S33.E08: Souvlaki

[Netfoot]

4 hours ago, SVNBob said:

23 hours ago, Netfoot said:

Logic would suggest that next week (#9) will be another NEL, then an elimination in #10 and the final three race to the mat in #11.

Depends on how many episodes there are.  And with Survivor starting on the 9th and Celebrity Big Brother (🤮) still on, there's only two weeks left for TAR.  Now, there could be another double-length episode, like the premiere, so there could be 3 Legs to go.  But there could also be just the 2.

Ok, I was assuming 3 more legs when I made my prediction.

According to Wikipedia (a highly unreliable source, I will admit) there are three legs left. #9 airs on 23rd of February, and #10 & #11 both air on 2nd March. This indicates only two more episodes, with the final episode on the 2nd, consisting of two legs. 

Assuming that this is correct, I believe logic still dictates that next week (leg #9) be an NEL, with the last team being eliminated at the end of the first half of the final episode (which would be leg #10) while the remaining three race to the finish mat during the second half of the episode (or leg #11).

Unless they want to be down to final three for the last two legs (which I consider unlikely), they have to have the last elimination in the penultimate leg, which means they can't have an elimination on the 23rd. Hence, NEL.

The airing of multiple legs in a single episode muddies the waters. I admit I tend to use the words interchangeably, with occasional confusion as a result. 

[zoey1996]

My initial reaction to the twins was negative. Lala and Lulu? Just no. But they'd kind of grown on me. I like Arun and Natalie, but I was a bit sad that L & L was eliminated. I still like the other teams and I'll be fine with any of them winning.

We used to have a Pita Pit here, and I loved their souvlaki chicken in pitas. I usually asked for the onions to be grilled, and always with tzatziki sauce. I looked up a souvlaki recipe and plan to make it this week.

[vousviou]

I thought the saints test was really interesting. The depiction of the saints at the church followed extremely old traditions.

First, no portraits or sculpture survived of how the early saints looked, so artists needed a fixed set of unique attributes to identify them, especially at a time when many people couldn't read a caption.

Second, the Orthodox Church went through a long period of banning all depictions of sacred people, and when the iconoclasm relented, the Orthodox settled on a strict set of rules for depicting them that further defined how Nicholas or Irene would appear.

What the racers weren't just memorizing images, like the underwater fish ID in Corsica. They were essentially taking part in a method going back to the 9th Century. The icons were designed to be identified by people without writing, and with specific visual clues that related to specific elements in their lives -- Christopher as a stooping giant carrying a child on his back, for example.

[iMonrey]

Quote

How many times did Ryan fail at the saints task?  His first try, he left after five and failed, went back and started hearing the speech again.

Ryan only had to do it twice. He got it right on the second try. The only other one who had to do it twice was Natalia. I assume the way Ryan kept looking away was just his way of memorizing. It was weird. It really looked like he just wasn't paying attention, but clearly he was. Some people just have to look up, or down, or close their eyes, or whatever, to make themselves remember something.

The twins are not the first team to skip a task and reach the Pit Stop by accident, but I believe they are the first team to skip TWO tasks and wind up at the Pit Stop. Also, they look way better without those stupid pigtails. 

[Fretful]

I think the Souvlaki spelling threw off some teams because of the pronunciation.  Americans typically pronounce it Sue-Vlah-kee, but the Greek way is more Shoe-Vlah-Kee.  

With transportation out of the equation, I really wish they would make some of the tasks harder.  They did this with TAR Australia last season (because the entire season was filmed inside Australia) and I think it made it more interesting.  Teams really had to push to get through some of the tasks.  But without travel drama like missed train connections, production really needs to up the challenges, and they haven't.

Edited February 18, 2022 by Fretful

[bearcatfan]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

Ryan only had to do it twice. He got it right on the second try. The only other one who had to do it twice was Natalia. I assume the way Ryan kept looking away was just his way of memorizing. It was weird. It really looked like he just wasn't paying attention, but clearly he was. Some people just have to look up, or down, or close their eyes, or whatever, to make themselves remember something.

The twins are not the first team to skip a task and reach the Pit Stop by accident, but I believe they are the first team to skip TWO tasks and wind up at the Pit Stop. Also, they look way better without those stupid pigtails. 

That’s actually not true according to Lulu and Lala. Penn was the only one who got it right the first time. Also, if you watched the timers during the speech, the Natalia came in within 2 minutes of the spiel, which means Ryan had to listen again after he tried to leave. That means both he and Cayla missed a quiz unless they listened twice without taking the quiz. It was editing that made it appear that they were getting it correct. 
Lulu and Lala has a YouTube video up going over everything that went wrong. They also saw Kim and Penn at the pit stop and saw the FA going to the pit stop when they were going back to find Momos. They were very far behind. 

The extra videos are very informative and I love the extra mat talks with Phil. 

[grandmabegum]

21 minutes ago, bearcatfan said:

Lulu and Lala has a YouTube video up going over everything that went wrong.

Do they discuss the onion situation? Did they get souvlaki sent to them after the episode aired?

[J-Man]

10 hours ago, SVNBob said:

On 2/16/2022 at 9:06 PM, Lantern7 said:

Honestly, how many of the fifteen saints are keeping Arun & Natalia in the race? Gotta be at least ten. They're not bad people, but they are horrible Racers. They've been eliminated AND saved in two non-elimination legs. I dread the idea of those two winning, purely from the standpoint of wanting a team that was eliminated to stay eliminated*.

 

Expand   Expand  Expand  Expand  

At least St. Christopher... but as the patron saint of TAR overall, he ought to be watching over all the teams.

Isn't St. Jude the patron saint of lost causes?

[bearcatfan]

1 hour ago, grandmabegum said:

Do they discuss the onion situation? Did they get souvlaki sent to them after the episode aired?

They didn’t mention if they had souvlaki sent to them but they did say they both have the palettes of children. On said a 12 yo and the other said a 6 yo. 

Edited February 18, 2022 by bearcatfan

[Grizzly]

37 minutes ago, bearcatfan said:

They didn’t mention if they had souvlaki sent to them but they did say they both have the palettes of children. On said a 12 yo and the other said a 6 yo. 

So do I. Now I'm sorry the twins are eliminated.

Did anyone else notice how Ryan put his arm around Cayla when she arrived at the lecture? Wonder what the boyfriend thought?

[blackwing]

4 hours ago, vousviou said:

I thought the saints test was really interesting. The depiction of the saints at the church followed extremely old traditions.

First, no portraits or sculpture survived of how the early saints looked, so artists needed a fixed set of unique attributes to identify them, especially at a time when many people couldn't read a caption.

Second, the Orthodox Church went through a long period of banning all depictions of sacred people, and when the iconoclasm relented, the Orthodox settled on a strict set of rules for depicting them that further defined how Nicholas or Irene would appear.

What the racers weren't just memorizing images, like the underwater fish ID in Corsica. They were essentially taking part in a method going back to the 9th Century. The icons were designed to be identified by people without writing, and with specific visual clues that related to specific elements in their lives -- Christopher as a stooping giant carrying a child on his back, for example.

Interesting, thanks for the info about the depictions.  However, as related to this task, the racers were indeed just memorizing pictures and facts associated with each saint.  As the priest told the story of each saint, he showed the racers the picture.  So once they heard the question and associated the fact with a name, then they would just have to remember the image associated with the name.

I do think it would be more interesting and difficult if the racers had not been shown the images at all.  Then they would have to, as you describe, identify the images at the challenge table based on the clues in the images and the stories they were told.

3 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Ryan only had to do it twice. He got it right on the second try. The only other one who had to do it twice was Natalia. I assume the way Ryan kept looking away was just his way of memorizing. It was weird. It really looked like he just wasn't paying attention, but clearly he was. Some people just have to look up, or down, or close their eyes, or whatever, to make themselves remember something.

Is that confirmed in the Kim and Penn podcast or elsewhere, or are you just going by what we saw on TV?  Because I agree that based on what we saw, he only did it twice.  But I seem to think he lost a lot of time.  He failed and had to do it again.  It seemed like there should have a lot of time before the next team arrived, and yet when we next see him, he is listening to the priest again, Kayla shows up, and only two minutes have elapsed in the speech.  I was thinking he may have failed another time that wasn't aired before Cayla showed up.  He looked awfully pissed off at the task if it was indeed only his second try.

Also, it did seem like there were at least two guessing stations.  I think Ryan said "see ya" or something like that to Cayla after the priest speech, and they separated and went off in different directions.  At least the producers thought to do this. 

I'm getting really tired of teams sharing answers or working together.  I really would like to see some kind of rule in the future against sharing of answers.  I would have thought that the producers would have put this in place after the football players incident in the previous season.  This isn't Survivor.  Phil seems to think that season was an anomaly.  However, the way the race has been designed post-return with the staggered group starts lends itself very readily to working together, as we saw with the submarine task.  I am quite positive that Kim and Penn and Raquel and Cayla would gladly team up if there was a way to eliminate Ryan and Dusty in the next leg.

Edited February 18, 2022 by blackwing

[ProfCrash]

There was one season with a clear alliance that people developed and worked with. We have seen other seasons where Teams talked together and planned on who to U turn in previous seasons. There is a social element to the Race even if it is no where close to alliances in Survivor. 

I have no problem with Teams helping each other when it makes sense, like in the boat fish task. I understand why Teams would help a team that they see as weaker in order to try and take out a stronger Team, it makes good logical sense. 

The FA, K/P, and D/R all know that each of the other teams is a threat to their chance of winning. I doubt that anyone of them would do anything to try and keep one of the others in the game.

[Roccos Brother]

I feel increasingly disappointed that Spencer and Anthony didn't make it back on the race, if for no other reason than the fact that they seemed to have been the biggest threat to Ryan/Dusty's dominance over the competition. The playing field has felt very uneven since the race resumed.

I felt myself practically screaming at the screen when the edit made it appear likely that Natalia/Arun would once again get completely lost looking for the pitstop and be eliminated as a result. 

Also, Ryan gay-baiting me again with those legs. This is starting to feel like harassment.

[Chicago Redshirt]

22 minutes ago, ProfCrash said:

The FA, K/P, and D/R all know that each of the other teams is a threat to their chance of winning. I doubt that anyone of them would do anything to try and keep one of the others in the game.

I think that any of "top three" teams would be foolish to not keep Arun/Natalie in the game if they could at all help it. 

4 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Ryan only had to do it twice. He got it right on the second try. The only other one who had to do it twice was Natalia. I assume the way Ryan kept looking away was just his way of memorizing. It was weird. It really looked like he just wasn't paying attention, but clearly he was. Some people just have to look up, or down, or close their eyes, or whatever, to make themselves remember something.

Pretty sure Ryan had to do it at least three times and Cayla had to do it at least twice: 

Ryan's first attempt: Only listened to 5 saints and bolted.

Ryan's second attempt/Cayla's first attempt: Ryan listened to 5 saints and started to bolt then came back to listen.

Ryan's third attempt/Cayla's second attempt: Natalia showed up and I'm pretty sure it was toward the beginning of the lecture, meaning that there was at least one fail. Natalia asked how many times they had done it.  Perhaps it was because of the editing, but there was no answer shown. One would think that if it was just the second time, or the third, Ryan would have said. And if it was just Cayla's first, she definitely would have said.

[chaifan]

13 hours ago, SVNBob said:

That reminds me that while watching the episode last week, I was trying to come up with a way to turn TAR into an Olympic event. 

When they started the first leg in London I was really hoping they figured out a way to incorporate TaskMaster into the Race.  Now that would be an amazing mash-up! 

[ProfCrash]

1 hour ago, Roccos Brother said:

I feel increasingly disappointed that Spencer and Anthony didn't make it back on the race, if for no other reason than the fact that they seemed to have been the biggest threat to Ryan/Dusty's dominance over the competition. The playing field has felt very uneven since the race resumed.

I felt myself practically screaming at the screen when the edit made it appear likely that Natalia/Arun would once again get completely lost looking for the pitstop and be eliminated as a result. 

Also, Ryan gay-baiting me again with those legs. This is starting to feel like harassment.

Kim and Penn have won more legs then Dusty and Ryan. Kim and Penn have won four, including three in a row. I believe that Dusty and Ryan have won two, not including the London leg which was a continuation. 

I wish Spencer and Anthony had continued as well. I liked them and I they would have changed the race dynamic a lot.  

[ByaNose]

I’m enjoying this season so much more than the Mine Alliance which basically ruined the whole season for me. I did think they (TPTB) were going to come down a little harder on the next set of racers but I think the pandemic was more forefront in their mind and they didn’t care if people shared in the end. Except for Akbar, I have enjoyed everyone on the race. I’m not crazy that Arun & Natalia have been saved so many times but they aren’t horrible people so I’ve given them a pass. LOL!!!

Its been interesting for me to see how I thought Ryan & Dusty were smoking everyone but ever since that bad leg a few weeks back they haven’t been able to recover. Granted coming in third place isn’t horrible but now it seems like Kim & Penn are the unstoppable team. I think they are going to win but any of the Top 3 teams could shift and win or everyone of them could have a horrible leg and Arun & Natalia could magically win. I’m not going to try and even figure out if it’s a NEL or not next week because I’d drive myself crazy. 

19 minutes ago, ProfCrash said:

Kim and Penn have won more legs then Dusty and Ryan. Kim and Penn have won four, including three in a row. I believe that Dusty and Ryan have won two, not including the London leg which was a continuation. 

I wish Spencer and Anthony had continued as well. I liked them and I they would have changed the race dynamic a lot.  

Yeah, with the two bro teams I think it would have been an entirely different race. Of course, we’ll never know. Although, I’m kind of glad it’s just been Ryan & Dusty. I think two all male teams would have been too much. 

[Blergh]

I guess this is as good a place to say it : I've wound up liking Kim and Penn a LOT more than I expected to in the course of this race and I appreciated how Penn didn't just memorize the icons for the various Orthodox saints but truly seemed to be enthralled with the priest's narrative of their individual accounts instead of just being barely civil (at best) and openly chomping at the bit for the priest to END it so he could instantly match names with faces!

Oh, I liked the Souvlaki vendor and thought she was being extra polite to Lulu and Lala who openly dissed her product! 

[xcrayon2215x]

Arun and Natalia keep finding a way to survive. Had the twins had figured out how to do the souvlaki task probably they likely would have made it through. I was surprised how many teams struggled with figuring out where the clue was for the souvlaki.

Kim and Penn are really looking strong right now, I am liking them more than I did in the beginning. Ryan and Dusty could be gone if physical tasks run out.

[PaperTree]

Does anybody else think they've seen Souvlaki Lady on TV or in a movie before?

She looks very familiar.

Don't talk to the priest!  lol

Sad for the twins.  They screwed up badly.  Arun and Natalia better not stumble to the end.

[millennium]

Kim's just fine.  Penn is annoying because he's always "on," always mugging for the camera.

Hope they beat Dusty though.  Also hope the flight attendants beat Dusty.  I really hope Arun and Natalia beat Dusty.

Sorry, Ryan.  It's not you, it's him.

 

[ByaNose]

7 minutes ago, millennium said:

Kim's just fine.  Penn is annoying because he's always "on," always mugging for the camera.

Hope they beat Dusty though.  Also hope the flight attendants beat Dusty.  I really hope Arun and Natalia beat Dusty.

Sorry, Ryan.  It's not you, it's him.

 

It’s funny because I hate muggers on TAR but I don’t find Penn to be a mugger. Maybe, his mugging is so low key that I’m not bothered by it. He’s definitely “on”but since I’ve heard about their videos it didn’t surprise me. I had no idea who they were before the race. I watch their recaps but I doubt I would ever watch their videos. I think I’m a hater of people making a living on YouTube. LOL!!! 

[millennium]

1 hour ago, ByaNose said:

It’s funny because I hate muggers on TAR but I don’t find Penn to be a mugger. Maybe, his mugging is so low key that I’m not bothered by it. He’s definitely “on”but since I’ve heard about their videos it didn’t surprise me. I had no idea who they were before the race. I watch their recaps but I doubt I would ever watch their videos. I think I’m a hater of people making a living on YouTube. LOL!!! 

You're not alone.

Penn's every reaction seems planned.  He can't just say, "Whew, glad I got it right."  He has to do a victory dance or pantomime or something gif-like.  It just grates. 

[Netfoot]

2 hours ago, millennium said:

...or something gif-like.

Great choice of words. And accurate!

[Lady Calypso]

Sad about Lulu and Lala, but they caused their own demise this time. Arun/Natalia finally figured out the navigation part...sorta. AKA, they quickly figured out that they need to ask for directions WAY earlier so that they know not to get lost. And Arun did well with the wrapping task.

LuLa just got very unlucky with their own directions, and as soon as they accidentally ended up at the pit stop, I think it was pretty much over. They never got the chance to catch up after that (and especially not after they redid the Souvlaki task!). But I'm glad they took their loss with gratitude. 

Ryan/Dusty...well, I do like Ryan, but Dusty's shouting at every task win was annoying. Boy, I know you're excited, but calm down! Nobody wants to hear you whopping at the top of your lungs about finishing a task! I didn't love Ryan's attitude at the memory challenge task, but it was clear that he struggled the most BECAUSE he didn't think he needed to stay and listen for over 10 minutes. He was definitely impatient, and it cost him and Dusty second place. 

Kim and Penn are delightful. Their attitude is great and I love them taking notes and also enjoying their time while racing. I would love to see them win.

Raquel/Cayla are solid, as well, but I just don't see them winning. I see them getting third, at best. However, this is The Amazing Race, and the Final Leg could be anyone's game, depending on luck and skill. So who knows!

Arun/Natalia will be lucky to make it to the finals. I like them, I wouldn't hate to see them get to the finale, but they've gotten REAL lucky with all these NELs.

[grandmabegum]

7 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

Arun did well with the wrapping task.

I loved that Arun did the wrapping task because he's worked in a restaurant and Dusty did it cause he rolls joints.

 

8 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

Dusty's shouting at every task win was annoying. Boy, I know you're excited, but calm down! Nobody wants to hear you whopping at the top of your lungs about finishing a task! 

Sheesh can you imagine if he did the saints task? Penn realized it was probably disrespectful to celebrate right there. Dusty would have whooped for minutes before flexing and moving on.

[ProfCrash]

1 hour ago, grandmabegum said:

I loved that Arun did the wrapping task because he's worked in a restaurant and Dusty did it cause he rolls joints.

 

Sheesh can you imagine if he did the saints task? Penn realized it was probably disrespectful to celebrate right there. Dusty would have whooped for minutes before flexing and moving on.

Dusty and his wife run a B&B in Colorado, Dusty does a lot of the cooking. I suspect that his experience in the kitchen is what was beneficial. 

[chaifan]

11 hours ago, PaperTree said:

Does anybody else think they've seen Souvlaki Lady on TV or in a movie before?

She looks very familiar.

She reminds me of Flo from the Progressive Insurance commercials.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flo_(Progressive)

[RockShrimp]

Hubs talked me down from my incredulity that people would not be familiar with souvlaki but y’all just reminded me Lulu and Lala are from NYC. Like, come on. 
 

especially since it looked like it was chicken souvlaki which is what you get when the idea of the gyro mystery meat is scary. 

Edited February 19, 2022 by RockShrimp

[grandmabegum]

8 minutes ago, ProfCrash said:

Dusty and his wife run a B&B in Colorado, Dusty does a lot of the cooking. I suspect that his experience in the kitchen is what was beneficial. 

Ah, when he mentioned something about a Colorado pastime (paraphrasing] I just jumped to weed.

6 minutes ago, RockShrimp said:

Hubs talked me down from my incredulity that people would not be familiar with souvlaki but y’all just reminded me Lulu and Lala are from NYC. Like, come on. 

Someone above mentioned that Lulu and Lala confessed to having the kid's palates. Even in a big city, where there are so many options at your fingertips, if you're not interested in trying new things I can see not being familiar with what it. I live in a city where there's tons of options and still have friends who are content just eating pizza and other fast food.

ETA: I made tuna salad yesterday for lunch and absolutely thought of folks on here when I diced up some raw red onion and threw it in there.

Edited February 19, 2022 by grandmabegum
onion talk

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

"Did we eat the clue?" My favorite line of the night. I had to open up a can of Trader Joe's dolmas during the wrapping roadblock. I finished the tenth and final one as Lulu and Lala were finishing their second souvlaki. I'm not going to hate on people who have never had souvlaki before. They're not super common in large swaths of America, although almost everyone would recognize some form of a skewer or pita wrap. I also get never having onions. Allium sensitivities are pretty common, and if you don't grow up with someone who cooks with onions or garlic, you can easily get to adulthood without ever chowing on them raw. I picked the visible onions off of food until I was in my 20s.

I am jealous that hyperfocus is one of Penn's ADHD superpowers. I can get into a hyperfocus flow state when I'm digging deep into data, but I can't listen to people talk at me to save my life. I've spent my entire life struggling through classroom lectures, work meetings, and "listening comprehension" sections of exams (which in my opinion test attention span and focus more than understanding of language, but whatever). There is no way I would have been able to pay attention to a 15-minute story about saints or match names to pictures. 

Edited because I just realized that they never had to name the saint, just pick the correct icon. And most of the pictures had something that reflected the quiz question, like St. Christopher carrying a traveler. Maybe the story session was just psych ops to unnerve contestants, and the quiz was doable just by looking for clues in the pictures.

Edited February 19, 2022 by Sheikh Yerbouti

[iMonrey]

Quote

That’s actually not true according to Lulu and Lala. Penn was the only one who got it right the first time. Also, if you watched the timers during the speech, the Natalia came in within 2 minutes of the spiel, which means Ryan had to listen again after he tried to leave. That means both he and Cayla missed a quiz unless they listened twice without taking the quiz.

Then the Amazing Chyron lied to us, because it clearly read "second attempt" when Ryan got it, and "first attempt" when Cayla got it. I don't think they showed a chyron when the twin did it. (They were playing that "in memoriam" music during her Roadblock like they do when a last place team is doomed.)

Quote

Ah, when he mentioned something about a Colorado pastime (paraphrasing] I just jumped to weed.

I'm pretty sure that's what he was referring to (i.e. rolling a joint). 

[snarktini]

My interpretation on "never had an onion" was that she avoided them her whole life, leaving them out and picking them off and maybe she hasn't actually tried them (or doesn't remember if she was really young). Should you try something before deciding you hate it? Especially something so hard to avoid? Sure. But sometimes people just decide they won't eat something! Besides, onions have a strong smell she may have been averse to from the beginning.

I don't mind that they went home before A&N. They've been at the bottom a lot, too, and no one ever said the race was "fair" in that way.

I've eaten a lots of Greek food but I have other favs and have never gotten around to souvlaki that I can recall. I prefer the mystery rotisserie meat of a gyro :)

[Netfoot]

1 hour ago, snarktini said:

I prefer the mystery rotisserie meat of a gyro :)

It's quasi-lamb, isn't it?

[eel21788]

On 2/18/2022 at 4:55 PM, ProfCrash said:

Kim and Penn have won more legs then Dusty and Ryan. Kim and Penn have won four, including three in a row. I believe that Dusty and Ryan have won two, not including the London leg which was a continuation. 

I still think part of the reason they keep coming in first is because they keep leaving the start line first. If we had more legs where there was a wait time to start a task or being on the same flight leveled the field the way it happens in a normal season, I think we would be seeing variations of what order people are ending the legs.

[Etta Place]

On 2/18/2022 at 1:56 AM, blackwing said:

I would have called them "dolmas".  Trader Joes sells a canned dolmas which is not bad.  But apparently the proper plural of "dolma" in Greek is "dolmades".

Phil called them "dolmades" but Dusty said he knew what those were, he was making "dolmas".  Did I hear him correctly and he said he has Greek heritage?  Or was he just being facetious?  I thought it was great of him to recognise that the vein sides of the leaves had to be on a certain side, considering that some of the others did not.

I didn’t catch Dusty saying that about Greek heritage. The Turkish word for stuffed grape leaf dishes is dolma.
 

I wasn’t able to figure out whether dolmades is plural for dolmade or what, and I also had dolmadakia thrown in there so I’m extra confused about that aspect. 

[snarktini]

1 hour ago, Netfoot said:

It's quasi-lamb, isn't it?

It's usually beef and lamb. I was riffing on what Rockshrimp said 😄

13 hours ago, RockShrimp said:

especially since it looked like it was chicken souvlaki which is what you get when the idea of the gyro mystery meat is scary. 

 

 

Edited February 20, 2022 by snarktini

[ProfCrash]

9 hours ago, eel21788 said:

I still think part of the reason they keep coming in first is because they keep leaving the start line first. If we had more legs where there was a wait time to start a task or being on the same flight leveled the field the way it happens in a normal season, I think we would be seeing variations of what order people are ending the legs.

They seem to navigate better then the others, they are less frantic at tasks, they learn from their mistakes, and they are pretty well rounded in their abilities. It is possible that they would have not won as many legs in the old format but they don’t seem to make that many mistakes. 

Penn had the mail train stupidity and they got lost once in Switzerland, that’s been all.

Dusty and Ryan are ok at the mental tasks but they are not close to Kim and Penn good. Everyone else struggles with driving and direction. 

In the last legs, Penn and Kim nailed the memorization tasks. Everyone else, who wasn’t with them, took twice as long, if not longer. 

I think the Train Dudes would have been interesting because I think they would have been better at the mental tasks but I don’t think they were the physical threat that Dusty and Ryan are.

[Leeds]

On 2/17/2022 at 12:33 PM, greyhorse said:

Another thing that I thought was a little gross - although not grosser than maggot cheese - is that the teammates had to share the souvlaki.  Why couldn't the woman cut it in half?  I think no big deal for Penn and Kim, the pink sisters, and perhaps Arun and Natalia.  But even if Ryan and Dusty are best bros and Raquel and skinny girl as well...do they really swap spit with each other?  I guess in a race, you do what you have to do.  Just seems a little unnecessary to make them share a sandwich.

It was positively un-American of them how eager they were to share food.

[Leeds]

On 2/17/2022 at 8:50 PM, ByaNose said:

I watched the Holderness TAR recap. They didn’t really add anything I hadn’t seen or heard but they do a great job with the recaps. They had their kids at the beginning. They were nice kids but I’m not into their YouTube stuff so I didn’t really care what they had to say. They did think Kim & Penn were setting them up for failure and were shocked that they came in first again. Personally, I think they are going to win the whole race. They are just so in sync with each other and perfect that I will be shocked if they don’t win. I always try to pick up clues and slips from people on TAR and Survivor in exit press but I never know who is going to win. I just don’t have the gene. LOL!!!! 2 more episodes left. I think next week is an hour and the Finale is 2 hours but don’t quote me on that. 

Who's "them" "they"?

[ProfCrash]

Just now, Leeds said:

Who's "them" "they"?

Penn Charles and Lola, Kim and Penn’s kids. The two of them were in the first part of the video. The kids thought that Kim was setting them up for them doing poorly in the leg because she brought out wine for the episode. She was more upset because she was sad that the Twins would be leaving this episode but her sadness was read by the kids that K/P were not going to do well on this leg. Then K/P won the leg and the kids where shocked. 

[Leeds]

On 2/18/2022 at 12:03 PM, bearcatfan said:

They didn’t mention if they had souvlaki sent to them but they did say they both have the palettes of children. On said a 12 yo and the other said a 6 yo. 

 

Personally, I like this child's palette.

[ByaNose]

34 minutes ago, Leeds said:

Who's "them" "they"?

Sorry, that I didn’t elaborate more on “them”. I meant Kim & Penn’s kids who they were watching the show with. It must be neat to watch a show that you’re on with your children. Especially , since TAR is a family type show. Kim and Penn also said their kids ask them everyday if they won the race or not. Of course, they aren’t  allowed (contractually) to tell them so they say a different placement everyday. They’re are only two more episodes left so we’ll know soon enough. I think they did. 

[SG429]

11 hours ago, Etta Place said:

I didn’t catch Dusty saying that about Greek heritage. The Turkish word for stuffed grape leaf dishes is dolma.

"Dolmus," lit. "stuffed," is also what they call the often-packed minibuses in Turkey.

[smartymarty]

On 2/17/2022 at 12:56 PM, proserpina65 said:

On 2/16/2022 at 11:08 PM, RunningMarket said:

I realize everyone has had different upbringings, but to have never had souvlaki before?! OR ONION?!

Many people have never had souvlaki before.  I didn't have it until I went to college.  The only ethnic food available when I was growing up was Italian.  Imagine how excited we were when a Taco Bell opened in the next town over!

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The twins are from North Bergen, New Jersey, just across the river from Manhattan, though. So no idea how they could've avoided this bit of culinary literacy for their entire life.

I not only had never had souvlaki, I had never heard of it until I went to Greece in my 40s. Sooo good. I grew up in a town where the Italian restaurant was Pizza Hut, and that was exotic as it got. Those who say it's in their mall -- I haven't been in a mall in over a decade. At your food truck? If you don't work or live in a city, you don't get food trucks.

About twins from North Bergen, I LIVED in Astoria, Queens, in my 20s and 30s, a place with the highest concentration of Greek people outside of Greece, and would not have known how to spell souvlaki. (I did go to a really great Greek restaurant there, but always had the lemon chicken.)

Edited February 20, 2022 by smartymarty
ETA: About twins being from North Bergen

[smartymarty]

On 2/18/2022 at 12:39 PM, Fretful said:

I really wish they would make some of the tasks harder. 

Looks like next week's "find something under one of thousands of rocks" will be difficult.

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I agree that most people should be able to get it in two listens, but I could see confusing something and having to go for a third.

Well we viewers knew that the same questions would be asked each time, but the racers did not. So third time would be the charm. I think Ryan thought that only having to identify 5 saints meant he could just memorize 5 of the 10 and go.

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Don't talk to the priest!

Should have been the name of the episode.
 

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Kim's just fine.  Penn is annoying because he's always "on," always mugging for the camera.

They seem to navigate better then the others.

Agree about Penn being annoying. He's like a jumpy kindergartner.

Kim said about last week's episode that she'd paid attention to the terrain, such that she correctly guessed which way to turn out of the roadblock to get to the next challenge. She said two other teams turned the other way. That meant those teams had to backtrack after stopping for directions, while K&P were already going the right way.

Re: souvlaki. I was surprised that Arun, being a restauranteur, did not recognize souvlaki.
 

[blackwing]

On 2/19/2022 at 12:36 AM, millennium said:

You're not alone.

Penn's every reaction seems planned.  He can't just say, "Whew, glad I got it right."  He has to do a victory dance or pantomime or something gif-like.  It just grates. 

I’m continually amazed that the producers allow Kim and Penn to do these recaps.  I am wondering if they have to submit them for approval before posting, because what if there are spoilers?  Also, doesn’t the fact that they are doing recaps pretty much indicate that they go to the end?  It looks clear now but at the time they started them,    there were a lot more teams and they could have had an unlucky break and gone home.  What would have happened then?  “Uh and we won’t be recapping this week since we got eliminated last week!”  So the fact that they had these recaps going seemed spoilerish.  Would not at all be surprised if they win, because of course they would love to recap an episode as they win and show their kids reactions on their podcast of them watching on TV, etc.
 

I agree that I find Penn very annoying.  Some will say it’s his ADHD but I agree that he is always doing something that he thinks will look good for the cameras and will be sure to make it on air.  Like that stupid jig or running in place or whatever the hell he was doing when he finished the fishing net repair task the week before last.  And of course the show chose to use it on the previouslies.  He knows what the show likes and you can always count on him to bring it.  

 

1 hour ago, smartymarty said:

Re: souvlaki. I was surprised that Arun, being a restauranteur, did not recognize souvlaki.
 

He kept mentioning that he works in a restaurant and it gave him all this experience and I was curious so I did some googling.  Apparently he worked at Arby’s for 20 years and now owns a Dunkin Donuts.  I guess those are technically “restaurants” but he made it sound like he worked in fine dining.  Like calling the trash collector a “waste engineer”.

[greyhorse]

40 minutes ago, blackwing said:

I’m continually amazed that the producers allow Kim and Penn to do these recaps.  I am wondering if they have to submit them for approval before posting, because what if there are spoilers?  Also, doesn’t the fact that they are doing recaps pretty much indicate that they go to the end?  It looks clear now but at the time they started them,    there were a lot more teams and they could have had an unlucky break and gone home.  What would have happened then?  “Uh and we won’t be recapping this week since we got eliminated last week!”  So the fact that they had these recaps going seemed spoilerish.  Would not at all be surprised if they win, because of course they would love to recap an episode as they win and show their kids reactions on their podcast of them watching on TV, etc.
 

I agree that I find Penn very annoying.  Some will say it’s his ADHD but I agree that he is always doing something that he thinks will look good for the cameras and will be sure to make it on air.  Like that stupid jig or running in place or whatever the hell he was doing when he finished the fishing net repair task the week before last.  And of course the show chose to use it on the previouslies.  He knows what the show likes and you can always count on him to bring it.  

 

He kept mentioning that he works in a restaurant and it gave him all this experience and I was curious so I did some googling.  Apparently he worked at Arby’s for 20 years and now owns a Dunkin Donuts.  I guess those are technically “restaurants” but he made it sound like he worked in fine dining.  Like calling the trash collector a “waste engineer”.

Agree that I'm surprised they allow these podcasts/recaps.  Don't all contestants sign a letter of nondisclosure?  Like they can't even tell their family if they won or not?  Weren't they also prevented from posting on message boards such as these?  Wouldn't a video recap fall into the same sphere?  Or do they get a pass because they're "social media personalities", and well, this is their schtick and how they make a living?  I don't get understand.

Penn is good at what he does.  He knows what plays to the camera, what producers look for, etc.  I guess that comes with just being somewhat in the business and they use that to their advantage.  I do find them far less annoying than I thought I would though, so maybe they know not to be too over the top.

Arby's?  Dunkin Donuts?  Stereotyping here, but of course he owns a Dunkin Donuts!  (Either that or a 7-11?). For some reason I assumed he owned an Indian restaurant.  Was there not footage of him at his job at some point?  Guess I made that up in my mind.

[ProfCrash]

1 hour ago, blackwing said:

I’m continually amazed that the producers allow Kim and Penn to do these recaps.  I am wondering if they have to submit them for approval before posting, because what if there are spoilers?  Also, doesn’t the fact that they are doing recaps pretty much indicate that they go to the end?  It looks clear now but at the time they started them,    there were a lot more teams and they could have had an unlucky break and gone home.  What would have happened then?  “Uh and we won’t be recapping this week since we got eliminated last week!”  So the fact that they had these recaps going seemed spoilerish.  Would not at all be surprised if they win, because of course they would love to recap an episode as they win and show their kids reactions on their podcast of them watching on TV, etc.

Kim and Penn heard from Production after their first podcast and adjusted some of the things they discuss because of the instructions that they were given. They talked about it in their second podcast. And they are not the only ones podcasting, there are at least 3 podcasts that included 4 teams. Kim and Penn, Lulu and Lala, and Dusty and Cayla. Kim and Penn’s is simply the longest and has the highest production quality. Given that Lulu and Lala were podcasting and then knocked out, I think it is safe to say that there is not an issue with spoilers in the podcasts. They have pretty specific rules that they have to follow and I have yet to hear a spoiler.

I am sure that Production is fine with them Podcasting because it means extra people invested in the show and hopefully keeps the number of viewers high.  

I love the podcasts and have no problem with them. I like the info they each provide. But that is me. I have no idea if Lulu and Lala will podcast next week or not but I doubt any team is going to say “we won’t be podcasting next week because we lost.”

[Chicago Redshirt]

On 2/19/2022 at 11:58 AM, iMonrey said:

Then the Amazing Chyron lied to us, because it clearly read "second attempt" when Ryan got it, and "first attempt" when Cayla got it. I don't think they showed a chyron when the twin did it. (They were playing that "in memoriam" music during her Roadblock like they do when a last place team is doomed.)

The disconnect is probably my bad, that racers can and did opt to listen to the lecture without taking the quiz each time. Ryan had to have listened to the quiz at least twice in addition to the time he quit five saints in, based on what was shown to us.

The chyron said that the twin got it on her first attempt. 

Edited February 20, 2022 by Chicago Redshirt