S26.E06: Smells Like A Million Bucks

[NutMeg]

Re. "Bougie" - first time I heard the worl was in a song by Ke$ha!!

[K2DangerGirl]

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

I generally give Racers a pass on knowing anything more than these and "Do you speak English?" It doesn't help to know how to ask for directions if you aren't going to understand what is said back to you.

[kingshearte]

This episode made me realize that, for some explicable reason, I'm kind of rotting for Hayley and Blair. Not necessarily to win, but in that "Gosh, I hope those two crazy kids work it out" kind of way. Not that I think they have any hope of a legit relationship (especially if, as those instagram links suggest, she's since taken up with Jeff), and not that I think she's suddenly morphed into not a shrill, shrieking harpy... I really can't explain it, but regardless, I was surprisingly pleased to see them come in first.

 

I can't say that I cared much for the lack of detour choice, though. Blind detour choices are one thing (If you're expected to guess which teammate should do a roadblock based solely on the title, I don't have a huge problem with asking them to pick a detour based on that, either, plus you can generally switch if it's really not working out for you), but having it decided based on chance, and no opportunity to switch? Didn't like it. Neither seemed particularly challenging, so it seems unlikely that anyone would really want to (although the potential for scent-triggered headaches or acrophobia could certainly be problematic for some), but I still don't like that they didn't have the option.

[Calamity Jane]

Bougie had me confused on a couple of levels.  First of all, I was never aware of bourgeois and its derivative bougie having become slang for rich; as far as I knew, it meant middle class, but not in a good way ("Those bourgeois businessmen and their PACKAGES" from a FedEx commercial a few years back), more a materialistic, pompous way. I hear it, and it's in Urban Dictionary, as "bougie," not "bourgie," which would make more sense, especially because:

Second, I lived in France when I was young, and in French "bougie" means candle.  So I was scratching my head trying to figure out how calling clothes "bougie" meant anything at all!  Waxy?  Tall and slender?  

Edited April 13, 2015 by Calamity Jane

[Dewey Decimate]

Why do I get the feeling there was a requirement from Monaco along the lines of, "sure, you may enter our country for a leg of your *sniff* race, but none of this tank-top-baseball-hat-spandex business. You will be required to dress appropriately." And then TAR thumbs their noses at Monaco by featuring Ford Fiestas! (No knock on the Fiesta, I only remember it from its early 70s incarnation. My dad had a "Lake Placid 1980 Olympics" decal on the window and black and white houndstooth upholstery in his. Takes me back.)

 

One of the guys (Tyler or Jelani maybe) pronounced Eze as eee-zee-eee at some point, and I could think was, STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON! So fitting for Monaco.

 

I thought both Olympian guy and Dr. Blair looked quite sexy in their suits. When foobie nurse girl called him out as Pee Wee Herman, I thought, damn - if that's what PWH looks like, I gotta start trolling Florida porn theaters.

Edited April 13, 2015 by Dewey Decimate

[Kromm]

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

My take on it is that Jeff Probst isn't self-aware enough to realize that Phil is better than him.

[kakiphony]

This is my purely made-up story for how "bourgeois" (of or characteristic of the middle class, typically with reference to its perceived materialistic values or conventional attitudes) became bourgie which in turn became bougie as used way too many times by Tyler...

 

A classic use of the word bourgeois is middle class, but in a derogatory way that equates that class status with materialistic values -- the middle class guy who lives in the suburbs with his wife, 2.5 kids, 2.5 car garage, picket fence, lawn by Tru Green, little galloping polo horses on his shirts, and sends out annual Christmas letters talking about the "annual family jaunt to Naples (Florida)" and "how proud we all are of Junior's new position with The Company." Think Stepford. It's an image of a middle class that is concerned with appearances and material possessions above all else. As such it can be attacked from below (by less rich people who see the bourgeoisie as entitled, snooty, undeserving, etc), from above (by the very rich who scoff at Polo brand shirts, ranch houses, domestic sedans, and state universities), and even from within itself (by those members of the middle class who may have houses in the same zip code, but believe that their own values are more moral or less materialistic).  

 

It's not a stretch to go from using the whole word to abbreviating is bourgie. And hence to bougie because we Americans shift language and pronunciation pretty fast and are also just bad spellers.

 

Then, it's not hard to imagine someone making fun of the upper class by use of the term that demotes them in the social order. So you insult Donald Trump by calling him bourgie (as you insult a grown man by calling him little boy, etc). 

 

I can also imagine a situation in which someone takes on a joking extra-super-duper rich persona and insults the rich using the term with a put-on sneer. ("I'm Tyler, and I'm richer than God. Monaco is just so bougie, I can't stand all those wannabe magnates in their cut-rate yachts with their oompa loompa girlfriends and their Kay Jeweler's Leo cut diamonds.") 

Edited April 13, 2015 by kakiphony

[proserpina65]

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.

Thanks for the clarification, Rinaldo.  I wasn't sure I was remembering it right, and it turns out I wasn't, not exactly.

[meep.meep]

This episode made me realize that, for some explicable reason, I'm kind of rotting for Hayley and Blair. Not necessarily to win, but in that "Gosh, I hope those two crazy kids work it out" kind of way. 

 

Funniest autocorrect ever!

I'm happy that they managed to work together for one whole episode.  And Blair did not look like PW Hermann.

[Special K]

Blair, Tyler, and Steve looked wonderful in their suits.

That is all.

[escatefromny]

Why do I get the feeling there was a requirement from Monaco along the lines of, "sure, you may enter our country for a leg of your *sniff* race, but none of this tank-top-baseball-hat-spandex business. You will be required to dress appropriately." .

Yes, yes, yes. Dress code indeed and they also weren't schlepping their backpacks. I kind of love Monaco for that. Funny for them to be tooling around in evening wear during the day, I kept thinking the episode's title should have been "Walk of Shame", in the case of the women (at least) it is soooo what it looked like.

I wonder if with regard to the "B" word that it wasn't spread by one person as they were lounging on the boat and it became the 'word of the day' for all.

[jhlipton]

The '70s were the "Greed is Good era, the era of the Yuppies, the era of "Wall Street".  The years were personified by the Blessed St Ronnie.  "Bourgie" which got shifted to "bougie" pretty quickly was what the remnants of the hippies called the Yuppies.  So pretentious, but more materialistic.

[auntlada]

The '70s were the "Greed is Good era, the era of the Yuppies, the era of "Wall Street". The years were personified by the Blessed St Ronnie. "Bourgie" which got shifted to "bougie" pretty quickly was what the remnants of the hippies called the Yuppies. So pretentious, but more materialistic.

Who is the Blessed St. Ronnie? Reagan? Because that, along with greed is good and "Wall Street," was the 80s.

ETA: Yuppies were also the 80s.

Edited April 14, 2015 by auntlada

[hendersonrocks]

Yes, yes, yes. Dress code indeed and they also weren't schlepping their backpacks. I kind of love Monaco for that.

 

I can't tell if you're serious or not, but I've got to believe this was a production move and not a Monaco move. If nothing else, I've got personal experience to the contrary. My grimy and seriously underdressed self hauled a backpack through Monaco in the midst of a Europe-by-train adventure; while I wasn't the BEST looking person in the principality I was graciously allowed to roam free! (It's definitely a beautiful place. I was also there during the Grand Prix which was wild. Race cars zooming down curvy city roads like whoa.) 

[jhlipton]

Who is the Blessed St. Ronnie? Reagan? Because that, along with greed is good and "Wall Street," was the 80s.

ETA: Yuppies were also the 80s.

 

Yeah, Reagan.  I probably have my decades mixed up -- they all blur together from this distance.

[Rinaldo]

The '70s were the "Greed is Good era, the era of the Yuppies, the era of "Wall Street".  The years were personified by the Blessed St Ronnie.  "Bourgie" which got shifted to "bougie" pretty quickly was what the remnants of the hippies called the Yuppies.  So pretentious, but more materialistic.

All of those are the 80s, I would have said. Reagan's election and the first recorded use of "yuppie" both happened in 1980, and the movie Wall Street was released in 1987. Although in pop culture the 70s seem to be typified as the disco era, I remember it much more as college students affecting an anti-materialist lifestyle, tuning in and dropping out (the counterculture of the 60s turned mainstream as always happens). In that era, I heard many sneers (from kids who themselves came from comfortable backgrounds) like "middle-class," "plastic," "suburban," and toward the end of the decade, bougie.

[Special K]

OT warning!

 

The 70s were when gay rights, civil rights, and women's rights really got some muscle and movement.  Also: the disillusionment with government and authority in general by everyone not just hippies (Nixon resigning), the Vietnam war, and the big economic downturn (the energy crisis, inflation, cities like NYC nearing bankruptcy, etc.)

 

I actually LOVE the 70s for the social change that came about in that time (altho we've backslid a bunch in some areas).  And the fashion.  I seriously love the fashion.   :)

 

And don't forget:  the golden age of U.S. movies!!

 

This public service announcement on behalf of the 70s is now concluded.

[needschocolate]

Oh, those pesky decade trends never seem to start or end with the start or end of the decade....

 

The beginning of the 60's had teeny boppers fainting over the Beatles and Elvis,  and the fear of the communists taking over the world.  The 60's ended with "make love, not war, psychedelic music and drugs, civil rights - which is how the 70's began.  The 70's ended with disco (Saturday Night Fever was 1977), which carried into the early 80's, which then turned into neon colors, big shoulders, big hair.  Decades seem to get remembered by television writers for the trends that started during them. 

 

I think I have forgotten what board I am posting in...let me scroll and check.....Oh, it is TAR....how do I make this post relate to the topic.... ...

 

The same thing that happens to decades is happening to Blair and Hayley - they started off the race as quarrelling antagonists but are now becoming friendly teammates.  Years from now, how will vewiers remember them?  Unlike decades, which tend to get labeled with how they ended, I think Blair and Hayley will end up remembered as the team with shrieking harpy on it.

[Whimsy]

I hate being the meany, but let's get back on topic please.

 

Thanks and happy posting!

[SnideAsides]

On the roulette wheel issue mentioned in the watch/skip article: Monegasque roulette wheels don't have a 00 space, and the green 0 space was covered by a red 0 sticker.

[elychari]

Regarding standby tickets, it probably doesn't break the new rules if the airline bumps you to an earlier flight.

This happened to me once. I got to the airport very early and when I was checking in my bags, the airline asked me if me and my friend wanted the earlier flight which was boarding in 15 minutes. Apparently, some passengers where a no show. We were not charged anything for it. And it makes sense because the airline could still sell our seats in the later flight.

[elychari]

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

I agree. I was in Europe last summer and most cars I saw ( and ridden in) were automatic. They also had GPS or using their Smartphones with GPS.

[Wings]

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.

 

As it turns out, the Ford Fiesta is a popular car there! 

 

http://www.at.ford.com/news/cn/Pages/Eighteen%20Ford%20Fiestas%20to%20Start%20Rallye%20Monte-Carlo.aspx

 

http://www.at.ford.com/news/cn/Pages/Bouffier%20Steers%20Ford%20Fiesta%20RS%20WRC%20to%20Second%20Place%20on%20Rallye%20Monte-Carlo.aspx

[joshmaeks]

I agree GPS would be boring! At least they made a rule against following cabs to destinations, I think it was Boston Rob who started that trend many seasons ago. Not to mention the time someone recognized him and Amber on a plane and spent the whole day with them showing them how to get around the city.

[Eolivet]

I loved the "random chance Detour" and I hope to see it in future episodes. In fact, if they made more Detours random chance, I'd prefer that over any of the Yields, U-Turns and other "innovations" the race has had throughout the years. I didn't think it was any different than bad taxi luck, bad airline luck, etc. The race (to me) is about how well you accomplish tasks. Nobody gets a choice with a Roadblock, after all.

 

I would sympathize with it going against one of the tenets of the race a lot more if I felt that in recent years, it hasn't been "its own pros and cons," so much as "Good Detour/Bad Detour." A prime example is this season's "feed your partner a reasonable portion of noodles with (gasp!) a fan blowing in your face" vs. "push your partner on a chair while wearing ice skates around an Olympic skating rink in 3 minutes." When contestants of all shapes, sizes and ages are flocking to one detour over another (and finishing faster), that's a flaw in design. "Point and laugh at the stupid contestants that chose the wrong Detour" isn't fun, to me, and I feel that's what a lot of Detours have become, in recent years.

 

Random chance would force the producers to make fair, equitable Detours once again -- like the "challenging task, but shorter distance" vs. "easier task, but longer distance" this challenge. I'm all for the random chance Detours -- more random chance Detours, I say!

Edited April 18, 2015 by Eolivet

[ozlsn]

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.

 

Out of curiosity I looked up Europcar in Munich to see what was on offer.  14 manual transmission, 4 automatic transmission.  I'd tend to agree that manual is more common in Europe than in the US.

 

I actually like the car product placement because at least it's a product that fits relatively easily into the format of the race.  Also I get hours of amusement out of watching people grind gears, heh.  Also I quite like watching people using the new features - although my favourite is still the keyless entry/start cars they had in TAR-Asia, which flummoxed absolutely every team (and also me.  Heh.) 

 

I'd prefer them to keep disabling the GPS and other features though, especially in confusing to drive places like Monaco.  It was interesting seeing who stopped to ask, and when they stopped (or were able to stop - some of those roads looked like there was no stopping anywhere.) 

[kingshearte]

Random chance would force the producers to make fair, equitable Detours once again -- like the "challenging task, but shorter distance" vs. "easier task, but longer distance" this challenge. I'm all for the random chance Detours -- more random chance Detours, I say!

The problem is that it doesn't force anything of the sort. Choosing by random chance in no way precludes poor, unbalanced Detour design; it simply makes the penalty for picking the "wrong" one random instead of the fault of the team that made the bad call. If we could be assured reasonably balanced Detours, I might be OK with more random choices, but I suspect that more random chance would just lead to more teams getting screwed through no fault of their own.