S31.E02: Knock the Newbie Out of Us

[JerseyGirl]

So happy to see Rupert and Laura go.  I could not stand another minute of Rupert on my screen.  Loved Rupert in his first season of Survivor but after that he became obnoxious and annoying, including this installment of TAR.  Goodbye!

On that note, I hope the next elimination is Rachel and Elissa - both extremely annoying and petty.  Again, I liked Rachel on her first season of BB, but could not take her whining and crying in her follow-up BB and her last round at TAR with Brandon.  Elissa's lips, didn't care for her on her gifted appearance on BB (nice to have a sister in the business) look like UFOs.  Get rid of these two!

[dgpolo]

27 minutes ago, blackwing said:

My apologies, the two shows air back to back and I assumed that most people watch them back to back like I do.  I am pretty sure that things are not spoilers anywhere once a show has aired, but I went back and edited. 

Actually there’s a Forum wide rule that you don’t spoil any show -regardless of age- in another shows forum. I believe it’s because people can now come to shows years later and binge them and while they can expect spoilers in that shows thread they feel safe in another’s shows thread and don’t want a surprise.

[Fake Jan Brady]

9 hours ago, Adeejay said:

Given the Survivors they could have cast, can't help but wonder why they chose Rupert and Laura. They seem like a perfectly nice couple, but I would never pick them to compete on the "Amazing Race".

Somebody at CBS made up a completely random million dollar prize to give Rupert when he was first on Survivor; I'm surprised he's not on more of their shows [but am so pleased he's not].

7 hours ago, Phebemarie said:

Nicole’s joy while riding the elephant was kind of sweet.  Nice that the handler encouraged it to play in the water.  Moments like that are what I like best about The Amazing Race.  

Her boyfriend's genuine joy for her zoomed him to the top of my favourites list.

[AZChristian]

3 hours ago, Pepper Mostly said:

(And why is "thank you"  pronounced "thenk yo" these days?)

That almost drove me nuts watching last night's episode.  It almost makes it sound insincere, doesn't it?

[Kelda Feegle]

Ok who is this Colin and what have you done with the real one? His zenness is weirding me out.

I'd like to see Tyler go before Rachel, I can at least laugh at her, Tyler just annoys the sh*t out of me.

[Netfoot]

11 hours ago, mojoween said:

So Colin is totally going to snap and murder someone before the race is concluded, yes?

Yes.  I'm just waiting for CalmColin to crack wide open and CrazyColin to claw his way out of the shell.  Bring on the KF!

10 hours ago, burntheflaws said:

It seems like a lot of people here hate Rupert and Laura.

I don't think anyone hates Laura.  But Rupert himself more than makes up for it.

WTF with Elissa's face?  Did someone smack her in the mouth?  Or is it just ass-fat?

[bunnyface]

4 hours ago, Pepper Mostly said:

(And why is "thank you"  pronounced "thenk yo" these days?) 

I have heard myself say "think you" a few times.  I swear I'm working on it.  Awful.

Two legs, two glorious eliminations.  I've never had a season where all my dreams appear to be coming true.  So I'm throwing this out there.  Have Colin have to lug a big box around a busy city somewhere.  When he gets to the designated location, he opens the box and Mirna and/or Charla pop out.  Either one is good, either one will make his head explode.  Then Zen Colin is gone and the Real Race is on.  Just dreaming...

[Gummo]

Elephants! Tuk-tuk racing! Mad dashes to the finish! Rupert gone!

I LOVE THE RACE!

In other news...

Rachel Reilly has grown on me over the years -- loud and cringeworthy, yes, but she is a fierce competitor and generally understands that a game is a game. Her sister, on the other hand ... the doctor who agreed to replace her lips with two pieces of raw liver should be sued into bankruptcy.

I wonder what the Vegas odds are on Colin's first meltdown?...

The sheer joy everyone took in the elephant challenge was a vicarious delight. Without having to say anything, it felt they all put the game on hold so everyone could enjoy that wonderful, unique experience. Victor beaming with joy as Nicole rode her elephant was the cherry on that sundae.

The Afghanimals continue to be more obnoxious than they have to be, but damn, they're good.

[spanana]

Nicole/Victor seem to be the strongest of the non Amazing Race teams so far, which make sense (to me at least).  I don't watch Survivor regularly enough to have seen most of these people compete, but I am familiar with most of the Big Brother people and of them Nicole/Victor seem the best equipped for the race all around.  I know Rachel is experienced, but as she's never completed without her husband this is a new thing entirely for her.

Victor should do well with physical tasks and he's very athletic, but he's also fairly smart.  He's no mastermind or he wouldn't have gotten voted off Big Brother 3x in the same season, but I think he would also do fairly well with puzzles that aren't random luck and also things that require paying attention to details.

Nicole is a divisive Big Brother personality (and I've seen both of her seasons) but I don't think she's actively dumb.  Her biggest issue is what we saw last night...she's more naive and gullible than dumb.  Plus as they alluded to, she's a small town girl who outside of Big Brother hasn't been exposed to much outside of her small town.  Physically she's not going to win any foot races, but I think she will be fine otherwise.

Outside of that, while I enjoyed watching the parts with the elephants, I thought it was considered a no no these days to ride elephants.  I get that they generally do tasks that have something to do with the customs of the countries they are visiting, but my understanding is that elephant riding is not good for the elephants.  I was a bit surprised that the race featured it.

[DEL901]

32 minutes ago, spanana said:

Outside of that, while I enjoyed watching the parts with the elephants, I thought it was considered a no no these days to ride elephants.  I get that they generally do tasks that have something to do with the customs of the countries they are visiting, but my understanding is that elephant riding is not good for the elephants.  I was a bit surprised that the race featured it.

They were riding on the elephant's neck and not on one of those horrible saddles (which one of the blondes wanted), which is the right way to do it, if you are going to ride an elephant because that is where the strongest muscles are.  The saddles are actually bad for their backs.

The elephants seemed healthy and happy and were enjoying the water.  

I always had a soft spot for Rupert going back to the shoe stealing on his very first Survivor appearance/episode.  But this show wasn't right for him.  

And I don't think it is fair to have returning Amazing Race players with others who are newbies.  (Same as I don't like that in Survivor).  Don't hate the Afganimals, but don't like them either.   Not sure who I'm routing for to win.

PS - Check out Elephantnaturepark.org for more on ethical elephant tourism.

Edited April 25, 2019 by DEL901

[spanana]

2 minutes ago, DEL901 said:

They were riding on the elephant's neck and not on one of those horrible saddles (which one of the blondes wanted), which is the right way to do it, if you are going to ride an elephant because that is where the strongest muscles are.  The saddles are actually bad for their backs.

The elephants seemed healthy and happy and were enjoying the water. 

PS - Check out Elephantnaturepark.org or mroe on ethical elephant tourism.

Thanks for that.  I wasn't really judging because I personally didn't know much about it and hadn't researched it.  Just remember people telling me that riding elephants was bad so thanks for the clarity.  I agreed the elephants in question last night seemed like they were enjoying the water.

[DEL901]

4 minutes ago, spanana said:

Thanks for that.  I wasn't really judging because I personally didn't know much about it and hadn't researched it.  Just remember people telling me that riding elephants was bad so thanks for the clarity.  I agreed the elephants in question last night seemed like they were enjoying the water.

NP.  I spent 2 weeks as a volunteer elephant helper at Elephant Nature Park so I am also concerned.  and I really appreciate your thoughtfulness.  Many people just look at their size and don't consider their well being.

[JerseyGirl]

My daughter spent a month in Thailand and researched an ethical elephant sanctuary that even riding "bareback" these lovely creatures is unethical.  If anyone is interested, here is the website:

http://maerimelephantsanctuary.com/

NO HOOK, NO RIDE & WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE OUR DAY HAD BEEN DESIGNED TO GIVE YOU A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE WITHOUT RIDING, HURTING, OR EXPLOITING THESE BEAUTIFUL ANIMALS.  “

MAERIM ELEPHANT SANCTUARY

CHIANG MAI, THAILAND.

[Evenshorter]

14 hours ago, weightyghost said:

Nicole doesn't even seem to like Hayden, their dynamic is so strange to me

Peace out, Rupert 'strongest survivor ever' 

Funny, young me had such a crush on Colin despite his anger issues. Now old me sees all the red flags but also does not care for the zen version. But hey, it works for the two of them and they do seem sweet together. 

Nicole and Victor are engaged. Hayden is someone else who was previously on both BB and TAR. Rupert has not not aged well and not sure how he didn't know how hard TAR is.  I still have to go back and research Art and JJ and what went on.  I have no memory of them!

[JerseyGirl]

I liked Nicole during both her Big Brother seasons and poor Victor was so over the moon about her that he finally caught her (well after BB 18 ended).  I liked Victor during his season too and the limited amount of time I saw him on The Challenge.  He's a good guy, glad they finally both found each other.

What I was surprised was Nicole saying she hasn't travelled much.  With winning the $500,000 prize for BB18, I'm glad she didn't splurge it on travel and plastic surgery, etc.

Rachel was back to her old bitchy self again last night when she snapped at her sister during one of the rounds.  Wishing these two get eliminated next week!

Edited April 25, 2019 by JerseyGirl

[spanana]

3 minutes ago, JerseyGirl said:

I liked Nicole during both her Big Brother seasons and poor Victor was so over the moon about her that he finally caught her (well after BB 18 ended).  I liked Victor during his season too and the limited amount of time I saw him on The Challenge.  He's a good guy, glad they finally both found each other.

What I was surprised was Nicole saying she hasn't travelled much.  With winning the $500,000 prize for BB18, I'm glad she didn't splurge it on travel and plastic surgery, etc.

Rachel was back to her old bitchy self again last night when she snapped at her sister during one of the rounds.  Wishing these two get eliminated next week!

This is going to sound like I'm obsessed with Nicole/Victor, but I swear I'm not and just follow them on social media and they now live together in Nicole's very small town in Michigan (I think?).  I get the impression her traveling up until now has mostly been related to her Big Brother appearances.  Victor has to be super into her for the fact that he willingly uprooted himself to move to Ubly, Michigan. 

Also not that it was a huge deal, but despite the bit of misdirection last night, they seem to be friends with Leo/Jamal.  They were in NY hanging out with Leo at his bar last night.  Leo gave them shots of the good stuff to make up for lying to them, so whatever happened on the race was left on the race.

[Miles]

Becca and Flyod made a massive strategic blunder today. If you've been U-Turned and you are fighting to survive, you want to U-Turn a weak team, you know will struggle with the tasks, not a strong team that might blast through them faster than you can. They were only saved by Rupert being shit with elephants. I would have expected more from fans of the race.

Speaking of the elephants, I don't think Becca should have done that one. I love her and she is a beast in physical challanges, but she can be a bit high strung and animals feel that. I think Flyod would have done better at this task and it would have freed up Becca to do a more physical tasks later. I think there is still a bit of a lack of self-reflection of their strengths and weaknesses there.

[Writing Wrongs]

14 hours ago, mojoween said:

So Colin is totally going to snap and murder someone before the race is concluded, yes?

It's bad, but I'm just waiting for that to happen. 

14 hours ago, Browncoat said:

Is Laos a new country for them?  I really dug those instruments they were playing in the forest.  Anyone have any idea what they are?

Khaen

7 hours ago, Pepper Mostly said:

Guys. I don't know if I can hang in with this. Between the constant shrieks of "WOO! WOOOOOOO!" and "Go go go!" I spent the whole episode lunging for the mute button.

I am so sick of seeing people on shows "high fiving" each other after every sentence. That and backwards baseball caps are big pet peeves of mine.

[alexa]

14 hours ago, burntheflaws said:

It seems like a lot of people here hate Rupert and Laura. I know nothing about them (I've watched maybe one season of Survivor, where Yul the puppet master won), but honestly, they seem like a really nice, supportive couple. Even when they were behind they never got frustrated at each other, they didn't say anything ignorant about the locals (Pet Peeve #1; low bar, but it's one of my biggest pet peeves because racers do it all the freakin' time), and they just genuinely seemed really sweet together.

For me, and I can't speak for everyone, it is not hating Rupert, but more about Rupert burnout from when Survivor kept parading him out, and he also won some money from some popularity contest they had back then...it was just a lot of Rupert.  So yes they are nice and pleasant, but I guess you have to have Rupert burnout to understand.  I didn't mind him terribly this round since I had a long break from him, but I still won't miss him one bit.  lol

[proserpina65]

How did Becca get so far behind?  Was it a slow tuk-tuk, or just the less than cooperative elephant?

[sara416]

14 hours ago, redfish said:

Low Key Colin. I don't know how to react to that. But at least he's not melting down and being a total ass.

It almost seems like he is putting on an act though. I think it might only be a matter of time until we get a meltdown. He and Christie seem drugged or something. Christie saying that the elephants don't seem to like being yelled at and Colin being all zen is just strange.

[meep.meep]

I did appreciate Rupert's crack about how he and Laura ran around the park for a few hours looking for a hidden immunity idol...  But I'm glad they are gone.

And Victor is super cute.  He can stay.

12 hours ago, green said:

Also Colin Stares Death Rays At The Hour Glass after Chip yielded him.

It's on my wish list for sure!

[Miles]

42 minutes ago, JerseyGirl said:

I liked Nicole during both her Big Brother seasons and poor Victor was so over the moon about her that he finally caught her (well after BB 18 ended).  I liked Victor during his season too and the limited amount of time I saw him on The Challenge.  He's a good guy, glad they finally both found each other.

I'm so sad for him. He would have been better off not "catching" her. I don't know them from big brother, but when he talked about how he loved her and loved watching her have fun on the elephant, all I could see in her face was disgust. Seems to me like this is purely a "marriage" of convenience for her, to fruther her reality show creer.

[spanana]

23 minutes ago, Miles said:

I'm so sad for him. He would have been better off not "catching" her. I don't know them from big brother, but when he talked about how he loved her and loved watching her have fun on the elephant, all I could see in her face was disgust. Seems to me like this is purely a "marriage" of convenience for her, to fruther her reality show creer.

I really don't think that is it at all.  Love them or hate them, they spend most of their time living in a small town in Michigan.  They don't attend a lot of those reality events and parties that different people hanging on to their relevance try to attend.   Victor did some of that stuff when he first got out of the BB house before they started dating, but otherwise they live a pretty low key experience when not actively competing on the show.

My take away on Nicole is she's a person that is fairly uncomfortable with showing too much for the cameras (and yes, I realize I'm saying this knowing she did two showmances to some extent) and she's super hyperfocused on how she's portrayed.  I think what some see as disgust, is more just general uncomfortability. 

[HurricaneVal]

15 hours ago, anniebird said:

I think the reason Rupert's elephant wasn't going anywhere is that, for the longest time, he wasn't using any of the commands on that canvas bag - he was just talking to the elephant in that stupid Rupert voice.

I know!  I was yelling at my screen "THEY DON"T SPEAK 'RUPERT', YOU IDIOT!!!  FOLLOW YOUR DIRECTIONS, IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW EARNEST AND SINCERE YOU ARE, YOU'RE NOT THERE TO 'LIFE-COACH' THEM!!!"  That's Rupert's problem, he's bought into the "Cult of Rupert" built by the Survivor franchise and he doesn't listen. 

13 hours ago, Fukui San said:

Maybe the London Roadblock would be to fix Brexit.

OMG.  That would be awesome!

I did like how very happy Victor was a how joyful and happy Nicole was getting her once-in-a-lifetime dream-come-true moment.   That was sweet. 

Elissa really needs to lay off the fillers and botox.  Her face is a caricature of herself--her lips are inflated to a bizarre level, and there's something wrong with her left eye, like she's been botoxed so much the muscles that hold her eye open has been paralyzed.  Either that, or she's wearing a metric ton of mascara and eye makeup and she can't hold her eyelid open from the sheer weight of the goop.  Even Janelle's facial work looks better in comparison.   (Now I'm going to feel really bad if someone comes on and says she's suffering from Bell's Palsy, and is using the fillers and makeup to mask the effects...)

I'm rooting for Tyler/Cory, Nicole/Victor, and Team Fun.  I'm also rooting for Colin to return to his roots and murder the Reilly Sisters.

Edited to add:  I forgot to say Team Pablo!

Edited April 25, 2019 by HurricaneVal
PABLO!!!!!!

[Happy Belly]

The good...at least for me....I love the “mean girls” Anytime they want to appear on my screen and whine and complain and snark, you will always be welcome.May I please have more Janelle? she was a comp warrior Nd Im barely seeing her on this show.

The bad..at least for me...Nicole, you ditz. Listen to your partner not another team. Your stupidity made you lose first place. Victor...I love you .

Also the baddest of the bad for me...RIDING ELEPHANTS! WTF?  This is a sanctuary for these precious lives not a tourist abuse site.  If you want to see how elephants in a sactuary live, follow Wildlife S.O.S. based oUt of India.  Never, ever ride these poor creatures. The abuse they receive from their handlers makes me sick to my stomach. ok...im off the lecturing circuit now. 

[blackwing]

40 minutes ago, alexa said:

For me, and I can't speak for everyone, it is not hating Rupert, but more about Rupert burnout from when Survivor kept parading him out, and he also won some money from some popularity contest they had back then...it was just a lot of Rupert.  So yes they are nice and pleasant, but I guess you have to have Rupert burnout to understand.  I didn't mind him terribly this round since I had a long break from him, but I still won't miss him one bit.  lol

I don't think that he is a nice and pleasant person, and I have disliked him from the beginning.  He was introduced as this quirky character that talked like a pirate and stole shoes.  But I remember him roaring "WHO VOTED FOR ME!!!!! WHO VOTED FOR ME!!!!" when people dared to vote for him at tribal council.  And the way he always insists that he is correct.  He may have started as a nice person, but somewhere along the way, he bought into this perception that he is the amazing and legendary Rupert.  Enormous ego.

The very fact that he said he considers himself "one of the strongest Survivors" says it all.  Really Stupert?  You're one of the strongest Survivors?  Four chances to win, not even close to winning.  Oh but of course in his mind he got voted out because he's a strong threat.

[iMonrey]

Wow, lots of Rachel hate around here, but other teams dismiss her at their own peril. She's a tough competitor regardless of what you think about her personality and she made it to the final three twice before, in addition to winning BB. Elissa was no slouch in BB challenges either. 

And yes, I think Elissa overdid it with the collagen filler but Christie is looking pretty plastic these days too.

Nicole and Victor's children would be beautiful but stupid. That said, Nicole's appreciation for the elephants was awfully endearing. Apparently they were given some sort of "treat" to feed them along the way because the elephant was reaching up for something and Nicole told him "I only have one left so we'll save that for the end, OK?" I also got a kick out of seeing her actually kiss the elephant goodbye.

Corinne actually got a laugh out of me when she compared the Laotian alphabet to anyone from Boston saying anything.

At least the tasks were somewhat challenging this week, as opposed to eating shoes and climbing a slippy-slide. Still not early seasons levels of difficult, but better. 

Quote

For me, and I can't speak for everyone, it is not hating Rupert, but more about Rupert burnout from when Survivor kept parading him out, and he also won some money from some popularity contest they had back then...it was just a lot of Rupert. 

He was nice enough when he first appeared on Survivor but the fan popularity went right to his head, and afterwards he became rather arrogant and entitled. The downfall of buying into your own press.

[alexa]

9 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

He was nice enough when he first appeared on Survivor but the fan popularity went right to his head, and afterwards he became rather arrogant and entitled. The downfall of buying into your own press.

Yeah, by nice I mainly meant he might appear that way based on a quick peek, but I agree with you.  He did become a bit too much after all of his exposure. 

[xcrayon2215x]

This is a very different Colin. Starting to like Leo and Jamal, Tyler and Korey to be honest. Rupert and Laura deserved to go.

[SomeTameGazelle]

3 hours ago, JerseyGirl said:

Rachel was back to her old bitchy self again last night when she snapped at her sister during one of the rounds.  Wishing these two get eliminated next week!

I thought the time she snapped at her sister was because the sister was giving the judge a hard time about not passing them and Rachel knew that there were no appeals or whining and they should just buckle down and fix their mistake. I was with Rachel on that one.

[Bryce Lynch]

3 hours ago, sara416 said:

It almost seems like he is putting on an act though. I think it might only be a matter of time until we get a meltdown. He and Christie seem drugged or something. Christie saying that the elephants don't seem to like being yelled at and Colin being all zen is just strange.

He makes me think of "Serenity now!" on Seinfeld.   I'm waiting for all the bottled up frustration to explode.  

[mikewho]

Did I hear Rupert say he was one of the strongest Survivors ever, but the Amazing Race kicked his ass?

He still lives in his own delusional mind. And believes his own publicity even though THAT publicity was years ago. Never liked him, even in his first Survivor season, and I'm glad he's gone.

I'm not one to avoid a show just because a certain contestant is on it, so I wasn't gonna let his presence deter me from watching this season of TAR. But it'll be more enjoyable now.

[biakbiak]

18 hours ago, chaifan said:

they were "strong teams", but no one thought to U turn Colin & Christie.  Based on legs won & final placement, I think C&C are one of the biggest threats.

Colin and Christie were standing right behind Rachel and her sister at the Uturn, I can’t imagine anyone being the first team to arrive and than Uturning the team standing next to them. Not to mention they said they were becoming friends. Team Fun and the Afghanmals seemed to have a pretty good idea bout who was where so would know that Colin and Christie had already passed the uturn. 

1 hour ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

I thought the time she snapped at her sister was because the sister was giving the judge a hard time about not passing them and Rachel knew that there were no appeals or whining and they should just buckle down and fix their mistake. I was with Rachel on that one.

I thought she snapped at her because she brought up Rachel’s having a difficultly on a similar task on the last race which wasn’t helpful particularly for someone as high strung as Rachel.

[blackwing]

7 minutes ago, mikewho said:

Did I hear Rupert say he was one of the strongest Survivors ever, but the Amazing Race kicked his ass?

He still lives in his own delusional mind. And believes his own publicity even though THAT publicity was years ago. Never liked him, even in his first Survivor season, and I'm glad he's gone.

I'm not one to avoid a show just because a certain contestant is on it, so I wasn't gonna let his presence deter me from watching this season of TAR. But it'll be more enjoyable now.

Yes.  I was trying to figure out what he meant by "one of the strongest".  If it's strongest as in physically strongest, then yeah, maybe.  But if it's strongest as in strongest threat to win... hardly.  I remember him roaring during either the Pearl Islands reunion show or the "America's fan favourite" show and just cringing with embarrassment.  At the time I remember feeling kind of sorry for him.  He seemed like the kind of person who was an outcast his whole life and then he was finally getting validation that he was indeed loved by people.  So much that he roared on cue like a pet Chewbacca.  It was sad and demeaning.  Like he was an animal doing tricks because he thought it would make people like him more.  After he won that vote is when his head started getting even more inflated and any iota of sympathy I had for him was gone for good.

Did they show start times this time around?  I don't think they did.  But despite the fact that they must have been significantly behind the 9th place team, they got equalised on the flight to Laos.  And then still managed to come in dead last again.  I really do hope this is the last we see of Rupert on any CBS reality show.  They definitely don't deserve a second chance on TAR.  And if he just doesn't seem cut out for BB.

[lexington11]

20 hours ago, hendersonrocks said:

Thank you, Gods of the Amazing Race, for removing Rupert from my life once again. Now do Rachel and her sister next. 

Or Corinne & Eliza...not picky about the order as long as those two are the next teams to go

[Rinaldo]

5 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

How did Becca get so far behind?  Was it a slow tuk-tuk, or just the less than cooperative elephant?

It seemed to me that she wasn't being forceful enough with her verbal commands. The handlers said that the words had to be said loudly and definitely, and her voice sounded gentle and tiny. 

Or maybe she did get an uncooperative elephant. 

[illdoc]

48 minutes ago, blackwing said:

Did they show start times this time around?

Yes. I believe the first 2 times left at 12:42 & 12:45, the next 6 between 1 & 1:15, the next to last team at 2:45 or so & Rupert & Laura around 4:25. Of course, there seemed to be only one flight out, so everyone was on it and any advantage for early start times was lost.

[ML89]

In the universe of "people I want to go" Afghanimals are next on my list. Them calling Corrine and Eliza sneaky snakes for daring to out run their tuk tuk  and cut them off, so totally unlike the AAs sending Natalie and Victor the wrong way - okay, dudes. This is why I stopped liking you the last two times. Don't be holier than thou about it. 

Also the whole U Turning again demonstrates why I never would. It may give you an advantage but then you've got enemies the rest of the race, so why add to your misery? 

[meatball77]

U-turning only makes sense when you're on the verge of being eliminated.  Doing it when you're in first place just means you are stupid.  She's playing Big Brother and not TAR.  It's always better to have other teams like you on TAR because they might help you.  As for team Fun, they needed to Uturn someone and may not have known that Rupert and Laura were behind them. 

I'm so glad Rupert and Wife are gone.  There's nothing I hate more than the lazy incompetent team being dragged along weeks longer than they should. 

[chaifan]

1 hour ago, biakbiak said:

Colin and Christie were standing right behind Rachel and her sister at the Uturn, I can’t imagine anyone being the first team to arrive and than Uturning the team standing next to them. Not to mention they said they were becoming friends. Team Fun and the Afghanmals seemed to have a pretty good idea bout who was where so would know that Colin and Christie had already passed the uturn. 

Thanks, Biak!  I didn't remember where C&C were at that time.  That makes much more sense now.

19 minutes ago, illdoc said:

Yes. I believe the first 2 times left at 12:42 & 12:45, the next 6 between 1 & 1:15, the next to last team at 2:45 or so & Rupert & Laura around 4:25. Of course, there seemed to be only one flight out, so everyone was on it and any advantage for early start times was lost.

I was surprised how close so many of those teams were to each other.  Didn't look that way from the prior episode.  I do wish in situations where the time/order leaving makes absolutely no difference due to a forced bunching (flights or HOO), that production wouldn't waste time on that part of the show.  Put up a graphic listing the order and times departing with a 10 second voiceover by Phil on how everyone ended up on the same flight, then spend those 3-4 minutes on more relevant/determinative/exciting parts of the race. 

[Netfoot]

4 minutes ago, ML89 said:

Them calling Corrine and Eliza sneaky snakes for daring to out run their tuk tuk  and cut them off, so totally unlike the AAs sending Natalie and Victor the wrong way - okay, dudes.

Tricking other teams into going the wrong way is par for the course, I think.  Along with misleading, misdirecting and just plain ole lying.  If I were on this race I wouldn't give a straight answer if you asked me the time.  In fact, the only way I'd tell the truth is if I thought that somehow, it'd be more misleading than lying.  However, that being said, you can't swoon with shock or get all self-righteous when others practice similar tactics on you!

Still, I don't like the Afghanimals much either, nor did I ever.

My ideal boot sequence would begin with them, Tyler & Korey (because last time out Tyler was such a douche, although admittedly no excessive douchiness so far this race), Corinne & Eliza (because Corrine, obviously), and Rachel & Elissa.  Any order.

[Rinaldo]

6 minutes ago, Netfoot said:

you can't swoon with shock or get all self-righteous when others practice similar tactics on you!

Well, clearly you can!... We see it happen in nearly every race, right?

[J-Man]

Quote

They were in NY hanging out with Leo at his bar last night. 

I thought Leo's bar was in California. Does he have more than one?

[Quilt Fairy]

43 minutes ago, meatball77 said:

There's nothing I hate more than the lazy incompetent team being dragged along weeks longer than they should. 

Did anyone else prick their ears up when Phil said "may be eliminated" rather than the "will be eliminated" from last week?  I know he's been using "may" almost exclusively for some time, but after last week's "will" I was wondering, especially in a double U-turn episode, if it might be a non-elimination leg.

[Netfoot]

25 minutes ago, Rinaldo said:

Well, clearly you can!...

I stand corrected.  Obviously you can but you really shouldn't.  😊

[Rinaldo]

55 minutes ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Did anyone else prick their ears up when Phil said "may be eliminated" rather than the "will be eliminated" from last week?  I know he's been using "may" almost exclusively for some time, but after last week's "will" I was wondering, especially in a double U-turn episode, if it might be a non-elimination leg.

As you say, "may" is almost invariably the word used, so it doesn't convey any hidden meaning for me. I haven't checked, but my impression is that "will" is sometimes (as in this case) used for the very first leg, to imply that extra impression of urgency and risk at the start of the race. 

Edited April 26, 2019 by Rinaldo

[lexington11]

6 hours ago, spanana said:

I really don't think that is it at all.  Love them or hate them, they spend most of their time living in a small town in Michigan.  They don't attend a lot of those reality events and parties that different people hanging on to their relevance try to attend.   Victor did some of that stuff when he first got out of the BB house before they started dating, but otherwise they live a pretty low key experience when not actively competing on the show.

My take away on Nicole is she's a person that is fairly uncomfortable with showing too much for the cameras (and yes, I realize I'm saying this knowing she did two showmances to some extent) and she's super hyperfocused on how she's portrayed.  I think what some see as disgust, is more just general uncomfortability. 

I actually remember Nicole saying on an episode of the podcast that she and Victor do that when she went on to play BB a second time, she didn't enjoy the experience as much as she did the first time, because second time around, she was so hyper focused on winning that she forgot about the fun element. And I can definitely see that being the case here, especially because she's also been open about how she's always had anxiety about anything that involved her being out of her comfort zone. 

[Watchingtv]

I think part of the difference between Nicole believing the Afghanimals and Victor knowing they were lying was because of their most recent experiences. 

Victor had just been schooled by one not to help other teams and to lie to them. Nicole has been off frolicking with elephants with the other. Had it been reversed, it’s possible Victor would also had hesitated when their friends were telling that they were going the wrong way.  I doubt she would make that mistake again. 

Edited April 26, 2019 by Watchingtv

[spanana]

2 hours ago, J-Man said:

I thought Leo's bar was in California. Does he have more than one?

No, you're right.  They are in Cali, not NY.  Not sure why I thought they were in NY.