S26.E06: Smells Like A Million Bucks

[Tara Ariano]

The race continues in Monaco, where one team takes a big risk to gain an edge on the competition.

[cooksdelight]

I really, really hope that the trip for two means for EACH of them. Free Blair!

Every time Laura said "Merci" it came out sounding like "Mercy!" HA!

Who gave Hayley white shoes with that black dress and black hose?

[Guiaoshi]

Finally! After 4 of the most predictable eliminations ever a leg where we couldnt tell the order at all with a unexpected elimination! I was even expecting this to be a NEL, so what a surprise at the end. This leg shows tho, once again, that we dont have a clear front-runner this season. And yaaay for 2 hours next week! 

[enlightenedbum]

Well, that was deeply unsatisfying.  Two major reasons:

 

1) A detour is a CHOICE between two tasks, each with their own pros and cons, show.

2) I have no idea why the eliminated team was eliminated or really why the finishing order was what it was.  I guess they got lost?  But worse than Jenny and Jelani who were shown getting lost?

 

Meh.

 

This cast with a better course might have been alright, but the design has been terrible.

[bmoore4026]

I don't know what to make of this season anymore, other than the producers better not pull another "blind date" Amazing Race ever again!  I'd much sooner watch another "Family Edition" than watch (and listen to) couple jabberwock at each other.

[Haleth]

That was a fun episode. You know, Hayley and Blair aren't bad together when she's not franticly pecking at him. That episode was more "free Jelani" to me.

I love when they go some place I've been. I have a pic of myself in front of the grand casino in Monte Carlo with a guy I met on our tour. 34 yrs later we are still happily married.

Edited April 11, 2015 by Haleth

[mtlchick]

Phil in a tuxedo is the only takeaway I got out of this episode. 

 

That and hell froze over now that Hayley and Blair are buddies.

[Browncoat]

I hoped this would be a non-elim, since the tasks seemed so unbalanced -- mixing perfume perfectly versus ziplining? -- with no choice or option to switch.  But I guess they were more even than they appeared, or the self-navigation/driving distance were equalizers.  Nice suspenseful finish, too. 

 

ETA:  Phil should always wear a tux. 

Edited April 11, 2015 by Browncoat

[Lantern7]

I don't think I liked this leg. Car commercial in the cold open. No footage from Mike & Rochelle's Date Night. A crapshoot for Detour options with no chance of swapping tasks. A seven-team pileup at the finish line. Oh, and Hayley & Blair won, albeit without any (seen) bickering. Sure, we lose a generic Caucasian team in Jeff & Jackie, and they were blind-daters to boot, but they looked to be the 20 percent success rate for the format.

 

I did like the fancy dress, though. Reminded me of The Mole, though I don't think they wrecked sweet duds the way poor Mike sweated through his jacket.

 

Phil in a tux? Probst wishes he could pull that off. And on the flipside, Phil can probably rock khakis as well.

 

Two hours next week! Here's hoping most of it doesn't involve Hayley bickering.

[sinycalone]

I think that the zipline was further from the pit stop, and with a more difficult route.  So the fact that the ziplining was quicker was somewhat negated by the distance and roads. 

 

Was I crazy -- or was Steve the only one who immediately caught onto the importance of the numbers on the bottles?

 

Liked that it really was a close finish....with no team lagging way behind.

[cooksdelight]

Is this the first time this season we've seen someone ask to be on standby for an earlier flight? That's a no-brainer.

[Guiaoshi]

Is this the first time this season we've seen someone ask to be on standby for an earlier flight? That's a no-brainer.

Once again, teams way too busy taking photos/selfies/wondering about their date =_=

I think that the zipline was further from the pit stop, and with a more difficult route.  So the fact that the ziplining was quicker was somewhat negated by the distance and roads. 

 

 

I think so too.. And since Jeff & Jackie were the last team getting out of there plus got lost so thats why they got eliminated. But like mentioned above, while we really needed more suspense going on this leg, they really didnt show enough of some teams mistakes, including the eliminated one.

Edited April 11, 2015 by Guiaoshi

[Chrissytd]

I could not imagine have to race for 8+ hours in formalwear.

Tyler in a suit made me swoon.

[Lamb18]

I enjoyed the episode. Kudos to Mike and Rochelle for getting those standby seats. I like that kind of airport quick thinking. I'm glad Hayley stopped nagging Blair. They can work together pretty well. I wonder if they will take that trip together. (ha) It was also fun to see them all dressed up. Jackie was gorgeous in that red dress. I'm sorry she and Jeff were eliminated. For some reason Blair and Hayley still my favorite couple. They are such a train wreck as a dating couple who are managing to make it work as a racing couple.

[sinycalone]

I actually was able to follow most of the driving snafus so wasn't upset that it was hectic at the end.  What did bother me was, as others have said, the teams really had no choice when it came to the detour.

[awaken]

Really enjoyed seeing Monaco!  What a beautiful place!  I need to read up on it.  Why is it so small?  

 

Ugh, Blair's barely contained distain and superiority are hard to watch.  I would  never want him as my doctor.  He seems like he is truly suffering through this race.  Yikes. Hayley's dress was nearly falling down as she was running back with the roses and chocolates!  Darn, I really want some good chocolate and have none in the house!  

 

It's fun to see Laura and Jackie and their partners enjoying themselves, as well as the olympians.  Mike and Rochelle seem like a good couple- they seem like they've been dating much longer than 8 mos!  

[truthaboutluv]

Finally! After 4 of the most predictable eliminations ever a leg where we couldnt tell the order at all with a unexpected elimination!

 

 

Yes, that was the best part of the whole episode for me - that I really did not know who was going home. I was totally shocked when Hayley and Blair showed up first at the Pit Stop. However, I almost got the impression that the sniff detour was closer to the Pit Stop, only because Hayley/Blair, Rochelle/can never remember his name and Aly/Steve were the top 3 and they all did that task, not to mention they seemed to finish later than so many other teams.

 

The only one that was at that task who came really low was Laura and Tyler which makes me think they got really lost. I'm kind of glad because Tyler especially was pretty obnoxious tonight. I like that they've accepted there's no romantic chemistry and seem to have a cool, fun buddy vibe but part of that vibe seems to be snarking on the other teams a lot, especially Tyler. I thought it was very rich of him dismissing Rochelle and her boyfriend at the sniff task when they were the ones smart enough to get on the earliest flight. 

 

Speaking of Rochelle and her boyfriend, this was the first time I saw some douchiness from him. I guess killer fatigue is setting in, not to mention the field dwindling. He kept a running commentary of complaining, all the while telling her to just focus and not worry about the other teams when he was the one doing it. She looked quite calm. And speaking of people unraveling, man Jelani looks beyond over it with Jenny. 

 

Matt and Ashley, bless their hearts are such dorks but they are trying their hardest. They're always saying the wrong thing, hearing the wrong thing, falling over themselves but they're giving it their all. And hallelujah for a week off from the Blair and Hayley, or really the Hayley scream fest. She genuinely seemed to be making an effort to be pleasant and supportive the whole leg, even if she still took time out to say Blair looked like a dork in his suit. But they were calm and fairly pleasant and they won the leg. Of course I know Blair was wondering if he could cash in the first place trip prize for money because um no, Blair and Hayley need to never be anywhere near each other once this race is over. 

Edited April 11, 2015 by truthaboutluv

[TheRabbi]

That was odd.  One of the oddest, quickest elimination edits in history.  I realize they couldn't do the regular "final two showdown" of both cars approaching that is usually what they do since team number 6 was right behind number 5, but a little more reasoning why JJ got behind would have been nice.  Normally in such situations, I'd have expected an NEL with that editing, but knowing next week was a 2 hour episode made tonight a guaranteed elimination (2 hour episodes are ALWAYS an NEL followed by elimination).  I must admit though, when the episode opened with a Hayley and Blair montage, I assumed they would be getting eliminated tonight.  So it was a nice bit of trickery that it was actually their triumphant episode.

 

2 seasons into this new detour "twist", and I am really, really  not a fan of it.  We've had 3 or 4 times where they just get the title of it without any real details, which is pretty crappy enough, and now they get forced into one side by the luck of the roulette wheel?  I wouldn't have minded so much if it wasn't kind of an unbalanced challenge.  Chemistry class versus a once in a lifetime zipline/tightrope.  Not a fan.

 

Usually when teams get whittled down, I get to identify them more clearly.  But with all the couples, I still don't really know who's who or what they're doing.  Sure I can probably identify them on sight now, but I have trouble remembering what each team is doing.

 

So overall I wasn't a fan of the episode.  Beautiful scenery though.

Edited April 11, 2015 by TheRabbi

[enlightenedbum]

 

Usually when teams get whittled down, I get to identify them more clearly.  But with all the couples, I still don't really know who's who or what they're doing.  Sure I can probably identify them on sight now, but I have trouble remembering what each team is doing.

My thoughts on the couples:

1) Aly and Steve - Athletic, functional, producers probably hate them because even when they're sort of confused and annoyed they don't really fight

2) Matt and Ashley - Look like they're going to be the obnoxious dating couple, but are actually very endearingly goofy and kind of incompetent

3) Mike and Rochelle - She's got lots of tattoos, he's in the worst shape of these dudes, they mostly get along

4) Hayley and Blair - Usually hate each other

5) Jelani and Jenny - He's checked out, she's suuuuuper type A.  It's like Millie and Chuck with just as much sex but without the weird dating 12 years thing.

6) Tyler and Laura - She's the fun kind of snarky I think, he's somewhere between that and sucking depending on his target (if it's a woman, he's closer to sucking)

[anhydrite]

So Mike and Rochelle started the leg more than three hours after the second to last team, and still manage to snatch seats on the earliest flight. It's been a while we haven't got some of those old-fashioned airport shenanigans. Good for them for catching that flight, unfortunately it was nullified by a bunch. But after seeing the teams arrive late at night, it was predictable.

 

The formal wear was very nice. Gorgeous dresses and proper suits, makes a change from racing gear and actually has a comical effet seeing teams dressed that way and running all across Europe. For some reason, Mike made me laugh with his beige suit with the pink tie, like all the other guys were dressed like Hollywood stars, and you have him wearing this. I'm not saying he can't wear it, no at all, I just thought it was funny.

 

Hayley, Laura and the hairdresser woman whose name escapes my memory should wear less revealing necklines. At some point, Hayley's brests looked like they were about to bounce out of the dress.

 

Speaking of Hayley, I can't believe how tolerable she is when she's not arguing. Blair and her looked like a true cohesive team, and it served them right. Maybe she finally learnt that yelling doesn't get her anywhere. Well-deserved win anyhow. And Blair is actually kind of cute now that he doesn't look like a douche anymore.

 

The Detour now. I thought it was an interesting twist, but it would have been much better if it was to sort between two small Route Marker tasks or something. The whole point of the Detour is to choose yourself, and still have the possibility to change. At least none of them was too difficult**. And we got to see Phil in a tuxedo.

 

How deep was that canyon? I was gorgeous scenery though.

 

Teams getting lost all over the place never gets old, especially if the whole cast is lost at the same time. I wonder how they managed to check in so close to one another. Too bad for JJ who seemed to have been lost a little longer, but I don't think I'll really miss them. I hope them the best if their relationship is really going to work, and that way this season gimmick wont be a complete failure.

 

Tyler and Laura were kind of unpleasant weren't they? All that trash-talking at the Detour, and the map theft thing, it was all kind of iffy.

 

 

**They seemed unbalanced, since the zipline task was very quick, but apparently the racers had to change in black jumpsuits for the task (and unchange after it was completed), so it probably was longer than what was shown.

[Guiaoshi]

The only one that was at that task who came really low was Laura and Tyler which makes me think they got really lost. I'm kind of glad because Tyler especially was pretty obnoxious tonight. I like that they've accepted there's no romantic chemistry and seem to have a cool, fun buddy vibe but part of that vibe seems to be snarking on the other teams a lot, especially Tyler. I thought it was very rich of him dismissing Rochelle and her boyfriend at the sniff task when they were the ones smart enough to get on the earliest flight. 

 

 

Yep, thats the reason I was cheering for them to be eliminated this week, aways lame to see someone underestimating the competition specially in such obnoxious way. At least glad they got scared at the end getting to the pit stop second to last.

Edited April 11, 2015 by Guiaoshi

[TheRabbi]

One other small thing:  I wish the editors would let us know what the airport rules are.  Last season, it was explicitly stated that the rules had changed, and once you booked a flight, you were stuck on it.  Today, Mike and Rochelle were able to snag an earlier flight via standby at the last minute.  While I LOVE the tenacity and quick-thinking that got them the flight, I was confused on whether this would be currently allowed (I do think teams should be able to book as many as they want and board the fastest).  

 

It's a shame that the one blind dating team that I kind of liked and were getting along were the ones to get booted.  

 

I hadn't thought about it until a poster noted it earlier, but there was no footage of Mike and Rochelle's date night.  It's especially odd considering the press release for the season specifically mentioned the one in Germany (I think the official line was something like "new date night rewards like a hot springs in Nagano or an Observatory in Munich").  I guess it was sacrificed for the Blair and Hayley montage at the beginning.

[Donny Ketchum]

Tyler in a suit made me swoon.

I did, too . . . until his comments at the Detour.  After that, not even the suit could make him look attractive.

 

I'm not sure I liked the unbalanced Detour much, though the blind aspect was nice.  The Roadblock was okay.  Self-driving legs are also good.  The elimination was probably the one sucky part of this episode.  The weird thing, though, was that this episode felt so much like a non-elimination leg.  So I was surprised when a team got eliminated!

 

But now the teams:

 

Hayley & Blair: They finally had a leg without fighting!  Hayley picked up the slack at the Roadblock, and their chemistry background helped out at the Detour.  Great navigation got them to a first-place finish.  Great job to both of them.

 

Aly & Steve: They fell out of first on this leg, but they still did a great job.  Steve knocked the Roadblock out of the park, and despite some bad navigation en route to the Detour, they dominated the Detour.  Better navigation could've netted them another win, but second place isn't bad, either.  Good for them!

 

Mike & Rochelle: The standby trick was clever on Rochelle's part, and I'm stunned the other teams haven't tried that thus far.  Save for one small stumble at the end of the task, Mike did well at the Roadblock.  They navigated a lot better on this leg, too, getting to their Detour first, but their struggles their got them out of it last.  Oh, well.  They still managed to navigate their way to third place, which felt oddly satisfying after Tyler's unnecessary comment about them being weak.

 

Matt & Ashley: They had a lot to make up Matt's flight snafu.  He killed the Roadblock, from what we saw, and they navigated well enough to their Detour.  They did it fast, and then navigated strongly enough to finish fourth.  Nothing too spectacular.  Just solid racing on this leg.

 

Jelani & Jenny: Well, Jenny seemed to devolve back into her nagging ways after the Detour was chosen for them, which is a shame.  Still, she did the Roadblock very well, and they both seemed to do fine with their Detour.  It was just navigation that hurt them on the way to the Detour and the Pit Stop, dropping them into fifth place.  Dumb of Jenny to lose that map, though.

 

Laura & Tyler: While I definitely don't have a problem with capitalizing on a team's mistake, something about the way they kept Jelani & Jenny's map felt a little . . . I don't know the word for it, but I didn't exactly feel too good about it.  Still, Laura did a good thing by teaming up with Jenny at the Roadblock, as it kept another team with her and Tyler.  Their navigation to the Detour seemed solid enough, but it was Tyler's turn to test my patience with his remarks about Mike & Rochelle during the task.  They seemed to navigate poorly to the Pit Stop, though, since they dropped to sixth and next-to-last.  Let's see if that's gonna continue being a habit for them.

 

Jeff & Jackie: Aw.  Jackie did so well on the Roadblock, too.  But trouble finding that Detour, being last out of it, and then getting lost again is what doomed them.  Sucks, because I really wanted them to stick around a bit longer.  I hope something good came out of the Blind Date format for them, since they seemed to be the only team who actually seemed into each other.

 

Okay episode.  Not great, but okay.

[awaken]

So, if a team wins a trip for two and can't stand each other, do they have to go together, or do they each get a trip for one?

 

So sad for Jackie and Jeff!  I hope they keep in touch.  They really seemed to be embracing the full experience of the race!

 

I hate how Phil has to ask all of the teams if they're experiencing love at the end of the leg.  give it a rest!!

[cooksdelight]

Jeff sort of had the deer-in-the-headlights look on his face when Jackie said he'd be in her life forever, and she was giving him her number.

[anhydrite]

So, if a team wins a trip for two and can't stand each other, do they have to go together, or do they each get a trip for one?

 

From what I read, they don't actually win a trip, but rather credits of some sort and are free to make their own travel arrangements.

[Kromm]

Geez.  The layout of this leg, with the long string of successive helicopters?  What a crock.  What a weird way to pace out the Racetestants.

Edited April 11, 2015 by Kromm

[truthaboutluv]

Jeff sort of had the deer-in-the-headlights look on his face when Jackie said he'd be in her life forever, and she was giving him her number.

 

So it wasn't just me who saw that.

[Donny Ketchum]

So it wasn't just me who saw that.

I saw that, too.

[cooksdelight]

As someone who has had more than my fair share of bad blind dates, I know that look well. :)

[hendersonrocks]

Oh, Tyler. I liked you (or maybe I just liked looking at you) but you sure as hell lost me with your "they're such a weak team" bullshit at the detour. You mean the team that's actually won a prior leg and now is ahead of you on this one too? And maybe more but I'm too lazy to look? Sit down. You and your bougie talk can take a hike. I'll take Mike and Rochelle over you any day. /endrant

 

I'm not going to miss Jeff and Jackie one bit. That being said, I was not at all expecting this to be their last leg--I was feeling non-elimination the whole way and the entire last ten minutes was a whirl of WTF. 

Edited April 11, 2015 by hendersonrocks

[mojoween]

I'm curious what kind of dances Ashley went to in junior high that she thought her purple dress was appropriate for an eighth grade dance.

Steve, on the other hand, is sooooooo good-looking. Good job on the suit, tailor man.

Jelani cracked me up in the car when they were sniping and Jenny said something about how they would talk about their mistake later and he laughed and was like "I know we will!"

That's Namibia, jackass.

Edited April 11, 2015 by mojoween

[enlightenedbum]

 

That's Namibia, jackass.

If anyone says or paraphrases this I will root for them.

[lianau]

Rochelle really looked great in her dress . 

[Donny Ketchum]

Oh, Tyler. I liked you (or maybe I just liked looking at you) but you sure as hell lost me with your "they're such a weak team" bullshit at the detour. You mean the team that's come in ahead of you last leg and now this one too? And maybe more but I'm too lazy to look? Sit down. You and your bougie talk can take a hike. I'll take Mike and Rochelle over you any day. /endrant

No, on the last leg, Mike & Rochelle came in seventh to Laura & Tyler's sixth.  They've only beaten Laura & Tyler on this leg and on leg three (which they won).

[etagloh]

Emmy leg? Possibly, though perhaps not given the previews. TPTB definitely pulled out the stops for the visuals that Monaco and environs can provide.

 

I liked the leg design and was happy with the way it played out. Kudos to Mike and Rochelle for airport savvy and nabbing standby seats -- clearly the rule on booking a single flight doesn't prohibit that -- and kudos for TPTB for a decent staggered start to the leg for the Road Block task. I'm honestly fine with making the Detour subject to the spin of the wheel: it meant there was only a 0.0078125 probability that one side wouldn't get chosen, and they clearly wanted both sides used.

 

Self-navigation was obviously a big factor in the final placings, but it also implied that the zip/slackline Detour teams had a longer and trickier drive to the Pit Stop, perhaps to compensate for a task that was actually quicker to complete. Pretty sure the perfume Detour teams all got in ahead of them. The edit made the finishing order seem a bit weird because we often assume that finishing a Detour first with the Pit Stop ahead puts you in prime spot.

[hendersonrocks]

No, on the last leg, Mike & Rochelle came in seventh to Laura & Tyler's sixth.  They've only beaten Laura & Tyler on this leg and on leg three (which they won).

 

Thanks, Donny Ketchum! Fixed. Not at all surprised I had the order of when Rochelle & Mike actually won out of whack. Same message applies: you don't get to crap on a team for being "weak" that's actually won a leg when you haven't, TYLER.

Edited April 11, 2015 by hendersonrocks

[cooksdelight]

Why didn't they have some James Bond music playing when they rolled the closing credits? I was literally waiting for it.

[etagloh]

Teams getting lost all over the place never gets old, especially if the whole cast is lost at the same time. I wonder how they managed to check in so close to one another. Too bad for JJ who seemed to have been lost a little longer, but I don't think I'll really miss them. I hope them the best if their relationship is really going to work, and that way this season gimmick wont be a complete failure.

 

Looking at the maps, Èze is closer to the Pit Stop, but it's complicated by how you have two major roads running parallel, one near the coast and one up high, with narrow winding roads connecting them. Really tricky navigation all the way. For Jeff and Jackie to end up at Nice airport meant they overshot the turn-off to St Jean-Cap-Ferrat really badly.

Edited April 11, 2015 by etagloh

[humbleopinion]

Rochelle cleaned up well, let her keep the dress!

Mike gets to keep the elbow patched jacket and pants, no one will want it since he sweated it through and through.

This episode was better, too much bickering in the last episode.

[cooksdelight]

That perfume task could have been a bitch to anyone who is allergic to that sort of thing.

[TV Anonymous]

I do not really like the roadblock. Too linear without much chance of competition.

 

While I do like the individual detour challenges, I do not like its design. Too unbalanced between perfume-making and zip lining. As well, the predetermination through the roulette eliminates the possibility of bald snarking. But I guess it all does not matter anyway as the traffic is the equalizer.

 

I am a bit disappointed that 'bonjour', 'excusez-moi' and 'merci' are the extent of the racers' French vocabulary.

 

Jenny is rather Asian stereotypical, IMO. Highly educated, over achieving, driven and perfectionist.

 

It must have been such a walk that Mike took looking at all of his sweat that goes even through his jacket and all over his back.

 

Speaking of which, sorry to be superficial, but Rochelle's tattoos really do not go with that dress.

[90PercentGravity]

Blair says Hayley looks great and Hayley says Blair looks like Peewee Herman. Someone forgot to teach her that if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.

 

I'd love to got o Monaco, so I was a bit jealous. I kind of think the first place teams should get trips to the places they visit during the race so they can have a chance to actually enjoy them.

 

I like Mike and Rochelle a lot. I like that they work well together, they're supportive of each other, and despite not being particularly athletic, they don't give up and have pushed through all the physical challenges.

[Tyr]

Why didn't they have some James Bond music playing when they rolled the closing credits? I was literally waiting for it.

 

Indeed:

 

[etagloh]

While I do like the individual detour challenges, I do not like its design. Too unbalanced between perfume-making and zip lining. As well, the predetermination through the roulette eliminates the possibility of bald snarking. But I guess it all does not matter anyway as the traffic is the equalizer.

 

For this leg, I think you have to treat the Detour as if it extended from the moment teams received their clue to the moment they reached the Pit Stop. That's what made the edit a bit murky in the final few minutes, but it's also what levelled things out, and I'm certain it was intended to do so, given how it wasn't the usual choice between options. So I think it was more finely balanced than the Detours in previous legs, and was probably tested to be so. In fact, I think that's why the perfume task had those "mystery scents", to handicap the task sufficiently so that it didn't grant such a big advantage over the zipliners.

 

Also, excellent judge for the perfume task. Always good to have an expert judge with a bit of character.

Edited April 11, 2015 by etagloh

[backformore]

Not even finished watching it yet, but - Am I the only one bothered by the way teams ask for flights?  at the airport, the first team wants the "FASTEST"  flight.  The second one wants the "EARLIEST" flight.  It is possible for the person booking the flight to take the request quite literally, not knowing this is a RACE. 

 

The fastest COULD mean the airplane that flies the fastest, or has the shortest flight time, regardless of when it leaves.  Like, if the 7am flight takes 4 hours to get somewhere, and the 9am flight gets there in 3.5 hours, then the second flight is the fastest.   

Likewise, the "earliest"  flight could be the one that leaves soon, but has a stop, so it gets to the destination later than a flight that leaves after it. (this HAS happened on TAR, the second flight arriving first) 

 

I guess I would say "we want to get to our destination as soon as possible - what flight will get us there first?   to make sure there was no possibility of misinterpretation. 

[blackwing]

I greatly enjoyed this episode.  Monaco looks amazing.  I did find the way teams were assigned tasks for the Detour to be a bit odd.  It seemed to me that the perfume task was harder but it was a lot closer to the pit stop.  Based on the "currently in" indicators, the zipline teams all mostly finished the task before any of the perfume teams finished theirs.  And yet Blair/Hayley and Steve/Aly got to the pitstop before Jelani and Jenny.

 

Jenny is a complete shrew.  She is horrid.  I don't blame Laura for keeping her map.  Jenny must have given it to her when they worked together, but forgot to ask for it back.  Then she blames Jelani for losing it.  Then she blames him for not releasing the handbrake.  Then she blames him for not seeing signs.  Then she blames him for talking when she's trying to drive.  She can suck it.

 

Steve and Aly are by far my favourite team.  They seem to work well together and have great attitudes.

 

Has Tyler's hair always looked so grey?  Noticed lots of grey streaks in it this episode when I don't think they were there before.

 

I really liked Hayley and Blair working well together this leg.

 

Question:  My DVR description said, "For the first time, the competition heads to Monaco, where one team takes a big risk to gain an advantage."  Where in Monaco did one team take a big risk and what was the advantage?  I didn't see anything.  If it's talking about Mike and Rochelle on standby, well, that was in Germany, and it's hardly a risk, they just asked.

[La Dee Da]

That was odd.  One of the oddest, quickest elimination edits in history.  I realize they couldn't do the regular "final two showdown" of both cars approaching that is usually what they do since team number 6 was right behind number 5, but a little more reasoning why JJ got behind would have been nice.  

 

They might not have had the flexibility for the editing tricks, but the lack of vamping on Phil's part was also really unusual - maybe he had to return his tux rental?

 

One other small thing:  I wish the editors would let us know what the airport rules are.  Last season, it was explicitly stated that the rules had changed, and once you booked a flight, you were stuck on it.  Today, Mike and Rochelle were able to snag an earlier flight via standby at the last minute.  

 

Agreed.  It sounded like that was the situation Matt and Ashley were in - they weren't able to change their ticket, regardless of whether it was their or the agent's fault they were on the later flight.  And that rule was to prevent teams from booking extra seats and bumping other racers, yes (okay, probably also for money saving reasons)?  Maybe stand-by is okay on the understanding the teams are only putting themselves on the list?  But more flexibility for working the airport would be good. 

 

I'm curious what kind of dances Ashley went to in junior high that she thought her purple dress was appropriate for an eighth grade dance.

That's Namibia, jackass.

 

Old school selfie-less TAR FTW!  When Ashley critiqued her dress I thought "you and I went to very different junior high dances, my friend".  The poor women running around in their dresses - I'm pretty sure no one is making strapless sports bras! 

[viajero]

It wasn't a great leg, but I did like it.  At least there were plenty of chances for the teams to overtake each other.  Also, we got quite a bit less bickering than on previous legs.  My biggest disappointment was that J&J were eliminated.  I liked them better than about half the remaining teams.

 

I'm really looking forward to the next episode.  I always enjoy it when the race goes somewhere I've been and Namibia is a beautiful country with really nice people.  It's quite unlike anywhere else in Africa.  I wonder if those sand dunes are the ones near Walvis Bay.  I have some good photos from climbing up one of the largest dunes (which is a lot of hard work, even if you are physically fit).  If it is those dunes, then they are going to be doing a lot of driving, since they are quite far from both Windhoek and from the national parks.  Of course one of the most popular forms of tourism in Namibia are people (mostly South Africans and Germans) who rent land rovers and do a circuit around the country.

[selkie]

Am I the only one who cracked up when the teams had to get a Ford Fiesta from valet parking at one of the most storied and fancy casinos in the world? Granted, Monaco is a place where you genuinely want to drive as small a car as possible because the roads looked to be so tight, but I was amused at the visual.