S29.E02: Scared Spitless

[Bryce Lynch]

Shamir definitely should have gotten a penalty and perhaps been disqualified.  He intentionally destroyed property and created a risk to people below from falling glass 

Over 29 seasons, I would guess that hundreds of racers have been in harnesses, but I have never seen any other whine like  Alpha douchebag  Shamir.  

He might be the biggest douchebag in the history of AR.  Sorry Justin.

[mertensia]

Shamir, way to perpetuate the Ugly American Abroad stereotype.

That cat looked so bored in the gym. 

Was I the only one surprised when Vanck was right and the pit stop was within running distance of the task? 

[etagloh]

The Shamir situation at the mat makes me wonder again whether there's something off about this season that kept it in the can for so long, regardless of the CBS schedules. Lots and lots of alpha-male types (even though that's a BS concept) who seem to be blowing up, and lots of Survivor "let's deliberately screw others" tactics on display in TAR. That feels like a consequence of casting individuals and not pairs.

Not the first time in São Paulo, and not the first time there with helicopters, and in all honesty, a pretty well-planned leg with a nice Detour option and a clever Road Block, but it would have been better with more conventional teams.

Definitely an inversion in many ways from the opener in the finishing order -- the effects of a long flight and a little more time together is one reason why I withheld judgement on whether teams would function, and I'm still doing it for now. But this season's still on probation.

[Vyk]

5 hours ago, weightyghost said:

I'm angry about the girls leaving - it seemed it had nothing to do with them and entirely on getting on the last flight (which was a travel agent booking) and getting stuck in traffic. 

Uh, it wasn't just the bad luck, though it certainly didn't help.  They also fell for Sara's misdirection about where the woman on the bike was and stupidly went what had to be fairly far away to find her.  That part was their fault (though Jessie, to her credit, at least wasn't completely sure that Sara was telling the truth, while Francesca moronically insisted on believing her).  It was like Amy & Maya stupidly believing Brooke & Robbie's lie about Mt. Faber Park back in TAR25 and going to find a merlion statue that wasn't there (Amy wasn't sure if it was true, but Maya insisted on believing them), something that nearly ended up eliminating them.  This time, the lie played a part in an elimination.

5 hours ago, PaperTree said:

I like the 1st place team.  I still can't get their names.

Liz & Michael.  The auctioneer and the butcher.

5 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

Vanck/Ashton aren't a perfect team, but they got along better this week. That, and I totally smiled at them beating #TheBoys this time around.

So did I.  Matt & Redmond learned the hard way that karma can be a bitch.

5 hours ago, ShadowSixx said:

TheBoys should not be giving their words, in fact that's a no-no for TAR. You never give your word to another team cause 9x out of 10, they go back on it.

They were the ones who went back on their word in the first place.  No sympathy there.

4 hours ago, Wandering Snark said:

My point about the "coinflip alliance" is that you should never give your word while knowing you'll break it. There was no point to not just tell them "Nah, let's just make it whoever gets there gets there." It's just being shifty for no reason...

Agreed.  Race or not, it was just plain dirty.  You don't need to be acting like jerks or assholes for no reason at all, especially this early in the race.  Save it for mid-race or late in the race.

2 hours ago, Richness said:

Sara's misdirection to the Swole Sisters was somewhat underhanded as well, but was an incredibly smart race move. She understood that the "Wuss of Wallsteet" (Thanks Rachel RSL!) was having a meltdown, and did what she had to do to save her team. If not for that, they probably would have been eliminated.

Yeah, compared to Matt & Redmond's lie, Sara's was way more understandable since she and Shamir were in danger of elimination, and she needed to buy them some time.  No doubt Jessie & Francesca would've passed them up if she hadn't.

Speaking of whom, I hate that the one women's team is gone while the one men's team still lives on, while revealing themselves to be stealth assholes on top of that.  The loss wasn't without their share of blame (again, falling for Sara's lie), but it was largely poor luck that did them in.  Oh, well.  At least they admitted to having had a good time on the race.

I'm a bit too tired tonight.  I'll do my team-by-team analysis tomorrow.

1 hour ago, etagloh said:

The Shamir situation at the mat makes me wonder again whether there's something off about this season that kept it in the can for so long, regardless of the CBS schedules.

Nah.  CBS just needed a place for what I thought would be the new shit show, MacGuyver (but it turned out to be good, shockingly), and gave TAR the shaft in favor of it.  Something for which the network's been panned by several TAR fans.

[RealReality]

6 hours ago, Rachel RSL said:

FREE SARA!  I feel so bad that she got stuck with The Wuss of Wall Street because she seems fairly awesome. And, I don't care how bad your day was, you do not come for Phil!

Everyone else seems ok so far. Team Fun seems like the type of people who would normally bug the crap out of me but I adore them. I just love how he gets so excited over every damn thing.

Yeah, I'm feeling the same annoyance I felt during haley/Blair.  The scary thing is this guy has a temper and I don't like the possible violence angle.  I hope they get booted soon so she can stay away from him.  I hated Haley, but I never feared for Blair.  He just gives me all the wrong vibes.

I love team fun...and I think they are real, even when other teams completed the window washing before them they were all high beam smiles.  

[Bryce Lynch]

I didn't love Matt & Redmond breaking the deal, but I thought it was an idiotic deal to start with.  It's a raaaaaace!  Why don't they just flip a coin to decide who gets the million dollars?

TeamFun got perfect tasks for their skills.  Floyd being a drum major was obviously a huge edge in the drum task and Becca being a rock climber fit well with the rappelling, window washing task.

Those two remind me of Michael Scott and Holly.  A perfectly matched, dorky pair.

I still don't like the butcher, but he is a LOT more pleasant when his team is doing well.

Shamir is lucky he wasn't dragged off to a Brazilian jail, yelling, "You can't arrest ME! I work on WALL STREET!!!" , for breaking the window.  Isn't vandalism illegal in Brazil?

[Dawn16]

2 hours ago, RealReality said:

Yeah, I'm feeling the same annoyance I felt during haley/Blair.  The scary thing is this guy has a temper and I don't like the possible violence angle.  I hope they get booted soon so she can stay away from him.  I hated Haley, but I never feared for Blair.  He just gives me all the wrong vibes.

I love team fun...and I think they are real, even when other teams completed the window washing before them they were all high beam smiles.  

Sara seemed seriously shook up at the mat and then said something about learning life lessons (stay very away from self-proclaimed alpha males?)  It's bad enough when someone chooses to go on the race with a short-tempered, prone to violence partner, but when a woman is stuck with a complete stranger who turns out to be one?   

[Kelda Feegle]

I was totally hoping that Nuts and Elbow would get medically withdrawn from the race and their partners were allowed to form a new team.

Windowbreakingtwatwaffle

[chaifan]

I'm going to hold out, hope against hope, that next week starts with Phil announcing that yes, Shamir and Sara were given a penalty for his breaking the window, and Swole Sisters are still in it.  (I'd also be happy with Phil announcing Shamir is in a Brazilian jail for property destruction.)

[Bryce Lynch]

20 minutes ago, chaifan said:

I'm going to hold out, hope against hope, that next week starts with Phil announcing that yes, Shamir and Sara were given a penalty for his breaking the window, and Swole Sisters are still in it.  (I'd also be happy with Phil announcing Shamir is in a Brazilian jail for property destruction.)

I would love to see that happen, but I think it is extremely unlikely.  They would have assessed the penalty when they arrived at the mat.  Even if they found out about the window breaking after eliminating the Swole Sisters, they almost certainly would have just re shot the scene with Sara and Shamir being eliminated.

If his behavior continues, I wouldn't be shocked to see Shamir disqualified from the race, at some point, though.  

[Fukui San]

It occurs to me that this season it'd be somewhat reasonable to kick off a single person from the race and have the remaining racer to pair off with an eliminated racer since no one had a preexisting relationship. Probably won't happen, though.

[Primetimer]

In Sao Paulo, Brazil, racers assemble workout equipment out of junk, before one racer’s junk gets a workout.

View the full article

[Merneith]

1. Vanck and Ashton deserve a lot of credit for this leg.

2. So do Michael & Liz - Band geek power!

3. Team Fun - band geeks Forever! A rock climber could win this whole thing.

4. I have no problem with Sara's shadiness towards the Swole Sisters, given that the marked bicycle was literally two feet away and desperately trying to peddle slower the whole time.

5. I have no real problem with Redmond and the other guy's shadiness over the coin flip, which was dumb.

6. Chick with the busted elbow - busted elbows are a misery but it was your own damn fault for spazzing out, sister.

7. Scott - way to face your fears!

8. Shamir deserved a penalty for breaking that window. I'm comforted by knowing that his friends will be playing, "Ow! My Balls!" for him everywhere he goes.

9. Olive & Seth - gonna need more hustle.

[Lady Calypso]

5 hours ago, Vyk said:

Yeah, compared to Matt & Redmond's lie, Sara's was way more understandable since she and Shamir were in danger of elimination, and she needed to buy them some time.  No doubt Jessie & Francesca would've passed them up if she hadn't.

I don't know if they would have, actually. It clearly took all the teams some time to get the windows scrubbed. Sure, Wuss Street took five attempts to clean the window, but all the other teams did need some time to get the windows clean. Even if Jessie and Francesca had gotten the clue as soon as they got there, it might have been tight, but Shamir did have most of his window clean and him and Sara most likely would have still beaten them. However, Sara did the right thing in buying them more time since Wuss Street was whining up a storm and she was afraid of being eliminated. It definitely benefitted them and it's why I was totally fine with her move. It is a race and in this case, they could have been eliminated if she hadn't. 

[AZChristian]

Just pulled up the DVR of the show because I'm usually crocheting while it's on, so I sometimes miss things.

• The whole "coin toss" idea was stupid to begin wtih.  This is the Amazing RACE.  First one to arrive at a challenge should just go ahead and do it.  What if the team that won the toss had major taxi issues; how long were the guys supposed to wait?  Would they have had to wait until 8 other teams got there and hopped on the choppers, just to keep their word?  It was proposed by Ashton; she was hoping to gain an advantage regardless of who got to the sign-up first.  But I wonder if situations had been reversed (they lost the coin toss, but arrived first), what would she have done?  And her "I hold a grudge; I just do" could bite her more in the butt;  she needs to focus on the Race - now she's racing, but mostly to beat out the guys.  
• We re-watched Shamir's window-washing gig.  I don't doubt that he was uncomfortable with the placement of the harness.  He really did look a little panicked when he was trying to get the attention of someone to help him, and it didn't look like he was trying to break the window.  He was hurting and he wanted it to stop.  Understood.  But when he got down to the bottom and stood there (fairly calmly), and demanded "I need an ambulance," Mr. AZC and I looked at each other and said, "Steven from My 600-Pound Life!!!!"  (Steven slipped about 8 inches off the back of a golf cart on a grass lawn and started screaming that he needed an ambulance and needed to go to the emergency room.)  And then to stand there and look up at the window for several minutes while the last-place team member ran past him.  Sheesh.  Either quit or get back up there!!!!  And his petulant behavior at the mat may have been directed towards Phil and the production staff, but he sent a message to his partner:  this is all about MEEEEEEE.  She knows she has no chance of winning with him, but she's stuck.  

[seasquared]

I seriously thought Shamir should have been penalized for breaking the window. His attitude was just ridiculous minus his "junk injury".  As Logan said for men, harness is gonna hurt, which I'm sure it hurts for women as well but probably not as much. Guys may have to do so maneuvering of their "junk" to prevent injury.

When that guy was saying 120 or 160% Phil looks like he just plastered on a fake smile. You give them that smile and in your head you're rolling your eyes.

TheBoys should not be giving their words, in fact that's a no-no for TAR. You never give your word to another team cause 9x out of 10, they go back on it.

Team Trainwreck a.k.a. A Personalities, that girl is too much. Freaking out, falling down, crying, and injuring herself all in one leg of the race. Just spells doom. Isn't she a lawyer or at least in the legal field? If so she needs some thick skin otherwise the legal profession is gonna eat her up.

Maybe I missed something but how did TeamSwole end up on the last plane. Did they get to the travel agency last? They were in good spirits for the race and applaud them for not freaking out or worrying about being in last place. So mad respect to them for that.

TeamMom&Dad excuse the cab driver for not wanting to go over the speed limit and possibly getting pulled over or a car accident, and from what I saw, you weren't wearing seatbelts in the cab. I forgot that season where 2 teams were pulled over for speeding and had to pay the ticket at the police station wasting valuable time.

Brazil is so beautiful, it's one of the places I want to visit so badly. One of the places that's on my bucket list.

Let's not forget that Joe on Team MomandDad is a cop. Funny he was advocating so strongly for breaking the speed limit.

[PaperTree]

12 minutes ago, seasquared said:

Let's not forget that Joe on Team MomandDad is a cop. Funny he was advocating so strongly for breaking the speed limit.

Massachusetts, where speed limits truly are just suggestions.  It's crazy up there.  I'm going through it in 2 weeks and need to mentally prepare for the adventure :)

[AZChristian]

5 minutes ago, PaperTree said:

Massachusetts, where speed limits truly are just suggestions . . . 

As are red lights.

[mishap]

I'm not a fan of teams working together on this show.  I know, they can run the race however they want, but that is a strategy I don't like.  

I don't care for the intentional misleading of other teams either, but it's also not great racing to be asking other teams for help.  So I guess if you do that, you are taking a chance. 

I thought Elbow's whining was going to be my biggest complaint on this episode, until Nuts got pinched, or squashed, or whatever happened.  My first instinct is that he was being a huge baby, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt.   Maybe he had a real problem.   But no... and his attitude got nothing but worse.  I wonder what Phil really wanted to say to him.  lol 

[chaifan]

I got the impression that the "coin flip" agreement was for the situation where they were both actually racing to the sign up sheet at the same time, to avoid the crashes and snatching away of tags/markers like we've seen before.  If that's the case, then yeah, I have no problem with it and that was an adult thing to agree on.  But it makes no sense to apply it to a situation where one team arrives and the other isn't even in sight. 

[Netfoot]

12 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

"I'm afraid of heights". Gah, so why are you on The Amazing Race? Have you never seen this show??

I'm not too fond of heights either, but I wouldn't refuse a chance to Race!

12 hours ago, PaperTree said:

Well this has to be a first!  I don't think anybody has caught their junk in a harness before and cried like a baby.

This is one instance where the Nutcracker doesn't become a Prince...

12 hours ago, Maverick said:

It's a shame they stayed and the two women were eliminated.  They could have gotten better as the Race went.

I too, would have preferred if Crushed Nuts had been eliminated.  Along with (unless I am mistaken) Face Plant.

12 hours ago, sinycalone said:

Sara lied to the Swole Sisters....but I'm not sure it caused the women to lose this leg.  However, it's one thing to outright lie and another to just avoid giving an answer, which is what most teams have done in the past.

As I've said often enough before, were I on this race, I would lie about everything to everyone.  If you asked me the time, I'd lie to you.  In fact, the only exception to lying would be if I figured that telling the truth would be more disruptive and confusing, somehow.

11 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

As always, "I'm an Alpha male" is code for "I'm an asshole".

In this instance, Art imitates Life.

[proserpina65]

12 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

"I'm afraid of heights". Gah, so why are you on The Amazing Race? Have you never seen this show??

He did say he wanted to conquer that fear, and although he was in tears, he just sucked it up and did it.  Unlike Shamir and his broken balls.

 

Quote

Speaking of babies, Brooke - you don't need to try to 'keep up' when running because your elbow hurts. Scott is high strung, yes, but I'd rather be paired with him then hear her complain all the time.

I agree about the complaining, but I think she might have done something more serious to her elbow; it looked like she was having trouble moving it.

[survivinmt]

Sao Paulo is crazy! It looks like a college campus that never ends. Brazil looks great but not sure about that city.

The coin flip deal was so stupid. Obviously you only say yes so that if the other team is lame enough to do wait for you, you benefit. I have a tough time believing Ashton would have waited around to flip a coin.

Didn't they have to come back to the heliport the next day? I thought that the SwoleSisters were caught in rush hour traffic because they had a later flight so left their overnight accommodations later, so that is a little on them if they didn't account for that. And how they didn't see the bicyclist is baffling. There was only one person riding a bike anywhere around them when they showed her a couple of times. It wasn't like there were many and she was hard to pick out. They didn't even look closely the one time I swear they watched her ride right by. I like(d) that team, but not very good racers.

As Miss Alli from TWOP used to say - Never complain about something that others are experiencing too. Now, in Shamir's defense his harness and personal situation could have different from others' slightly, but plenty of other guys got through it just then too. And for Shamir to be giving Phil trouble as though they set up some kind of unfair task was RIDICULOUS. And now I am questioning all of Shamir's activities - how hard and wrong must he have been hitting that drum to damage his hand like that? Grinding teeth intenseness! Colin is my hero! My balls are broken!

[Wings]

I was shocked that the window could be broken by a punch, swinging from a cable, no less!  Hopefully the inner pain is stronger so those inside the building are safe from some asshole punching a hole and tossing you to the ground.  

Shamir's display of anger was inexcusable.  Pouting on the mat to Phil was childish.  No one was out to get you, Shamir.  Phil was bothered by it and tried to pull that out of his partner but fearing repercussion, she held back her tears.

Ashton, get over it, holding a grudge will only hurt you.  

I was VERY impressed with Scott battling his fear and sticking to the challenge.  Bravo.  

[Wings]

Who are Wuss Street, Shamir and Sara? 

[Lady Calypso]

7 minutes ago, wings707 said:

Who are Wuss Street, Shamir and Sara? 

Just Shamir, actually. I'm sometimes great with nicknames, but this one definitely doesn't flow right.

[RealReality]

The coin toss idea was stupid.  Having said that, once you agreed to it, you should stick to it.  

As others have pointed out, I agree it was unnecessary to break a promise and make enemies where you didn't need to.

It'll be interesting if it comes back to bite them in the ass.

[Jobiska]

I really admired Shamir this episode...that fluent Spanish at the beginning.  Hardly had I gotten that observation out of my mouth before he dissed the poor travel agent, and then as you all know it was all downhill from there.  Wish it had been someone else with the language skills, so I could continue to admire!

[meep.meep]

I think we have dubbed Shamir "the Wuss of Wall Street" - there is no team Wuss Street.  Sara doesn't deserve to be on a team called that.

I've met other alpha males who, like Shamir, seemed unable to handle a little pain.  One guy had been the center on his high school football team and nearly called an ambulance when he tripped playing tennis.

13 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

"I'm afraid of heights". Gah, so why are you on The Amazing Race? Have you never seen this show??

One of the best players in the history of Amazing Race, Oswald, was deathly afraid of heights.  Watch his bungy jump some time - he actually climbs up his partner Danny while doing the jump.  If you have a weakness, you hope your partner doesn't have the same one.

[Eolivet]

When we were going through the new 30-minute drama, As the Balls Turn, I did wonder how this would've been addressed had the show aired at 8PM. I pictured an over-dub of Shamir yelling "Ow! My twig-and-berries!"

8 hours ago, etagloh said:

Lots and lots of alpha-male types (even though that's a BS concept) who seem to be blowing up, and lots of Survivor "let's deliberately screw others" tactics on display in TAR.

Worlds Apart 2, I swear. Some of them even match the attitude of the original "Dirty 30."

[RealReality]

13 minutes ago, Jobiska said:

I really admired Shamir this episode...that fluent Spanish at the beginning.  Hardly had I gotten that observation out of my mouth before he dissed the poor travel agent, and then as you all know it was all downhill from there.  Wish it had been someone else with the language skills, so I could continue to admire!

his annoyance with the travel agent was the only thing that I could understand about the situation.  If I was in a race, and I'm watching you type 5 wpm booking my flight and I ended up losing my ticket on the first plane because of it I would be annoyed too.  If you're going to take a job that involves typing, you should probably learn something besides the hunt and peck method.

[milner]

I am surprised that you could break a window in a skyscraper that easily.  Surely they get bumped and knocked by people in the building as well as battered by wind  and hail in storms. Maybe they were put there by the show already dirtied up etc and for some reason were breakable.  That might explain no penalty.   I have seen a lot of burglars on tv shows having to work a lot harder to break glass on a normal house. 

[thefog]

1 hour ago, wings707 said:

Ashton, get over it, holding a grudge will only hurt you.  

I wouldn't expect anyone in that situation just to get over it and pretend as if nothing happened.   Sure, it was a dumb bet begin with, but it was just as dumb for the guys to make enemies so soon.  Now, they have a target on their back.

Edited April 7, 2017 by escape

[vousviou]

22 minutes ago, milner said:

I am surprised that you could break a window in a skyscraper that easily.  Surely they get bumped and knocked by people in the building as well as battered by wind  and hail in storms. Maybe they were put there by the show already dirtied up etc and for some reason were breakable.  That might explain no penalty.   I have seen a lot of burglars on tv shows having to work a lot harder to break glass on a normal house. 

And birds fly into them all the time too.  They're usually designed to withstand a whole lot, both because you don't want people in the building breaking through and you don't want people on the ground to be hit by anything coming out of the building.  Also, there's a lot of stress generated by high rises as buildings move in the wind and any ground movement, and you don't want windows shattering easily.

[Rachel RSL]

27 minutes ago, milner said:

I am surprised that you could break a window in a skyscraper that easily.  Surely they get bumped and knocked by people in the building as well as battered by wind  and hail in storms. Maybe they were put there by the show already dirtied up etc and for some reason were breakable.  That might explain no penalty.   I have seen a lot of burglars on tv shows having to work a lot harder to break glass on a normal house. 

I once lightly tapped on my window to shoo away a pigeon on the ledge and the entire thing cracked. I couldn't believe it. (And I didn't think my landlord would believe it either so I told her a bird flew into it.) But I guess if you hit a window in just the right spot, that can happen.

[AZChristian]

And these buildings (and the glass) were not built to American safety standards.  

[vousviou]

1 hour ago, RealReality said:

The coin toss idea was stupid.  Having said that, once you agreed to it, you should stick to it.  

As others have pointed out, I agree it was unnecessary to break a promise and make enemies where you didn't need to.

It'll be interesting if it comes back to bite them in the ass.

I don't think it was their intention, but it's not a bad strategy to make a fairly low risk offer early on.  You get a sense of what their motivations are and you get a sense of how strategic they are.  The boys broke their word, and now the word is probably out to other teams that they're not trustworthy and also not particularly clever.  Again, I don't think it was A and V's intention, but they've actually come out ahead.

[CaioF]

Poor Sara, being pared with this big cry baby that unless he gets a confortable and smooth race he gets angry and even break stuff (I agree that he should have got a penalty for break the window). Actually, I wish there could be a way only him could get a penalty and Sara could get a new partner.

What lessons we got from this episode? 1- Don´t get too cocky for having a lead/dont mess up with another team this early unless you´re racing for last, 2- Have fun/confortable with your partner with the race but not too much to the point that doesnt seem you are racing for 1 million dollars (thats what sent the first two teams home).

Glad that we are having a wide open race and that the top 2 teams of this week were the opposite ones/the ones that struggled on leg 1.

PS: Since I live in Brazil, just to clarify: That type of gym is not a common thing here, like, I never saw one btw.. We actually have normal gyms, specially in Sao Paulo with those very fancy ones.. I get what they choosed it as a challenge, but it was a little bit out of reality context.

PS2: Can you imagine if Shamir and Brooke were paired together?

Edited April 7, 2017 by CaioF

[vousviou]

1 hour ago, proserpina65 said:

He did say he wanted to conquer that fear, and although he was in tears, he just sucked it up and did it.  Unlike Shamir and his broken balls.

 

I agree about the complaining, but I think she might have done something more serious to her elbow; it looked like she was having trouble moving it.

The comments of others about Phil's reaction leads me to agree that he was wildly overreacting.  However, I will say that when a guy is genuinely feeling that kind of pain, it's crippling.  He didn't seem to be working very hard to get the harness adjusted when he had the chance, though, so I wouldn't be suprised if there was another issue he was hiding, such as fear of heights.

I agree that the elbow looked bad.  If it's broken or dislocated, she's not going to finish the race. 

[Wandering Snark]

3 hours ago, Merneith said:

4. I have no problem with Sara's shadiness towards the Swole Sisters, given that the marked bicycle was literally two feet away and desperately trying to peddle slower the whole time.

I was waiting for her to just stop and ring a bell or something... she passed a few times while they were talking even.

As for the elbow I'm not sure if it would keep her from the race. I have a very vague memory (they only mentioned it in passing) of an older racer who once tore an achilles, that definitely will keep you from racing.

Edited April 7, 2017 by Wandering Snark

[vousviou]

1 hour ago, meep.meep said:

One of the best players in the history of Amazing Race, Oswald, was deathly afraid of heights.  Watch his bungy jump some time - he actually climbs up his partner Danny while doing the jump.  If you have a weakness, you hope your partner doesn't have the same one.

What I liked about this challenge was that it was more than just rappelling or ziplining or bungee jumping, and contestants actually had to do something reasonably challenging while they were up there.  Too often it's just a chance to show off some scenery and there's no opportunity for lead changes as long as nobody completely freaks out.  This one, though, actually affected the order of the finish.

[Lady Calypso]

3 minutes ago, vousviou said:

The comments of others about Phil's reaction leads me to agree that he was wildly overreacting.  However, I will say that when a guy is genuinely feeling that kind of pain, it's crippling.  He didn't seem to be working very hard to get the harness adjusted when he had the chance, though, so I wouldn't be suprised if there was another issue he was hiding, such as fear of heights.

I don't know what it is like to be a guy, so I can't speak on the pain that he was feeling. I can only judge from Shamir's reaction as well as the other guys' reactions. However, with Logan and Phil both basically shading Shamir for his overreaction, I do lean toward Shamir going over the top with spending presumably more than a few minutes in the ambulance. Sara seemed annoyed that he was spending so much time in the ambulance, just as annoyed as she was for him standing outside the building, looking at it after his fourth attempt for a few minutes. 

I think he just had a very panicky moment because he might not have ever felt that pain before. That's fine; however, his attitude at the mat really brought down any sympathy I MIGHT have given to him. I'm usually the type to give people the benefit of the doubt, but it's harder to give Shamir sympathy when he was grumbling to Phil and there is a reason why Phil spent so much time on the subject at the mat.

[LotusFlower]

21 minutes ago, vousviou said:

The comments of others about Phil's reaction leads me to agree that he was wildly overreacting.  However, I will say that when a guy is genuinely feeling that kind of pain, it's crippling.  He didn't seem to be working very hard to get the harness adjusted when he had the chance, though, so I wouldn't be suprised if there was another issue he was hiding, such as fear of heights.

I'll also add that The Amazing Editors made sure to give us a bunch of close-ups of Shamir's hand with one or two small cuts against a background of his moaning after the samba/drum task (with his partner trying hard not to roll her eyes), so he might just be a complainer (a/k/a wuss).

[valen]

It's dumb to put a target on your back this early in the race with a broken promise. It's equally dumb to expect another team to arrive at a sign up sheet and stand around and wait for you to sign it first, especially if you are nowhere in sight. Although not coming in last matters most, first place often has great prizes, including thousands of dollars in cash. There was no reason for either of those teams to make that deal. 

[CaioF]

It seems like at that moment when he asked for the doors to be closed/cameras to go away that Shamir not only wanted someone to take care of his balls, but that he probably threatened the producers to leave the race and they had to persuade him to keep going. Thats probably why Phil asked if he still wanted to still in the race.

From producers stand point, while they for sure got mad with him and could let him go away/get a pennalty, find a way to keep Saara with another one (specially this season random partners going on) but they probably gave priority on keep him for drama. They will explore him exploding the most they can (as we already saw on the preview for next episode). Talking about changing partners, I was wondering if they could add another thing to the race, were the team that wins it, could swap other team partners or themselves at one point (of course, it would need to be something really worthy to get, not a given prise like the express pass was this season). Having a U-Turn so early, maybe there will be something else going further?

Edited April 7, 2017 by CaioF

[Wings]

1 hour ago, escape said:

I wouldn't expect anyone in that situation just to get over it and pretend as if nothing happened.   Sure, it was a dumb bet begin with, but it was just as dumb for the guys to make enemies so soon.  Now, they have a target on their back.

 No pretending necessary.  They both realized it was a stupid plan.   Better to put that on the table, shake hands and move on.  Be the racers that everyone likes and might help if it comes down to that.   

[shura]

47 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

I think he just had a very panicky moment because he might not have ever felt that pain before.

Yeah, if that guy has never been kicked in the nuts, then he must have only been around people with tremendous self-control. Even the native-looking greeter fellow looked like he was trying hard not to give it a go.

[azshadowwalker]

3 hours ago, chaifan said:

I got the impression that the "coin flip" agreement was for the situation where they were both actually racing to the sign up sheet at the same time, to avoid the crashes and snatching away of tags/markers like we've seen before.  If that's the case, then yeah, I have no problem with it and that was an adult thing to agree on.  But it makes no sense to apply it to a situation where one team arrives and the other isn't even in sight. 

Except the dudes flat-out stated that, while they weren't going to do it, they expected the other team to wait if they arrived first. Those dudes are dicks, and I want them to take Shamir and leave. 

[Wings]

2 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

Just Shamir, actually. I'm sometimes great with nicknames, but this one definitely doesn't flow right.

I have trouble keeping nicknames straight, it is enough to remember their real names at this point.   I agree that this one is not right.  He is on the wrong show for his attitude; MTV is a better fit for him.   Too bad for Sara, I like her.  

[CaioF]

17 minutes ago, azshadowwalker said:

Except the dudes flat-out stated that, while they weren't going to do it, they expected the other team to wait if they arrived first. Those dudes are dicks, and I want them to take Shamir and leave. 

Exactly. Stupid deal? Yes, but they both agreed with it and they stated they expected the other team to wait for them (wondering how they would react have the other team got there first and broke their deal). They just got really cocky by having that lead/expected to take this leg with no competition. Not only they had to swallow a third place behind the team they deceived, but they raised a big target on their back from the U-turns and other teams might not trust on them anymore (save the lies for strategic moments, either later on or for a extreme case). And we couldnt even blame teams to have them as a target, cause they can easily get perceived as a strong team, on the top of that now they showed they shouldnt be trusted! It is a bad strategy to hold a grudge against weak teams/waste U-turn on them. But on this two, I wouldnt think twice before U-Turn them  cause I would know that I was getting rid of a strong team (if there was a really good chance of them placing last, not having a second U-Turn wide open).

This is not just a straight race, this is a game too! Use well your cards otherwise...

Edited April 7, 2017 by CaioF