S25.E09: You're Taking My Tan Off

[Camera One]

I've been okay with Brooke despite the whining, but I despise her after this week.  The Wrestlers went back on their word and misled Amy and Maya... they just have no integrity, plus they expect others to tell them where the clue is despite their nastiness.  And as others have pointed out, it wasn't even smart since they would be idiotic if they thought they had a chance against the Cyclists if they got into the Final 3.  

 

I hated watching the massage task.  

 

I can't believe the Cyclists got eliminated.  This makes the final three a tad less predictable, since they were a shoo-in along with the Dentists and the Surfers.  Now, there's an outside chance for the Scientists or the Wrestlers.  

 

The taxi drivers was encouraging them to just skip the Statue that the Wrestlers were at, and then later, he goes, don't trust anyone?  

 

 

I was surprised that the scientists u-turned surfers first - the original plan was to target the cyclists and you don't want to piss off the people in your "alliance" if you don't have to.

 

I guess they assumed the Bikers got there first, so they had the higher chance of getting the Fast Forward.  

 

 

 

I am surprised that the dentists didn't u-turn the cyclists.

 

Me too.  They could have been last if the next task was super tough.  I guess they had the Save anyway, but still...

Edited November 30, 2014 by Camera One

[shura]

But more importantly, as others have pointed out, the Cyclists got to watch the Surfers both times, too.  It is fairly standard practice on TAR for those waiting to have a clear view of the other competitors...and for the teams working on the challenge to be aware of it.  Nothing new.

 

The point is not that there was something wrong with the surfers watching or that this should not have been allowed to happen. The point is that seeing them there completely destroyed any focus and confidence the cyclists had. They pretty much knew, especially after falling a couple times, that their only chance was for the surfers to not show up at the FF site, because in their minds Adam and Bethany were going to take this FF at will. So seeing the surfers there simply made real Kym and Alli's suspicion that they made a terrible mistake. 

 

The Save turned out to have had no really observable effect on the race, IMHO. I keep hearing that the Save altered the inter-team dynamics and the strategy of the Save holders; in particular, it made the dentists more confident and relaxed (presumably compared to the scenario where they do not have the Save), and also made other teams not even consider U-turning the dentists. This all may very well be true. But I still think TPTB could have easily edited out all mentions of the Save and we the viewers would have been none the wiser. What would we have seen? A team that was never U-turned, and was always composed and not freaking out during tasks? Occam's razor says you don't need to think there was something new and "unconventional" to explain these observations. Most teams are never U-turned, and some teams just may be naturally calm and relaxed. Hell, in this very season we have Adam and Bethany who were never U-turned and did not freak out during their tasks. We know the Save had nothing to do with that. We would have never needed to know about the Save to make sense of the dentists' accomplishments. So why did they leave the Save in the final edit? I think only because they want to bring it back.

 

Re: "candy girls". Maya and Amy are graduate students. No, they don't "make ice cream" or sell candy. Yes, they are technically scientists. But exalting them as "scientists" over-glorifies them a little bit. They are still students.

[jhlipton]

This is probably the best approach, but I want Adam and Bethany to know that the wrestlers were the ones pushing for their U-turn. 

 

Very much yes.,

 

Re: "candy girls". Maya and Amy are graduate students. No, they don't "make ice cream" or sell candy. Yes, they are technically scientists. But exalting them as "scientists" over-glorifies them a little bit. They are still students.

 

I believe that most grad students do work in their profession, although not at the highest level.  Saying that they're not "scientists" because they don't have a degree seems off to me.  It's not like law where one isn't a "lawyer" until one has passed the bar.

[shok]

The nude painting has been mentioned as a challenge on season 2 of the Canadian Amazing Race. There was another similarity on that show. The strongest competitors (won 7 of the legs but finished in 2nd place) were two players from the gold medal winning women's Olympic hockey team. They were, as usual, in 1st place getting to a clue and had a chance to go for a Fast Forward but one of  the Detour challenges was hockey related. They had to shoot and score a goal through five different holes on a board set up in the front of a hockey net and they were all giddy and excited about doing it.

 

They scored on each of the four corners very quickly but were completely confounded by the hole in the middle (the 5-hole in hockey terms) and neither one of them could get it. It took them 50 tries while other teams, even one pair who had never skated before in their lives, got it pretty quickly and the Golden Girls ended up coming in fifth place, their worst finish of the season.

 

Moral of the story? Great teams don't necessarily ace the challenges they should.  Ironically, last month the Canadian team was playing the US team in the final of a big hockey tournament and one of the Race girls scored a beauty of a 5-hole goal. I'm sure she thought back to the AR challenge.  :)

 

Another note - the two guys that won the Race had a huge advantage in the final leg when one of the challenges was white water rafting and one of the guys works as a rafting guide in the summers.

[Netfoot]

The Save turned out to have had no really observable effect on the race, IMHO.

 

It's like giving a Monopoly player their own, personal, Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free card, right at the start of the game.  They may never need to use it, but the fact that they have it gives them a huge advantage.  Or it would be huge if going to jail meant being thrown out of the game for good!

 

The Dentists could have lost leg#1, but they didn't, and got the Save instead.  That means that they were essentially protected from elimination from leg#2 thru leg#10.  (Assuming a NEL or TBC in leg#10, to compensate for the Save not being used.)  So the only time they are/were in danger of elimination for the entire race, is leg#1 and leg#11.  And their safety in leg#1 is a fait accompli since they wouldn't have the Save if they had been eliminated in leg#1.

 

Therefore, we have a race to avoid elimination, wherein one team is essentially immune from elimination for all but one leg in the race (leg#11).  And every race from now on (assuming the Save lives on) will have one team virtually immune.  Personally, I wouldn't want to run a race against a selection of teams, one of which, is virtually immune to elimination and thereby almost certainly guaranteed a place in the final.

 

I can only assume TPTB didn't think this out fully.  I hope that by the next race, they have wised up and dropped the Save in the garbage, where it belongs.

[etagloh]

 

I still think TPTB could have easily edited out all mentions of the Save and we the viewers would have been none the wiser. What would we have seen? A team that was never U-turned, and was always composed and not freaking out during tasks? Occam's razor says you don't need to think there was something new and "unconventional" to explain these observations.

 

Your razor needs a strop, I think. Let's go with an alternate take: I'll argue that the Save actually existed during TAR 20 when Dave and Rachel won the first leg and subsequently wiped the floor with the other teams, it's just that it was edited out because TPTB thought viewers weren't ready for it.

 

If you don't think that immunity -- to use the Survivor term -- has an impact on a show where a bad day can ruin you, or affects the very few opportunities that teams in TAR have either to take a swing at eliminating a stronger team or save themselves from elimination... [shrugs] 

 

That said, I agree with you on the specific dynamics of the FF. Had Adam and Bethany not been dippy about their flight options, then the cyclists would have ceded the FF to them as a nice little gift from the producers and the Travelocity gnome, and instead would have rolled the dice on getting to the U-Turn board first or second. They had a 40-minute window to master a difficult task (that is, difficult for those who don't engage in surfing-related activities); had it been an hour, who knows? 

 

 

Personally, I wouldn't want to run a race against a selection of teams, one of which, is virtually immune to elimination and thereby almost certainly guaranteed a place in the final.

 

And let's not forget that a big part of winning the Save was, at least in part, down to taxi luck from Times Square to JFK via Corona Park -- that is, being one of the three teams that got on the first flight to the USVI. The digging task disrupted that to some degree, but two of the three teams on the first flight out finished first and second in the opening leg.

Edited November 30, 2014 by etagloh

[rozen]

That is not a gamble I would ever had made. The minute I saw "surfing" I would have been like, ok well let's gtfo and try to get 2nd then. 40 minutes is not enough of a lead over two professional surfers. They didn't even know it was going to be a setup to train newbies, and they still went for it. I like that the one that agitated for going to the FF proceeded to suck at it, and then snap at the other for daring to reiterate she didn't want to try in the first place. Yes, it is your fault, actually. "Go run the race by yourself." I would have quit right there, tbh. How about you apologize for being a dick and putting your team in last place when you were in first. 

 

I hope people didn't put money on a Jim blowup, because if it didn't happen this leg, I don't think it's ever going to happen. Bad flight. Almost tumbling to his death. Being harassed by obnoxious musicians whose only goal in life is to make him as miserable as possible while he fumbled red hot spiky crabs. His response? Pull out a whistle and roll with it. I would have absolutely lost my shit for the rest of the leg if I took a tumble off the tightrope like that.

 

I don't know why racers keep thinking "deep tissue massage" will be fun and relaxing. There are endless examples of people just like Maya, howling in pain and trying desperately to escape. I wouldn't be surprised if they were there longer because both of them kept flopping all over the place, making the masseuse do twice as much work to give them the proper experience. Amy's flopping probably did more to injure her knee than the massage did. Gua sha makes the skin look terrifying, but it's not that bad. I would take a spontaneous skin scraping over deep tissue massage any day. 

 

Just when I thought I couldn't hate Brooke more, she stands there and says she hopes Maya falls off the tightrope. She's so blatantly an ass it makes me wonder if this is all just working the audience for her wrestler persona. Is she a heel for whatever corp she wrestles for?

Edited November 30, 2014 by rozen

[meep.meep]

Actually, both situations have occurred on TAR in the past:  Luke and Big Easy come to mind.  They did nothing to make it easier for either one of them...no tasks were eliminated.

Nothing was changed for Charla or Sarah. Racers who can't swim have had to go in the water.

Adam and Bethany might have had a slight advantage for that FF, but anyone who snowboards or uses a Bosum would have had the same. It wasn't really surfing.

[blackwing]

So much poor strategy. The cyclists were dumb for telling Amy and Maya about the 40 minute flight advantage. Amy and Maya might not have looked up other flights. And the Cyclists could have asked the travel people not to tell anyone, although there was no guarantee they wouldn't. They could have been the only team with the 40 minute lead, or at least with only Brooke and Robbie, who they probably could have beaten. No pressure to try for Fast Forward.

Brooke and Robbie are dumb two times over. Brooke was talking about how it was "her" plan to U Turn the cyclists. Then they didn't. On top of that, she lies to Amy and Maya about the Mt Faber clue. Could have been costly. The cyclists are a better team than Amy and Maya, especially with Amy's ankle issue. Cyclists could have beaten Amy and Maya leaving a stronger team in the final 4.

I call BS on a surfing themed Fast Forward. Was tailor made for Adam and Bethany. If it had been anything but a surfing clue, they wouldn't have gone for the FF and probably would have been eliminated. So unfair to the rest of the teams. When one team is known for a particular skill, seems really poor to design a task that used that skill.

I'm sad to see the cyclists go. Seems like they guaranteed their slot on the next Unfinished Business all star race. I never figured out which one was which, but in this episode I greatly disliked the one with the fatter rounder face. She went right for the blame and blamed her partner and said she never wanted to do it. Then she tells Phil they made the decision as a team but she was so passive aggressive about it.

[Camera One]

So much poor strategy. The cyclists were dumb for telling Amy and Maya about the 40 minute flight advantage.

 

Since they were aiming for #1, they would rather have Amy and Maya with them in the final three, than the Surfers, or even the Wrestlers.  So there was reasoning behind it.  

[nightwaves4]

Hi All,

 

Long-time lurker, first time poster. Prompted by the need to explain the skin scraping process or "gua sha" that was seen in this episode. It is a part of traditional Chinese medicine that has been practiced professionally in massage parlors (as seen on the show) as well as in personal use in the home, as I can attest. I am not trying to defend it as a valid form of medical treatment, but rather note what the point of doing it is and also perhaps explain that the process is not as brutal as it seems. I'm quoting from sites that explain it better than I can, but obviously there haven't been many randomized double blind placebo control trials testing this practice and not a lot of biochemical laboratories exploring the physiology of how this works.

 

The TL;DR version: the process involves pressured strokes over the skin with an object with a smooth edge (like a Chinese ceramic spoon), which stimulates the peripheral capillary vessels and causes extravasation of blood from the vessels resulting in the skin blemishes. It's essentially very superficial bruising and does not last as long as normal bruising (taking 2-4 days to fade). The idea is that it increases blood flow (microcirculation) to the sore or painful area, which can increase delivery of the body's repair cells to the area and causes them to release helpful enzymes as well as stimulating the body's natural opioid systems to reduce pain. It does NOT involve taking off the entire layer skin as I think some of you thought so while the area is somewhat tender, it is not "raw" nor is the area at increased risk for infections, etc, like a burn. I've had it done to me, and while it is uncomfortable and sometimes can be a little painful if you are not used to it, it is not the torture that some of you might think. It also does not leave any permanent marks or scars behind.

 

"Gua sha is a common practice in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). A smooth-edged instrument is used to apply short or long strokes on the skin, typically in the area of pain or on the back parallel to the spine. This stroking motion creates raised redness (petechiae) or bruising (ecchymosis). In the TCM tradition, pain is oftentimes caused by the stagnation of blood in the local area of discomfort. The guiding principle behind gua sha is that this technique has the ability to break up stagnation, to promote the smooth flow of blood in the area, thereby relieving pain. There are several theories that may explain why this ancient technique works: gua sha increases blood flow (microcirculation) in the soft tissue, potentially stimulates the body’s natural pain-relieving opioid systems, and it may block the pain response pathways so you feel pain relief. Researchers have used various techniques, including Doppler images, to show that microcirculation is indeed increased in the treated area, therefore decreasing both local and distal areas of pain."

[http://www.doctoroz.com/blog/jamie-starkey-lac/scrape-away-pain-gua-sha] -- not the best source, but it conveys the idea behind the practice.

Edited November 30, 2014 by nightwaves4

[Lingo]

To me, the only team who had a clear and obvious u-turning scheme were the scientists.  They knew 100% that the wrestlers were right behind them.  They knew that either the surfers or the cyclists were already at the mat, and they knew that it would be wasted on the dentists.  Thus, the clear choice for the u-turn were the wrestlers.  

 

You know what I think?  I think the scientists feel insecure running their own race.  They feel more comfortable running the race with another team, even if it is the wrestlers.  I understand in the first couple of legs running a race with a set of other teams, but jeez, this is crunch time.  A female-female team should get rid of a team with a big strong guy on it if they can.  Their plot depended entirely on the wrestlers following through and it may have led to the elimination of the cyclists, who are a very strong team, but are still two women nonetheless.  Why not take pretty much a sure thing and get rid of the wrestlers?  

 

1. Adam IS a "big strong guy", which is a pretty sexist reason to get rid of a team.  (I can't remember many challenges where arm muscles have made much of a difference.)

2. The cyclists and surfers are MUCH better racers than the wrestlers.

3. Sure, u-turning the wrestlers is pretty much a sure thing that your u-turn will land on someone -- but not a guarantee that the wrestlers would be eliminated, considering how far back the FF loser may have been.

4. If you're a slow team (with that injured leg) like the scientists, an even "surer" thing (sure to prevent your own elimination, that is) would be to U-turn the team that is last, which they could pretty much guarantee would happen if they could count on the Wrestlers.

5. The wrestlers had been ranting for a long time about how much they disliked and wanted to u-turn the cyclists, AND they even came up with the U-turn plan themselves. Plus, the teams had discussed the plan multiple times during this leg. The scientists were shocked the wrestlers didn't do it. I was shocked! I was so shocked my mouth fell open and didn't shut for like a minute after it happened!

6. Plus, no previous season has had more than 2 u-turns, so there was no real reason not to use it, unless you think this season may be different for some reason. Granted, these reality shows tweak their formulas every season so you never know.

 

In sum, the scientists had IMO a sound plan and every reason to expect the wrestlers to follow through on that plan.

[NutMeg]

I've lived in Singapore for a few years now and it was nice to see it on TAR. Call me evil, but I got a kick of seeing reactions to the masage - people always look at me funny when I tell tell how painful it is, so I like being validated :-) Although this scrub looked like something else ;-( And having seen the back of a friend who'd done the cup things, I know these bruises will take a while to disappear, but apparently they don't hurt.

 

Most of the task were directly lifted from an edition of TAR Asia: the rope walking, the chili crabs and the wave surfing.

 

Jim impressed the hell out of me with how he reacted to his mishap on the rope. Me, I would have been hyperventilating for days...

 

Sorry to see the cyclists go, but at this stage and liking all the teams* I would have been sorry for any team eliminated. In a way, it even adds to the suspense, as those two seemed such strong contenders for F3. I like surprises, so can't complain.  

 

*Yes, even the wrestlers - I'm taking Brooke as an OTT cartoon character, a stereotype of "baddie", which fits with my idea of wrestlers in general, so I'm not really annoyed by her shenanigans. I wouldn't want to hang out with her, but if she wants to play the cartoonish villain to get more facetime and increase her profile in a way she can benefit from in her chosen profession, I have no problem with that. Maybe her behaviour would bother me if she worked in a different field.

 

Thanks for those who explained that Adam is not a professional surfer. He looks and talk so much like the typical "surfer dude" that I just assumed he was :-) 

[Lingo]

I have to wonder if the Racers who chose massage were expecting more of a North American spa massage which is closer to a body rub than a true massage. If so they were expecting something that would be relaxing and take away some of the tensions that all of the teams undoubtedly have as a result of The Race. The certainly wouldn't be the first teams to make that sort of assumption. Remember Paul & Amy (I think it was)in season 1 opted to take a Detour involving a Turkish massage in Tunis and the male half of that team spent the entire time complaining about how rough it was, and how the masseuse didn't use any oil. I think North Americans make an assumption about massages which isn't necessarily accurate.

 

The bonus videos on CBS's website/Youtube page show one or two teams saying they've had deep-tissue massages before, but not as rough as that one.  In fact, I think Brooke was one of them.

[backformore]

Re: "candy girls". Maya and Amy are graduate students. No, they don't "make ice cream" or sell candy. Yes, they are technically scientists. But exalting them as "scientists" over-glorifies them a little bit. They are still students.

 

My objection was two-fold.  First, the WAY the wrestlers say "candy girl"  with derision, as though they are so superior to anyone who does anything with CANDY as a profession.  

The other is that the word "girl" when used as describing a profession is a put-down.  Back in the days depicted on the show "Mad Men", women in an office were described, not as secretaries or assistants, but as "office girls"  or "gals".   No matter what your training or qualifications, you were referred to that way, as in "I'll have my girl get you coffee."   In other occupations as well, calling someone girl meant that she wasn't good enough to have an important job.  I've been in that position, and being referred to as an "office girl"  as in "I'll have on of the girls do that"  is a way of  saying "that's a menial job, we can't have a man do it." 

 

I get that women can be called girls, just as men can be called guys or boys, and it's not automatically  disrespectful.   BUT - when you refer to someone by their occupation, it is a put-down to put "girl"  in the title.  If a male team were grad student/food scientists, and called "candy boys"  it would  be a more obvious  put-down. 

[DB in CMH]

I hate to see a team like the Cyclists go out like that, one of my favorite teams from the past several seasons. But aside from Brooke and Robbie, there's really nobody I'd love to see go, which speak to just how strong this season has been. Even Brooke and Robbie don't bother me that much - Brooke is whiny, but we've seen worse, and her "lying" to the Scientists was turnabout for the scientists not telling them about the guy in the square earlier.

 

I really hated the dentists early on, but wow, they are an incredibly strong team. I seriously believe that the Dentists and the Cyclists are two of the strongest teams in many, many seasons. I don't know if TAR will be back next year, but I'd love to see them both in All Stars.

[Camera One]

Re: "candy girls". Maya and Amy are graduate students. No, they don't "make ice cream" or sell candy. Yes, they are technically scientists. But exalting them as "scientists" over-glorifies them a little bit. They are still students.

 

In grad school in the science faculty, you are taking part in collecting data for scientific research, so they would be scientists.  There isn't the clear distinction of passing the bar to become a lawyer, or getting the certification to officially become a doctor.

 

Brooke is whiny, but we've seen worse, and her "lying" to the Scientists was turnabout for the scientists not telling them about the guy in the square earlier.

 

It's more akin to Amy or Maya telling Brooke to walk a mile in the opposite direction to find the clue.

[Lingo]

The Save turned out to have had no really observable effect on the race, IMHO. I keep hearing that the Save altered the inter-team dynamics and the strategy of the Save holders; in particular, it made the dentists more confident and relaxed (presumably compared to the scenario where they do not have the Save), and also made other teams not even consider U-turning the dentists. This all may very well be true. But I still think TPTB could have easily edited out all mentions of the Save and we the viewers would have been none the wiser. What would we have seen? A team that was never U-turned, and was always composed and not freaking out during tasks? Occam's razor says you don't need to think there was something new and "unconventional" to explain these observations. Most teams are never U-turned, and some teams just may be naturally calm and relaxed. Hell, in this very season we have Adam and Bethany who were never U-turned and did not freak out during their tasks. We know the Save had nothing to do with that. We would have never needed to know about the Save to make sense of the dentists' accomplishments. So why did they leave the Save in the final edit? I think only because they want to bring it back.

 

Because it actually happened??  I don't see a compelling reason to edit it out.

(Plus, imagine how fans would react if Racers revealed in post-show interviews that the Dentists had this gimmick device that could save them from being eliminated.)

 

The Dentists could have lost leg#1, but they didn't, and got the Save instead.  That means that they were essentially protected from elimination from leg#2 thru leg#10.  (Assuming a NEL or TBC in leg#10, to compensate for the Save not being used.)  So the only time they are/were in danger of elimination for the entire race, is leg#1 and leg#11.  And their safety in leg#1 is a fait accompli since they wouldn't have the Save if they had been eliminated in leg#1.

 

Therefore, we have a race to avoid elimination, wherein one team is essentially immune from elimination for all but one leg in the race (leg#11).  And every race from now on (assuming the Save lives on) will have one team virtually immune.  Personally, I wouldn't want to run a race against a selection of teams, one of which, is virtually immune to elimination and thereby almost certainly guaranteed a place in the final.

 

I can only assume TPTB didn't think this out fully.  I hope that by the next race, they have wised up and dropped the Save in the garbage, where it belongs.

 

Let's not overstate things.  If a team that wins the Save in Leg 1 comes in last on Leg 2 (and it's not an NEL), then they're just as vulnerable to elimination on the remaining legs as anyone else.

 

Also, let's be clear, there's going to be just as many NELs on this Race as any other 12-leg season.  The Save, whether or not it would be used, would merely affect the timing of the NELs, not the number.

 

I can at least agree on getting rid of the Save altogether.  If it has to persist, I would simply make it less powerful by forcing it to be used in the first 6 legs, max.

 

That is not a gamble I would ever had made. The minute I saw "surfing" I would have been like, ok well let's gtfo and try to get 2nd then. 40 minutes is not enough of a lead over two professional surfers. They didn't even know it was going to be a setup to train newbies, and they still went for it. I like that the one that agitated for going to the FF proceeded to suck at it, and then snap at the other for daring to reiterate she didn't want to try in the first place. Yes, it is your fault, actually. "Go run the race by yourself." I would have quit right there, tbh. How about you apologize for being a dick and putting your team in last place when you were in first.

 

They didn't know for sure that it'd be a surfing task till they got there, though.  Initially they had no idea, just the clue "Wave House", which they found out was a dance club and (you can see in a bonus video) initially hoped that it would be some kind of dancing task.  Then they looked up the place on the cabbie's cell phone and found out about the standing wave pool, but still weren't sure.  (They were probably like half the people on this forum thinking, "Nah, they wouldn't use a challenge that favored one team so heavily!")

 

Since they were aiming for #1, they would rather have Amy and Maya with them in the final three, than the Surfers, or even the Wrestlers.  So there was reasoning behind [telling them about the earlier flight].

 

Plus it's useful to have another team on your itinerary if your flight gets delayed for some reason and you end up tied for last.

[Lingo]

Hi All,

 

Long-time lurker, first time poster. Prompted by the need to explain the skin scraping process or "gua sha" that was seen in this episode. It is a part of traditional Chinese medicine that has been practiced professionally in massage parlors (as seen on the show) as well as in personal use in the home, as I can attest. I am not trying to defend it as a valid form of medical treatment, but rather note what the point of doing it is and also perhaps explain that the process is not as brutal as it seems. I'm quoting from sites that explain it better than I can, but obviously there haven't been many randomized double blind placebo control trials testing this practice and not a lot of biochemical laboratories exploring the physiology of how this works.

 

The TL;DR version: the process involves pressured strokes over the skin with an object with a smooth edge (like a Chinese ceramic spoon), which stimulates the peripheral capillary vessels and causes extravasation of blood from the vessels resulting in the skin blemishes. It's essentially very superficial bruising and does not last as long as normal bruising (taking 2-4 days to fade). The idea is that it increases blood flow (microcirculation) to the sore or painful area, which can increase delivery of the body's repair cells to the area and causes them to release helpful enzymes as well as stimulating the body's natural opioid systems to reduce pain. It does NOT involve taking off the entire layer skin as I think some of you thought so while the area is somewhat tender, it is not "raw" nor is the area at increased risk for infections, etc, like a burn. I've had it done to me, and while it is uncomfortable and sometimes can be a little painful if you are not used to it, it is not the torture that some of you might think. It also does not leave any permanent marks or scars behind.

 

"Gua sha is a common practice in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). A smooth-edged instrument is used to apply short or long strokes on the skin, typically in the area of pain or on the back parallel to the spine. This stroking motion creates raised redness (petechiae) or bruising (ecchymosis). In the TCM tradition, pain is oftentimes caused by the stagnation of blood in the local area of discomfort. The guiding principle behind gua sha is that this technique has the ability to break up stagnation, to promote the smooth flow of blood in the area, thereby relieving pain. There are several theories that may explain why this ancient technique works: gua sha increases blood flow (microcirculation) in the soft tissue, potentially stimulates the body’s natural pain-relieving opioid systems, and it may block the pain response pathways so you feel pain relief. Researchers have used various techniques, including Doppler images, to show that microcirculation is indeed increased in the treated area, therefore decreasing both local and distal areas of pain."

[http://www.doctoroz.com/blog/jamie-starkey-lac/scrape-away-pain-gua-sha] -- not the best source, but it conveys the idea behind the practice.

 

nightwaves4, thanks for the perspective!  The way you describe it, the skin abrasion sounds something like forest-clearing, i.e. letting a forest fire burn everything to the ground so that it can all regenerate! LOL.  I don't know how painful it usually is or how long it usually lasts, but it can be seen in the bonus videos that all the teams that underwent it (including Brooke) reacted violently to being touched on the back afterwards -- kinda like someone who'd been out in the sun all day without sunscreen! They also all showed their bruises to Phil and they looked pretty nasty.

[wineaux]

I've lived in Singapore for a few years now and it was nice to see it on TAR. Call me evil, but I got a kick of seeing reactions to the masage - people always look at me funny when I tell tell how painful it is, so I like being validated :-) Although this scrub looked like something else ;-( And having seen the back of a friend who'd done the cup things, I know these bruises will take a while to disappear, but apparently they don't hurt.

 

Most of the task were directly lifted from an edition of TAR Asia: the rope walking, the chili crabs and the wave surfing.

 

 

I don't watch TAR Asia, but there was definitely a high rope walk between twin skyscrapers on TAR US, Season 19 in Panama.  That happened during the episode where their previous location was in Belgium and they had to dress up as detectives from a cartoon and look for TinTin for their next clue (which sent them to Panama).

[NutMeg]

I've since looked it up, the tasks were seen in TAR Asia 4, leg 11. Here are the descriptions, from wikipedia:

 

In this leg's Detour, teams must choose between Stay Up and Add Up. In Stay Up, teams must successfully ride a wave for an accumulated time of two minutes at the Wave House. In Add Up, teams must head to the Gmax Reverse Bungee and add up three numbers called out by the host and get the sum correctly to receive their next clue. In this leg's Roadblock, one team member must make a tightrope walk from tower 1 to tower 2 of the Marina Bay Sands Resort to get their clue. They must then make their way back to tower 1 to finish the task.
Additional tasks
At the Cavenagh Bridge, teams must locate the lion dancers to receive their next clue.
At the Red House Seafood Restaurant, teams must extract 1 kilogram of Singapore's most popular dish, chilli crab, to receive their next clue.

 

[Lingo]

That's everything but the massage/cupping.  I wonder what temple that was at.  They didn't give a name or location for it.  I was trying to look up all the locations in my Singapore guide book, but I can't find that one.

[CrashTextDummie]

From a narrative standpoint, the wrestlers not U-turning was utter genious. There's nothing quite like a sudden betrayal to get a rile out of the audience. In wrestling terms, they performed a full heel turn on the Scientists and it's clear from the subsequent lion's head task that they managed to completely throw them off-balance. If you think the wrestlers are assholes in real life, I feel you might have been "worked", to keep with the wrestling lingo.

 

And sure the surfers were heavily advantaged in the FF, but isn't that what made the task exciting? You had a fan favorite team already working on it with a 40 minute headstart and you (and they) knew that the surfers could blaze right past them if they went for it. The fast forward is usually such a boring affair because it just serves to take the first team to get there out of the race for the day and to predetermine the winner of the leg. But this one was the equivalent of a footrace to the finish line, except it wasn't to determine last and second to last, but the winner and loser of the leg. Any other combination of teams involved wouldn't have been a big deal. This was like a perfect storm.

[NutMeg]

Thanks for the wrestling lingo, CrashText, you confirm an inkling I had that they behave as wrestlers would/should in the context of wrestling. That "full heel turn on" was a good move for wrestlers, as it's acceptable (or even worthy of applause) in their daily life, so their behaviour is actually enhancing their life after the race. On the other hand, it would not enhance the image after the race of cowboys, globetrotters or plenty others. 

 

I also agree with you that the fast forward was so suspenseful because it was such high stakes, for once.

[shura]

Because it actually happened??  I don't see a compelling reason to edit it out.

(Plus, imagine how fans would react if Racers revealed in post-show interviews that the Dentists had this gimmick device that could save them from being eliminated.)

 

I'm not saying the Save should have been edited out, my point is more that it is technically possible if TPTB were to decide that it was a complete failure. It wasn't, to be sure, but it didn't add much to my enjoyment or interest. I just don't really see a compelling reason to leave it in either. TAR edits out all the time things that actually happened, sometimes even whole tasks like Roadblocks or Detours. The fans are usually meh about it.

 

In grad school in the science faculty, you are taking part in collecting data for scientific research, so they would be scientists.  There isn't the clear distinction of passing the bar to become a lawyer, or getting the certification to officially become a doctor.

 

Right, that's why I said that Maya and Amy are technically scientists. I'm sure they are good ones, too. You'd be surprised how many grad students have no idea what they are doing, and to me those grad students are hardly scientists. 

[cooksdelight]

Has any team that came in first in the first leg gone on to win the whole thing? Statistically, I'd love to know the percentage, and where winning teams placed in the first leg. Just wondering how much of an advantage it is if you are awarded something like the Save or Express Pass.

[Haleth]

Those wave-riding set-ups aren't intended for only pro surfers though, they are for beginners to get a feel for it. I'm pretty sure I've seen them on cruise ships.

 

Yup.  I was on a ship that has them and realized after watching for a couple minutes that there was no way I'd be able to do it.  Most people ended up laying flat on boogie boards.  It was very difficult to stand up, certainly not for 2 minutes.

[green]

Actually, both situations have occurred on TAR in the past:  Luke and Big Easy come to mind.  They did nothing to make it easier for either one of them...no tasks were eliminated.

 

And on both Season 5 and TAR All-Stars Charla had no help.  There were tasks in both that involved bicycles and no child sized ones were allowed for her.   Mirna had to do the old newspaper collecting by bicycle RB one on All-Stars and they had to pass on the bicycle detour option in Tanzania in Season 5 which directly lead to their elimination.

 

cooksdelight, as to if anyone won the first leg of a Race went on to win it all?  You don't have to go any further than Season 1.

 

If The Scientists are grad students then they already have their bachelors in a scientific field thus are "scientists."

Edited November 30, 2014 by green

[kingshearte]

Re. the fairness of the surfing challenge: For one thing, as someone else pointed out, there was in fact a cycling challenge already, and throughout the seasons, there have often been tasks that seemed perfectly suited to one specific racer/team. That's just the way things go down. My husband and I have actually discussed how it would be kind of an intriguing experiment to build a race that featured one challenge designed specifically to go with each racer's skill set. There'd be no guarantees that those racers would get to do those challenges (could be eliminated before it came up, or the wrong teammate takes a roadblock), but we kind of thought it was a fun idea and had fun deciding what our dream tasks would be (mine would be singing German Lieder with the boys' choir).

 

I'm on team Brooke & Robbie were asshats because of their hypocrisy, not because they lied. The way they were so offended by Amy & Maya giving them vague directions, but felt totally legit to outright lie to them was the obnoxious part. No different, IMO, than the real estate agents from the first leg shoving the firefighters to get ahead, and then crying foul when the firefighters wouldn't let them into that cab.

 

Those massages. Yow. I'm fully aware that a therapeutic massage is vastly different then a relaxation one. I have had a therapeutic one, and I did cry. And despite all the explanations of this process, frankly, I'm skeptical about this. Amy's back looked like she'd been beaten before they even started the abrasion part, and I just can't quite accept that that's not harmful.

 

I did find Robbie's reaction to the cupping pretty entertaining though. "Oh, that's fire, that's gonna... Oh... Yep. There it is." It reminded me a little of when I was getting my tattoo and telling my friend who was with me that it hurt so calmly and matter-of-factly that he didn't even believe me.

 

Maya being shown screaming about how much she loves the race made her agony at the massage all the more impressive. Good job, editors. I wonder why they waited so long to show her having some personality. Was she really only getting enthusiastic in the past couple of legs?

Maybe they thought that if we'd seen this every leg from Day 1, we'd have been throwing stuff at our TVs by now. It's the kind of thing that I think is often delightful in small doses, but totally obnoxious after a certain point.

 

My issue with choosing a detour, is that passive options like the massage are dangerous because the racers are not in control of how long the task will take. The crab task would have been the smarter option because the racers are in control..if they are competent, they can get done quickly and get out. I kept yelling at the cyclists to choose the crab, but they didn't listen to me.

Agreed. It's one thing to do the set-time task when you're ahead, as all you need is for one other team to also choose it, but when you know you're in last (cyclists), you absolutely should take the task that you could conceivably complete faster.

 

I believe that most grad students do work in their profession, although not at the highest level.  Saying that they're not "scientists" because they don't have a degree seems off to me.  It's not like law where one isn't a "lawyer" until one has passed the bar.

Plus, if they're graduate students, they do have degrees. Presumably they each have at least one BSc at this point. There are plenty of people who have undergraduate degrees in their fields and work in those fields. If they decide to pursue a graduate or post-graduate degree, it doesn't take away their professional status.

[jette]

Gua sha targets areas of pain? Like all those areas a masseuse creates by grinding an elbow into your back? Maya and Amy may have received longer treatment because of their writhing, howling and crying. Sorry, despite the excellent explanation, the process still seems barbaric to this wimpy Westerner.

 

Props to Brooke for taking it quietly for the most part until the scientists departed. She's tough. (Not a fan, but I'll give her that)

 

Surfers for the win!

[mwell345]

I loved this show when it was all about the racing - you came in first, you won, you came in last -eliminated.

To me, it was, at that time,the only true competitive reality show. But now, saves, U-turns,double u turns,fast forwards have diminished what I found so appealing.

still better than the rest of the so-called competitive reality shows, but in danger of shark jumping if they keep adding gimmicks.

[Netfoot]

Let's not overstate things.  If a team that wins the Save in Leg 1 comes in last on Leg 2 (and it's not an NEL), then they're just as vulnerable to elimination on the remaining legs as anyone else.

 

Also, let's be clear, there's going to be just as many NELs on this Race as any other 12-leg season.  The Save, whether or not it would be used, would merely affect the timing of the NELs, not the number.

 

Yes, the Save makes you immune from one screw-up or slice of bad luck on an elimination leg.  (If you were last on an NEL you'd be immune anyway.)  Naturally, if you screw up twice, then all bets are off.  Unless the Save is re-buried somewhere near camp, which, please ghod, no!

 

But still, one (and only one) total immunity to be used at any time for virtually the entire race, is still a huge advantage.

 

Yes, the number of NELs is presumably fixed so as to make for a predictable number of episodes.  From this I deduce there will be a NEL (or possibly a TBC) next week.  But this NEL is now going to occur at a predictable time, right at the moment the Save expires, thereby giving the no-longer immune team one more leg of immunity!  So the Dentists -- and everyone else -- will be immune again next week, and they will know it, if they've thought it through.

 

Has any team that came in first in the first leg gone on to win the whole thing? Statistically, I'd love to know the percentage, and where winning teams placed in the first leg. Just wondering how much of an advantage it is if you are awarded something like the Save or Express Pass.

 

Leg#1 winners have gone on to reach the F3 on 13 separate occasions, and have won outright 6 times.

[Stinamaia]

I don't dislike Brook because she lied or because she wants to win, I dislike her because she doesn't seem to enjoy anything, complains nearly constantly, makes needlessly snide comments about the other races, blames her own deficiencies on luck, and has decided that she can't win on ability so must resort to scheming.

I don't enjoy the interpersonal drama. I would like TAR just to have us make up our minds about the teams. We can boo, hiss, or cheer at home.

Maya and Amy are studying for their doctorates. I think that's quite admirable especially when women havent been expected to excel in math or science. I'd like Brook to have a bit more appreciation for that instead of trivializing it because she herself has chosen a non-traditional career. After all pro wrestlers are themselves the butt of many denigrating jokes.

[needschocolate]

I don't dislike Brook because she lied or because she wants to win, I dislike her because she doesn't seem to enjoy anything, complains nearly constantly, makes needlessly snide comments about the other races, blames her own deficiencies on luck, and has decided that she can't win on ability so must resort to scheming.

 

Well, there are a few things she enjoyed - She seemed to really enjoy how much pain the scientists were in during the massage.  She enjoys making fun of one of the scientist's limps.  She enjoyed lying to the scientists.  She also seems to really enjoy complaining and feeling sorry for herself. 

 

I realized as I typed this and was trying to think of times Brooke was "happy" that her happy moments involve something bad happening to the scientists.  I think Brooke maybe quite insecure and feels threatened by the intelligence of the scientists and is looking for anything that will prove to herself that she is better than them (For those interested, I received my degree in Psychology from the University of Television, and was able to take all of my classes from my comfy seat on the couch). 

Edited November 30, 2014 by needschocolate

[biakbiak]

The other thing that I really didn't like about Brooke is when she wanted Maya to fall during the tightrope walking. I mean I get that Maya, like Jim, would have been fine but there is no way the initial fall wouldn't have been absolutely terrifying. I mean I get contestants want people to fall all the time (ie the surfing tasks) but I don't remember someone saying it during a challenge of this type. 

[Donny Ketchum]

Has any team that came in first in the first leg gone on to win the whole thing? Statistically, I'd love to know the percentage, and where winning teams placed in the first leg. Just wondering how much of an advantage it is if you are awarded something like the Save or Express Pass.

 

Leg#1 winners have gone on to reach the F3 on 13 separate occasions, and have won outright 6 times.

The first-leg winners who've gone on to win the whole race include the following: Rob & Brennan (TAR1), Tyler & James (TAR10), Nick & Starr (TAR13), Meghan & Cheyne (TAR15), Ernie & Cindy (TAR19), and Rachel & Dave (TAR20).  If Misti & Jim win, they'll be the seventh team to claim this distinction. 

 

The first-leg winners who've made the F3, but not won, include the following: Tara & Wil (second place in TAR2), Ken & Gerard (third place in TAR3), Eric & Jeremy (second place in TAR9), Margie & Luke (third place in TAR14), Jill & Thomas (third place in TAR17), Gary & Mallory (third place in TAR18), and Tim & Marie (second place in TAR23).  If Misti & Jim make the F3, but don't win, they'll be the eighth team to claim this distinction.

 

The first-leg winners who went on to get eliminated before the F3 include the following: Amanda & Chris (eleventh place in TAR4), Steve & Josh (ninth place in TAR4), Millie & Chuck (fifth place in TAR4 -- that first leg had a three-way tie of winners), Alison & Donny (tenth place in TAR5), Hayden & Aaron (fourth place in TAR6), Debbie & Bianca (ninth place in TAR7), the Godlewski Family (fourth place in TAR8), Rob & Amber (eighth place in TAR11), Azaria & Hendekea (sixth place in TAR12), Jordan & Jeff (seventh place in TAR16), Abbie & Ryan (fifth place in TAR21), Jessica & John (ninth place in TAR22), and Jet & Cord (fifth place in TAR24).  If Misti & Jim fall victim to the final elimination, they'll be the fourteenth team to claim this distinction.

Edited December 3, 2014 by Donny Ketchum

[biakbiak]

The cyclists were dumb for telling Amy and Maya about the 40 minute flight advantage. Amy and Maya might not have looked up other flights. And the Cyclists could have asked the travel people not to tell anyone, although there was no guarantee they wouldn't. They could have been the only team with the 40 minute lead, or at least with only Brooke and Robbie, who they probably could have beaten. No pressure to try for Fast Forward.

 

It made perfect sense to me. Forty minutes is really nothing when we are talking arrival times through different airports and international flights (delays, weather speeding up or slowing down the flight path, delay in customs etc.), so it would be good to have at least one other team, a team you were confident you could beat, on the flight in order to make sure if anything did happen there was still one team that they could beat. 

[Wax Lion]

 

All challenges are planned far, far in advance. There's no way they would know if the surfers would still be in the race at that point.

 

This wasn't a complicated task to plan, though. There was little set-up, just add a clock to an existing wave pool so the biggest issue was getting the place to close for the task. As I recall, Fast Forward challenges are usually much bigger, to the point you could easily convince me there was another FF abandoned and this one was hastly set up.

 

But conspiracy or not, its just unsatisfying television to see a challenge that used to have some level of high-stakes to be taken on by somebody who does that professionally. It might have been good drama if it turned out to be so different that Bethany found it challenging, but she did it easily and her husband got it on the second try.

 

And a big issue here is that it was the Fast Forward which used to be a challenge that took it to the next level, not a 'Go to this place and make use of their facilities.' challenge. I mean, didn't one challenge involve climbing to the top of a high-rise tower and changing the light bulbs? At the core it was a terrible idea for a FF, there were more epic roadblocks and detours this season. As the FFs stick in my memory, those are tasks where it's pretty difficult to watch another team attempt it just because they weren't so mundane.

 

 

I think there is proof that these things are pre-planned out in advance before casting the teams, because we know that TAR have to get permission and possibly go through paperwork to make sure they can do tasks at specific locations. Also proof when Big E had to be excluded from doing some detours/roadblocks because of his height and Luke and Marge were stuck doing a pouring drinks detour because they couldn't do the DJ booth detour because Luke is deaf.

 

I'd lose a lot of respect for TAR producers if they didn't go through every challenge after casting to see how it suited the casting in those cases. Neither Big E, Charla, Bethany or Luke have run into legs where there wasn't a challenge they could do to make it through the leg, even if they ended up with a harder path.

 

Think about how horrible it would be if there was a leg in Luke's season where the only way to get the pit stop clue involved responding the audio cues. They've all been limited in which challenges they could do but they've never had a leg where they've been completely blocked by their disability where there's nothing they can do to go forward. It would be pretty damn awful if TAR producers let a leg happen like that and just shrugged. I expect that they double check things like that when casting happens (or, more likely, they pass over that team one season and design challenges keeping in mind that they've got people with x disability in the casting queue).

 

And, you know what, I'd probably annoyed if any of these teams encountered a FF they couldn't do. The Fast Forward used to be in a separate category from the Detours and Road Blocks.

 

Okay, I do not understand the hate for Brooke and Robbie.  It is race for a million dollars!  Lying, creating conspiracies you have no intention of joining, just seems like smart racing to me.  Why stick to a plan if, when the time comes to execute it, it is no longer in your best interest?  What's the point then?  What, just to prove that you are a person of your word?  Who the fuck would possibly care about that with a million dollars on the line? 

 

Sometimes I wonder if I am the only one who understands that the point is to win the race by whatever means necessary.  If I had to choose between a million dollars and having some people who were complete strangers to me four weeks ago thinking that I have low character, the million dollars will win every single time.

 

No one sees the interviews until after they air. So how does it help them win "by whatever means necessary" to whine like crazy because someone vaguely pointed you in the right direction instead of giving you detailed instructions? I mean, maybe if you were going to play a psychological game and confront the scientists on it hoping to intimidate them into becoming super-helpful, but they were to chickenshit to do that. They waited until they could lie and move on.

 

And, seriously, what's the strategic value to messing with the Food Scientists who mostly get by on luck? Unless you think they're going to be the next Beekman Boys, a team like the wrestlers (a different kind of team that gets by on luck) needs to get the stronger teams out. Does Brooke think she's got an easy path to beat the dentists, the surfers or the cyclists in the final three? (If so she hasn't paid attention to the race.) Then she should have made a definite move to take one of them out. In the end it was moot, but it was just dumb strategy not to take that chance.

 

The thing about TAR viewers is that they can understand making a cutthroat move to get by in the race. What they hate is people who are poor at using cutthroat strategy. Wasn't there a woman a few seasons back who seemed to think underhanded behavior was always the key to winning, even when there was clearly no point? By then you're just Poochie screaming "To the extreme!"

 

Considering the ways things have gone wrong with connecting flights, I never understand why people get so worked up over a difference that's less than an hour. Sure, it will usually get passed along in a badly designed leg (which this was) but we've seen so many racers get tied up for much longer with unpredictable delays

 

I think the save would be much more dramatic if it were given to the second-to-last place team on the first leg, especially since one of the weaker teams might self-sabotage trying to get the save and end up overshooting and being first out.

[Jamoche]

The Dentists could have lost leg#1, but they didn't, and got the Save instead.  That means that they were essentially protected from elimination from leg#2 thru leg#10. 

No, they were protected from elimination *once*. Just like the time they came in last and were protected by an NEL - if that initial first place win had been a fluke, all they'd need to do is come in last on two normal legs. Given how many teams have come in last twice, NEL and then normal, that's not impossible. (Have we ever had a team be saved by two NELs?)

[jjj]

Someone will chime in with the details, but I do recall the same team being saved by two NELs in the same season.

[Donny Ketchum]

(Have we ever had a team be saved by two NELs?)

Yep.  B.J. & Tyler (TAR9), David & Mary (TAR10), Nick & Vicki (TAR17), and Caroline & Jennifer (TAR24).  In addition, in TAR7, Meredith & Gretchen were saved by an NEL and a TBC later on.  The Godlewskis had the same fate in TAR8, as did Nicky & Kim in TAR23 (only in their case, the TBC came first, and then the NEL later on).

 

On a side note, Flo & Zach (TAR3) and Kelly & Jon (TAR4) also came in last on two NELs, but during the first nine seasons, save for TAR5 and TAR6, the show had NELs at the F3, and each of them hit those NELs, so they technically weren't saved.

Edited November 30, 2014 by Donny Ketchum

[raven]

 

I'd lose a lot of respect for TAR producers if they didn't go through every challenge after casting to see how it suited the casting in those cases. Neither Big E, Charla, Bethany or Luke have run into legs where there wasn't a challenge they could do to make it through the leg, even if they ended up with a harder path.

I would expect that they go through the tasks as you say - that is, if the producers choose to cast a deaf contestant, then they should make sure that each leg has one task that could be attempted by that person's team; doesn't rely on hearing, etc.  However, once that's done, I wouldn't expect them to re-adjust every leg for every scenario; like this week, if they had adjusted the FF in case the surfers went for it or whatever.  That's a bit too much like "rigging the game" for me.

 

I may be a bit dense, but I felt pretty sure that Adam & Bethany won the FF not because they surf but because in one of the mid-episode interviews, Bethany is talking about the FF, flower in her hair, looking very happy.  Bad editing.  

 

Adam flubbed it on his first try, and K&A got within 30 seconds (I think?) of winning it.  I think it was do-able for a confident, athletic team, and if K&A hadn't been worrying about taking the chance on a FF and been tense before B&A got there, they might very well have gotten it.  K&A weren't my favorites but they were excellent racers and I did feel for them as they watched their FF hopes crash.  I bet they will be on the show again.

 

 

But now, saves, U-turns,double u turns,fast forwards have diminished what I found so appealing.

Yeah, I agree.  It seems most racers are reluctant to u-turn for whatever reason, and the double u-turn adds an element of scheming that I don't like.  The Save turned out to be pretty worthless in terms of drama; at least with Misti & Jim, he had drive to be in first place and be competitive, it would have been worse in the hands of a team who didn't show any initiative and did *just enough* to make sure they wouldn't have to use it.

 

Overall I liked the episode. Maya's excitement at the high wire and Jim's drama there, as well as the FF drama, made it for me (and the crab click-clacking).  Didn't like the massage task, it was pretty boring to watch and kind of surprising that racers would actually think a task would be relaxing in some way.  

Edited November 30, 2014 by raven

[NYGirl]

My favorite character in this episode was the dancing crab when the dentists were performing their task.  I liked the cyclists and I guess there was some actions that were not on camera for every team to want to U-turn them. 

[kingshearte]

I loved this show when it was all about the racing - you came in first, you won, you came in last -eliminated.

To me, it was, at that time,the only true competitive reality show. But now, saves, U-turns,double u turns,fast forwards have diminished what I found so appealing.

still better than the rest of the so-called competitive reality shows, but in danger of shark jumping if they keep adding gimmicks.

I agree. I feel like, between the various inter- and intra-team dynamics, the varied locales, and the way teams handle the various tasks (even when some of them are variations on a theme, or even identical to past ones), the show is inherently always different and fresh. It doesn't need all these added gimmicks to keep things interesting.

[TiredMe]

I hope the cyclists come back. They were good racers.

I like the surfers until this episode but it completely turked me off that they had an advantage. I have read all the explanations about the tasks and how they are chosen but I don't care. It really irritated me so I hope they don't win.

I'm not overly fond of the wrestlers so I guess I'll cheer for dentists and scientists.

The massage was not even remotely enjoyable to watch. Not.funny.period.

[Skittl1321]

I swear I've read in the past that the people who set up tasks and people who cast the race do not communicate.

So the surfing task would just be good luck on the part of the surfers (who had to even get this far in the race to do it)

[ptuscadero]

I must be missing something, because I just have not seen the likelihood of a major freakout by Jim.  If anyone ever had a legitimate claim to a freakout, it was Jim falling off a tightrope at 600 feet.  And he just dangled there, got winched in, then started over.  And did not remind us about it for the rest of the episode.  I watched it again online, and it was shocking to see the line he was *holding* suddenly drop.  I also thought Mitzi kept it together much better than I would have done. 

 

This. I can't stand Jim, but I thought he handled that mishap masterfully. I would have been a freaking mess for days.

Of course, his skeery eyes still skeer me.

[Camera One]

Maybe Misti should have done it.  Perhaps he was a little too big and bulky, and that's why he was the only person who "fell"?  Not to mention it was the last leg with the Save, so it would allow Jim to do the next few.

Edited November 30, 2014 by Camera One

[J-Man]

They made a huge deal at the beginning about the different flights, but never showed what time they actually landed. A possible advantage of forty minutes is negligible with international flights (especially when connections are involved); how many of them ever arrive exactly at the scheduled time? It was ludicrous for anyone to get upset about missing out on the possibility of such a small advantage. In many cases on TAR, a flight with a later scheduled arrival time has actually arrived earlier than another one.

[aradia22]

Ugh. So over the wrestlers. They don't race that well, they complain all the time, and it was nasty to outright lie to Amy and Maya about the clue. It's one thing to refuse to point them right to the clue or to refuse to say one way or the other but outright lying is not cool. Besides, Brooke acts tough and then cries and complains about everything.

 

It's clear when you hear massage or an kind of spa thing, that you go for the other task. It doesn't matter what the other task is. Their backs looked awful.

 

I think Kym and Alli's elimination was our last chance for an all-female team to win this season. I love Amy and Maya and the fact that Maya is so joyful (she can save an episode for me and it's just like Brooke to resent someone else's positive energy) but with Amy's injury and knowing that they're not the strongest racers to begin with, they'll need another team to screw up to stay in it.

 

Well, that put to rest any concern about the relationship between Misti and Jim for me.   He was genuinely calm about having to do the rope again.   She was genuinely terrified that he would die.

Jim was a little too pissy about the flights in the beginning of the episode but the way he powered through the rope and the crab challenge won me over a little. I don't think their the greatest people. Most people can't be perfect. But they're nowhere near as awful as the wrestlers. 

 

Add me to the petition to get the cyclists back for All Stars if they're up for it.

 

 

I don't thin Jim would have flinched.

I think he would have handled the massage better. I got the sense that it didn't bother Robbie as much because it was probably harder to dig into his muscles. Of course the brushing and cupping would still hurt.

 

I don't think the surfing challenge was specifically put in to help the surfers but I do think that when they were designing the race they put in that challenge to bait them if they were still in it. I don't think they try to play to anyone's strengths but there's usually a challenge or two that you'd expect someone to do well on because of their career or special skills... beyond say Jim who thinks he should be good at everything.