S04.E03: Toads! Are You Kidding Me?

[radishcake]

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The remaining teams race to Mekong where they must contend with the heat and culture.

[Pepper the Cat]

That was a great leg!

kelly and Kate are growing on me. 

I really want to slap Jillian! 

Brutal heat. Both Tanya and Stephan were looking pretty bad. 

Surprised that no one jumped into the lovely looking pool!

[Kanaloa]

Thirteen Twelve ladies, three two gents, and a harpy with her boytoy = one of the finest Final 8's in a long while!

(Record number of penalties assessed in one episode, eh?)

[Artsda]

That was a great episode, so hard at all the tasks. Plus half of them not following the clue.

[shok]

What in the world was Stephane doing running around in that heat helping everyone else complete their task? I mean, it's nice that he's a loveable helpful guy and all but that was just dumb. I felt so badly for poor Antoine standing on the sideline watching his chances in the Race go down the tube.

[Blackie]

I thought after helping all the other people, someone would at least give him a hand, at least for a couple minutes. Other teams worked together, I don't know why he couldn't make a team deal with someone.  It seemed like they were friendly with Ashley and Joel so I wonder why Ashley didn't give him 2 minutes of help after he helped her.  You can never really tell what really goes on with the editing they are giving.

  I was watching on PVR so maybe fast forwarded to far, but I didn't see Joel and Ashley getting they first place prize, did they show that

[Janc]

OMG poor Lowell running into that tree during the mad dash for the mat! Emmett seemed super pissed at the end of their 30 min penalty, I'm sure he's regretting doing this with Jillian at this point. 

[Keener]

9 hours ago, shok said:

What in the world was Stephane doing running around in that heat helping everyone else complete their task? I mean, it's nice that he's a loveable helpful guy and all but that was just dumb. I felt so badly for poor Antoine standing on the sideline watching his chances in the Race go down the tube.

What I'm curious about is why Antoine didn't tell him to stop helping others. Maybe it was just in the editing, but I feel like calling out to him and telling him to stop it would've at least refocused Stephane's attention. Or at the very least told him to work with someone else. 

[Christina]

They are not allowed to tell the other teammate anything, or they get a penalty. Someone once received a penalty for the way they said "Good job" because it could have been deemed a hint. I don't remember which country that was, though. 

Stephane being that close to the end of the task and bailing kind of made me mad, and I'm glad they were eliminated for that reason. He had to know that would be the end of their race, but if not, changing tasks certainly would be. I may re-watch this episode, because I was a bit distracted, but it just seemed like he wasn't really trying. 

Having suffered from heat exhaustion requiring hospitalization before,Tanya had my sympathy, yet Stephane didn't for some reason. 

After watching the playback of these episodes, I wonder if Jillian will realize that (not)ex-boyfriend tunes her out because she is constantly harping. Last week I thought she wasn't as bad as I feared, this week, uggg, put a muzzle on her. She's not getting the "team-work" she wants because she isn't suggest team-work, she wants Eliot to do what she wants and his ideas don't matter, so he just does it the way he thinks will work because if it the idea comes from his mouth, she'll shoot it down and demand they do the opposite. She came across as a giant toddler on this episode, and is not enjoyable to watch.

[shok]

1 hour ago, Janc said:

OMG poor Lowell running into that tree during the mad dash for the mat!

I know!! Poor guy. He should have been using his cane to guide his path but I can understand the excitement of racing another team to the mat, especially when they're trying to escape elimination. He really smacked himself tho. Yikes.

55 minutes ago, Keener said:

What I'm curious about is why Antoine didn't tell him to stop helping others. Maybe it was just in the editing, but I feel like calling out to him and telling him to stop it would've at least refocused Stephane's attention. Or at the very least told him to work with someone else. 

And if it hadn't refocused Stephane, maybe it would have shamed a couple of the other teams that he spent his time helping. I hope the situation is brought up when they have that mid-season get together and if it was mostly editing that it'll be clarified a bit.

[Keener]

1 hour ago, Christina said:

They are not allowed to tell the other teammate anything, or they get a penalty. Someone once received a penalty for the way they said "Good job" because it could have been deemed a hint. I don't remember which country that was, though. 

See, I wouldn't see that as helping. I remember the incident you are referencing and to me *that* was helping (I think it was more of a "look over there" sort of situation). But I do think that perhaps Antoine at the very least was cautious about it, thinking that it would be construed as helping. To me, and maybe even to the producers, it may have just been seen as supporting rather than assisting, but we may never know.  I do think that even if they received a penalty it would've been maybe 30 minutes- 1 hour. Which, after all was said and done is better than 4 hours. 

[piequinn35]

6 hours ago, Blackie said:

  I was watching on PVR so maybe fast forwarded to far, but I didn't see Joel and Ashley getting they first place prize, did they show that

Yes prize=Tokyo, they got the penalty but still no. 1, I thought Stephan was indirectly helping the others but still wtf wasted 2 hours on that task then 4 hr penalty byebye! He should have waited & studied how the ducks move around :/

Edited July 13, 2016 by piequinn35

[Gabby929]

Loving this season so far, great tasks, contestants are way better than the last YouTube crop on TAR US  buuuuuuut! That exaggerated "rip" sound effect they're using every single time a clue is shown being open is driving me bananas! (Once you start noticing it you can't unnotice it). 

[Fat Bastard]

I just noticed we have Angelina Jolie and her dad in the race. And they won a leg!

I don't think Stéphane was trying to help other teams exactly, the ducks just went whereever they wanted. At one point he had 18 collected and left pen open for them to escape so he did other mistakes too.

I wish they change the penalty rule to the correct one which says that the penalty is 30 minutes plus any time gained from breaking the rule. Now breaking the rule can actually be advantegous in some cases with only 30 minute penalty.

[bagatelle]

I thought Stephane had heat exhaustion and he was disoriented. There can't be any other reason he kept helping everyone else like that.

Anyway, I'm not sorry he and his son are gone. The dynamic is always so weird with fathers and sons.

[RHJunkie]

Jillian has a very motherly attitude about her...in the annoying way, lol. I laugh every time she gets going because Emmett literally ignores her by keeping silent  or changing the subject. I'm actually surprised by how calm his demeanour is. He doesn't lose his temper at her and even when she's yelling or barking at him, he responds pretty calmly and rationally. 

I felt bad for the father/son duo that got eliminated. I know he gave up on the challenge but it was a difficult challenge in scorching heat. He's an older man and I do think it would have likely been more difficult compared to the younger contestants. 

Let's hope teams read their cards better! But kudos to the challenges. All of these challenges have been difficult and the Vietnam challenges were even more so difficult having to do them in such intense heat. 

[Kelda Feegle]

wow Stéphane had a massive brain fart - all that help for others and no organising of reciprocity? He did look mentally checked out later also and I doubt he is sorry to be done with the racing.

[Taeolas]

It may have been editting, but I get the feeling that Stephane helped the teams but didn't ask for help himself. He basically just herded the ducks into whatever pens were open it seemed. 

Otherwise, another good ep, but really getting tired of the Harpy. 

[etagloh]

That was a brutal leg and the older racers were the ones who suffered the most from it. I think Stéphane sort of polited himself out of the Road Block by not asking explicitly for help back, even though pairs were whipping through the task. Or perhaps it was the heat that addled him.

"Free Emmett", I suppose, but that's the weakest "Free" I've ever been willing to offer, because they're a stuntcast contrivance of a team who frankly deserve each other.

The initial floating market task relied a lot on water taxi luck: some of the pilots went straight to the correct vendors (and most of the vendors didn't make it a challenge to determine the item) while others seemed more content to go up and down through the market and wait for teams to direct them. I don't mind taxis being helpful, but when it's a task, the leg prep by TPTB really ought to lay down to the pilots what kind of the guidance they provide.

On 7/13/2016 at 1:44 PM, Fat Bastard said:

I wish they change the penalty rule to the correct one which says that the penalty is 30 minutes plus any time gained from breaking the rule. Now breaking the rule can actually be advantegous in some cases with only 30 minute penalty.

I don't think we ever know for sure what the 'correct' rule is for any given season of TAR, only what we extrapolate from precedent. I always assume based on past examples that it's a minimum of 30 minutes, and if you gained more time than that, you sit that out as well. In this specific case, it looked like the ferry ran sufficiently frequently that there wasn't much to be gained from taking a water taxi instead.

[kingshearte]

I would really love to get more information on just what exactly was going on while Stéphane was doing that duck task. It really looked like he was just helpfully opening doors for other people all willy-nilly, and not focusing nearly enough on herding ducks into his own pen. I almost wonder if there was something about the instructions that he somehow misunderstood. It was weird.

As for Jillian and Emmett... You know, there have been other teams in the past where the female partner has accused the male partner of not listening, but most of them have been situations where either the male partner really was a douche, or the female partner was the sort who only believes someone is "listening" if they do what she wants. I think this is the first time that someone literally seems to have just completely tuned his teammate out due to all the screeching. It's a very strange dynamic to witness.

[innocuouspuff]

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We’ve talked about it a lot ... absolutely. I was helping out the other teams, expecting some kind of help in return and that didn’t materialize. So yes, if I were to do this challenge again, I would do things differently...”

Too Canadian on that one, Stéphane. Say it out loud! À pleine voix!

Also: 

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We didn’t account for the fact that the ducks could be stubborn, that he would be under 53-degree heat in the beating sun. It ended up being harder than we expected, but that was the case for all the teams there ... no one really understands how hard it was.

53 degrees.

http://m.torontosun.com/2016/07/13/the-amazing-race-canada-stephane-and-antoine-reveal-hatred-of-ducks-after-elimination

Also the Social ladies coo over helpful papa Stéphane, they tell a sweet story about Jillian and Emmett, and Stéphane's body temperature out there reached 104 F? Jesus. Don't kill anyone, show.

 http://www.thesocial.ca/Culture/TheAmazingRaceCanada/After-the-Race-roundup-Stephane-and-Antoine

It was weird we didn't get an in-show explanation of Stéphane's thinking, but retrospect he probably was not up to saying much.

Edited July 17, 2016 by innocuouspuff

[gryphon]

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Surprised that no one jumped into the lovely looking pool!

Pepper the Cat, OMG yes! That was my first thought. That pool looked deliciously cool. 

Good episode, trying tasks, heat, animals.  Kris and Steph remain my favourites but I was impressed by Anne's tenacity.  And I love her shorts.  I think what her partner was experiencing was really bad heat exhaustion (and maybe heat stroke) and dehydration...when I worked outdoor security I've seen it....good thing she called medic.  That shit is dangerous.  

I effing love this show.  It gives me the feeling that I had when I was watching TAR US in the first few seasons.  They need to inject a little TAR CAN into TAR US. 

[Canada]

I can't believe how many people chose the dance rather than just moving a bunch of coconuts.  Yes, it's hot, a purely physical task has to be easier than trying to learn a physically demanding dance, also in the heat. 

Dad and son went from being my favourite team to being one of the most annoying.  Glad they went home, though I'd be happy for Team Big Brother to go next!!

[innocuouspuff]

Lol the pool looked lovely but I'd be terrified of being sternly frowned at by monks, or whoever.

I know the common wisdom is to try and beast out the physical challenges rather than futz with skill-based things but I think with the dancing I'd just cross my fingers to get it figured quickly. Hauling heavy objects while directly under the hot sun looked way worse to me, idk.

Edited July 19, 2016 by innocuouspuff

[TV Anonymous]

I checked Air Canada's routes, and it turned out that it did not have any flights to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), even as a codeshare. In fact, AC did not have any flights to Viet Nam at all. Does this mean that future TAR-C does not have to be restricted to AC's destinations only? This is great.

On 7/17/2016 at 11:21 AM, innocuouspuff said:

Also: 

53 degrees.

I am sorry, I am from the region and I have to say that I am skeptical with this 53 degrees (assuming Celcius). The temperature can be high in the 30s with humidity index pushes it to lower 40s, but I never heard the population centers of SE-Asia hitting 50C.

[innocuouspuff]

It sounded a bit unlikely to me too, but I didn't know enough about it. Maybe Stéphane and Antoine are slowly increasing the details with each telling, and by the time Antoine's kids hear it, it will be 70 degrees. And like 1000 ducks!

[Taeolas]

On 8/7/2016 at 7:22 AM, TV Anonymous said:

I checked Air Canada's routes, and it turned out that it did not have any flights to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), even as a codeshare. In fact, AC did not have any flights to Viet Nam at all. Does this mean that future TAR-C does not have to be restricted to AC's destinations only? This is great.

 

If it's not obvious by now, the Wiki page does note that PetroCan and AirCanada are no longer sponsors of the show. Chevy, BMO and Mentos are obviously still in; while Hotels.com and Mountain Equipment Co-Op have joined in. The later seems to be a more low-key sponsorship; while I think I've noticed them wearing Mountain Equipment jackets, it never really stood out to me like the Hotels.com, Chevy, BMO and Mentos sponsorships tend to.