S30.E03: It's Gonna Be a Fragrant Day

[iMonrey]

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I don't know why Phil, and others, keep making references to Evan and Henry's lack of physicality.  Both look like they're fit, and they aren't 98 lb weaklings. ‘

Agreed. Even if they aren't gym rats they're young, healthy and fit. They certainly are in better shape than Cecil the former Pro Athlete everyone assumes will be Big and Strong. 

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However, while the gnome task was great, I think it was a terrible presentation.   We saw the gnomes getting zip lines but then after that because of editing cuts, it was just racers saying "this is confusing, it's a maze, is it here, is it there" and then a cut to them climbing to the roof.  Then repeat for the second zip line.  Then repeat trying to get back to the start.   Would have made for a lot more interesting viewing if maybe they had shown us a overhead screenshot or map showing where they were in relation to the gnome and how to get where they needed to go.

That's an excellent point. Visually the challenge was confusing and not terribly compelling. I was confused by who was working with who - at one point it seems like one of the violinists (whichever was running the Roadblock) was teamed up with Jessica and two others but then he broke off and wound up in 4th place somehow? I couldn't make heads nor tails of it.

[Charlesman]

21 hours ago, ByaNose said:

Next week is 2 hours. I doubt they would do DE again so close, right? So 2 teams will be going out back to back? That will leave 7 Teams left. Man! That’s practically half the show.

 

SURVIVOR is returning to the timeslot on February 28th, so there's just 5 weeks of TAR episodes left. 

[gryphon]

On 1/17/2018 at 8:17 PM, Lady Calypso said:

They're cats, man! Cute little cats! I'd be distracted too.

YES!  Awww, kitty.   That black and white one was looking at the stacked fish like, "Ok, you're done with mine.  Now do yours." 

Exhausting episode plus mesmerizing streets and scenery. And a chaotic marketplace! And Phil pointing!  Liking teams Yale and Slam, but I don't have a favorite yet.  

Glad it was a non elim. 

[Falafel]

I came here to wonder why Cedric wore his backpack for the entire detour and I see everyone else noticed that but no one knows why he did it. I assume maybe it was just a mental lapse, like he had it on and forgot to take it off, and once the detour started he just kept it on, not realizing how long and physical it would be. At first, I figured they just had to go to the first roof -- going to three locations surprised me. Even all the racers who did the detour without their bags seemed exhausted. I would be so terrible at this show.

Edited January 20, 2018 by Falafel

[aradia22]

Wow. Africa already. OK.

LOL at Well-Strung's reaction to the question of whether they speak French or Spanish. "Bonjour. Hola." Well, that's one way of figuring it out. XD

It was nice to see teams that actually speak some Arabic (instead of teams that yell at everyone in Spanish). What are the rules on buying a dictionary in the airport before you head to a country? I do think not watching BB is helping me out because Cody and Jessica are pretty likable on TAR. Bringing up his military service, they're definitely giving him a good edit. Also, like Jess, I would have gotten distracted by the kitties.

They did an excellent job filming all the establishing shots in Morocco. 

The gnome!

I don't love all the teams bunching up/working together but it can't be helped. With that task I guess it was somewhat unavoidable. There's way no breaking ahead and running away from the pack to figure it out yourself since the other rooftop wasn't that far away. You would have just seemed like a weirdo. And it makes sense to take turns instead of shoving in a mad rush and making enemies/possibly injuring yourself or another racer. But somehow the NBA player figured it out on his own and broke ahead. Also, you could see that he had an advantage once he was ahead because he could see the other racers' gnomes go down the zipline overhead.

Everyone seems relatively fit but I just realized this episode that Cedric is probably a good deal older than the other racers. I will try to cut him some slack now when he complains.  

I enjoyed all the motivated running around. Good challenge. The detour was an interesting choice. I imagine a lot of them would have avoided dancing but it seemed like a good alternative after all that running around. Though they really weren't strict about the "dancing." I thought they would make them learn a routine.

I still don't love Evan and Henry but good for them. I think they remind me too much of Vanck and Ashton through no fault of their own. But also I find her a little fake. 

I'm starting to like the race car drivers. They've got jokes. I don't know which one is Kristi and which one is Jen but I like the younger one. I continue to like Well-Strung. I also like Jess and the Competitive Eaters. So leg 3 and I've finally got some people to root for. I'm sure at least some of them will do something to make me turn on them when KF hits but for now I'm at least feeling better about the season.

I figured NEL when they weren't ramping up the drama at the end. I would have been OK with an elimination if we lot Brittany but I'm OK with keeping the NBA players around. 

[aradia22]

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I also thought the detours were absurdly unequal. The "dancing" challenge didn't even involve learning any steps! Most of them seemed to attempt nothing more than a half-hearted shimmy--and why would they when all they had to do was find three words (and not even have to put them in order). Oh well.

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I think the detours were deliberately very unequal.  They were playing mind games with the teams...wording the clues ambiguously so that some teams would assume dancing skills would be involved.  Many times the detours involve a choice between a tough physical task that is very straightforward, or a challenge that will be subject to judging therefore could be very time consuming.  Not this time.

 

I agree that they were probably a bit misled by the clues (or the lack of being able to read the entire clue) into possibly choosing the harder detour. But I do think that one "challenging" aspect that didn't end up being relevant was the 'put on a silly outfit' part. But no one (read: none of the guys) who participated made a fuss about it. Now that I'm thinking about it, I wonder if they even had outfits big enough for the NBA guys.

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 For me, it's the Violinists/Team Well Strung that are the invisible ones.

I notice them as eye candy but they're not getting a lot of screen time. 

[aradia22]

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I don't see what's so offensive about their comment.  They called them wizards.  This indicates to me that they think they are smart and they were impressed with them.  Evan herself was pleased that they called them wizards.  Alex is an Indy 500 champion and he called two otherwise-nobodies from Yale "wizards".  It's not like he called them "nerds". 

Yeah, "wizards." Like tech wizards. Financial wizards. He didn't call them basement-dwelling Dungeons and Dragons playing hobbits. 

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I don't know why Phil, and others, keep making references to Evan and Henry's lack of physicality.  Both look like they're fit, and they aren't 98 lb weaklings. 

Yeah, they both seem relatively fit compared to the average person. But they obviously wouldn't be a match for professional athletes or guys like Cody or the Well-Strung team who work out more like bodybuilders than people who are just trying to stay in shape. 

[jhlipton]

3 hours ago, aradia22 said:

he had an advantage once he was ahead because he could see the other racers' gnomes go down the zipline overhead.

That was my favorite part of the Roadblock!  "I think it's this way..."  Looks up at the Gnome flying the other way... "Oh, wait.."

[LoreliLee]

On 1/18/2018 at 9:59 PM, LittleIggy said:

Those cats and kittens were so cute! I would have been tossing fish to them.

I think those cats get plenty to eat at the waterfront. 

Saw a film called last year, ‘gedi’. You all would love it. 

[Vantraveller]

On 1/19/2018 at 3:17 PM, chaifan said:

 

If Evan & Henry had to wait 3 hours for the yoga goat girls for their frite race, and the yoga goat girls then had to wait 3 hours for the firefighters, that would put the firefighters 6 hours behind everyone.  I can't believe that there was only one flight option from Belgium to Tangiers that allowed everyone to rebunch at the airport with a 6 hour difference in starting times (during normal hours, the first team left around 7am).  Since TAR hasn't been showing the actual departure times for all teams this season, I think something's up with that.

 

The firefighters would still be only 3 hours behind the 2nd last team. Say Evan and Henry arrived at 12.00 and waited until 3.00 for the yoga goats, that means the firefighters arrived at 6.00. But Evan and Henry didn't FINISH until 3.00 putting the firefighters only 3 hours behind. However, it does mean that both firefighters AND Yale were 6 hours behind everyone else.

[AZChristian]

12 hours ago, Falafel said:

I came here to wonder why Cedric wore his backpack for the entire detour and I see everyone else noticed that but no one knows why he did it. I assume maybe it was just a mental lapse, like he had it on and forgot to take it off, and once the detour started he just kept it on, not realizing how long and physical it would be. At first, I figured they just had to go to the first roof -- going to three locations surprised me. Even all the racers who did the detour without their bags seemed exhausted. I would be so terrible at this show.

Maybe he's overly careful about the rules, after their 30-minute penalty on the "letters" challenge???  Better safe than sorry, so he carried the backpack just to be sure.

[Lantern7]

@snappy : PM coming your way.

I haven't been paying attention to Travelocity commercials. Do they still have the talking gnome? I'd wonder if they could bring in plush gnomes that talk what you squeeze 'em, but then we wouldn't have the suspense of their possibly breaking, so that's probably never going to happen on TAR.

[sinycalone]

I agree with those who've posted that they didn't see anything offensive about the the Indy Racers calling the Yalies "wizards."  As noted, Evan seemed pleased with the comment.

[Silly Angel]

On 1/18/2018 at 9:12 AM, sigmaforce86 said:

The hills are bad but then you realize the steps will get you too!  When I toured the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona and wound up in one of the towers the only way down was a winding staircase, you'd think down would be easy but short twirling stairs that just go on and on......when I got to the bottom I had to walk back and forth on flat ground for about 5 minutes because my thighs just completely cramped.  And the racers had the heat to deal with besides!

Oof, Sagrada Familia. Try climbing all those stairs after having a 2-inch needle plunged into your thigh. (Not very interesting story: Went to Barthelona for, like, $2.99 right after 9/11 when prices were really low, with husband, best friend, and his NIH immunologist partner. We met a friend for tapas and I had a small octopus salad, which must have contained mussels, to which I am deathly allergic. Woke up around 5 with my throat swelling shut, so husband slams the Epipen into my leg and off we go to that day's site--Sagrada Familia. I am limping gamely but with obvious pain up each staircase and immunologist sidles up behind me, taking the steps two at a time, and whispers, "Got shot up last night, sweetie?")

Anyway, I'm so glad Leelee Sobeiski and her debate boyfriend came in first! They really rallied after last week's grueling frite-race thingy. Also glad it was a NEL, which I kind of suspected, because usually it's the fourth episode of a season but the racers don't experience the legs as cleanly as we do, I don't think, and I suspect that the damn fries challenge took much longer than expected. First the ring girls, then Team Women & Women & Goats First, Slum Dunkers still in it... this is shaping up to be an emotionally satisfying season. It helps that I've never seen Big Brother, so I'm not annoyed by Cody and Jessica, especially since Cody speaks a little Arabic and is humble about it, and Jessica helped Brittany, despite what Brittany has to say about it.

[LoreliLee]

15 hours ago, LoreliLee said:

Saw a film called last year, ‘gedi’. You all would love it. 

I really shouldn’t post when I’m half-asleep. The film is “Kedi”, a documentary from 2016. It’s about cats in Istanbul, Turkey & how they interact with & are supported by the community. Don’t have to be a cat lover to enjoy this wonderful film.  ? 

[green]

5 hours ago, sinycalone said:

I agree with those who've posted that they didn't see anything offensive about the the Indy Racers calling the Yalies "wizards."  As noted, Evan seemed pleased with the comment.

Oh totally.  The Indy guys were giving the Yale team props.

[Wandering Snark]

I kind of got the feeling during this leg that in the Yalies' relationship she is a bit more fond of him than he is of her... she's always kissing him and putting her arms around him and very demonstrative that she's very fond of him and he seems to just never reciprocate.

[Lady Calypso]

2 minutes ago, Wandering Snark said:

I kind of got the feeling during this leg that in the Yalies' relationship she is a bit more fond of him than he is of her... she's always kissing him and putting her arms around him and very demonstrative that she's very fond of him and he seems to just never reciprocate.

I thought so at first but I decided to think about it. Maybe he's not as comfortable with PDA on camera as she is? I thought about if I was doing something like this with a significant other, and if he preferred PDA, I'd definitely be uncomfortable. Henry could be very similar as well. Other than this, they seem to be happy and comfortable with each other. I also notice that they are very encouraging with each other. It's nice, actually. 

[aradia22]

This is part of the "fake" vibe I'm getting from her but I think she's intentionally demonstrative for the camera. But their relationship seems fine. 

[Miles]

On 18.1.2018 at 3:03 AM, weightyghost said:

I also don't like Brittany and her desperate need for a proposal so I could be biased. 

Is she one of those? I must have missed that. I can't really understand that and never have, the multiple times it has come up on TAR. This show started after the year 2000. It's not the dark ages anymore. Ladies, if you want a proposal, you do the proposing. It's that simple. If he says no, at least you know where you are at.

On 18.1.2018 at 4:58 AM, Silver Raven said:

I'm surprised anybody even thought of doing the food delivery task.

The clues aren't always very clear.

Also often the physical task can be finished quicker than the needle in a haystack. This just happened to be a very small haystack.

On 19.1.2018 at 7:15 PM, blackwing said:

Would have made for a lot more interesting viewing if maybe they had shown us a overhead screenshot or map showing where they were in relation to the gnome and how to get where they needed to go.

I really liked that task overall and the fact that it gave plenty of opportunity for the teams to shuffle. But you are right, an oerhead view would have made this one a lot better and less confusing. It's also not like in the olden days, when TAR first started and you had to rent a helicopter for overhead shots. Now you just strap an HD cam to a drone and off you go. They have actually done that before on TAR, if I remember correctly. Couldn't they get a license for that or something? Seems weird that they wouldn't have done everything in their power to get that done, as it would have made the task look a lot better.

[aradia22]

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Is she one of those? I must have missed that. I can't really understand that and never have, the multiple times it has come up on TAR. This show started after the year 2000. It's not the dark ages anymore. Ladies, if you want a proposal, you do the proposing. It's that simple. If he says no, at least you know where you are at.

I think they only brought it up once or twice to let us know he's going to propose on the race. Also, she's been waiting for NINE years. Anyway, I find her general personality more annoying than any of that. 

[valen]

I actually like Brittany and her enthusiasm for the race. She's a life guard so that's where her "competitiveness" comes in. I respect that more than competitive eating.

[Miles]

1 hour ago, aradia22 said:

Also, she's been waiting for NINE years.

Again, why would she wait for NINE years, instead of proposing herself? I don't get that.

I like her well enough otherwise, but that stuff really grinds my gears.

[Jael]

16 hours ago, aradia22 said:

This is part of the "fake" vibe I'm getting from her but I think she's intentionally demonstrative for the camera. But their relationship seems fine. 

I agree; assuming their relationship is fine unless we get clear evidence otherwise. Romantic couples are largely damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't as far as PDAs go on the Mat -- either they smush their faces together and people say "Too much!" or they do a polite peck/shoulder bump/hug and people say "Eh, I'm not convinced they're really together." (or both, it's the internet.)

[chaifan]

Re: comments on Brittany's "desperate need" for a proposal - I could have missed it, but I haven't seen her make any comments along those lines.  Lucas mentioned in the first ep that he brought along a ring to propose on the race, but I haven't heard her do the "but he hasn't aaaaasked me yet" whine at all, and I don't get this vibe from her.   Maybe she's "waited" nine years because she doesn't care about getting married.  Maybe she's not actually "waiting" for anything. 

[Whimsy]

Let’s remember to stay on topic and stay civil. Some posts have been removed for violating that rule or for responding to the rule breaking post. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

On 1/21/2018 at 8:54 PM, Wandering Snark said:

I kind of got the feeling during this leg that in the Yalies' relationship she is a bit more fond of him than he is of her... she's always kissing him and putting her arms around him and very demonstrative that she's very fond of him and he seems to just never reciprocate.

 

On 1/21/2018 at 9:06 PM, Lady Calypso said:

I thought so at first but I decided to think about it. Maybe he's not as comfortable with PDA on camera as she is? I thought about if I was doing something like this with a significant other, and if he preferred PDA, I'd definitely be uncomfortable. Henry could be very similar as well. Other than this, they seem to be happy and comfortable with each other. I also notice that they are very encouraging with each other. It's nice, actually. 

I just assumed that either he isn't as comfortable with PDA in general or more specifically that he's not comfortable with it knowing that they're being filmed. I am very affectionate with Mr. EB but when we had our engagement photos done, the photographer kept telling us to kiss and I was very self conscious knowing that there was a camera pointed at us. I know many racers have said that they forget the cameras are there after a certain point, but I have a feeling that if I were on TAR, I would be very aware of the cameras while doing things like kissing my significant other.

[Brookside]

I get that you can barf from fatigue, certain foods, or whatever, but please, Mr Very Unimpressive Former Basketball Player,  don't do it in the middle of the pavement or, worse, on the fishing nets.  At least take yourself over to the side of the road.

Did Brittany (?) ever learn that nobody understood her in Spanish?

[green]

5 hours ago, Brookside said:

I get that you can barf from fatigue, certain foods, or whatever, but please, Mr Very Unimpressive Former Basketball Player,  don't do it in the middle of the pavement or, worse, on the fishing nets.  At least take yourself over to the side of the road.

Did Brittany (?) ever learn that nobody understood her in Spanish?

Brittany was totally completely understood by the women who were helping her all of which were speaking to her in Spanish.  Since Tangier used to be part of Spanish Morocco (I posted earlier about how it was a Spanish colony instead of a French one) that was not surprising.

[Brookside]

5 hours ago, green said:

Brittany was totally completely understood by the women who were helping her all of which were speaking to her in Spanish.  Since Tangier used to be part of Spanish Morocco (I posted earlier about how it was a Spanish colony instead of a French one) that was not surprising.

Thanks for the info.  Interesting how many languages they have going on there.

[ProfCrash]

As Green said, Brittany was conversing with people in Spanish. And even if the locals did not speak Spanish, there are enough similarities that someone could probably get by in a French, Italian or other Romance Language country with Spanish. While there are differences, and some of them are big, there are enough similarities that you could bumble through.  I am pleased to see the number of teams that have someone on them who can speak another language, or at least communicate in a different language. I cannot expect them to know the language for every country they go to but I don't see a problem with someone asking if people speak language X, in this case Spanish, even in a place where said language is not the national language. You never know who is going to speak the language you know and might be able to translate for you.  I know that I found a ticket agent who spoke Italian at the train station in Paris, but not English. I handled my transaction and then translated for a bunch of Americans and Brits who did not speak French or Italian. Why not give it a shot?

It seems to me like we are pretty hard on the Racers. Most of the teams butcher the names of the places they are traveling to and they are mocked for it. If you don't know the language and you are not great at geography you are likely to mispronounce the name of your destination. I don't see that as all that awful or even egregious. I see it as normal and understandable, especially since Production insists that they read the entire clue for the camera. I suspect that most of the racers would choose to read what they could pronounce and just point to the things that they cannot. People don't speak language X and they receive crap because they try a different language. At least they know enough of a second language to try it and are not simply running around yelling in English for help.

I could never go on Reality TV, I would be massacred. Although I do know how to drive using a stick shift.