S37.E05: It’s Not Personal, It’s Business

[chitowngirl]

Host Phil Keoghan shocks the teams when he announces a surprise where teams must cast their vote live, and the two teams with the most votes are required to complete both detours.
 

Airdate April 2, 2025 on CBS

[chitowngirl]

I’m glad someone says it out loud that (like it or not)it’s part of the game and it’s not personal!

[Rodney]

Damn.  Goodbye to the first dominant older team we've had since Kim & Penn.

Scott & Lori, all you had to do was watch those damn coral a bit more carefully, and we'd have been rid of Jonathan & Ana!  But mainly Jonathan!

Coral was surprisingly faster than Coconuts.  Surprised about that.

The Roadblock was deceptively simple.  Just had to match the decals and forget about surfboard colors.  I was hyped when Han took a moment to catch that wave!

They kept it tense to the end, but I wonder how far behind Jonathan & Ana it turned out Scott & Lori really were?

Tense episode . . . with an awful ending.  Nothing against Ana, who seems sweet and lovely, but Jonathan needs to go.

[Rodney]

Melinda & Erika (mainly Erika) pointing out that they were the last women's team left in the race made me sad.  It really spoke to how weak the other three were.  I mean, it was pretty much a given that Jackye & Lauren were likely not going to last long, anyway.  They had no get-up-and-go at all.

But Courtney & Jasmin and Bernie & Carrigain I would've bet money on fighting out for being the last of the women's teams standing.  Both were teams of young, fit, in-shape women.  But the former probably had less get-up-and-go then Jackye & Lauren (and making simple, stupid mistakes that they took way too long to fix didn't help), and the latter just couldn't get their shit together and work well together.  So . . . yeah.  Melinda & Erika are the last ones standing.

I don't mind it, though.  They have the most urgency, have made the fewest mistakes of the four, and get along the best.  In fact, they're coming off like the strongest mother/daughter team we've had on the show.

Nice showing, ladies, to stay in it this long!

Edited Thursday at 03:33 PM by Rodney

[bunnyface]

So like every bully, once Jonathan doesn't have the upper hand, he gives up and doubles down on the asshole traits.

[dancingdreamer]

I love Ana,  god knows how she is able to stand Jonathan. What a complete  jerk, especially  the way he speaks to her. Maybe he could  help by picking  up those eggshells  Ana walks on. 

Scott and Lori ran a very good race, I didn't  see Scott take little naps on his board either.

I don't   have a favorite  team, I really don't  want Ana and Jonathan to win this, but anyone  else would  be fine.

[Lantern7]

So long to one of the front-running teams. I don't think the Roadblock was complicated enough to give Eight Sons a shot of catching up.

Jonathan needs to grow up. Painful to hear Ana's story about her unborn child.

At least the U-Turn got us teams to run alongside D&D in the front. It's easier to get a feel for the teams, but I think there's a lot I can lot from them. For instance, Alyssa & Josiah are married nurses. There were two sets of nurses on this show. I didn't realize that until I just hit Wikimedia.

[ByaNose]

Jonathan 2.0 is the worst. I couldn’t believe what a baby he was and the way he talked to his wife. He’s telling her to stop whining and crying at the beginning and then he threw a hissy fit the whole leg. Such a jerk and a baby. Ugh! I was so mad they didn’t come in last. 

[aghst]

Both U-turned teams deserved it.  Scott saying he thought of all the other teams like his 8 sons made me laugh.  The other teams said they pretended to be non competitive but they were winning legs or placing top 3 and Scott denied it was gameplay to try to come across as uncompetitive.

Lori said she didn’t think of the people who voted for them as friends any more, more gaslighting from the couple, though they took their elimination with grace.

Jonathan is the most despicable racer this season.  Enough said.

Surprising that Scott and Lori kept not getting the coral right.  But it looked like only Scott got out past the orange buoys, Lori was only half way out?

Have to say, the Drivers Seat was a grenade which led right to this Double U-turn.  The producers sabotaged the team which had to use it, just to amp up drama.  Though eventually Jonathan’s personality would have eventually alienated other teams so even if the U-turn vote came later, they might have gotten the votes.

And the live vote format, with each team having to explain their vote to the teams who got the votes, again another blatant way to cause drama between the racers.

I hope the show gets better ratings, stays on the or but if they have to resort to these kinds of shenanigans, maybe it’s no longer the TAR which we all came to love.

 

 

[PhoneCop]

As someone who doesn't do well with heat and humidity, I could kind of relate to Jonathan on that level. But man, what an object lesson in how not to conduct myself no matter how frazzled I might get. 

Being received at the mat not only by Phil and a greeter but a mini-kecak performance would make up for a lot, though!

[Fake Jan Brady]

6 hours ago, dancingdreamer said:

I don't   have a favorite  team, I really don't  want Ana and Jonathan to win this, but anyone  else would  be fine.

As the first seven teams arrived at the mat, each time I thought how much I liked them so I briefly thought either of the last teams being eliminated was going to be a win....until Jonathan survived. Bummer of a way to end.

I'm not sure what the psychological term is for Ana's situation, but watching her berate herself for failing to boost him when "he does that for her" [in her opinion] was horrifying. She just needs to watch the episode where he turned his back on her playing hacky-sack to best illustrate his "support". What a terrible man.

[Grizzly]

If I had to choose between marrying Jonathan or Scott, our two "villains", I'm picking Scott every time! Not that he'd pick me since I didn't want kids 😃

The set up of this race is showing how being in the middle of the pack can be a good thing.

[shura]

I’ve had heat exhaustion.  It’s no joke.  I knew I was going to pass out unless I stopped what I was doing and took care of myself.  So I am not going to knock Jonathan for slowing down and taking little naps on the board, and believe me, heat exhaustion is not going to make your personality more pleasant either.

5 hours ago, aghst said:

Have to say, the Drivers Seat was a grenade which led right to this Double U-turn.  The producers sabotaged the team which had to use it, just to amp up drama.  Though eventually Jonathan’s personality would have eventually alienated other teams so even if the U-turn vote came later, they might have gotten the votes.

And the live vote format, with each team having to explain their vote to the teams who got the votes, again another blatant way to cause drama between the racers.

I hope the show gets better ratings, stays on the or but if they have to resort to these kinds of shenanigans, maybe it’s no longer the TAR which we all came to love.

I certainly don’t want this Driver’s Seat/public Double U-Turn to become a regular feature, but I kinda liked it as a one-time thing.  It was consequential.  People often complain how this or that thing on TAR didn’t do anything to change the order of the teams - well, this one did.  I also liked how the teams were civil enough about it.  

[mojoween]

If Jonathan wants support when he has heat exhaustion, then maybe he can give Ana some support when she is emotional about something that had literally just happened.

In summary, shut the fuck up, Jonathan.

[raeb23]

1 hour ago, shura said:

I’ve had heat exhaustion.  It’s no joke.  I knew I was going to pass out unless I stopped what I was doing and took care of myself.  So I am not going to knock Jonathan for slowing down and taking little naps on the board, and believe me, heat exhaustion is not going to make your personality more pleasant either.

Heat exhaustion doesn't explain Jonathon's lack of support when Ana is doing a task or him telling her to quit whining & crying when she was upset right after the U-turn vote though. It's possible he's supportive in their everyday lives but that's not the dynamic we've seen on the show. What we've seen is Jonathon consistently showing annoyance toward her & then Ana finding excuses for his behviour.

[bunnyface]

2 hours ago, Fake Jan Brady said:

I'm not sure what the psychological term is for Ana's situation, but watching her berate herself for failing to boost him when "he does that for her" [in her opinion] was horrifying. She just needs to watch the episode where he turned his back on her playing hacky-sack to best illustrate his "support". What a terrible man.

Stockholm syndrome?

1 hour ago, shura said:

I’ve had heat exhaustion.  It’s no joke.  I knew I was going to pass out unless I stopped what I was doing and took care of myself.  So I am not going to knock Jonathan for slowing down and taking little naps on the board, and believe me, heat exhaustion is not going to make your personality more pleasant either.

 

But can you imagine how out of control he would have acted had Ana had the same issue he had?  And if she had told him to stop talking because she had a headache?  

I didn't have a problem with Scott and Lori in general.  But I didn't like the "we're old and slow" game they were running, while always being in the lead.  I didn't like it when whatshisname did it years ago (he popped his Achilles and then they came back for another season and he was always saying "I'm an old man!")  I don't like it when we hear "we're just a couple of girls."  Whatever your status is, is the same status you had when you signed up and chose to run, so you can't use it as a weapon.

[anniebird]

9 minutes ago, raeb23 said:

Heat exhaustion doesn't explain Jonathon's lack of support when Ana is doing a task or him telling her to quit whining & crying when she was upset right after the U-turn vote though. It's possible he's supportive in their everyday lives but that's not the dynamic we've seen on the show. What we've seen is Jonathon consistently showing annoyance toward her & then Ana finding excuses for his behviour.

I understand wanting to make your husband look good on TV but I suspect this is their life pattern.   If I had heat exhaustion and a bad headache I would be apologizing to my partner for not being able to perform at my best, not berating them for talking to me.                                                                                                                                                     

[PhD-Purgatory15]

I really would've loved to know what specifically were Scott & Lori messing up on with the coral. It took them 8 tries (according to the Amazing Editors) to get that correct when it only took Johnathan & Anna 6 tries. If they could've crushed that task or finished in 3-4 tries, they'd have survived this leg.

If you knew that a double U-Turn was coming in the very next leg, would've you have "thrown" the Driver's Seat? It was pure taxi luck that let J&A take the Driver's seat by getting from the Bali airport to the location where they ATV'd through the jungle. I might have tried to convince my partner to stay of to the side and let whoever was in 2nd take it (& in the process maybe convince them to give us the lightest work option)..

I'm honestly a little surprised that as much as Johnathan was suffering, TAR medical personnel didn't step in to at least evaluate him. It legitimately might not have been "safe" for him to finish the leg (especially watching him almost pass out on the surfboard in the ocean)..

I can't decide who I'm rooting for. Outside of J&A, I guess I'd be okay with just about every other team winning (The Green Team is a little too cute by half though). I generally like most of the other players, but there's something about almost every team's demeanor that gives me pause from going full in on the rooting bandwagon..

[Fukui San]

It was a fun, exciting episode but the race design was truly an atrocity in terms of fairness.

• The Driver's Seat last episode making one team a clear target for retribution.
• A forced bunch erasing any possible lead from last episode.
• A relatively long pair of Detours and a relatively easy Roadblock making it practically inevitable that one of the U-Turned teams get eliminated.

Basically it was the show setting a trap for whichever team first got to the Driver's Seat last episode. If that happened to any other team than Jonathan and Ana I think there might be much more outrage.

There wasn't a time limit in the Express Pass that got used last episode, was there? At least one that dictated that they use it last episode or lose it? The Express Pass would have been mighty handy for J&A this episode.

[Stardancer Supreme]

I bet Jonathan wished he hadn't burned the Express Pass so quickly; this would have been the perfect leg to use it!  Poor Ana! She has a lot of strength to put up with her 3rd child while mourning a possible fourth child. That makes Jonathan's behavior towards her even worse once the killer fatigue set in.

Scott and Lori had the key to the Coral task and still biffed it. They would have become insufferable had they survived this leg, though.  Telling strangers that they were his sons and Lori taking back her friendship at a vote pretty much was the end of their social game.

The coconut task was grueling. They couldn't give the teams a bag for the coconuts? They also couldn't ride the bikes?  That's a weird way to transport coconuts in Bali heat.

[shura]

1 hour ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

I'm honestly a little surprised that as much as Johnathan was suffering, TAR medical personnel didn't step in to at least evaluate him. It legitimately might not have been "safe" for him to finish the leg (especially watching him almost pass out on the surfboard in the ocean)..

They probably did, it just didn't make the cut.  How could they not have, the guy looks dehydrated even under normal circumstances, and now he is exhibiting symptoms?  But you need to maintain a certain edit, can't give the villain anything that might potentially cause some sympathy.  Contrast that with the rice in one of the brother's eye - that had no bearing on anything and just disappeared in the next scene they were in, but it was there because it paints a certain picture.

6 minutes ago, Stardancer Supreme said:

I bet Jonathan wished he hadn't burned the Express Pass so quickly; this would have been the perfect leg to use it!

If they still had it, it would have probably also guaranteed that they would be one of the two U-turned teams, just to force them to burn it.  

Edited Thursday at 03:24 PM by shura

[Browncoat]

It seemed like Scott and Lori did the coconut task faster than anyone else, because they somehow managed to transport 30 coconuts with each trip.  If they had paid attention to the hint they got at the coral task, they had a real chance of beating several other teams.  Didn't the team that gave Scott and Lori the hint knock the coral out in one go?  No more than two tries, for sure.

[TheRabbi]

9 hours ago, aghst said:

 

I hope the show gets better ratings, stays on the or but if they have to resort to these kinds of shenanigans, maybe it’s no longer the TAR which we all came to love.

 

 

I've come to accept that. The Race I fell in love with isn't really here anymore. If I was just starting to watch now, I wouldn't be addicted and wouldn't be hunting down the old seasons. And next season may be the final straw for me (those who follow spoilers know what i mean). I would like one more all-stars or all-winners season for season 40 but after that I'd like the show to retire.

I thought this episode was alright but dislike the u-turn voting and the tasks were not particularly memorable. I've said this before, but I think I would prefer if it went back to 60 minute episodes. 

[iMonrey]

4 hours ago, shura said:

I certainly don’t want this Driver’s Seat/public Double U-Turn to become a regular feature, but I kinda liked it as a one-time thing.  It was consequential.  People often complain how this or that thing on TAR didn’t do anything to change the order of the teams - well, this one did.  I also liked how the teams were civil enough about it.  

I guess I liked this U-Turn better than how it's normally used because it enabled all teams to contribute to the decision. And that the Detours came before the Roadblock. On the other hand, it punished strong teams for being strong teams. And that's usually not a thing. It's another way the show is interfering in the concept of a "race." Especially after the Driver's Seat gimmick essentially sabotaged the team forced to take it. That's way too much manipulation. Maybe this should have been a non-elimination leg.

That said, Lori lost me a bit by reacting the way she did, telling the other teams she no longer considered them friends. I understand how she felt but that's a dumb thing to say out loud. They already had a target on their backs, but had they survived the U-Turn they might have needed help from another team in the future.

And while I've tried to defend Jonathan and Ana in the past, no more. Yeah they were totally screwed over by the Driver's Seat but it's clear Jonathan is the type to just give up if he's not in the lead.

Props to Pops for doing the Roadblock. The man is a beast. 

Once again I applaud the challenge designers. I would have been tempted to choose Coconuts for the same reason the others did - thinking it was just physical and something you would eventually accomplish. But Coral might have been the easier choice, given how quickly Brett, Mark, Carson and Jack finished it. And the Roadblock was tougher than it looked. Think of how exhausted they must have been by the time they got to it.

At least we got some placement shakeups this time. Except for Carson and Jack who came in second again. Brett and Mark went from 7th to 1st and Pops and Jeff from last to 4th. 

[mertensia]

I laughed when they we're at the monkey sanctuary and the one racer said "look! Monkeys!". 

I can't figure out how Scott and Lori mucked up. They'd been given the clue about the colors.

Anything with coconuts is going to be brutal, I bet.

[snarts]

As a TAR purist, I hated both the Drivers Seat & the public voting on the Double U-turn. 

I've watched this show for 37 seasons over 20+ years for the RACE & travel porn. I do not care if the teams like one another. 

I wish they'd stop trying to make it like every other competive reality show & instead focus on new locations & interesting detours/roadblocks. 

[proserpina65]

Well, crap.  We were so close to getting rid of Jonathan.  Who very quickly turned into an ass to his wife after starting off by being supportive of her water fear.

I would've done the coral task.  And it sooo would've been me doing the surfing roadblock.  I would've done what Han did on the way back, although I'd probably have fallen off before even getting all the way to my feet.  (I've taken surfing lessons, but only with someone holding onto the board when I was trying to stand up.)

13 hours ago, bunnyface said:

So like every bully, once Jonathan doesn't have the upper hand, he gives up and doubles down on the asshole traits.

I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt at the end and think that he was probably suffering from heat exhaustion to a certain extent, but he switched to asshole mode with Ana pretty much at the beginning of the coconut task and never looked back.

5 hours ago, shura said:

So I am not going to knock Jonathan for slowing down and taking little naps on the board, and believe me, heat exhaustion is not going to make your personality more pleasant either.

That doesn't excuse his behavior earlier in the leg, though.

2 hours ago, Fukui San said:

There wasn't a time limit in the Express Pass that got used last episode, was there? At least one that dictated that they use it last episode or lose it? The Express Pass would have been mighty handy for J&A this episode.

In previous Races, the Express Pass had to be used by a certain leg late in the Race, so I don't think they had to use it in the last leg this time.  They wasted it.

57 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

On the other hand, it punished strong teams for being strong teams.

I'm actually glad that was how the various teams voted.  I hate when a team is U-turned just because other teams don't like them or they aren't part of an alliance.

49 minutes ago, mertensia said:

I laughed when they we're at the monkey sanctuary and the one racer said "look! Monkeys!". 

Monkeys kinda freak me out, so I would NOT have been excited about the monkey sanctuary.  But I would've expected to see them at such a place.

 

[PhD-Purgatory15]

The only thing I sort of liked about the Double U Turn was it brought in some "Prisoner's Dilemma" Psychology. Outside of J&A, & S&L (who basically were sorted of locked into voting for each other) the other 7 teams had a real calculus to make. 

Somebody (maybe one of the Green team) made the point that we are only concerned with the 2nd U Turn (rightly assuming that other teams were going to vote for J&A after the Driver's Seat debacle). They were concerned if everyone else voted J&A then J&A's one vote would've been the thing that sealed another team's fate. What would've been wild would've been if everyone rationalized it that same way and you might've had more of a mix of teams rather than just 3..

[chaifan]

I was ok with the old-style U-turns, when you made the decision as you got to the board.  You could use it, you could not use it.  You could use it to try and get out/disadvantage a stronger team, or use it to get out a weaker team just to make sure you would not be last on the mat.  There was some strategy there.  Most of the time, teams in the front of the pack would pass on using it.  The public U-turns are there just to gin up drama.  And, having this one right after the "driver's seat" guaranteed some sort of retribution against that team. 

I really don't understand what problem Lori & Scott were having with the coral.  They knew to look for the colors.  At one point Lori said the colors all looked the same to her.  Did Scott have the same problem?  Maybe one/both have some color blindness?  They're a bit young for cataracts, but that can affect how you see colors. 

And for the bikes, I just didn't get the challenge.  Usually challenges are tied to something that is really done in that country.  Do people in Bali really transport coconuts by bike, but by walking the bike laden with coconuts?  That makes no sense.  How did Lori & Scott manage to get 30 coconuts each trip when others could barely make 15 work? 

I've had heat exhaustion/mild heat stroke.  You know you're in trouble when you're not sweating.  It's a bit scary.  But I'm not sure where this came from for Jonathan.  They were under cover the entire coral challenge.  They were in the sun for the coconut/bike challenge, but no more than any other team.  And that didn't seem long enough to create a heat exhaustion situation.  I'm surprised production didn't make Jonathan wear a life vest on the surfboard given his fatigue.  I was glad they allowed one for Ana on the coral challenge - that was smart of her to ask for one.  Anyways, Jonathan was just a total ass this leg.  I was so rooting for Scott to pass him in the roadblock, but nope. 

 

[Haleth]

The pearl clutching by Scott and Lori about the U-turn was pissing me off. “They’re not my friends.” That’s right, Lori, they are competitors, not friends. I imagine they were those parents if any of their kids played sports and anyone was mean to their kid.

Get a grip, Jonathan.  

It was nice to see a big shake up with different teams coming in at the top.

The beach was gorgeous. The coral, the surfers, the dancers… what fun!

[eel2178]

15 hours ago, Rodney said:

They kept it tense to the end, but I wonder how far behind Jonathan & Ana it turned out Scott & Lori really were?

Tense episode . . . with an awful ending.  Nothing against Ana, who seems sweet and lovely, but Jonathan needs to go.

I don't think I have ever been wishing so much that the last 2 teams would both be eliminated. I could do without seeing both of them anymore.

One down and one to go!

[shura]

11 minutes ago, chaifan said:

I've had heat exhaustion/mild heat stroke.  You know you're in trouble when you're not sweating.  It's a bit scary.  But I'm not sure where this came from for Jonathan.  They were under cover the entire coral challenge.  They were in the sun for the coconut/bike challenge, but no more than any other team.  And that didn't seem long enough to create a heat exhaustion situation.

That’s usually how it is though, one or two people in a crowd get heat exhaustion and the rest of the crowd does not, even though everyone is in the same conditions.  The heat just affects different people differently.

I am just surprised that so many people think that Jonathan gave up there when he was sitting down to drink water or laying down on the surfboard.  Those are things he had to do to be able to continue!  And continue he did, all the way to the mat.  His behavior towards Ana is a separate issue that has nothing to do with heat exhaustion, of course, that’s simply who he is, apparently, nothing new or excusable.

19 minutes ago, Haleth said:

The pearl clutching by Scott and Lori about the U-turn was pissing me off. “They’re not my friends.” That’s right, Lori, they are competitors, not friends.

I was thinking the same thing (except that it didn’t really bother me at all).  Friends?  They are there to defeat you, just like you are there to defeat them.  Besides, you only met these people a week or so ago, you don’t even know them. 

[Rodney]

20 minutes ago, eel2178 said:

I don't think I have ever been wishing so much that the last 2 teams would both be eliminated. I could do without seeing both of them anymore.

One down and one to go!

And . . . why Scott & Lori, too?  Hmm?  I haven't seen one objectionable thing from either of them.

[Tango64]

I had been a fan of Scott and Lori, but boy did they change my mind with this episode. First it was the patronizing, manipulative "I think of all of you as my children! My boys would never do this to us!!" combined with "Now that you have  wronged me, I am no longer your friend!" They must be a real joy playing Monopoly with the family.

Then the final bit at the mat where they can't just lose graciously but have to claim that they obviously were the strongest team and that's why they were targeted by everyone else. Just admit defeat with some dignity. Don't go out trying to sound like a victim.

 

[watch2much]

When Scott and Lori made the decisionto do the coconuts first because it would be physically demanding in the heat. I thought they were clearly going to remain in the race and then when the other team gave him the necessary clue about colors I really thought it was a done deal I don’t know how Anna and Jonathan passed them. I don’t think I really like the public W U-turn doesn’t really seem fair because it allows less teams to eliminate better competitors, but I guess that’s one of the changes that we have to to live with. 

 

[eel2178]

15 minutes ago, Rodney said:

And . . . why Scott & Lori, too?  Hmm?  I haven't seen one objectionable thing from either of them.

"You Got This" count this episode totaled 28, and most of it came from Lori as it has in the previous episodes as well.

I'm looking forward to not having to hear it 20+ times per episode for the remainder of the race.

Edited Thursday at 07:21 PM by eel2178

[eel2178]

5 hours ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

I really would've loved to know what specifically were Scott & Lori messing up on with the coral. It took them 8 tries (according to the Amazing Editors) to get that correct when it only took Johnathan & Anna 6 tries.

I found it really strange that all the other teams were able to do it in one or two tries while the two U turned teams were the only ones who kept failing over and over again.

Why was it so much harder for those 2 teams?

[Haleth]

1 minute ago, eel2178 said:

Why was it so much harder for those 2 teams?

Panic?

[OlderThanDirt]

All of Jonathon's statements at the mat were about "my running of my race". So in character. Didn't they say in the first episode that they had been separated and came back together to run the Race. So they separated after her ectopic pregnancy? Way to support your partner.

I was surprised that Scott and Lori's attention to detail failed them in the coral challenge. It seems like they should have replicated the coral on one leg at a time. It took J&A only 3 tries without paying attention on the first attempts. Was it 7 or 8 for S&L?

Why are the teams not paying attention to Carson & Jack as a threat? I guess they aren't paying attention to how the pack is finishing,  just the leaders.

[choclatechip45]

Jeez Lori was annoying this episode. I was happy about both teams getting Uturned. If Jonathan hadn't annoyed me already I would have more sympathy about him dealing with the heat. 

[anniebird]

I know a lot of people don't like Boston Rob but the one thing he did better than anyone else was remember that it's just a game and he never took anything personally. There was nothing he enjoyed more than getting under the skin of someone like Lori. 

[Skooma]

9 hours ago, Grizzly said:

If I had to choose between marrying Jonathan or Scott, our two "villains", I'm picking Scott every time! Not that he'd pick me since I didn't want kids 😃

The set up of this race is showing how being in the middle of the pack can be a good thing.

Scott was never a villain in the least.  He was a sweet guy.

9 hours ago, shura said:

I’ve had heat exhaustion.  It’s no joke.  I knew I was going to pass out unless I stopped what I was doing and took care of myself.  So I am not going to knock Jonathan for slowing down and taking little naps on the board, and believe me, heat exhaustion is not going to make your personality more pleasant either.

I'm going to knock him.  He burned the express pass last leg.  If he hadn't he still would have been double u-turned no matter what.  You can't keep coming in first and NOT be targeted.

And Phil said at the beginning they were doing all the stupid reality show artificial gadget junk in this Race and the u-turn is the most stupid of them so of course it was coming up and of course you save the express pass for it.

But dingbat here didn't.  So he didn't have it to skip the coconut part of the detour.  He is an idiot as well as being a bully.

(I never had heat exhaustion but I do horribly in heat.  And I had heat stroke once and never thought to be rude to anyone when I was out of it).

3 hours ago, snarts said:

As a TAR purist, I hated both the Drivers Seat & the public voting on the Double U-turn. 

I've watched this show for 37 seasons over 20+ years for the RACE & travel porn. I do not care if the teams like one another. 

I wish they'd stop trying to make it like every other competive reality show & instead focus on new locations & interesting detours/roadblocks. 

I agree totally, completely 100%.  It was the crown jewel.  It was truly AMAZING back then.  

"This is a Race like none other in history.  This is The AMAZING Race" was Phil's voiceover to the opening credits on Season 1.  And so it was.

But now it is just a mere race like any other.  And full of so much artificial junk to not even make it a race based on some sort of skill level. 

What next?  Hidden immunity idols on every leg for the team that finds them preventing them from being eliminated?   It is turning into Survivor quickly. 

Sad, sad, sad.

Edited Thursday at 08:59 PM by Skooma

[Ilovepie]

Jonathan is a poor sport and sore loser. He's all smiles only when he is winning. I can't stand him. What a freaking baby. I think his inability to rise above will bite them in the ass eventually since he tends to give up when he's not at the top of the pack. These two are Frank and Margarita 2.0. I hope they have a similar fate....

It was so disappointing to see the taxis just waiting for them everywhere. The challenges are more important than the actual "race" aspect of this show these days, and it's just not as compelling to me. Blurg...

Whoever called the brothers Hot Mess Express was correct. No idea why Jonathan and Ana picked them for the U-Turn, but ok, go ahead and think yourselves some kind of threat despite not finishing higher than mid-pack ever. They are running out of gimmicks like this U-Turn and weaker teams.

Happy to see the Vegas guys have a great leg. I am rooting for them or the green nerds. Apologies for not knowing everyone's names yet.

[SG429]

3 hours ago, chaifan said:

I was ok with the old-style U-turns, when you made the decision as you got to the board.  You could use it, you could not use it.  You could use it to try and get out/disadvantage a stronger team, or use it to get out a weaker team just to make sure you would not be last on the mat.

Or sometimes you'd burn it, by choice or not, on a team that had already passed the board.

[Rodney]

8 minutes ago, SG429 said:

Or sometimes you'd burn it, by choice or not, on a team that had already passed the board.

Such a thing was done in the first season that the U-Turn was introduced.  Dating Goth couple Kynt & Vyxsin, at Kynt's insistence, burned theirs on grandson and grandfather Nicolas & Donald because of how "slow" they'd been the entire race.  Vyxsin had wanted to use it on that season's "villain" team, dating couple Nathan & Jennifer, since they were right behind them, but Kynt wouldn't listen, and it ended up biting them in the ass when they got eliminated.

[shura]

2 hours ago, OlderThanDirt said:

Didn't they say in the first episode that they had been separated and came back together to run the Race. So they separated after her ectopic pregnancy? Way to support your partner.

They said they have been together for 15 years (married for 7), and that they had separated for a year “a few years ago.”  The ectopic pregnancy was “last summer”, so probably not the same event, although who knows.  Ana did say in this episode that Jonathan was very supportive when it happened, though.

[rr2911]

15 hours ago, aghst said:

 

And the live vote format, with each team having to explain their vote to the teams who got the votes, again another blatant way to cause drama between the racers.

I hope the show gets better ratings, stays on the or but if they have to resort to these kinds of shenanigans, maybe it’s no longer the TAR which we all came to love.

 

 

I loved the live vote format!  Even if it's to create drama, I think it's good for the show and hope it's stays on.  I don't really care for everyone holding hands and singing Cumbaya.  This is a race for a million dollars!

[anniebird]

26 minutes ago, Rodney said:

Such a thing was done in the first season that the U-Turn was introduced.  Dating Goth couple Kynt & Vyxsin, at Kynt's insistence, burned theirs on grandson and grandfather Nicolas & Donald because of how "slow" they'd been the entire race.  Vyxsin had wanted to use it on that season's "villain" team, dating couple Nathan & Jennifer, since they were right behind them, but Kynt wouldn't listen, and it ended up biting them in the ass when they got eliminated.

I will never forgive these two for their abuse of the letter Y.

[mertensia]

1 hour ago, Ilovepie said:

 

It was so disappointing to see the taxis just waiting for them everywhere. The challenges are more important than the actual "race" aspect of this show these days, and it's just not as compelling to me. Blurg...

It's possible the spoon fed taxis were for safety reasons.

[aghst]

11 minutes ago, mertensia said:

It's possible the spoon fed taxis were for safety reasons.

When I researched Bali for a visit, there were accounts about how infamous the taxi mafia was in some towns, especially Ubud.

They charged high rates and intimidated some ride shares.

I avoided it for the most part, used some Grab ride shares but heard that it's not always easy to find ride shares in popular areas.

In this case, it appears they set up a lot of locations which are well away from big tourist sites, except maybe the beach at the end.  So they may not have been able to find taxis there, since they didn't appear to be near cities or popular tourist attractions.