S25: Amy & Maya

[Donny Ketchum]

Hi.  We're food scientists who mainly work with candy, as well as other desserts.

 

They look like real sweeties.  No pun intended.  Heh.  Could go a fair distance if they play their cards right.

Edited August 28, 2014 by Donny Ketchum

[Donny Ketchum]

Quietly competent so far.  Good show by Amy to know how to work angles, being a scientist.  Hoping they keep doing well.  And I liked her looking up quizzically at Adam when Lisa said the sun rises in the west and sets in the east.

 

I had these girls pegged as my favorites from their pre-race videos, so I hope they give me a reason to keep saying that about them!

Edited September 27, 2014 by Donny Ketchum

[hula-la]

My dream career is to be a food scientist, so they will be my favourite team. 

[Donny Ketchum]

What do "food scientists" do, exactly?  I know they sort of explained it in their opening interview, but I'm still not completely clear on it.

[Babalu]

They're my favorite team because Maya and I went to the same college (many years apart), so I was glad to find that I like them personally. Hope they do well. (Have been staying away from spoilers this season.)

[QuelleC]

I like them too but they worried me a little when one of them was proud of herself for figuring out the compass yet they're scientists?  I get it that it was an unusual compass but they may have to make up for brawn with brains. 

[TudorQueen]

They're cute, smart, competent, seem to have a sense of humor... yeah, I like them a lot so far.

[aradia22]

All female team of scientists going for their Ph.D's? Of course I'm going to root for them unless they're absolutely horrible. I get that a lot of where people landed this episode had to do with just running around and conveniently having good cab drivers etc. so I hope they start making their way to the front of the pack soon and stay there. It would also be nice to see more mental challenges this season where they can shine. 

[Donny Ketchum]

I think the Roadblock determined some placements, too.  Amy definitely rocked it by being better at measuring angles than most of the others.

[Donny Ketchum]

Mostly silent this week.  Most we heard from them was when Amy gave Bethany a pair of her shoes (good for her generosity!) and when they talked about how they were staying calm and attentive to clear About-Face.  Oh, and Amy almost ramming Maya against a tree while on the punts.  Not their best leg, but their lack of physicality at the punts was more to blame for their lower placement as compared to their performance at the Detour.

 

Of the teams left, I think they're still my favorite.  Their quiet competence is pretty much what draws me to them, despite their near-invisibility.

[aradia22]

Yeah, we didn't see much of them this episode but it's cute that either Amy or Maya was in marching band and that either Amy or Maya told another team "Don't give up, guys" as they finished the punting task.

[Donny Ketchum]

Yeah, we didn't see much of them this episode but it's cute that either Amy or Maya was in marching band and that either Amy or Maya told another team "Don't give up, guys" as they finished the punting task.

Amy (the white girl) was in a marching band.  Maya (the black girl) told Dennis & Isabelle not to give up.

Edited October 5, 2014 by Donny Ketchum

[Camera One]

Maya also added "not so fast that you  get a speeding ticket" to the taxi driver.  I really like their attitude.   With Dennis/Isabelle gone, this probably becomes my favorite team.

[Donny Ketchum]

Maya also added "not so fast that you  get a speeding ticket" to the taxi driver.  I really like their attitude.   With Dennis/Isabelle gone, this probably becomes my favorite team.

They've been mine from the beginning, and the compassion they showed Bethany, plus their good attitudes, has only kept that going.:)

Edited October 5, 2014 by Donny Ketchum

[Chyna]

This team has definitely taken the "Team You'd Most Like to Know in Real Life" slot. I hope they start getting more screen time.

[Donny Ketchum]

Gotta ask again.  What are food scientists?

[Camera One]

I'm assuming testing/researching how different types of processing, preservation, etc. can affect food quality and chemical content in foods?

[Donny Ketchum]

Never mind.  Someone please delete.

Edited October 11, 2014 by Donny Ketchum

[Donny Ketchum]

Ouch!  Pretty solid leg, figuring out the right way to cut the peat and then dominating with the sheep with no real problems, only to miss out on second because those guys gave you bad information about the medallion.

 

But I loved their reaction to the empty church, and I loved their reaction to at least coming in fifth even more!  Much better job this week, girls!  Hope you can keep up the good work, since you're still my favorites! :)

[Camera One]

I was really afraid they would end up being last since they were sent to the wrong place, but they didn't show how they got back on the right track.  Thank goodness!

[kaygeeret]

This team is being marginalized in my opinion and I LOVE them!

[Donny Ketchum]

This team is being marginalized in my opinion and I LOVE them!

Same here!  They are cute, funny, and adorable without being desperate to show it to the cameras.  And they're very competent at their tasks.  A higher finish this week might've come their way were it not for the damn construction guys.

 

Quiet competence earns them my seal of approval! :)

[aradia22]

I love that they didn't give up and figured out the peat task. They seemed to interact well with the animals, too. Maya telling the sheep to get into the pen in "an orderly fashion" was very cute. And it was nice to see them get lost but not defeated. They got to the church and didn't argue or freak out. They just refocused and apparently got to the pit stop shortly after that.

 

But I loved their reaction to the empty church, and I loved their reaction to at least coming in fifth even more!

I could easily see another team being upset or chiming in with "we'll do better next time" but they really won me over with their reaction.

[Donny Ketchum]

Good leg, girls!  Knocked Parking Space out of the park, keeping a close eye on the details, and Maya kept her cool as well as she could to clear that Roadblock!

 

But I wonder what the hell happened to them?  They left that Roadblock in second!  How'd they end up in fourth?  The editors really should've shown what happened there.

[TudorQueen]

I like that this leg showed them doing well, and having fun, knocking off tasks and supporting each other. They seem like terrific young women, the kind I'd like to know.

Edited October 18, 2014 by TudorQueen

[Camera One]

They were enjoyable as always, but I am worried about their navigation.  Twice in this episode, they were beaten to the next stop by teams that finished tasks after them.  Twice is unfortunately a pattern.  I hope they identified the problem so they could try to avoid it later in the race.

[Donny Ketchum]

They were actually only beaten once.  They finished the Detour well ahead of Brooke & Robbie, but got to the Roadblock right at the same time they were getting there.  It was only going to the Pit Stop when they were beaten.  They must've gotten lost long enough for Brooke & Robbie and Keith & Whitney to pass them up.

[BigWhiteBird]

I wish we could see more of these two ... except that more screentime is often a dark foreboding (elimination) shadow.  They seem to have a good attitude, look like they are enjoying themselves (and the locations), not to mention are quietly competent at the tasks.  

[Camera One]

They were actually only beaten once.  They finished the Detour well ahead of Brooke & Robbie, but got to the Roadblock right at the same time they were getting there.  

 

Good point.  Though I was focused on/worried about them losing time rather than whether they were literally "beaten" or not.  Same time meant Brooke & Robbie got there faster than them.

[Donny Ketchum]

Good point.  Though I was focused on/worried about them losing time rather than whether they were literally "beaten" or not.  Same time meant Brooke & Robbie got there faster than them.

Ah.  Then in that case, yeah, it must be their navigation.  That needs to be worked on if they expect to win this race.

[Camera One]

I just watched the bonus clips, and at the mat, Maya mentioned they seem to take longer than others to get to the task, but do well once they get there.  She didn't elaborate on possible reasons why, though.  They are such a likeable team and I enjoyed Maya's dancing at the mat in the clip, especially her Irish jig.  

[aradia22]

I enjoyed Maya's exuberance this episode. Maybe it's because she's little but it offends me less when she jumps on people (unlike the Afghanimals). And Amy wins the week with her Phil eyebrow at the mat.

[elychari]

They probably got lost finding the pit stop just like the surfers and momdaughter team.

[Chyna]

LOVE this team. I hope they can resolve their navigation issues because they are rocking the tasks.

[Tryangle]

I agree, Maya is just adorable. Haven't seen as much of Amy (well the eyebrow exchange with Phil was awesome) but this team is showing to be quite likable so far.

[Donny Ketchum]

A fair-sized drop for them, due mainly to the Detour.  Amy did the Roadblock decently enough, only getting lost coming back from the task.  And Maya should've realized that she needed to have Amy twirl her tassel from the get-go.  They're lucky that Keith & Whitney struggled even more with Twirl Time than they did and that they faced a U-Turn, or they would've been toast.

 

Get it together, girls!

[Camera One]

Their attitude is always wonderful, though they should have realized that they needed to switch who did the twirling hat earlier.  Amy getting lost with Tim also slowed them down a bit.  Glad they're still hanging in there.

[aradia22]

What happened to them? I can't really tell since they don't get involved in drama so when they're not at the front of the pack, I rarely know what's happening with them. I guess they just had some navigation issues. But generally seem to do well at the tasks. They seemed to get through the food cart thing relatively quickly and even though Maya? (God, I'm never going to sort this out) kept having her hat fall off they managed the drumming/tassel task well. They didn't fight with each other. They didn't throw tantrums. I think the issue might have been all her hair plus those headbands. She had a lot more volume under her hat than most of the other racers. 

[Donny Ketchum]

This is probably the most screen time they've gotten so far.  And what they got wasn't too good.  At least it confirms what we've been suspecting: that they're just not good with directions.  They do their tasks amazingly, but suffer when it comes from actually getting from task to task.  They could've notched fifth place if they hadn't missed that turn to the Roadblock that Brooke & Robbie saw right in front of them.  Instead, sixth place is their finish.

 

Like they said, they've gotta get it together with the navigation, or they're in deep mud on the future legs.

 

On a side note, anyone else that Amy has a rather hunched-over way of running sometimes?

[aradia22]

Yay! I'm so happy they made it through another week. Maya is totally adorbs. I would love it if they dominated a little more but they seem to have major navigation issues. Do they just have bad luck asking locals for directions? Is it them? I don't know. I love that Maya speaks French... though one time it seemed like she was counting in Spanish. I was so nervous for them when they couldn't find the hay. They seem to do well at the actual tasks... just not getting to the tasks. I'm not sure how much their knowledge really helped but if it did, I'm glad they were able to bring their food science knowledge into the butter churning challenge. Maya rocked it crossing the bridge in style, though really I think most of the teams were fine with the height. I expected her to breeze through the puzzle a little quicker but it was admirable of her to try and keep Brooke calm and to keep herself calm with the giant ball of irritation that was Brooke at that moment. Please don't get yourselves eliminated with your poor navigation skills, food scientists! I really like you!

[TudorQueen]

I like you, too, Food Scientists! You're one of my four favorite teams - and all four are still in the Race! But I'm still waiting for you to burst through with an extraordinary total leg - tasks and cultural enthusiasm and navigation all together.

 

They did totally rock the butter task. A PhD in animal fats probably involves some really interesting field work.

[ByaNose]

Yeah, they have major direction issues. They couldn't even find the hay correctly. Once, they get their clues & do the task they seem okay. They just aren't great on navigating themselves around which will probably be their undoing.

[kaygeeret]

They so make me smile and remember a wonderful professor I had in college who would have starved to death w/o his wife to organize his life.  Smarter than heck, great teacher, interesting as all get out and had not a shred of navigation ability.  He even laughed about it.

 

It's not that they are to that level of bad, but they are so good at solving problems - - except the navigation problem - -which really, wouldn't you think they could see as just another problem and solve it?  I don't have their brain power, but I love them.

 

I read in another link that they ad been U-turned in a previous leg?  I missed it, did they not show it?  Maybe it didn't matter in the standings.

 

I wish the paradigm for interesting tv would include these gals.  Does it really always have to be some level of 'schtick?'  I do admit tho' that there is much less of that this year.

[KnitsWithRaceCars]

 

I wish the paradigm for interesting tv would include these gals.  Does it really always have to be some level of 'schtick?'  I do admit tho' that there is much less of that this year.

 

Preach it!  I find the nice, quiet teams like these ladies and Adam and Bethany far, far more enjoyable than scenery chewers.

 

[wineaux]

I read in another link that they ad been U-turned in a previous leg?  I missed it, did they not show it?  Maybe it didn't matter in the standings.

 

Yeah, I read a similar thing in wikipedia and went to check on TAR's CBS website.  And, sure enough, Keith and Whitney U-turned Maya/Amy after they noticed that they were u-turned by Shelley/Nici.  And, then they went on to say that Shelley and Nici were playing dirty the whole race.  (huh?)

 

I would need them to define 'dirty', though, because that could mean almost anything ….like, not telling where a task is, taking a seat on a plane closer to the door, etc, which are not 'dirty' but could be perceived as such if someone believes that you lie about everything, including being mother and daughter.

 

I'm glad that K&W are gone.  There was something about that guy that rubbed me the wrong way.  IMO (and from checking out some of the clips), he wasn't that much different from Shelley in personality.

[Lingo]

Yeah, I read a similar thing in wikipedia and went to check on TAR's CBS website.  And, sure enough, Keith and Whitney U-turned Maya/Amy after they noticed that they were u-turned by Shelley/Nici.  

 

To clarify, the U-Turn was immaterial because Maya and Amy had already checked into the Pit-Stop when K/W tried to U-turn them, so it's not like they had to do the other Detour or anything.

[kaygeeret]

Thanks Lingo.

[Camera One]

At that point, I think K&W was just grasping at straws.  The last team they saw at the hat twirling task was Amy and Maya.

 

This team makes the race worth watching.  I like the top teams for the most part this season, but I always like rooting for the really nice, relatable teams, and this one is it.  They recognize their problems with navigation, though, so I hope they have identified some strategies they will use to try to overcome it.  That is very difficult, though.  I don't see how they could have found the marked hay any more easily.  Was it just not noticing it when they went past?  Or did they not pass it?

[wineaux]

To clarify, the U-Turn was immaterial because Maya and Amy had already checked into the Pit-Stop when K/W tried to U-turn them, so it's not like they had to do the other Detour or anything.

 

True.  Thanks, Lingo.  I should have elaborated.  

[Tryangle]

As the herd thins out, I feel their chances of making it to the end have plummeted.  Without the capacity to self-navigate, they have no chance at keeping up with the Dentists, the Cyclists or the Surfers. They're firmly in that lower tier with the Wrestlers and the Dating couple. Mind you, I hope I'm wrong.