S30.E06: The Claws Are Out!

[EVS]

1 hour ago, Lakebum said:

Six episodes... :-)

What a coincidence!  That’s also the answer to the question, “How long has Brittany been getting on my (EVS’s) nerves?”

[lexington11]

1 hour ago, amazingracefan said:

 

 

Well from my background I like the competitive US shows, I see enough team shows from other places (like UK).

And I really don't think there is another actual race show out there.  The Amazing Race feels unique in that respect.  There were some attempts at race shows back when more ideas were being tried out in reality tv (most over 10 years ago), but none of that from what I've either seen or just read (it's hard to see older reality shows) lasted much more than a season.

And the thing I find the most hilarious about all the fans whining about how Jessica & Cody are being "mean" by not giving other teams the answer during the roadblock or by using a U-turn to keep themselves out of last place is that both events are not even a blip on the radar when it comes to playing dirty on the race. I remember the very first season I watched live (which wasn't season 1, btw), I inadvertently got a crash course in how to use as many questionable tactics as possible while technically not doing anything that would result in getting DQ'd or called out for rule breaking. All the people clutching their pearls over Jessica's so called low blows on this episode would have a coronary if they went back and watched that season.

[Miles]

On 1.2.2018 at 3:00 AM, Browncoat said:

I am sad to see Well Strung go.  They did an amazing job with the comeback, assuming I can believe the editing showing me that they and Big Brother were both looking for the pit stop at the same time. 

You can't. If it had been that close they would have ended up on the mat at the same time. Phil's mat-chat always takes a while, which is why you often see multiple teams on the mat, even if they are 5-10 minutes apart. But the lighting wasn't that much different when well strung arrived, compared to big brother, so I'd say they were probably within half an hour.

 

On 1.2.2018 at 4:09 AM, backformore said:

Doesn't it seem like some tasks are too easy this season? Maybe it's me, but it seems the local judges are no longer just saying No, without explanation. One example is the beer task. At least one team was told that the beer required a two finger foam head, after doing it wrong the first time. It seems to me that this is a change this season. I wonder if all teams are given the extra help.

That always depends on how much time the leg will take and how much time they have. Here they clearly didn't want to film into the night and when the last team arrived at the pitstop it was already late evening.

[snarts]

19 hours ago, green said:

And I've seen all season too.  But citing something this minor isn't within my abilities.  I just know I absolutely have seen it work.  Like I remember a few times commuter rail from an airport was faster than taking a taxi.  Where and when these occurred I can't say but it happen more than once for sure.  So we will agree to disagree.

I remember a couple occasions as well.  

[Miles]

43 minutes ago, snarts said:

I remember a couple occasions as well.  

If so many people can remember it working somebody has to remember a specific example, right?

I can tell you three examples of it not working out for the teams right now: Henry and Evan in this episode, well strung from this episode, Matt & Redmond (the boys) in leg 11 of amazing race 29.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Seeing how well the violinists did this week, especially with the u-turn, made me even sadder that they were eliminated. They didn't bicker, they didn't bitch, they didn't cause drama. They just did the tasks competently and quickly. They blazed through that lecture task, answering the first six questions easily. They only had to go back to the lecture to get the answer to the seventh question (and they clearly knew the answer to the eighth question).

That's no knock on the firefighters either because they just kept their heads down and kept going back to the lecture to get the next answer. They didn't whine or get angry. They just kept going back as many times as they needed in order to get all the answers they needed. Both teams sat attentively and listened politely and respectfully.

Brittany and Lucas made me roll my eyes with their behavior. Yes, brag about how you were "solid C students" who ditched class to go to the beach. You know, I ditched class to go to the beach too, but I still got As so it didn't hurt me to miss a lecture here or there.

I can't wait to hear if the Big Brother team admits to the others that they u-turned the violinists or if they will claim that they didn't.

[mertensia]

And I'm a B/C student who loves learning and always went to classes. 

They'd be the same if they were natural A students. Learning isn't for them. 

[amazingracefan]

It was set up for two teams to get u-turned, which is really the point of the u-turn.  They split the flights so the teams at the back had to get the second plane.  The third to last team were stupid enough not to use the u-turn though.

[Bryce Lynch]

The Kafka task really brings out the cutthroat side of players.  Jessica is Dan 2.0.  I thought she was shrewder and on stronger moral ground than Dan ("It starts with an F.  That's all I'm saying.")

I was impressed that she could remember the real words and make up fake ones at the same time.

On 1/31/2018 at 9:03 PM, Haleth said:

Dang it. I know Cody and Jessica did nothing wrong by u turning a team or by withholding one word, but something about them rubs me the wrong way and I wish they had been eliminated instead of the violinists. 

I wanted the violinists and Cody and Jessica to advance.  They both raced well.

[ProfCrash]

3 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I can't wait to hear if the Big Brother team admits to the others that they u-turned the violinists or if they will claim that they didn't.

Everyone assumed that the people on the last flight would use the U-Turn. It sounds like all the people running the race this season are well aware that it is a race and a game and they understand game play. I don't think anyone will be upset with Big Brother for using the U-Turn. It made sense that someone from the second flight would use the U-Turn because it was going to be a tighter race for them. The people from the first flight would want to save the U-Turn for future use. It is probably more surprising that only one team used their U-Turn then Big Brother using it at all.

The only person who seems to be getting her panties in a bunch about anything is Brittney. There is a bonus clip where Cody was yelling for Alex because Alex had left his backpack at a location. Alex, maybe it was Conner but one of the Indy Car racers, realizes after they had taken off that he did not have his pack. The two of them head back to the area where the bags were and find Cody carrying his bag, running down the street yelling his name. This makes me think that the Indy Car guys are not going to be all that miffed about Jessica at the Detour and might have been playing along with Brittney because it was easier. Or taking in the info and adding it to their info bank but I doubt that Conner and Alex were all that worried about Cody and Jessica.

[Bryce Lynch]

On 1/31/2018 at 9:18 PM, Artsda said:

With how close the end came, Cody and Jess were right to u-turn.

Jess gave the other 2 the right answer in a race and they still are bitter over it? She should have ran out without giving them anything. 

ITA.  I can't stand Brittany.  She whined about Jessica "deceiving her" in a prior leg, when all she did was hold her Gnome for her while she dialed and now she whines that Jessica had the audacity to hold back her answer to give herself a one minute head start.

[Bryce Lynch]

On 2/1/2018 at 9:34 AM, sugarbaker design said:

Last name only.  Big Easy was given the letters AAFKK and told to unscramble them into a name.  He couldn't do it.

Actually it was the first name.  Big Easy had the letters RZNFA and couldn't unscramble them.

What made it worse that as Dan broke their deal to work together he said, "It starts with an F. That's all I'm saying." (The title quote).

IIRC, the approval stamp said Kafka.

Edited February 6, 2018 by Bryce Lynch

[Bryce Lynch]

On 2/1/2018 at 1:59 PM, Gummo said:

Maybe someone can help me out here --

Does anyone know how long Lucas & Brittany have been together??

 

[ducks & runs]

108 months.

468 weeks.

3,287 days (they have been together for 2 Leap Years!)

Edited February 5, 2018 by Bryce Lynch

[Bryce Lynch]

On 2/1/2018 at 7:05 PM, piequinn35 said:

whoops

 

T'he funny thing is that seeing "Henry & Evan" over those two looks more correct than over the real Henry & Evan.  I still can't get used to the idea of a woman named Evan.   Nothing wrong with it, but when I hear the names I expect an all male couple. 

[Special K]

1 hour ago, Bryce Lynch said:

T'he funny thing is that seeing "Henry & Evan" over those two looks more correct than over the real Henry & Evan.  I still can't get used to the idea of a woman named Evan.   Nothing wrong with it, but when I hear the names I expect an all male couple. 

Same here.  Every time I see "Henry and Evan" I think, "which is which again?" and then my brain goes "duh, Henry must be the guy, so I guess that means Evan is the girl."

[jhlipton]

17 hours ago, amazingracefan said:

And I really don't think there is another actual race show out there.  The Amazing Race feels unique in that respect.  There were some attempts at race shows back when more ideas were being tried out in reality tv (most over 10 years ago), but none of that from what I've either seen or just read (it's hard to see older reality shows) lasted much more than a season.

Replied in Small Talk

[blackwing]

17 hours ago, lexington11 said:

And the thing I find the most hilarious about all the fans whining about how Jessica & Cody are being "mean" by not giving other teams the answer during the roadblock or by using a U-turn to keep themselves out of last place is that both events are not even a blip on the radar when it comes to playing dirty on the race. I remember the very first season I watched live (which wasn't season 1, btw), I inadvertently got a crash course in how to use as many questionable tactics as possible while technically not doing anything that would result in getting DQ'd or called out for rule breaking. All the people clutching their pearls over Jessica's so called low blows on this episode would have a coronary if they went back and watched that season.

Not all.  I've been with the show since Day 1, through the initial low ratings, the disappearance from the schedule in the wake of preemptions post-9/11, and through today.  I certainly remember instances of dirty play.  Like having a cab driver take someone else's bags out of the cab and stealing the cab.  Or cancelling someone else's cab.  I would not exactly say I am "clutching pearls" over Jessica's play nor would I say I am having a coronary over it.  

I despise Brittany.  That said, I do think Jessica was playing dirty.  If she didn't want to share answers she shouldn't have agreed to work with her.  I know Brittany kind of pushed it onto her with "tell me what you have and I'll tell you if I have any you don't have".   Im not sure if Jessica was just whining/complaining about her progress, but when she said something like "I only have five words" it seemed like an invitation to either work together or at least get information about how far along the others were.  She could have kept it to herself or said that she was almost done and, sorry, it's a race.  But when she agreed to work with them (whether she explicitly said it or not, it seemed clear that she was working with them), she should have followed through instead of reneging.  It just makes her look bad.  

I'm all for the racers playing hard and not wanting to stay in an alliance like the Cho brothers and all kumbayaing and holding hands and stepping together onto the mat.  But if you're going to play aggressive and play to win, then own it.  Don't pretend to be friends and then back out.  Can't have it both ways.

[piequinn35]

3 hours ago, Bryce Lynch said:

T'he funny thing is that seeing "Henry & Evan" over those two looks more correct than over the real Henry & Evan.  I still can't get used to the idea of a woman named Evan.   Nothing wrong with it, but when I hear the names I expect an all male couple. 

The staff/editors might not know the names of the twins lol jk I just know them as twin firemen, is one named Eric? I don't know the name of the other one.

[UncleChuck]

Quote

I still can't get used to the idea of a woman named Evan. 

Probably easier than getting used to the idea of a woman named "Henry".

[dgpolo]

5 minutes ago, UncleChuck said:

Quote

I still can't get used to the idea of a woman named Evan. 

Probably easier than getting used to the idea of a woman named "Henry".

Evan Rachel Wood

[blackwing]

1 hour ago, dgpolo said:

Evan Rachel Wood

Pretty sure she put "Rachel" in there so that when she was an unknown, casting directors would know she was female.  Same thing with Sterling K Brown's wife, Ryan (traditional female name) (last name).

Re Henry and Evan, her name doesn't bother me.  There are so many traditional boy names that are or are turning into unisex or girl names these days that when my elementary school aged kids talk about a classmate, many times I find myself asking if it is a boy or a girl.  Dylan, Harper, Peyton, Ryan, Jordan, Avery, Logan.   What's in a name?  That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet.  

Or in Evan's case, foul.   Her personality bugs, not her name.

[Netfoot]

21 minutes ago, blackwing said:

Re Henry and Evan, her name doesn't bother me.

True, but if someone persisted in calling me "Hen" all the time, they would soon succumb to a bizarre accident!

[aradia22]

Evan uses too many words when fewer words would work just as well. I know. You went to Yale.

Eh. I wasn't crazy about this or that. ;) I like the contrast between a physical and a mental challenge but they weren't interesting to watch and I don't know if they were that challenging or fun for the racers. I didn't need to hear a flat-earther argument. How is that still a thing? Also, did they just start whenever a pair of racers ran in? I don't think they'd make them give that lecture to an empty room. 

I feel like there's really low-level drama with Henry and Evan but he just acquiesces and it's not that dramatic so we're not really seeing it on screen. The way they talk to each other is polite regardless but it's kind of... tense. 

It amused me that one twin has glasses. Does he always wear them? That was not a good approach to the task running back and forth but whatever. It made me laugh.

No, not my beautiful violin boys! I'm not mad at Cody and Jessica but let's not be overdramatic about weapons and triggers. This is a game. I'm glad Well Strung did well in the first challenge. 

Lifeguards shouldn't get married.

Woo, congrats to the skiers. They deserved to get a win. Especially after one of them did the phone task by herself. They're not fun enough to be my favorites but they race well.

I'm not mad Jessica only gave them the answer when she was leaving. Honestly, she didn't have to give them the answer at all. Honestly, everyone should just do the task themselves.

It was killing me that the violinists never caught up to anyone else. It seemed like they were really far behind but they were also racing pretty well. Ugh, I'm a little sad now. They raced well and they were fun. I blame this less on the U-turn and more on bunching flights. 

[NJRadioGuy]

Did anyone manage to catch the name of the beer from the detour, and the overlook used for the pitstop? I will be visiting Prague this June, and I want to add that pitstop to the dozen or so I've visited over the years (most recently, the St. Peter and Paul fortress overlook, and in the park behind St. Isaac's).

[Netfoot]

38 minutes ago, NJRadioGuy said:

I want to add that pitstop to the dozen or so I've visited over the years (most recently, the St. Peter and Paul fortress overlook, and in the park behind St. Isaac's).

Lucky you.  Only real TAR locale I ever visited was the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.  

Edited February 6, 2018 by Netfoot

[NJRadioGuy]

The closest ones to me were the Season 1 Finale (Unisphere, in Queens, a block away from where my ham radio club met), and Gotham Hall at B'way and W. 36th St, a block away from the best steakhouse in the known (and unknown) universe. I remember the one in Salzburg (the palace, whose name I forget at the moment), Lauterbrunen, Switzerland, Interlaken, Switzerland and a few others I'm forgetting at the moment.

EDIT: FOUND IT: http://bit.ly/2EnvD2L

Now to enjoy a Staropromen beer (with two fingers' worth of head) while I'm there :). I'll also try to find the Pitstop from Season 15 at Střelecký Ostrov, and the one from Vienna.

[aradia22]

Quote

Same here.  Every time I see "Henry and Evan" I think, "which is which again?" and then my brain goes "duh, Henry must be the guy, so I guess that means Evan is the girl."

They're one of the pairs whose names I've memorized by now. But if I take a step back to think about it, Henry would make more sense to me as the girl's name. Like "Henny" or "Henrietta." To me Evan is a guy's name. Eban is also a boy's name but the unusual name (in America) at least throws off my brain enough that I don't really question it. I mean, do what you want with your kids but I don't really buy into giving a child a differently gendered name just cause. That's not the way to make them special. Also, "ethnic" or unconventional names can affect grades and employment but as far as I know, a girl isn't likely to be negatively affected in that way if her name is Ryan and there's something I side-eye about that.

[Miles]

20 hours ago, amazingracefan said:

The third to last team were stupid enough not to use the u-turn though.

Why were they stupid? They weren't eliminated and they still have a u-turn left for future legs (if that restriction still applies, which has been a bit unclear lately).

The w-turn hasn't worked as intended in multiple seasons now. It almost alway turns into a single u-turn and the team u-turned gets philiminated. It's even worse now since they put it before the detour, which means the team who does the u-turning doesn't even have to earn it. It just comes down to taxi luck. Maybe it's time to retire the u-turn and think of something fresh. The u-turn has stayed around uncharacteristically long anyway. The yield was done after a few seasons. I get production likes it, since they can show detour options that non of the racers would have chosen, had they actually had the choice, but that often makes it even more unbalanced from a gameplay perspective. At some point the game has to be more improtant than your desire to show off your extra detour option.

If they really want to keep it in, at least they could put a new spin on it. I could see a mass u-turn being kinda fun. If it's innitiated, all teams who have not checked in yet, including the team innitiating it, get flagged down and have to complete the other detour option. That could be a good strategic maneuver if you are in the back of the pack and think you are good at the task. Sure, it would be a bit fourth wall breaking, as racers would have to be told this by their camera crew, but they are breaking the fourth wall this season anyway. It would also be limited to legs where things aren't too far apart, but sprawling legs are very rare nowadays anyway.

19 hours ago, Bryce Lynch said:

Actually it was the last name.  Big Easy had the letters RZNFA and couldn't unscramble them.

Franz is Kafka's first name, not his last name.

Edited February 6, 2018 by Miles

[amazingracefan]

1 hour ago, Miles said:

Why were they stupid? They weren't eliminated and they still have a u-turn left for future legs (if that restriction still applies, which has been a bit unclear lately).

The w-turn hasn't worked as intended in multiple seasons now. It almost alway turns into a single u-turn and the team u-turned gets philiminated. It's even worse now since they put it before the detour, which means the team who does the u-turning doesn't even have to earn it. It just comes down to taxi luck. Maybe it's time to retire the u-turn and think of something fresh. The u-turn has stayed around uncharacteristically long anyway. The yield was done after a few seasons. I get production likes it, since they can show detour options that non of the racers would have chosen, had they actually had the choice, but that often makes it even more unbalanced from a gameplay perspective. At some point the game has to be more improtant than your desire to show off your extra detour option.

If they really want to keep it in, at least they could put a new spin on it. I could see a mass u-turn being kinda fun. If it's innitiated, all teams who have not checked in yet, including the team innitiating it, get flagged down and have to complete the other detour option. That could be a good strategic maneuver if you are in the back of the pack and think you are good at the task. Sure, it would be a bit fourth wall breaking, as racers would have to be told this by their camera crew, but they are breaking the fourth wall this season anyway. It would also be limited to legs where things aren't too far apart, but sprawling legs are very rare nowadays anyway.

Franz is Kafka's first name, not his last name.

Are they breaking the 4th wall more this season, I don't remember that.

They see the u-turn as an easy way to create drama, but the best way is tough long tasks, and teams not co-operating with each other.

[Miles]

3 minutes ago, amazingracefan said:

They see the u-turn as an easy way to create drama, but the best way is tough long tasks, and teams not co-operating with each other.

If it was only about the drama they could have kept the yield. The U-Turn is a bit more dramatic, but not by much. I think it's really mostly about showing off both detour options when the other one would never be taken. Which is really more of a problem with modern detour options. Long gone are the days of "both options have their pros and cons".

[Bryce Lynch]

1 hour ago, Miles said:

Why were they stupid? They weren't eliminated and they still have a u-turn left for future legs (if that restriction still applies, which has been a bit unclear lately).

The w-turn hasn't worked as intended in multiple seasons now. It almost alway turns into a single u-turn and the team u-turned gets philiminated. It's even worse now since they put it before the detour, which means the team who does the u-turning doesn't even have to earn it. It just comes down to taxi luck. Maybe it's time to retire the u-turn and think of something fresh. The u-turn has stayed around uncharacteristically long anyway. The yield was done after a few seasons. I get production likes it, since they can show detour options that non of the racers would have chosen, had they actually had the choice, but that often makes it even more unbalanced from a gameplay perspective. At some point the game has to be more improtant than your desire to show off your extra detour option.

If they really want to keep it in, at least they could put a new spin on it. I could see a mass u-turn being kinda fun. If it's innitiated, all teams who have not checked in yet, including the team innitiating it, get flagged down and have to complete the other detour option. That could be a good strategic maneuver if you are in the back of the pack and think you are good at the task. Sure, it would be a bit fourth wall breaking, as racers would have to be told this by their camera crew, but they are breaking the fourth wall this season anyway. It would also be limited to legs where things aren't too far apart, but sprawling legs are very rare nowadays anyway.

Franz is Kafka's first name, not his last name.

Yes, I misspoke.  I was the first name.  

[amazingracefan]

3 hours ago, Miles said:

Why were they stupid? They weren't eliminated and they still have a u-turn left for future legs (if that restriction still applies, which has been a bit unclear lately).

 

They were depending on team BB to use the u-turn.  They did and even if they hadn't it wouldn't have mattered for them, but that's all in hindsight, it was still taking a chance at the start of the leg.  I'm not sure if there's a restriction but I think you have to play things leg by leg and not look too far ahead (like teams going out holding an express pass), if you are separated by flights and in the last three I definitely would use the u-turn to provide insurance.  We saw them being happy team BB had used the u-turn anyway, so they knew it did help them.

Edited February 6, 2018 by amazingracefan

[Miles]

1 hour ago, amazingracefan said:

They were depending on team BB to use the u-turn.  They did and even if they hadn't it wouldn't have mattered for them, but that's all in hindsight, it was still taking a chance at the start of the leg.

That's one way to see it. On the other hand, you can be realtively sure that the second to last team will u-turn the last. So you don't have to waste your only u-turn on the race and you don't make an enemy that might survive, since with two teams u-turned it's a 50/50 chance. It has shaken out that way the past few seasons, so that by now all teams know the "hold back and let the second to last team do the dirtywork"-strategy.

[jhlipton]

8 hours ago, aradia22 said:

"ethnic" ... names can affect grades and employment

Isn't it "funny" how that works...

[ProfCrash]

5 hours ago, Miles said:

If it was only about the drama they could have kept the yield. The U-Turn is a bit more dramatic, but not by much. I think it's really mostly about showing off both detour options when the other one would never be taken. Which is really more of a problem with modern detour options. Long gone are the days of "both options have their pros and cons".

I don't know, I thought that both choices were interesting and had their pros and cons. The firefighters finished ahead of the folks who ended up at the beer task even though they took a bunch of times to get through the quiz. I suspect Team Yale would have crushed that task and wish that they had selected it.

If you had all the info and compared the tasks, I suspect that Team Yale and Well Strung would have taken the lecture task. I think both had full confidence in their intellectual ability to complete the task. Yale, as debaters, are used to ingesting and remembering info really, really fast. They have to learn it and regurgitate it with conviction pretty quickly. Well Strung is used to learning the details of musical movements and different parts. Those same memory skills would have played nicely into the lecture task. I suspect that most of the other teams would have been scared off and chosen to power through the physical task. The problem is that the physical task was more then a physical task, it was also a navigation task. These teams have been sucking up the navigation tasks.

The task in Morocco was another one that was nicely deceptive. People thought that they could power through the food delivery only to find that it was physical and involved navigation. Some were scared off of the belly dancing task because they thought it would involve learning to belly dance, instead it was observe and find the clues on peoples body.

They have changed things up enough this season that future contestants will be challenging their notions about different tasks and probably risking the more "challenging" task over the "easier" physical task because the Producers are making an effort to get people to try different tasks by making the "challenging" tasks a bit easier then they are presented. I am hoping that the days of pure physical tasks are long gone. I like that they physical tasks are being combined with something a bit trickier which helps to balance out the task options.

[lexington11]

13 hours ago, NJRadioGuy said:

The closest ones to me were the Season 1 Finale (Unisphere, in Queens, a block away from where my ham radio club met), and Gotham Hall at B'way and W. 36th St, a block away from the best steakhouse in the known (and unknown) universe. I remember the one in Salzburg (the palace, whose name I forget at the moment), Lauterbrunen, Switzerland, Interlaken, Switzerland and a few others I'm forgetting at the moment.

EDIT: FOUND IT: http://bit.ly/2EnvD2L

Now to enjoy a Staropromen beer (with two fingers' worth of head) while I'm there :). I'll also try to find the Pitstop from Season 15 at Střelecký Ostrov, and the one from Vienna.

Only locales I've been to were the Unisphere (season 1 finale), the Lower East Side pizzerias (S21, which I'm surprised Beekman Boys did so well at, since it's a task in and of itself to find any location down there), 91st and Park (location where the S8 teams had to get a clue from the hot dog vendor), and Washington Square Park (starting point for this current season).

[NJRadioGuy]

Forgot about Washington Sq. Park. I go to the BBQ festival there every year. I think they've had a few starts in Central Park as well. They've managed to ignore New Jersey, which is probably for the best.

[AZChristian]

22 minutes ago, lexington11 said:

Only locales I've been to were the Unisphere (season 1 finale), the Lower East Side pizzerias (S21, which I'm surprised Beekman Boys did so well at, since it's a task in and of itself to find any location down there), 91st and Park (location where the S8 teams had to get a clue from the hot dog vendor), and Washington Square Park (starting point for this current season).

We've been on the London Eye, which the racers used to look for a sign clue on a building, and went to the place at Point Fermin Park where they had the final finish a couple of years ago.  The park was closed, but we saw where the mat was.  

[BK1978]

On ‎2‎/‎5‎/‎2018 at 3:46 PM, blackwing said:

Pretty sure she put "Rachel" in there so that when she was an unknown, casting directors would know she was female.  Same thing with Sterling K Brown's wife, Ryan (traditional female name) (last name).

Re Henry and Evan, her name doesn't bother me.  There are so many traditional boy names that are or are turning into unisex or girl names these days that when my elementary school aged kids talk about a classmate, many times I find myself asking if it is a boy or a girl.  Dylan, Harper, Peyton, Ryan, Jordan, Avery, Logan.   What's in a name?  That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet.  

Or in Evan's case, foul.   Her personality bugs, not her name.

It is funny I was going to come on here and say that nobody really bothers me this season which is an oddity.   That actually is not true though as both Evan and Brittany annoy me.  While no one team annoys me, members of team annoy me I guess.

I do get annoyed by the fact that Henry and Evan always need to point out that they are being underestimated because they are the "smart" team.  Granted that is probably just the narrative that the producers want them to push and so they are probably encouraged to bring it up in every episode and that is why it does not annoy me all that much.

After watching Evan's slight disagreement with Henry last week, I would find it hard to believe that she is this great debater if she were to use her same tactics in a debate.  All she kept on saying was, "I really feel it should be this way", over and over again.  It is almost as if she wore him down by saying how she feels over and over again.  That is a really good way to prove your point, he probably just ends up giving in because he does not want to listen to her anymore. 

 

On ‎2‎/‎5‎/‎2018 at 4:09 PM, Netfoot said:

True, but if someone persisted in calling me "Hen" all the time, they would soon succumb to a bizarre accident!

My father's first name is Henry (which is my middle name) and he gets annoyed when people call him Hank.  I cannot imagine his reaction to being called Hen all of the time. 

On ‎2‎/‎5‎/‎2018 at 12:07 PM, blackwing said:

Not all.  I've been with the show since Day 1, through the initial low ratings, the disappearance from the schedule in the wake of preemptions post-9/11, and through today.  I certainly remember instances of dirty play.  Like having a cab driver take someone else's bags out of the cab and stealing the cab.  Or cancelling someone else's cab.  I would not exactly say I am "clutching pearls" over Jessica's play nor would I say I am having a coronary over it.  

I despise Brittany.  That said, I do think Jessica was playing dirty.  If she didn't want to share answers she shouldn't have agreed to work with her.  I know Brittany kind of pushed it onto her with "tell me what you have and I'll tell you if I have any you don't have".   Im not sure if Jessica was just whining/complaining about her progress, but when she said something like "I only have five words" it seemed like an invitation to either work together or at least get information about how far along the others were.  She could have kept it to herself or said that she was almost done and, sorry, it's a race.  But when she agreed to work with them (whether she explicitly said it or not, it seemed clear that she was working with them), she should have followed through instead of reneging.  It just makes her look bad.  

I'm all for the racers playing hard and not wanting to stay in an alliance like the Cho brothers and all kumbayaing and holding hands and stepping together onto the mat.  But if you're going to play aggressive and play to win, then own it.  Don't pretend to be friends and then back out.  Can't have it both ways.

I am not a fan of Brittany and I am not even sure why that is the case.  Maybe it was over the whole gnome thing and how she blamed Jessica for intentionally screwing with her when that was not the case.  That is why I have no problem with Jessica actually intentionally trying to screw her this time around.  

[babs1226]

On 2/4/2018 at 4:52 PM, amazingracefan said:

The fact that the Yale team took public transportation to either save money to use for cab fares later or because they were running low was interesting to me. 

I thought they asked a local, who said public transit would be quicker.  I don't recall a conversation about money.  Maybe it's just me.

On 2/5/2018 at 4:09 PM, Netfoot said:

True, but if someone persisted in calling me "Hen" all the time, they would soon succumb to a bizarre accident!

You might feel differently if your name was Henry.  I knew a woman who called her husband Henry either Hen or Henny.

[amazingracefan]

The episode title to me definitely referred to Brittany.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

On 2/5/2018 at 12:46 PM, blackwing said:

Re Henry and Evan, her name doesn't bother me.  There are so many traditional boy names that are or are turning into unisex or girl names these days that when my elementary school aged kids talk about a classmate, many times I find myself asking if it is a boy or a girl.  Dylan, Harper, Peyton, Ryan, Jordan, Avery, Logan. 

I agree. Language evolves and that includes people's names. There are SO many names that used to be male names and are now considered girl names: Ashley, Darcy, Stacy, Meredith, Lindsey, Alexis, Kim, Reese, Sandy, Dana, Brooke, Kelly, Lesley, Shannon, Lauren, Addison, Gail, Hilary, Morgan, Peyton, Whitney, Taylor. Evan's name doesn't bother me at all.

[NutMeg]

On 2/7/2018 at 9:33 PM, BK1978 said:

It is funny I was going to come on here and say that nobody really bothers me this season which is an oddity.   That actually is not true though as both Evan and Brittany annoy me.  While no one team annoys me, members of team annoy me I guess.

I do get annoyed by the fact that Henry and Evan always need to point out that they are being underestimated because they are the "smart" team.  Granted that is probably just the narrative that the producers want them to push and so they are probably encouraged to bring it up in every episode and that is why it does not annoy me all that much.

After watching Evan's slight disagreement with Henry last week, I would find it hard to believe that she is this great debater if she were to use her same tactics in a debate.  All she kept on saying was, "I really feel it should be this way", over and over again.  It is almost as if she wore him down by saying how she feels over and over again.  That is a really good way to prove your point, he probably just ends up giving in because he does not want to listen to her anymore. 

 

My father's first name is Henry (which is my middle name) and he gets annoyed when people call him Hank.  I cannot imagine his reaction to being called Hen all of the time. 

I am not a fan of Brittany and I am not even sure why that is the case.  Maybe it was over the whole gnome thing and how she blamed Jessica for intentionally screwing with her when that was not the case.  That is why I have no problem with Jessica actually intentionally trying to screw her this time around.  

Late to the party for this thread and agree with your whole post, but wanted to add tis about Henry/Hen:

I once worked with a guy who had chosen Henry as his English name, while his Chinese name was Hong Ru. He once explained that while he was studying in the US, he got blue in the face trying to tell people that the "g" should be mute, and ended up choosing "Henry", although he would have prefer keeping his (Chinese) name. And now I thing that maybe if people had call him Hon, or Hen, rather than something rhyming with kangaroo, he might not have felt to need to rename himself :)

[ava111]

On 1/31/2018 at 11:17 PM, Lukeysboat said:

Nine years! Holy crap, can you believe how well a couple knows each other after NINE YEARS?! Why, it must be some kind of record, being together for nine whole years! ?

Well me and my husband were together for 18 years before getting married two years ago. So shut up Brittany. It's not so unusual. 

It was so great seeing Prague again. I'm from former Czechoslovakia and spent lot of time there as a kid when my grandpa worked there for a while. Surprised they didn't go to see awesome Orloj clock. You haven't been to Prague if you haven't seen Orloj.