S35.E06: Driving Head on Into Scooters

[iMonrey]

What Anna Leigh said to Joel and Garrett was "I'm coming for you." Um, how exactly? This isn't Big Brother. I'm not sure she knows what show she's on.

Oh, man. Imagine Anna Leigh and Steve getting to the mat and hearing Phil say "Steve and Anna Leigh, you are the 7th team to arrive. However . . . " I can just imagine her bitching all the way back to the flower task. She got a lucky break finding out at the brick task they needed to go back, because otherwise? They'd be out.

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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.

I can't blame anyone being stressed and strung out in the heat of the moment. The difference is that Anna Leigh is making catty judgment calls against other teams during her interview segments. Not in the heat of the moment, but rather after she has had time to think about it. When you say things like "that speaks to their character" and "they showed their true colors" it sounds petty and childish. That's really what makes her look kind of snotty - not anything she's doing during the race. She needs to stop and consider how SHE is coming across rather than how other teams are.

Edited November 2, 2023 by iMonrey

[Browncoat]

1 hour ago, Netfoot said:

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

Okay, I exaggerated a bit, but there is a similarity in how neither would let the "slight" go after the fact.  And, of course, they only had to haul bricks, not pack them.

[chaifan]

I don't think there's ever been a U-turned team that hasn't bitched and moaned about it for the rest of the episode, as well as made the "who U-turned us, we're going to get them" type of comments, even just in jest.  And I'm sure they all have been prompted a million times in their talking heads segments to discuss it ad nauseam.  It's the same reason why I don't get annoyed (too much) with teams that keep bringing up the same piece of their bio (I'm an ex-professional football player, or my husband is a professional football player, or whatever).  So much of the talking head stuff is producer driven.  So I personally don't see anything in AL or Steve's behavior/comments that isn't pretty standard stuff for a U-turned team.  And I'd bet money on it that they'll be asked about it (again) in their talking heads next week.

I hope Phil comments on the "read your clue" instruction AL & Steve got at the brick challenge. 

Greg & John are my new favorites.  I can't remember which one did the block printing, but he had such joy about doing it.  They are just fun to watch. 

 

 

[shura]

I was thinking about how different groups have these different motivations to U-turn either a weak or a strong team.  Imagine you are a weaker team, you are exhausted and you feel that unless another bottom dweller gets U-turned it’s curtains for you.  You arrive at the U-turn and discover that the cool kids from the front of the pack have voted to screw one of their own out of the first place - and so, in a hilariously ironic two-for-one, have screwed you too!  Well, maybe it’s not hilarious for everyone, but I feel like Liam and Yeremi would find it funny.

8 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

They [Joel and Garrett] 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.

So they did something that might not be of any benefit for them at all if they don’t make the final leg?  Just as a contingency - if they do make it, it could be nice to have a more manageable competition there?  Interesting.  It’s a whole different level of 3D chess right there.  I thought they just weren’t considering the possibility that they might not be in the finale themselves.

[Fake Jan Brady]

1 hour ago, chaifan said:

Greg & John are my new favorites.  I can't remember which one did the block printing, but he had such joy about doing it.  They are just fun to watch. 

Greg [the one with the beard]. I laughed when Robbin and Chelsea couldn't bring themselves to U-Turn them because Greg and John are too likeable and they didn't want to disappoint their mother.

[anniebird]

I didn't see U-turning Steve and AL as a means of beating them in the final leg but because they already had a one-hour lead and, if they weren't slowed down, they could have turned that into a two or three hour lead. I just saw it as a way of bringing them back in with the pack.

[deboraht]

I'm liking Greg and Jon. They seem competent and competitive while having a great time.

AL can get off my tv any time now. She's also competent and competitive, but there's no indication she's enjoying herself at all, and she's rude to her dad, to other teams, and she's dismissive with clue bearers and adjudicators. This is less a case of "men take charge, women are bossy" and more like "Anna Leigh is unpleasant".

Aw, Shecky the Comedy Camel!

I really want to get on board with the pink ladies, but I can't get over the "out of towners" shrieking wherever they go. To me it's obnoxious and disrespectful. 

I like Rob and Cory, and Joel and Garrett are actually growing on me a bit.  

I'm enjoying this season so far!

 

[aghst]

21 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. 

Yeah I wondered about that too.  They might have come in one of the top 3 places and be told by Phil at the mat that they didn’t complete the first detour and get some long penalty.

AL might have blown her top.

But they navigated well and did both detours quickly or quicker than other teams so I think they’d have survived either way.

If they somehow won the leg or won this season, you’d never hear the end of it from AL.

She must have a chip on her shoulder for some reason.  But so far that team is outperforming others and she’s the driving force.

 

[SDVegas]

I wish they wouldn’t have let the racers get credit for good peacocks unless they had all 9 correct on a fresh cloth. That would be classic TAR. 

[JH Lipton]

Race results so far (the lower the better)

Todd and Ashlie seem to be the most consistent but everyone else is jumping around like crazy!

[Haleth]

Yes, AL and Steve, teams who turned you showed their true colors - they aren't there to help you win. Still, they whipped thru those tasks in no time and except for misreading the clue about returning the receipts they would still have ended up near the top.  Way to hustle!  I don’t think that was a producer who told them their mistake, but it was an error that the guy did so.  AL’s manner doesn’t bother me except for her pique over being Uturned.  It’s part of the game, get over it  

(That said, I hate the Uturn. The race should be run on your own merit without interference from other teams.)

The brothers knew they were waaaay far behind so they basically gave up the hustle and enjoyed their final tasks. It’s too bad that a bad driver knocked them out of the race.

Speaking of drivers, kudos to the camera operator who kept showing the waiting driver yawning and fanning herself.

I would have loved the printing task. 

Edited November 3, 2023 by Haleth

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Part of me almost wonders if there was some ambiguity in how the directions were written regarding the turning in of the receipts. Like after the fact production realized that the phrasing on the clue could've been construed that you had to turn in the receipts "after the detour was completed" well, for the U-turned team technically isn't until both tasks are finished. Other than that possibility, I don't really have a great answer to why someone at the Bricks task got involved (either on his own, or on the behalf of TAR producers)..

Part of the conundrum of the U-turn, for me (someone who always thinks you should use it to try and knock out a team from the back) especially in this format is that none of the trailing teams going into this leg had shown any capacity to be a Top team (except for maybe the sisters who have been imploding these last three legs). Again though, I still don't understand U-turning a leading team such as AL & S. If not for the one mistake they made (which might not have been completely their fault), they could've won this leg doing both sides of the Detour. That's how far ahead they were!

AL doesn't bug me as much as some people. For me the two sisters in Blue are way more annoying & exasperating than she is. Yes, she's high strung & driven (she wants to win every leg. It's not like we haven't seen those character traits in TAR competitors before) Maybe if she was older, less conventionally attractive, & had a more hardscrabble backstory she'd come off in a more sympathetic, and likable light. And to be perfectly honest, I can't remember very many U-turned teams who reacted the so-called "right way". Everyone takes it personally, especially if it happens in the brutal heat & chaos of a big city in India..

[jah1986]

14 hours ago, Browncoat said:

Okay, I exaggerated a bit, but there is a similarity in how neither would let the "slight" go after the fact.  And, of course, they only had to haul bricks, not pack them.

AL is not at the level of intensity that Colin was, but the thing that I remember most is that because Colin never really got over the yield he was off his game the rest of the season and their dominance wasn't what it had been.  This U-turn might be enough to really throw Steve & AL to the point where they never win another leg.

I was also shocked when they were told they hadn't completed the other Detour, can't understand the logic of telling them.

Sorry to see the brothers go, they seemed nice.

[Netfoot]

1 hour ago, Haleth said:

I don’t think that was a producer who told them their mistake, but it was an error that the guy did so.

I wondered about this. Initially, I thought he was one of the judges or assistants to the judge at the bricks place. I wondered how he would know that they had not properly completed the flowers task. Did he overhear local producers talking? Was he one of the local producers?

If it turns out that a mistake was made, S&AL may have to pay a penalty at the start of the next leg to compensate for any advantage they received by being told about their mistake.  This would be unfortunate for them indeed. They made the mistake with the receipts but they were not responsible for being notified when they were. If they are penalized, it will be as a result of the actions of another. Production will have to be very careful how and what penalty is applied. 

All this assuming that they should not have been told. I don't remember a U-turned team making this sort of mistake before. And this is a new type of U-turn in any case. There is no precedent that I can think of. Perhaps the correct procedure was followed after all!

[SG429]

Regardless of who told what to whom, etc., S/AL did receive a time penalty of the round trip from bricks to flower merchant and back. Had they been allowed to complete the tasks out of order - returning the flower receipt at the end - they may have received a similar penalty, based on the time advantage, at the mat. I miss those scenes, with the countdown clock and teams sweating it out on the sideline.

I would prefer, though, that they're only told, "you did not complete the last task," rather than "read your clue."

[Lamb18]

I've always thought there is a Production Central in each leg's city/location and then there are Production Satellites at the sites of the detours and the roadblocks, and they all phone each other at different times. My guess is that a Production Satellite at the second temple location called Production Central and said Steve and Anna Leigh went on to Bricks without going back to return receipts. So Production Central called up Production Satellite Bricks, saying, Hey! Steve and Anna Leigh are showing up at Bricks and they didn't finish the Flowers task. Have the Bricks judge (or whoever he was) tell them they need to finish the detour. If they ask what they're supposed to do, tell them to read the clue. But don't tell them what they did wrong.

[mbluecpa]

I have a conspiracy theory that with the general lack of interpersonal drama (which makes this season so enjoyable for me), the Amazing Editors are latching on to/playing up AL’s U-turn commentary. When Corey later sheepishly admitted they’d voted for Steve/AL it just didn’t seem to create a whole lot of tension. 

AL is a really good Racer. 

Agreed with Liam that the fabric stamping task kinda looked like fun. The dude and his red X stamp were hilarious though I’d likely not have seen the humor in it if I was in the Race. 

[Ancaster]

7 hours ago, SDVegas said:

I wish they wouldn’t have let the racers get credit for good peacocks unless they had all 9 correct on a fresh cloth. That would be classic TAR. 

I sort of wished this too, but it would have ended up being truly brutal as some of the more clueless racers could have been stuck there past bedtime, so to speak.

5 hours ago, JH Lipton said:

Race results so far (the lower the better)

Todd and Ashlie seem to be the most consistent but everyone else is jumping around like crazy!

I love this - please keep posting your charts!

Edited November 3, 2023 by Ancaster

[iMonrey]

15 hours ago, chaifan said:

I don't think there's ever been a U-turned team that hasn't bitched and moaned about it for the rest of the episode, as well as made the "who U-turned us, we're going to get them" type of comments, even just in jest.  And I'm sure they all have been prompted a million times in their talking heads segments to discuss it ad nauseam. 

I'm sure they are asked specific things. But unless someone is writing a script for Anna Leigh and she's putting on an act, she's telling us how she really feels. Not in the heat of the moment, but when she's had time to think about it after the leg. Nobody else is pointing fingers at other teams and judging them, other than to say "so and so are a really strong team." This is twice now that Anna Leigh has criticized another team in a negative way, and the first time was before the U-Turn. She's coming off as victimized and entitled. I don't think anyone watching is going to say "Oh poor, poor Anna Leigh, why aren't other people as good and as honorable as she is?" But SHE seems to think that.

1 hour ago, SG429 said:

Regardless of who told what to whom, etc., S/AL did receive a time penalty of the round trip from bricks to flower merchant and back. Had they been allowed to complete the tasks out of order - returning the flower receipt at the end - they may have received a similar penalty, based on the time advantage, at the mat.

It depends. Sometimes they have a time penalty and have to wait beside the mat before Phil will check them in. But sometimes Phil makes them go back and fix whatever they did wrong. And if the latter had happened, they would have been out of the race. Because it would have taken way more time to go all the way back to the flower task from the finish mat than from the brick task.

[Tango64]

1 hour ago, Lamb18 said:

I've always thought there is a Production Central in each leg's city/location and then there are Production Satellites at the sites of the detours and the roadblocks, and they all phone each other at different times. My guess is that a Production Satellite at the second temple location called Production Central and said Steve and Anna Leigh went on to Bricks without going back to return receipts. So Production Central called up Production Satellite Bricks, saying, Hey! Steve and Anna Leigh are showing up at Bricks and they didn't finish the Flowers task. Have the Bricks judge (or whoever he was) tell them they need to finish the detour. If they ask what they're supposed to do, tell them to read the clue. But don't tell them what they did wrong.

That's plausible but it still seems inconsistent with how these errors have been handled in the past. I think we've seen teams just being refused access to the  next task and they have to figure out why, and of course we've seen teams unaware until Phil tells them at the mat. 

But I don't think we've ever seen a team told they didn't finish the previous task and to "read the clue."  So I wonder why they did it this time.

FWIW, I've always thought there were TAR producers at each task site and the local folks probably have minimal knowledge of what's going on in the leg beyond their own task involvement. So it seems very likely that a TAR producer told the local participant at the brick task to intervene and what to tell the team, probably because that looked better than having an obvious TAR team member do it. But the question is still why.

[Quilt Fairy]

2 hours ago, Netfoot said:

All this assuming that they should not have been told. I don't remember a U-turned team making this sort of mistake before. And this is a new type of U-turn in any case. There is no precedent that I can think of. Perhaps the correct procedure was followed after all!

DING! DING! DING! DING!  To paraphrase Jeff Probst (yuck), this is a "new era" U-Turn.  It has a different placement in the leg and different rules for voting.  You can't say the rules weren't followed correctly based on what would have happened during a "previous era" U-Turn. 

[meep.meep]

Just don't add hidden immunity idols....

The Amazing Editors had a field day with this episode.  They captured the pink and blue ladies passing Steve and Anna Leigh in the square and it was a blink and you miss it moment.

[aradia22]

This episode started off great for me. Yeremi with his hair down and Corey in his glasses looking like a young Clark Kent? Also, then the editors got to be cute and include clips of every animal Greg and John listed off.

The telescopic monocular didn't seem that tough for anyone but it was a cute touch. Pushing the rickshaws didn't seem to be that difficult of a task but it certainly got harder with fewer cars to choose from.

Steve and Anna Leigh being u-turned wasn't a surprise but it's interesting how close it was and only between two teams. I think people just don't like Robbin and Chelsea. Though arguably, it was also strategic because they could have been knocked out entirely. The vote was 5 for Steve and Anna Leigh (Robbin & Chelsea, Andrea & Malaina, Rob & Corey, Joel & Garrett, Greg & John) and 4 for Robbin and Chelsea (Morgan & Lena, Todd & Ashlie, Liam & Yeremi, Steve & Anna Leigh). 

The detour was tricky. I feel like Bundles with the flowers sounds way easier but they threw off a lot of teams by telling them they had to go to two locations. So many teams opted for Bricks doing the more physical task and it didn't seem that much easier to find those locations. 

I continue to find Malaina annoying.

This episode did not end up being a great advertisement for the pink taxis with female drivers.

I enjoyed the block printing roadblock that forced the teams to slow down. Use 4 colors and make 9 peacocks. John was great at it and Rob struggled but it didn't seem like it slowed any of the teams down crazily. When we got down to the last two, it made me realize how much I wanted Robbin & Chelsea to be eliminated and Liam & Yeremi to stay. The brothers were never going to win but they were nice to have around. We can definitely afford to lose more people though. I'd happily cut everyone below top three in this episode (1. Greg & John, 2. Corey & Rob, 3. Joel & Garrett with maybe Morgan & Lena or Steve & Anna Leigh as the wild card). But if anyone outside of that top three gets eliminated... I don't think I'll care that much. 

[aradia22]

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

Haha, she's ridiculous. I don't know why it doesn't bother me but this and being mad at Chelsea for the tile task just seems like silly pettiness that takes over in between actually doing the tasks. She's competent and not annoying during the actual racing. 

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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?

This might also be why she doesn't bother me. All bark, no bite.

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

I wrote down the race order from last episode. I think they were too close to the bottom of the pack and the slow driving (and apparently getting lost?) didn't help them keep their place or make up any ground. I enjoyed how easy going (and yes, fine, attractive) they were but they couldn't hang on forever. 

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

I think everyone likes them too much. 😅

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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. [...] 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.

Agreed. Malaina and Robbin annoy me much more. Like, who cares if Anna Leigh puts on makeup? A lot of women on TAR have worn makeup. They're still on TV. There have been hints at "ugly American" behavior/attitudes from Malaina and Robbin and that always puts me off. Anna Leigh can be brusque but she always seems relatively polite to the judges and though I don't think she slows down enough to enjoy the scenery that much, the worst she freaked out was at the eels. She's generally game and a tough racer and that wins her points for me. 

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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.

I'm irrationally upset with the racers for not u-turning Robbin and Chelsea and getting them eliminated so we'd have another week with Liam and Yeremi. Though no one could have predicted Robbin and Chelsea's navigation struggles. I do see the argument that some teams thought they were racing for first but it's very short term thinking as the "prizes" for winning a leg don't seem as valuable as knocking a team out. 

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So much of the talking head stuff is producer driven. 

Yup. All of this. The repeated stuff from their bios can be a drag, but sometimes I swear they will even replay the same soundbites (presumably if they couldn't coax them into talking about it all again). Yeah, Yeremi and Liam's personal history is not that unique but it's meaningful to them and I'm sure the producers are prodding to get the tears. So Anna Leigh and Steve complaining... especially in the talking heads rather than fighting with others teams... it doesn't bother me. 

[iMonrey]

4 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

To paraphrase Jeff Probst (yuck), this is a "new era" U-Turn.  It has a different placement in the leg and different rules for voting.  You can't say the rules weren't followed correctly based on what would have happened during a "previous era" U-Turn. 

Other than forcing everyone to blind vote for a team to U-Turn, this U-Turn was no different than any other U-Turn in the history of this show.  i really don't see how that exempts it from precedent in terms of making a mistake and not completing one of the Detours. People are right to point out how odd it was for someone to step in and alert the team they didn't finish the previous task. I don't think "well people voted this time" is a satisfactory explanation for why. It's not like this was a brand new kind of challenge.

[J-Man]

The choice of the peacock for the block-stamping task was said to arise from its status as India's national bird -- but you have to think that someone at CBS found stamping red 'Xs' over NBC's corporate symbol too clever to pass up.

[lilabennet]

I don't understand why this is such a big controversy.  If the judge hadn't alerted them that they didn't complete the other side of the detour at the beginning of the second task, then they would have found out at the end when they weren't given the next clue.  I actually think that they were penalized more than they should have been.  They should have been allowed to complete the bricks first just like any team that had bald-snarked would have been, then they could swing by to turn in the receipts for the first task afterward.

[HurricaneVal]

I have room in my petty heart to both respect Anna Leigh as a good racer, yet still not like her as a person.  Or at least as the person we're being shown, but I think I can infer from her intensity while racing and her interview commentary that she's showing us who she is.

I think we are owed an answer to Receiptgate.  I agree that it probably doesn't matter whether they were told at the beginning of the bricks task, or at the end of the bricks task, that they'd not completed the prior task--Phil took pains to tell us all that there is no "rush hour" in India.  It matters that they were told, and not only told, but given direct advice to read their clue.  Which.....to be fair.......was probably the first thing they were going to do anyways, but it put special emphasis on reading the clue, which locked their attention on it.  Would they have flailed around a little more, wasting more time?  Maybe.  Maybe not. 

I would be a terrible racer, because I probably wouldn't use the U-Turn correctly.  Which is why I think a most of the time the teams choose not to U-Turn anyone in a regular U-Turn--they're afraid of doing it wrong.  In a regular U-Turn, I can see the use and strategy in U-Turning a team behind you, if you know that team is behind you.  That way you've done what you could to avoid being last.  I see no harm in this sort of pre-voted U-Turn in U-Turning a high performing team.  It will lessen their head start, compact the field, and perhaps have a psychological disheartening effect on that team and tire them out some for the following task.  It is a way to get an edge on, and break the momentum of, a winning team.  Frankly, I don't understand why they didn't ALL vote for Anna Leigh and Steve.

 

That block printing task was fantastic.  I loved every aspect of it!

[Guest]

44 minutes ago, lilabennet said:

I don't understand why this is such a big controversy.  If the judge hadn't alerted them that they didn't complete the other side of the detour at the beginning of the second task, then they would have found out at the end when they weren't given the next clue.  I actually think that they were penalized more than they should have been.  They should have been allowed to complete the bricks first just like any team that had bald-snarked would have been, then they could swing by to turn in the receipts for the first task afterward.

One wonders if there would be as much consternation over this if, say, Greg & John or Rob & Corey had been U-Turned and made the same mistake.

[anniebird]

Any time there's a U-Turn, the team has to complete one task before going on to the next one. The difference this time is that the task was, not just doing the delivery, but returning the receipt. I wonder if production realized ahead of time there might be confusion about this or if they had an uh-oh moment when they saw what was happening. They had to let AL and Steve know they couldn't start the 2nd task before completing the first one but it did come across as awkward.

[Netfoot]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Other than forcing everyone to blind vote for a team to U-Turn, this U-Turn was no different than any other U-Turn in the history of this show.  i really don't see how that exempts it from precedent in terms of making a mistake and not completing one of the Detours.

In a normal Detour, racers can switch to the other half of the Detour at any time, and then (if they wish) switch back again. Nobody would stop them from starting the other challenge and insist they go back and complete the first. 

A U-turned team would have both tasks to perform but I know of no rule that would prevent them from completing most of the first, switching to and completing the second, and then switching back to complete the first. Such a rule may exist but I have never seen this happen so I don't know that it does.

If there is such a rule, we have no idea what is the normal corrective measure to be taken by Production, because we've never seen that rule broken before. So what we saw happen may have been decided upon seasons ago but has never seen because the appropriate circumstances were never met.

Given that this is the first time we've seen a "Mandatory Vote U-Turn", any previously existing rules along with standard production remedies to the rules being broken might easily have been thrown out the window anyway, and a new set put in place for this new type of U-turn.

We simply don't know whether the actions we saw taken were in accordance with a new set of rules for the Mandatory Vote U-Turn, in accordance with a long-standing set of procedures for all U-Turns that we've never seen before because they were never needed, or a complete cock-up by Production that may require an additional penalty be levied against S&AL.

If it is an error on the part of Production, I hope they are very careful in adjudicating what penalty they must pay. It isn't their fault if Production screwed up.

[chaifan]

6 hours ago, aradia22 said:

and Corey in his glasses looking like a young Clark Kent?

Corey reminds me of Matt Bomer. 

 

[iMonrey]

2 hours ago, Netfoot said:

We simply don't know whether the actions we saw taken were in accordance with a new set of rules for the Mandatory Vote U-Turn, in accordance with a long-standing set of procedures for all U-Turns that we've never seen before because they were never needed, or a complete cock-up by Production that may require an additional penalty be levied against S&AL.

That's fair.

By the same token, I think it's a bit of a cop-out to blame Anna Leigh's behavior in interviews as production-prompted. There's a big difference between repeatedly referring to one's profession or past experience to casting aspersions on other teams' characters. Which she has done twice now. 

If production is trying to prompt ill will or rivalries they aren't getting it from any other team. Nobody else is looking down their nose at other teams. Unless you think the show is deliberately editing out all the other negative comments to paint AL as some sort of villain. But this isn't the type of show I'd expect to see that. It's not Love Island, or The Bachelor, or some cheesy Bravo show. I expect more than that from The Amazing Race. 

[HelloooKitty]

Colin and the broken ox- my absolute favorite moment of reality tv ever. He was so completely unhinged. 
I have it on a t-shirt. 
 

“This is BS! My ox is BROKEN!” is absurd a statement as “Is this bc I’m a lesbian?” from Law and Order. 

[Netfoot]

20 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Nobody else is looking down their nose at other teams.

Nor is Anna Leigh, as far as I can see.

She is steamed at being U-turned, as has been every single U-turned racer in the history of the race. She is an entitled youth who gets snippy when she does not get the help she feels she deserves.

I don't see any indication that she feels anyone else is inferior, unimportant or not worthy of respect. But perhaps I'm missing nuance that others are picking up on?

In any case I like Anna Leigh as a racer. I think she is good at it and after all, that's what the show is primarily about. Given some of the unquestionably horrible people we've seen on this race, the current field are a pleasantly decent crop. Perhaps if I were to meet Anna Leigh in person I would not find her to my taste. However, I've seen no particular reason to think that would be the case. Not so far, at least.

[aradia22]

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If production is trying to prompt ill will or rivalries they aren't getting it from any other team. Nobody else is looking down their nose at other teams.

Robbin is

[iMonrey]

12 hours ago, Netfoot said:

I don't see any indication that she feels anyone else is inferior, unimportant or not worthy of respect. But perhaps I'm missing nuance that others are picking up on?

What do you think it means to say "that really speaks to their character" or "they showed their true colors?" Do you think that's a compliment? In saying that, she is essentially claiming moral superiority over others. And she did it the first time before the U-Turn so you can't blame it on being pissed over the U-Turn. Once, you can write off. Twice is a pattern. 

I get that there's an inherent appeal to a father-daughter team, and Anna Leigh is certainly a proficient and driven racer. But I think at this point it's pretty clear she's got a stick up her ass.

5 hours ago, aradia22 said:

Quote

If production is trying to prompt ill will or rivalries they aren't getting it from any other team. Nobody else is looking down their nose at other teams.

Robbin is

What has Robbin said about another team? I know she said she's not there to make friends and doesn't seem like the chummiest of racers, but I don't recall her casting any moral judgments against other teams.

[Lamb18]

25 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

What do you think it means to say "that really speaks to their character" or "they showed their true colors?" Do you think that's a compliment? In saying that, she is essentially claiming moral superiority over others. And she did it the first time before the U-Turn so you can't blame it on being pissed over the U-Turn. Once, you can write off. Twice is a pattern. 

I get that there's an inherent appeal to a father-daughter team, and Anna Leigh is certainly a proficient and driven racer. But I think at this point it's pretty clear she's got a stick up her ass.

What has Robbin said about another team? I know she said she's not there to make friends and doesn't seem like the chummiest of racers, but I don't recall her casting any moral judgments against other teams.

Robbin was snooty to Anna Leigh in the very first episode. The teams were all together--maybe in the airport. Anna Leigh was talking about doing something with animals,  frogs or pigs or something else, laughing about it, and Robbin says very snootily, "Charming." Her tone of voice expressed the very opposite. It just seemed so out of place when teams were just getting to know each other, excited about playing the game, being light-hearted.

[Netfoot]

3 hours ago, iMonrey said:

What do you think it means to say "that really speaks to their character" or "they showed their true colors?"

I think it means she was really peeved and was being rude to them as a result. 

[rr2911]

On 11/1/2023 at 10:51 PM, Artsda said:

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.

I hate it when the contestants ask the driver to drive faster.  The show is not in a controlled environment.  This isn't a movie set with a bunch of actors and stunt people.  The contestants are asking the driver to put themselves and the contestants in a more dangerous situation.

[DEL901]

1 hour ago, rr2911 said:

I hate it when the contestants ask the driver to drive faster.  The show is not in a controlled environment.  This isn't a movie set with a bunch of actors and stunt people.  The contestants are asking the driver to put themselves and the contestants in a more dangerous situation.

And the camera person and pedestrians 

[calvinshobbes]

6 hours ago, rr2911 said:

I hate it when the contestants ask the driver to drive faster.  The show is not in a controlled environment.  This isn't a movie set with a bunch of actors and stunt people.  The contestants are asking the driver to put themselves and the contestants in a more dangerous situation.

ok but the drivers of the electric tuktuk  on this leg was specifically chosen by the producers. The brothers got screwed because the driver selected by the producers had no idea and got them hopelessly lost

[dgpolo]

2 minutes ago, calvinshobbes said:

ok but the drivers of the electric tuktuk  on this leg was specifically chosen by the producers. The brothers got screwed because the driver selected by the producers had no idea and got them hopelessly lost

Do you know that for most of the episode I wasn't sure if the brothers were actually in one of the chosen vehicles. They seemed to have a problem finding one of the 'marked' ones. I could see the flags either on the back window or hanging in the front of the ones the other teams had but didn't see a flag on the one the brothers had. It didn't have a back window (no glass) but towards the end of the episode I did finally see the flag on the front. Up until then I though they would arrive on the mat to be told they hadn't followed instructions and receive a penalty. When their driver was so bad I just thought it was because she was a random person chosen to be in the crowd of rickshaws.

[aemom]

On 11/2/2023 at 12:48 AM, dancingdreamer said:

I've tried to like Anna Leigh,I can't  ,she's unlikable, and quite rude to her father.

She is constantly barking at him. She's just so rude to him, it pisses me off.

 

On 11/2/2023 at 11:29 AM, 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.

Love the Beard Bros and Rob/Corey.

I like Andrea and Malaina but they HAVE TO STOP with the *out of towners* bit. I agree with you entirely. 

 

On 11/3/2023 at 10:34 PM, chaifan said:

Corey reminds me of Matt Bomer. 

 

I have long said that they should get Matt Bomer to play Superman!

[iMonrey]

A few things I noticed on re-watch, including the camel at the brick site, which somehow I missed during the first viewing.

Randomness: while Phil explained the Bundles task, some guy was standing behind him and to the right, his arms crossed, looking right into the camera watching this. Also that random guy spinning around in the street who Joel and Garrett passed. 40 rupees for a bottle of water. That's about 48 cents U.S. 

I think Greg tried to learn a few words in Hindi - when they got their clue from the telescope guy he started to say "Namaste" but then corrected himself and tried to say dhanyavaad. I don't think he said it right though and gave up afterwards, falling back on just "thank you."

There were a lot of "Namastes" in this episode, which one could argue is even appropriate. 

Greg did the best job at the Roadblock, he got six imprints correct right off the bat. I got a kick out of Lena splattering the paint then saying "that one looks like it's been murdered."

Not exactly an "ugly American" moment but Rule # 10 on TAR: don't tell driver in a foreign country "chop chop." Corey.

Liam and Yeremi were the most polite team to their driver, especially considering how much time she lost for them. Malaina and Andrea were particularly rude, but I'm assuming they assumed the driver couldn't understand a word they were saying. 

When Anna Leigh entered the rickshaw parking lot she started calling "Rickshaw! Rickshaw!" Like she was calling a dog or something. I don't know if she expected one of them to come to her or if she expected someone to raise their hand or just what but it was hilarious.

Not so funny: when she and Steve loaded their bundles into their Richshaw she looked at the driver and yelled "GO! Dad, tell her to go!" I'm sure some are willing to overlook this and chalk it up to stress over the U-Turn but it's never OK to be nasty to the locals.

They zoomed in on Steve and AL when she said "we go straight to the next one" after delivering the bundles to the second temple but we didn't get the usual "clang clang clang" sound effect when someone makes a mistake. 

It was actually Steve who said "they showed their colors" in response to learning Corey, Rob, Joel and Garrett had U-Turned them. AL said "yeah just a little bit sneaky." But, if everyone is required to vote for someone, and they just admitted to you they voted for you, how is that sneaky?

Robbin: "I don't feel like going anywhere on Saturday, let alone India." Uh, I think I know what she meant, but what an unfortunate thing to say.

1 hour ago, dgpolo said:

Do you know that for most of the episode I wasn't sure if the brothers were actually in one of the chosen vehicles.

I wondered the same about Malaina and Andrea. They kept going around asking the drivers "is this electric?" Liam and Yeremi did find the correctly marked rickshaw though, as did Malaina and Andrea, apparently.

[pH-factor]

AL is only attractive as the other insecure women pumping botox & fillers in lips & God only knows where else.  They did a profile picture and with those lips is already on the road to procedure freak.  I want to  smack her for snapping at her dad, brat. 

[North of Eden]

The Pink Rickshaws aren't the only thing that is progressive when it comes to India.

One of the most vivid memories I have of the race was the first visit to India. In those less sanitized times, there was a segment that played right out of a horror movie.

The show came up with the most menacing footage of all female team Emily and her mom surrounded by the most rapey-looking men on a train the camera could find and being as nervous as hell.

Flashforward (no pun intended) to 2023 and you would never get such un-PC editing.

Now I've been wanting to say this for weeks. I really feel like Andrea on Team Pink is carrying her team. Without her as a partner, I feel like Malena wouldn't have a chance on this race. I don't think they are going to win but if they do its all on Andrea.

Good natured bros. Will miss them.

[blackwing]

On 11/2/2023 at 7:19 PM, chaifan said:

I don't think there's ever been a U-turned team that hasn't bitched and moaned about it for the rest of the episode, as well as made the "who U-turned us, we're going to get them" type of comments, even just in jest.  And I'm sure they all have been prompted a million times in their talking heads segments to discuss it ad nauseam.  It's the same reason why I don't get annoyed (too much) with teams that keep bringing up the same piece of their bio (I'm an ex-professional football player, or my husband is a professional football player, or whatever).  So much of the talking head stuff is producer driven.  So I personally don't see anything in AL or Steve's behavior/comments that isn't pretty standard stuff for a U-turned team.  And I'd bet money on it that they'll be asked about it (again) in their talking heads next week.

On 11/3/2023 at 10:58 AM, iMonrey said:

I'm sure they are asked specific things. But unless someone is writing a script for Anna Leigh and she's putting on an act, she's telling us how she really feels. Not in the heat of the moment, but when she's had time to think about it after the leg. Nobody else is pointing fingers at other teams and judging them, other than to say "so and so are a really strong team." This is twice now that Anna Leigh has criticized another team in a negative way, and the first time was before the U-Turn. She's coming off as victimized and entitled. I don't think anyone watching is going to say "Oh poor, poor Anna Leigh, why aren't other people as good and as honorable as she is?" But SHE seems to think that.

I agree that almost all of the U-Turned teams in the past have taken it quite poorly.  Usually there's some angry exclamation of "OMG we've been U-Turned" and then the commercial break.  But this time around, the U Turn is a lot different.  By making the vote happen at the Pit Stop, and being a blind vote, and any team can be eligible to be U-Turned, this has now brought a social aspect to the game.

I like TAR because it was one of the only competitive reality shows where contestants' fate depended  solely on their own performance.  Sure, teams can be friendly to each other and agree to work together or share info.  But there was an easy way to combat that.  Don't want others to agree to U Turn you?  Just make sure you get ahead of them.

The one time I can remember an alliance was successful was when three teams gave each other the answer at the rock music task which ended up eliminating the NFL players (Gary and his partner who was bitter and said he wasted his time being on the race).  That sucked.  I really hope there is a new rule in place that prevents such open collusion to eliminate another team.

But by and large, alliances are meaningless here.  However, I have to wonder how this new U Turn is going to affect things.  Will teams try to get into an alliance from the start?  Are there rules in place against discussiing who you want to U Turn?

On the one hand, I do feel for Anna Leigh, because under the previous rules, she and her dad would never have been at risk to be U Turned.  But she was just such a sore loser about it.  She should have taken it like the people do on Survivor, she was chosen because she is strong.

I do wonder how future U Turns will fall out.  As was said in another comment, the teams near the top are going to want to U Turn the strongest team to try and delay them so others can get first place.  The teams near the bottom are going to want to U Turn a weak team to try and get them out of the race so they themselves can avoid elimination.

I do wonder how four teams all chose Robbin and Chelsea to U Turn.  I think only Todd and Ashley said that they were a strong team.  The others seemed to think they were weak and wanted them out.  But how did those three teams all decide to U Turn that particular team?  To me, the sisters or the boys would have been a better choice to guarantee staying in the race for at least one more leg.

On 11/2/2023 at 8:49 PM, anniebird said:

I didn't see U-turning Steve and AL as a means of beating them in the final leg but because they already had a one-hour lead and, if they weren't slowed down, they could have turned that into a two or three hour lead. I just saw it as a way of bringing them back in with the pack.

True.  But ever since the edition where a team almost acquired a 24 hour lead due to good airport skills, there have been measures in place to ensure that no team is ever going to get an enormous lead again.  There is either airport bunching or hours of operation bunching which will eliminate a lead of hours to a lead of 0 or 15 or 30 minutes.

On 11/3/2023 at 8:52 AM, Netfoot said:

I wondered about this. Initially, I thought he was one of the judges or assistants to the judge at the bricks place. I wondered how he would know that they had not properly completed the flowers task. Did he overhear local producers talking? Was he one of the local producers?

Unlike Survivor, where the cameramen don't seem to relay any information to Jeffy or help the contestants in any way, I think the cameramen on TAR are also tasked with acting as spies for Phil.  Otherwise, Phil would never know if a team committed a penalty, or forgot their passports, or left their gnome behind. 

I'm quite certain that Phil and production knows exactly where each team is and what they are doing, because of regular updates from the camera and sound guys.  I would assume that AL's camera guy texted Phil and said "they just finished the flowers and now we are headed straight to the bricks".  "Did they go back to the flowers and turn in their two receipts?"  "No."  "Ok thanks."  Then Phil or producer texts whichever production/camera guy is stationed at the brick task to tell that greeter to tell AL that she didn't finish the other task.

 

[Kelda Feegle]

AL strikes me as the kind of person that would describe herself as a "pocket rocket" but is in reality annoyingly pushy, falling on the wrong side of the assertive/aggressive divide.

Mailaina annoys me no end, as does the "out of towners" screaming. Andrea seems lovely though.

Going to be interesting to see if there is any explanation regarding the notification of failure to complete at the detour.

Loved the camels.

 

[chaifan]

8 hours ago, blackwing said:

I like TAR because it was one of the only competitive reality shows where contestants' fate depended  solely on their own performance.  Sure, teams can be friendly to each other and agree to work together or share info.  But there was an easy way to combat that.  Don't want others to agree to U Turn you?  Just make sure you get ahead of them.

I totally agree.  If the voting is going to be blind, what's the point of making it mandatory?  If this is supposed to be a "social" aspect of the game, make the voting open.

I understand that doing the voting pre-leg puts the stronger/first teams out at a greater risk, as they can't save themselves by being first to the U-turn point.  But to me, that's part of the race - get to anything first, and you have an advantage.  Isn't that the whole point of a RACE?

I don't mind a little social aspect of the game - a bit of "you help me, I'll help you", as long as it doesn't get out of hand.  I feel that since that one season a few years ago, where there was the mass alliance, tasks have been changed to not make it so easy to team up.  But the "hey, let's find this place together" helping out makes sense to me, as both teams benefit equally.