S35.E06: Driving Head on Into Scooters

[Whimsy]

Quote

For the first time, the votes for the mandatory U-turn are in and one team must complete both detours in India, bundling up flowers and transporting building materials on rickshaws in the bustling streets of Jaipur.

Original airdate 11/1/23

[Guest]

Anna Leigh sniffing out who voted for them and holding grudges 🥰

Lena the print block queen and bundle-tying taskmaster 🥰🥰

[anniebird]

Anna Leigh is turning out to be just as unpleasant as I was afraid she was going to be. Of course you got U-Turned - that's what happens when your team is consistently in first place. Get over it and quit haranguing the other teams.

Edited November 2, 2023 by anniebird

[Skooma]

The title for this episode would have been something along the lines of "A Killed Theme Peacock"  I laughed so hard when she said that.

PS:  On the Live Chat (don't know why it was closed so West Coasters can't chat there too like they do in the Survivor thread) dizzyd asked about TAR going to New Zealand.

The first time they went there was in Season 2 where Chris was the Sheep Whisperer and Oswald talked to the sheep in Spanish, haha.  Also great edit of Wil talking about it all being sunshine then it rained  on him as they raced down the volcano's scree to get the Fast Forward.

They have been in New Zealand 4 different races:  Seasons 2, 5, 13 and 22 according to

 

Edited November 2, 2023 by Skooma

[Artsda]

Sad to see the brothers go, but they were a bit to easy going, not really rushing. Their driver didn't help.

AL and dad, true colours? Everyone had to vote, nobody is there to let another team win.

[Skooma]

9 minutes ago, Artsda said:

Sad to see the brothers go, but they were a bit to easy going, not really rushing. Their driver didn't help

I think their driver was plenty good enough so she didn't hurt either I believe.  For some reason this team has been slow pokes since the very beginning.  I don't know why but they always lagged in every single leg. 

I'd like to know the reason though.  They are in good physical shape so were they not reading the clues correctly?  Strange whatever the reason.

Edited November 2, 2023 by Skooma

[lgprimes]

In our Family we have to choose a team at the very beginning of the first episode right after the little intros. I picked Jeremy and Liam and regretted it by the end of the first episode. They had NO instinct to kick it into to gear. I’m happy for them that they got to spend time together and enjoy the scenery, but apart from when they carried mattresses well, they never seemed to be hustling at all. My Dudes it’s a RACE!

 Oh well I’m out. Guess I’ll root for my son’s team now (Rob and Corey).

[Shadow Wave]

45 minutes ago, Skooma said:

I think their driver was plenty good enough so she didn't hurt either I believe.  For some reason this team has been slow pokes since the very beginning.  I don't know why but they always lagged in every single leg. 

I'd like to know the reason though.  They are in good physical shape so were they not reading the clues correctly?  Strange whatever the reason.

Apparently we saw a different show, in one respect: Their driver was a complete disaster. But it's true they didn't seem to be good at anything, really. They were the only team that seemed to struggle with tying up the bundles of flowers, of all things. 

Tune in next week to see Anna Leigh extract horrible revenge for being U-turned by...doing what exactly? The same as she's been doing?

[dancingdreamer]

I friggin love the pink ladies,* out of towners * and they do quite well. I've tried to like Anna Leigh,I can't  ,she's unlikable, and quite rude to her father. I was so happy for Greg and John and so sad for the brothers, but this race made them even closer.I couldn't drive in India to save my life, I was yelling look out, from my couch.!

Rob's  face when the guy stamped the peacocks,  was hilarious.

We did something  similar  at school, but we had to cut a potato  in half, and cut a pattern in each side, and dip them in paint. It's  funny what you remember. 

[mertensia]

I was sad for them that they didn't get to keep one of the pretty peacocks. 

Criminy, Anna Leigh, it's a part of the show. Show some grace.

 

[Ancaster]

Wow, Morgan and Lena are unpleasant to watch when they're arguing.

[Lantern7]

Good leg. I gotta co-sign with those of you who are not liking Anna Leigh. I know that doing both Detour tasks sucked, but she's getting too petty about it. Voting her and Steve into performing the U-Turn was the logical choice. They were able to take the hit and stay in the game. She does continue the tradition of taking U-Turns personally. When was the last time a team didn't bitch about it during an entire episode? Colin & Christie in TAR31?

I don't think Robbin & Chelsea could have taken the U-Turn and stayed in the game. Had that happened, I'm convinced Liam & Yeremi would still be racing. They were a nice team . . . they overcame past obstacles, but they were way too mellow for this show.

Even with Anna Leigh's snottiness, I think we're left with a good cast running for the million dollars.

[Ancaster]

I'm glad Robbin and Chelsea didn't go out on the peacock challenge after she explained her tattoo.

[lilabennet]

I'm annoyed that my eye candy this season had zero hustle. 

[PrincessPurrsALot]

I hated the garbage of "they showed their true colors".  Um, they all had to vote for a team.  Did Anna Leigh and her father instead refuse to choose a team?  Did they take a stand against the u-turn?  I did  like Andrea saying I'm not going to tell them; they'll see it when this airs.  No one owes AL an honest answer to her question.  They are all competing for $1 million. 

It also annoyed me how often AL announced they had lost.   Other teams struggled.  They just had to keep pushing through, which they did.  Now we'll see how they do when they don't have a head start. 

I love the amazing editors.  When Greg and John were listing off the animals they have seen, one said I want to see a camel.  Next shot, random camel.  

There were a lot of little extra tasks thrown into this episode.  I felt good to see the teams interact with so many different people.  

Also, many teams clearly did not think through what telescoping meant.  It was funny watching so many of them using the monocular without extending it.  D'oh! 

[calvinshobbes]

Liam & Yeremi at least strategically voted for the team Robin and Chelsea that was closer to their position in hopes of passing them. I knew they  were goners though when they got voiceovers at the start but no pitstop headshots and the  “journey sendoff.” 

 

I do think Anna Leigh and her dad got lucky that the producers told them they didn’t finish the first detour. usually they get a penalty or maybe wont even get the clue at the second detour. 

Edited November 2, 2023 by calvinshobbes

[EllenB]

Anna Leigh and her entitled attitude really sticks out in a season with so many cool racers. She's a good racer, but I want to see her screw up enough to get a humility lesson. And Daddy needs to stop treating her like she's queen of the world.

[shura]

4 hours ago, PrincessPurrsALot said:

 

I hated the garbage of "they showed their true colors".  Um, they all had to vote for a team.  Did Anna Leigh and her father instead refuse to choose a team?  Did they take a stand against the u-turn?

 

Also, showing their true colors usually means that “they” have been pretending to be something they are not, but now we see who they really are.  I don’t think anyone had been pretending that they would never do anything Steve and Anna Leigh would find upsetting, had they? The colors you see now are the colors everyone has been showing all along, really.

Points to Steve for referencing the Pinta, the Niña and the Santa Maria. And I don’t really have a problem with Anna Leigh. She got upset unnecessarily, but I thought she was civil enough about it when she was talking to people at the peacock task. Frankly, I find it rather bland when there is no drama at all.

I loved Liam and Yeremi’s easygoing attitude. Sure, our driver is totally not the driver we need to have a chance to win anything, but we are not going to be all Anna Leigh about it. We will be positive, joke about it and just enjoy the experience. I love people who keep things in perspective and have that kind of sense of humor.  If TAR does another second-chance edition (or whatever they call it, I forget), I’d love to see these two again.

[Browncoat]

Steve and AL really did themselves in.  I mean, yes, the U-turn slowed them down, but they had a one-hour lead leaving the pit stop, but they arrived (initially) at the bricks at the same time as the second and third place teams.  If they had read the clue properly and completed the first task correctly, they would still have been tied with teams 2 and 3, and likely would have arrived at the block print task at about the same time as those two teams, and would still have had a real chance at coming in first.  But then Steve bled time with the block printing, and other teams passed them there.  No idea how long Steve took with that, but they might have been passed there even without the U-turn.

[raeb23]

5 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Voting her and Steve into performing the U-Turn was the logical choice.

Was it though? They had such a big lead that it was unlikely that being U-turned would kick them out of the race. And it's still early enough in that staying in the race matters more than placement. I think Todd & Ashley had the right idea to U-turn one of the lower placed teams. One of those teams probably would have been last to the mat if they had to do two detours.

That said, Analeigh did not come off well this ep. She seems to get frustrated easily and directs it at everybody else. It's a race and choosing a team to U-turn was compulsory, doesn't really matter who chose you. Anyways, not reading the clue properly was a bigger hindrance than the detours.

Also, I don't enjoy watching Morgan & Lena because of their constant bickering, but seems like it works for them! 

 

[choclatechip45]

Anna-Leigh did not come off well at all, but I was surprised no one voted for Greg &John. 

[Lady Calypso]

9 hours ago, Skooma said:

I think their driver was plenty good enough so she didn't hurt either I believe.  For some reason this team has been slow pokes since the very beginning.  I don't know why but they always lagged in every single leg. 

She got them lost several times (they had to stop three different times for directions), so I actually have to disagree that she was good. They got behind BECAUSE of the navigation from the driver. That being said, Liam/Yeremi should have done Bricks to at least avoid being put back farther and they might have had a chance to at least see a team at the Roadblock. 

They may not have been good racers from the start and they've been slow and probably would have been gone either way but this time around, it was their rickshaw driver that was their primary downfall. They were set that far back because of their driver.

I liked the blind U-Turn and everyone voting on someone to U-Turn but it's very telling that there were only two official teams that were voted for, and the ultimate choice was the first place team who was an hour ahead. Not that the teams likely knew that Steve/Anna Leigh were that far ahead, but I think Todd and Ashlie had the right mindset that you should make your U-Turn choice out of the thought to knock someone out. You just don't want to be last, so you want every advantage you have. 

A lot of the frontrunners and middle of the pack went for Steve/Anna Leigh, sure, and the back of the pack went for Robbin/Chelsea, which kind of makes sense, but seeing as Steve/Anna Leigh nearly finished their first Detour when the other teams were getting to the Detour (they just messed up with the Flowers detour), it only knocked them down a few placements. Honestly, even if the teams had been closer together, Steve/Anna Leigh still would have survived the leg.

Speaking of the mess-up from Steve/Anna Leigh, how did they think that they didn't need to give the receipts to the Flowers judge before moving on? It's TAR 101: if you can't finish your task, you incur a penalty! Of course you have to finish the first Detour before moving on to the other one! What a stupid mistake that really set them back; had they not done that, they likely could have gotten fifth.

I'm not surprised Anna Leigh demanding to know who voted for her, though albeit annoying. I'm glad that John and Corey were honest with Anna Leigh, even if it puts a target on their back as a result. But Anna Leigh needs to get it together; she knows why they were U-Turned. She may disagree (and honestly, I kind of do as well) but it's a race and they were U-Turned for being too good. Take it as a compliment and move on.

I love that Morgan/Lena caught back up. It seems like, when they think more strategically, they can race really well. I hope that continues. I really enjoy them as a team, even with their bickering at tasks. 

Still a huge fan of Greg/John, Rob/Corey and now Andrea/Malaina. Actually, even WITH Whiny Anna Leigh, I like all these teams. Anna Leigh is annoying, but not downright cruel, which is a breath of fresh air. She gets snippy when her dad's too slow but I also recognize that a lot of people can react like that in stressful situations; other than those small moments, she's been mostly fine.

Lots of great tasks, even the mini tasks to get to the next route info.

[Guest]

Just now, Lady Calypso said:

I love that Morgan/Lena caught back up. It seems like, when they think more strategically, they can race really well. I hope that continues. I really enjoy them as a team, even with their bickering at tasks. 

I kinda love their bickering at tasks, too. It's so over the top over little things and it's usually Morgan trying to be the controlling calm older sister and doing something like almost getting her eye poked out trying to make sure Lena was sewing correctly, or daring to look at the demonstration when Lena KNEW HOW TO DO IT YOU TIE THIS ONE OMG MORGANNN

Lena is kind of chaotic in general, even when she's being relatively calm and positive, like her running commentary about murdering the peacock.

[snarts]

8 hours ago, Shadow Wave said:

Tune in next week to see Anna Leigh extract horrible revenge for being U-turned by...doing what exactly? The same as she's been doing?

Exactly. She was so pissy and petulant about it. I fully understand being mad that you were u-turned but questioning every team on whether they voted for you and threatening revenge was a bit much.

That said, she's my least favorite racer this season primarily for the way she barks out orders at her Dad, but I also side eye her racing in full hair & makeup. The rest of the teams look like hot boiled ass in the Indian/Vietnamese heat and she rolls up to the pit stop hair down with fully lippy.

[shura]

46 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

A lot of the frontrunners and middle of the pack went for Steve/Anna Leigh, sure, and the back of the pack went for Robbin/Chelsea, which kind of makes sense

Ah, now I see.  Thank you for taking the time to analyze and break down who voted for whom.  I could not figure out what strategy would be reasonable with a U-turn when you have cannot possibly know who is behind you.  Reading this, though, it makes total sense that it depends on one's aspirations in the leg.  If you feel confident that you are strong enough to be safe from elimination and hopinig for first place in the leg, you vote for your competition for the win.  If you feel that you have been circling the drain and want to make sure you survive the leg, you vote for your competition in the race to stay alive. (And then there are Joel and Garrett thinking they are voting for their competition in the finale.  Finale?!)

Loved Todd's description of the judge's actions at the Roadblock. "He stamps this giant X on the prints that do not pass, then he goes away and you think the rest are good - but no, he just needs more paint for the X!"

Edited November 2, 2023 by shura

[LizBug]

IMO, the electric rickshaws weren't built for speed.  And adding the racers with their backpacks didn't help any.  Then, there were the flowers.  So, yeah, they weren't able to zip around like the racers wanted.

[Browncoat]

Re: the U-turn.  Everybody had to vote.  I thought it was interesting that only two teams got votes.  But for all AL knew, she and Steve might have only gotten two votes, with every other team getting one or none.  I kind of get why she quizzed everyone about who they voted for, but in the end, it doesn't really matter, does it? 

Then again, that voting box might have just been a giant Plinko-type game on the inside, with all votes directed to one or two teams.  (joking, of course!)

[Ancaster]

2 hours ago, choclatechip45 said:

Anna-Leigh did not come off well at all, but I was surprised no one voted for Greg &John. 

Maybe because they just seem so damned nice!  (Terrible racing strategy if true, but what can I say!)

[chaifan]

Does anyone know if the "Mingle" part of Eat/Sleep/Mingle exists in any form?  If so, then any team that U-turned Steve and AL really misused their U-turn, as the teams would have had some idea that Steve and AL had an hour lead over the rest.  At that point, the best strategy for any team is to eliminate the next strongest team, or at least any team that is stronger than them.  The teams wasted the U-turn on a team that had an hour lead.

Anna Leigh does not bug me like she bugs others here.  Honestly, I think she's getting extra criticism because she's young and attractive.  What would be seen as a "take charge" attitude in a guy is "bossy" for her.  And, yes, there are sour grapes over the U-turn, but that seems to be the norm through the history of TAR.  She's a tough racer, and certainly carries her weight and more in that team. 

I still don't understand the point of the pre-race voting, instead of having the board at the U-turn and just making it mandatory to cast a vote. 

Malenia is grating on my last nerve.  The "out of towners" bit is horrible.  First, what's the chance anyone around them understands what they're saying?  Second, what's the chance anyone cares?  Being an "out of towner" is not a free pass for running into traffic or wanting to push past people.  I wish them gone for this alone.

Love the Beard Bros and Rob/Corey. 

 

 

[iMonrey]

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not my beautiful Disney Princes! I know they were never going to win but I just wanted to be able to look at their beautiful faces for a least a few more weeks. My interest in this season has dropped by about 50%.

And they'd still be there if just one more team had voted to U-Turn Robbin and Chelsea instead of Anna Leigh and Steve. It really made no sense to vote for the latter, they had a full hour head start over every other team.

1 hour ago, Lady Calypso said:

Not that the teams likely knew that Steve/Anna Leigh were that far ahead,

They did know! At least one person mentioned it when they were waiting for their partner to do the Roadblock. Anna Leigh and Steve began the leg at 8:48, Greg and John at 9:45. Last place Morgan and Lena an hour later at 10:44. I'd argue the most sensible vote would have been for Morgan and Lena to guarantee you stayed in the race. There would have been no way for them to overcome that setback. 

Ugh.

Interesting we're being told how much money they're getting for the leg but not what they're spending it on. They got 1000 rupees. That's about $12.

I can't believe after Corey pedaled those bricks to the delivery site his father sat his ass down in the cart and let Corey pedal him all the way back.

Worse still - Steve did the same thing to Anna Leigh! Credit where it's due, she is totally carrying him. Literally. He's an albatross around her neck. I wonder why she didn't do the race with her husband. Maybe he knew their marriage wouldn't survive it.

[proserpina65]

Farewell, gorgeous boys, I will miss you. 😪

Liam and Yeremi really seemed to have been screwed by a bad rickshaw driver since they appeared to be okay doing the tasks.  Glad they enjoyed the experience and got to see a little more of the world.

I liked that the judge was so exacting on the Roadblock task.  That had to be disheartening to think you did okay and then have him x out most/all of your peacocks.

It does annoy me when the team who gets U-Turned takes it personally and thinks it's some kind of test of character.  No, it's just a reflection of how much other teams view you as a threat, Anna Leigh.  Clearly the majority of the teams think she and Steve might just be the team to beat.  Which they really seem to be, given how quickly they made up for having to do both detours, even with that one misstep about needing to take their receipts back to the flower guy.

I have to give Anna Leigh credit.  I thought she might turn out to be a whiny pageant princess, but damned if she hasn't muscled through some tough tasks.  Could have a little better attitude about other teams but even that's nowhere near as bad as some previous Racers.

So glad Rob & Cory and Joel & Garrett finished 2nd & 3rd, respectively.  They're my favorite teams.  J&G especially keep coming with things I would not necessarily expect them to be familiar with/good at.  And I like Greg & John so them winning the leg was fine with me.

11 hours ago, Skooma said:

I think their driver was plenty good enough so she didn't hurt either I believe. 

I disagree about the driver.  She had to ask for directions a lot.

9 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

I gotta co-sign with those of you who are not liking Anna Leigh.

I don't dislike her, exactly, but this wasn't her best leg, attitude-wise, that's for sure.

8 hours ago, PrincessPurrsALot said:

Also, many teams clearly did not think through what telescoping meant.  It was funny watching so many of them using the monocular without extending it.  D'oh! 

I was surprised that so many of them didn't get that at first.

8 hours ago, calvinshobbes said:

I do think Anna Leigh and her dad got lucky that the producers told them they didn’t finish the first detour. usually they get a penalty or maybe wont even get the clue at the second detour. 

That surprised me as well.  I don't remember that ever happening before.

3 hours ago, raeb23 said:

Was it though? They had such a big lead that it was unlikely that being U-turned would kick them out of the race. And it's still early enough in that staying in the race matters more than placement. I think Todd & Ashley had the right idea to U-turn one of the lower placed teams. One of those teams probably would have been last to the mat if they had to do two detours.

I can see it both ways so I don't blame the teams who chose Steve and Anna Leigh.

1 hour ago, shura said:

(And then there are Joel and Garrett thinking they are voting for their competition in the finale.

They voted for the team they felt was most likely to make it to the final leg, with the hope of taking them out or at least setting them back a lot before then.

23 minutes ago, chaifan said:

Honestly, I think she's getting extra criticism because she's young and attractive.

I don't know about others here, but I don't care that she's young and attractive.  I'm criticizing her attitude about the U-Turn, not her tendency to take charge with her dad, which seems to be working quite well for their team.  And also praising her ability as a Racer.

22 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

It really made no sense to vote for the latter, they had a full hour head start over every other team.

Most of the teams who voted for S&AL weren't that worried about surviving the leg.  They were thinking more of hampering a team which would be serious competition to make the final leg.  It's a strategy we've seen with U-Turns before; sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.  We'll see if it works out here.

[iMonrey]

2 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

I do think Anna Leigh and her dad got lucky that the producers told them they didn’t finish the first detour.

Was it a producer? I thought it was someone at the bricks task. But now that I think about it I guess there's be no way of that person knowing.

[proserpina65]

2 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Was it a producer? I thought it was someone at the bricks task. But now that I think about it I guess there's be no way of that person knowing.

The post you quoted wasn't mine.  I also thought it was someone at the task but whomever it was had to have been told by somebody in production, I think.

[Tango64]

2 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

Speaking of the mess-up from Steve/Anna Leigh, how did they think that they didn't need to give the receipts to the Flowers judge before moving on? It's TAR 101: if you can't finish your task, you incur a penalty! Of course you have to finish the first Detour before moving on to the other one!

I found this very odd. One of the most delicious moments in TAR is when a team shows up at the mat and Phil says, "...but you didn't complete the flower task." And they scramble back to do it or wait out a penalty. I don't recall ever seeing a producer (via the local person) telling a team mid-race they skipped something and to "read the clue." Read the clue?? When has TAR ever coddled a team like that over a mistake?

I could see possibly, just possibly, the local task supervisor saying, "No, you can't do this task," and then letting the team figure out why. But the way they handled it seemed odd and actually helpful to the team.

[PrincessPurrsALot]

2 hours ago, LizBug said:

IMO, the electric rickshaws weren't built for speed.  And adding the racers with their backpacks didn't help any.  Then, there were the flowers.  So, yeah, they weren't able to zip around like the racers wanted.

 

1 hour ago, chaifan said:

Anna Leigh does not bug me like she bugs others here.  Honestly, I think she's getting extra criticism because she's young and attractive.  What would be seen as a "take charge" attitude in a guy is "bossy" for her.  And, yes, there are sour grapes over the U-turn, but that seems to be the norm through the history of TAR.  She's a tough racer, and certainly carries her weight and more in that team. 

I still don't understand the point of the pre-race voting, instead of having the board at the U-turn and just making it mandatory to cast a vote. 

I found AL and Steve annoying this episode because of their anger at the other teams for u-turning them.  I dislike the use of the word bossy. I have never heard a man called bossy, but it is commonly used for women.  She does speak sharply to her father and is quick to decide he cannot do something.  I am hoping we get a task where he is much better at it than she is.  They both chose to go on the race with a goal of winning.  It's tricky because she has been a stronger racer than he has with the tasks to date.  Not sure if we'll see the skills he brings to the team.  

He definitely did not bring skill to block printing.  Some of the racers, after having many rejected, took the time to think about how they were doing it to try to improve.  Others just kept doing the same sloppy work until they got enough through.  Of course, the murder peacock was worth it.  :-) 

Pre-race voting changed the strategic thinking.  I think a  poster above did a great job of laying out the supposed reasoning.  The teams near the top took this as a chance to slow down AL and Steve so that they would have a chance at first.  The teams further back thought about who they could knock out. Voting mid race is focused on who you last saw where and most is based on trying to stay in.  With teams ahead of you, it doesn't make sense to vote for them. 

19 minutes ago, Tango64 said:

I found this very odd. One of the most delicious moments in TAR is when a team shows up at the mat and Phil says, "...but you didn't complete the flower task." And they scramble back to do it or wait out a penalty. I don't recall ever seeing a producer (via the local person) telling a team mid-race they skipped something and to "read the clue." Read the clue?? When has TAR ever coddled a team like that over a mistake?

I could see possibly, just possibly, the local task supervisor saying, "No, you can't do this task," and then letting the team figure out why. But the way they handled it seemed odd and actually helpful to the team.

I assume there was something that said they couldn't start the second task until they had completed the first task.  But I agree, it was handled strangely.  Can you imagine if they weren't told until they got to the mat?  Go back, drop off the receipts.  Then an argument could be made that they needed to do the second task again since they shouldn't have started it yet.  Yes, I am evil.  Why do you ask?  

[Netfoot]

Well, I've finally decided who I'm rooting for: Steve & Anna Leigh. They ran the leg well, and despite the U-Turn they placed seventh out of a field of nine. The unforced error with the receipts probably cost them at least one place in the final tally, so I think it's fair to say that overall, they are racing well. AL can be abrasive and does act immature from time to time but I have not seen any particularly spiteful behaviour so I can forgive that. 

I think I can understand why they made that error with the receipts. They figured they had to do both halves of the challenge before getting their next clue. That was a mistake, of course, and one which could have been avoided by simply reading the clue and following the instructions therein. So, yes I understand it, but can't "forgive" it because it was a simple failure-to-read-the-clue type of error - an unforced error on their part which might have cost them the race, but which they were able to overcome. 

I can see no reason to try and ferret out who voted to U-turn you. I think it unlikely there will be another U-turn, and even if there is, what difference does it make? It would be counterproductive to spite-vote for someone else because your vote should be strategically considered to help you in the game, not spite someone you don't like. And in the event that you need to make a temporary alliance with another team, the same logic applies. You wouldn't refuse to ally with someone whose coperation can help you. Even if they did U-turn you earlier in the race.

Anna Leigh is definitely more "high-energy" than Steve, but together they make up a strong team.

The simple challenges early in the race (pushing electric rickshaws, using ye olde telescope to find a clue) were fun and gave the racers a chance to taste the sights and sounds of the city without high pressure being applied. Both halves of the detour were challenging and interesting. That second flower-temple was located in the last place I'd think to look - the middle of a busy street. 

Thankfully, the Detour came before the roadblock, giving my team a chance to recover from the U-turn and their own screw-up.

The Roadblock on the other hand looked deceptively simple but obviously was not quite as easy as it looked. I kept thinking, "Why are they having a problem with this? Take your time, line up the block/stamp carefully, and you're golden!" Obviously, it wasn't as easy as all that. The judge seemed to be happy to drop the X-hammer on people's peacocks, but I don't think he was being nasty. He seemed genuinely happy for any team that managed to get their nine approved peacocks!

Taxi luck is perennial on this race and electric rickshaw taxis are no different. The last team to arrive may have come slightly higher in the placings if they had a better cabbie, but honestly I didn't see them applying any hustle throughout the episode, or in earlier episodes either, for that matter. So if someone had to go, this team was fine with me. 

Looking forward to next week!

 

[calvinshobbes]

1 hour ago, PrincessPurrsALot said:

 

I assume there was something that said they couldn't start the second task until they had completed the first task.  But I agree, it was handled strangely.  Can you imagine if they weren't told until they got to the mat?  Go back, drop off the receipts.  Then an argument could be made that they needed to do the second task again since they shouldn't have started it yet.  Yes, I am evil.  Why do you ask?  

usually, teams can switch between detours at any time  before completing the detour. It just seemed like they should not have  interfered and told the team anything. There have been teams given time penalties at the mat for not fully completing a detour. 

[blackwing]

The flower task required deliveries to two stations while the bricks was just one.  It was hard to tell which task took longer, but I was surprised the boys wouldn't have tried to make up more time by taking the more physical bricks task.  They didn't seem to have any drive, and for that I think they earned their elimination.  They seem like they came on the race to work on their relationship, and were just la-di-dahing their way through the race.  Whether they were on the race or not didn't seem to matter in that respect, because now they get to hang out with each other at some resort for the duration of the race.

I am not sure how I feel about this new mandatory blind U Turn rule.  In the past, knowing there was a U Turn ahead made things a lot more urgent, because only a team behind the user could be U Turned.  But now, it seems kind of counterintuitive that the team in front will attract more votes and there's nothing they could have done about it other than sucking a bit more in the legs leading up to it.  I don't like that TAR has become Survivor with this element, the strong players get the votes.

Corey said the point wasn't to eliminate Steve and Anna Leigh, it was to erase the lead.  But that lead would have almost certainly been erased with airport bunching on the next leg.  I think it was a poor choice, I definitely would have voted for Robbin and Chelsea.  I was kind of surprised they got four votes, I don't think they are a strong team, they just got lucky the one time.  If they had gotten U Turned they certainly would have gone home.

16 hours ago, anniebird said:

Anna Leigh is turning out to be just as unpleasant as I was afraid she was going to be. Of course you got U-Turned - that's what happens when your team is consistently in first place. Get over it and quit haranguing the other teams.

Yep.  I was really liking this team, I have a soft spot for parent/child teams but especially the father/daughter ones.  I even was still liking Anna Leigh after her "I'm not telling Todd that was his" incident that others commented on last time.  But this episode, she was awful.  She was acting like Rupert Boneham bellowing "WHO VOTED FOR ME" in his first appearance.  It's part of the game, every team had to vote for someone, she has consistently been at the top of the pack, seems like a no brainer that many teams would vote for her.  Get over it, AL.

I also hate the way she talks to her father.  Her father is definitely the dead weight.  From the way she talks to him, she thinks he is old and slow and incompetent in everything he does.  When they picked up the flower bundles, he was actually in front of her loading his bundles on the rickshaw and she still screamed at him to "hurry up".  I thought maybe she was telling him to hurry up and move out of the way but she wasn't close enough to be at the point of unloading.

Is there going to be another blind mandatory U Turn?  If so, how is Anna Leigh going to exact her revenge?  She only gets one vote.  She has no idea how many people voted for her.  I'm with Andrea, no way would I have told her.  The only teams AL knows for sure voted for her are the beard guys and Rob and Corey.  So I would assume one of those two are on her "list".

3 hours ago, chaifan said:

Malenia is grating on my last nerve.  The "out of towners" bit is horrible.  First, what's the chance anyone around them understands what they're saying?  Second, what's the chance anyone cares?  Being an "out of towner" is not a free pass for running into traffic or wanting to push past people.  I wish them gone for this alone.

They have become one of my favourite teams.  I absolutely love Malaina, she seems a bit wild and crazy and uncouth.  I love her unique voice and I love the "out of towners, out of towners".  I find it hilarious.  Andrea is great, she's a good balance to Malaina.

2 hours ago, Tango64 said:

I found this very odd. One of the most delicious moments in TAR is when a team shows up at the mat and Phil says, "...but you didn't complete the flower task." And they scramble back to do it or wait out a penalty. I don't recall ever seeing a producer (via the local person) telling a team mid-race they skipped something and to "read the clue." Read the clue?? When has TAR ever coddled a team like that over a mistake?

I could see possibly, just possibly, the local task supervisor saying, "No, you can't do this task," and then letting the team figure out why. But the way they handled it seemed odd and actually helpful to the team.

I thought that was crappy if somebody clued them in on the fact that they didn't complete the flowers task.  The guy should have just said "I'm sorry, I cannot give you the clue" and they should have been left wondering why.  

1 hour ago, Netfoot said:

I think I can understand why they made that error with the receipts. They figured they had to do both halves of the challenge before getting their next clue. That was a mistake, of course, and one which could have been avoided by simply reading the clue and following the instructions therein. So, yes I understand it, but can't "forgive" it because it was a simple failure-to-read-the-clue type of error - an unforced error on their part which might have cost them the race, but which they were able to overcome. 

Every time there is a U Turn, the team that gets U Turned always has to complete the first Detour in its entirety and then move on to the second one.  By not returning the flower receipts to the vendor, they didn't finish the task, and they shouldn't have been allowed to start the next task.

[Lovecat]

My favorite part of the episode was when Corey and Todd (?) decided to work together to clear a path through the rickshaws...and then both of them wound up pushing the same rickshaw from a different end.  Were they trying to...squash it between them? I mean, that's one way of getting it out of the way! :)

[Giuseppe]

I can't quote every poster who is criticizing Anna Leigh, but I'm still not jumping on this bandwagon just yet. She is high-strung and was visibly frustrated about the u-turn for sure, but I didn't see any pissy or petulant behavior, threatening revenge against other teams, demanding to know who u-turned her, or haranguing of other teams. She asked one team that I can remember if they u-turned her, and she didn't seem very confrontational about it. Maybe she asked others, but I don't think the editors showed it. I saw one of the sisters volunteer the fact that they did NOT u-turn her, and Joel or Garrett volunteered that they did. Yeah, she said she was gunning for them now, but just seemed like trash talk to me. The 'true colors' statement from both of them IS kinda ridiculous, but I'm not seeing this entitled mean-girl behavior that others are. She took the u-turn in good stride, if you ask me. YMMV. Fully reserve the right to reverse my opinion on this in the future, however.

Anyway, agree with others who are enjoying seeing more route marker tasks this season, as opposed to just opening clue, detour, road block, end of leg. Lots of teams surprising me with their performance. Still rooting for basically everybody. I enjoy Andrea and Melaina, but the 'out-of towners' schtick is getting a bit tiresome.

[Netfoot]

6 minutes ago, blackwing said:

Every time there is a U Turn, the team that gets U Turned always has to complete the first Detour in its entirety and then move on to the second one.

But as alluded to above, how does Bald Snarking play into this? In a Detour you can start one task and before completing it, switch to the other. There have been double and I believe even triple bald snarks in the in the past. So if S&AL bald-snarked the challenge right before returning the receipts, completed the other challenge and then bald-snarked back to the first challenge to complete it by returning the receipts... 

Obviously the rules prevent this but I can see how they might have misunderstood this if they failed to read their clue properly.

[blackwing]

6 minutes ago, Giuseppe said:

I can't quote every poster who is criticizing Anna Leigh, but I'm still not jumping on this bandwagon just yet. She is high-strung and was visibly frustrated about the u-turn for sure, but I didn't see any pissy or petulant behavior, threatening revenge against other teams, demanding to know who u-turned her, or haranguing of other teams. She asked one team that I can remember if they u-turned her, and she didn't seem very confrontational about it. Maybe she asked others, but I don't think the editors showed it. I saw one of the sisters volunteer the fact that they did NOT u-turn her, and Joel or Garrett volunteered that they did. Yeah, she said she was gunning for them now, but just seemed like trash talk to me. The 'true colors' statement from both of them IS kinda ridiculous, but I'm not seeing this entitled mean-girl behavior that others are. She took the u-turn in good stride, if you ask me. YMMV. Fully reserve the right to reverse my opinion on this in the future, however.

The sister immediately said they didn't U Turn her since it wouldn't do them any good, she had such a huge lead.  One of the Beard Guys said they did, she is a strong team.  Corey said they did, she had a huge lead.

She was pissy about it, it was all she and her dad could talk about in the rickshaw over to the tasks.  And I think in the confessional interview she did say something about how the teams that U Turned them were going to get what's coming to them, or something like that.  Or that she would get her revenge.  The only revenge she can get is by continuing to race and avoid elimination.  If there's a future U Turn, she can cast her ONE vote against another team.  This isn't Survivor where she can collude with others to vote out another team.  I would be surprised if teams are allowed to have these kinds of discussions with other teams at the Pit Stop.

I wouldn't have owned up to it.  She wasn't told how many people voted for her, for all she knew, it was 3.  And it's supposed to be an anonymous vote.  I loved Andrea saying "no way were we going to tell her, she can find out when she sees it on TV".

2 minutes ago, Netfoot said:

But as alluded to above, how does Bald Snarking play into this? In a Detour you can start one task and before completing it, switch to the other. There have been double and I believe even triple bald snarks in the in the past. So if S&AL bald-snarked the challenge right before returning the receipts, completed the other challenge and then bald-snarked back to the first challenge to complete it by returning the receipts... 

Obviously the rules prevent this but I can see how they might have misunderstood this if they failed to read their clue properly.

If teams switch Detour tasks, I thought teams have have to actually announce on camera that they are switching Detours.  They used to have to do so in the past.  But I don't think Morgan and Lena actually stood in front of the camera and said it last week, did they?

I just wish someone didn't tell AL exactly what she did wrong.  Maybe the guy could have let her complete the bricks task but then tell her he cannot give her the clue because she did not complete both Detours.  Then they would have had to figure out they never turned in the receipts and gone back to the flower shop and gotten the clue there.  

There's probably little time wasted but it would have been nice to have seen AL freaking out while trying to figure out what they did wrong.

[KeithJ]

As much as I like Steve and Anna, I really dislike them getting so upset at the people who voted for them.  They had to vote for someone!  Steve and Anna voted for Robbin and Chelsea.  Should those two be upset at Steve and Anna?

Which leads to another question, why did Robbin and Chelsea get four votes to Steve and Anna's five?  They haven't really been that good have they?

[Skooma]

5 hours ago, LizBug said:

IMO, the electric rickshaws weren't built for speed.  And adding the racers with their backpacks didn't help any.  Then, there were the flowers.  So, yeah, they weren't able to zip around like the racers wanted.

Also the traffic.  Like Phil said, it is 24/7.  I have been in India countless times in the past and there is no way any vehicle of any type is going to go fast in any city ever.

Just now, KeithJ said:

Which leads to another question, why did Robbin and Chelsea get four votes to Steve and Anna's five?  They haven't really been that good have they?

The votes were mainly from trailing teams that knew they came in last in the previous leg therefore handicapping them gave these other slower teams a better chance of NOT getting eliminated this leg to slow up the lagging most team from the previous leg.

The one exception was Anna Leigh because of her need for revenge for them not "working" with her on the tiles I guess.

Meanwhile the front teams wanted to slow Anna Leigh down to give them a chance at a first place and the prize that would come with it.  Different needs depending where you were in the race at that time.

[illdoc]

44 minutes ago, blackwing said:

But that lead would have almost certainly been erased with airport bunching on the next leg.

But you don't know that! It is quite possible that with the 1 hour lead, they could have gotten the last seats on a flight that arrives 4 hours ahead of the next flight (that the other teams would be on). If I'm middle of the pack, I'd try to erase that lead (rather than U-Turn a team at the bottom who doesn't need my "help" to get eliminated). Furthermore, it could have been like the infamous "Morse Code" detour and they could indeed have been eliminated.

[PrincessPurrsALot]

1 hour ago, calvinshobbes said:

usually, teams can switch between detours at any time  before completing the detour. It just seemed like they should not have  interfered and told the team anything. There have been teams given time penalties at the mat for not fully completing a detour. 

I think the option to switch mid-detour wasn't allowed in this specific case only.  It was weird that they were told what they did wrong.  Steve did seem to understand that they would need to hand in the receipts.  They made a decision to not hand them in before going on to the bricks which was an odd choice. 

31 minutes ago, KeithJ said:

As much as I like Steve and Anna, I really dislike them getting so upset at the people who voted for them.  They had to vote for someone!  Steve and Anna voted for Robbin and Chelsea.  Should those two be upset at Steve and Anna?

Which leads to another question, why did Robbin and Chelsea get four votes to Steve and Anna's five?  They haven't really been that good have they?

Steve and AL have been a solid team.  It can seem like she is carrying him.  However, she often jumps in before he gets a chance to do something. In this episode, she took the monocular away from him.  We don't know exactly how long he was looking, but there was nothing to suggest he was slower than anyone else. He was terrible at the block printing.  That was a task that really seemed to mix up the order of the teams. 

One team mentioned that Robbin and Chelsea had done well in one leg.  Depending on whether teams interact with them at the tasks, they might have different opinions of their strength as a team.  They both seem to be physically strong which is an advantage.  So they seemed like the best to target of the mid pack teams. 

In terms of the speed of the electric rickshaws, one team changed to have the guy sit up front with the driver, shifting the weight in the vehicle.  That seemed to help.  At the same time, classic TAR and taxi drama go hand in hand. The brothers seemed to realize they were out of it and figured panicking wouldn't help.  

[Sarahsmile416]

Yeah, as some have said, my dislike of Anna Leigh has much to do with how she treats her father and then how she whines about people not lying down and letting them win every leg of the race.   I do think it’s telling though how they are viewed by the other teams.  If I had to guess, I would say AL and Steve and Robbin and Chelsea are the two teams who are the least well liked.  Which is kind of how I view them, so I get it. 

[Browncoat]

Anna Leigh after U-turn = Season 5 Colin after Yield.  Without the broken ox.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Sarahsmile416 said:

If I had to guess, I would say AL and Steve and Robbin and Chelsea are the two teams who are the least well liked.

There have been several scenes of Steve and AL being perfectly friendly with other teams and vice versa, including in this episode post U-Turn. I doubt they're as disliked as people think.

17 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

Anna Leigh after U-turn = Season 5 Colin after Yield.  Without the broken ox.

Hardly. I mean, not even close.

[Netfoot]

2 hours ago, blackwing said:

If there's a future U Turn, she can cast her ONE vote against another team.

Which wold be a foolish thing to do, to cast her vote according to spite rather than strategy.

2 hours ago, blackwing said:

If teams switch Detour tasks, I thought teams have have to actually announce on camera that they are switching Detours.  They used to have to do so in the past.

I'm not saying they acted properly. Just that perhaps they thought they were? And if so, only because they didn't study the race rules and/or their clue properly.

22 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

Anna Leigh after U-turn = Season 5 Colin after Yield.  Without the broken ox.

I see the similarity but Colin has a couple orders of magnitude on AL!  Ox or no ox!

She is young and it shows. I hope the race is good for her in that respect.