S03.E03: I Said Straight, You Gorilla!

[radishcake]

Teams race to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where racers begin at the Plaza Canada Totem Pole, before getting tripped up on the field in a game of blind soccer.

[Vyas]

The return of the Mentos sure produced a bittersweet aftertaste.

 

On one hand, the Italian couple's premature quit landed the CFL legend and his kid (Helena Bonham Carter of the Americas!) a prize after having the worst placement average out of two legs.

 

On the other hand, the Newfie ladies now join the list of F/F teams screwed over in that country: Debbie/Bianca of the Andean misdrive, Monique/Shawne of the gaucho debacle, Misa/Maiya of the overlooked PitStop, and most recently Carla/Hereni of the oppositely-directioned current.

 

I wonder if the Dine side of the Detour served some chimichurri sauce on the side?

Edited July 23, 2015 by Vyas

[shok]

Quite a show tonight. All of the tasks were difficult and everybody struggled with various aspects so there was a ton of movement in the placings. There's just no comparison between the challenges on the US TAR and TARC - Canadian TAR tests physical, mental, logic, stamina, emotional strength - the whole gamut. I was impressed with all of the teams tonight in different ways although the Nigerian dad and daughter are still my favourite and I was so glad they caught up after their taxi woes. I'm sure they'll all be glad to be back in Canada next week and speaking English. :)

[aemom]

Vanessa: "Oh my God. We were first and now we have a penalty. "

No, you were first because you didn't finish and TOOK a penalty you numnut.

[bagatelle]

I was sad to see the Newfie ladies go.  They seemed so sweet and didn't annoy me, like some others who are still here.

 

The guy who said he was a professional soccer player in Italy, yet couldn't get through the Futbol Madero task, reminded me of the hockey girls from last season. One had trouble scoring, while standing still on the ice, while non skaters managed far better.

Edited July 23, 2015 by bagatelle

[Rachel RSL]

Ugh! I'm so annoyed whenever a team quits a challenge but doesn't get eliminated. And this time it's especially annoying because I would have loved to be rid of that irritating couple. (Actually, just her. He seems ok.) Maybe I'm just bitter but 2 hours doesn't seem like a fair penalty since that task looked like it took a lot of the teams more than 2 hours to complete it. 

 

Also, Hamilton and his girlfriend need to shut up about the damn Express Pass already. I can't stand it when teams think they can lord it over other teams. Either give it to another team when you ask for help (and good on her for saying no!) or don't.

Edited July 23, 2015 by Rachel RSL

[Fake Jan Brady]

A three way race for elimination and the most likeable team of the trio goes home; oh TAR, you can be so cruel at times. I don't understand why Nic & Sabrina took the penalty when there were so many teams with them at the soccer shootout and it was still early in the leg [and they had their huge Spanish language advantage].

 

My favourite bit of the episode: Cynthia completely mumblemouthing the [sponsor]card spiel at the pitstart.

 

The father/daughter teams now are my faves. Simi/Ope were already up there, but Neil & [especially] Kristen's reaction to their prizes zoomed them up my charts.

Edited July 27, 2015 by cousin oliver

[Maxyrama]

I laughed when Sabrina said, "If you don't know who the pope is... READ A BOOK!" She's snarky when she wants to be, and I don't find her that annoying at all.

[SomeTameGazelle]

I laughed when Sabrina said, "If you don't know who the pope is... READ A BOOK!" She's snarky when she wants to be, and I don't find her that annoying at all.

I scratched my head at the "book" suggestion, because Pope Francis is a current event and so I would have expected "read a newspaper!" or "watch the news!" as a more appropriate rebuke. And of course since Sabrina's family is apparently from Argentina and I am guessing the odds are that both she and Nic are from Catholic backgrounds, maybe she could consider the possibility that the Pope looms larger in her household than in some other people's, so they might not be as hyper-aware of Pope Francis and his origins. (Not that the Pope is obscure, but I can imagine not having him as top of mind.)

 

As the teams started arriving at the pit stop I had a hard time because I wasn't able to decide who I was rooting for, especially when it got down to the last 3. I was hoping that a non-elim would save Dana & Amanda. But I was glad that Simi & Ope were not in the very back of the pack and the wrestlers are amusing me.

[innocuouspuff]

Yeah I can name Pope Francis, but didn't immediately connect the clue given with him. I guess I'll go read a book, Sabrina. I think kind of like Hamilton and Michaela last week, being in first resulted in a seperation from the pack that meant they were making decisions with limited information. The soccer task got hacked right after they left and teams quickly started catching up, but based on the two hours they'd been there they weren't able to predict that it would end up so close.

Though they also didn't seem to expect to arrive at the pit stop first, so. It was weird. For anyone else who was confused by the way the show presented blind soccer, I looked it up and it is indeed a Paralympics sport for visually impaired players. The show's decision to blindfold seeing players threw me off a bit.

Dana looking in that store lady's trash and saying she could tell as a police officer when people are lying, hee. If she means that they pretty much expect everyone to be lying and ocassionally turn out to be correct, I guess that is true but clearly that lady just didn't know what was going on. Even Dana's partner was giving her the stinkeye over that.

Hamilton and Michaela can't be fans if they expect this Express Pass game to work out. And Hamilton can't be the most interesting trans contestant they could have found in all of Canada, idk.

Oh, and! This leg had really expressive local "judges". Menthos guy was hilarious. So were Simi and Ope, I'm not even sure why but they just are so earnest and make great faces.

Edited July 26, 2015 by innocuouspuff

[kingshearte]

I didn't actually hate Sabrina this week. I found her snark about the Argentinian people clues kind of amusing, if a bit much. The decision to take that penalty, though? I think it would have been smarter to at least stick it out until another team got it. Until people start leaving, you're all in the same boat, so there's no reason to put yourself two hours behind. I don't mind on principle when a penalty-taking team doesn't get eliminated, but I still really hoped they would.

 

The Express Pass shtick is definitely going to get reeeeeeal old real fast. If you want to use it as leverage to get another team to help you, fine, I guess, but you need to be explicit about it. You can't just sort of coyly ask for some help without offering anything in return, or assume that, because you have that pass, everyone will be falling all over themselves to help you with, again, nothing actually offered. But given how quickly they gave up their own at the first sign of trouble, I'm not sure they're really much for long-term, strategic planning. We'll see how that plays out, I guess.

[ozlsn]

The guy who said he was a professional soccer player in Italy, yet couldn't get through the Futbol Madero task, reminded me of the hockey girls from last season. One had trouble scoring, while standing still on the ice, while non skaters managed far better.

 

I think like them he was overthinking it.  I actually would have considered swapping who was dribbling the ball and who was calling given how badly they were doing at it.

 

A three way race for elimination and the most likeable team of the trio goes home; oh TAR, you can be so cruel at times. I don't understand why Nic & Sabrina took the penalty when there were so many teams with them at the soccer shootout and it was still early in the leg [and they had their huge Spanish language advantage].

 

I scratched my head at the "book" suggestion, because Pope Francis is a current event and so I would have expected "read a newspaper!" or "watch the news!" as a more appropriate rebuke. And of course since Sabrina's family is apparently from Argentina and I am guessing the odds are that both she and Nic are from Catholic backgrounds, maybe she could consider the possibility that the Pope looms larger in her household than in some other people's, so they might not be as hyper-aware of Pope Francis and his origins. (Not that the Pope is obscure, but I can imagine not having him as top of mind.)

 

 

I had forgotten there was a new pope to be honest, and actually didn't make the connection between "new pope" and Francis.  Part of my brain still goes for John Paul II when asked to name who the pope is, heh.

 

The main thing I got out of Nick and Sabrina's penalty taking was that they're really not good under pressure - there was no reason for them to take a penalty at that point, and they'd had over 20 more goes at it than anyone else which should have given them an advantage.  Ditto at the Mentos challenge - her freaking out about not having enough letters was totally a not good under pressure moment.  I was hoping they'd be eliminated, oh well.