S33.E09: Rock Bottom

[Lantern7]

5 minutes ago, aghst said:

They literally had needle in a haystack challenge didn't they?

I vaguely recall Phil having to come out in the dark to eliminate a team.  They had to light up the field.

So in this case it wasn't an NEL.

TAR6, Lena & Kristie. I think that the lowest circle of Roadblock Hell you can find. 

[proserpina65]

6 minutes ago, aghst said:

They literally had needle in a haystack challenge didn't they?

I vaguely recall Phil having to come out in the dark to eliminate a team.  They had to light up the field.

So in this case it wasn't an NEL.

Seaon 6, when Lena spent 8 hours searching unrolling hay bales and didn't find a clue.

[ProfCrash]

9 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

Seaon 6, when Lena spent 8 hours searching unrolling hay bales and didn't find a clue.

Didn't they actually uncover at least one clue and missed seeing it in their hay bale? I seem to remember a shot of a missed clue and later thinking that was stupid cruel. or Production wanted to make damn sure that they had clues in they hay bales and they just missed it. 

[proserpina65]

2 minutes ago, ProfCrash said:

Didn't they actually uncover at least one clue and missed seeing it in their hay bale? I seem to remember a shot of a missed clue and later thinking that was stupid cruel. or Production wanted to make damn sure that they had clues in they hay bales and they just missed it. 

That's entirely possible.  It's been a very long time since I've seen that season.

[Netfoot]

21 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

It's been a very long time since I've seen that season

That was one of the original "Magnificent Seven" seasons. After which came Ma Weaver.

[eel21788]

1 hour ago, lgprimes said:

Until somebody mentioned them above I hadn’t really noticed, but now… what’s with no U-turns this season? That severely lowers the drama aspect of the race!

The goal this season has been to keep the racers as closely bunched together as possible. Having U turns would nullify that. 

[proserpina65]

On 2/24/2022 at 12:18 PM, iMonrey said:

That said, there should not have been two of them in the same leg, although the plate-breaking one looked comparatively easy. 

The other half of the detour wasn't a needle-in-a-haystack type challenge, though.  It's just that no one chose it.

22 hours ago, eel21788 said:

As far as I'm concerned, this was just a throw-away season. Whoever wins really shouldn't have any bragging rights. This wasn't really The Amazing Race.

This is as much the Amazing Race as any other season as far as I'm concerned.  There have been seasons won by people who just lucked their way into winning (again, the Beekman Boys), people who were actively nasty to each other/other teams/the locals, and teams who worked together for most of the race just to eliminate someone they didn't like.  I found all of those teams to be less worthy than whomever wins this season.

19 hours ago, Blergh said:

Blogs/ interviews with couples or individuals are no guarantors that they're being truly candid with the viewers (or each other) but may be just what they want the viewers,etc. to believe. I think that needs to be kept in mind with Kim and Penn and all media personalities! 

I'd say their years of marriage are a better sign of how they deal with each than how a few viewers interpret what they say in a moment of frustration on AR.  If it didn't work for them, it'd be easy enough to split up.  And that goes for Dusty and pretty much everyone else ever on AR - I'm not going to psychoanalyze someone based on how they deal with the pressure of the race.  Well, except for Jonathan from AR6; we should all judge the hell out of him.

6 hours ago, Zonk said:

It's really not about this one task but his behaviour throughout the whole race.

I haven't found his behavior throughout the race to be unstable.  Occasionally intense, yes, but not unstable.

2 hours ago, lgprimes said:

Until somebody mentioned them above I hadn’t really noticed, but now… what’s with no U-turns this season? That severely lowers the drama aspect of the race!

I actually appreciate the lack of U-Turns.  Hopefully they'll dump them entirely from now on.

21 minutes ago, Netfoot said:

That was one of the original "Magnificent Seven" seasons. After which came Ma Weaver.

Unpopular AR opinion: I didn't mind the Weavers nearly as much as others did.  There were other teams on that race I disliked more.  But then, that whole season was very poorly designed, imo.

I really appreciated seeing more of the Thessaloniki area of Greece.  I've been to Greece, but only to Athens, and then out to Crete and the Cyclades.  Seeing the northern part of the country was cool.

[proserpina65]

8 minutes ago, lgprimes said:

but I do miss the bickering between teams and some of the strategizing is also taken away.

Whereas I'm thrilled to not see all the damned bickering.  I don't find that entertaining at all.

[chaifan]

I like U turns.  It can be an interesting play of strategy, or a display of childish "we don't like them" behavior.  But, I think it would have been a non-issue this season.  All the teams like each other way too much, and I think we would have wasted 1-2 minutes of air time with a string of "we choose not to use the U turn" declarations.  Boring. 

I don't think a U turn would have added any greater health risk from a covid perspective.  They still have to fully staff both detours, under the possibility at all teams could go to one (as with the plate breaking).  I think this falls under the "let's keep the race as simple as possible and avoid any extraneous things that may require last minute changes" part of the covid times.  If they planned for a U-turn on leg 6, but then leg 6 had to be moved at the last minute, that's one more thing to have to set up on the fly.

[Zonk]

56 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

I haven't found his behavior throughout the race to be unstable.  Occasionally intense, yes, but not unstable.

He isn't occasionally intense, he is always intense and his mood swings from the lowest lows to the highest highs at the drop of the hat. Yes, Ryan is very good at keeping him in line, but he's about the only thing that stand between Dusty and regular meltdowns.

I won't continue speculating how he is in private. However, I can say, how he is on the race, I wouldn't want to spend 5 minutes with him.

[dgpolo]

1 hour ago, Zonk said:

I won't continue speculating how he is in private. However, I can say, how he is on the race, I wouldn't want to spend 5 minutes with him.

We can say how he is edited on the race, not necessarily the same thing.

[Zonk]

2 minutes ago, dgpolo said:

We can say how he is edited on the race, not necessarily the same thing.

You can't edit something that isn't there.

[chitowngirl]

34 minutes ago, Welshman in Ca said:

My apologies, I was thinking of the other one when the people last but not eliminated have to do a totally different task that only they have to do.

 

Speed Bump

[Browncoat]

How many NEL have there been this race?  Not counting the extended leg from before the shutdown -- I know some consider those to be NEL, but I do not.

[ByaNose]

28 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

How many NEL have there been this race?  Not counting the extended leg from before the shutdown -- I know some consider those to be NEL, but I do not.

I thought 3 or 4. I think Arun & Natalia were saved by all of them less the current one that saved Ryan & Dusty.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, ByaNose said:

32 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

How many NEL have there been this race?  Not counting the extended leg from before the shutdown -- I know some consider those to be NEL, but I do not.

I thought 3 or 4. I think Arun & Natalia were saved by all of them less the current one that saved Ryan & Dusty.

Just 3. There have been six legs since the restart, and they've been alternating NELs with...uh, ELs. Arun and Natalia got the first 2, Ryan and Dusty the most recent.

1 hour ago, Welshman in Ca said:

My apologies, I was thinking of the other one when the people last but not eliminated have to do a totally different task that only they have to do.

Though apparently they have been doing those, just not showing them in the episodes. I believe that info came from racers' podcasts which I didn't watch but saw brief recaps of here. This was sometimes why Arun & Natalia ended up in a completely different place than everyone else. They weren't just lost, they had to go somewhere for a Speed Bump.

[ProfCrash]

There was a speed bump in Switzerland for the two returning teams that we did not see. Since then the speed bump was replaced by the NEL saved team departing by themselves 15 minutes after the second group of racers. The delayed departure time is supposed to mimic the time a speed bump takes. 

[Browncoat]

12 minutes ago, ByaNose said:

thought 3 or 4.

 

6 minutes ago, tracyscott76 said:

Just 3.

Aren't there usually three per season?  Maybe it seems like more because this season is shorter than previous ones?  

[treeofdreams]

I felt sorry for the Oracle sitting on her throne for three hours, intoning "Leave no stone unturned" at intervals.  I wonder if she was able to take bathroom breaks.

[Whimsy]

Some posts have been removed due to crossing the Be Civil line and/or responding to those posts. Please remember to report, not engage, with posts that don’t follow our rules. 
 

Additionally, let’s stay on topic to this episode, not past seasons/u-turns etc. thank you. 

[bankerchick]

14 hours ago, SVNBob said:

In his time, Diogenes was likened to and connected with dogs quite often.  He basically stalked (or dogged) a student of Socrates named Antisthenes and begged to become his student.  Antisthenes had to literally beat Diogenes with a stick, but Diogenes said that no wood would be hard enough to keep him away, as long as Diogenes thought Antisthenes had something worth teaching.  Thus, Diogenes was known as "Antisthenes' hound".   He also referred to himself as a dog, saying that "I fawn on those who give me anything, I yelp at those who refuse, and I set my teeth in rascals."  One of the rumored causes of Diogenes' death was an infected dog bite, and statues in his honor at both his birthplace of Sinope, Turkey, and place of death in Corinth feature dogs.   As does this popular painting of him by Jean-Léon_Gérôme from 1860 (which also features his jar and his lantern):

I'm sure I'm not the only one who would have liked to see that Diogenes waiting with Phil!

[Cotypubby]

5 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

Unpopular AR opinion: I didn't mind the Weavers nearly as much as others did.  There were other teams on that race I disliked more.

The Weavers threw garbage from their car at pedestrians as they drove past and laughed while doing it. They are nasty people.

re: the smashing plates challenge, I thought it was pretty obvious that they were prop breakaway plates and not real porcelain. In the close ups of the stacks they had a rough texture look to them. That's why no one was in any danger of injury greater than a paper cut from broken pieces.

Edited February 26, 2022 by Cotypubby

[Fukui San]

8 hours ago, lgprimes said:

Until somebody mentioned them above I hadn’t really noticed, but now… what’s with no U-turns this season? That severely lowers the drama aspect of the race!

Good riddance, as far as I'm concern. Less incentive to create the hard alliances which ruined last season.

[Netfoot]

55 minutes ago, Cotypubby said:

I thought it was pretty obvious that they were prop breakaway plates and not real porcelain.

The Greeks smash plates to ward off evil spirits. Specially made plaster plates are produced just for the purpose. I suspect TAR simply used the normal made-for-smashing plates.

Edited February 26, 2022 by Netfoot

[Roccos Brother]

What ever happened to the speed bump? Did they just remove that this season or had that been phased out previously and I just never noticed until now?

[ProfCrash]

1 hour ago, Roccos Brother said:

What ever happened to the speed bump? Did they just remove that this season or had that been phased out previously and I just never noticed until now?

There was one that was not shown. The eliminated teams had to complete a speed bump in Switzerland. The 15 minute solo departure behind the pack is meant to be a speed bunch replacement.

[Shermie]

On 2/23/2022 at 11:24 PM, Zonk said:

I never like these needle in a haystack challanges. They don't require any skill, just luck and they disproportionally disadvantage teams that get there later or don't have as much luck in the beginning, as there get to be less and less needles.

I like needle in a haystack challenges because they are unpredictable. Just because a team arrives last doesn’t mean they’re last to find the thing. As for it being luck only, no skill, I’d disagree somewhat. If the stone flippers were more methodical, they might have found the coin faster. As others have mentioned, separate the stones you checked from the ones you didn’t and don’t randomly grab stones and turn them over. There is some skill involved in finding a needle in a haystack.

I, too, was hoping the Dudebros were gone this time. I’m tired of alpha male teams winning, especially when one of the team is so aggressively entitled. It’s like Dusty can’t comprehend the notion that he won’t win every time; it baffles him and he acts out with horrific frustration.

Hopefully, Kim & Penn or the Flight Attendants win, but I would laugh my ass off if Arun and Natalie stumbled to victory.

[greyhorse]

On 2/24/2022 at 1:59 PM, ProfCrash said:

Kim and Penn talked about the money they were getting but how it was going unused. Penn suggested they stop at a bar and grab some wine when they were going to the plate breaking task or the White Tower on foot. They had 50 Euros on them and were beat. Kim physically and mentally and Penn knew it. They didn’t but they thought about it.

Listening to the podcast, the task was even worse then it looked. There was a rule that you had to return the stone to the place that you found it and you couldn’t mark the stone in any way. kim thought it was cruel that all the stones were in the same general area and thinks that Dusty was looking far way from that area because he didn’t believe that the fourth stone would be in the same area that the first three were found. 

I remember the early years when you had to be responsible with your money.  Wasn't it Frank and Margarita that were near a pit stop but they didn't have money to pay the cab, so they had to beg people for money?  My memory isn't what it used to be, but I do recall the money played a bigger role than it seems to in recent years.

This makes sense that you had to return the stones instead of just pushing them off to the side.  As mentioned upthread, it's unfair as the other racers find the gold coin and then Dusty is left with finding just one remaining coin...but still is left with all of the rocks.  Would have been much more equitable if the circle was divided into four and each racer had to hunt in their respective circle.

Socrates was scary.  Dude, it's Covid.  Put a mask on and stay six feet away.

Arun was insufferable when he was trying to tell Natalia how to break the plates.  He was so mechanical in his manner of breaking them that he was actually probably the slowest when compared to the others.  It's not rocket science.  Meanwhile Dusty was just whipping them on the ground without even looking at them.  I think the clue said that you had to alternate?  Dusty had the right idea.  I'd alternate my hands picking up the plate.  As my right hand is throwing down the plate, my left hand is grabbing the next one.  But maybe the required alternating with your partner would slow you down anyway.

 

[Fukui San]

The design of the No Stone Unturned roadblock seems so much worse than the famous Haystacks roadblock with the only four clues for four racers and having to return the stones back in place. It's actually amazing that it didn't result in a longer attempt a la Lena and Kristy's elimination. If I were in the design team I'd push for having at least two more coined rocks added.

I think the leg could've been improved for the viewers by putting No Stone Unturned last after the Detour. The Detour wound up being pretty irrelevant, but if it had been placed first we wouldn't have known that.

 

[millennium]

Was Socrates a mental patient?   

I have nothing else, other than "you got this" fatigue (I *hate* that expression).   And dashed hopes that one team would bite the dust-y.

[Netfoot]

13 hours ago, Shermie said:

Hopefully, Kim & Penn or the Flight Attendants win, but I would laugh my ass off if Arun and Natalie stumbled to victory.

My fantasy 1-2-3 is:

1) Raquel & Cayla
2) Kim & Penn
3) Arun & Natalia

With Ryan & Dusty eliminated in the penultimate leg.

I'd also be OK with A&N 2nd and K&P 3rd.

I'm aware that on previous form A&N will probably be eliminated and K&P are more likely to take the win, but I'm still rooting for the FAs. 

I know many feel that A&N don't deserve to be in the final three (far less win) and I too think they have been extraordinarily lucky with the NELs and being returned to the game after elimination. But there is no rule against luck. They have not been great racers but they have played square and true, and they deserve to go however far they can get. There have been other racers in the past who showed us some nasty game-play and still made it to the final leg. Give me A&N over that sort, any day!

Edited February 26, 2022 by Netfoot

[SVNBob]

1 hour ago, millennium said:

Was Socrates a mental patient?  

The actor might have been trying to evoke "dying from poison hemlock" Socrates.  Imparting last words of wisdom; that kind of thing.

Or, since the 3rd movie of the trilogy had been released during the interregnum, he might have been deliberately trying to avoid any Bill and Ted comparisons.

[grandmabegum]

I had the strange thought that Ryan would have been good at the stone task because of his time in prison. This is because my main association with prison is Robin Hood the cartoon where the prisoners do manual labor.

[Fukui San]

11 hours ago, millennium said:

Was Socrates a mental patient?   

I have nothing else, other than "you got this" fatigue (I *hate* that expression).   And dashed hopes that one team would bite the dust-y.

His "method" was to endlessly harangue people in debates about minutiae until they gave in, so I don't fault the actor in this case.

[Zonk]

13 hours ago, Shermie said:

I like needle in a haystack challenges because they are unpredictable. Just because a team arrives last doesn’t mean they’re last to find the thing. As for it being luck only, no skill, I’d disagree somewhat. If the stone flippers were more methodical, they might have found the coin faster. As others have mentioned, separate the stones you checked from the ones you didn’t and don’t randomly grab stones and turn them over. There is some skill involved in finding a needle in a haystack.

How fun. Why don't we let them flip a coin at the starting line and the losing team goes home? That's certainly unpredictable and would shake things up.

Also it's not like teams didn't try to be methodical. But when you have to put the stones back exactly as you found them, you are bound to miss some. There were only 4 changes out of 5000 and at the end for Dusty it was only 1 in 4997.

16 hours ago, Netfoot said:

The Greeks smash plates to ward off evil spirits. Specially made plaster plates are produced just for the purpose. I suspect TAR simply used the normal made-for-smashing plates.

Just fyi, since it has been spoken about like a uniquely greek tradition before in this thread. Breaking plates before a wedding for good luck is also a german tradition. It's called Polterabend here.

 

[TiredMe]

I was relieved this was an NEL. I think eliminating someone off a needle in the haystack challenge is shitty. And I don’t believe Arun and Natalia belong in final 3. I’d be happy with any of them winning except Arun and Natalia. 

[bearcatfan]

On 2/25/2022 at 12:14 PM, HurricaneVal said:

For the rock picking challenge....I wonder if maybe the racers were a little unclear on the concept, or if the clue wasn't clear.  I think when they were looking "under a rock" for the coin, they were expecting the coin to be sitting on the ground, covered by the rock.  Not glued to the rock in a routered out recess.  I saw a lot of shifting of rocks in addition to flipping of rocks. 

Edited to add:  In fact, as the challenge went longer, I could see where it would be exhausting to flip over every rock, and preservation of energy strategies would kick in where just shifting the rocks seemed "good enough" to get the job done. 

According to what Kim said in the podcast, I think she at least knew it was attached to the rock because she said at first she thought the had to use fake rocks for the ones the coins were attached to and scanned the area looking for fakes. Then when she realized they were all real, she looked near the cameras because she figured they wanted the rocks close to the cameras. That didn’t work either so when Rachel (sp?) found one, she went over to look at it and that when she realized that they were imbedded in the rock. She mentioned that she realized that they could have a flat bottom. I think she meant that she had assumed that the coins would make the rocks uneven. 
 

While I don’t want Arun and Natalia to win, if they do it isn’t going to be a huge disappointment. They do seem to be perfectly fine people. There have been teams in the past that I’ve cheered when eliminated (Weavers) and that won’t happen here for me. 

[Skyfall]

On 2/23/2022 at 10:49 PM, aemom said:

If I had been the last one there, I would have started throwing the rocks into piles after checking to have a better sense of which ones I had already done. 

The fact none of this happened makes me wonder if there were rules against it.

[DEL901]

54 minutes ago, Skyfall said:

The fact none of this happened makes me wonder if there were rules against it.

Someone posted upthread that this was the case. 

[Seelouis]

4 hours ago, Skyfall said:

The fact none of this happened makes me wonder if there were rules against it.

It was. Kim and Penn said in their podcast that the clue said you had to put each rock exactly back as you found it after looking under it. 

[Ducky]

On 2/24/2022 at 12:33 AM, ByaNose said:

Also, I think his hooting and hollering when he’s not even in first is so annoying. I don’t hate him but Ryan has hardly talked this whole season and it’s been all about Dusty. I know he is well liked by the cast but he’s so OTT with his reaction(s). 

  Came here wondering if I was the only one not being a fan of Dusty/Ryan (Mainly Dusty- now that I know which one does the howling/hooting/screaming)....10x worse when you have a pair of hearing aids that amplifies sounds- loudly. Ouch.

I also think there's quite a bit of KF going on and it's noticeable in all the teams more so with Arun/Natalia. They seem to bicker more than outright fighting each other though.

[grandmabegum]

I was actually glad to see Dusty hooting and hollering after finding the rock last. Before I thought he was doing it to gloat and now I think that he just does it cause he's excited. He's not boasting that he's the best, he's celebrating that he accomplished the task at hand.

[Shermie]

On 2/26/2022 at 1:14 PM, Zonk said:

 

On 2/25/2022 at 11:06 PM, Shermie said:

I like needle in a haystack challenges because they are unpredictable. Just because a team arrives last doesn’t mean they’re last to find the thing. As for it being luck only, no skill, I’d disagree somewhat. If the stone flippers were more methodical, they might have found the coin faster. As others have mentioned, separate the stones you checked from the ones you didn’t and don’t randomly grab stones and turn them over. There is some skill involved in finding a needle in a haystack.

How fun. Why don't we let them flip a coin at the starting line and the losing team goes home? That's certainly unpredictable and would shake things up.

 

 

Well, there’s not much racing skill in bungee jumping or zip lining or dancing or eating a bowl of foreign food or many other activities that have been done on TAR in the past. There’s more to this show than just moving the quickest from point A to point B. That’s called track and field.

[kili]

Quote

They did get money in the pre covid legs. Not sure if they still get money. If they do, probably not much. I miss the "you have X dollars for this leg of the race"-info in general, but I guess at some point, many years ago, production decided that it wasn't important.

It was important in the early seasons and contestants had to carefully manage their money. At times, they had to make a decision between taking a cab or transit or walking between sites. Sometimes, paying the cab became an issue (including in the final leg).

At one point, the show would even take all your money if you finished last and that, unfortunately, taught teams to beg. Eventually, it wasn't just the "saved-but-robbed" team begging, many of the teams started begging just so they would have extra funds for later if needed.

It was a very bad look. People on a television show to win $1M begging in countries with major poverty issues was hard to watch. Also, watching those same contestants stiff impoverished cabbies was also not very attractive (the show did introduce a rule that cabbies had to be paid, but that led to them begging for a discount or begging for money). 

Money use was an interesting strategy aspect of the game, but begging is not. They could ban begging, but what do they do if one or more teams run out of money mid-leg? Eliminate them? Best to just take that aspect out of the game.

Those rocks looked so brutal. It must have felt like they were in a BBQ. You have to squat or go on your hands and knees, because it's tough to efficiently sit down and search. It's circular and you can't mark anything, so grids are tough to mentally maintain. The rocks are heavy and hard on your hands. It's easy to turn an ankle on the rocks. Ugh. I always cringe when I see these needle-in-a-haystack challenges after the hay bail and red bean challenges. I would definitely be breaking plates after that challenge.

 

[Lakebum]

On 2/25/2022 at 12:51 PM, Netfoot said:

That was one of the original "Magnificent Seven" seasons. After which came Ma Weaver.

Well now I'm going to have nightmares about the Weavers. Which is not a suitable replacement for the nightmares about flipping rocks for hours.

[chaifan]

11 hours ago, kili said:

Money use was an interesting strategy aspect of the game, but begging is not. They could ban begging, but what do they do if one or more teams run out of money mid-leg? Eliminate them? Best to just take that aspect out of the game.

Those rocks looked so brutal. It must have felt like they were in a BBQ. You have to squat or go on your hands and knees, because it's tough to efficiently sit down and search. It's circular and you can't mark anything, so grids are tough to mentally maintain.

@kili, nice summary of the history of the money element of the Race.  From the start, I always thought the limited funds was a bad look for the show.  Interviews from the early seasons had racers talking about barely eating during the day to save funds.  Then with the begging for money... ugh.  I could never figure out how everyone in production could be so tone deaf.  The money element is mostly gone, but I'd be happy to see it completely disappear.

I'm glad that Kim & Penn revealed that racers were prohibited from moving the rocks.  That is something that they should have aired when the racers were reading the clues.  I don't know why the show would rather have viewers thinking racers were just stupid for not piling them or moving them in any way.  I wonder if there was any prohibition from marking the ground (scratch marks on the surface) or using a personal item (hair clip, pen, shoe lace, etc.) as a marker. 

[ProfCrash]

The rules said no moving or marking the stones. 

I don't think the racers are stupid when they don't do something that is obvious, I assume that there is a rule preventing them from doing to obvious. There is no good reason for Racers to carry their backpacks unless they are told that they have to. There is no reason to not look for a way to mark the stones unless you are told not to. 

Kim and Penn have said that they are fed when they are at the Pit Stops so that they are not worried about food during the Race. Arun and Natalia and Kim and Penn had mentioned that their packs originally had granola bars/protein bars in them but they did not bring them when the Race restarted because they didn't need them. Essentially, they are fed well enough and the legs this season are short enough that people don't think they need to buy food. They are flying on a private plane and don't know where they are going so they cannot buy books or maps at the airport. Outside of needing money for tolls and gas, I don't know why they are getting money this season. They could give the crew with each team a credit card to handle gas and tolls this season and be done with it.

Back to the stones. I can see a desire for moving or marking the stones but I can also see a downside. 

Kim and Penn got there 45 minutes ahead of Raquel and Cayla. Had Kim moved stones, she makes the search easier for herself but also Cayla. Dusty and Ryan showed up 30 minutes after Cayla and Raquel. Had Raquel and Kim being removing stones, it is far easier for Dusty. Arun and Natalia arrived 10 minutes after Dusty and Ryan. 

So moving or marking the stones makes it easier for you but it makes it easier for the other teams as well. 

It could also mean that someone misses a coin in the stone and moves the rock with a coin aside because they missed it. Which then screws over another team because it is no longer in the theatre floor. Or a team intentionally moves rocks with coins so that it is harder for other teams but know where they are so they can find the fourth one and take off after screwing over the other teams. 

[KittyMom4]

On 2/24/2022 at 6:09 PM, ProfCrash said:

I get that Penn is not everyones cup of tea but they seem to be a pretty good fit to me. They seem to understand that marriage is hard and work at making it work. I think that Kim is fine with Penn and Penn is fine with Kim. 

They are my favorite team. How many couples have we seen where one partner is outright nasty, belittling and rude to the other? These two display such respect and solid support to one another, it's truly refreshing. They both seem comfortable with each other's 'faults', she is patient with him, he is sympathetic to her. 

[proserpina65]

 

On 2/25/2022 at 4:33 PM, Zonk said:

You can't edit something that isn't there.

But you can edit to overemphasize something, which is how I view this.

Thanks to the person who posted the info from K&P's podcast about not being allowed to mark/pile up discarded rocks.  I'd assumed there had to be a rule against that or they'd have been doing it, but having that confirmed helps.

[survivinmt]

I will love Amazing Race no matter what. I don't mind a needle in a haystack challenge now and then. I always think there should be more tasks where less fit people (such as myself) could do well. I like when well-rounded teams win - like the candy scientists: they weren't ripped or geniuses or super competitive. They just held it together and kept going.