S26.E06: Smells Like A Million Bucks

[selkie]

With car company sponsorships being such a major part of the show's revenue, how are they supposed to continue with their "manual shift only" and "no GPS" restrictions?

These things make the car sponsor look stupid, because teams are shown having a terrible experience in their cars. But in normal use, the driving experience would not be terrible, because you'd have automatic transmission and driving directions provided the the GPS. The racers would not get lost, and would not have to rely on reading paper maps.

 

Manual is still the default transmission in many parts of the world. Much of Europe is still largely driving stick- try to rent an automatic over there, (I think those cars are largely for North Americans and the handicapped) and it's a small fraction of their rental fleet for which you will pay a heavy extra surcharge.  GPS/sat nav is also not as common there as here.

 

So if you're pretending that Racers are getting the common local driving experience from a global car company, no reason not to continue the 'know how to drive stick' TAR tradition. At least they weren't stuck with a UK-style right side driver experience where the shifter is on the 'wrong' side of the car.

[Way Wes Jr]

I missed my Airport-Fu!  And given the linear nature of the roadblock, and how closely the teams seemed to come into the Pit Stop, it very well may have staved off elimination for Team Truck Stop.

[wineaux]

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.

 

LOL!  Yeah, it was a flash but I caught that, too.  Hmmm….perhaps she's going on and on a wee bit *too* much?  Note to Jackie:  Jackie, dear, just let it happen, if it's gonna happen.  Something like, "He's really a great guy, and I'm hoping that we can stay in touch after the show,"  would have been PLENTY.  But, don't push it. Or, you could push HIM away.

 

<sealed, stamped, and sent off to Jackie>

 

   :-D

[biakbiak]

I think there might have been a bunch at the helicopter place from Nice to Monaco, it just wasn't highlighted because everyone got their quickly. So it might not have been an issue.

[enlightenedbum]

I think there might have been a bunch at the helicopter place from Nice to Monaco, it just wasn't highlighted because everyone got their quickly. So it might not have been an issue.

The bunch was the time it took to "make the clothes" overnight.

[Camera One]

And those things never make the car look good.

 

Every time they try to showcase some "special feature" of the car, it always looks forced, and never makes any actual difference to the race. Those features are peripheral at best.

 

I agree it looks lame.  Yet they keep doing it, so they must think there's value in it.

[backformore]

Seemed like the big mix of perfume didn't matter at all though. There's no way every team accurately pipetted those on the first try. I couldn't tell that the judge did anything but check the mystery smells.

I thought the judge checked the finished product.  she was an expert, so she would know if they got the formula right.  

The labelled ingredients were easy to get right, they just had to figure out which mystery ingredients were the correct ones.   The task gets harder the longer you are at it.  Every test perfumes?  or even scents at Bath & body works, or a candle store?  after 5 or 6 scents, most people can't  smell anything else until they give their nose a rest.  The best strategy would be to figure out  which mystery ingredients were which, then concentrate on the measuring and mixing.  There was no need to smell anything besides the mystery vials.  

[RedheadZombie]

Not trying to be confrontational at all, but where was he being disdainful and superior?  I am genuinely curious, not trying to stir up anything, I just don't see it.

 

I don't know what the OP was referring to, but sometimes being an introvert is all it takes to be accused of this type of behavior.  I speak from experience.

 

 Still not liking Tyler.  What was with all of that "bourgie" stuff?  What was he trying for?  Monaco is not bourgie by any standard.  It is as upper crust as it gets.  He's too pleased with himself for my taste.

 

I actually thought one of them said, "booshy", followed by Jenny saying the same thing.  I immediately thought it must be slang.  Per the urban dictionary, "booshy", means high-class and snobby.

 

I wonder what changed the Hayley-Blair dynamic. Did production give her happy pills? I feel like we are missing some important information here.

 

I've known people like Hayley before.  When all is going well or someone is kissing their ass - happy as a clam.   If something doesn't go their way, or they perceive the slightest challenge - over the top temper tantrum.  She probably slept well, felt clean and fed, and he kissed her ass all day.  Plus she felt pretty, and apparently that's what really counts.

 

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.

 

That bothered me a bit, but then I remembered how good natured they were about Jeff and Jackie lying about (and hiding) their fanny pack.  Now if they had a fit about that and then hid the map, they would have been hypocrites.  I'm forgiving them unless they do something shady again.

[In Pog Form]

Manual is still the default transmission in many parts of the world.

No, it really isn't, unless you're talking about poorer/third-world countries.

 

Much of Europe is still largely driving stick- try to rent an automatic over there,

Nonsense. Automatic is common in Europe, and automatic rental cars are easily had. Manual transmission will be almost impossible to find in new cars within about 5 years' time.

 

So if you're pretending that Racers are getting the common local driving experience from a global car company, no reason not to continue the 'know how to drive stick' TAR tradition. At least they weren't stuck with a UK-style right side driver experience where the shifter is on the 'wrong' side of the car.

You're missing the point. Regardless of how common automatic transmission is in one country or another, it doesn't make any sense for sponsors to allow their cars to be shown in this light. The sponsors' audience in North Americans. Showing their cars to be almost un-drivable to that audience, is not a good deal for the sponsors.

Remember, they aren't advertising the "average European car" - they're trying to sell their cars to Americans as state-of-the-art vehicles that you should buy instead of the competition. Yet they can't even showcase the basic and expected features, such as automatic transmission and GPS.

Edited April 12, 2015 by In Pog Form

[wineaux]

In other news…...

 

I was reading another message board and these were posted of Jeff and Hayley.  Jeff and HAYLEY, you say?  Yep….

 

https://instagram.com/p/0jHjNcTd4X/?taken-by=jdweldon

https://instagram.com/p/0g8d_aRlFj/

https://instagram.com/p/0g7nSPRlDz/

https://instagram.com/p/1CSYobzd4E/

https://instagram.com/p/z0ymqeTd5D/

https://instagram.com/p/0gp4R4RlCd/

 

Who knows whether they are dating or not (apparently, they both live in the Tampa/St. Pete area) but I hope he's prepared for something like this one day… Boy, oh, boy.   :-(

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qn__Eo4h58

 

 

 

[Camera One]

Nonsense. Automatic is common in Europe, and automatic rental cars are easily had. Manual transmission will be almost impossible to find in new cars within about 5 years' time.

 

I rented a car in Britain this past summer, and most of the cars available were manual.  The automatic car was triple the price.  Most people were definitely driving manual.  

 

I think that's the perception of many viewers, so they probably won't wink at the contestants being forced to drive those types of cars on the Race, and since most Americans drive automatic, they would understand it's the difficulty of driving it and not necessarily the car itself.  Car companies must be continuing their product placement on this show for a reason.  Maybe they think it's an advantage to be associated with adventure and travel.  To see the cars in beautiful vistas would be a plus.

Edited April 12, 2015 by Camera One

[yourmomiseasy]

Monaco is seriously the worst to drive in.  There are tunnels inside of tunnels with roundabouts in them.  When I stayed there I'd just drive around lost in the tunnels going around the various roundabouts until I found the spot with a nested tunnel and then that would get me near the back of our hotel.  Once I was there I'd drive around trying to find the front without ending up back in the tunnels or going down a pedestrian only area.  And there's so much honking and people don't really follow the rules, which makes driving all the more stressful.  When I go to the Cote d'Azur again, I definitely will not drive in Monaco.  

 

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

You don't even have to be allergic.  I did the touristy perfume school thing, but at Galimard in Grasse.  I think that although I like a few of Fragonard's scents, the Galimard workshop was either a better value or fit better into our schedule and I think I chose Grasse over Èze so we could stop in Nice to shop on the way back, but I digress.  After a while you really get overstimulated by all the scents and can't really smell enough to tell the difference and get a headache.  We went to the Fragonard factory store after doing perfume school and perfume shopping after making perfume was impossible.  I just grabbed what I knew I liked from previous visits.   

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.

 

 

There's not a ton to do in Monaco and it's a bitch to drive in.  I'd stay somewhere else in the area and just make a day trip to see the gardens, palace, and casino.  The Cote d'Azur, and the south of France as a whole, is really lovely though. 

 

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.

Not only that, but her map didn't even look like a street map, it looked like the touristy map they give out at the hotels.  If it's the one I had, which it looked like it was, it's all cartoony and okay for walking around Monaco, would be close to useless driving around the area.

 

With car company sponsorships being such a major part of the show's revenue, how are they supposed to continue with their "manual shift only" and "no GPS" restrictions?

These things make the car sponsor look stupid, because teams are shown having a terrible experience in their cars. But in normal use, the driving experience would not be terrible, because you'd have automatic transmission and driving directions provided the the GPS. The racers would not get lost, and would not have to rely on reading paper maps.

GPS is kind of useless in a lot of Monaco.  A lot of the roads are built into the side of the mountains and the GPS doesn't know what level you're on so it's telling you to turn left when you're in a tunnel with no offshoots or way to turn.  Ask me how I know :(

 

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.  

I have barely contained disdain for Hayley and I'm only watching her on TV.  I can't imagine what spending time with her in person would be like.  I think Blair is holding it together pretty well considering he hasn't murdered her yet.

 

I actually thought one of them said, "booshy", followed by Jenny saying the same thing.  I immediately thought it must be slang.  Per the urban dictionary, "booshy", means high-class and snobby.

 

They said "bourgie" referring to bourgeoisie originating from the French word bourgeois (it kind of sounds like "booshy").  If I'm remembering my high school French properly (it's been a very long time), originally bourgeois referred to property owners and later morphed to mean the middle class. Marx had a whole deal about bourgeois revolution and through this context bourgeoisie has come mean the materialistic capitalist upper class -- the 1%, if you will.  Bourgie has become slang for pretentiously materialistic.  It would not apply to the current paragraph as it is only pretentious and not also materialistic :)

Edited April 12, 2015 by yourmomiseasy

[justawatcher]

Those Instagram photos...they're going horizontal. But probably a friends with benefits thing as every photo is at a club ...with booze...and her cleavage hanging out. If they were dating, the photos would be of them doing coupley stuff, y'know, photos you want to show your mom.

[Haleth]

With car company sponsorships being such a major part of the show's revenue, how are they supposed to continue with their "manual shift only" and "no GPS" restrictions?

These things make the car sponsor look stupid, because teams are shown having a terrible experience in their cars. But in normal use, the driving experience would not be terrible, because you'd have automatic transmission and driving directions provided the the GPS. The racers would not get lost, and would not have to rely on reading paper maps.

 

But how entertaining would that be?  I want to see the teams figure out how to get from point A to B on their own, not being spoon fed the information using GPS.  That is too easy.  As a viewer I don't care if it makes the cars look like they are lacking modern features.  Regardless of sponsorship how many people would consider buying a car based on how it looked during a reality show rather than the commercial shown in between race segments? 

 

Product placement is lost on me.  I have no idea what they were driving.

Edited April 12, 2015 by Haleth

[cooksdelight]

I personally don't buy a car based on it being on a reality show. Any car I rented in Europe on my trips there was manual shift unless I wanted to pay through the nose to get an automatic. At least in this leg, they were driving on the "right" side of the road. Try driving a manual shift in England sometime. :)

I totally agree with you, Haleth, what fun would it be to watch people listen to their GPS and drive effortlessly to their next destination? Getting lost is half the fun, on this show, and watching the contestants grow more frustrated. Some to the point they try to put the wrong kind of gas in the tank. :)

I had to laugh at the guy who didn't realize the parking brake was on. I drive an automatic and I use that any time I'm parked on a slope. He just couldn't figure it out. But as he said, I'm sure he heard all about it later on.

[AZChristian]

I remember a couple of years ago, they showed the Ford with the tailgate that lifted when you waved your foot under the bumper.  Impressed me enough that I - a Ford hater - actually looked at that as an option when we were car shopping.  Unfortunately, the car didn't come in a 6-cylinder model, so that killed the deal for me.

 

I do concur with what In Pog Form says . . . make the car look desirable, not impossible to drive.  I didn't even think about the stick shift in Monaco, though.  I thought Jelani's problem was that the brake was on.

[needschocolate]

Let's face it, Probst wishes he was Phil.

 

A lot of us wish Probst was like Phil.

[Whimsy]

We've deleted some posts due to being argument (and those responding/replying to said posts) and not following our #1 rule. Let's remember to stay on topic and be civil.

Thanks and happy posting.

[backformore]

My take on the Hayley and Jeff photos :

When they call one bar or restaurant "one of our favorite places" I assume they are dating,

Good haircut on hayley, she cut off all that frizzy damaged hair,

She certainly is proud of that boob job! Can't stop showing it off.

[Netfoot]

The most disturbing thing about this episode was right at the end, when Phil didn't say "You are the last team to arrive..."  That  just struck a Chord of Wrongness.  It is like a race-start without "Travel safe..."  I don't recall in 26 seasons ever hearing Phil jump straight to the elimination like that.

 

At least they weren't stuck with a UK-style right side driver experience where the shifter is on the 'wrong' side of the car.

 

At least in this leg, they were driving on the "right" side of the road. Try driving a manual shift in England sometime. :)

 

I will accept "Right" as meaning "not-Left".  But the correct side of the road to drive on, is the left, with the wheel on the right of the car and the change lever at your left hand.  If you're not comfortable with a manual shift, it doesn't help to make things ergonomically worse by trying to cross-coordinate the left foot on the clutch with the right hand on the shifter. 

 

I was reading another message board and these were posted of Jeff and Hayley.  Jeff and HAYLEY, you say?  Yep….

 

Poor Jackie.

[djlynch]

I gathered from watching the show that the flight Mike and Rochelle had was with the same airline as the earlier flight and that's why they were able to get standby tickets - they didn't have to rebook with a different company while the other teams were booked with different airlines so would have needed completely new tickets to get standby. I don't think the rule has changed this year and Mike and Rochelle just got lucky they didn't need different tickets, just new boarding passes, but good on them for being astute enough to go for it.

This is pretty much what I was thinking the rule was. From the way the dentists talked about it last season, I was left with the impression that they were stuck with their original schedule because the rule was that you couldn't buy tickets for more than one flight, which does seem to leave open the possibility of changing flights as long as you can do it on the same ticket you previously bought.

 

I'm also pretty sure that Team New Jersey were on a third flight from the same airline, so it really is good thinking by Mike and Rochelle that they thought about gong standby before anyone else did.

[TV Anonymous]

With car company sponsorships being such a major part of the show's revenue, how are they supposed to continue with their "manual shift only" and "no GPS" restrictions?

These things make the car sponsor look stupid, because teams are shown having a terrible experience in their cars. But in normal use, the driving experience would not be terrible, because you'd have automatic transmission and driving directions provided the the GPS. The racers would not get lost, and would not have to rely on reading paper maps.

 

But why would the production do that, considering that this is a race? For me at least, TAR is getting more and more diluted and with tasks that seem to be not that challenging. Add to that racers that just zip from place to place easily while not specifically for 'product placement moment' then the show itself will lose its reputation for me.

 

Besides, to keep up with 'race around the world' theme, cars with manual transmission are still the majority in the world. As well, GPS navigation system is not widely available in the world. And just to drive the point home, Ford cars (Fiesta, Focus and Fusion for example) are indeed available with manual transmission and without navigation.

[Electruck]

Every time they try to showcase some "special feature" of the car, it always looks forced, and never makes any actual difference to the race. Those features are peripheral at best.

In the last season or the season before, teams that drove from one location to the next using less than some meager amount of fuel could continue, while those going over had to stop and answer a trivia question.

I thought that was the best TAR use of a car promo ever. It was Ford's plug-in hybrid.

[Camera One]

The most disturbing thing about this episode was right at the end, when Phil didn't say "You are the last team to arrive..."  That  just struck a Chord of Wrongness.  

 

I assumed it was edited out?  The cut sounded really abrupt.  Yeah, it didn't sound right without that "You are the last team to arrive".

[LittleIggy]

Bougie? I had to google that (must have been the TAR word of the day!), and all I can say is how ignorant! Bourgeois doesn't mean fancy or high-class. It means middle-class, middlebrow.

I hate Jenny. What a be-yotch.

[cooksdelight]

Watch Real Housewives of ATL and you'll hear bougie used a lot. Or boughetto. Same thing. I learn so many new things just by watching reality TV. :) This season of TAR has been very educational.

[LittleIggy]

Wonder how a word meaning middle-class was corrupted into a slang term for high class...

[Camera One]

Watch Real Housewives of ATL and you'll hear bougie used a lot.  I learn so many new things just by watching reality TV. :) 

 

Ah... makes sense that trashy reality shows are what get slang words into common usage.  I guessed it was shortened version of bourgeoisie, but I had never heard bougie until this show..

Edited April 12, 2015 by Camera One

[anhydrite]

Wonder how a word meaning middle-class was corrupted into a slang term for high class...

 

If I remember correctly, when the term was invented in the Middle Ages, most of the population were low-class peasants or merchants, and "bourgeoisie" was that class of slightly richer people (at the time, middle-class) usually living in cities. I suppose that since most North-Americans are middle-class, "slightly richer people" = upper-class.

 

Sorry for off-topic.

[Camera One]

I think multiple people (was it Laura and Jenny) used that term when they separately went into the casino, which was odd to me since I had never heard it before.

[Rancide]

The use of "bougie" as used by the contestants (not entering the fray on the "correct" meaning) may be a generational and/or regional thing.  I'm in my 30s and live in the northeast, and I didn't bat an eye.  Totally normal among my group of friends.  

 

With respect to GPS, they ought to let them use it but disable the language settings.  Want the car to point you the way?  Better learn to interpret German (French/Japanese/Italian/etc.).  I'm willing to bet at least 75% of these yahoos would be no better off than with no GPS at all.

[DaddyOfPayton]

Two things, obviously nitpicky:

1) Never seen an automatic available in the lot in Europe. The websites all say they have them, but never seen one (rented more than 100 times in various parts of Europe/UK)

2) The review mentions something like "Not sure what happens if the roulette wheel reads 0 or 00." There is no 00 on Monaco roulette wheels; that number is pretty much limited to North American casinos.

[HaymakerHattie]

It was super fun times trying to figure out how to spell "bougie" for the recap. (I went with "bougey" but Tara deferred to Urban Dictionary.) 

[jbrecken]

Two of the unlabeled scents were coconut and caramel - I wonder if perhaps the menu at the chocolatier would have served as a legend for the mystery bottles, if someone had paid attention.

[blackwing]

Two of the unlabeled scents were coconut and caramel - I wonder if perhaps the menu at the chocolatier would have served as a legend for the mystery bottles, if someone had paid attention.

For their recipes, there were four "mystery" scents they needed. Three of them were coconut, caramel, and vanilla. I forget the last one. But it seemed to me that these were "mystery" because they are familiar scents and wouldn't be that difficult to discern. As opposed to, say, something like Sandalwood and Hyacinth.

[needschocolate]

Wonder how a word meaning middle-class was corrupted into a slang term for high class...

 

I can see how "bourgeoisie" - the root word for "bourgie"  would sound like it meant ritzy.  I used to think that "hoi polloi" meant the upper class, but it is actually the common people.    It is so hard to keep up with the new definitions, like using "sick" to mean something that is cool. A few years ago my daughter got upset when someone in her high school art class said that her project was "bad ass" - but it was meant as a compliment.  Then again, when I was younger we would use "bad" to mean good.  

[LittleIggy]

I can see how "bourgeoisie" - the root word for "bourgie"  would sound like it meant ritzy.  I used to think that "hoi polloi" meant the upper class, but it is actually the common people.    

It kills me when people misuse that term. I think "hoity-toity" (acting stuckup) gets conflated with it and causes the confusion.

[etagloh]

Briefly: manual is still the default in Europe, and if you learn to drive with an automatic you usually get a special licence/license that restricts you to automatics. When the terrain is tricky and there are self-driving legs (rare these days, but not unknown) TPTB tend to provide automatics. For legs in safer environments, they provide manuals. That's what they do. It's a thing. If Ford considered teams thrashing at the gears a promotional disservice, they'd pull the sponsorship. It's been going long enough.

 

I actually think Ford enjoys seeing the Focus and Fiesta driven by teams on European roads, where they fit in very nicely with other cars on the road, as one of the big selling points of newer Fiestas and Focuses is their 'Euro' style, with more features than Americans expect from smaller cars but which Europeans demand from them.

 

 

GPS is kind of useless in a lot of Monaco.  A lot of the roads are built into the side of the mountains and the GPS doesn't know what level you're on so it's telling you to turn left when you're in a tunnel with no offshoots or way to turn.  Ask me how I know :(

 

This was a much harder self-navigation leg than the one in Germany, because major roads in Monaco and the surrounding bit of France run on different elevations with narrow winding roads connecting them, and yes, GPS would probably have trouble with that. Kurt and Bergen ought to be thankful.

[Camera One]

Kurt and Bergen ought to be thankful.

Even if last week was non-elimination, they would have been goners this week.  

[tanyak]

The use of "bougie" as used by the contestants (not entering the fray on the "correct" meaning) may be a generational and/or regional thing.  I'm in my 30s and live in the northeast, and I didn't bat an eye.  Totally normal among my group of friends.

This. I've heard and used bougie that way since middle school, so at least 25 years. That said, I'll admit I was surprised to hear Jenny and Tyler say it. I've only ever heard black people use it in that way.

[enlightenedbum]

It kills me when people misuse that term. I think "hoity-toity" (acting stuckup) gets conflated with it and causes the confusion.

The only thing I can think of when I hear it is the little greeting card from the episode of Futurama where the robots stage a revolution.

[Rinaldo]

Wonder how a word meaning middle-class was corrupted into a slang term for high class...

I was surprised to hear it as current slang in their age group; I've now been educated in this thread that it's currently common. I personally hadn't heard it for decades, but can testify that it was very big in the 1970s -- that was how and when I thought its meaning got corrupted. Some of my grad-school classmates in that era were all about being pretend-hippies, affecting not to care about material things. Those despicable folks who did care about material things were the bourgeois, and the term was used as a slur, "bougie" for short. So it became conflicted with "materialistic, consumerist," and thus, eventually, wealthy.

[Corgi-ears]

"Very big in the 1970s," indeed. Original instrumental by Ashford and Simpson, a vocal version by John Davis and the Monster Orchestra, and then this discolicious version by Gladys Knight

 

[chaifan]

Did anyone else notice that in the shots taken around the time the teams were leaving the casino, jewelry would appear and then disappear from some of the shots with the women in it?  I saw that with Jenny (had a black necklace on in some shots, not in others), and one of the blondes (Laura, I think).  But the blonde still had the earrings on when the necklace was off.  I'm assuming they had to return the jewelry at some point, but still an odd continuity error for TAR.

[Jal]

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.

 

No, I did think that Rochelle gets more frustrated than Mike most of the time and shows it. Mike was starting to get pissed off about it in that challenge. It doesn't help to point out that there's another team there or that there's another team finishing now, or that there's another team doing such and such. Even if she needed help with hers, she should try it out herself using common sense and let him finish his thing so that he doesn't get distracted and screw it up.

 

Mike is very polite and understanding most of the time, from the clips we've seen.

 

Didn't like Tyler's comment regarding the above team. They're not the weaker team if they've gotten ahead of you twice now.

Edited April 13, 2015 by Jal

[Guest]

It just doesn't seem sustainable that they can continue to get sponsorship from car companies while the race rules eliminate the possibility of racers using any features that would show the cars in a good light.

 I don't need to see nav and auto transmission to know they exist.  Plus we've seen the nav systems in the Fords.  Last episode, wasn't it?  

[proserpina65]

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.

Weren't the rules changed at some point in the past to say that once they purchased tickets on a flight, they couldn't change?  Which would explain why teams in the last few seasons at least haven't been asking about standby, if my memory about this is correct.  So being able to get on standby on this season would represent another rule change, I think.  But good on Mike & Rochelle for thinking of it.

[proserpina65]



 

selkie, on 11 Apr 2015 - 10:08 PM, said:

Manual is still the default transmission in many parts of the world.

No, it really isn't, unless you're talking about poorer/third-world countries.
 

selkie, on 11 Apr 2015 - 10:08 PM, said:

Much of Europe is still largely driving stick- try to rent an automatic over there,

Nonsense. Automatic is common in Europe, and automatic rental cars are easily had. Manual transmission will be almost impossible to find in new cars within about 5 years' time.

 

Automatic transmission cars are available in Europe, but are much, much more expensive to buy or rent.  So yes, manual transmission is still pretty standard in many European countries.  Ford doesn't ship special cars all over the world for Amazing Race; they have to use what's available locally, and that's still primarily manual transmissions.  I hope it remains that way, 'cause watching Racers trying to drive stick when they're not familiar with it is half the fun.  And I never want them using GPS or satellite navigation on the Race.  It's far more challenging for them to self-navigate - and it's a race for a million dollars so it needs to be challenging.

[proserpina65]

I personally hadn't heard it for decades, but can testify that it was very big in the 1970s

 

I remember the 70s quite well, and have never heard the term used that way.  But I grew up in a small town.  Maybe it was an urban thing then?

 

Yeah, I was confused when I heard the Racers use the term.  Wasn't even sure what they were saying at first.  Man, I feel old.

 

Other than that, I did like this leg, although I would rather have lost Hayley and Blair and kept Jackie and Jeff.  Oh well.  Loved seeing the Casino, and immediately thought of the Grand Prix when they were driving in Monte Carlo.

[Rinaldo]

Weren't the rules changed at some point in the past to say that once they purchased tickets on a flight, they couldn't change?  Which would explain why teams in the last few seasons at least haven't been asking about standby, if my memory about this is correct.  So being able to get on standby on this season would represent another rule change, I think. 

Not necessarily. As discussed earlier in this thread, if you have tickets on a later flight on the same airline, you can sometimes attempt standby status on an earlier flight without booking new tickets or anything like that. Your old boarding pass is exchanged for a new (earlier) boarding pass at the gate.