S31.E07: Living Fearlessly

[displayname]

The entire train scene was frikking hilarious 😂 Elissa and Rachel making duck faces during the Kumbayah scene was amazing.

[RoadFullOfPromise]

2 hours ago, ByaNose said:

Yes, Victor likes to stay out of drama which is funny because he’s on a reality show and played BB. 

I’m not so sure he does, since he snarked about the u-turn on the mat while Phil was trying to check him and Nicole in as the last team. Editing is always tricky but from what we were shown, Victor just kind of threw that in there; at face value, it seemed like he was kind of being a shit stirrer there. Maybe it was justified, maybe it wasn’t, but I don’t think he always avoids the drama.

I could not make heads nor tails of the u-turn argument, and I absolutely didn’t care enough to figure it out. I don’t want the BB vibe infecting TAR, but here we are, I guess.

Agree with others that this seems very early for yet another non-elimination leg, and I hope we’re done with them for this season.

[biakbiak]

Responding in the correct thread to @ByaNose:

Because R/E than said they should uturn Team Fun and it felt to them that they were trying to make them get out a team they had previously had an issue with so they weren’t sure if they could believe R/E and than R/E kept changing their story and R kept making digs. 

Oops wrong thread moving to the current episode thread.

[displayname]

I find it amazing just how fast Colin and Christie are. It's like nothing's changed in 15 years in terms of their physical capacity.

[jennblevins]

5 hours ago, aemom said:

There are 5 Girl Guide/Scout chalets over the world and one of them is in Switzerland.  I was lucky enough to visit as a Girl Guide with a group when I was 15 and I still remember so many details to this day.  It was an awesome experience and I would love to go back one day.

🎶 “High up, high on the mountain, we founded Our Chalet ...” 🎶

I just about fell off the couch at Colin’s helicopter antics — I wish I had some of whatever he’s taking (or doing) to calm down.  

[theschnauzers]

1 hour ago, displayname said:

I find it amazing just how fast Colin and Christie are. It's like nothing's changed in 15 years in terms of their physical capacity.

If anything, they’ve gotten faster.  And I do mean both Colin and Christie. This ability to speed through challenges is legendary.

[Fake Jan Brady]

31 seasons, at least 10 teams a season, two people to a team - so of the approximately 600 people [!] who have run the race producers think Rachel is the one we want to see the most?

[millennium]

Reilly sisters for the win!

(don't throw things)

[green]

8 hours ago, mojoween said:

Of COURSE Colin would get out of the heli and pretend to be a sniper.  I loved old Colin, and I love new Colin.

Well actually no.  A sniper is a stationary soldier usually hiding in the bushes or on roof tops for hours stock still.  What Colin was play acting was what a typical infantry soldier is suppose to do when disembarking a helicopter in a hot LZ taking fire.  Roll to keep on the move while exiting making a harder target to hit.  Then up aiming at the tree line covering the soldiers following you out.  Standard practice since Vietnam.

I'm loving New Colin.  He has already won this season via his redemption story arc.  Could you imagine Old Colin holding a kumbaya circle with Charla & Mirna?  Loving the zen.  Especially contrasted with Rachel's eye roll not wanting to be part of the circle because she wanted to stay pissed.

7 hours ago, Squirrely said:

My daughter and I literally just finished watching (rewatching for me) season 3, so the return to race uphill through Grindelwald, and the trip to the gorge, made us ecstatic! O' brother, where art thou? I love that season, minus the racer who was even more whiny than Rachel.

Good times.  Ian not caring that Teri's pants were falling off, haha.  Opposite Brothers screaming "goats" as they took the shortcut.  TAR3 rocked!

And Brett, guess who also had to get their pack carried for them running through Grindelwald?  That be THE Flo herself. 

Though even Flo did NOT have such a humongous backpack.  I haven't seen one that size since the first season when the Racers had no idea they would be running around constantly with said object on their backs.  Why the record-setting backpack, Brett?  Were you carrying the entire allotment of doughnuts for the Boston PD for the year with you?

So ironic Rachel was actually telling at least some of the truth when she tried to warn Victor as in Team Fun did actually mention Victor as a target for a U-Turn.  But Rachel leaving out a few side details about personal motivation was what started the whole mess.  Not a barefaced lie but truth with personal motives behind it.  But honestly both Rachel and Victor looked like idiots yelling and whining throughout the otherwise beautifully scenic and breathtaking episode.

Weird the Afganibles took the physically slower task.  The other would be right up their gung ho alley.  Second time they did this kind of choice given they skipped the round boats in Vietnam too.  They need to start choosing the more adrenaline fueled choices instead of the token old team choices.

Loved LawyerCop and Rachel/Sister both being lost and trying to follow each other.  I could actually understand the conundrum they were in at that point thinking they were the last two teams and what the hell are we suppose to do we don't want to lose the other car but we are totally clueless. 

See, producers, the fun you can have if you let these people out loose in the world on their own for a few minutes ... FINALLY.  (Though I would have loved if those vehicles would have been stick.  TAR is really getting soft).

Edited May 30, 2019 by green

[mertensia]

That water must have been so cold. That said, it looked like fun!

I would love to ride in the funicular, but memorizing names and numbers? Nope. That said, I was pleased they weren't allowed to write anything down.

I have only driven through Switzerland. Both times I was alarmed at the dearth of guardrails on mountain roads.

[mojoween]

I wish we could have heard all of the names Nicole gave the cards, since the first one she called “tater tots.”  Whatever works!

I love that Bret was unashamed, if abashed, to have Chris carry his backpack and that Chris was basically overtaking Bret even with the encumbrance.  Love those two a bunch.

There was a talking head where Rachel was bitching about something, and Elissa appeared to be getting ready to vehemently disagree with whatever Rachel said, but the interview cut away.  I would love to know what Elissa was going to say.

[amazingracefan]

32 minutes ago, green said:

fun you can have if you let these people out loose in the world on their own for a few minutes ... FINALLY.  (Though I would have loved if those vehicles would have been stick.  TAR is really getting soft).

Exactly, the self navigation (whether running or by car) was easily the best part.  The Amazing Race is about drama not just scenery, and teams creating their own drama rather than us depending on bad taxis for it.  Some of the audience are still happy with just scenery but I don't think this show will continue with that as this format really took off with the tough drama of the classic years.

Rachel and Elissa have really enhanced the drama of the race too, funny quotes, looks and situations.  They are the kind that some love to hate but if you want teams like this gone you won't get much out of what's left.  I can imagine the same audience that complains complaining even more about the lack of drama and bland teams if you didn't have polarising teams there.

Victor didn't listen to Nicole when she told him to ask for directions.

Edited May 30, 2019 by amazingracefan

[SVNBob]

8 hours ago, Giuseppe said:

 And dgpolo already mentioned that it was Korey who yelled out nice ass to Colin, which I didn't think was creepy since they are friends. But of course, YMMV.

On top of that, this did occur while Colin was stripping out of his wetsuit from the Detour while running to his car, and I think his ass was actually partially exposed (and blurred for TV.) 

5 hours ago, 30 Helens said:

I’m still waiting for [Colin] to snap. There’s got to be a hard ball of rage coiled up in there, creaky and stiff, but just biding its time until the right unsuspecting yak comes along.

I think we finally got a glimpse of Old!Colin in this episode.  After he did the jump in the middle of the Detour to get their clue, he barked at Christie to get over to him, much like he did throughout TAR5.  I think it was KF starting to creep up on him combined with him also hitting that part of the glacial river face first that reverted him for a few seconds.

[Writing Wrongs]

It's always fun to watch when people are talking shit about other people and then said people come and sit next to them and then they have to act like they weren't just talking shit about them and have a prayer circle.

[Morrissey]

Oh, my beloved Switzerland. I'm so glad TAR decided to pay another visit.

I loved everything about this episode and I'm getting such a kick out of Colin and Christie. Hopefully, they'll make the final three!

[Haleth]

The only time I was sorta kinda with Rachel was during Colin's kumbaya moment on the train.  Hold hands and feel the love of the universe?  (Whatever he said?)  I'd be rolling my eyes too, even if I admired his zen-ness.  (I do like C&C and hope they win.)

Vic did a good job ferreting out Rachel's inconsistencies.  Earlier I was (again) rolling my eyes when he told Nicole that they spoke Swedish in Switzerland.  Because both start with S?  

I had to laugh at how Bret was rolling his eyes during the drama at the mat between the Reillys and Nicole.

A poster last week suggested TPTB give the teams staggered start times out of the airport.  This was a great example of where it would have been appropriate.  I hated watching them all rush out together, pushing and shoving other travelers to get to the train.

1 hour ago, amazingracefan said:

I can imagine the same audience that complains complaining even more about the lack of drama and bland teams if you didn't have polarising teams there.

Nope.  I prefer my drama coming organically from the race situations itself, not manufactured drama between reality tv attention seekers.

[sigmaforce86]

I couldn't figure out at first what Rachel and Elissa were complaining about but I think now it was they wanted to pit Nicole & Victor against Team Fun in a U-Turn battle to get those two teams to implode while they sat back and watched so the blame wouldn't come to them and it wouldn't affect their race.  That all fell apart on the train when N&V wouldn't accept the story at face value.  Rachel & Elissa tipped their hand by becoming way to defensive and argumentative, Victor knew right away that their over the top defensiveness was a con.  I LOVED his face when Rachel & Elissa ran up and greeted them in Switzerland.  I also think the only reason Victor brought it all up and started the argument on the mat was he thought he was eliminated so why not let it all out, he had nothing to lose then and if they went home it would be the perfect time to vent.  

I can only hope this now gets back to Team Fun and all the rest of the teams, if anyone team left on TAR hasn't figured out by now that Rachel & Elissa are playing this like Big Brother and Survivor and using manipulation, shit stirring and psyche out tactics to screw with the other teams and get their head out of the game......that team seriously has its head in the sand.  The switch from we're on your side we were trying to help when they thought Nicole & Victor were eliminated to nasty sour duck faces when they found out it was an NEL says it all.

No way to know for sure but I thought another reason the Afghanimals might have chosen the funicular detour was to rest a little - I don't remember which but one of them was so bent over and out of breath by the time they got to the clue box I really thought they'd be calling for oxygen for him.  Not nearly the same in height but I remember having driven to Colorado multiple times and not having any problems I once flew instead and forgot there's no way to acclimate gradually when you do that.  I was surprised to be just about knocked on my ass from the sudden change in altitude; can't blame any of them for having trouble with that run and I have huge respect for those that managed it with little to no problem.

Have to say except for Rachel & Elissa making it too much about manipulation and drama and not enough about raaace I'm really enjoying this season and I don't think there's any other teams left besides them that I dislike or would be disappointed to see win.  

[Lady Calypso]

Yeah, I don't really blame Victor for being a bit snippy on the mat at Rachel/Elissa. I do feel like the editors did a decent job at showing why he was annoyed. Rachel was blabbering on and on about teamwork and needing to U-Turn Team Fun, even when Team Fun pointed out that Colin/Christie and Nicole/Victor are stronger teams. It did seem like Rachel and Elissa (mostly Rachel but partially Elissa) were trying to get Nicole/Victor to not just honour their deal of not U-Turning each other, but to use their U-Turn on the team that THEY wanted gone. Them mentioning that Team Fun threw out Victor/Nicole's name was only a mask for their true intentions. Rachel was very adamant about getting out Team Fun, likely because she doesn't like them and seems to like Colin/Christie. Team Fun is good, but they're middle of the pack good. Then again, there are plenty of strong teams this season. 

Victor/Nicole caught on and it just added to the annoyance of the team. This isn't Big Brother, girls. This is a RAAAAAAAAAACE. 

This leg was absolutely beautiful. I was hoping it would be an elimination leg when I thought Rachel/Elissa were going to lose, but then the U-Turn didn't happen and I realized that this would be non-elimination. 

This leg seemed to require a lot of patience. I think this leg was more about taking in the sights as well as racing. Running 3km to the first clue box? Having to wait at the Detours or even taking your time at them? It was great to see.

[Fukui San]

The ultimate test of New Colin is how he'd behave if and when he's the target of a U-Turn. I genuinely think he'd be OK, but I'm curious to see it.  Not that I'm rooting against him but am curious to see how he'd react.

I saw the train confrontation like this:

Rachel & Elissa try to tell Victor & Nicole half the truth which made them look better in their minds and had the side effect of pitting two teams against each other: That they overheard Team Fun saying they'd U-Turn Victor & Nicole, rather than the whole truth that the three teams formed an alliance and that all of them agreed to U-Turn Colin & Christie but that Team Fun also wanted to U-Turn Victor & Nicole rather than the two guys. V&N asked the most basic of follow up questions and R&E (mostly R) fucked up their details and it devolved from there.

And now R&E have a solid target on their back. Good work!

I liked in this episode how close teams got at the end which turned the ending into a driving/footrace at the end. It was incredibly amusing that two teams were following each other while each knew that none of them knew where they were going, but they couldn't stop or else they'd lose the other team and then where would they be then?  And then neither of them ended up being in last.

[joanne3482]

11 hours ago, sphoebus31 said:

I think Rachel was trying to target Team Fun via Nicole and Victor, under the guise of being helpful to Nicole and Victor.  If she had no ulterior motive, then why not just tell them the whole truth--that Colin/Christie and the Afghanimals were also part of the conversation?  Her ham-handed attempt at being clever backfired, when Nicole and Victor could tell her story didn't add up. 

That's exactly what she was trying to do.  She even said something in a talking head about getting Nicole and Victor to u-turn team fun so she didn't have to. Which made me confused most of the episode because they've (the Reilly sisters) already used their u-turn, they can't u-turn another team.  Now the first team that Fun and Afghanimals were talking about U-turning were Colin and Christie.  Notice there was no mention of that to Colin and Christie in the guise of "helping" them.  (Which also confused me because Fun used their U-turn as well, so while it is all good they were "we don't harbor any ill will blah blah blah" they couldn't u-turn anyone as far as I know.)

[Ottis]

I lost interest after meeting the teams in the first ep, and check in now and then. Doesn't appear I'm missing anything except the scenery. This all sound so ridiculous.

[hendersonrocks]

8 hours ago, QuantumMechanic said:

While this leg was gorgeous, it was also very boring.

None of the tasks had any real potential to reorder people.

I felt the same way about the tasks, but at least we had transportation related shuffling - the 3km run to the gorge and self driving to the pit stop definitely made a difference.

[amazingracefan]

The teams that were actually trying to turn it into an alliance to decide who to u-turn and make it a Big Brother style alliance like that were actually Team 'Fun' and the Afghanimals.   It wasn't shown who was most behind starting that idea but it wouldn't surprise me if it was Team 'Fun', and of them the particularly misnamed Miss Fun.

The edit is kind of weird how it seems to miss out some things with Rachel and Elissa, just shown as bonus scenes elsewhere, and how it leaves remarks in by the Survivor team about them being "dirty players" just because they were following them.  None of that persuades me they are villains.

[ByaNose]

The foot race between Chris & Bret & Rachel & Elissa was somewhat exciting. Their faces truly showed they thought they were fighting not to be eliminated.

[amazingracefan]

9 minutes ago, ByaNose said:

The foot race between Chris & Bret & Rachel & Elissa was somewhat exciting. Their faces truly showed they thought they were fighting not to be eliminated.

A lot of the fun at the end was really between those two, for all the edit playing up the Big Brother rivalry (for those who either hate or like that show).

[TVbitch]

I don't know if it was the gorgeous Swedish scenery, them showing some downtime interaction between the teams, Colin doing a military roll out of the helicopter, or Floyd's super wide Christmas-morning eyes when he read that they were flying in a helicopter, but I haven't rewound an episode this much in forever. Doesn't hurt that a good team was spared by the usually dreaded non-elimination. Loved it.

PS. The let's get Colin/Christie with the U-turn talk frightens me.  

[Boilergal]

13 hours ago, truthaboutluv said:

I thought it was interesting that they left in the instructor guy asking Tyler if he and Korey were together. Tyler's quick "no" was funny. Personally I think Tyler and Korey work so well because they've always just been friends. 

And then Tyler was "we're totally straight, can't you tell"  cracked me up.  The whole Sebastion interaction was pretty funny.

[blackwing]

Switzerland always makes for great TAR episodes!  Amazing scenery.  Great tasks.  Bungee flying into the gorge.  Then that rappelling/canyoning looked like so much fun.

I thought it was refreshing that we saw the teams sitting around a table drinking beer while waiting for their train.  We so rarely get to see scenes of Racers when they aren't going from here to there.  However, as the episode unfolded it was obvious that the only reason we got to see it is because of the impending drama.

I miss random Eat Sleep Mingle discussions and confrontations.  Two of the more memorable ones to me were 1) when Reichen and Chip talked about how they are gay partners and the ultra conservative Millie the Mole looked like she wanted to crawl under the table.  And 2) when Starr was screaming "who threw my SPORTS BRA off the ledge!!!!"

10 hours ago, millennium said:

Apparently the Amazing Race editors believe the rules don't apply to gay males.   I guess when they do it, it's funny.  Tyler and Corey were openly sexualizing other people in the race, with the tacit approval of the show's editors.   Totally out of line and a glaring double standard.

I completely agree with this.  Yes, I know they are gay males, but they have never come across as stereotypical.  They always just seem like they are two friends who are competent and driven.  Tonight, however, they went full on into the Flaming Gay stereotype.  The comments about the climbing instructor were over the top.  Maybe one comment about how he is good looking would have been ok.  But they commented about him repeatedly.  And then the comment about Colin's ass.

I don't think it matters that they never said anything directly to the instructor... it was enough to me that they made repeated comments to the camera and somehow the editors seemed to think it was funny and left all these comments in.

12 hours ago, dgpolo said:

Don't agree with this at all. Christie started things tonight ogling her helicopter pilot. Korey picked Sebastian and they both commented on him during their task. Then it was Korey who commented on Colin's ass, not Tyler. I think the double standard comes in when women are allowed to ogle men in this way but not other men.

The double standard isn't about why a woman can comment on a man but a gay man cannot comment on a man.  The double standard is that if a straight man had made comments about a woman that I don't think the editors would have left the comments in.  "Holy cow, our climbing instructor was so beautiful!  She had the biggest rack I have ever seen!  I couldn't keep my eyes off those breasts.  I got a nice view when she rappelled down!"  

I've watched the race since the beginning, and I don't recall any male racer ever making such lascivious comments to the camera about a woman.

9 hours ago, 30 Helens said:

That was my understanding as well. BB Sisters were trying to manipulate BB Couple into U-turning Team Fun, so they wouldn’t have to do it themselves and look like the bad guys. When BB Couple questioned their ever-changing story, BB Sisters got defensive because how dare they question their motives when they were only trying to help! (And, in the mode of all good cartoon villains, they started to believe their own story.) BB Couple got mad because they didn’t like being taken for fools.

I had to laugh at Phil, waiting patiently to check everyone in while all the tears and drama played out. And the Swiss greeter was like, Yep. Americans.

I think in the beginning that the Reillys had good intentions of trying to warn Nicole and Victor about Team Fun's intent to U-Turn them.  But then they were like, and hmmm, why don't we get them to do our dirty work for us and U-Turn Team Fun out of spite.  Does each team still only get one U-Turn?  If so, I believe the Reillys had already used their U-Turn earlier and they did it on Team Fun out of spite (because Team Fun allegedly ditched them after saying they would work together).  

I think it was a good strategy by Rachel, I just don't fully understand the part about lying and crying and the escalation.

I thought it was funny that if this had been an elimination leg that these teams were sitting there bickering.  Just like when Corinne and the other one got eliminated.  Seems like one constant in both of those.  Why does TAR think that the world wants to continuously see Rachel Reilly?  I wish both the Reillys and Nicole had been eliminated.  

[spanana]

11 hours ago, eel21788 said:

Yeah, ER nurse was a brilliant career choice for her, wasn't it? While we're at it, how can a fireman be afraid of heights?

I wouldn't even try to guess how any of these people are at their real life jobs.  But somebody can be a stress ball of a human being and have palpable anxiety, especially when in high stress situations like the race, and still be capable in their chosen professions.  I'd argue especially in the sense that if a person has a chosen profession and they are trained in said profession, that particular thing might not be stress inducing for them.

 I fully admit I have anxiety, but it doesn't mean I'm not capable of doing my high stress job that I've been doing for 10 years.  Those aren't mutually exclusive.

[proserpina65]

11 hours ago, eel21788 said:

Yeah, ER nurse was a brilliant career choice for her, wasn't it? While we're at it, how can a fireman be afraid of heights?

She might be very different in her professional setting.

10 hours ago, MVFrostsMyPie said:

Funicular 🙂

Or incline, as they call them in Pittsburgh.

11 hours ago, millennium said:

Tyler and Corey were openly sexualizing other people in the race,

The comments about Sebastian were not made to him, but during their talking head segments, and the comment to Colin was from one friend to another.  I see absolutely nothing wrong with either.

10 hours ago, MVFrostsMyPie said:

Omg this was one of those legs that make me loooove TAR and be ridiculously jealous of these teams. Jumping into a gorge, rappelling, going down a glacial river, ziplining... that's my idea of an excellent time!

ETA: Not the running part though, I hate running. I don't run unless I'm being chased and even then, I'd probably give up.

I'm terrified of heights, so the jump into the gorge probably would've made me pee my pants, but I still think I would've wanted to do it.  The rappelling, for some reason, seems like it would be less of a problem - maybe because your feet are on something solid?

[Lady Calypso]

21 minutes ago, blackwing said:

I think in the beginning that the Reillys had good intentions of trying to warn Nicole and Victor about Team Fun's intent to U-Turn them.  But then they were like, and hmmm, why don't we get them to do our dirty work for us and U-Turn Team Fun out of spite.  Does each team still only get one U-Turn?  If so, I believe the Reillys had already used their U-Turn earlier and they did it on Team Fun out of spite (because Team Fun allegedly ditched them after saying they would work together).  

I think Rachel and Elissa should have just said "hey, just so you know, Team Fun threw out your names as targets for the U-Turn" and left it at that. Instead, they went too far in trying to convince Nic/Vic to also U-Turn Team Fun and how they needed to be bonded together and how they had NO CHOICE but to agree and...blah blah blah. They should have said less and allowed Nic/Vic to come to their own conclusions if the U-Turn had come up that leg.

[spanana]

3 hours ago, blackwing said:

Switzerland always makes for great TAR episodes!  Amazing scenery.  Great tasks.  Bungee flying into the gorge.  Then that rappelling/canyoning looked like so much fun.

I thought it was refreshing that we saw the teams sitting around a table drinking beer while waiting for their train.  We so rarely get to see scenes of Racers when they aren't going from here to there.  However, as the episode unfolded it was obvious that the only reason we got to see it is because of the impending drama.

I miss random Eat Sleep Mingle discussions and confrontations.  Two of the more memorable ones to me were 1) when Reichen and Chip talked about how they are gay partners and the ultra conservative Millie the Mole looked like she wanted to crawl under the table.  And 2) when Starr was screaming "who threw my SPORTS BRA off the ledge!!!!"

I completely agree with this.  Yes, I know they are gay males, but they have never come across as stereotypical.  They always just seem like they are two friends who are competent and driven.  Tonight, however, they went full on into the Flaming Gay stereotype.  The comments about the climbing instructor were over the top.  Maybe one comment about how he is good looking would have been ok.  But they commented about him repeatedly.  And then the comment about Colin's ass.

I don't think it matters that they never said anything directly to the instructor... it was enough to me that they made repeated comments to the camera and somehow the editors seemed to think it was funny and left all these comments in.

The double standard isn't about why a woman can comment on a man but a gay man cannot comment on a man.  The double standard is that if a straight man had made comments about a woman that I don't think the editors would have left the comments in.  "Holy cow, our climbing instructor was so beautiful!  She had the biggest rack I have ever seen!  I couldn't keep my eyes off those breasts.  I got a nice view when she rappelled down!"  

I've watched the race since the beginning, and I don't recall any male racer ever making such lascivious comments to the camera about a woman.

I think in the beginning that the Reillys had good intentions of trying to warn Nicole and Victor about Team Fun's intent to U-Turn them.  But then they were like, and hmmm, why don't we get them to do our dirty work for us and U-Turn Team Fun out of spite.  Does each team still only get one U-Turn?  If so, I believe the Reillys had already used their U-Turn earlier and they did it on Team Fun out of spite (because Team Fun allegedly ditched them after saying they would work together).  

I think it was a good strategy by Rachel, I just don't fully understand the part about lying and crying and the escalation.

I'd just argue it was unnecessary strategy.  Rachel has a vendetta against Team Fun for no real reason and while maybe she's trying to get them out so Team Fun can't u-turn them back, this still was all unnecessary drama started by Rachel legs ago.  If Rachel hadn't stupidly u-turned Team Fun legs ago for no real actual game reason (since she was running in 1st place at the time), she wouldn't be in this mess now.

She had no reason to u-turn Team Fun previously outside of an absurd personal vendetta based on nothing, which was stupid.  They weren't at risk of going home that leg and had they not done so, they would still have their u-turn to use now and wouldn't need to try and manipulate other teams to get out their enemy.

So now Rachel is worried that Team Fun is gunning for them with a u-turn coming, so she needs to try and manipulate Nicole/Vic to see them as a target.  Except while she wasn't totally lying, her motives were fairly transparent and she couldn't answer questions in any way that didn't make this even more apparent to her supposed allies.

Plus just run a clean dang race and stop worrying about the other teams.  I highly doubt Rachel/Elissa would be on anyone's u-turn list if they didn't piss other teams off, except in a situation where it was absolutely life or death necessary.  It's not like they have been running as consistently as other teams.  Now this could be said to all teams and I've not even saying I love Team Fun (I like Floyd more than Becca), but I just go back to unless you are going to tell Nic/Vic the full truth about what happened, then yes...you are going to come off like you are full of crap because you were manipulating the information.

Also Rachel and her sister have no reason to be eye rolling over a NEL, as if they haven't been on the receiving end of it's favor a few legs ago.  You'd be gone too sisters if not for a NEL.

ETA to add: On rewatch it seems there is no limit on only u-turning once? Plus I forgot Team Fun of course had used the u-turn once too.  But still think it was an unnecessary plan.

Edited May 30, 2019 by spanana

[Shadow Wave]

4 hours ago, Haleth said:

Vic did a good job ferreting out Rachel's inconsistencies.  Earlier I was (again) rolling my eyes when he told Nicole that they spoke Swedish in Switzerland.  Because both start with S?  

Didn't he even correct himself and say something like: "No, they speak Swiss in Switzerland?" A friend of mine said that once and it cracked me up, so maybe I was just imagining it. 

[dgpolo]

12 minutes ago, Shadow Wave said:

Didn't he even correct himself and say something like: "No, they speak Swiss in Switzerland?"

I was hoping he was joking but I don't think he was.

6 hours ago, Fake Jan Brady said:

31 seasons, at least 10 teams a season, two people to a team - so of the approximately 600 people [!] who have run the race producers think Rachel is the one we want to see the most?

Well, to be fair...TPTB have invited several people back several times but it's up to those people to actually stay in the race long enough after they are there.

Edited May 30, 2019 by dgpolo
combine posts

[millennium]

34 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

The comments about Sebastian were not made to him, but during their talking head segments, and the comment to Colin was from one friend to another.  I see absolutely nothing wrong with either.

If I follow this logic, then it is okay to make sexual remarks about strangers as long as they don't hear you?    And if a male friend of say, Elissa, had yelled "Nice tits!" at her during the race -- let alone on television, on a family show -- it would be acceptable?   

[Tryangle]

Lord, Switzerland has some beautiful scenery. The tasks were straightforward but still looked fun (or terrifying) to do.

Would have been a fun episode if not for the whole Big Brother drama, IMO. That, coupled with the NEL, and the previews for next week... yikes.

I know airport situations have been trimmed back over the years, but is the flight from Kampala to Zurich direct, and if so, wonder how long it takes?

[Brookside]

11 hours ago, MVFrostsMyPie said:

Funicular 🙂

I would have died a happy woman if Phil had burst into song at some point.

[proserpina65]

17 minutes ago, millennium said:

If I follow this logic, then it is okay to make sexual remarks about strangers as long as they don't hear you?    And if a male friend of say, Elissa, had yelled "Nice tits!" at her during the race -- let alone on television, on a family show -- it would be acceptable?   

Actually, yes, I'm fine with that.  It's not sexual harassment in that case.

[Fretful]

13 hours ago, eel21788 said:

Yeah, ER nurse was a brilliant career choice for her, wasn't it? While we're at it, how can a fireman be afraid of heights?

Bret is a police sergeant, not a firefighter,

Bret LaBelle
Age: 44
Instagram and Twitter: @bretlabelle
Hometown: Dedham, Massachusetts
Current occupation: Police Sergeant

Describe what you do: I supervise police officers.

[MVFrostsMyPie]

 

 

 

1 hour ago, proserpina65 said:

I'm terrified of heights, so the jump into the gorge probably would've made me pee my pants, but I still think I would've wanted to do it.  The rappelling, for some reason, seems like it would be less of a problem - maybe because your feet are on something solid?

Oh yeah, I definitely would have peed my pants, probably while falling. I'm someone who could never see myself bungee jumping or sky diving, but I have no problem ziplining for example, or a fear of heights. I think with bungee jumping, it's the idea of being upside down, and not wanting to get whiplash from all the bouncing up and down. This looked like a giant rope swing so I think, while I'd still be screaming my lungs out, it'd be from joy and not from sheer panic.

[proserpina65]

Just now, MVFrostsMyPie said:

Oh yeah, I definitely would have peed my pants, probably while falling. I'm someone who could never see myself bungee jumping or sky diving, but I have no problem ziplining for example, or a fear of heights. I think with bungee jumping, it's the idea of being upside down, and not wanting to get whiplash from all the bouncing up and down. This looked like a giant rope swing so I think, while I'd still be screaming my lungs out, it'd be from joy and not from sheer panic.

I definitely think that jumping feet first rather than head first would've helped.

[ChiefWiggum9-1-2]

Team Duckface seems to want to interact with the cameras more than the other contestants.  If Team Duckface makes it to the finals, I won't.  The TPTB don't seem to realize that being the audience for BB is mutually exclusive for the audience for AR.  They are two completely different shows.

Edited May 30, 2019 by ChiefWiggum9-1-2

[meep.meep]

1 hour ago, Shadow Wave said:

Didn't he even correct himself and say something like: "No, they speak Swiss in Switzerland?" A friend of mine said that once and it cracked me up, so maybe I was just imagining it. 

He did indeed.

And this episode featured the return of Phil's hideous German pronunciation.  I don't know why he is so terrible with German, but he is.

[Halting Hex]

15 hours ago, mojoween said:

This leg had non-elim written all over it so I wasn’t too worried when they were last.

You think?  Another course in Static Leg Design alerting us to the non-elim.  We get:

• one-at-a-time canyon swing

• one-at-a-time helicopter ride

• choice between limited-operation funicular ride (you might have squeezed two teams on the funicular at once, but if you didn't, the next team was automatically at least a half-hour behind) and one-at-a-time escorted canyon trip (some teams gained time on other teams, but I don't think the Bromance boys would have been allowed to pass the Reillys, even had they caught them)

The only chance for position-moving, aside from the original run, was if somebody really botched the reservoir-identification (both Leo/Jamal and Vic/Nic got it on the first go) and the long-awaited return of self-navigation at the end.  It was nice to see a little bit of a shuffle, but the NEL was, again, no surprise.

15 hours ago, Browncoat said:

Kumbaya Colin on the train was just a little extra.  Gather in a circle and hold hands?  Really?  He and Christie are still fierce competitors, but I had to roll my eyes at that train business.

Rachel's reaction is why she'll never be out of consideration for these shows. 🙂

15 hours ago, Lamb18 said:

I was sort of liking Rachel but I don't care for her lying

She wasn't being 100% honest (although it was Elissa who improvised the "our backs were turned, we just overheard, we couldn't tell who else was there" embarrassing embellishment), but at the core, she was honoring her "alliance"* and legitimately trying to give Vic/Nic a heads up.  Her withholding the fact that the Funsters (does Becca resemble Eddie?) were also targeting Colin/Christie, and that the Afghanimals were the other team involved was definitely an attempt to try and manipulate Victor and Nicole, but she didn't say anything false about her main information…Becca and Floyd did want to target V/N and Becca even strongly resisted Elissa's attempt to move the target elsewhere, dismissing Elissa's talk of the Bromance Boys immediately.

The fact that Rachel didn't give Team Nictor facts that didn't serve Rachel's own "get Team Fun" agenda and so prevented Victor from saying "Well, maybe we can just hope they go for Colin/Christie before us" or "We'd better watch out for Leo and Jamal because they're after us, too" doesn't make what she did pass along any less true.  She told a nominal ally about a very real threat to them, and she had the right to be upset at having their information disbelieved and dismissed, IMO.

*-the thing of it is, of course, that the Reillys were only truly ever allied with the BB14 moms; Victor and Nicole may have agreed to a general detente, but they were never really close with R/E.  (Nicole was a fan of the BB15 competitors who made Elissa's summer so very awful.) It seems as though that, when this was originally planned as "TAR v. BB", the ex-Houseguests were meant to form two possibly-conflicting blocs; Rachel/Elissa/Britney/Janelle on one hand, and Nicole/Victor and the two disqualified teams (Vic's pal, Paul, Paul's partner Josh, and P/J's BB19 cohorts Mark/Elena) on the other.  (Yes, Josh and Mark were hardly allies during that season of BB, but as with Rachel and Britney, familiarity would have been expected to trump all else.)  So I don't know if the two teams involved here were ever really that close.

Victor's impression of Ronald Reagan ("Trust, but verify") was stupid, I thought;  there's better ways to find out how much you can trust Rachel's info than just flat-out asking Fun about it.  And I guess there's no "you can only use a U-Turn once per season" rule in place here?  Phil didn't mention it during episode two and the whole situation would be rather different if both the Sisters and the Fun Folks were carrying unloaded U-guns, I think.

15 hours ago, dgpolo said:

I liked when Rachel asked if it was still an Alp if the snow was melted. !?!

That was Elissa. Rachel, hearing that, turned to the helicopter pilot and gave him a "My little sister, huh?" exasperated glance.  Heh.

15 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Phil rappelling like a boss. You think Probst would try that? Yeah, right.

Much as I'm not a Probst fan, there was at least one Survivor episode (and possibly more) where he rode on the outside of a helicopter, standing on the rail.  I'd rappel across New York City before I ever tried that.  Yikes!

12 hours ago, millennium said:

Apparently the Amazing Race editors believe the rules don't apply to gay males.   I guess when they do it, it's funny.  Tyler and Corey were openly sexualizing other people in the race, with the tacit approval of the show's editors.   Totally out of line and a glaring double standard.

All the more glaring because it was only last week that we had the "gays are unjustly persecuted in Uganda" episode.  Heck of a swerve from "equal treatment!" to "check out the meat!" all episode long, I have to say.

13 hours ago, eel21788 said:

Yeah, ER nurse was a brilliant career choice for [Nicole], wasn't it?

During BB16, one of Nicole's fellow Houseguests had a medical emergency, and Nic was worse than useless.  (Fortunately Derrick, who [unknown to the other competitors] was an undercover police officer, kept his head and got the situation under control.  And to be fair, it was Nicole who summoned Derrick, but still.  Crying-in-a-crisis doesn't say much for her career choice.) 

At the time, Nicole was given a pass, since she had just completed her training, but that was four years ago.  She still doesn't exactly seem to be the coolest head in the room, IMO.

11 hours ago, Machiabelly said:

I think it's funny that Rachel is so proud of a record she has because they keep bringing her back. You bring me back enough times and I would have it.

Yes, but there's a reason they keep bringing her back, which is why she made that comment to Nicole about her "brand".  Which was a bit inside-baseball (I was surprised they aired it) and which Rachel only made to try to bully/manipulate Nicole, but she did have a point.  Professional competitors have to think about how their actions may impact their future opportunities.  Whatever one might think of Rachel, she's managed to make producers want to cast her, when others haven't.

And the reason she has the record and none of the other three-peat Racers do is because she's good at racing; she and Brendon are the only team to complete the entire Race twice.  (Third and third, but still.)  31 legs and never Philiminated.  (Albeit benefiting from a non-elim, both in TAR 24 and here.)  That's reasonably impressive.

More than Caroline and Jennifer's record of "Most Legs Raced without Winning Any", at least.  But JMO.

[mookster]

I am so sick of the sisters, I want to scream. Please let them leave before Rachel can secure her "record." The inane drama and incomprehensible squabble on the train wasted so much Switzerland-viewing time. And how is it that after multiple dunks in the water, Elissa's full makeup is still on? Is waterproof makeup really THAT waterproof?

I kind of like Nicole and Victor, and I've never watched BB. Her fear was so quiet and genuine, and Victor seems like a nice guy. I loved how Nicole was freaking out riding on the funicular after she just bungee-jumped! I wouldn't be unhappy if they won.

Colin and Christie crack me up. I loved Colin's roll out of the helicopter (at first I thought it was a cameraman), but I could've done without the prayer circle. They've got mad skillz though.

Tyler and Korey are okay, but they're kind of wearing on my last nerve (okay, mostly Korey). My 14 year old daughter thinks he's hysterical, though, so what do I know?

Team Fun is exhausting. I don't doubt that they were genuinely psyched to be where they were, but they're just a little enervating. 

I felt bad for the Afghanimals that they were penalized by the funicular wait. Seems like they should have been told that was a possibility. Who knew it would be so easy?

The two guys whose names I still don't know are inoffensive -- so ANYONE but the sisters!

I was confused about the aimless driving - did they have directions to the church? Who just blindly starts driving? How did the other teams manage to drive directly to the church? But I was happy to see self-driving return. Now if only they had to book their own flights. I miss that.

[iMonrey]

This was one of those episodes where the challenges are designed to showcase the visually stunning scenery rather than really challenge the racers or shake up the placements. I really hate those types of tasks, like zip-lining or bungee jumping. Thanks heavens for self-navigation because none of the challenges really had any affect on placement.

Far be it from me to defend Rachel, but nobody came off looking good in this stupid fight. Regardless of how badly she handled it, Rachel was honoring a previous alliance deal with another BB team by giving them the heads up. In hindsight she should have just kept her mouth shut but you can't say she was stabbing and agreed-upon alliance in the back. Whereas that's exactly what Nicole and Victor did by throwing them under the bus and immediately going to confront the team they were warned about by their own alliance. 

I never liked Nicole on Big Brother, she spent her entire (second) season wrapped around a jock-type dude who seemed strangely uninterested in her (or any girl) and I had to listen  to her whine "Corrrr-eeeeeeeee" 10 times an episode. She's immature and not very bright IMO. Victor is nice enough but not exactly a mental giant either - first contestant in the history of BB to be voted out three times in one season. I was sorry not to see them go this leg.

[NUguy514]

1 hour ago, millennium said:

If I follow this logic, then it is okay to make sexual remarks about strangers as long as they don't hear you?    And if a male friend of say, Elissa, had yelled "Nice tits!" at her during the race -- let alone on television, on a family show -- it would be acceptable?   

What sexual remarks did they make about Sebastian?  Did they talk about the potential size of his dick, about wanting to blow or fuck him, or about other such graphic things?  No, they said he was a 6'4" tall drink of water and was bearded and gorgeous.  I said all those things about Sebastian to my TV before Tyler and Korey did, and yeah, I do think it's fine to make those remarks since Sebastian couldn't hear me either.  And if Elissa's male friend yelled, "Nice tits!" at her in the manner that Tyler yelled, "Nice ass!" to Colin, I'd have no issue with it.

2 hours ago, blackwing said:

Tonight, however, they went full on into the Flaming Gay stereotype.  The comments about the climbing instructor were over the top.

No, the comments weren't, but that first sentence I quoted sure is for so many more reasons than I have time to get into.

[ohcomeon]

7 hours ago, amazingracefan said:

Exactly, the self navigation (whether running or by car) was easily the best part.  The Amazing Race is about drama not just scenery, and teams creating their own drama rather than us depending on bad taxis for it.  Some of the audience are still happy with just scenery but I don't think this show will continue with that as this format really took off with the tough drama of the classic years.

Rachel and Elissa have really enhanced the drama of the race too, funny quotes, looks and situations.  They are the kind that some love to hate but if you want teams like this gone you won't get much out of what's left.  I can imagine the same audience that complains complaining even more about the lack of drama and bland teams if you didn't have polarising teams there.

Victor didn't listen to Nicole when she told him to ask for directions.

I don't think they've enhanced the drama and I don't find their quotes or looks funny. Maybe I'm the odd one, but I don't find annoying people entertaining. I've been an avid TAR fan since it's first season but if they ever bring Rachel back on, I'll stop watching. She's not even a fun villain that makes you want to root against her. I just want her off my TV screen. 

[fishcakes]

"In tonight's episode, the part of Jim Halpert will be played by everyone."

I know a lot of people hate it when racers look directly into the camera, but I thought all these were pretty cute.

The BB fight was dumb. The Reillys were trying to help Vic/Nic, but they were also trying to help themselves and they should have just been upfront about that since they had already agreed to work together. The incomplete information followed by a bunch of shifting details just made them look like they were the ones out to get Victor and Nicole. At the same time, it was dumb for Vic/Nic to ask Team Fun if they were planning to U-turn them. Either Team Fun wasn't planning to U-turn them and will therefore tell the truth and say no, or they were planning to U-turn them and will therefore lie and say no.

As much as I love New Colin, I'm going to give Christie some credit too. She only did one roadblock in TAR 5, so I was curious to see how she'd do with the tasks this time around, and she's more than holding her own. It was sweet when Colin got teary-eyed after she did the bungee jump.

[tinderbox]

16 hours ago, sphoebus31 said:

I think Rachel was trying to target Team Fun via Nicole and Victor, under the guise of being helpful to Nicole and Victor.  If she had no ulterior motive, then why not just tell them the whole truth--that Colin/Christie and the Afghanimals were also part of the conversation?  Her ham-handed attempt at being clever backfired, when Nicole and Victor could tell her story didn't add up. 

It is a Big Brother strategy but, in this instance, unnecessary. 

I've never been a Rachel fan.  Her sister, who can have some of the same tendencies, has been trying to reel her in but I think Rachel is going to be in "attack" mode for the remainder of the season.  I can just see it in her eyes.