S30.E07: All's Fair in Love and War! (1) S30.E08: All's Fair in Love and War! (2)

[Meredith Quill]

EP07:

Quote

The race continues in Harare, Zimbabwe.

EP08:

Quote

The game becomes ruthless with another double U-turn.

 

[InDueTime]

Part 1:

Brittany: "I wish it was a diamond. Oh, wait, I already have one!" Me: *annoyed groan*

I can appreciate how detail-oriented the tasks were, the scenery was beautiful, and animals are always a plus. However, the stuck vehicles aside, there wasn't very much action. It was basically pitch a tent, and then drive/ride around on a scavenger hunt. I admit, my attention wandered a couple of times. I remember TAR doing partner swaps before. I think it was called an Intersection.

Part 2:

Really Jessica? Think back to why you two U-Turned Well Strung, and you'll have your reasons for it happening to you. Though, she was smart enough to grab multiple packages at the mall Detour unlike others. One of the Firefighters didn't even have one at first. What the hell?

The Roadblock song had a good beat.

I'm glad Team Yale overcame the U-Turn and made it through.

So long Eric and Daniel. They weren't my favorite team, but they were nice enough.

[mtlchick]

Come for the partner swap which is pretty useless other than an exercise to reinvent rules that are not needed, stay for Phil's Phacial Phuzz.  (Yeah I'm shallow.) 

[LittleIggy]

F**k! I wanted Team Big Brother gone.

[RandomWatcher]

I'm not surprised Cody set up that tent so fast. He saw Alex have to set one up several times so he probably remembered how she did it.

[Lamb18]

Harare! Hurray!

I can hardly wait to see the rhinos. Yay! Elephants, too!! Zebras and lions!! Is this a repeat from season 1? OK, Cody, get that tent up! As usual other Nascar guy says he can't do it. Firefighters settle in and get to work. Yes! Cody and Jessica in first place! Figures he would know how to put a tent quickly, probably learned that at both booth camps. Eric and Daniel - that's the firefighters names! Wow, Phil came out to talk to them. And it's Partner Swap! Sounds like a bad 70s show.

Cody and Jessica - Team Extreme. Good pick!!

Lucas and Brittany - Indy Car

Henry and Evan - Eric and Daniel

I wonder if switched teams will help each other.  Rats, Brittany and Connor found their canteens.  I would do Rhino Track, cool! Looks like a hard one. Why choose Bush Whack when you can do rhinos?? Smart of Jessica and skier to change detours if neither can drive stick. I'd think Cody would know how to drive stick - I guess he does!  Wart hog - a female one. I hope Jessica and her partner don't miss any clues. That Connor is so useless, just sitting there - why doesn't he get out and push now that the front tires are out of the muck? Loved the "instant replay"! Finally they figure it out!

Now that the partner swap is over I thought it was a fun twist. And having no elimination was fair. I don't particularly care whether or not Evan agreed to work with Jessica and Kristi. It's her choice.

Funny if neither U-turned team is eliminated. I wonder if floors in Zimbabwe are numbered like they are in Europe, maybe not. Now I wonder if the fork in road is like a Johnny Carson fork in the road? I keep expecting to see a fork lying on the ground. Firefighters should be good a climbing stairs.  This is so funny! Giving tires to some random guy! I bet they will all laugh about it later!

Why is everyone helping Henry and Evan? Oh, good another challenge.  The singing wouldn't be so bad, but I'd be so bad at the dancing. I bet Evan is writing a phonetic transcription on her sheet. At least the firefighters can sort of carry a tune. Rats, Lucas and Brittany got through it first. Maybe they will get lost on the way to the pit stop. Yay Team Extreme! If Cory can learn Arabic, he can master this.  Come on Cody!! Practice!

Sigh of relief!! Cody and Jessica are safe! Wow, both U-turned teams are safe.  Too bad Lucas and Brittany weren't eliminated. I really liked the firefighters.

[mojoween]

I defended Jessica last week for other teams getting mad that she wasn’t helping them the right way.

I’m over it.

And I see some things haven’t changed.  As soon as Cody feels that he doesn’t want to do something, he shuts down.  Always knows what’s best, that one.

[Lady Calypso]

The first leg was astonishingly beautiful. It really makes me want to add Zimbabwe to my travel list. 

The partner swap worked surprisingly well. Cody/Jen worked fairly well. It's a good thing they decided to do their own thing, because they beasted it (well, Cody beasted it). Too bad Jessica/Kristi fell behind, or else they would have been in the front.

I will say, though, that I just don't get why teams hate Evan so much. Jessica said that she's not a team player. Ok, I get that even this race requires a little bit of teamwork, but it's still a race at the end of the day. I know Evan can be overbearing at times, and I guess being a debater factors in to that a bit, so I can see some of the annoyance, but why should Evan/Daniel have worked with Jessica/Kristi there? It's a race. Do your own thing; also, Jessica, you complained about having to work with teams in the previous leg. Just because you and Kristi were failing multiple times, it doesn't mean that Evan/Daniel need to work with you, especially since they didn't know it was a TBC leg. I guess Evan really rubbed people the wrong way and the episodes are giving her a better edit? I mean, she has to be a real nasty person in order to have almost every single team hate just her. It has to be more than her just being controlling and the fact that she doesn't want to work with other teams. 

Yeah, sure, Brittany, you U-Turned Big Brother "to do what you gotta do." It has nothing to do with your dislike for Jessica, right? Also, nobody U-Turned the Skiiers, which is ridiculous. The women have been ahead of everyone else and has a much better track record than Big Brother, or even the Yalies. Of course it's 100% personal too. Alex/Conor have expressed the most dislike at Evan, and Brittany hates Jessica. These people are U-Turning based off of emotion, rather than logic. 

Ok, seriously, why do teams NEED to work together? Why? Why is that a thing? Has it always been a thing, where teams feel obligated to work together every leg and if they're not team players, they're judged and shunned? I know I stopped watching the show for a few years, but I can't recall so much of this Team Work idea being so prominent. 

I WAS annoyed at Cody throwing open Indy Car's taxi's door to ask them where to go for the tire task, and then Indy Car TOLD THEM. Well, I guess TAR is now a lot about teamwork and if you don't get along with other teams outside of the leg, you're shunned and called unlikable. And I thought I gave up the Season of Friendship and Teamwork from Big Brother. Maybe I need to accept that this show also has an element of a social game and if you have a crappy one, you might not get to the end, especially if every other team is going to work together, which doubles the chances of those team finishing quickly.

It was interesting to see Kristi being the one to somewhat fall apart for both legs. 

I still adore Evan/Henry. I can see why people are annoyed at Evan and don't click with her, but she's really not all that awful from what I've seen from her edit. She gets frustrated and handles some situations completely wrong, but I've also seen many teams handle things just as badly. I mean, personally, I find Brittany much, much worse. I swear if I need to hear her talk about her engagement one more time....Plus, if Evan has a condescending voice, then so does Brittany, PLUS a smug smile. 

It was fun to see all the teams get stuck on the mat with another team. Poor Firefighters, though. If they hadn't helped Henry/Evan, maybe they could have survived. 

[tiredofwork]

Does anyone know on the Detour delivery task in the mall, if the partners on a team could have split the delivery tasks between them to go faster or do they have to stay together?

[Waldo13]

Jess was a indignant bitch on Big Brother and her spots have not changed.  At the telephone road block she didn't help until she was on her way out but she expected help even before Evan has tried the puzzle first.  Cody was a horse's ass on Big Brother and his spots haven't changed either.  His melt downs continue when he doesn't get his way.

Very interesting challenge today. It would hard for me to choose between 4 wheeling and horses. I love both. 

[PaperTree]

I knew Cody would kill that tent building.  Hashtag go away lifeguards.

Partner swap?  Magic 8 ball sez bad idea.  Somebody is getting hosed.

Smart partner choice Cody.  Pick a strong team.  Blindsided by the stick shift.

I like the show's anti-poaching message.  Rhino horns have no more "medicinal properties" than granny's ground up fingernails.  

(bleep) you Jessica.  Nobody is required to be your team player.  I smelled NEL from the start of this dumb "twist".

Vicious double U-turn.  Skiiers FTW.

Backed up at the singing.  Having zero musical talent, I feel for them all.  

Cody reminds me of my dad.  He had zero rhythm and tunnel vision too.

"What else can I rehearse?"  Ya gotta dance; dumbass!

Clueman's standards seemed to seriously drop as the competition dragged on.  And on.  And on....

Sad to see the brothers go.  They had really grown on me.

[anniebird]

I wish they would all stop helping each other! 

[ByaNose]

8 minutes ago, tiredofwork said:

Does anyone know on the Detour delivery task in the mall, if the partners on a team could have split the delivery tasks between them to go faster or do they have to stay together?

The always have to stay together unless told otherwise. Mostly, because each team only has one camera & sound person.

[mojoween]

I feel like the partner swap would have been more fun if you swapped partners, not teams, and it was random.  Like Cody could have ended up with Evan and Jessica with like Brittany or something.

[sinycalone]

I do not like Evan....period.   She is condescending, bitchy, and all-round annoying.  I'm glad Conor and Alex stood their ground about the U-Turn on the mat.  (Truthfully, I think Indy Car assisted Big Brother to help bury the Yalies.  IMO of course).

I liked all the tasks...and the gorgeous scenery in Zimbabwe.  The double UTurn was placed so that the teams could recover with real effort...and that's just what happened.

I'd grown to like the Firefighters...sorry they left before a certain other team....lol.

[Irlandesa]

I think there's a difference between helping a little--like how the twins gave Evan and Henry some generic directions versus what Jessica wanted.  The twins gave Henry and Evan a gentle push.  Jessica wanted to be rescued.  Had they finished just as Evan and her teammate arrived, would they have helped them?  Hell no.  Especially when they didn't know how teams would be checked in or where their partners were. 

It's a race.  So far, TeamYale totally gets it.  Team Indy cracked me up when they felt they needed to defend their choice while Team Yale seemed to totally get it and not hold hard feelings about it.  There are a lot of teams (*cough* Jessica and Cody who I knew nothing about before TAR) wouldn't have reacted that way.

[Nidratime]

I'm not fond of The Big Brother pair. But that's not new. I don't think anyone who's already been on one reality show should be on another one as well. Another thing that bugs me about them -- and this is personal to me -- is the way Jessica keeps constantly kissing Cody every time he starts sulking. It was pronounced in these latest episodes. He stands there, stone faced, as she rubs up against him, like a kitten, kissing him in the hope that he'll feel like racing again. I was waiting to see if he expected that same response from the new team mate that he was paired with. I understand that they're a couple but it's kind of creepy to me rather than "loving" or charming.

[sinycalone]

1 minute ago, Irlandesa said:

I think there's a difference between helping a little--like how the twins gave Evan and Henry some generic directions versus what Jessica wanted.  The twins gave Henry and Evan a gentle push.  Jessica wanted to be rescued.  Had they finished just as Evan and her teammate arrived, would they have helped them?  Hell no.  Especially when they didn't know how teams would be checked in or where their partners were. 

It's a race.  So far, TeamYale totally gets it.  Team Indy cracked me up when they felt they needed to defend their choice while Team Yale seemed to totally get it and not hold hard feelings about it.  There are a lot of teams (*cough* Jessica and Cody who I knew nothing about before TAR) wouldn't have reacted that way.

I don't think Team Yale "got it" it at all....they certainly seemed resentful during the leg and on the mat.

[Rinaldo]

32 minutes ago, tiredofwork said:

Does anyone know on the Detour delivery task in the mall, if the partners on a team could have split the delivery tasks between them to go faster or do they have to stay together?

Partners have always had to stay together on a Detour, unless an instruction specifically says otherwise. This is one of the TAR elements that hasn't changed since the first race.

24 minutes ago, PaperTree said:

Clueman's standards seemed to seriously drop as the competition dragged on.  And on.  And on....

Maybe, but they didn't seem impossibly high even to begin with; they seemed to be realistic about what's possible in this short a training period. Once a team managed to not totally stink up the joint, get through the lines at approximately the right time, and exhibit at least a rudiment of style onstage, that was deemed good enough. Which is good; if a person has sung monotone all their life, even a full day of coaching wouldn't undo that.

20 minutes ago, sinycalone said:

I do not like Evan....period.   She is condescending, bitchy, and all-round annoying.  I'm glad Conor and Alex stood their ground about the U-Turn on the mat. 

I don't see any of those qualities in Even myself. But I too am glad Conor and Alex stood their ground; they were quite accurate that (A) it's part of the game (I wish it weren't, but it is), to be used strategically; and (B) Henry/Evan's presence in 4th place, after enduing a U-Turn, proved that they are indeed a strong team to watch out for. And the fact that they stated all this respectfully, without apology, made it possible for Evan to agree without resentment (which she did). That whole exchange, in which everyone behaved like grownups, was gratifying to see. (Naturally Yale wasn't feeling quite so pleasant about it during the leg, when they felt likely to be eliminated; that's only human.)

I was impressed that Henry took the "brawn" job of handling the winch, and succeeded with it too. I was not impressed at the "how dare she!" reactions to Evan choosing to solve the map individually and not help them. Good grief, is she just obligated to share all she knows???

I love Team Yale, and I'm glad they're still in it.

Edited February 8, 2018 by Rinaldo

[Wandering Snark]

Wow, I've seen every damned episode of this show but these two hour episodes may just do me in... that is a LOT of racing and singing in another language (badly) and dancing (badly as well) to take in and make sense of. It's become a bit of a chore to watch even though the first part was great with the animals and the partner change-up. And I see we're up for two more next week. Ugh.

I really hate team BB, and I'm momentarily glad that Evan & her minion I mean Henry finished before them but it was a lot of sound and fury just to eliminate the firefighters who were dangling from a cliff to begin with.

Brittney is becoming insufferable, her "too bad it's not a diamond, oh wait I already have one of those... *hair flip*" and once again mentioning how many years they've been dating really irritated me.

I don't really have any desire to see any of these teams win except possibly the ski girls but they were kind of bitchy about getting back together because the are The Superteam. A little condescension goes a long way... toward me disliking you.

I just feel tired... usually the home viewer doesn't have to deal with Killer Fatigue.

[Lantern7]

Partner Swap was [drumroll] . . . meaningless. Basically, the teams camped out (the first Pit Stop from TAR1?), got woken up by Phil, did a limited swap, did two tasks, then went back to their original forms and continued. Phil, the second hour wasn't about the eight leg; it was the seventh. It was an extra-long leg. Once the teams went back to normal, we went back to normal. Or at least the current version of "normal," where the lead teams can U-Turn without really earning it. That's more annoying than the Swap.

Of course Big Brother survives. Basically, I'm against anybody from Big Brother on general principle.  Has there anybody from that show that you'd want to see on TAR that wasn't entertaining like a car wreck? I'd rather Ocean Rescue win. Hey, Lucas could swipe the ring during the celebration and run away. Brittany has problems, but I don't think a Big Brother casting director would look at her, get aroused for her potential drama, and put a star on her picture.

Gotta love the locals. I felt the guys watching Alex & Conor load tires on the wrong truck were keeping the laughter inside. Because that is a bad mental hiccup to have. Of course the crowd at the concert was entertaining. Nothing like watching Americans with little to no rhythm sing a song not in English. Sadly, Eric & Daniel were the last team to screw up. Even with the puns, they were cool. Now we're left with two problem teams out of five.

[talktalk]

I am rooting for Team Yale. Smart, strong and supportive to each other even in difficult situations. On the other hand, I am disappointed that Team big brother was not eliminated. Phil seems to be extra nice to them for some reason. 

[Silver Raven]

God, Jessica is a whiner.

That was a lot of stuff to have to sing. I was also tired of hearing that song after a while.  :)

Damn.  The firemen were good guys.

[blackwing]

Really, I get that Brittany just got engaged, but she needs to stop referencing her ring and her wedding every moment.  We get it.  

Jessica displayed an appalling lack of self-awareness when she said that Evan isn't a team player.  The TAR editors must really like Cody and Jessica, because a less-favorably edited team would have gotten a black-and-white replay of her saying "I wanted to make sure I left first so I withheld one of the words" to show how hypocritical that comment was.

I can't help it, I like Cody.  I never saw him on Big Brother so I don't care what he was like there.  Here he is competent, complimentary of his partner, and powers through most tasks.  He had trouble with the singing and seemed like he was giving up so I do have to give Jessica credit for encouraging him.

Evan continues to be the most awful person on this race.  I compared her to Millie the Mole in previous weeks and the comparison still stands.  She is so go-go-go and driven and the way she interacts with locals (like when she just ran up and said where's the clue) is terrible.  Henry continues to be a doormat.  I wish he would stand up to her.  When Phil said on the mat that they overcame a U Turn, she looks over and glares at Indy.  She should just stuff it.  Conor says it's a race, and she's all, oh of course, we understand.  Except it was obvious that she didn't.   

Alex and Conor continue to be my favorite team.  Loved Alex's attitude about the singing and I think it's funny he considered it one of his top three life moments.  Also surprising that he ranks his racing debut over winning the Indy 500.

Too bad about the twins.  They had such good attitudes and seem like nice guys.

[holly4755]

Good lord, people's personalities are heavily edited in reality shows but in this case, I think everyone has good and bad moments mostly because they are human.  I don't hate anyone, but resent the moments where people think they should be helped, the last season really turned me off when the woman who won had to be carried through episode after episode only to win in the end. ,

nice scenery again. 

[Lingo]

I'm really glad the partner swap turned out to be a big nothing. I was really worried that they were going to force these people to race with strangers for the rest of the race! I'll admit I've considered the idea in the past -- on a purely theoretical level, it could introduce some interesting dynamics as to interteam relationships for example. I even think that it may have made sense to try it last season, where the players were all strangers to begin with. But to do it to contestants who are expecting to have their friend/loved one by their side for the duration of the race would have been cruel.

For a moment I thought that maybe Kristi and Jessica might be eliminated, and then Cody and Jen would have been forced to continue the race together while all the other teams got to return to their original partners. That would have been something (something crappy).

It was so inconsequential it did feel like an hour-long Intersection. It's a little different than an Intersection -- with those, the official idea was to force two teams to work together rather than swap partners (although I remember that in one Intersection, two racers were required to leave their partners and do a Roadblock together). So this is a bit different, but it didn't really feel much different.

Why do they keep putting the U-Turn boards before the Detours?! That's totally bogus.

[Kerri Okie]

What a brutal day.  After the heat, the long hours, the draining challenges, I have a hard time holding someone's facial expression at the end of it all against them.  What I did like was when both teams saw they were U-Turned, while Jessica went on about it being personal, Evan sucked it up, said it didn't matter who had done it or why, and focused on the task.  I'll take that over whining any day.  That said, I don't think any of them are horrible people, just that they don't always handle stress and fatigue in ways that are particularly pretty.  

 

2 hours ago, Lamb18 said:

Now that the partner swap is over I thought it was a fun twist. And having no elimination was fair. I don't particularly care whether or not Evan agreed to work with Jessica and Kristi. It's her choice.

Now I wonder if the fork in road is like a Johnny Carson fork in the road? I keep expecting to see a fork lying on the ground. 

Agree about the partner swap and, I was looking for the giant fork in the road too!!

[EllenB]

Every time a racer says "Good job!  Good job!" to their partner, all I can think of is a two-year-old being praised for pooping.

 

I'm terrible at names, but I really liked the blond skier telling the Big Brother female that they needed to talk about their task and not the other teams.

[Miles]

I liked this one. Each episode on it's own, probably wouldn't have worked, but together they were the full package. The first hour had the beautiful scenery and the second had the hard tasks.

The swap was completely inconsequential, but I like the idea. Certainly a lot more than the head to head. Maybe they can improve on it in future seasons.

 

14 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

Ok, seriously, why do teams NEED to work together? Why? Why is that a thing? Has it always been a thing, where teams feel obligated to work together every leg and if they're not team players, they're judged and shunned? I know I stopped watching the show for a few years, but I can't recall so much of this Team Work idea being so prominent. 

It's been a thing forever. It has gotten worse and worse in the last ~15 seasons though. It seems like it has gotten to the point where teams are actually expecting it and man, that's no fun. Maybe it's time for a rule change that disallows working together. I was always for giving teams the freeodm to decide for themselves, but man this has gone too far.

 

12 hours ago, blackwing said:

Jessica displayed an appalling lack of self-awareness when she said that Evan isn't a team player.  The TAR editors must really like Cody and Jessica, because a less-favorably edited team would have gotten a black-and-white replay of her saying "I wanted to make sure I left first so I withheld one of the words" to show how hypocritical that comment was.

I yelled at my screen "She is a team player, she's just not on your team, Jessica!" God that was an annoying comment. This is a race, not a corporate team building exercise.

Edited February 8, 2018 by Whimsy
per the posters request

[Tdoc72]

27 minutes ago, Miles said:

 

I yelled at my screen "She is a team player, she's just not on your team, Jessica!" God that was an annoying comment. This is a race, not a corporate team building exercise.

I yelled the same at my tv too!  

[RedheadZombie]

6 hours ago, InDueTime said:

Part 1:

Brittany: "I wish it was a diamond. Oh, wait, I already have one!" Me: *annoyed groan*

I can appreciate how detail-oriented the tasks were, the scenery was beautiful, and animals are always a plus. However, the stuck vehicles aside, there wasn't very much action. It was basically pitch a tent, and then drive/ride around on a scavenger hunt. I admit, my attention wandered a couple of times. I remember TAR doing partner swaps before. I think it was called an Intersection.

Part 2:

Really Jessica? Think back to why you two U-Turned Well Strung, and you'll have your reasons for it happening to you. Though, she was smart enough to grab multiple packages at the mall Detour unlike others. One of the Firefighters didn't even have one at first. What the hell?

The Roadblock song had a good beat.

I'm glad Team Yale overcame the U-Turn and made it through.

So long Eric and Daniel. They weren't my favorite team, but they were nice enough.

I swear it was once used in a Toyota commercial.

4 hours ago, blackwing said:

Really, I get that Brittany just got engaged, but she needs to stop referencing her ring and her wedding every moment.  We get it.  

Jessica displayed an appalling lack of self-awareness when she said that Evan isn't a team player.  The TAR editors must really like Cody and Jessica, because a less-favorably edited team would have gotten a black-and-white replay of her saying "I wanted to make sure I left first so I withheld one of the words" to show how hypocritical that comment was.

I can't help it, I like Cody.  I never saw him on Big Brother so I don't care what he was like there.  Here he is competent, complimentary of his partner, and powers through most tasks.  He had trouble with the singing and seemed like he was giving up so I do have to give Jessica credit for encouraging him.

Evan continues to be the most awful person on this race.  I compared her to Millie the Mole in previous weeks and the comparison still stands.  She is so go-go-go and driven and the way she interacts with locals (like when she just ran up and said where's the clue) is terrible.  Henry continues to be a doormat.  I wish he would stand up to her.  When Phil said on the mat that they overcame a U Turn, she looks over and glares at Indy.  She should just stuff it.  Conor says it's a race, and she's all, oh of course, we understand.  Except it was obvious that she didn't.   

Alex and Conor continue to be my favorite team.  Loved Alex's attitude about the singing and I think it's funny he considered it one of his top three life moments.  Also surprising that he ranks his racing debut over winning the Indy 500.

Too bad about the twins.  They had such good attitudes and seem like nice guys.

See I don't interpret Jessica as being hypocritical.  In the phone challenge she was working with two morons.  She gave them all of her clues but withheld the last.  She gave them the correct answer immediately after she passed.  There've been many players who would have run off without revealing that last word.  They shouldn't have depended on Jessica to figure the whole thing out for them.  Anyway, the skiers were also bitching about how Evan hadn't helped them that day - is this a priority?  And they seem to put the blame fully on Evan, not Henry and Evan.

I don't quite get why the other teams despise Evan, but I suspect that it's because she's very analytical and unafraid to dismiss others in the race if it's not to their mutual benefit.  I also smell a little "they're just nerds, how come they are doing so well" going on.

[PoultryDancer]

This was my favorite episode in a long while. The partner swap wasn't as bad as I had feared. Worked out more like the intersection from many moons ago (not that I liked that twist, but it wasn't show-ending). And the way it meshed with the NEL/Keep-on-racing was fine.

But mainly though, everything else about these two episodes was great. 2 episodes in the same country, but totally different legs with one in the wilderness and one in the city. Unique locations such as that mall, many hilarious moments, and great tasks. And the u-turn, a device I hate even more now that its before the actual tasks, didn't interfere much with the outcome. 

I like that the editors let the language instructors have some airtime/personality/introductions as well. Really humanizes the show which is great.

I discovered about halfway through this episode that I didn't want any of these teams to go home. This is the most likable cast of teams the show has had in ages, possibly even ever in my opinion. This is so much better than teams who do nothing but snipe and have petty arguments with each other (as much as the show tries to build up stupid stuff like the Kristi/Evan thing, it's nothing).

Excellent show all around.

[alexa]

I liked that a lot of the tasks were difficult and allowed the change around of order of the teams.  Especially with the U-turns...it always annoys me when they have U turns without having a task that might throw off some of the other teams.  I did find Jessica annoying in both that she can Uturn someone but be not so understanding when it happens to her, and also about wanting help on the one task.  I could see if both teams had been there struggling and then decided to, but the other team just got there--why would they stop to try to help them even before seeing what the task was.  And they certainly needed to gain any time they could--it isn't a game of trying to stay even with other teams.  

I found the older one of the ski team a little off this episode.  She is usually more easy going, but I realize now it is her teammate that is, not her-- when she was with Jessica, she was mean spirited about the lack of help from the other team, and she got very easily frustrated at the singing challenge.  

[snarts]

I get the Big Brother dislike but how many partners have raced this far without sniping at each other?  It's rare, especially in a romantic relationship. I appreciate that they balance each other well and really seem to be enjoying themselves on the race.

[ProfCrash]

I am really enjoying this season. We are complaining about people who are barely whining and who seem to be fine with someone telling them to stop whining. So far the three teams that have been U-Turned have handled it with minimal fuss. You could see that it bothered all three in their body language but the amount of whining was pretty limited. There was clear frustration, most evidenced by Jessica but you could see some from Evan, but all three teams (Well Strung the week they were eliminated included) sucked it up and did what they needed to do. We did not hear a ton of bad mouthing the teams who U-Turned them, some sighing and one comment from Cody "She doesn't like you" and then back to work.

I liked the swap. It was nice seeing how the players worked with each other. I am sure Production was annoyed at the total lack of drama from the mix ups because all the teams worked well together and seemed to like each other. Cody and his partner (no I don't know which skier is which) killed their tasks. I laughed at his deadpan comment about having some limited 4 Wheel experience. I laughed when Indy asked to see the clip of anyone who got through that second water area without the wench and then the Producers showed us Cody driving right through it.  Too bad Jessica and her partner did a crap job of remembering the order they picked things up. It also seems like they totally over thought the task. They were trying to match up physical land marks instead of just putting them in order they found them.

Kudos for Even saying "NO" on working on the puzzle together. It is a race and you race. It is no difference then Jessica withholding information last week. Totally fair game play. I was surprised to see how upset Jessica got when Evan said she wouldn't help them. It was perfectly fair and acceptable and Jessica should know that. I liked how her partner was able to refocus Jessica and that Jessica didn't get upset at the redirection but agreed with her. I just wish Jessica had let it go and not kept bringing it up. Evan does not have to help you just like you did not have to tell Brittney about her gnome or give her the answer until you were out the door. I understand the killer fatigue and general frustration, take a few breaths and let it go.

I was insanely impressed with how great both U-Turned teams did on those tasks. They both knocked them out and survived. Evan and Henry even caught the third place team. What the U-Turn shows is how weak a pair the Twins and Indy are. They were caught by teams who had to complete both tasks. That is crazy. It also tells us how strong Jessica and Cody and Henry and Evan are.

I loved the song task. I knew that it was going to screw some folks over and was a bit surprised to see that three was the magic number. After the first few teams took five or so attempts all the other teams took three attempts. It was fun seeing Indy embrace the task as thoroughly as they did. They had a blast. Cody and the one skier both got really frustrated. Both of their partners were able to figure out how to help them work through the frustration. I do get annoyed when people are clearly frustrated and instead of giving them five minutes to sulk and process why they are pissed someone keeps needling them. I know Jessica was trying to get Cody to practice but he was clearly frustrated and needed some time to just not do the task. Leave him alone and then let him process and burn off steam. He will get back to it, just give him time. I enjoyed watching the teams have fun with the other teams performances. They seemed supportive and like they were all having a good time.

I had no problem with the awkwardness at the mat with Indy and Yale. Clearly all four of them knew it was a game and was fine with that aspect of it but that doesn't change that Indy tried to handicap Yale and that it didn't work. We saw something similar with Well Strung and Big Brother when Well Strung got to the board. Yes, it is a game, but it is hard not to take the move as something personal. And there is nothing wrong with that. They handled it like adults and all is well. I am not so sure that Ocean Rescue and Big Brother would have handled it as well. I am kind of waiting for Jessica and Brittney to get into it....

[Brookside]

How long do you think it took the producers to teach some of the team members how to say Zimbabwe correctly?

Edited February 8, 2018 by Brookside

[PoultryDancer]

I find it interesting that in this male-dominated cast (5 M/M teams), we've lost 4 straight of those teams. All 3 dating teams remain, along with easily the strongest female team, and the IndyCar guys. 

I do really like the IndyCar guys. Loading the tires into the wrong truck was fantastic (I was so hoping the guy would drive away with them), their attitude at the singing task was great, with Alex putting it in his top 3 achievements, and I like their general humor with each other and the other teams (the winch king was funny).

I like the X games girls, but the older one was clearly having a bad day. Maybe she was secretly extremely bitter about working with Jessica but hid it well.

I know many dislike Brittany, but I just end up chuckling when she says something that I know will irritate viewers (like the diamond/already have one comment). Think of the truly annoying/awful teams we've had on the show before, and remember how your 'villain' team is nowhere near as vicious as past ones.

[mojoween]

4 minutes ago, PoultryDancer said:

Maybe she was secretly extremely bitter about working with Jessica but hid it well.

You know what?  There might be something to this (or, I’m wildly speculating, which has never stopped me before).

Cody picked Brown-haired skier so quickly I wonder if Blonde got really annoyed with that. Like, “what’s wrong with *me*, why would he have said *her* name so fast?”

[Haleth]

Blonde skier (I still don't know who is who) lost some of my respect with her whining about Evan not helping her and Jessica with the map.  Maybe in the moment I'd gripe, but to continue to complain about it later was ridiculous.  When she was skiing would she expect a competitor to stop and help her?  I'm not surprised Jessica was whiny.

Even though  the episodes were beautiful to watch (animals!) I hate, hate that it all came down to a subjective decision about who could sing (and look cute) better (or less terribly).  There was absolutely no drama.  I could have told you from the start that Big Brother would pass and one of the two all male teams would be eliminated.  Terrible planning.  When there is someone judging something unmeasurable like singing or dancing it really needs to be a NEL.  I'm very disappointed in how it turned out. 

(But at least it gave the U turned teams a chance to catch up.)

8 hours ago, sinycalone said:

I don't think Team Yale "got it" it at all....they certainly seemed resentful during the leg and on the mat.

I think they "got it" and were resentful too, but at least they didn't complain about it to the Indy guys.

[sinycalone]

The trick with the dancing/singing was pretty much just showing a lot of enthusiasm and making an attempt to sing the words correctly.  Not being first at the task was a big help.....you got to see others fail and had a better chance of figuring out what the judge wanted.  The skiers "mentor" tried to explain that to them....put down the papers and just go with the beat!

 

The IndyCar team gave a legitimate rationale for UTurning TeamYale....but I did not believe Brittany's reason had much to do with the strength of BB as to her disliking them.

Edited February 8, 2018 by sinycalone

[blackwing]

2 hours ago, RedheadZombie said:

See I don't interpret Jessica as being hypocritical.  In the phone challenge she was working with two morons.  She gave them all of her clues but withheld the last.  She gave them the correct answer immediately after she passed.  There've been many players who would have run off without revealing that last word.  They shouldn't have depended on Jessica to figure the whole thing out for them.  Anyway, the skiers were also bitching about how Evan hadn't helped them that day - is this a priority?  And they seem to put the blame fully on Evan, not Henry and Evan.

I don't quite get why the other teams despise Evan, but I suspect that it's because she's very analytical and unafraid to dismiss others in the race if it's not to their mutual benefit.  I also smell a little "they're just nerds, how come they are doing so well" going on.

I guess I see it differently.   Last episode, Jessica was in a team with Brittany and Alex, even if that wasn't her explicit intent.  She was working with them.  And she purposely gave them a wrong answer to ensure that she would finish the task first.  If she didn't want to work with them she could have just said so.  A team player would have freely shared the information with the people they had chosen to work with.  Like Evan and the twin last week did.  

So this week, Evan says she would prefer not to work together and Jessica and blonde got all huffy.  I don't understand why they got so mad, there's not many teams left and why would they expect help from a competitor?  But as to your question, they blamed Evan and not Henry because that was during the swap, and Henry wasn't there.  They didn't blame Daniel because Evan was the one who said no.  He said nothing.

I think teams don't like Evan for the same reason why I don't.  She just doesn't seem like a nice person.  She is controlling and her true colors are really showing now that stress and fatigue are taking their toll.  She treats her partner poorly.  After getting U Turned, as they were leaving the store, Henry says "wait did you see who U turned us" and she snaps "it doesn't matter.  Go!  Just Go!"  And then he doormats and says "ok, ok".  She is dominant and a strong personality.  She clearly knew who it was, why not just tell him?

[amazingracefan]

10 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I think there's a difference between helping a little--like how the twins gave Evan and Henry some generic directions versus what Jessica wanted.  The twins gave Henry and Evan a gentle push.  Jessica wanted to be rescued.  Had they finished just as Evan and her teammate arrived, would they have helped them?  Hell no.  Especially when they didn't know how teams would be checked in or where their partners were.

In that delivery place Henry and Evan weren't given a gentle push they directly asked for help just like Cody and Jessica did.  And they were told what floors they would have to do.  So I was happy when Cody and Jessica got help to even it out.  I'd rather neither got help, but as the help at the delivery place was clearly very selective (not help one team, but help the next) it needed to be evened out I thought.

Most didn't seem to do the delivery task in a very ordered way, it would have been best to find out which floors they all needed to go to first and do them in an order which was efficient.

Edited February 8, 2018 by amazingracefan

[blackwing]

54 minutes ago, ProfCrash said:

I was insanely impressed with how great both U-Turned teams did on those tasks. They both knocked them out and survived. Evan and Henry even caught the third place team. What the U-Turn shows is how weak a pair the Twins and Indy are. They were caught by teams who had to complete both tasks. That is crazy. It also tells us how strong Jessica and Cody and Henry and Evan are.

I think it shows that some teams aren't great at singing and dancing.  That includes Cody.  This U turn had a good placement, at least it gave the teams a chance rather than being the usual death knell which is what happened to the violinists.   I don't think it necessarily shows that Henry and Evan and Cody and Jessica are strong.  The singing task was designed to make teams wait.  They had to practice and they had to wait their turn while other teams tried.  I'm curious to know how long some of those teams were there before the U turned teams got there.  If this task had been a traditional task without the judging or waiting in line aspect, I think the other teams would likely have been finished and gone.  

[CrashTextDummie]

I loved, loved, LOVED this episode! Best one for me in a very long time. Smartly designed leg from start to finish that paid off with a strong sense of narrative.

As far as innovating the game goes, the Head-to-Head was a complete dud, but the partner switch worked really well for me. It didn't emphasize breaking teams up (what I feared it would be) and instead put a focus on team work and just brought a new flavor to the proceedings that I greatly enjoyed. In essence, the first part of the leg paired teams up two-by-two, although it didn't seem like all of them realized it. There was less working together between pairs than I expected there to be and I thought it was funny that all original partners ended up doing different detours from each other. Although imagine if one of Jess/Kristy was able to drive stick shift and the girl pair ended up stuck having to winch their car out of the dirt.

You could say the partner switch ended up being inconsequential but really that wasn't the case. The first two teams to finish the first half of the leg directly played into the U-turn decision and it seemed like the only reason this didn't end up influencing the elimination was because both U-turned teams beasted through their tasks and/or the other teams spent a REALLY long time at the singing task.

All in all, I thought it was full of good challenges, Zimbabwe and its people were gorgeous and the interpersonal stuff was great fun. I don't really understand why viewers have an issue with drama as long as people aren't being actively horrible to each other. Which no one in this group of racers is. I like a heated race as long as it is about the race, and this episode stayed just on the right side of that line for me.

Thumbs up!

[Bryce Lynch]

9 hours ago, tiredofwork said:

Does anyone know on the Detour delivery task in the mall, if the partners on a team could have split the delivery tasks between them to go faster or do they have to stay together?

I think, it is a general rule, that  except during roadblocks, or other times when they are required to split up,  the partners always have to stay together.

[amazingracefan]

59 minutes ago, ProfCrash said:

I am really enjoying this season. We are complaining about people who are barely whining and who seem to be fine with someone telling them to stop whining. So far the three teams that have been U-Turned have handled it with minimal fuss. You could see that it bothered all three in their body language but the amount of whining was pretty limited. There was clear frustration, most evidenced by Jessica but you could see some from Evan, but all three teams (Well Strung the week they were eliminated included) sucked it up and did what they needed to do. We did not hear a ton of bad mouthing the teams who U-Turned them, some sighing and one comment from Cody "She doesn't like you" and then back to work.

I liked the swap. It was nice seeing how the players worked with each other. I am sure Production was annoyed at the total lack of drama from the mix ups because all the teams worked well together and seemed to like each other. Cody and his partner (no I don't know which skier is which) killed their tasks. I laughed at his deadpan comment about having some limited 4 Wheel experience. I laughed when Indy asked to see the clip of anyone who got through that second water area without the wench and then the Producers showed us Cody driving right through it.  Too bad Jessica and her partner did a crap job of remembering the order they picked things up. It also seems like they totally over thought the task. They were trying to match up physical land marks instead of just putting them in order they found them.

Kudos for Even saying "NO" on working on the puzzle together. It is a race and you race. It is no difference then Jessica withholding information last week. Totally fair game play. I was surprised to see how upset Jessica got when Evan said she wouldn't help them. It was perfectly fair and acceptable and Jessica should know that. I liked how her partner was able to refocus Jessica and that Jessica didn't get upset at the redirection but agreed with her. I just wish Jessica had let it go and not kept bringing it up. Evan does not have to help you just like you did not have to tell Brittney about her gnome or give her the answer until you were out the door. I understand the killer fatigue and general frustration, take a few breaths and let it go.

I was insanely impressed with how great both U-Turned teams did on those tasks. They both knocked them out and survived. Evan and Henry even caught the third place team. What the U-Turn shows is how weak a pair the Twins and Indy are. They were caught by teams who had to complete both tasks. That is crazy. It also tells us how strong Jessica and Cody and Henry and Evan are.

I loved the song task. I knew that it was going to screw some folks over and was a bit surprised to see that three was the magic number. After the first few teams took five or so attempts all the other teams took three attempts. It was fun seeing Indy embrace the task as thoroughly as they did. They had a blast. Cody and the one skier both got really frustrated. Both of their partners were able to figure out how to help them work through the frustration. I do get annoyed when people are clearly frustrated and instead of giving them five minutes to sulk and process why they are pissed someone keeps needling them. I know Jessica was trying to get Cody to practice but he was clearly frustrated and needed some time to just not do the task. Leave him alone and then let him process and burn off steam. He will get back to it, just give him time. I enjoyed watching the teams have fun with the other teams performances. They seemed supportive and like they were all having a good time.

I had no problem with the awkwardness at the mat with Indy and Yale. Clearly all four of them knew it was a game and was fine with that aspect of it but that doesn't change that Indy tried to handicap Yale and that it didn't work. We saw something similar with Well Strung and Big Brother when Well Strung got to the board. Yes, it is a game, but it is hard not to take the move as something personal. And there is nothing wrong with that. They handled it like adults and all is well. I am not so sure that Ocean Rescue and Big Brother would have handled it as well. I am kind of waiting for Jessica and Brittney to get into it....

I agree, you are going to get frustrations when teams get u-turned, that's normal.  Don't expect different teams holding hands at the mat and saying they love each other. 

And when you find teams getting help but you not getting help that's frustrating.  It's strange how the race has become about helping though, like how that team after the tire task automatically told the next one coming up where they put the tires, absentmindedly really, as if that's what you do on the race now.  To change that mindset I think you need to put in rules to limit helping.

[blackwing]

32 minutes ago, Haleth said:

I think [Henry and Evan] "got it" and were resentful too, but at least they didn't complain about it to the Indy guys.

I am not sure if Henry was resentful, it seems he thought it sucked but oh well, and moved on.  Evan thought it sucked but she was definitely resentful.  She didn't complain about it because as soon as she got on the mat Phil started talking.  She may not have whined about it but she turned and gave them a pointed look that pretty much was saying "well boys, what do you have to say for yourselves, explain."   She could have been the one to say "well, we understand, it's a game and we are a strong team, no hard feelings."   She didn't.  

[amazingracefan]

9 hours ago, PaperTree said:

"What else can I rehearse?"  Ya gotta dance; dumbass!

He got passed on the next attempt so I guess he was right though.  He felt he had the pronunciation and the singing pace.

[ProfCrash]

I don't know why we as viewers expect that the Racers are going to just smile and say "Well, it was valid game play and you tried to end my shot at a million dollars but all is well". Of course the teams are going to take it personally. Someone just tried to end my shot at a million dollars. And yes, it is a race and a game and I know only one team will win but you singled me out. I think it is easier to be gracious when you lose on an even playing field but when you single me out, and the U Turn is no less then singling out a team, that is going to feel personal. Just like votes in Survivor are personal. I would be shocked if teams did not feel upset. I have been thrilled that the teams this season have handled the U Turn with a good amount of grace.

So I have no problem with Evan being a bit pouty and not being able to put on the fake smiley face. Team Indy felt uncomfortable because they knew that they had tried to sabotage Team Yale. They felt that before Evan was looking at the with a pouty face. Just like Big Brother felt uncomfortable when Well Strung arrived at the U Turn and realized that they had been U Turned. Yes, it is a part of the game but you still handcuffed another team. Everyone who uses the U Turn says that they hope that the team that used the U Turn is going to target you at another U Turn or refuse to help you. The bad feeling for being targeted is also a part of the game.

I had no problem with the skier who was annoyed that the other one helped Evan and Henry with the tire task. Evan had just refused to help them, fair game play, so why should the skiers help Evan? Teams help one another when it benefits them. I think they are all aware that when they stop helping, or hedge the help, they become more of a threat and a target. Big Brother was targeted by Ocean Rescue because Brittney thinks that Jessica was responsible for the gnome and was upset about the Kafka task. There is no way in hell that Big Brother will help Ocean Rescue again. Yale just lost the goodwill of the Skiers and Big Brother.

And it is all a part of the game and it is going to leave some bad feelings and that is OK. As long as the teams are mature about it, and they have been, then let the bad feelings flow.

As some pointed out up thread, Brittney, Evan and Big Brother seem to be the teams/individuals that people don't like. In any other season, Brittney and Evan would be minor annoyances at best. Big Brother is disliked because they were on another reality show (for some folks) and their behavior on that show (by other folks). And even with that, Big Brother has not really honked people off with their actions this season. There have been things that urk people but their bad behavior would not even hit our radar in a regular season.

I love this cast. They are enjoying the race, competing and not being dicks towards their teammates, the other teams or the locals.

[TaraS1]

Jessica is still trash, I see.  When she needs help, you better give it.  When you need help?  Sorry, guys, Jess has to do what's best for her and Cody!  When they u-turn you, it's just game strategy, don't take it personally!  When you u-turn them?  Big mean Brittany must hate dainty, hairless little Jessica!  Screw that.  She and her eyebrows haven't changed a bit since BB.