in the day, racers had to make their own flight arrangements and had more staggered starts, so hypothetically a team finishing third could start off so far behind that they could not possibly catch up. 

There is usually one challenge that is significantly tougher and that requires Racers to have logged some bit of trivia about their entire journey.

That (IMO) is the main obstacle the Alpha Males have to winning. They don't seem too bright and when things don't go their way, they seem to get very frustrated.