S03.E07: I Dream About Eating Sandwiches

[radishcake]

Teams run into the Road Block in Saskatoon, Sask.

[Pepper the Cat]

Great episode! All the challenges were really hard.

Never take a penalty so early in a challenge.

I am really glad that a team that took a penalty was eliminated

[xcrayon2215x]

I like Simi/Ope but they are almost certainly the next team to go. Gino/Jesse are looking quite strong with finishing in the Top 2 five times, Brian got more upset than I thought he was going to get.

[Twickenham]

Thank goodness the woman who had never heard of Greenwich Mean Time was eliminated.

 

Seriously - are people that hopeless at math? And time zones? None of this is rocket science!

[Sarahendipity]

Jon laughing as Sean almost barfed on him was pretty funny. Thought this was another great episode, lots of placement changes, difficult tasks. Was surprised that the second trampoline task seemed so hard to some, that whole place looked like a lot of fun.

[SledDog]

There's something really special about watching The Race when it's in your home town. I am from Saskatoon so I know most of the locations (but not the trampoline place) so I know the various stories about the places and the ways to get there. So I know the story about the Original 16 and how Great Western Brewing came to be. I knew that Simi & Ope were seriously lost when they drove past the University and didn't seem to be looking for directions. And I knew Brian would be proven wrong when he said they had gone too far. Wanuskewin is pretty far out of the city.

I was surprised that they used shots of the old bridge for cutaways that they did. The Traffic Bridge has been closed for at least five years and a couple of years ago one of the spans on the east end was removed for safety reasons.

Edited August 20, 2015 by SledDog

[wintrygal]

Sean's run to the mat was comedy gold, loved John's reaction,  tho I doubt Sean thought it was fun. .hee..  I really like this team and am

glad they came in first, Happy Birthday Brent, trip to Paris is a nice gift.  

Saskatoon is very pretty indeed.

[Rachel RSL]

Seriously - are people that hopeless at math? And time zones? None of this is rocket science!

Heh. I can't speak for everyone but, personally, yes....I am *that* bad at math. Numbers are like a foreign language to me. I have trouble with simple addition & subtraction and, for some reason, often write numbers as letters. And I consider myself to be a reasonably intelligent person, always got good grades, graduated with honours but math has always been my kryptonite. I seriously doubt I would have been able to do that task.

Edited August 20, 2015 by Rachel RSL

[Shermie]

What the frack was the matter with Sean, was he hacking up a bone on the way to mat?

And they're in design, so they never need math? I guess they never calculate room sizes for paint and flooring, or measure windows for curtains, or figure out if furniture will fit into a space? Alrighty then.

What is up with the racers skipping challenges and taking time penalties so much? I know TARCAN is hard, much more challenging than the US version it seems, but it strikes me as unsportsmanlike to just shrug off a task when it's difficult.

I think some had trouble with the second trampoline task because they were jumping right in front of it, trying to get enough height to bunny hop over it or something. I think it worked better when they jumped from the back and lunged forward over it. Doesn't anyone remember high jump at track and field days? You didn't just stand in front of the bar and push yourself upwards.

[liqidclark]

I couldn't stop laughing every time the tee-pee judge told someone they were wrong. I think it's because she seemed like such a nice lady, but was relentless with her expectations. I dunno, but for whatever reason Your sticks are wrong is an official TARCAN catch phrase now, IMO -- right up there with My ox is broken from TARUS.

[Vyas]

My gosh, must every leg with a good winner, i.e. anyone besides the cocky/wooden Italian brothers, also include a soul-crushing elimination?

 

Team Lumsden's quitting the geography task is regrettable, yet even a penalty cannot lessen the sorrow of their untimely departure, previous placements be damned. I'm just glad that they earned a trip to the Chinese capital beforehand - on an episode just as challenging as this one - and will not be going home empty-handed unlike last year's robbed mom/son duo. 

 

As for the remaining dad/daughter, they remain perpetually outside the Top 4, though Mr. Fagbongbe's confessional during the Detour about respecting the First Nations under the belief that it might be their last day of racing is the stuff that puts the adjective in The Amazing Race: Canada. (Miss Fagbongbe herself was channeling her spiritual predecessor from across the Cascadian border, a certain Christina Hsu-Azene, as she encouraged her pop at the TrampolineBlock.)

 

The wrestlers place outside the top half for the first time, but they never snapped at each other as the comparatively immature mosquito siblings will be during next leg's trip to Bengal. In fact, the Flatliners are less an older Mickey/Pete than a quieter Jet/Dave.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Boyd of the Winnipeg Police Force finally provide some entertainment beyond mere slapstick, his bouncing failures at the RB aside: their lovers' spat on the drive to Wanuskewin Heritage Park hearkens back to an American team from a Manitoba-like state, Major Dave and Army Wife Rachel of Wisconsin. Kudos too for being gracious towards Mary, the cool in more ways than one judge of the Mikwap teepee building. (She'd be right at home in Fargo!)

 

The dancers' gamble pays off in getting them to third. They're probably the least featured team of the episode, but it's kind of an extended narrative cooldown after rocking Halifax, Sudbury included.

 

The less said about the Montani brothers the better.

 

Now, the superior fraternal twosome, the Sweeney boys? Way to go for taking a successful risk - an EP wielder is usually best served by playing it on the last task of the leg a la Hamilton/Michaelia earlier this season, so as to minimize any slowdown from challenges and leave only the navigation towards the PitStop as the final thing standing between them and the leg prize. In this case, however, the geography RI at the Diefenbaker Airport tarmac/hangar takes as long, if not more than either Detour, the RB and the other RI (find fifteen bottle caps at the brewery) both being much quicker. Bon voyage, Messieurs ~

[innocuouspuff]

And they're in design, so they never need math? I guess they never calculate room sizes for paint and flooring, or measure windows for curtains, or figure out if furniture will fit into a space? Alrighty then.

Yeah I was very concerned about them being design students who never measure anything.

I am kind of embarassed to say that Simi and Ope's just keep racing! never give up! routine still entertains me and makes them endearing. Embarassed because, god, so many of their problems are of their own making. What a weird decision not to join the group math at the flight tarmac task - you never want to be the only team doing or not doing something.

At least they didn't take a penalty, I guess. Poor Kristen, that's the problem racing with a parent. You'll always be the junior partner.

I wouldn't be surprised if we get longer penalties next season. I don't really mind the teams hacking the course via strategy, but you'd think production would want to make that decision harder for them, ie attach greater risk.

[Pepper the Cat]

I think the penalty length should increase with each team

1st team 2 hours, next 2 hours 15 minutes, then 2 hours 30 minutes and so forth

Edited August 21, 2015 by Pepper the Cat

[mtlchick]

I'm surprised no one thought of converting the times into minutes earlier.  It would have saved them a lot of problems.  

[gryphon]

Happy Birthday, Brent! I am glad they got first place.  I loved the reveal of the title.  Hee!

What a beautiful place! 

I hate when teams take the penalties. 

 

Wonderful challenges....so hard!  Next week, a chaotic marketplace!  

[Kel Varnsen]

I think the penalty length should increase with each team

1st team 2 hours, next 2 hours 15 minutes, then 2 hours 30 minutes and so forth

I think better would be that the penalties get bigger each time you take one. So for example the first time you skip a task you get a two hour penalty. Then the second time you skip a task in the race, your penalty is the standard penalty plus an extra 25% or something. So if the second time you take a penalty it is only supposed to be 2 hours, but you have already taken one, it becomes 2.5 hours. If the standard penalty is 4 hours, you are sitting out for 5 hours. And I think whenever possible the penalty should be taken at the task, rather than at the mat. It is small difference but having them wait at the mat after already finishing all the other tasks is a bit of an advantage compared to having to wait at the task you skip and not knowing what is coming up next.

 

At least they didn't take a penalty, I guess. Poor Kristen, that's the problem racing with a parent. You'll always be the junior partner.

 

It surprised me that the rules allow a team member to drop out of a task and accept a penalty without their partner agreeing to it. It seems weird to me. You would think from a legal point of view it would kind of be like a final answer kind of thing where both players have to tell the judge or whoever that they are going to take the penalty.

 

My gosh, must every leg with a good winner, i.e. anyone besides the cocky/wooden Italian brothers, also include a soul-crushing elimination?

I actually liked the brothers this leg. Previously they had been boring, but I thought they were smart at the airport task. Although it seemed that all they did was figure out the flight duration of every flight in minutes at the very start rather than just guessing at random flights. It wasn't super impressive but it was smarter than everyone else. I also thought that when they were building the teepee they were smarter than what you would usually see a team being at this stage of the race.

Edited August 21, 2015 by Kel Varnsen

[Fake Jan Brady]

This week in Brian's incorrect declarations: "I can't do this, I know my body" [then immediately completes task] and "it won't be way out here" [and there it is]. If he wasn't so pissy he'd be hilarious.

 

My favourite bit this ep? Simi shutting down Ope's "when I was a kid I wanted to be a pilot" story. "He has a lot to say". 

 

Great leg. I'm loving this season.

Edited August 21, 2015 by cousin oliver

[ottoDbusdriver]

I couldn't stop laughing every time the tee-pee judge told someone they were wrong. I think it's because she seemed like such a nice lady, but was relentless with her expectations. I dunno, but for whatever reason Your sticks are wrong is an official TARCAN catch phrase now, IMO -- right up there with My ox is broken from TARUS.

 

While the tee-pee task judge was very nice to the racers, I didn't like that she told them what they were doing wrong.  

 

She should have just been saying "That is not correct", since they were building it based on the example that was right there.

[Vyas]

I actually liked the brothers this leg. Previously they had been boring, but I thought they were smart at the airport task. Although it seemed that all they did was figure out the flight duration of every flight in minutes at the very start rather than just guessing at random flights. It wasn't super impressive but it was smarter than everyone else.

 

With all due respect, being mathematically inclined is no excuse for the following exchange from the start of the second episode:

 

"Is Chile in Europe?" - Gino the geography major

"I don't know." - Jesse

"Sir, do you know where Chile is?" - Gino the geography major to random Toronto cabbie

"South America." - cabbie

"South America!"- Gino the geography major

"Yes." - cabbie

"Geography skills working already." - alumnus of ashamed (Ontarian) university*

 

*

...Gino, who graduated from Brock with his human geography degree in 2008, and Jesse put together an audition tape for The Amazing Race Canada...

 

http://brocku.ca/brock-news/?p=34282

[etagloh]

When Dujean and Leilani were able to check in after their penalty, it brought home how I had no idea how much time had elapsed for tasks on this leg. No way did I think they'd be able to sit around for two hours and check in mid-pack, especially given how Gino and Jesse had finished ahead of them without skipping any tasks. Self-navigation had a fair bit to do with that, but it's a sign that the challenges in TARCan are more challenging than TAR-USA, but also that the pack is now being stretched and weaker teams are likely to be picked off one by one in the order we expect them to depart.

Kristin and Neil's departure was only untimely in the sense that they couldn't cope with the time challenge at the start of the leg. They've flattered to deceive throughout most of the Race.

[Shermie]

Yeah, that time difference was surprising. For Dujean and Leilani to sit around for two hours and still check in ahead of so many other teams was a revelation. Although they will probably bunch up again as they fly to India.

I like the idea of increasing the time penalty each time a team takes one. Except I think it should double - two hours the first time, four hours the second time, etc. I doubt anyone would take a time penalty more than once or maybe twice. They would really have to think strategically before doing so, waiting to maybe use it when absolutely necessary instead of going "ew, math is yucky, let's just blow it off and take a penalty" rather than actually trying.

Surprised that the Fast Forward just let the team skip one task. I thought it was a free pass straight to the mat.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Surprised that the Fast Forward just let the team skip one task. I thought it was a free pass straight to the mat.

 

Except that it wasn't a Fast Forward, it was an Express Pass, and the Express Pass only lets you skip one task.  The Fast Forward requires you to do a task and then skip to the Pit Stop.

[radishcake]

Please read my new thread Ignore Prefs & Mod Rules! 

[Canada]

Thank god Kristen is finally off of my TV screen, hopefully never to be seen again.  That chick would be a nightmare to be around.

[Blackie]

I was on vacation away from internet for a week, so I didn't know the name of this thread so when I just watched the episode on PVR the first thing I thought was "I hope the thread is called I dream about eating sandwiches"  haha!!

 

 

Sean's run to the mat was comedy gold, loved John's reaction

Jon was hilarious!!  I'm not sure that is how a host is supposed to react but Jon is just so real and goes with every situation.

 

I wish we could still have the Newfoundland girl cops instead of Brian and Cynthia.

Edited August 25, 2015 by Blackie