S31.E09: Let's Split!

[Fukui San]

1 hour ago, Dani said:

It’s happened at least a couple of times. I think that FAQ only goes through TAR10 or 11. 

I remember the two poker playing women who couldn’t physically do either side of a Detour. They kept switching until Phil came to eliminate them. 

[Booklady1017]

23 minutes ago, chaifan said:

Split is amazingly beautiful.  Dubrovnik gets all the attention, and it's also gorgeous, but Split feels almost other-worldly in parts.  It really is like a step back in time.  Oh, and the food!  They do Italian better than the Italians! 

I didn't know about the food. That's great to hear.

[mojoween]

The siding guys broke our Verizon so I couldn’t watch until today and I’m kinda glad I prolonged the sadness.

Although Chris saying expecially was unforgivable.  But I still love you boys!  It woulda been so much nicer to lose Becca and Floyd and/or Leo and Jamal first!

Also going an extra day without listening to Nicole whine about everything on this side of the sun was delightful.

”Croatia?  I don’t even...know her” doesn’t make ANY sense, Tyler.

I love how Colin did not lose his shit about the left behind gnome even if he had to take a zen moment to get over the setback, and then when they got him at the beach Colin realized Chris and Bret’s clothes were all over the tent, and he looked around wonderingly saying “they’re still here!” and Christie’s like “we have to GO” so he would snap to.  

Oh and to whomever wondered above, I’m pretty sure Colin and Christie got married not too long after season five ended.

I wonder if Nicole and Brandon stayed together too...?

Edited June 14, 2019 by mojoween

[doodlebug]

1 hour ago, mojoween said:

I wonder if Nicole and Brandon stayed together too...?

From what I've found, they're married, but not to each other.  They broke up a couple years after the race.

All of the Croatian coast is gloriously beautiful, many, many gorgeous cities with lots of interesting sights.  The islands in the Adriatic belonging to Croatia are special, too.  The Croatian people are very welcoming and they seem to have exceptional senses of humor in my experience.  I met more people who told hilarious tales there, they love to laugh. As noted above, the food is Mediterranean style, very similar to Italian; lots of fresh fruits and vegetables and a lot of seafood straight from the ocean.  Croatia is a gem, well worth a visit.

This was really a great episode, both for the scenery and the competition.

[hendersonrocks]

3 hours ago, Booklady1017 said:

I was wondering too if C and B weren't doing the coin dive task right or it was just that difficult. I wish we knew more.

It seemed like the show was trying to tell us they weren’t doing it right - they kept showing the yellow buoys highlighted, which C & B were not at all focused around. My theory is that the stuff was all under those buoys, you just had to use the scooper and detector to find some of it. 

Unfortunately for C & B, it seems like they literally searched the whole beach area *and* were sticking to the surface level. It was the combo that did them in.

[cathy7304]

1 hour ago, mojoween said:

”Croatia?  I don’t even...know her” doesn’t make ANY SENSE

IIRC, he was making a reference to a quote from Mariah Carey when she was asked about a feud with Jennifer Lopez (I think), she  tried to play it off that she didn't know who she was. Hence the "I don't even....know her" line.  It was hysterical. I think it was on the Andy Cohen show, Watch What Happens Live a year or so ago.

Edited June 14, 2019 by cathy7304

[MVFrostsMyPie]

Just to balance things out, I'm gonna need Phil to greet the racers at the mat with like 20 kittens next time.

[SomeTameGazelle]

13 minutes ago, cathy7304 said:

IIRC, he was making a reference to a quote from Mariah Carey when she was asked about a feud with Jennifer Lopez (I think), she  tried to play it off that she didn't know who she was. Hence the "I don't even....know her" line.  It was hysterical. I think it was on the Andy Cohen show, Watch What Happens Live a year or so ago.

I thought it was meant to be the thing where someone says something that ends in -er and the joker responds "[blank] her? I hardly even know her." (E.g. liquor/lick her, kisser/kiss her.) Except Croatia doesn't sound like it ends in -er in Tyler's dialect and the Croat- part on its own doesn't sound like any verb I can think of. I assume Tyler is angling to get his bon mots as the episode title, so he's taking a scattershot approach.

Edited June 14, 2019 by SomeTameGazelle

[MVFrostsMyPie]

I wonder if production went back and removed all the remaining goblets and coins (if they too could find them all since I'm sure there might have been some shifting) from that part of the beach. Or left them as souvenirs for other tourists to stumble upon? 

[cathy7304]

14 minutes ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

I thought it was meant to be the thing where someone says something that ends in -er and the joker responds "[blank] her? I hardly even know her." (E.g. liquor/lick her, kisser/kiss her.) Except Croatia doesn't sound like it ends in -er in Tyler's dialect and the Croat- part on its own doesn't sound like any verb I can think of. I assume Tyler is angling to get his bon mots as the episode title, so he's taking a scattershot approach.

I'm not 100% certain I'm correct. Your explanation sounds equally reasonable.

[Jobiska]

23 hours ago, biakbiak said:

I thought the poem task was cruel and unusual punishment to the audience because it was so awful and we had to hear it so many times. The poor judge!

I thought that if anything Chris and Bret should have shone on this since Survivor makes a specialty out of horrible doggerel in its treemail etc.  And I thought it was referring to a task or tasks but I guess I'm glad they didn't go on a zipline with their hair or whatever which is what I was imagining.  I did like the dramatic acting out, especially since that didn't seem to be a requirement.  I thought they were cute.

My three favorite teams were the ones on the final flight, so I'm glad they persevered.

Bret  [ETA:  Chris; thanks SVNBob] said something about the cold water, and I can see that being cold for that long a time would cause you to perhaps not be logical about the search.   The beach looked nice and warm, but I've been places where you still wouldn't want to be in the water for a prolonged period even if you were baking on the beach! I really enjoyed them on the race, but they were never going to win it with (Bret, especially's) running stamina, so I'm content.  They seemed like they had a good time.

The "X her?  I don't even know her!" is an old, old joke, like vaudevillean kind of joke, where you follow a word that sounds like it ends in "her" with the latter phrase.  Like "Fissure?  I don't even know her!"  I guess Tyler has been spending time listening to Phil pronounce things, heh.  It long predates anything Mariah Carey would have said, probably long predates most of the posters here!  I can't find anything definitive on a quick Google surf because most pages seem to refer to memes based on the Carey quote.  (Or   this thread, from 2006, refers to it, for example.)

Looks like one can find more if one searches for "barely know her" or "hardly [even] know her.  

There's a Twitter  

Of course there is.  

I see Sometamegazelle explained more succinctly than I did while I was surfing around!
 

Edited June 14, 2019 by Jobiska

[greyhorse]

1 hour ago, hendersonrocks said:

It seemed like the show was trying to tell us they weren’t doing it right - they kept showing the yellow buoys highlighted, which C & B were not at all focused around. My theory is that the stuff was all under those buoys, you just had to use the scooper and detector to find some of it. 

Unfortunately for C & B, it seems like they literally searched the whole beach area *and* were sticking to the surface level. It was the combo that did them in.

That was my impression as well.  Didn't the clue say something about the buoys?  Colin and Christie went right to them.  It's idiotic that the dudes didn't read the clue and realize that, even more idiotic that they bald snarked twice.

58 minutes ago, cathy7304 said:

IIRC, he was making a reference to a quote from Mariah Carey when she was asked about a feud with Jennifer Lopez (I think), she  tried to play it off that she didn't know who she was. Hence the "I don't even....know her" line.  It was hysterical. I think it was on the Andy Cohen show, Watch What Happens Live a year or so ago.

If that's true, then that's one of the most obscure pop culture references that you couldn't possibly expect anyone to know.  

44 minutes ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

I thought it was meant to be the thing where someone says something that ends in -er and the joker responds "[blank] her? I hardly even know her." (E.g. liquor/lick her, kisser/kiss her.) Except Croatia doesn't sound like it ends in -er in Tyler's dialect and the Croat- part on its own doesn't sound like any verb I can think of. I assume Tyler is angling to get his bon mots as the episode title, so he's taking a scattershot approach.

Yeah, this I agree with.  "Soccer?  I don't even know her!"  But Croatia doesn't end in "her" so it makes no sense whatsoever.  I'm done with Corey and Tyler's mugging for the camera.  I'm wondering if in previous seasons that they racers were told not to look at the camera.  I don't seem to recall the very early years with so much mugging.  But then again, they did a whole YouTube season so I guess times have changed.

Edited June 14, 2019 by greyhorse

[Miles]

21 hours ago, 30 Helens said:

I, too, enjoyed the reprise of airport maneuvering. I don’t know why they did away with that. Sometimes, legs were won or lost based on booking strategy! I guess some people found that boring to watch, but not me.

Me too. I know a lot of people don't like it, but I loooooove airport drama.

I even really enjoyed Charla and Mirna, because of their uncannyy ability to finagle good flights. (though I binged those season, so their more annoying qualities were probably more easily overlooked)

Glad that we got a bit of it back. Maybe producuers will see how well it worked out here and give us a bit more next season. Fingers crossed.

16 hours ago, Haleth said:

The original Bald Snark wasn't just a switch to the second choice, they went back to the first task.  So to go back to the second one again would be a Double Bald Snark.  That's my take anyway..

Yeah, people don't seem to get / remember that a bald snark is not a simple switch. It's a switch and then switching back to the original option!

Edited June 14, 2019 by Miles

[J-Man]

13 hours ago, greyhorse said:

Christie and Afghanimal helping each other is what caused Survivor dudes to finish last.  We didn't even get to see those poor guys complete the roadblock, just saw them Philiminated on the mat.

Yes we did. Bret did the Roadblock and it looks like he completed it fairly quickly. But it was a brief clip, so I understand how someone could've missed it.

4 hours ago, mojoween said:

Oh and to whomever wondered above, I’m pretty sure Colin and Christie got married not too long after season five ended.

Colin and Christie have never been married. It's discussed in their thread.

[Miles]

13 hours ago, Tryangle said:

I get the impression that they can only bring the airport flight multiple options into play when flying within the EU, this day and age the security, etc. issues going from other countries would be too difficult to deal with so they're spoon-fed outside of Europe.

I thhink it's more of a budget issue. Returning tickets was complicated. They probably didn't always get the full price back and sometimes couldn't return them at all. Plus it left some of prudction behind, scattered teams and crew, all of which costs money.

As I said, I love airport drama. I think it was an important part of the race. But I also kinda understand why that was one of the first things to go when the budget was slashed.

It's probably more manageable with short flights within Europe, plus the tickets aren't as expensive.

11 hours ago, smartymarty said:

Oh, we don't know that was his [Floyd's] first try. The number of attempts was suspiciously missing then. 

True, but he must have gotten it fairly quickly, as we saw no other team behind them after that point.

[SVNBob]

On 6/12/2019 at 11:45 PM, LittleIggy said:

I met a lady with a Dalmatian who responded to gestures since he was deaf. She said the breed was prone to deafness.

Which is a big reason that the Dalmatian is associated with firefighting.  The sirens don't bother dogs that can't hear them.

On 6/12/2019 at 9:32 PM, green said:

On 6/12/2019 at 8:52 PM, North of Eden said:

To end, I have to say I DO NOT like teams helping each other...it's against the spirit of a race!

Well to start I have to say I LOVE when teams help each other.  They have been doing it since Season 1 where it was so sweet to see Kevin & Drew helping Nancy & Emily.  And it is always best to work together not to get eliminated then play alone and shoot yourself in the foot and come in last.

Also it makes it more of a great fellowship.  Too bad some fall by the wayside but help when you can and you may get help yourself too when you need it the most.  It isn't some stupid "RACE" ... it is the AMAZING race where friendships for life are formed during a magical journey.

This goes back to another old-school TAR Maxim (Maxim #1: Run. Your. OWN! Race.):  Alliances should be transitory and mutually beneficial.  Meaning that any team should be able to ally with any other team(s) as long as the alliance is of benefit to both teams, and can end at any time with no hard feelings.   And that's what both of the Roadblock team-ups were.  It was to the benefit of both groups to work together at the time; Korey and Nicole since they were in the lead and wanted to maintain it, and Christie and Jamal since they were both trying to get out of there before Bret and Chris arrived.  And both those alliances ended as soon as the Roadblock was completed.

On 6/13/2019 at 12:39 AM, GaT said:

How many times did Chris & Brett switch tasks? They would have been better off just stopping, catching their breath & getting their minds right, then finishing the task instead of jumping back & forth.

That's what the first Bald-Snarking did.  See below:

3 hours ago, Jobiska said:

Bret said something about the cold water, and I can see that being cold for that long a time would cause you to perhaps not be logical about the search.   The beach looked nice and warm, but I've been places where you still wouldn't want to be in the water for a prolonged period even if you were baking on the beach!

I thought it was Chris who commented about the water temperature.  But the point stands.  The water at the scuba side was apparently very cold, so them Bald-Snarking had the added benefit of warming them up for a while so they could make the second attempt on the treasure hunt.

Not that that helped them at all....

18 hours ago, sigmaforce86 said:

Took me awhile to realize everyone's swimwear matched and the teams must have been given bathing suits, it just wasn't shown.

Actually, we kinda were, just after the fact.  When C&C had to go back for their Gnome (which wasn't a thing when they first Raced, so it would be the one thing that tripped them up for a while), they ran into the changing tents, specifically the male tent.  There was one suit there on the table with the Gnome, which I assume was Colin's.  That was when the also noticed Bromance's things, so they knew they still had a shot.

And speaking of the swimwear, I have to say this.  From the limited glimpses we saw of Christie in her two-piece, if we didn't already know she'd had kids, I don't think you'd know she's had kids.

[Fretful]

15 hours ago, Bryce Lynch said:

I thought it was stupid for Brett and Chris to switch.  They only needed 2 more coins, and there had to be at least 27 of them out there, for there to be enough for all 6 teams to find 5.

By switching they guaranteed they would be behind everyone else doing the other challenge.I think they got discouraged and panicked a little.  

Also, while it would have been cut throat, they should have told C&C that they had only been there a half an hour and were almost done, or something like that.  Or, they could have pretended to finish the task, and switch to the other one.   That would have put C&C behind them.  

I;m not sure they had access to all the coins.  There were several sets of buoys, and I think each team had to search between two.  So. it was THEIR two coins (#5 and #6 out of 6 in their section) that they couldn't find.

But, yeah, they basically told Colin and Christie to jump to the other task.

 I assumed Christie had a  stringy weave.  But then she got it wet, and now I think she just has bad hair.

[30 Helens]

I thought the buoys were there to border off the search area, not to indicate where the coins were buried. But I could be wrong.  

Another thing that surprised me was that, upon returning to the coin task, C&B were able to pick up where they left off, with goblet and 3 coins already collected. I expected they would have to start over. 

[Vantraveller]

21 hours ago, sigmaforce86 said:

Took me awhile to realize everyone's swimwear matched and the teams must have been given bathing suits, it just wasn't shown.  Anyone know what they were blurring out on Becca?  Couldn't tell if her suit was just baggy in the back and it was a butt crack blur or if they were trying to hide a tattoo. 

As the swimwear was supplied why did the guys get long board shorts and the girls had to wear skimpy bikini bottoms?

[Guest]

1 hour ago, 30 Helens said:

I thought the buoys were there to border off the search area, not to indicate where the coins were buried. But I could be wrong.  

Here’s a aerial picture. Looks like the each team had a search area but the borders seem pretty indistinct. 

[cherrypj]

Triple.

Started with the coins. Switched to the poem (1) and tried it once (or so it appeared). Switched back to the coins (2). C&C Zen Factory showed up during this second coin attempt and bailed fast, while Chris and Bert kept slogging. Finally switched (3) back to the poem and completed the detour.

From TARfies: 

Quote

Bald Snark (v.): At a Detour point, to choose one task, begin it, then stop it and switch to the other task, for whatever reason. Ken & Gerard of TAR3 were the masters of the Bald Snark, so much so that it was named in their honor, even though switches in Detours had occurred in earlier seasons. A Double-Bald-Snark (with or without hyphens) is a double-dip of delicious Bald-snarking. In other words, when a team chooses a Detour option, works on it for bit, changes their mind and switches to the other Detour option, works on that one for a bit, and then changes their mind again and goes back to the first one, they've performed a Double-bald-Snark. (In TAR10, Peter & Sarah did a Double-bald-snark in Mongolia, starting with the ger, switching to the hyniks, then switching back to the ger.) In theory, a Detour could be Triple- or even Quad-Bald-Snarked, but nobody's been that silly. Yet.

Yet! 😆

[survivinmt]

After last week and Christie being so strong about not giving her clue to the Reilly's I thought at least she would attempt that Road Block by herself at least once to see if she could get it. The Afghanimal was obviously having trouble on his own, so she really should have attempted it at least once herself to see if she could zoom past him.

I can't imagine leaving somewhere when you only need to find 2 coins. ?? And there must have been a LOT of them there still. I could see giving up if pickings were getting slim.

[lexington11]

23 hours ago, fishcakes said:

I I find Nicole too boring to think about, but it was cute the way she ignored Phil and immediately started snorgling the puppies at the mat.

That was one of my favorite parts too, mostly because I would've done the same and just paid attention to those cute puppies at the mat, forgetting that I was racing for a million dollars.

[plurie]

22 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

 My cat Aemon Targaryen was dumped by the side of the road as a kitten because he was blind. This is getting OT so I’ll stop...

Best cat name, ever! Is he black?

[green]

14 hours ago, MVFrostsMyPie said:

Just to balance things out, I'm gonna need Phil to greet the racers at the mat with like 20 kittens next time.

Yes but then Leo would get so excited and shout and wave his arms so much that the cats would scatter beyond collecting again.  Plus you can't herd that many cats together even so much as a brief appearance at a mat.  No way self-respecting cats would be party to that.

13 hours ago, Jobiska said:

I did like the dramatic acting out, especially since that didn't seem to be a requirement.  I thought they were cute.

I think that after so many "performances" over the seasons including the one at the disco in Vietnam this time when teams routinely get rejected for lack of energy, corny showmanship and enthusiasm that the teams were fearful NOT to show tons of same least they be rejected by this judge.

12 hours ago, Miles said:

Me too. I know a lot of people don't like it, but I loooooove airport drama.

I even really enjoyed Charla and Mirna, because of their uncannyy ability to finagle good flights. (though I binged those season, so their more annoying qualities were probably more easily overlooked)

I think MOST people love airport drama and most people loved Charla & Mirna for their entertainment value and driving Original Colin crazy alone.  I love them period.

9 hours ago, 30 Helens said:

Another thing that surprised me was that, upon returning to the coin task, C&B were able to pick up where they left off, with goblet and 3 coins already collected. I expected they would have to start over. 

Why?  They kept the stuff they found.  Why should they give it back.  No one has to give back what they ever have done on a detour option in progress unless there is no way to go back to exactly where they left off like in a mid-rappel where they can't be magically beamed by Scotty to the exact part of the rappel they left off at for example.

2 hours ago, survivinmt said:

After last week and Christie being so strong about not giving her clue to the Reilly's I thought at least she would attempt that Road Block by herself at least once to see if she could get it. The Afghanimal was obviously having trouble on his own, so she really should have attempted it at least once herself to see if she could zoom past him.

Why?  They both knew Chris & Brett were behind them and they wanted to get through the RB before that team showed up at the RB.  Doesn't matter who finishes 4th or 5th.  Just don't finish 6th. 

Also why piss off a team when there is no need to in case there is another u-turn ahead?

Last leg Christie HAD to refuse because they thought they and Rachel/sister were the last two teams period and it was beat them or be eliminated.  Totally oranges and apples.

Help others when it helps you too ... always!

Edited June 14, 2019 by green

[LittleIggy]

15 minutes ago, plurie said:

Best cat name, ever! Is he black?

He’s a grey tabby. I gave him the name Aemon Targaryen because he is blind. I have a black Manx named Sigurd.

[MVFrostsMyPie]

25 minutes ago, green said:

Yes but then Leo would get so excited and shout and wave his arms so much that the cats would scatter beyond collecting again.  Plus you can't herd that many cats together even so much as a brief appearance at a mat.  No way self-respecting cats would be party to that.

Very true. They'd have to be satiated on catnip and make sure they were all sleepy.

[Hera]

On 6/13/2019 at 7:54 AM, Haleth said:

"My metal detector is broken!  This is bullshit!"  I wonder if there was enough of a current that the coins were swept further away or buried?  It's too bad the task turned out to be impossible, despite being a "needle in the haystack" deal it would have been my choice.

This was my thought as well—that the tide (or even some of the little sea critters, like crabs) may have moved the coins around or covered them, upping the difficulty of the task—especially if production put them down a while before anyone got there.

I think this would be a fun activity if there were no time pressure, but the only way this is the faster side of the detour is if you majorly luck out and the natural elements shift the coins so that they're all incredibly easy to find (piled in the shallows somewhere). If production tries this sort of task again, I think they should put down much larger, heavier objects so there's no chance of anything being shifted. They can have the racers swim around looking for particular objects and then mark where each one was on a map, or give GPS coordinates for each object or something.

On 6/13/2019 at 9:39 AM, green said:

Rules have changed over the years on TAR.  These days they cannot book multiple flights.  Just one.

I bet Colin is part of the reason for this. On his original season, he would apparently buy tickets for various flights and then figure out which ones he wanted to use later. It's smart racing (as long as it's allowed), and it gave them options when there were flight delays, but I'm not surprised the producers closed that loophole. Even if the tickets were refundable (which, even if you're flying economy, costs more than a non-refundable ticket), I would not be remotely surprised if his and Christie's flights in season 5 cost production more than the flights of most of the other teams they were racing against.

On 6/13/2019 at 11:55 AM, Rinaldo said:

On 6/13/2019 at 11:42 AM, Tryangle said:

I get the impression that they can only bring the airport flight multiple options into play when flying within the EU, this day and age the security, etc. issues going from other countries would be too difficult to deal with so they're spoon-fed outside of Europe. 

That's my impression as well. Also, it seems to me that within the ±2 decades TAR has been on the air, airlines have become more cutthroat/frugal about arranging routes and schedules to minimize empty seats; at least I haven't been on a flight that's less than completely full in many a year, whereas I do recall half-empty flights in the more distant past. If I'm correct there, international flights in much of the world may just not have masses of last-minute seats (in multiples of four) ready to be booked, unless they're reserved well in advance -- i.e., it could be not just challenging, but impossible, to get all the teams from one country to another on the same day without prearrangement.

I think these are both really good points about why we don't get as much airport drama as we did in seasons past. As ever, I feel like there's a lot of scope for things like rail/bus travel (or ferries) to pick up the slack in forcing the racers to have to make the own decisions about how best to get between Point A and Point B. I think production could treat this much the way they currently treat air travel or rest periods—if there's a delay, film the teams at layover spots so that they get the necessary exposition about what's happening. And as far as socializing goes, teams travelling on the same itinerary could be subject to whatever rules apply to them during rest periods. This means that most of the time cameras can be put away, which draws less attention to the racers and hopefully keeps the practical problems of using transportation other than planes to a minimum.

I really hope they figure this out. When racers don't actually have to get themselves between locales, it feels more like The Amazing Scavenger Hunt rather than The Amazing Race.

[spanana]

On Christie/Colin helping other teams, I don't remember which team said it, but I remember one of the earlier eliminated teams said that they liked Christie/Colin so much because they genuinely tried to help everyone on the race.  I don't entirely know in what context they meant--like helping someone during an actual race task or more like giving them Amazing Race tips between legs, but I don't think Christie/Colin are against helping other teams as long as their own race lives are not at stake.

There was a big difference between them not helping Rachel last leg when they were racing to not be eliminated versus this leg where they knew that Chris/Bret were still behind them and ultimately it didn't matter what place they came in as long as it wasn't last.  First was obviously off the table, so they weren't racing for a prize either.

I think as long as they aren't in danger of being eliminated and it's not like the final few legs, they were probably helpful to teams.  They just know when to turn it off and race for themselves IMO.

[greyhorse]

3 hours ago, survivinmt said:

After last week and Christie being so strong about not giving her clue to the Reilly's I thought at least she would attempt that Road Block by herself at least once to see if she could get it. The Afghanimal was obviously having trouble on his own, so she really should have attempted it at least once herself to see if she could zoom past him.

She didn't give the clue to the Reillys because they were fighting for last place, plus Rachel is just such an unpleasant person to begin with.  It would have been stupid to help her at that point and increase your chance of being eliminated.

19 minutes ago, spanana said:

There was a big difference between them not helping Rachel last leg when they were racing to not be eliminated versus this leg where they knew that Chris/Bret were still behind them and ultimately it didn't matter what place they came in as long as it wasn't last.  First was obviously off the table, so they weren't racing for a prize either.

I think as long as they aren't in danger of being eliminated and it's not like the final few legs, they were probably helpful to teams.  They just know when to turn it off and race for themselves IMO.

Yes.  I think if they were racing for first, maybe she would have been more apt to try on her own.  Or if she was confident in her ability to do something well, she would stay to herself.  You keep racing as long as you don't finish last.  That's all I think they were focused on at that point.

[aemom]

22 minutes ago, spanana said:

On Christie/Colin helping other teams, I don't remember which team said it, but I remember one of the earlier eliminated teams said that they liked Christie/Colin so much because they genuinely tried to help everyone on the race.  I don't entirely know in what context they meant--like helping someone during an actual race task or more like giving them Amazing Race tips between legs, but I don't think Christie/Colin are against helping other teams as long as their own race lives are not at stake.

There was a big difference between them not helping Rachel last leg when they were racing to not be eliminated versus this leg where they knew that Chris/Bret were still behind them and ultimately it didn't matter what place they came in as long as it wasn't last.  First was obviously off the table, so they weren't racing for a prize either.

I think as long as they aren't in danger of being eliminated and it's not like the final few legs, they were probably helpful to teams.  They just know when to turn it off and race for themselves IMO.

That is totally the right way to play the game and how I would approach it as well if I was racing.

If you're not the bottom 2 teams, then help each other if the help benefits both of you.

[HeShallBMySquishy]

On 6/13/2019 at 7:42 AM, aemom said:

That's one reason why I really enjoy TAR Canada.  Every leg of the race is brutally hard.  Every time we get a new Canadian season, I realize how "dumbed down" TAR USA has become.

Yes! And the new season is starting soon, July 2!

I was also sorry to see Chris and Bret leave, but they basically eliminated themselves. But they were a lot more likable here than Millennials vs. Gen X, that's for sure, and it was nice watching them enjoy themselves. Also, one thing I've noticed during the race, Chris is a very handsome man.

It was funny watching everyone be bounced and tossed around in the rafts, but was it really necessary to spend 2/3 of the episode on that bloody poem? I'd much rather have seen more of the Split scenery, which was gorgeous. No wonder the rest of the episode was so rushed; the producers figured we had to be subjected to that entire poem multiple times instead, apparently.

I can see what others are referring to in regards to Becca, which is why she's annoyed me somewhat since her first appearance the last time she raced: she's all Team Fun when things are going her way, but she appears to be a split-second away from losing her cool if things don't. Also, the whole Team Fun appears to be more of an act for her, whereas with Floyd, it seems to be just who he is.

I usually don't mind the Afghanimals too much, but, between their hyper enthusiasm in the cab (their cute cab driver was clearly not into it) to their ridiculous over-the-top pantomiming during the poem, they were super-irritating this episode.

Nicole may be whiny here, but at least we're not being subjected to "Corrr-EEEEEEEE!!" every episode. But yeah her passive aggressive muttering was hella obnoxious. Quit yer whining, Nicole!

Colin and Christie are still there. Although I did notice Colin close his eyes and take a deep breath in the cab when they realized they'd forgotten their gnome.

Dalmatians! Dalmatian puppies!

[Guest]

15 hours ago, Miles said:

On 6/13/2019 at 4:54 AM, Haleth said:

The original Bald Snark wasn't just a switch to the second choice, they went back to the first task.  So to go back to the second one again would be a Double Bald Snark.  That's my take anyway..

Yeah, people don't seem to get / remember that a bald snark is not a simple switch. It's a switch and then switching back to the original option!

But it’s named for Ken and Gerard and they never did a double switch. I believe it was first used as a double bald snark after Flo’s complete meltdown caused them to switch and then switch back in Vietnam. 

[HawaiiTVGuy]

20 hours ago, hendersonrocks said:

It seemed like the show was trying to tell us they weren’t doing it right - they kept showing the yellow buoys highlighted, which C & B were not at all focused around. My theory is that the stuff was all under those buoys, you just had to use the scooper and detector to find some of it. 

Unfortunately for C & B, it seems like they literally searched the whole beach area *and* were sticking to the surface level. It was the combo that did them in.

I was wondering about that, like every time they were saying they couldn't find anything, they kept pulling back and highlighting the buoys.  And they were definitely not just looking in that area, one of them said they kept sweeping back and forth from the shoreline.  

I am curious about their technique.  They did find a decent amount of items without really using the scooper method and I guess the detector was good enough to ping a few coins, I guess maybe the last two were deeper in the ocean floor.  I was thinking that with the tides and shifting sands, it would be tough for production to make sure the coins were still at a detectable depth under the sand, but it looked like the items found were actually just under the rocky layer, so maybe they wouldn't have needed the scooper and just concentrate around the buoy more.

[amazingracefan]

4 hours ago, aemom said:

That is totally the right way to play the game and how I would approach it as well if I was racing.

If you're not the bottom 2 teams, then help each other if the help benefits both of you.

It isn't about whether it's a good strategy if it's enabled in challenges, it's more about whether it makes for good drama for the viewers.  And most of the time it reduces the drama.

On 6/13/2019 at 7:53 PM, EllenB said:

I'm a pretty happy, goofy person.  I also lose my temper occasionally.  More than occasionally, at times.  FFS, if Becca was cheerful every second, people would complain how one-note and boring she is.  I like her BECAUSE she's fun but can turn snarky and cranky in certain situations.  

I don't mind her losing her temper, it's the pantomime level of 'fun' she puts on that seems so fake.

On 6/13/2019 at 7:28 PM, meep.meep said:

at the poem task should be recognized.  Couldn't have been fun sitting there in the hot sun listening to people repeatedly making small pronunciation errors.

Plus very likely someone off camera/ maybe even working the camera was doing the judging anyway, and he was just told to nod his head when he had to and hand over a clue, that's often how it works.

The 'poem' actually just sounded like some limerick made up to fit the challenge, would have been better if it had been some local effort.

On 6/13/2019 at 4:55 PM, Rinaldo said:

Helping each other on Roadblocks has (sometimes) happened from the beginning. It's always a balancing act for the teams that do it: you're trading away the possibility of finishing ahead of the other, for the security of knowing that at least you won't finish behind.

It's often not that much of a balancing act, if you have two teams ahead of the last place and they help each other so the other team is frozen out, that's a guaranteed success really.

[HawaiiTVGuy]

5 hours ago, greyhorse said:

She didn't give the clue to the Reillys because they were fighting for last place, plus Rachel is just such an unpleasant person to begin with.  It would have been stupid to help her at that point and increase your chance of being eliminated.

Yes.  I think if they were racing for first, maybe she would have been more apt to try on her own.  Or if she was confident in her ability to do something well, she would stay to herself.  You keep racing as long as you don't finish last.  That's all I think they were focused on at that point.

Also, there was some mutual benefit in working with the other team on the task, the Reillys were just asking for a freebie because they messed up.  Letting the Reillys look at the clue wasn't in any way going to help Colin and Christie.  Unless the Reillys promised not to beat them to the mat.

[Twopper]

I am really enjoying this season, and I thought this episode was great with the airport drama and the bald snarking.   I was sorry to lose Chris and Brett as I was starting to really like them, but then I don't dislike any of the teams now.  I think  Colin and Christie will be either the winners or in 2nd place or it will be Korey and Tyler.  I expect Team Fun to be in third.  I just don't see the Afghanimals or Nic and Vic having much of a chance, although I could really be wrong.

I need to get out more; I had never heard of Split, Croatia.  I think I would recall a place with that name.  It looks absolutely lovely from what we saw.

I was surprised the coin search was so difficult.  I wondered if something had disturbed the sands after the coins were tossed, but I would think the detector would still find them.  Very puzzling as I would think there would be at least 30 coins.  

I would like to visit there, especially the monastery.

I am not sure I could memorize a poem as I bounced along the waves like that.  Also I would probably feel a bit sea-sickish trying to read the poem.

Great episode!! I don't want this season to end.

[Snickerdoodle]

14 hours ago, cherrypj said:

 C&C Zen Factory 

😂

[Booklady1017]

17 hours ago, cherrypj said:

Triple.

Started with the coins. Switched to the poem (1) and tried it once (or so it appeared). Switched back to the coins (2). C&C Zen Factory showed up during this second coin attempt and bailed fast, while Chris and Bert kept slogging. Finally switched (3) back to the poem and completed the detour.

From TARfies: 

Yet! 😆

Thanks for explaining.

[green]

11 hours ago, spanana said:

On Christie/Colin helping other teams, I don't remember which team said it, but I remember one of the earlier eliminated teams said that they liked Christie/Colin so much because they genuinely tried to help everyone on the race.  I don't entirely know in what context they meant--like helping someone during an actual race task or more like giving them Amazing Race tips between legs, but I don't think Christie/Colin are against helping other teams as long as their own race lives are not at stake.

Team Fun said that C&C had helped them with navigation and they would be lost without them because they sucked at navigation.

Also we saw them a lot in earlier legs with Colin shouting stuff out to other teams like "The boats are over this way" or "The clue box is back the other way" or "The mat is across the street."  I remember him pointing out the mat to Victor & Nicole I believe it was when it might have cost him a first place finish even though I think they ended up second and third instead.

But that is who Colin was even back on TAR5.  He ALWAYS was helping the loose alliance he was associated with of C&C, Chip & Kim, Brandon & Nicole and the Pizza Brothers. 

And that is what I love about TAR.  Teams helping each other unless it is a battle for last place.  Co-operation and not stupid silly immature drama crap.  Not that Colin didn't fall down to some of that regards his battles with Charla & Mirna.  But I always liked the positive part of Colin's TAR5 when he helped his race friends out all the time.

Edited June 15, 2019 by green

[jay741982]

On 6/12/2019 at 9:43 PM, spanana said:

I didn't mind the cooperation at the Roadblock, at least for the front of the pack racers.  For Korey and Nicole I don't think it was a big deal because they knew they were the first two teams and I think there knew there was some distance between them and the rest of the racers, so they just needed to get through it as quickly as they could to duke it out to the mat.

At the end of the leg it's a big riskier but at least if you leave the roadblock at the same time as the other team, you have a fighting chance.

I do bet the other teams are now somewhat regretting not u-turning Victor/Nicole since they bounced back to a 2nd place finish.  I know they caught a lucky break here, but they are the kind of racers who can do that sort of thing.

LOL the only team that shouldve been a regret on not U turning is THE TEAM THATS ALREADY WON BEFORE! 

6 hours ago, green said:

Team Fun said that C&C had helped them with navigation and they would be lost without them because they sucked at navigation.

Also we saw them a lot in earlier legs with Colin shouting stuff out to other teams like "The boats are over this way" or "The clue box is back the other way" or "The mat is across the street."  I remember him pointing out the mat to Victor & Nicole I believe it was when it might have cost him a first place finish even though I think they ended up second and third instead.

But that is who Colin was even back on TAR5.  He ALWAYS was helping the loose alliance he was associated with of C&C, Chip & Kim, Brandon & Nicole and the Pizza Brothers. 

And that is what I love about TAR.  Teams helping each other unless it is a battle for last place.  Co-operation and not stupid silly immature drama crap.  Not that Colin didn't fall down to some of that regards his battles with Charla & Mirna.  But I always liked the positive part of Colin's TAR5 when he helped his race friends out all the time.

Teams shouldn't be helping others it's a race!

[spanana]

11 hours ago, eliot90000 said:

The problem with your theory is how anyone standing in those lines is supposed to know that.  They didn’t think the other woman was going to leave until she left. To me it looked like two lines.  

It wasn't really meant to be a theory, just that I could in some ways see both sides of the argument and that it wasn't clear based on what we were shown.  I do think however if Nicole had a problem with it, and I single her out only because we weren't shown Victor complaining about it, that she could have been more proactive about it.

[biakbiak]

30 minutes ago, spanana said:

It wasn't really meant to be a theory, just that I could in some ways see both sides of the argument and that it wasn't clear based on what we were shown.  I do think however if Nicole had a problem with it, and I single her out only because we weren't shown Victor complaining about it, that she could have been more proactive about it.

We did actually see Victor making a snotty comment or two about it but not doing anything.

[green]

13 hours ago, jay741982 said:

LOL the only team that shouldve been a regret on not U turning is THE TEAM THATS ALREADY WON BEFORE! 

Teams shouldn't be helping others it's a race!

What team won before?

Also yes people should be helping each other in a race let alone the AMAZING race. 

Just as alliances help people on Survivor or BB these alliances, brief one offs like on this leg or even longer ones, work the same on TAR. 

It is how you race smart as opposed to being loners that get yourself lost or not cooperating when you can so that when you are in trouble people won't cooperate with you.  Not helping when it doesn't hurt you is really dumb racing.  Especially with u-turns etc these days.

illdoc, FYI TAR1 was filmed in March of 2001.  So you nailed it.

Also Phil didn't greet the other teams on TAR1 because production didn't think they could get him to the mat in time each leg what with his stand-ups in front of RB and Detours spots.  When they thought they could then he did as in the very next season which was when they switched the colors to red/yellow as well.

TAR1 has this great, raw feeling to it because no one could build on experiences before them,  They all had to figure out the race on the fly.  Thus Rob & Brennen blew their one FF in the Race in Leg 1 which no one would ever do again that early when in the lead.  They thought it would help build up a lead where no one would ever catch them, lol.

And FFs in every leg but the Finale helped make the classic years great.  You can only use it once.  The longer you can go without going for a FF it becomes like an ace in the hole later with fewer teams left.  But sometimes you just had to go for it if trailing badly or losing site of other teams and you become worried if you are last or not.  And two teams going at the same time could bring about really bad results for the team not getting it.

The FF was really the crown jewel idea/task on TAR and I still mourn it's loss in every leg.  It helped save underdog teams and leveled the playing field more making stronger teams have to scramble to stay in.  It gave another path to the mat so it was easier to edit in a surprise as to who survives and who is eliminated when a trailing team was using it.  It was nothing but 100% positive.  More strategy, more scenery, more teams having a chance, better editing.

They said they stopped using it because of production cost which is pure bullshit.  You don't need some elaborate FF.  Eating a meat pie at an Aussie diner with only your own camera crew filming it worked just fine.  Jumping in a swimming pool or climbing a snowy hill won't bust your budget.  You don't have to stage these elaborate FFs they got into later in the Race.  Just keep it simple.

Like this last leg they could have sent Racers to the cliff monastery right off.  Put bread in the basket and the monk sends the gnome back to you.  The FF could have been serving the drinks though maybe more of them or some other complication thrown in.  No extra production cost at all.

Sorry but if I don't get my Ode to the Beloved Late FF Every Leg in each season I go nuts.  Now a moment of silence to mourn it's loss.

Edited June 16, 2019 by green

[amazingracefan]

Fast forwards were best when teams competed against each other (but could still recover) or it was a tough one and you weren't sure it would be done.  It wasn't always planned well and you sometimes had front runner teams going for it as they were ahead enough and could just take the risk.  Or a team in last place took it but it wasn't easy or quick enough to make much difference.

The main benefits of the earlier seasons I think were more navigation and tougher tasks.  While the Canadian one is considered tougher by some the Australian version earlier this decade was tougher than that and worldwide (but it was discontinued after just a few seasons).

[SnideAsides]

On 6/14/2019 at 12:21 PM, SomeTameGazelle said:

I thought it was meant to be the thing where someone says something that ends in -er and the joker responds "[blank] her? I hardly even know her." (E.g. liquor/lick her, kisser/kiss her.) Except Croatia doesn't sound like it ends in -er in Tyler's dialect and the Croat- part on its own doesn't sound like any verb I can think of. I assume Tyler is angling to get his bon mots as the episode title, so he's taking a scattershot approach.

"Where'd you and your wife go on your honeymoon?"

"Caribbean."

"Nice. Jamaica?"

"No, she wanted to go."

[Electruck]

On 6/13/2019 at 9:39 AM, seacliffsal said:

I was also a bit frustrated with Bret and Chris as I really liked them and it appeared that they didn't read the full instructions for the snorkling as the editors kept highlighting the floats.  I think they may have read "floats" but mistakenly thought it meant the float upon which they place the gnome.

I noticed the highlighting, too, and had wished I had paid more attention to what the clue had said about where the items would be found in comparison to where they were looking.

Chris and Bret mentioned when they got there that the water was cold, then later how “once they had warmed up” at the poetry task they realized they shouldn’t have switched and went back. So being cold for hours probably contributed to their decision and brain power.

[watch2much]

On 6/13/2019 at 9:38 AM, TVbitch said:

Colin and Christie put the fear in me, but the way Colin handled the gnome mishap proves that Colin's transformation runs deep. Him doing a quick meditation in the cab was so cute. Those two are perfect for each other. 

I feel the same way.  If ever he was going to blow, that would have been it.  I'm for them to go all the way!

[lexington11]

On 6/14/2019 at 1:57 PM, spanana said:

On Christie/Colin helping other teams, I don't remember which team said it, but I remember one of the earlier eliminated teams said that they liked Christie/Colin so much because they genuinely tried to help everyone on the race. 

It isn't just the eliminated teams that have said that. Nicole's also said that every single time, C&C, especially Colin, were more than willing to help people out who were struggling, unless it was a situation like with the Reilly sisters, where the two teams were racing to not get eliminated

[lexington11]

On 6/13/2019 at 1:41 PM, smartymarty said:

Chris and Bret should have been the most successful since they got there first, before others picked up coins (unless TPTB threw more coins in after each team finished, but I doubt that).

I think a reason they also failed at that was because the ocean water in Croatia seemed to be freezing, and with Chris being from Oklahoma, he's not exactly used to swimming in cold water and was getting hypothermia towards the end there