S27.E10: Bring The Fun, Baby!

[TallulahBelle]

Jesus, do Logan and Chris even LIKE each other?  That is one unpleasant couple . . .

[wineaux]

Does anyone remember who said this?  I'll give you one guess. 

 

"GET MY NAME OUT OF YOUR MOUTH!"

[needschocolate]

I get the impression that every time they take their rest period, Diana is giving Justin lessons on how to behave in public.  After the first leg, she explained that it is rude to be so loud and obnoxious, after the second leg, she said, "That was better, but you need to tone it down even more." In later legs, she taught him that it wasn't polite to yell at her in public, etc... After the last leg, she much have said, "You need to show more appreciation for the countries we are in and enjoy the experience for a few seconds, instead of racing as fast as possible. 

 

And, for me, these lessons are working, because I don't find Justin as annoying as I did a few episodes ago.  Or maybe I am getting de-sensitized.  

 

I am glad James Earl's ,mom realized that her son is the same person she loved before she found out he was gay.  I hope she also realized that he was gay back then too, she just didn't know it.  She has come a long way and I hope their relationship stays strong.  

 

I really loathe Logan constantly yelling at Chris, but I hate to say she is right most of the time. Does Chris not read the clues? Did he think they had to drag children around the tent on the ride rather than just swinging them? Does he not trust her at all? She's screaming what to do at him but he just asks everyone else. I would have lasted 2 minutes with him.

 

Chris would bring out the worst in me.  Then again, Logan would bring out the worst in me too. Donnie Downer and Betty Bitchy - I hope they get married and stay together forever if only because that means no one else will have to put up with them.  

 

Logan shoving Chris was really horrible.  I was really hoping they were out.  I'm tired of the ugliness they display.  I do wonder how they feel watching themselves. Will they learn from this or delude themselves into thinking they don't look bad?

 

I am guess that when they watch this at home, Logan is saying "See, I did tell you where to go and what to do and you didn't listen to me!" and Chris is saying, "Maybe we should have done the other detour..."

[Ducky]

It wouldn't matter what color Justin was wearing.  Green is my favorite color.  He could be wearing polka dot plaid bright neon orange for all I care and I still would feel like he's an annoying, insufferable racer.

[Netfoot]

I hope they get married and stay together forever if only because that means no one else will have to put up with them. 

 

No need to spoil two households...

[aradia22]

Justin and Diana were fine this week. Overall positive and good with the kids. And yes, they U-turned the paparazzi who I HATE so that wins them so many bonus points.

 

I know the cheerleaders complain a lot but there were moments when I wondered if they were safe racing as an all female team. Particularly during the bike/balloon challenge. I know they're with the camera guys but I hope there were more production people looking out for them.

 

God damn it, U-turned and the paps still aren't out. I am actually hoping Chris or Logan gets injured and eliminated sooner rather than at the next pit stop. They are unbearable.

[NutMeg]

About Chris and Logan: I really dislike their dynamic but for some mysterious reason they seem fine with it. And their hug at the mat looked genuine to me.

 

About Justin and Diana: I find their dynamic hit-or-miss, he sometimes talks to her like a recalcitrant child but mostly, he talks to the camera more than he talks to her. But for some mysterious reason she seems fine with it. 

 

Now, not as racers, but as a couple, I like Chris/Logan better, as hard as it is to type that: they both give as much as they take and seem ok with that dynamics. Whereas Diana seeming happy to be the third wheel after camera or to play sidekick to the awesome Justin irks me more. YMMV etc. 

 

[edited because since I've changed keyboards my typos have been getting out of hand...]

Edited December 1, 2015 by NutMeg

[RCharter]

Sort of like when I hit on a girl and get rejected, it doesn't mean she's gay?

She obviously is gay...and probably a bitch too ;)

 

ETA:  I'm just kidding....I'm just kidding.

Edited November 30, 2015 by RCharter

[millennium]

Also, in my view, suspicions that Chris is gay are unfounded. Does he seem attracted to any of the males we've seen him interact with? Barring that kind of evidence, any speculation is based on stereotypes. He may or may not be gay, but he hasn't given us any evidence that I've seen one way or the other.

 

I don't get why his sexual  orientation has any bearing on anything.   We don't speculate about the heterosexuality of other racers.

[RCharter]

One team abandoned their car in the middle of the leg, because they couldn't figure out how to drive it. It wasn't the car's fault, because the team was made up of people who were flummoxed by the stick shift and at least one of them seemed to desperately want to quit anyway, IIRC, but it was memorable enough that it stuck with me more than whatever feature they were trying to promote about the car, and it was the cause of that team's elimination.

 

They also had a team drive on a flat, didn't they? I know for sure that there was a delay due to a flat tire, but I thought they also drove on the rims for a while (though I'm not 100% sure that was the same incident and it might have been a different year).

 

 

 

Yes, but Justin is able to come in first, leg after leg, without seeming to be breaking a sweat. He's not forgetting the camera is there because the race is too easy and it's not absorbing all his attention. He's chatting with the team, so to speak. I kind of like that he's not going along with the deceit that no one knows they're being watched, and that he's not above acknowledging "the help"-- it's not coming across over the top or rude, to me. It's not his fault that the rest of the competition is so far behind that he doesn't have to concentrate more on racing in order to pull through. Should he fake being more stressed? I don't think he's so charming that his behavior will get him a show of his own (considering how 90% of viewers seem to hate him and consider him an obnoxious blowhard, that seems even more unlikely than it would otherwise), I think he just comes across like a guy having a blast. It's neither charming nor obnoxious to me, just kind of neutral.

 

I also don't get why the team wearing green is considered offensive. We've had teams emphasize a color before, and I thought that was something production asks them to do. What color were they supposed to choose?

 

I also don't know how to judge whether he's a superfan or a person playing the part of a superfan. I think anyone who is a true superfan would be excited to be there. And anyone who wants to be on the race enough to put that much work into pretending to be a superfan, and then goes on to run it without dissing the locals and whining about how hard it is, or whatever, is OK by me. We've seen fans of the show make mistakes once they actually start racing. Everyone says the race is much harder than they expected, and real life is way more stressful than watching it. So I don't think a freak out over the FF on Leg 1 or other errors along the way, prove or disprove true fandom vs faked fandom.

 

I feel weird defending someone who isn't even a particular favorite of mine. He's not even anywhere on my list of "favorite racers", not even near the bottom. He just doesn't bother me, is all.

 

 

 

I wholeheartedly agree with you about this!

 

 

 

Yes!! Maybe the producers are just bored and getting lazy and it's not all about the budget. That meat task is an example of something that wasn't dangerous or very costly, and it did vary the placements based on performance. We don't need tasks that demonstrate the ability to use google and a smartphone.

This said nothing bad about the car at all.  It said something about two people who didn't bother to learn to drive stick.  So that left no one with even the potential for a bad impression of Ford.  Much worse things have happened with the cars than someone abandoning them because they didn't know how to drive stick, and Ford continued with the sponsorship.  So, that wouldn't be a reasonable reason for them to pull sponsorship.  It was the blind date gay couple that I believe abandoned their car, and honestly, until you brought it up, I didn't remember that, but I did remember the back up parking assist. 

 

They did have a team that got a flat in Africa, but those were not Ford vehicles, and therefore not part of their sponsorship.  In fact in that part of the race two teams had issues with the tires.  One team was able to get it resolved at a service station rather quickly and the second team (Steve and Ally) were on the side of the road for a while.  That actually wasn't an unsafe situation, but it was one that allowed for a shuffle of the teams, which keeps the race exciting and interesting.

 

Justin has been mugging for the camera from the first frame of the word "go."  He isn't mugging for the camera because the race is so easy, he is mugging for the camera because he is "performing" the race instead of running the race. 

[ProfCrash]

http://robhasawebsite.com/the-amazing-race-27-recap-episode-10-bring-the-fun-baby-friday-november-27-2015/

 

Apparently the Cheerleaders had a very hard time during this last episode. What we saw was a very small percentage of what was happening and the two of them felt pretty threatened.

[mookster]

I think my main problem with Justin - besides his performing rather than running the race - is that his performance just isn't entertaining. To me, he doesn't seem funny or smart or likable. His engagement with the locals consists of whooping and saying "What's better than this?" to the camera. He's not terribly nice to his partner when the chips are down - luckily for him and for her they're not down so much. There's just nothing genuine about him. For anyone who's seen "Groundhog Day," his performance reminds me of the part where Bill Murray makes a grand show of the second snowball fight with the kids and Andie McDowell and it just comes off weird and forced and uncomfortable. That's Justin to me in a nutshell.

 

I was curious about one thing: Last week when the cheerleaders denied U-turning Justin and Diane, why did the paps not call them on it? Why not say "Of course, you did, remember when..." and offer details to support their claim? They just clammed up when the cheerleaders denied it. I'm no fan of Logan and Chris, but it just struck me as odd.

[needschocolate]

I don't get why his sexual  orientation has any bearing on anything.   We don't speculate about the heterosexuality of other racers.

 

Well, now that you brought it up...I know we never saw him drooling after anyone, but I am pretty sure that the shorter Texan is straight.  I think the taller one is too.  They were pinging my "straight-dar"

[proserpina65]

Justin has ruined this season for me.  I got through this episode in 15 minutes, and hated pretty much all of them.

[Bryce Lynch]

THIS captured my feelings about Justin pretty well:

He's not running the race he's performing it!

And why haven't there been any navigation or driving tests? Hmm, is it because say a person from New York who might not even own a car doesn't have driving skills? Who knows, it might cause that said team problems. And oppositely that same team would be much more comfortable and well aquainted with the little tricks of catching public transportation and schedules (taxis, buses, trains, etc.) And there seems to be a lack of situations where there might be an opportunity to shake up the running order? With all the double legs (to be continued) And the timing of the U turns being suspicious (again, no opportunity to pass) it seems like "THE FIX IS IN" and The Amazing Race from the beginning was setting us up for the Great American love story - 'the just look at how much joy he's having" - the lovable SuperFan and his wife being the champs this year.

Yeah, kinda biased.

Could be they were trying to help Justin a bit. It could also be that Ford dropped its sponsorship and Fitbit became the major product placement sponsor. I have to think that if TAR had a big automobile sponsorship this season the racers would be doing plenty of driving.

[Nutjob]

Justin might be OK in a noncompetitive situation, but he reminds me of that friend we've all had who is a terrible winner. That guy who brays and whoops and BOOMS and BOO-YAHS every time he makes a basket or gets a hit or jumps one of your checkers, and wins a lot, but pouts and sulks the minute you best him. Unfortunately, I can't stand watching Justin gloat and mug and perform for the cameras, and it's getting really old. At this point I kind of don't care who wins this season--I just want it to be over so we can get a fresh cast for the next one.

[Bryce Lynch]

I don't know, even with all the past issues the car sponsorship have been in the race even up until last year. And it worked given the nature of the show, and because they were always able to feature a feature of the car. Last year, it was something having to do with parking assist on the Ford Festiva, or the Ford Fiesta, or the Ford Fantastic or whatever.

So, I don't think any of those considerations (which have been in place for years) would have stopped the car sponsorship if they hadn't stopped it before.

I would understand your argument, if they hadn't had the racers driving cars as recently as last year. And nothing awful happened with the cars last year, which would also make your argument a little more understandable to me.

I am guessing Ford didn't think it was getting enough bang for its buck on the sponsorship and decided to spend the advertising dollars elsewhere. Another possibility is that someone in the Ford media department was a big fan of the race but has now moved on.

It is also possible that a relatively new company like Fitbit outbid Ford to be the main sponsor, in order to get its name out there.

[Ottis]

Wow.  So few comments.  Do we have the Thanksgiving weekend to thank for that?  Or has Justin ruined the season that much?

 

 

I haven't actually watched it, yet. But at this point this forum is enough!

[RCharter]

I am guessing Ford didn't think it was getting enough bang for its buck on the sponsorship and decided to spend the advertising dollars elsewhere. Another possibility is that someone in the Ford media department was a big fan of the race but has now moved on.

It is also possible that a relatively new company like Fitbit outbid Ford to be the main sponsor, in order to get its name out there.

Its possible, but I feel like Ford has done less over the years but continued their sponsorship.  Last season though they were really able to showcase a new and interesting feature of their vehicles in a challenge that was really able to highlight the backup parking thing.  Also possible that someone in the Ford media department loved the show and moved on, but I still think it would be in Ford's interest, because there are very few shows that are such a natural fit.

 

Most of the times you get a sponsorship in a reality show, you maybe get a few frames of someone driving in a car and a voice over of someone woodenly talking about a feature of the vehicle or just mentioning the vehicle like "we all hopped into the Lexus IS 300 and turned on the parking assist to get to Whole Foods" or "this trunk can really hold a lot of the food we just picked up at Whole Foods."  Rarely do you get a show that offers such a natural fit to highlight the vehicle and so many of its features as you do with the Amazing Race.  And putting the vehicle on a scripted show gets you even less exposure.

 

So to me, I don't know if these ring true.  And I believe the show has always had multiple sponsors so I don't see why using FitBit would exclude Ford.  I don't see why they couldn't have both.

[possibilities]

They used to have the gnome, too. It's an interesting question as to why they don't have multiple sponsors. Maybe they think people will tune out if they shovel on too many blatant placements? Maybe sponsors like "exclusives"? Maybe after a while a sponsor thinks they've had all the benefit they can milk from a particular show? It's an interesting question.

 

Whatever the reason, though, I still don't think they "ditched Ford to prop up Justin."

[RCharter]

They used to have the gnome, too. It's an interesting question as to why they don't have multiple sponsors. Maybe they think people will tune out if they shovel on too many blatant placements? Maybe sponsors like "exclusives"? Maybe after a while a sponsor thinks they've had all the benefit they can milk from a particular show? It's an interesting question.

 

Whatever the reason, though, I still don't think they "ditched Ford to prop up Justin."

I can agree with the bolded.  But I think that poster was finding a conspiracy theory because they hate Justin so much, which I understand, because Justin bothers me too, and I hate to credit him with anything.  I think that their main advantage has been the ability to travel smart, which is something they could have learned running their own "mini-race" or from a lifetime of public transit in a city like New York.  

[North of Eden]

I never in my life would have dreamed that a SINGLE racer could be more obnoixous than camera whores like hippies BJ and TYLER and the Afganimals...and yet there you have it....Justin who will not shut the F up for ONE SINGLE MINUTE...if he's not hooting and hollering he is dancing around in the streets like a damn fool.

I just...can't...he is sooooooo agravating...please do not let him win the race. Any of the other racers I would gladly take.

 

People probably hate the Paps...but I like them because they are REAL...Krista is a big fake...making all nice, nice at the end with the kids when during the time she was carrying the candelabras she was activelly telling people to get away from her and not in a nice way and I got the feeling there was an undertone that she thought she was a steak being eyed by hungry dogs...in other words the local male population...as if they might do something to her...in front of cameras no less. But I still like Tiffany...she just is likable and cool.

 

All in all Justin has nearly ruined this season...the last really good season was the one with Jason and "Providence" Amy...I liked them a lot and I liked how they helped that other team...I forget their names now but they were the AA team that washed out of the race in the last episode when the husband could not hit the bullseye from the air. Now that was a great season. Even the season of the candy girls was yards better than this because there was no raging moron like Justin dominating the race and the screen time.

Edited December 1, 2015 by North of Eden

[JohnnyGilda]

 

Well, that's your Emmy leg -- India, at night, wedding party! -- and probably your Emmy as well.

 

I thought the camera crew and editors did an outstanding job on this episode.  Besides the camera operators' apparent usefulness as added security, they delivered great shots under extreme conditions dealing with sapping heat, scant light, pressing crowds, fast-moving vehicles, stray bovine and the snippiest couple I think I've ever seen on this show.  Shooting the Race eclipsed the actual Race for me...which is only mildly satisfying.  Not really rooting for Team Justin! or Team Haag-oo at this point, just hoping for a tight race to the finish.

Edited December 1, 2015 by JohnnyGilda

[vousviou]

Its possible, but I feel like Ford has done less over the years but continued their sponsorship.  Last season though they were really able to showcase a new and interesting feature of their vehicles in a challenge that was really able to highlight the backup parking thing.  Also possible that someone in the Ford media department loved the show and moved on, but I still think it would be in Ford's interest, because there are very few shows that are such a natural fit.

 

Most of the times you get a sponsorship in a reality show, you maybe get a few frames of someone driving in a car and a voice over of someone woodenly talking about a feature of the vehicle or just mentioning the vehicle like "we all hopped into the Lexus IS 300 and turned on the parking assist to get to Whole Foods" or "this trunk can really hold a lot of the food we just picked up at Whole Foods."  Rarely do you get a show that offers such a natural fit to highlight the vehicle and so many of its features as you do with the Amazing Race.  And putting the vehicle on a scripted show gets you even less exposure.

 

So to me, I don't know if these ring true.  And I believe the show has always had multiple sponsors so I don't see why using FitBit would exclude Ford.  I don't see why they couldn't have both.

 

One thing that occurred to me is that it might be an issue with insurance. (Did someone else mention this too?) The show must have an insurer who has to sign off on a million things, and there have been cases with Hollywood movies where the insurer has suddenly raised red flags about random things and thrown a monkey wrench into the production.  It's entirely possible that some wrinkle has come up like the insurer has suddenly demanded that they get twice as much time to evaluate driving conditions before providing coverage, or they get the right to approve driving routes, and the producers have decided that the shooting schedule doesn't allow for that kind of negotiation beforehand.  So to keep things moving, they just ditched driving.

[RCharter]

One thing that occurred to me is that it might be an issue with insurance. (Did someone else mention this too?) The show must have an insurer who has to sign off on a million things, and there have been cases with Hollywood movies where the insurer has suddenly raised red flags about random things and thrown a monkey wrench into the production.  It's entirely possible that some wrinkle has come up like the insurer has suddenly demanded that they get twice as much time to evaluate driving conditions before providing coverage, or they get the right to approve driving routes, and the producers have decided that the shooting schedule doesn't allow for that kind of negotiation beforehand.  So to keep things moving, they just ditched driving.

I would have thought that CBS or the production company would have had enough to self-bond in a lot of countries if that became an issue, or at least to share risk with the insurer.  Especially if the sponsorship was a big one it might have been worth it.  I imagine it costs a lot more, and there is a lot higher risk of damage in a big Hollywood production versus a reality show.  If an accident happens on a movie set, you have the actual injury and medical costs to injured parties, but you also have the risk of related fallout (time missed while someone heals, the production essentially shutting down, lost profits).  In my time in insurance, most commercial vehicles carried a million dollar policy.  And while a million dollar policy on each of the vehicles would be high given the fact that they are driving in multiple countries, I can't imagine them needing a higher value policy.  I realize someone can do a lot of damage in a Ford Festiva, but you would really have to be working hard to cause more than a million dollars worth of damage.  And I dont think the cost would be so high to make the Ford sponsorship not worth the time.  But....I can see the point where insurance could become an issue.

[vousviou]

I'm guessing it's more expensive to have teams self-navigate. Maybe they lost the product placement deal, maybe because car manufacturers don't like to see their cars break down or people have trouble driving them on camera, and to provide cars another way, and insure both the vehicles and the drivers/passengers, would be hugely expensive. The cars used on the race have been through hell with people who don't know how to drive stick, put the wrong gas in the tank, crash into things, blow out tires, drive on blown out tires, etc. And it's dangerous, with everyone underslept and half-crazed with stress. It's fun to watch, but self-navigation is probably one of the most expensive ways to move people around, outside of the unavoidable airfare. And it's also the most unpredictable. People may miss a bus, but production can estimate how far apart that will space them. When people drive, you don't know if they will be 12 hours behind or 20 minutes. We've seen people drive the wrong way around a mountain, and get lost in amazing ways.

 

I think the lack of challengingness on non-navigation tasks is also a cost-saving factor. It makes things more predictable for production. It is less likely that someone will get injured. It compresses things when the teams are only 90 mins apart instead of 24 hours or more, as has happened in the past.

 

When ratings were higher, the race was more difficult and more expensive and more interesting, because the budget was higher. Now, the show is aging and some of the loss of ratings is probably just due to people getting bored like they do with other shows that used to be higher rated (for instance American Idol). This started a downward spiral of them cutting costs, which makes the race less interesting, which drives the ratings even lower.

I can see the point about the challenges of self-driving for the production group.  Where I think the show has lost some opportunities is in letting the teams navigate by other means.  For instance, I thought the biking along the Dutch canals last season was interesting both in terms of scenery and as a challenge. This season, I think they missed some excellent chances to get teams to explore and navigate by foot or subway in the European legs, and one of the few good bits of drama was watching the Chacs and the Mother/Son team try to sort out the tram options.

 

Obviously the show won't risk sending people trailblazing through the wilderness in Africa, but I think giving teams a map of Paris or Krakow with four checkpoints and instructions that they can't ask for help can make for a great challenge, and shouldn't be too hard to set up.

[Netfoot]

I can see the point about the challenges of self-driving for the production group.  Where I think the show has lost some opportunities is in letting the teams navigate by other means.

 

Sure.  But whatever their reason, it results in a less challenging race for the competitors and a less interesting show for the viewers.  And by the way, it's hard to believe that driving a car in Europe is considered more of a risk than flying a micro-light over Victoria Falls or doing that rope-swing thingy which, 27 seasons after the first time, still makes my butt pucker so tight it grabs the sofa cushions!

 

I remember teams being given a car and a map and having to navigate their way halfway across North Africa, to catch a ferry across the Med.  And I remember them being given a moped and a destination 60 Km away, with precious little in the way of directions.  I remember teams going wrong and driving for hours before realizing it, and having to drive hours back, which really messed with the running order (a good thing).

 

Then there were breakdowns.  Some eastern-block cars that were laughably unreliable.  Flat tires.  Gas/diesel mix-ups.  Vehicle roll-overs in Africa.  4WD's getting stuck in the dunes of the Sahara.  The BQ's hit a bus and had to deal with the cops.  

 

Now, they catch a cab to the train station (not many cab-drivers are going to get that destination wrong). Then catch a train that is picked out for them (most trains don't get lost). No driving of taxis in Tokyo.  No RHD stick-shift Mini-Mokes in Bahrain.  Not even the odd tank on Salisbury Plain.

 

I love this show, but really, when you think that the highlights of the season is Justin doing his little jig when ever he sees the camera, you've got to admit:  The Amazing Race is a pale shadow of it's original self.

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

 

The Amazing Race Throws A Big Fat Chaotic Wedding
During the season’s second India leg, The Amazing Race throws an unexpected twist at the final five, but in some cases, the bigger obstacles to victory are the very folks these people have chosen to run the race with.

[LBFilmBuff]

For me the problem with Justin is that he is a braggart.  He goes on and on about how great he is and doesn't give nearly enough credit to luck or his partner or race design.  It may just be "sports talk" or behavior, but I try to avoid that in real life and I really don't want to have to see it all the time.

 

I am clearly rooting for the reporters, Haggoo be damned.  They are cheerful and supportive and just as appreciative as Justin, but in a more natural way.

[possibilities]

I think the reporters seem more polished, like they are used to and know how to act cool and composed around cameras. Where Justin is excitable and less polished. But they both seem very camera-conscious and self-conscious, just handling it in different ways. But I honestly don't like or dislike either team enough to care who wins. I think it's fascinating how we all react to the the different teams, their racing styles and personalities, etc.

 

If anyone is not playing to the cameras, I think it's ironically the paparazzi, who just look like they are so busy killing each other than they forget there will be witnesses.

[Eggman]

I did say to my wife during the balloon challenge that I wondered if TAR had security with the racers. It didn't seem very safe.

 

If you watched the balloon / wedding sequences carefully, you could see security in tan uniforms from time to time, and on the bike they were following a motorcycle with security on it.   Based on how I saw the cheerleaders approached while they were doing the lights task and the balloon task, it certainly seems like it was warranted.   

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/27/world/asia/gang-rape-in-india-routine-and-invisible.html

 

Ugh.

[jhlipton]

I'm tired of the cheerleaders acting like their task is harder than everyone else's.  I found it particularly ridiculous when one of them complained about how uncomfortable she was that a crowd was watching her.  You're a cheerleader!  Being watched is your raison d'etre.

 

 

Krista is a big fake...making all nice, nice at the end with the kids when during the time she was carrying the candelabras she was activelly telling people to get away from her and not in a nice way and I got the feeling there was an undertone that she thought she was a steak being eyed by hungry dogs...in other words the local male population...as if they might do something to her...in front of cameras no less. 

 

The Mormon girl (one who was dating for 27 years or something) was actively groped on a train, in front of all the cameras, and the rest of the Amazing Race staff.  Tiffany had her balloons grabbed (so to speak) in front of the cameras and staff.  I don't blame either of them for not feeling safe at any time.

[Rancide]

India is my favorite place to visit on earth.  A few cruddy guys treating the cheerleaders badly could just as well happen in America.  And does every day of the week here.  People are people everywhere.  And some (not all) male teenagers are, alas, male teenagers everywhere too.  There are few places young women can walk in large cities in America without this kind of treatment as well especially at night.

 

I also love visiting India, and I agree that jerks are jerks and are found in all parts of the globe, but as a single woman I disagree strongly with the implication that large cities in India are no different in their treatment of and/or no more or less dangerous for single women than are large cities in the U.S.  I've lived in large cities in the U.S. basically my entire adult life, and I've absolutely been touched/caressed/groped/grabbed by disgusting men while walking in public spaces in the United States but with nowhere near the frequency that it happens to me while walking in public spaces in India.  There are many, many, many wonderful people in India, an I am in no way suggesting that "India" or "Indian people" should be held responsible for or associated with the behavior of the worst segments of its society, but equating the nature and degree of the street harassment problem in India with the nature and degree of street harassment problem in the U.S. is simply, from my personal experience, not justified.

 

I partially blame the show for how uncomfortable female racers are routinely made to feel in India.  Give the women some damn clothes.  Or at least the option of putting on some damn clothes.  India is a free and open country where women (and men) can where what they like, but that doesn't change the fact that different cultures have different standards of modesty, and just like the race wouldn't require women to go traipsing around New York City in bikinis (even though it's unquestionably legal and everyone should absolutely have the right to do so free from harassment if they want), they shouldn't mandate tight T-shirts and form-fitting track pants for women in India.  This isn't to excuse the behavior of the men who harassed the cheerleaders, to blame the cheerleaders themselves for the behavior of others, or to suggest they would have been 100% problem-free if they'd been dressed in looser-fitting clothes, but only to suggest that the decision to complete a leg while engaging in the functional equivalent of a slut walk should be the decision of the walkers and not the decision of the production staff.

[Netfoot]

Give the women some damn clothes.  Or at least the option of putting on some damn clothes.

 

Or better yet, mandate 'modest' attire in those countries where to do otherwise will attract unwanted attention.

[Rancide]

Or better yet, mandate 'modest' attire in those countries where to do otherwise will attract unwanted attention.

 

I don't know that I agree with this.  For example, I personally would not wear a hijab.  Not that I think TAR would ever go to a country where cultural sensitivities mandated a hijab, but still.  I don't have a problem with women wearing them by choice, but wearing one would never, ever be my choice, even if that meant I got treated poorly by the locals as a result.  If the cheerleaders, or any other women, want to wear tight (by Indian standards) T-shirts in India, I support them in that.  It might be considered rude by some locals, but racers are rude in all sorts of ways that production does nothing about, and it certainly wouldn't give anyone license to sexually assault them.  But I don't get the sense that the female racers' attire is a choice, and that's where production and I part ways.  

 

It seems like participants get a hot weather and cold weather outfit, and in "modest" countries, the cold weather outfit is expected to double for a "modest" outfit, no matter how not-cold it might be or how not actually modest the outfit might be.  It was obviously sweltering in India, but the non-Tiffany one of the cheerleaders was still wearing her jacket.  I'm guessing it's not because she was cold.  

[Netfoot]

I don't know that I agree with this.  For example, I personally would not wear a hijab.  Not that I think TAR would ever go to a country where cultural sensitivities mandated a hijab, but still.  

 

Perhaps "mandate" is too strong a word.  Perhaps "strongly recommend" would be closer to what I was trying to say.  

 

Honestly, when you see the sleeveless tops and skimpy shorts some competitors choose to wear, it makes you wonder if they have any situational awareness at all!

[LadyArcadia]

But he -is- a real person, the type of real person that mugs for cameras. I known a lot of them, they are real. I also don't see a problem with it. Not on a reality game show anyway.

I am SO far behind, but I just finished up this season and finally started the new one.

 

Reading this, after watching the first episode of the new season cracked me up!  If you only knew....