S34.E06: Step by Step

[Whimsy]

Quote

A shocking elimination takes place while teams continue their Jordanian journey in the “white city.” Teams take part in a traditional folk dance and learn the Arabic alphabet.

original airdate 10/26/22

[Guest]

Abby and Will 😢

Still a very pleasant group of racers to watch.

Quinton randomly winking at Mattie at the Roadblock 😆

Not much more to say except that the sisters' alphabet instructor was suuuuper cute.

[InDueTime]

Abby and Will weren't my favorite team, but I felt bad that they had to leave that way. Damn it, Covid! 

I liked that both Detour tasks appeared to share equal amounts of difficulty.

At this point, there's some teams I'm rooting for more than others, but there's no one I actively dislike. It makes for a more enjoyable season for me.

Lumumba motivating Glenda was great to watch. A certain eliminated team should take notes.

[Grizzly]

4 minutes ago, tracyscott76 said:

Abby and Will 😢

Quinton randomly winking at Mattie at the Roadblock 😆

I saw that. Quinton and Mattie act more like a dating couple than Derek and Claire. 

[MerBearHou]

8 minutes ago, Grizzly said:

Quinton and Mattie act more like a dating couple

I’ve been curious this entire time — are they a dating couple?  

[KeithJ]

Leaving 45 minutes after the first group really isn’t as bad as they make it sound.  You don’t have to catch the first group.  You only have to catch the group right in front of you.

[hjmugillecuty]

The Derek and Claire rolling R thing is cracking me up, cause I do have a condition that makes it so I can’t roll Rs. Funny that only the brothers realized they didn’t both have to do the whole alphabet.

[katalizt]

4 minutes ago, hjmugillecuty said:

The Derek and Claire rolling R thing is cracking me up, cause I do have a condition that makes it so I can’t roll Rs. Funny that only the brothers realized they didn’t both have to do the whole alphabet.

Derek and his R's annoyed me, because he kept comparing it to Spanish but it wasn't the same sound at all. I don't speak Arabic but what Claire said made sense, they had to do a throaty R, not a tongue-rolling R like in Spanish.

I thought the brothers would never get out of there until they realized they could split it up.

[Jodithgrace]

45 minutes is really nothing. In the pre-Covid era of the show, flights would sometimes leave an hour or two apart, and teams really had to fight to make up that time. 45 minutes is one slow roadblock by the team ahead of you. 
My daughter knows a little Arabic (her husband is Jordanian) so I have to ask her how they manage a language with only consonants. I was impressed at how well the teams learned those letters. 
I got a kick out of the dancing instructor. “Stop bouncing. Do not bounce at all!” 

[lgprimes]

I don’t get the COVID elimination. That couple had been racing with all the other teams the prior task. So all those teams had been exposed to them, no? Which means ALL of them should have quarantined for awhile.. you are most contagious early on. By the time they were done isolating, the eliminated team, if they felt well, could be ready to race again. Just seems odd to me that all the other teams were allowed to continue and potential spread COVID to the people they talked to along the way.

[Skooma]

54 minutes ago, Jodithgrace said:

 My daughter knows a little Arabic (her husband is Jordanian) so I have to ask her how they manage a language with only consonants.

There are vowels but they aren't letters.  They are markings over or under or beside a consonant which tell you which vowel sound follows a consonant. 

I don't know any Arabic but all northern Indian languages are like that too like Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali etc.  I learned a little Punjabi and less Hindi back in the day when I traveled to India several times and it seems a far better way to use vowel sounds since the marks tell you if say the "a" sound is long "a" (able), short "a" (about) or the "a" like in apple.  Because there are separate marks for each. 

By contrast a person learning English as a second language has to memorize the sound an "a" makes in every word containing it which is much harder.

PS:  For those wondering like probably no one at this point ... If a vowel begins a word there is an "empty" non-letter called a "vowel bearer" in these languages which is just there to stick the marks above, below or to the side of and has no sound of it's own.

Edited October 27, 2022 by Skooma

[mertensia]

This was fun.

Everyone remembering and mentioning how the one twin tore through the Ducati task made me smile.

That old amphitheater was impressive!

[aghst]

All the dancer teams are great.  But the dancing tasks give them an advantage though it was different than anything they encountered.  But they seemed to relish doing something new to them.

There are no teams to root against, at least so far.

There were maybe a couple of carts which could actually be rolled with the stuff they were suppose to cart?  But maybe none would hold up to them trying to sprint to the finish.

Big challenge for all of them was to flag down anyone who could speak English, usually Caucasian tourists whom they assumed spoke English, to borrow their phones.

So they can’t have phones but they just borrowed phones from bystanders.  They just have to use GPS on other people’s devices, not their own.

[Fake Jan Brady]

7 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

I’ve been curious this entire time — are they a dating couple?  

Unlikely that Mattie is Quinton's type.

Sad for Abby and Will but that was a fairer result than in the latest TAR Australia where the covid positive teams were put into isolation for several legs and got to rejoin the race after several covid negative teams had been eliminated in the meantime. 

Edited October 27, 2022 by Fake Jan Brady

[aradia22]

Well, that was another kind of boring episode. Jordan was a bit of a letdown. I think it was the race/challenge design. Except for Glenda and Lumumba getting stuck at dancing, everyone really bunched up this leg, without the excuse of it being the first half of a megaleg. The fact that teams could just run past the pit stop and easily circle back after the roadblock? Meh.

I guess that answers the question of what happens if people have a positive covid test. Sucks for them. Can't say they should have done anything differently unless they were wildly irresponsible in a way we didn't see. Just bad luck, I guess, crossing paths with someone carrying the virus. I did notice the teams all wearing their masks more often this episode. 

It was very awkward how the locations were within walking distance but they had to keep asking random people for their phones or computers for directions. Did TPTB not give anyone a map? It's not really navigation if you can run there. Just give them a simple map. Dumb.

The dance did not seem that complicated compared to the other dance they had to do in Austria. At least, it seemed more like walking (so it would have been fine for less athletic teams) but you still had to memorize the choreography. I can't do that so I would have gone with the alphabet task. Marcus and Michael were smart to realize they really only had to each memorize half of the letters. When you cut it down to just 14 monosyllabic letters, pronunciation is really the tough part. I don't know if the other instructors were harsh or if the other teams were just struggling, but I found Emily and Molly's instructor really cute and encouraging. I know they were just teaching grown adults the alphabet but she seemed to be the best teacher. Derek sounded like a wookie.

The park with the carts seemed poorly set up. Was there any yellow and red signage? tbh, before teams starting showing up, it just looked like garbage. I would have been wary about just wandering around and touching things until I saw anything with TAR signage. 

Quinton taking a second to wink was adorable. They're a likable team but we see so little of them compared to the others because of their placement. And yet they seem to do well at tasks (so we're rarely watching them repeat things over and over). 

It was crazy that Luis' cart was falling apart but he could still leave the roadblock and they still made it to the pit stop first. On the other hand, Michael was way too much of a perfectionist with his cart to lose their lead like that. I hope the military brothers aren't losing steam. 

I did find it very sweet when Lumumba told Glenda something like 'you're not a failure because you're struggling.' The good thing about the early elimination is at least they were still in it and could find the patience to finish the leg. We'll see how bad the 45 minute delay hurts them. Apparently they're already going back to Europe? I'm hoping for more driving/self-navigation. 

Is anyone going to take a look at Emily's leg?

[aradia22]

Quote

Now I'm getting annoyed with Derek. His comment about the grease on Claire's face and no one else has grease on their face didn't sit well with me.

From the live chat thread. I've been noticing for a while how he keeps undermining her. It's always little comments that don't seem malicious but... Like her fall at the mat last episode. 

[mojoween]

I feel really badly, because they absolutely feel like someone I would find a delight to be around IRL, but as soon as Phil explained how the surprise non-elim was going to go I automatically assumed Glenda and Lumumba were going to be the last team.

And I feel her, to get to a dancing task first and then immediately be followed in by professional dancers.

Agree with so many that there really isn’t anyone unlikeable.  First place guy appears to be leaning towards possibly over-cocky, but right now he’s still funny.

[chaifan]

When Phil first started talking about a missing team, I thought the team that someone found the screenshot of with the cell phone at the mat last episode was eliminated for violating the cell phone rule.  Then to find out it was a covid thing...  ugh.  I have to wonder if they delayed the rest of the race by a day or two to allow for additional testing of the rest of the team, crew, Phil, etc., as that would yield the best results.  Though I'm sure that would cause cascading delay issues, so probably not.  People were criticizing some of the teams last episode for wearing masks, even while in cars, but now we know why - getting covid means elimination.  I'd be masked 24/7 if that were the case.  I'm surprised more racers weren't more careful up until now.  I was actually surprised with the amount of public interaction they had this episode. 

I wish Phil hadn't announced the leg as an NEL at the beginning, though.  I think that took pressure off of everyone, knowing they wouldn't be eliminated.  Yeah, a 45 minute delay sucks, but it's nothing as far as the history of TAR is concerned. 

I loved this episode, though.  Racing through Amman was great, the tasks were all good and interesting, great scenery/locations.  We learned a little about Arabic.  I never knew the thing about the vowels.  And I agree with others, I like all the teams.  I'm rooting for the twins for the win, but there's no one am rooting for elimination. 

[RockShrimp]

10 hours ago, katalizt said:

Derek and his R's annoyed me, because he kept comparing it to Spanish but it wasn't the same sound at all. I don't speak Arabic but what Claire said made sense, they had to do a throaty R, not a tongue-rolling R like in Spanish.

I thought the brothers would never get out of there until they realized they could split it up.

Exactly, it's a guttural/glottal thing not a rolling R!

since the last two teams left I am liking everyone. We'll see what happens once killer fatigue sets in but I love how no one really seems like an asshole and they seem to really like each other - BUT aren't teaming up and are running their own races. Lumumba made me tear up a bit, both with his initial "how can I support you," his actual support and just everything in general. (He also reminded me of all the insecure short dudes who thought I owed it to them to date them when I was younger because I'm shorter than them and how height has nothing to do with why girls didn't like them)

Edited October 27, 2022 by RockShrimp

[Guest]

47 minutes ago, mojoween said:

Agree with so many that there really isn’t anyone unlikeable.  First place guy appears to be leaning towards possibly over-cocky, but right now he’s still funny.

I feel like Luis is performing a bit at times, but yeah, he's fine. My brain is telling me I shouldn't like him, but I have no problem with him or Michelle. When they left the Roadblock in first place and their cart immediately started falling apart - how many past teams have there been who, in that situation, would have descended into a cacophony of yelling, passive-aggressiveness, and recriminations. But Luis and Michelle were just like "oh damn, guess we've gotta fix this", and they did it with a minimum of fuss and still finished in first place.

And the kicker is that, I feel like most if not all of the remaining teams this season (and Abby and Will as well *sniff*) would have done the exact same thing. Aubrey maybe might have freaked out a bit, but that's it. The rest would be all "oop, that happened."

[Skooma]

12 hours ago, aghst said:

So they can’t have phones but they just borrowed phones from bystanders.  They just have to use GPS on other people’s devices, not their own.

Been that way since Season 1 when Rob & Brennan were the first team to officially borrow a person's cell phone.  Well except back then the US military hadn't released GPS technology access to the world's general public to use.

By Season 2 everyone was asking to borrow their taxi driver's cell to try and make flight reservations before they got to the airport physically and Blake & Paige used some of their travel money at an internet cafe to google a bunch of possible locations ahead of time overnight in New Zealand so they could read up on them in advance just in case. 

Technology has always been used but you have to NOT have it handed to you on a silver platter as in carrying it with you.  You have to interact with the local people and/or pay for access with your limited funds.  Interacting with the locals is I believe part of the goal of TAR as in opening up the world more for the viewer.  Far more interesting than just Racers staring at their own "screens" and avoiding contact with locals.

Quote

Now I'm getting annoyed with Derek. His comment about the grease on Claire's face and no one else has grease on their face didn't sit well with me.

And I thought it was sweet that he noticed and chuckled about it.  It was pretty endearing to me.

Edited October 27, 2022 by Skooma

[shura]

3 hours ago, aradia22 said:

The park with the carts seemed poorly set up. Was there any yellow and red signage? tbh, before teams starting showing up, it just looked like garbage. I would have been wary about just wandering around and touching things until I saw anything with TAR signage.

Remember that team in Chile painting some random house thinking it was a TAR task? Yes, better be sure. And this park didn’t really look like a park either. I think that’s what gave the military brothers trouble, they were looking for something green and couldn’t find it.

1 hour ago, chaifan said:

I wish Phil hadn't announced the leg as an NEL at the beginning, though.  I think that took pressure off of everyone, knowing they wouldn't be eliminated.  Yeah, a 45 minute delay sucks, but it's nothing as far as the history of TAR is concerned. 

I agree, it made for a relatively relaxed leg. I am guessing they are going to start the next leg after flying to their next country? Because if they start 45 minutes behind while they are still in Jordan, then it’s absolutely meaningless because they will all be on the same plane out of Jordan anyway.

15 minutes ago, Skooma said:

And I thought it was sweet that he noticed and chuckled about it.  It was pretty endearing to me.

Same here. I took it as a comment on how hard-working and into-the-task she is.

[iMonrey]

I think Jordan has been amazing. That ancient colosseum was awesome. 

The brothers were smart to split the alphabet in half. I can't believe they were the only team to figure that out. And putting that cart together looked pretty hard. I wouldn't have wanted to attempt it. Lots of placement shake-ups too. Luis and Michelle were the only ones to remain in the same spot as the last leg. Aubrey and David rose from 8th to 2nd.

I agree there is no one to root against at this point, although I wouldn't mind either Luis and Michelle or Aubrey and David going next. I still find them fairly interchangeable. 

Quote

I don’t get the COVID elimination. That couple had been racing with all the other teams the prior task. So all those teams had been exposed to them, no? 

They are in a precarious situation with Covid, the only practical standard is a positive or negative test. It's unfortunate, because it's possible to have a false positive, and Abby and Will might even be asymptomatic. But the test is really the only thing they have to go by.

I really liked Abby and Will. They were cute and they looked so sad on the phone call. 

[seacliffsal]

I am sorry that Will and Abby are out, but in reality I didn't feel like I knew a lot of the teams prior to this episode as the drama queens (Dom and Sharika) took all of the available air time (I still like their teammates though).  

I don't understand why they didn't stagger the departure times at the start of this leg.  Phil can make his announcement and then have the teams just wait there until it's time for them to depart.  There really wasn't much tension in this episode as we knew from the beginning that everyone would continue after this leg.  And, "45 minutes behind the first group" is really nothing in the world of The Amazing Race.  I guess the days of teams being hours and hours behind are over.

Loved the Roman amphitheater-it's one of the best preserved ones that I have seen.  All of the Jordanians seemed friendly and helpful.  It was delightful to watch the dancing-even the musicians were smiling ear to ear.

Oh, and Dom and Rich? Right here in this episode you had a real solid example of motivating someone else in watching Lumumba encourage Glenda.

[eel21788]

8 hours ago, RockShrimp said:

(He also reminded me of all the insecure short dudes who thought I owed it to them to date them when I was younger because I'm shorter than them and how height has nothing to do with why girls didn't like them)

I had the same experience. If he was even an inch taller than me, the first thought on his mind was, "She's shorter than me. I must dominate her! I have so few other opportunities in life."

Edited October 27, 2022 by eel21788

[aghst]

1 hour ago, seacliffsal said:

I

Loved the Roman amphitheater-it's one of the best preserved ones that I have seen.  All of the Jordanians seemed friendly and helpful.  It was delightful to watch the dancing-even the musicians were smiling ear to ear.

Don't know about that one but some places will rebuild antiquity ruins.

[RunningMarket]

I know in reality he's likely off elsewhere, but it would have been hysterical for the teams who found the Pit Stop early to catch Phil sitting there, mowing down on a sandwich.

They did not make the cart task easy to find for the first team - after that, subsequent teams would see the others there.

Definitely noticed suddenly all the teams were wearing masks a lot more.

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, RunningMarket said:

I know in reality he's likely off elsewhere, but it would have been hysterical for the teams who found the Pit Stop early to catch Phil sitting there, mowing down on a sandwich.

[DEL901]

1 hour ago, aghst said:

Don't know about that one but some places will rebuild antiquity ruins.

Slightly off topic…many years ago I visited Egypt.  At one of the sites south of Cairo, the archway and wall were clearly patched in places, not rebuilt, just repaired for safety.   The guide was offended that we thought this was Egyptian work. “Shoddy Roman copy.  Not even 2,000 years old and we had to patch it”.    True story.  

[Fukui San]

In many other seasons of reality shows, a contestant leaving due to illness or injury might result in the last eliminated competitor getting back into the competition, and I'm glad that didn't happen in this case! It happened just last season of TAR after the Covid pause.

BTW, currently Cate Blanchett is starring in an Oscar bait movie called Tár, which is her character's last name. Seeing that movie title always makes me momentarily think that Cate Blanchett is running in The Amazing Race.

Edited October 27, 2022 by Fukui San

[Grizzly]

If more teams had chosen Alphabet, I think I could recite it in Arabic. Which would be cool.

[Hera]

14 hours ago, mertensia said:

Everyone remembering and mentioning how the one twin tore through the Ducati task made me smile.

Me too: "I hope Emily isn't doing this one…oh thank goodness, she's not!" I'm not sure how Luis passed that check only to have his cart immediately fall apart. It makes you wonder what was being checked. On the other hand, I kind of liked that a poorly built cart was its own punishment.

9 hours ago, Fake Jan Brady said:

Sad for Abby and Will but that was a fairer result than in the latest TAR Australia where the covid positive teams were put into isolation for several legs and got to rejoin the race after several covid negative teams had been eliminated in the meantime. 

Wow. I don't watch TAR Australia, but I agree that's incredibly unfair. As for Abby and Will, I suppose they can join the three teams who couldn't come back for the restart last season on a future Second Chances season.

I liked this leg. I also feel like the field of racers is fairly evenly matched when it comes to skills. They all started at the same time, but the teams who had previously been the front-runners (the two sibling teams) are at the back of the pack. Granted, I don't think there was a ton of time separating any of the teams who finished ahead of Glenda and Lumumba, but that's really just more evidence that the teams are evenly matched this season. It's a nice change of pace. Usually by this point in the season, there are at least two teams who are basically locks for the final three, just based on where they've been finishing on each leg. This season, not so much.

[PurpleTentacle]

16 hours ago, Jodithgrace said:

45 minutes is really nothing. In the pre-Covid era of the show, flights would sometimes leave an hour or two apart, and teams really had to fight to make up that time. 45 minutes is one slow roadblock by the team ahead of you. 

But classic TAR also had way longer legs, that gave a lot more opportunity to catch up. At this point it's like two hours and they are done.

17 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

I’ve been curious this entire time — are they a dating couple?  

Gurl, he gay.

[iMonrey]

Looking back, it did strike me that Abby and Will didn't seem to be getting a lot of screen time. Which was unusual given their demographic desirability. Now it all makes sense.

[Yogisbooboo64]

7 hours ago, Skooma said:

And I thought it was sweet that Derek noticed and chuckled about it.  It was pretty endearing to me.

Me too!  He's like Mr. Yogi, who busts my balls on a regular basis but I bust his right back.

Luis is cocky but it is a cute way....Michael and Marcus though?  I can't stand their cockiness because they are assholey about it.  I hope they get eliminated soon.

1 hour ago, PurpleTentacle said:

Gurl, he gay.

Ki-ki of the day!  When I read some of the posts thinking he was straight I was like what-the-what-now?  Even Stevie Wonder knew.

Lumumba was sweet to Glenda but girl, you were wasting minutes by whining!  Still like them though.

[LilyP]

My fear when Phil announced a team was out due to COVID was that they'd bring back the complainer and her dad. Thank goodness they didn't.

All I kept thinking during this show was how friendly and into the whole thing the Jordanian people at the tasks were. Absolutely lovely. I also loved how positive and encouraging Phil was to Glenda and Lumumba.

[Netfoot]

17 hours ago, lgprimes said:

I don’t get the COVID elimination. That couple had been racing with all the other teams the prior task. So all those teams had been exposed to them, no? Which means ALL of them should have quarantined for awhile.. you are most contagious early on. By the time they were done isolating, the eliminated team, if they felt well, could be ready to race again. Just seems odd to me that all the other teams were allowed to continue and potential spread COVID to the people they talked to along the way.

I presume they are all tested at the end of every leg, or on some regular schedule. The whole lot would have been tested and only one team was eliminated because only one team was positive. This implies that the others tested negative. Not sure how you justify eliminating a team for COVID when they have just been tested and are clear!

[PurpleTentacle]

2 minutes ago, Netfoot said:

I presume they are all tested at the end of every leg, or on some regular schedule. The whole lot would have been tested and only one team was eliminated because only one team was positive. This implies that the others tested negative. Not sure how you justify eliminating a team for COVID when they have just been tested and are clear!

Nobody said to eliminate the rest, just to put all teams into quarantine and resume the race after that is over.

How could you justify that? Well an infection can take a few days before it can be detected by quick-tests (I doubt they PCR-test on the race). That should be public knowledge after more than two years of the pandemic.

I don't know if that would have been a good decision, considering these are all young(ish) people who have been vaccinated multiple times. But it's not exactly a ridiculous proposition.

[aradia22]

Quote

People were criticizing some of the teams last episode for wearing masks, even while in cars, but now we know why - getting covid means elimination.  I'd be masked 24/7 if that were the case.  I'm surprised more racers weren't more careful up until now.  I was actually surprised with the amount of public interaction they had this episode. 

If everything was in walking distance, perhaps even a shorter walk than when they were wandering around Florence delivering food/looking at the fashion shoots then they really should have given them maps. Like a basic map with the path outlined. Because navigation was not a big part of this leg and only giving them the location names meant a lot more interaction with people asking for directions.

Quote

And I thought it was sweet that he noticed and chuckled about it.  It was pretty endearing to me.

I don't think it would be bothering me if it didn't seem like a pattern. He joked when she fell last week (not seeming to check on her or comfort her at all first). It goes back to yodeling and her being tone-deaf. If she's self-critical, he agrees a little too much, and otherwise he makes unnecessary jabs. I don't think he's the worst person ever but he likes to joke at her expense and he's nowhere near as meaningfully encouraging as other race partners. Claire can be dry and sarcastic herself (though it never seems pointed at anyone else) so maybe she doesn't mind, but it bothers me.

Quote

But classic TAR also had way longer legs, that gave a lot more opportunity to catch up. At this point it's like two hours and they are done.

Yeah, given the tasks lately, 45 minutes could have a big impact. Though I'm hoping France will mean more self-navigation that puts some room between the teams.

[aghst]

45 minutes ago, PurpleTentacle said:

Nobody said to eliminate the rest, just to put all teams into quarantine and resume the race after that is over.

How could you justify that? Well an infection can take a few days before it can be detected by quick-tests (I doubt they PCR-test on the race). That should be public knowledge after more than two years of the pandemic.

I don't know if that would have been a good decision, considering these are all young(ish) people who have been vaccinated multiple times. But it's not exactly a ridiculous proposition.

If they have to quarantine for any number of days, it probably disrupts their shooting schedule and all the tasks they'd set up, including the people they hired, cars, camera crews, etc.

If all or most of the teams test positive and had to quarantine, they might make allowances and delay the schedule.  But for just one team they probably weren't going to modify their schedule.

[DEL901]

49 minutes ago, PurpleTentacle said:

Nobody said to eliminate the rest, just to put all teams into quarantine and resume the race after that is over.

How could you justify that? Well an infection can take a few days before it can be detected by quick-tests (I doubt they PCR-test on the race). That should be public knowledge after more than two years of the pandemic.

I don't know if that would have been a good decision, considering these are all young(ish) people who have been vaccinated multiple times. But it's not exactly a ridiculous proposition.

Thing is, they are working to a schedule.  They can’t pause the race without rescheduling tasks like dominoes which likely wouldn’t always be possible. 

[Meowwww]

My opinions, which no one asked for 😍

Suddenly I am a fan of Glenda and Lumumba.  Something in this ep did it for me…couldn’t stand them before. 
Echoing the poster(s) above wondering about medical attention to the twin’s leg!! 
I couldn’t stand the guy who can’t roll his r’s.  He stands around flapping his arms and all useless.  Has he even done a challenge?  Even in this alphabet one he was a special snowflake who needed help.  Ugh. 
And to the other posters who were talking about being short and short men: I’ve been 6’ tall since junior high (I’m a woman). I’m from Minnesota so lots of Scandinavian tall people there.  But man, short men loved me.  I’m old and fat now and married to a tall man….but in my teens and 20s, short men loved me lol. 
 

[Haleth]

“You look hot.”

”Thank you.”

”No, you look hot.”

LOL  The dance looked hard.  The alphabet looked hard.  Good for the brothers for splitting the task.

Sorry about the Covid kids.  I’m surprised more teams don’t come down with it.  I hope Abby and Will get to run in a future race if they want.

The ruins all around the city are incredible.

[vousviou]

One feature I liked was how the quality of the job done on the last challenge affected how fast you could get to the finish, and I'd really like to see variations on that more often. I think the straight sprint tends to be pretty dull, and it would be good to add in a bit more skill factor.

[Katviv]

I am enjoying the teams very much, they seem positive and upbeat and (mostly) likeable. However…could someone please explain why all of the women wear nothing but spandex bottoms? Not at all flattering, somewhat vulgar in some instances even. I just don’t get it, and am frankly sick of looking at it!

[chaifan]

A fun twist for Covid teams would be to bring back an eliminated team, but for that leg only.  A pinch-hitter type of situation.  I'm assuming eliminated teams are still kept in some "elimination station".  Have one or two eliminated teams travel along with the rest of the teams (or have them close by), and randomly select one to fill in for a team waylaid by covid.  If they lose the leg, the original team is eliminated.  But to keep them incentivized, if they win the leg, they get to keep the prize.  They step out and go back to elimination station when the regular team is cleared.  Have this in place until the final 5 or 4 teams.

Yeah, I know, it would never work.  But it's fun to think about. 

[DEL901]

9 minutes ago, Katviv said:

I am enjoying the teams very much, they seem positive and upbeat and (mostly) likeable. However…could someone please explain why all of the women wear nothing but spandex bottoms? Not at all flattering, somewhat vulgar in some instances even. I just don’t get it, and am frankly sick of looking at it!

Comfort. 

[ML89]

Luis saying there were no IKEA instructions for the cart building… Me: It’s a Great British Baking Show technical challenge. Luis reminds me of some actor, maybe one of the secondary partners on Castle? 

Okay, so, did Arab traders bring bagpipes to Scotland or is this one of those “every culture makes dumpling like food” concepts? 

I like pretty much everyone left, which is pretty amazing. 

[Guest]

51 minutes ago, Katviv said:

I am enjoying the teams very much, they seem positive and upbeat and (mostly) likeable. However…could someone please explain why all of the women wear nothing but spandex bottoms? Not at all flattering, somewhat vulgar in some instances even. I just don’t get it, and am frankly sick of looking at it!

Whether or not it's flattering is I suppose in the eye of the beholder, but the vulgar part I don't quite get. Form fitting, yes, but no more so than the tight shirts some of the guys are wearing. Are women's butts inherently more vulgar than guys' pecs?

[Tango64]

Lumumba’s pep talk to his wife was just perfect. Sincere, uplifting, reassuring, without adding pressure. 
I was so impressed that I’m not going to call him Kevin Hart anymore. (And I was the first. 😉)

Edited October 28, 2022 by Tango64
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