S36.E09: My Precious Cacao

[Lantern7]

I saw a highlight of Bartolo hitting a home run earlier today!

[Browncoat]

Throwing a baseball is different from throwing a football.  Also, don't get cocky about a sports task.

[susannot]

Man it's amazing that Rickey just destroyed that baseball challenge on the first try for everything.  And professional athlete Rod can't get it done!

[Quilt Fairy]

They're not making them alternate roadblocks this leg?  What the hell?

[nilyank]

Just now, Browncoat said:

Throwing a baseball is different from throwing a football.  Also, don't get cocky about a sports task.

He needs to underthrow it. A soft lob.

Leticia should have done it.

[Lantern7]

1 minute ago, Browncoat said:

Throwing a baseball is different from throwing a football.  Also, don't get cocky about a sports task.

I’d think he had “the yips,” but this feels like Basic Rod to me.

[iMonrey]

I think Melissa and Yvonne are toast. They only have half their tarp covered. 

Damn, Cesar and Ricky are good at everything. 

Rod has to be hitting his Roadblock limit.

[Browncoat]

Just now, Quilt Fairy said:

They're not making them alternate roadblocks this leg?  What the hell?

 

1 minute ago, iMonrey said:

Rod has to be hitting his Roadblock limit.

 

I thought I heard Leticia say this was Rod's last one.

[Lantern7]

I’m gonna have to look up YouTube to link at least two videos tonight.

Sorry if I’m geeking out about Bartolo. He had a few productive years with the Mets.

Edited May 9 by Lantern7

[Browncoat]

I hope Melissa and Yvo can make up time, but I'm not optimistic.  

[nilyank]

Amber, you went to a baseball field. You should have guessed that your softball skills might be used.

No detours.

[iMonrey]

I think it's telling we aren't seeing much of Melissa and Yvonne's talking heads. They did the same thing with Angie and Danny last week. Maybe too much of a giveaway by their body language.

We can't be lucky enough to be done with Amber and Vinny.

[nilyank]

Even with a cab driver, they don't stop and ask for directions when the driver clearly says he doesn't know where that is.

Rod and Letiica's driver also didn't know but they stopped immidiately and asked for directions.

[chaifan]

Is there a final challenge at the clue box?  Or just instructions to go to the pit stop?  Isn't that weird?  I wonder if a challenge was edited out.

 

[nilyank]

Just now, chaifan said:

Is there a final challenge at the clue box?  Or just instructions to go to the pit stop?  Isn't that weird?  I wonder if a challenge was edited out.

 

Merengue Pit Stop.

[iMonrey]

Just now, chaifan said:

Is there a final challenge at the clue box?  Or just instructions to go to the pit stop?  Isn't that weird?  I wonder if a challenge was edited out.

No, Phil just said they'd get to see the local dancing.

[Lantern7]

Bad cabbie is making things a little interesting . . .

[Quilt Fairy]

Was it a requirement for the cabbies to NOT know where the final clue box was? 

[Browncoat]

Dammit.  The bad cabbie didn't help us as much as I would have liked.

I am sorry to see Melissa and Yvo go, and not just because I wanted Amber and Vinny gone.

[nilyank]

"Your not the one that know directions"

Oh Phil.. Even you cannot help them as a couple.

[Browncoat]

Aww, congratulations to Yvonne and Melissa!

I'm glad we got that update.

Edited May 9 by Browncoat

[iMonrey]

Good grief Amber is a doormat.

[Lantern7]

*sigh* Well, that was predictable. 🙄

[susannot]

No suspense whatsoever.

[Good Queen Jane]

Aw, nice update about Mellissa and Yvo. Have they done that before?

[chaifan]

Awww... that was a sweet little bit about Yvonne and Melissa having a baby.  Again, have they ever done that with an eliminated team?  

I still think it's weird the last clue box was just instructions to go to the mat.  

[dizzyd]

1 minute ago, Browncoat said:

Congratulations to Yvonne and Melissa!

Have they shown this for any of the other eliminated teams?

[WatcherUp2]

SO different than last season at this point, where at least 3 teams were comprised of people who I really liked. This season is on the meh-to-yuck scale for the final four.

[Browncoat]

1 minute ago, Good Queen Jane said:

Aw, nice update about Mellissa and Yvo. Have they done that before?

 

1 minute ago, chaifan said:

Awww... that was a sweet little bit about Yvonne and Melissa having a baby.  Again, have they ever done that with an eliminated team?  

 

1 minute ago, dizzyd said:

Have they shown this for any of the other eliminated teams?

I don't remember them doing that for anyone else.  

[nilyank]

Just now, Browncoat said:

I don't remember them doing that for anyone else.  

They also had extra time from when this was filmed to now that they had time to become moms.

[Lantern7]

Next week: mascots! And t-shirt cannons!

Of course the last two legs would be compressed into one finale.

[chaifan]

1 minute ago, WatcherUp2 said:

SO different than last season at this point, where at least 3 teams were comprised of people who I really liked. This season is on the meh-to-yuck scale for the final four.

I just want Amber & Vinny gone.  I do like Ricky & Cesar, Juan & Shane are good racers, and Rod & Leticia have grown on me.  I think I'd like them to finish in that order.  I won't be disappointed if any of those three teams win.

If somehow Amber and Vinny get into the final 3 and end up winning... ugh.  To think that TAR winnings will go to pay for the wedding of such a dysfunctional couple makes me a little nauseous.  

 

[Good Queen Jane]

Maybe they wanted us to feel better about Amber and Vinny beating Melissa and Yvo so they showed us they had a happy ending anyway.

[PaperTree]

What's with Shane's shorts?  They look like boxer shorts.

[dancingdreamer]

I didn't  know Yvonne  and Melissa  were in the race, until it had thinned  out. I'm amazed that Ricky and Cesar are first again, good for them. Vinny and Amber, I hope they are out first of the F4. I don't  mind any of the others winning, but not so secretly,  I hope it's Ricky and Cesar.

[bunnyface]

1 hour ago, Lantern7 said:

 

Oh, nice, run a commercial for the show replacing TAR. Stay classy, CBS.

There's no way I'm watching that show.  If they can't give us the TAR we deserve, the least they could do is give us a Tough As Nails.

[Netfoot]

Hispaniola! A word that always makes me think of exotic island life!

1 hour ago, Browncoat said:

Also, don't eat it!  It is not tasty until sugar is added.

The white, slimy stuff on the cocoa seeds is delicious. Pop a seed in your mouth and suck that slime off! But what ever you do, don't bite into the seed itself. Because that stuff is the very definition of bitter!

I've never wanted anything more than to see Yvonne & Melissa run up and take the 4th spot. Early in the episode there is a Talking Head with Amber saying stuff like "I have to stop screwing up and listen to what Vinny says and do what ever he says..." all the while looking at him like it's a speech he wrote for her and she knows she will get a serious beating if she gets a single word wrong. She really needs to get the rid of him ASAP!

I hope the cocoa plantation sends Vinny a bill for destroying trees in their cocoa orchard. He is just the sort of ass who would think the best way to pick a coconut would be to cut down the tree.

Oh well. The race continues to be dominated by Team BAF, but at least the scenery has improved.

And just curious. The judge for the Stones-With-Glyphs challenge. WTF was she wearing?!??

[mertensia]

13 minutes ago, Netfoot said:

Hispaniola! A word that always makes me think of exotic island life!

The white, slimy stuff on the cocoa seeds is delicious. Pop a seed in your mouth and suck that slime off! But what ever you do, don't bite into the seed itself. Because that stuff is the very definition of bitter!

I've never wanted anything more than to see Yvonne & Melissa run up and take the 4th spot. Early in the episode there is a Talking Head with Amber saying stuff like "I have to stop screwing up and listen to what Vinny says and do what ever he says..." all the while looking at him like it's a speech he wrote for her and she knows she will get a serious beating if she gets a single word wrong. She really needs to get the rid of him ASAP!

I hope the cocoa plantation sends Vinny a bill for destroying trees in their cocoa orchard. He is just the sort of ass who would think the best way to pick a coconut would be to cut down the tree.

Oh well. The race continues to be dominated by Team BAF, but at least the scenery has improved.

And just curious. The judge for the Stones-With-Glyphs challenge. WTF was she wearing?!??

Taino headdress.

Sigh. Of course Amber and Vinny survived.

[Lantern7]

I'm ready for the end of this season. I know that the game had to change, but it feels predictable. Worse, Ricky & Cesar will probably win, and they will probably get shit upon for running a race that they had no part in designing. The real shame is that they come off as sweet guys that understand and adjust to one another's personalities (you hear that, VINNY?), and they're going to get grief for being so dominant.

And who else was going to get eliminated other than Yvonne & Melissa? They also seem like nice people, but we haven't gotten to know them as well as the other teams . . .  .so even Amber & Vinny getting stuck with a bad cab driver didn't make a huge difference in the bigger picture. One good thing about the seasons being aired out of order was that we got a sweet epilogue for the girlfriends that we probably wouldn't have gotten if the episode ran last December.

The Roadblocks were good, but the baseball stuff seemed too basic. Rod made things a little interesting by mistaking a baseball for a football, but he managed to figure it out. I will admit that hitting the bottle cap with a stick was challenging. I'm guessing that's how the kids at camp learn to hit the ball well.

Links!

Wikipedia: Bartolo Colon

The man they call "Big Sexy" has had a checkered past, but he's managed to come off as endearing. There have been other Dominican ballplayers that have made a bigger impact, but his 247 wins is the mark for pitchers in that area.

Bartolo's Blast

He hit his only career home run in 2016 for the Mets, becoming the oldest player (at 43) to get his first round-tripper. The glee of the Mets' broadcasters (Gary Cohen and Ron Darling) is just beautiful.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Chocolate

John shines a light on the making of chocolate, which is grimier than one might think. This is where my mind went seeing the cacao-gathering task. Well, that and "Man, Vinny is gonna break his fool neck if he keeps climbing those trees."

Edited May 9 by Lantern7

[Netfoot]

4 minutes ago, mertensia said:

Taino headdress.

O-kay... It wasn't the headdress I was thinking about, but....

[rr2911]

There hasn't been a U-TURN his season.  I'm hoping there is one and Ricky and Cesar get u-turned and end up losing.  

I'm pulling for the pilots or Rod and Leticia.

Vinny does seem like a jerk but Amber's constant complaining could make any sane person crazy!

[mertensia]

I forgot that I nearly choked when Vinny said something like he'd been upbeat and cheerful all day.

[aradia22]

This was a fun one. I think the challenges were better this leg and with everyone bunching up, the pacing wasn't as off. Though I was surprised when the final two teams were actually close enough to be at the mat at the same time since it seemed like the edit was trying to make us think the driver got the second to last team very lost (and I wasn't buying it). 

Putting the stones in order was a proper challenge. It was the sort of thing you'd see in the final leg. They were disoriented from all the jumping and sliding. It seemed like the clues were decently hidden so you had to really search for them. And they made the memory challenge properly difficult with tiny differences in the pictures (in addition to putting everything in the right order). Honestly, I don't blame the first two teams to get there for working with other people. I'm sure they were getting tired of going through the entire water course. I do wish Cesar had actually helped Melissa finish her puzzle. I wonder if it would have shaken up the placements more. 

But the episode still ended on a good note seeing they've moved in together and had a baby.

The cacao task was also a proper challenge. I hope they didn't do too much damage to the trees with the way they were rampaging through there. Amber is very negative.

Baseball didn't seem to slow anyone down that much though the editing was dramatic. It just seemed close between the teams so minutes counted for a lot. 

Ricky and Cesar get criticism but I don't think their success this leg had anything to do with speaking Spanish. I love that they're showing you don't have to be a thin or outwardly physically fit team to be athletic, or at least keep up with everyone else. 

[mojoween]

TAR says they are going to Bartolo Colon Stadium and my first thought was “Lantern must be loving this!” and then my second was “I still prefer the DH.”

Count me among those surprised they didn’t have to alternate RB that occurred in a single leg.  Was freaking out that Leticia was going to have to do it.

Odd that Amber needs to basically redo her entire personality, as listed by both Amber and Vinny, but Vinny doesn’t have anything HE needs to work on.

[Haleth]

Ugh, I was also hoping Amber and Vinnie were lost enough to lose.  Instead we'll be subjected to his abuse for another week.

I'm guessing now that after such a well run race Ricky and Cesar will finally screw up and not come in first.  I hope not; they certainly deserve the win but that often seems to happen.  I wouldn't mind any of the teams winning, except for A&V, but it should be R&C.

Who would have guessed Ricky could do baseball drills so efficiently?

It looks like Leticia will have to do whatever roadblocks are left and we all know she's not good at anything, so I doubt they will win.  I do love how supportive they are of each other.  They are a cute couple.

Congrats to Yvonne and Melissa.  

[PhD-Purgatory15]

First post of the entire season. It's been an enjoyable watch (sort of) & severely lacking all at the same time..

Did anyone see a rationale online for why this season stayed in the Western Hemisphere (and placed such a premium on Spanish language ability)? Kept waiting for a flight to Europe or Africa that never came..

I'm not really rooting for them but if R & C don't win, it will feel like an undeserving team got the million dollars (even the pilots). Sort of like when the Ice Cream Scientists girls beat that seriously alpha Doctor (or Dentist) and his wife after they had dominated most legs of their TAR season.

Part of me wonders if Vinny & Amber broke up during the race and are just playing out the string. Thanks to Vinny's ability to knockout roadblocks like they are nothing and the overall weakness of the last 3-5 teams eliminated they've almost made it to the very end while loathing each other..

Bartolo!!

 

[chaifan]

50 minutes ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

Part of me wonders if Vinny & Amber broke up during the race and are just playing out the string.

Nope.  I posted above, that while watching one recap video on youtube, I noticed Amber & Vinny had a video posted.  So I clicked on it, and they're talking about their upcoming wedding.  I read a few of the comments, someone said something about them needing therapy, and Amber replied that they were in therapy.  So now I wonder if their therapist has been watching this season.  Or if he/she just takes Vinny's word that Amber is the source of all problems and he is perfect. 

 

I'm a bit mad at TAR and Phil for continuing the deception that Danny & Angie violated a rule last leg.  I think their interviews have pretty much established that the crew not following them was not their fault, and they did what they were told to do - go to the next stop and wait for the crew. 

[shura]

11 hours ago, iMonrey said:

WTH was Biden doing in the Dominican Republic for 45 days and what does Melissa do for a living? Secret Service?

That was my favorite part of the episode, some random, out-of-nowhere line that makes you think about things you've never thought of before.  A month and a half is a long time, isn't it?  Surely not an official visit.  Maybe a couple of weeks of vacation for Biden?  And the agents protecting him probably get there well (like a month) in advance to set up security and everything?

7 hours ago, rr2911 said:

Vinny does seem like a jerk but Amber's constant complaining could make any sane person crazy!

I especially noticed how, when it became more than apparent that their driver has no idea where he is going, she kept repeating how she had said it from the beginning, didn't she say it, and Vinny didn't listen, so it's his fault.  As if saying all this helps with solving the problem at hand at all.  It is annoying when people do that, but it probably comes from constantly being blamed for everything, so it becomes more important to state that you are not at fault than to do anything constructive to resolve the situation.  Pretty sad, really.

It irked me that many teams did not use the cutting tool and just kept tugging on the cacao fruit and bending the branches or worse (Vinny).  Nobody seemed to think that the trees are not there just for the show and the farmers probably wouldn't appreciate damage to their trees.  The show should have cacao'd this practice. (Yes, I cannot hear the word 'cacao' and not think about the Portlandia sketch.)

[Netfoot]

11 hours ago, iMonrey said:

WTH was Biden doing in the Dominican Republic for 45 days and what does Melissa do for a living? Secret Service?

Do they make good iced cream in DomRep?

[KeithJ]

13 hours ago, iMonrey said:

WTH was Biden doing in the Dominican Republic for 45 days and what does Melissa do for a living? Secret Service?

I can't find anything saying his trip was that long.  This is all I was able to find:

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/05/29/vice-president-biden-travel-brazil-colombia-and-dominican-republic

It looks like he was in the Caribbean / South America for about a week and that was it.

He was back in DC on June 23rd:

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog?page=81

Edited May 9 by KeithJ