S30.E09: The First Rule of Amazing Race Club (1) & S30.E10: The First Rule of Amazing Race Club (2)

[Whimsy]

Episode 9:

Quote

For the first time, the Race travels to Bahrain, where one team's game is on the line when one of them misplaces their passport.

Episode 10:

Quote

Scorpions are on the menu for racers in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

 

[InDueTime]

Part 1:

It's good to see a new country introduced in TAR. Congrats, Team Indy Car.

Minor quibble, but I wonder why the "find a matching charm in a clay pot" task wasn't labeld a Detour or a Roadblock.  Maybe another task got cut.

The camels were much more even-tempered than I thought they would be.  I wanted to see more of the falcon.

Brittany and Lucas weren't my favorites but felt bad for them with the lost passport. I'm glad they got another one. I wonder how much time passed between them being at the U.A.E. airport and arriving in Bahrain. They made it seem like it would be a really short flight, but it was night when they arrived. The must've underestimated their time with the U.S. Consulate. Oh, well. At least Brittany and Jessica can't gripe about each other anymore.

 

Part 2:

Frogs are one of my favorite animals, but I'd do the elephant Detour just because the elephants are right where you can see them. "Get back here, Kermit!"

I could not wear the scorpions. No way.

I'm glad the NEL spared Team Yale.

[RandomWatcher]

Scorpions. Nope. Nope Nope

[Lamb18]

Part 1:

Luke and Brittany: we have to choose between being smart and being too nice. They are not succeeding in either choice (in my opinion). Cool, they're going to Bahrain.  That is a long flight - Ethiopia, then Dubai, then Manama. It will be so hot. And so that's why they showed that talking head (lost passport)!! Well, I guess they have to be too nice because they sure weren't smart. Jessica, Luke and Jessica's mishap has absolutely nothing to do with you. It is not karma - it's just a bad mistake.

Oh man, he set his passport down. Identity theft, here we come!!!

This is going to be a tough challenge - 300 pounds of wood. Good job, team Exteme!  And Cody should be used to this climate. He sure powered through the wood task. Kind of a cute scene in the car with Jessica wiping off his face. Nice to see him laughing.  Was that a falcon-cam??  And so the name of the sweet shop was right on the clue and Teams Indy and Extreme didn't even notice? So Luke got a new passport! Too bad that didn't work for Tori and his mom (or her son-forgot which was Tori) in season 13.

Good for Cody and Jessica, getting to Delmon Pottery first! I see this is going to be a smashing challenge! Jessica, funny, holding the cat. I thought they had to break the pots. Is Connor not even looking in the pots? What's his job title, Slacker in Chief? As teams find more items, they can narrow down which items they are looking for.

Camels!!! at the Endurance Village! One thing about Evan and Henry - at least when they are behind and probably feeling frustrated, they do not berate each other. They just carry on. Connor, you need to punch the udder first to loosen the milk, then just squeeze and pull. Camel says: get your amateur hands off of me!! Where's the milking machine when you need it? I have a feeling Cory has milked a cow or two in his life.

So we're already at the pit stop. It seems weird that there were no detours or road blocks. Jessica, camels do not have both udders and testicles! I'm not sure what she was looking at. Cody probably would not get sick from drinking the milk. The udders probably kept quite clean. Maybe they use teat dip. And here are Brittany and Luke! Wonder it it's a non-elimination leg. Guess not. And I think their relationship will be OK.

Part 2:

Oh cool, elephants!!  Oh, fun, catching frogs! I'd rather do elephants since how often can you get close to an elephant?  Oh the rice paddy detour is not a my ox is broken moment after all. The previews were just decoys. I like the frogs on the boy's head. I'd think elephants would be so much easier. Elephants are so cute!  The baby is so sweet. I wonder if they give her treats while measuring she would stay more still. Jessica, do you want to win? Just grab the frog!! Cody's grabbing frogs while Jessica stands there playing with the grass. What do you know, Connor actually did something! He caught a frog!  Oh, that little baby elephant is right by Henry and Evan-so sweet! Jessica has been pretty competent throughout, but could she be any more useless right now? Doesn't she want to win? I want to ride an elephant.

Cody will just chomps those things down. Scorpions: nasty!!

I knew this leg would be non-elimination!  This is a good final four.

[mojoween]

Cody actually showed some semblance of a personality in the first hour.

Jessica, on the other hand, came across quite poorly.  It was awesome.

Ok I’m sorry but if the choice is between frogs and elephants, why on earth would you choose frogs?

[Waldo13]

Does Jess have to be a cold hearted bitch?  Does a bear shit in the woods?  Both are the laws of nature.  Jess is as useless as hamburger on a vegan buffet. 

Thailand is absolutely beautiful. Elephants are the best!  

[Adeejay]

Bye Brittany!  You won't be missed.  And, I agree with Jessica, "Karma is a bitch!" Go team Big Brother!

[PaperTree]

Ocean Spray can go away and take Indy with you.

Lost his passport.  LOL  "My ring is safe and sound!"  She will spend the next 7+ years planning the "perfect" wedding that will never happen and doesn't have that million bucks to blow on it.  Awwwww.

"Does he still have the ring?", sez douchbro whining that Jessica was "cold" to him.  Waaah.

Bahrain in September? is very hot.  Go skiers  

"hang upside down naked and set my arms on fire first."  wtf?

Cody is a log dragging beast.  2 people carrying one big log versus the individual dragging method will vary depending on the team dynamic.  Hard to say if making pottery would have been more interesting than a trinket hunt.

Mazel tov!!! 

Camel milking!  No that's not how you get malaria, dude!  Indy car is really bugging me.

Jessica must have failed Sex-ed in High School.  Testicles usually aren't found next to udders.

Thailand looks fantastic. (and blistering humid and hot).

Damn, it's been ~40 years since I caught my last frog  :)   I wouldn't want to be knee-deep in Thai mud.  

Parasites plus....

Get over yourself Jessica.  "I don't know what I'd do without you!"  You would lose.

Elephant task seems much easier.  Then Evan and Henry screw it up. 

OT I visited the famous San Diego Zoo in 1995 and I almost puked at the elephant exhibit.  The stench was horrible.  No other exhibit was even close.

Tasty scorpions.  Yeah, no thanks.  But I love watching these gross eating tasks.

I smelled the NEL an hour ago:)  This is a decent F4.  

My preferred order:

Kristi/Jen win

Evan/Henry

Jess/Cody

Douchebros

[chaifan]

OK, I'm not a fan of BB, but I'll give Jessica props for being probably the most self aware reality show contestant.  She fully admitted to being totally useless on the last leg.  I don't think anyone will disagree.

[notcreative enough]

I can't I just can't. How the hell do you lose your sneakers? Are you toddler at the park? I don't get it it's to much.

I'm neurotic about having my chap stick with me at all time so I don't know how someone can just miss place their passport. I don't know what is was but Lucas reminded me of Jason Mendoza from The Good Place. It was his voice not so much him being dumb.

[BK1978]

I wish Yale had not been speared.  Oh well...

I love it when Henry questioned their math and Evan gave him a look as if to say, "How dear you question my math!", and Henry was right it was because the math was screwed up.  

Out of the final four I think I want either Indy or Team Extreme to take the win, I am leaning more Kristi and Jen because they have kicked ass all throughout the race and it would be cool to see them win.

[sinycalone]

Congrats to Indy Team on winning both legs.  

They had a good method for going through the pots...and it worked.  Skiers were smart in getting their wood to the scales.  Jessica was right - she was pretty much useless for both legs.  Sorry Ocean Rescue was eliminated because of the lost passport....but they were lucky to get a replacement passport.   Team Yale - they apparently were more lost than the other three teams in Bahrain.

You knew Team Yale was going to screw up the elephant measurement task -- because of their comments beforehand.  That always happens on TAR, lol.  I think the ones that chose the frogs did so because it probably sounded easier.  I would have picked the elephant challenge.  Cody and Alex were funny eating the scorpions....no way they were going to admit any problems with it.  I suspect Evan took longer than the others for the eating .... but we'll never know.

[Miss Chevious]

Those couple contestant teams where the female is squeaky, squeamish and gets out of doing any of the heavy lifting is extremely annoying. It seems like there’s at least one of those every season. This season it’s Jessica. Did she manage to get even one frog? 

Team Big Brother needs to go home. 

[RandomWatcher]

13 minutes ago, PaperTree said:

Jessica must have failed Sex-ed in High School.  Testicles usually aren't found next to udders.

Considering she asked what a hymen was during her BB season...yeah she must have.

[PaperTree]

3 minutes ago, RandomWatcher said:

Considering she asked what a hymen was during her BB season...yeah she must have.

Forgot about that!  LOL

[ByaNose]

I do agree with Jessica about tonight. She was totally useless. Cody is da man! Overall, he does 95% of the work. That said, the other teams seem to like them better then Team Ocean & Team Yale. I guess that’s something. I just don’t want Cody & Jessica to win. It’s bad enough they’re playing the reality gravy train. I don’t need them getting rewarded for it. LOL!!!! I don’t have a horse one way or the other in the race. I’m ok with either Team Extreme or the Team Indy winning. I’m glad the Amazing Race returned but I’ve been kind of meh on the season.  

[Lantern7]

Well, we're out one headache-inducing team. Just one more to go. If Big Brother is the last to be eliminated, would that be a bad thing? I mean, if a Big Brother team wins, it's not as if CBS would stop sending those to TAR. Shit, they'd probably cancel TAR because of the "perfect" ending. Bad news is that if/when TAR does an all-star or "redemption" season, Lucas & Brittany would be at the top of the list.

Seriously, thanks to Ocean Rescue's mistake, the first leg was an anticlimax. It was also weird because there were no Detours or Roadblocks. Don't we need those for a season of TAR? Things picked up in the second hour . . . slippery frogs and uncooperative elephants. Let's see . . . stomp around in the mud trying to hold onto slippery amphibians, or being surrounded by elephants and their kids? Yeah, tough choice. Only way that could have been better is if we had younger calves. Even see a new little guy? So much hair and so little coordination. On the bright side, there's math. I like math. I don't even have to need a calculator. Elephants and math . . . the peanut butter & chocolate combo of reality television.

Aside for rooting against Big Brother, I'm good with the final legs. Not hating Yale like the other teams, and I like how Indy is stepping up in the Firefighters' place as the quippy guys. And has a team ever not finished out of the top three like Kristi & Jen. The one win I want is for TAR to get at least one season in 2018-19.

ETA: Nice twist in the scorpion task, with the one not eating getting them on their bodies. Gotta love Jen(?) screeching, Kristi telling her to can it, getting only two words out before she realizes what just happened. And I know Joey & Tim can swallow a lot, but I don't think they would have left the Roadblock in record time.

Edited February 15, 2018 by Lantern7

[blackwing]

Good riddance to Lucas and Brittany.  Won't miss them at all.  I really hope they don't come back on an Unfinished Business however because of their passport loss.

Evan continues to treat Henry very poorly.  She is very condescending and superior towards him.  He wanted to make sure they were going to the right place and she snaps back with "you have the same information I do".  She is so nasty.

At the first pit stop she went on and on about being analytical and whatnot and there were multiple camera cuts so it was obvious she kept droning on with all these $3 words and terms.

She treated the elephant better than she treats Henry.  I think she even admitted that she treats animals the same as she treats him.

Frog detour... yuck.  I really don't like frogs so I suppose I can't blame Jessica for being useless on that task.  I also don't blame her about the scorpions.  She said she doesn't like reptiles or insects and I would agree.  Cody really carries their team.

Alex and Conor are still my favourite.  Loved all the comments from Conor at the scorpion task.  I think they work well together.  Alex knows how to motivate Conor, like at the pottery when he said that he needed more from Conor.  Alex seems very good natured.  When he finished the scorpions and he says "another one, seriously?" And then a groan when the frog was revealed but then "I like this one.  A lot of bones though".  Too funny.  Seems like a normal guy even though he won the Indy500 and $2.5 million.

[LittleIggy]

I reluctantly have to give kudos to Jessica for picking up and holding that gorgeous kitty.

Those elephants were awesome. Sadly, I’m extremely heat sensitive so I could never go somewhere like Thailand. It looks so beautiful.

[Brookside]

1 hour ago, Adeejay said:

Bye Brittany!  You won't be missed.  And, I agree with Jessica, "Karma is a bitch!" Go team Big Brother!

Certainly not sad to see the back (and the last of her distracting front) of Brittany, but she certainly seemed very supportive of whatever her partner is called at the airport. 

Edited February 15, 2018 by Brookside

[Silver Raven]

Never let your passport out of your sight.  Jeez.

The title should have been "I'd rather be hung upside down naked and set on fire arms first."

Evan's becoming obnoxious.

I really would not want to pick up a stray cat and hold it to my face.  There would have to be fleas and parasites. And this from a cat lover.

I HOPE they weren't trying to milk a camel with testicles.

Damn, I was hoping for broken water buffalo.

Team Indycar is beginning to be my favorites. Cody and Henry are okay, but their partners are annoying.

I have to laugh about Yale talking up their mental skills and not getting it right the first time.

[green]

2 hours ago, BK1978 said:

I wish Yale had not been speared.  Oh well...

 

LOL!  I know this is a typo and I am one of the worst typo-ists of all time so I'm not trying to make fun of this.  Just that it really made my night imagining a herd of spear-carrying elephants stampeding after Henry & Evan.  But fortunately they weren't indeed or TAR could never tag the end of their program with "No Yale students were killed during the filming of this show." 

No way will the team with the ring and lost passport every be invited back on the show.  It is only a couple of hours after the broadcast and I can't even remember what they looked like nor their names at the moment.  They were not memorable at all.

I liked the editing of Evan on the mat going on and on and on while the falconer, falcon and Phil all spaced out.  By the end Phil was busy hanging out with the falcon instead.

I think the frogs vs elephants is a good way to divide a detour.  An "amazing" -- how many times did the two teams doing this detour use that word -- eye candy detour so it should immediately alert you that it will take you longer for sure vs a down and dirty one but much faster one so it will up your odds quite a bit of staying in the Race.  A riff off of the old scary vs safe types back in the day but this time around they made it down and dirty vs an "amazing" option to go do.  Like the admiral in Star Wars would say, "It's a trap!"

The reserve and the salmon-colored patches on this herd of elephants make me think this is the same place they washed the elephants at back in Season 2 during their Chiag Mai leg.  The one where one elephant took a dump on Blake's foot as I recall.

I don't like Cody as I keep saying but he does get things done this leg while Jessica decided to turn into the very stereotype image of the TV version of the 1950's house wife dependent on her big strong man to save her.  Geesh.  It frogs.  It's a million dollars.  What is wrong with her.  And the scorpions obviously had either their stinger or poison from same removed.

Edited February 15, 2018 by green

[lexington11]

As much as I hate to admit this, I can't really snark on Jessica for not doing anything in the frog task, because that would have been me too. And she was a lot calmer than I'd be at the Roadblock, because my screams would've been heard in whatever the country next to Thailand is if I'd have had even one insect/arachnid that was still moving placed on top of me, never mind three of them. But I will snark on her for the camel comment, because it's physically impossible for a camel with udders to also have testicles. Between that and her hymen comment on BB, I'm questioning how she passed biology in high school. And speaking of stupid comments, I can't even with one of the Indy Car douchebros thinking that they'd get malaria from milking a camel. It's transmitted by mosquitoes, and I didn't see any of those hanging around the desert.

[GaT]

I would like to smack whoever thought that a two hour episode against the Olympics was a good idea.

[Brookside]

The pottery task was like watching paint dry.

[Lantern7]

16 minutes ago, GaT said:

I would like to smack whoever thought that a two hour episode against the Olympics was a good idea.

I don't think it was a bad idea. I am hoping this the final two weeks don't doom the series because of the counterprograming move from CBS.

 

1 minute ago, Brookside said:

The pottery task was like watching paint dry.

The judge was enthusiastic about his role. You gotta give him that.

[babs1226]

Jessica can go next.  I don't care if Cody stays, but she got on my last nerve tonight with that karma comment. You u-turned someone too, Jessica, remember? Hopefully your karma comes before the finish line.  A little compassion and empathy might turn you into a decent human.

I know some folks have been trying to figure out what famous person Jen looks like. To me she looks like Peri Gilpin,who played Roz on Frazier.   

[greyhorse]

How do you lose your passport?  What happened to the Amazing Race fanny pack?  I wasn't sad to see them go.  

I don't like Jessica but when she was complaining about the heat and saying she wanted to "rip off [her] shirt", I was like, heck yeah!  That said though, that's probably all she's good for, but at least she admitted that she didn't do much this leg.  I don't like Cody either, but I am impressed with how capable he is.  He has that "get it done" attitude and is a beast.

Annoyed with the pottery checker with so much "It's a match! (and the thumbs up)" screen time.

You are in Thailand.  You have the chance to spend time with an elephant.  And 3 of the 4 teams (at least initially) went to the frogs?

In college, I remember a physiology lab where we often used frogs.  We had to stick our hands into a huge tank with probably about 100 frogs and just grab one.  Somehow I had no problem doing that back then, and I don't think we even wore gloves.  I would have found this frog task pretty gross.  I did see one of the skiers have gloves on, I think that would have made it easier.

So Team Indy won $5000 already, then $7500 for the first leg.  For Alex who won the Indy 500, that's probably not a big deal.  But it sounds like Conor could use the money.  Also loved that they asked where Curacao was.  I think that is the first time I can recall a team asking where the country is for the trip they just won from Travelocity.

Not liking a four team finale.  Wish Team Yale was eliminated.

[green]

21 minutes ago, greyhorse said:

Not liking a four team finale.  Wish Team Yale was eliminated.

It's not a four team finale.  There are two legs left.  Just broadcast, like tonight, in a two hour block.  First leg will be the penultimate leg and the second leg will be the finale.  Though not that common they have done this double leg finale as far back as Season 2.  And I love it when they do it too.  Granted they do it because of CBS scheduling but still I prefer 2 legs at once period and especially when they piggyback the last two.

Edited February 15, 2018 by green

[Brookside]

42 minutes ago, greyhorse said:

How do you lose your passport?  What happened to the Amazing Race fanny pack?  I wasn't sad to see them go.  

 

Brittany was wearing a fanny pack.  Their problem was probably more killer fatigue and the stress of getting ready to get off the plane and onto the next stage.

[mojoween]

I find Conor very amusing - although I don't think twelve grand is going to help him live in his own place forever, Phil - and I cracked up when he said that Joey would probably ask for more scorpions.

Although it did take me a moment to remember who Joey is.  It feels like they were eliminated a year ago.

[RedheadZombie]

Kristi just really bugs for me.  If she was barking at me to hurry up while I was struggling to eat three ginormous scorpions and a frog, she would have gotten a STFU and a death glare.  Then Kristi had to point out at the mat that she and Jen have done better overall than anyone else . . . She tends to be a sore loser and the instant they start struggling she aims her irritation at Jen.  

Henry was the only one chill with having the scorpions hanging on him, so kudos to him.  And rather than yelling at Evan, he continued to support and encourage her.  And it was nice to see Evan reassuring Henry and rubbing his leg when we haven't seen much of that.

Many people in the Big Brother threads stated that BB wasn't Cody's game, and he was a much better fit for Survivor and TAR.  Other than the melt down at the singing task, Cody is actually thriving.  And it's nice to see his humor.  It was pretty funny when he told Jessica she still had a scorpion on her shoulder.  It's always a good sign when a couple is supportive of each other rather than bickering during stress.

[HawaiiTVGuy]

6 hours ago, BK1978 said:

I wish Yale had not been speared.  Oh well...

I love it when Henry questioned their math and Evan gave him a look as if to say, "How dear you question my math!", and Henry was right it was because the math was screwed up.  

Out of the final four I think I want either Indy or Team Extreme to take the win, I am leaning more Kristi and Jen because they have kicked ass all throughout the race and it would be cool to see them win.

I think you got it reversed.  Evan questioned the math, Henry was the one that said do we really need to (since he did it) and she gave him the side-eye like we check everything. And what was wrong wasn't the math, it was being off by 3 cm in measuring the elephant's foot.

[sigmaforce86]

7 hours ago, PaperTree said:

Jessica must have failed Sex-ed in High School.  Testicles usually aren't found next to udders.

Loved Cody's reaction, "Yeah" (like he wasn't totally listening to her), them immediately "Wait, What?".  Then the continued confused face while she doubled down on testicles.  

Conor was my favorite with the scorpions (close second was Henry who just stood there) - he figured out if he didn't move much neither did they but he wanted it done so it was a funny watching him stand so stiff muttering hurry up through clenched teeth.

Wonder what would have happened if Bahrain was the NEL?  Would it have been moved to Thailand because they were so far behind?  Or  would that be against the rules so the NEL would be left as even though there'd be no suspense and we and the racers would know that would still guarantee Ocean Rescues elimination since they'd never catch up next leg.  These are the things that make me waffle back and forth between accusing them of occasional game manipulation and believing they don't interfere at all because there must be rules and standards about that.

Never watched BB so all opinions about Jessica are from the race alone but I don't particularly like her and am sincerely hoping she doesn't win.  With my favorite teams already gone I think I have to root for Conor/Alex or Even/Henry.  There's a temptation to just go to spoilers and see who wins - with double episodes airing during Olympics they're really burning off the season quickly though, I keep wondering if it means this is the end of the show.

[blackwing]

2 hours ago, RedheadZombie said:

Kristi just really bugs for me.  If she was barking at me to hurry up while I was struggling to eat three ginormous scorpions and a frog, she would have gotten a STFU and a death glare.  Then Kristi had to point out at the mat that she and Jen have done better overall than anyone else . . . She tends to be a sore loser and the instant they start struggling she aims her irritation at Jen.  

 

Thanks to the incessant "Jen?  Jen?  Eat faster" at the scorpions, I have finally realised that Kristi is the blonde and Jen is the other one.  Kristi is irritating.  She had a poor attitude at the singing.  Then she picked elephants and immediately questioned why they weren't doing frogs.  This led to a rare disagreement where Jen called her out on it.  

Kristi said in an interview how she was being the annoying little sister.  Which surprised me, she looks so much older than Jen that I always thought she was older.   In the earlier episodes she acted like the older one and the driver of the team, but lately it's been very obvious that Jen is the heart.

I hate that they scheduled 3 two hour episodes in a row just so they can get to their previous Survivor.  If CBS thinks Survivor is their crown jewel and have no faith in TAR why not start TAR a few weeks earlier and then throw down their big gun Survivor against the Olympics?  I really hope TAR continues next year.

[Haleth]

I missed the first hour but enjoyed the second.  I was pleased to not see Brittney and whatever her fiance's name is when I turned on the tv.  (Did you know they got engaged?  After 9 years together?)  Maybe I'll go back and watch today.

Frogs vs elephants?  Why would anyone not choose elephants?  When they first showed the frog pond and the cows in the water did anyone not think "My ox is broken!"?  (I would have swooned had anyone said "my frog is broken.")  I thought the easiest way to hang on to those suckers would be to wrap it in the front tail of your shirt.  The racers were all covered in mud and muck anyway, what's a little more?

Scorpion BBQ.  Oh, hell no.  I don't know what was worse-- eating them or wearing them.  Conor was hilarious during the whole episode.  And I have to hand it to Jen and Evan for chowing down without any fuss.

Pretty obvious it was going to be a NEL.

I hate all the double episodes.  It's so much better when the season is spread out with one hour weekly episodes.  

Edited February 15, 2018 by Haleth
Because I still don't know Kristi from Jen

[ProfCrash]

6 hours ago, GaT said:

I would like to smack whoever thought that a two hour episode against the Olympics was a good idea.

I am loving watching the events that I like using On Demand. I am not fussed about watching live so watching the entire event, without the interviews and the cut to other events has been great. It also means that I have no problem watching the Amazing Race while the Olympics are on because I know that I will easily be able to catch up on the events that I want to watch. NBC's live overage sucks donkey balls but the On Demand stuff has been great. Heck, my biathlon obsessed five year old is able to watch as much biathlon as he wants.

On to the episode(s)...

Loved the scorpion task. Oh my god. My favorite task this entire season. Way to find a way to motivate the reluctant eater. Put a bunch of scorpions on their team mate and watch them calmly freak out. Henry was the only one who seemed pretty non-plussed by the scorpions. He probably figured out that the Producers were not going to put something on them that was going to kill them or hurt them and just dealt with the weird crawling feeling. The other three seemed to be far more uncomfortable. While Jessica was the most vocal, the Indy dude was equally unhappy, he just used a lower tone to express his displeasure.

I am enjoying this season. the teams are competitive and not awful to their partners or other teams. Yes, there has been some tension between teams and some tense moments between team members but over all the teams have been supportive and good to each other. Brittney was amazing with the lost passport, although you know Lucas is going to hear about it forever. Not that he doesn't deserve it, the two of them were working well together and had a legit shot at winning until he lost his passport. But Brittney was not whining or pouting, she was legitimately supportive and kind. I didn't even mind the joke about getting engaged.

The three team dynamic is interesting. I don't think they dislike Team Yale but I think that Team Yale is very different then pretty much everyone on the race. They have proven themselves to be physically competitive as well as bright but their interests and their conversations have to be totally different then BB, Skiers and Indy. I am guessing that no one thinks they are awful people but that Yale's interests are so different that they never gelled with the other teams. I am glad to see that they are in the final four and would love to see them in the finals and even win the whole thing. They have their own dynamic but it works for them. They seem to respect each other and work well together. Evan is fine, she is a bit high strung but that is about it. She is confident, polite, and competitive. I value those traits.

I remain fine with Big Brother. The two of them work well together. Cody is a beast who jumps into every task with both feet. He carried the team this week and Jessica knows it. Jessica was able to own how bad she was for the team and how Cody carried them. It would have been better if Jessica got over herself and helped Cody, especially with the frogs, but she is not the person who sits on the sideline and then pretends she did something. I did like that we got a "Jessica is an idiot" moment with the camel testicle comment, after all, we have had plenty of "What did Cody just say?" moments. They have been polite to the locals and have worked well together. I laughed my ass off at Jessica's reaction to the scorpions and Cody's look of "I better eat these things quickly so she doesn't kill me". I was annoyed with the karma comment and happy that they had directional issues because, well, karma is a bitch.

The Skiers are fine, competent and boring. They work well together and get their jobs done. But they are pretty bland. Honestly, I have little to say about them.

Indy is another mainly boring team. They do have some good one liners and a good attitude but they are pretty boring.

Rank ordering the teams for the final episode: Team Yale, Big Brother, Skiers, Indy.

I like smart people who show up and compete. Yale is not the stereotypical team for the Race and I am enjoying watching them succeed. They are a bit younger then the others but they are hard working, smart, and determined. I would rather see the smart, determined team win then the more brawny teams. I like when smarts wins out because I don't think we see it enough and I think that American society values brawn over brains and that bothers me. I like it when the nerds win in competitions that are a nice mix of events.

I like Big Brother, they have a good dynamic and have done well in the game. They seem to be fine with the other teams and the local population. They have made me laugh and entertained me, sometimes with their actions and sometimes with their reactions to each others stupid comments. They have a personality and have worked hard.

The Skiers are a good competitive team. I like them but they are boring. I'd rather see a team with personality win. I won't be upset if they win but they bore me.

Team Indy is hanging in there but they feel more like the hanger on team that is there that could easily have not been there. They are boring and seem to be a one person team. They bore me. They are the only team that I don't want to win but if they did I would shrug and be mildly disappointed. They are not offensive but they are just kind of there.

[TaraS1]

As we say here in my little part of Kentucky, Cody looks crazy out of his eyes.  

And Jessica remains garbage.

Go TeamAnyoneButBigBrother (but especially Henry and Evan)!

[Lamima]

Yeah, I seem to like one player on each team. I like Cody...he's a beast and rather calm and even keeled. Jess can be good at some challenges (with the partner swap she knew the order but Kristy wouldn't listen to her) but she is too prissy with some of the tasks and she is catty. I like Jen....she's also a beast who just focuses and get's it done and has a great personality. Her partner annoys and has trouble at tasks more. I like Henry...he's nice and calm and supportive even though Evan treats him like elephant poo. (loved seeing them struggle with the math challenge after all her bragging). I like Alex...he gets things done and stays cheerful while his partner can get grumpy and doesn't do as much. Glad Ocean is gone as I didn't like either one of them. He was kind of useless and she was whiny and berating. 

 

Guess I don't care who wins...except Yale as she annoys me most and they have struggled more than the other teams. I suspect the skiiers will win. 

 

Oh, and on the creepy crawly tasks...I would not have liked crawling through that nasty swamp but I'd have no problems grabbing frogs. I'd be freaked, though, that bugs or fish or snakes would be in that water. Blech. Though we'd have done the elephants as my DH is an actuary. But the scorpion task....not sure which part I'd rather do, the eating or the wearing. I'd have been squealing just like Jess. And she had that one moving around by her neck and chin....OMG, eeekkkkk. I guess I would have worn them and let DH eat them. I would have had to fight the urge to flick them off me though. Ick.

Edited February 15, 2018 by Lamima

[djlynch]

9 hours ago, Miss Chevious said:

Those couple contestant teams where the female is squeaky, squeamish and gets out of doing any of the heavy lifting is extremely annoying. It seems like there’s at least one of those every season. This season it’s Jessica. Did she manage to get even one frog? 

Team Big Brother needs to go home. 

I have never been much of a fan of the super-girly girl who freaks out at everything/guy who looks like he lives at the gym teams, but at least this season where three out of the final four teams fit that description, including Brendon and Rachel. I almost gave up on that one early.

[Lady Calypso]

It took me ten episodes, but I finally can place which one is Conor and which is Alex. Phew! 

For the first hour, I thought it went well, although the editors could not make that leg look tense on who would get last. Unfortunately, Lucas lost his passport and that cost them hours of valuable time, especially since the leg seemed to go relatively quickly. I actually kind of liked Brittany here too. She was supportive of Lucas, not blaming him in the slightest, and it was obvious how badly he felt with how he broke down in front of Phil. For the first time, I saw them as a genuine couple who really do love each other. Who knew that would happen on their last leg? 

Oh, Jessica. I agreed with Conor when he said "wow, that's cold" when she made the karma comment with Team Ocean RescueSpray losing a passport. I mean, girl, that's not karma. You got U-Turned by them and...somehow, karma is them losing a passport and getting eliminated from the race? I get that Brittany U-Turned them for personal reasons, but show a tiny bit of compassion. The first hour did not paint Jessica in a good light at all. Thank god for Cody, though. He really is a beast in powering through tasks with no complaints. He's only had one bad moment on the race so far (the singing/dancing task). Otherwise, he's really helped get him and Jess this far.

So, it was nice to finally get the Team Yale vs everyone else edit, because I was wondering if they were never going to explain the snippy behaviour between all the teams toward Evan. I will admit that I can see why people would be turned off by her. I still like her, but I can see where people think she's pretentious and better than everyone. I did get a good chuckle out of her montage on the mat. However, Henry seems to completely adore her, and he doesn't seem phased by her behaviour, aside from the map argument. However, they sucked it up and powered through. I also got a good chuckle out of Evan comparing the camel noises to Henry snoring. 

I find myself really liking Jen, but I'm starting to see more flaws in Kristi. It's great with how well they work together, and they are consistently in the top three, so I wouldn't be surprised to see them win. Whatever they've been doing is working.

For the second hour, it was just awesome to see some actually tough tasks. That elephant one would be the one I would love to do, but I absolutely stink at math and if I got the measurements wrong the first time, it would most definitely have thrown me off. However, there's no way I would have been able to catch those frogs. I can't even catch my sister's rabbit in fear of hurting him with how jumpy he is. A frog would be even worse. I absolutely love the editors shading Evan with her look toward Henry when he said her math was wrong. I kind of love her response, though ("why?") because it wasn't a downright "you're wrong, my math isn't wrong" but more like a "tell me why I'm wrong". I think it's just uncommon to see on reality tv, because it's usually going straight for "I'm not wrong, you're wrong". Again, Henry/Evan powered through as well. I'm happy to see them survive another leg. Suck it, Indy Car and Big Brother. Well, really it seems more like Jessica and Indy Car who don't like Evan. Which, whatever. It's a race so it shouldn't matter if Henry/Evan are trying to be friends. They don't seem like assholes; they just seem more secluded and, like Evan said, independent. 

I gotta admit, I don't really blame Jessica for not doing much on this leg. I'm glad she was self aware enough to mention it. Jessica was self aware on Big Brother too, which is one of her better qualities for me.

I'm pleased that Indy Car did well for both legs as well. Good for you, boys. I still like all the teams and would not mind any of them to win.

[Brookside]

43 minutes ago, djlynch said:

I have never been much of a fan of the super-girly girl who freaks out at everything/guy who looks like he lives at the gym teams, but at least this season where three out of the final four teams fit that description, including Brendon and Rachel. I almost gave up on that one early.

Who are Brendon and Rachel?

[Gummo]

Dear Amazing Race,

CBS may treat you like a red-headed stepchild, but as long as you cover Jessica Big Brother in huge stinging scorpions, you're aces in my book!

Love,
Gummo

[seacliffsal]

I went back and checked-Kristi is 36 and Jen is 30, so I find it very odd that Kristi called herself the younger annoying little sister to Jen.  I also found Kristi passive-aggressive this episode when she shifted blame onto Jen for choosing the elephant task instead of the frog one.  However, I loved Jen knocking that down (as people should with passive-aggressiveness).  I have now realized that it's Jen that I'm rooting for from this team.  I love that she was able to complete the math portion of the elephant task so quickly and also that she realized she should sit in the front with the taxi driver.  Probably because of how I was feeling about the interactions prior to the elephant task I thought that instead of telling Jen to eat the scorpions faster, she should have been encouraging her.

And, I so agree with others, why would anyone consider anything else other than an elephant based task?  If you're going to be eliminated, what better way to be eliminated than having been surrounded by elephants.  Okay, maybe the racers have their focus on the RACE, but I would so have had my focus on the ELEPHANTS!  Oh, and I have been to Thailand and have been around elephants there and would still choose to do so in a heartbeat.

The Indy guys are growing on me.  At this point there really isn't a team that I'm rooting against (thank you Ocean Spray [love that racers and others are not using their designated name of Ocean Rescue...] for self-eliminating yourselves even though that wasn't your intent).

[chaifan]

31 minutes ago, Brookside said:

Who are Brendon and Rachel?

Team from a prior season, but also a former Big Brother team.  Incredibly obnoxious, in my opinion.  I had to mute the TV whenever Rachel was on.  She constantly would whine "I can't do this!" (pretty much every task, every episode) and put on this fake pout and fake cry to get attention, much like your average 4 year old.  I put her among the top of the worst TAR contestants ever. 

[Rinaldo]

3 hours ago, sigmaforce86 said:

Loved Cody's reaction, "Yeah" (like he wasn't totally listening to her), them immediately "Wait, What?".  Then the continued confused face while she doubled down on testicles.  

Yeah, lady, if there are testicles nearby, that's not an udder you're yanking.

[survivinmt]

I am absolutely loving this season. I don't care if I am supposed to be snarky - just loving all the supportiveness and capability. I actually laughed out loud at the "they put the scorpions right on my nips" comment. Still makes me laugh, just thinking about it. Loved the tasks and the "tricks" - eat this candy, they all brace for disgusting, "Hey! That's really good!" It must have been super sugary though or something because everyone was gulping liquid there.

I sincerely worried that Henry was going to pass out at the pottery task. Usually if someone is swaying - its too late, but he seemed to recover somehow. Jessica may not have done much, but what she does is keep Cody from losing it. I don't think they would have gotten anywhere in Chiang Mai if she hadn't spotted that lady in the park. He was getting pissy and despairing and she just kept looking even though she must have been exhausted from running around.

I like the skiers but definitely think that Jen is carrying that team. Maybe not literally as Kristi seems stronger physically but mentally and emotionally Jen is WAY stronger. I really like the Indy car guys. I wish they would stop trying to make everything about racing but I understand that production prods them with that. But it was interesting that they'd been to Bahrain ("like downtown Detroit") before and that it actually helped them find the camel milking locations.

[Lamb18]

9 hours ago, Silver Raven said:

I HOPE they weren't trying to milk a camel with testicles.

I did see a baby calf try nursing from a ram one time. I guess things kind of looked the same when viewed from the back end.

[Charlesman]

12 hours ago, BK1978 said:

I wish Yale had not been speared.  Oh well...

I love it when Henry questioned their math and Evan gave him a look as if to say, "How dear you question my math!", and Henry was right it was because the math was screwed up.  

Out of the final four I think I want either Indy or Team Extreme to take the win, I am leaning more Kristi and Jen because they have kicked ass all throughout the race and it would be cool to see them win.

I'm really sick of Yale, in a race with indy car drivers and x games athletes, continuing to bring up "debate team" as the highest level of competition. Get over it. 

[BusyOctober]

Another season of just half-assed watching for me.  I never learned any teams' names or distinguished one from another.  All I do know is there is a couple who went to Yale.  They graduated from Yale.  They were on the debate team...at Yale. They became a couple while at Yale. They know how to be methodical and do math-y stuff so much better than the rest of the racers because, you know. YALE.  After all these years of people rolling eyes at Harvard students/alum for name-dropping, this duo as done their share to catch up in the braggadocios bloviating.  And, oh yeah...YALE.

The other annoying racer is apparently named Jessica.  She is not as bad as dear old Flo from so long ago, but she is certainly in the same unlikable category.  Her comment about karma was so typical of an entitled spoiled brat. It was 'just game play" when she & her partner used the U-Turn.  But how dare another team use it!  On her!  I was hoping a frog would pee on her, or a scorpion would give her a good nip.  I do not like her "I'm just a poor, pretty damsel in constant state of distress!  Thank goodness my big, strong fellow fame whore of a BF is at the ready to do all the heavy lifting!"