S24.E04: Smarter, Not Harder

[Tara Ariano]

The race continues in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. One racer's feet start bleeding during a Roadblock, while another participant suffers a meltdown during a difficult Detour.

[danlewis84]

Is it just me or was the Detour SUPER hard this week? Also, Team Dave and Connor all the way.

[NichD]

I like Dave & Connor too (not least because of the latter's pretty, pretty hair), but I need exactly zero further reminders that Dave blew out his Achilles the last time they raced. I've got it. Honestly. (Same goes for "leg" puns.)

It was nice to see a decent, human side of Rachel this week, but it's going to take a lot more than that to erase three previous seasons of her awfulness to make me actually reverse my opinion that she's the worst. I'm not saying it can't happen, she might well have become a lot more mature, but she has a lot of aggravation to answer for.

Edited March 17, 2014 by NichD

[Tara Ariano]

John's got your Watch/Skip Index!

[Kim]

I am so grossed out by the fact that Rachel wears pantyhose all the time that I can't even. I think about how gross I feel generally when traveling, and then if I had to also wear pantyhose? She is even crazier than I previously thought.

[dgpolo]

Jessica's feet looked awful.

Wearing pantyhose all the time is weird.

Again, why would you plan a music detour with a deaf person on the race. Maybe he could've memorized their hand movements? 3rd time in a row his frustration got the better of him.

[doodlebug]

13 minutes ago, dgpolo said:

Jessica's feet looked awful.

Wearing pantyhose all the time is weird.

Again, why would you plan a music detour with a deaf person on the race. Maybe he could've memorized their hand movements? 3rd time in a row his frustration got the better of him.

My understanding is that production designs the tasks without even knowing who will be cast for that season.  And that all participants are told that production is not responsible if any contestant is unable to perform a task for any reason.  Virtually every season has included challenges that required being able to hear, we had the audio task in the dance club this past race.  We've had people who were afraid of heights doing bungee jumping.  I am sure that a vegetarian would've been required to do the meat block.  Luke had to have known when he was trying out for the show that many tasks would be easier for someone with normal hearing, he was willing to take the chance that he could get it done anyway.  There could've just as easily have been a task like the drum task in this season's finale where he would've found it easier to concentrate than those who could hear.

We also had the hair cutting task in India where the couple, both professional models, declined because it would've affected their earning power after the race while, another couple took the challenge and did it in half the time because the husband was already bald.  

Edited August 6, 2019 by doodlebug

[dgpolo]

23 minutes ago, doodlebug said:

My understanding is that production designs the tasks without even knowing who will be cast for that season.  And that all participants are told that production is not responsible if any contestant is unable to perform a task for any reason.  Virtually every season has included challenges that required being able to hear, we had the audio task in the dance club this past race.  We've had people who were afraid of heights doing bungee jumping.  I am sure that a vegetarian would've been required to do the meat block.  Luke had to have known when he was trying out for the show that many tasks would be easier for someone with normal hearing, he was willing to take the chance that he could get it done anyway.  There could've just as easily have been a task like the drum task in this season's finale where he would've found it easier to concentrate than those who could hear.

We also had the hair cutting task in India where the couple, both professional models, declined because it would've affected their earning power after the race while, another couple took the challenge and did it in half the time because the husband was already bald.  

I know that is what is said, but there have been some pretty strange coincidences along the way that leave a question mark in my head.

But most of your post is NOT AT ALL what I was talking about. I don't count tasks that people are afraid to do, or don't want to do because of religious/ethical/egotistical/phobic reasons, just the ones that are impossible to do through no fault of their own. Big Easy WANTED to do that task, it was the rigging that was at fault. He couldn't do the somersault one either. It even screwed up the RB count because they always tried to save Flight Time for the more 'mental' tasks. So far there has been another Detour choice the teams in question can make, or the other teammate can do the RB but what if in the future there isn't. I know this is hypothetical right now but I feel it could happen. It would've happened to Chester and Ephraim if neither of them could do the task. It came close with the girls that couldn't do either Detour in Holland (?) but in that case I did believe it was possible for them to do the 'golfing' one it was just a bad day, maybe even the hitting the bell one if they knew a better way to hold the mallet. Would it be all right to have a RB where you have to lift 200 lbs, or something? How many f/f teams would be able to do it?

I am just hoping production is at least thinking that one team member should be able to do a task or one detour is possible for a team. That's all.