S07.E05: Clamageddon Continues

[Guest]

Airs July 30, 2019

Quote

Teams head southwest to Nanaimo, B.C., where they take their fears to new heights and are challenged during a search on the beach.

[redfish]

Ugh...Irina doesn't like to do hard work. Then why is she on the Amazing Race? It's all about mental and physical challenges. She claimed she's tough and a winner but she wimps out quite easily.

The rest of the teams that took the two hour penalty should have worked together like the other teams so that they could have quashed David/Irina.

[aemom]

Good God, I cannot stand Dave and Irina.  They are one of my least favourite teams ever on TAR Canada or TAR USA.

Irina acts like a prissy princess who can't possibly go into freezing cold water or God forbid, lift a shovel.

They cannot leave the race soon enough for me.

Good on Anthony & James and Aarthy & Thinesh working together to avoid elimination.  They still have their Express Pass!

[wintrygal]

Well taking a penalty bit one team in the ass, unfortunately it was the wrong team.  Can't stand Irina and Dave, what an obnoxious pair, go away. 

I wish they'd make a rule that everytime you take a penalty, they add on another hour, it defeats the purpose of having tasks to complete if teams can just head to the pit stop and wait to be placed.  I got the feeling that John was a little bit taken aback or possibly disgusted with them. 

Love James & Anthony, cudos to them for solving that last puzzle before they even got to it!  Also love Aarthy and Thinesh, would be happy with either of these teams winning. I like the blond moms also. 

[Lady Calypso]

Yeah, Dave and Irina took the top spot for Most Hated TAR Team for me. 

It's one thing to do anything to win the game; it's quite another to be a complete dick to other teams about it. And it's their attitude that makes it ten times worse. I could live with them doing whatever it took to get them farther ahead. But between Irina's Prissy Princess stuff ("I don't do hard work" THEN WHY ARE YOU ON THIS SHOW?) and Dave's casual "cheating" at the caves (I put cheating in quotes because technically, there's nothing that says he can't do that but it's still wrong), and Irina continuing to call the other teams peasants, I just can't with them. 

So proud of Sarah and Sam for getting first place. They're fast becoming my favourite team this season.

Second to them? Aarthy and Thinesh. I loved Aarthy insisting that they stay behind to work with Anthony and James. I guess they knew that they had the time to do so, but they seemed to plan to stick with them, no matter what.

It sucks for Meaghan and Marie. I hoped that maybe the other teams would have helped them out in order to get ahead of Dave and Irina, but I guess, as soon as Dave cheated, it was already too late. If only the twins had decided to take the penalty along with Lauren and Joanne, then they could have potentially all worked together to get ahead of Dave and Irina.

[Rachel RSL]

Co-sign that Dave and Irina are the WORST! What a couple of vile human beings, especially her. And I blame them for starting that penalty nonsense. As soon as one team takes a penalty, the others start to panic. They definitely need to increase the penalty time to discourage crap like that. 

I was so bummed that my 2 favourite teams were in last place and then the miracle of the goats on the roof happened. That was so lucky!  Karma, indeed. Did they give them a list of places beforehand or something? Because, if you weren’t from there, how would anyone ever figure out the answer was “goats on roof”?! 

I felt bad for Sam having to do that swing of death (twice!), I would have been petrified too, but his screaming was hilarious! 

Mmmmmm....nanaimo bars. Yum!

Edited July 31, 2019 by Rachel RSL

[aemom]

18 minutes ago, Rachel RSL said:

They definitely need to increase the penalty time to discourage crap like that. 

Did they give them a list of places beforehand or something? Because, if you weren’t from there, how would anyone ever figure out the answer was “goats on roof”?! 

The Roadblocks used to be 4 hours and I'm not sure about the Detours, but I agree they need to increase the penalty time.

I'm mixing up their names, but one of the Anthony/James team said that he used to live in the area and was familiar with Goats on Roof, so he figured that was the clue.

[Lady Calypso]

2 minutes ago, aemom said:

The Roadblocks used to be 4 hours and I'm not sure about the Detours, but I agree they need to increase the penalty time.

I was hoping that Dave/Irina would get to the Pit Stop and Jon would tell them "Since this is your second Penalty in the season, the time has increased to THREE hours." That way, I think Meghan and Marie could have had a chance to survive. 

[Rachel RSL]

11 minutes ago, aemom said:

I'm mixing up their names, but one of the Anthony/James team said that he used to live in the area and was familiar with Goats on Roof, so he figured that was the clue.

I know, that’s why I asked if they gave a list to people because it would be impossible to figure out if you didn’t live there. All the other teams (except Dave) somehow managed to get it right.

Not that this should matter but Dave & Irina don’t even live in Canada. I don’t know why that bugs me but it just makes me dislike them even more. Apparently his fighting career is centered in Burma and I found this on his Wikipedia page, which might explain why Princess Irina thinks everyone else is a peasant. 🙄 

“The two got married on Leduc's birthday, in a traditional Burmese wedding ceremony in Yangon.The ceremony was nationally televised on MRTV with an approximate of 30 million viewers, only two days after his world championship title fight, catapulting them to celebrity status in Myanmar. According to Burmese magazine The Yangon Times, the couple is a national emblem in Myanmar. Leduc and his wife currently reside in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.”

[amazingracefan]

Dave and Irina are obviously acting up a part, so I don't know why people take it so seriously.  Dave's looking at the answer conveniently left and him sneaking up on others was actually the highlight.

A farce of a leg with penalties and helping each other.  Endless stuff about how diverse Canada is, how a racer helps transgender people, something about school children at the end, how winning in life isn't like a race - none of it do with the actual race itself.  

[Rachel RSL]

I think people are taking it seriously because it isn’t obvious that Dave & Irina are playing a part. If you go by how they act in interviews and on social media, they are exactly the same in “real life”.

It’s unfortunate that you’re so put off by people talking about how diverse Canada is. It’s the greatest thing about our country and even if people mentioned it  endlessly (which they didn’t), it wouldn’t bother me. We always learn bits and pieces about the Racers’ lives throughout the season so I’m not sure why the segment about one of them being a doctor who often works with transgender people is such an issue. 

Edited July 31, 2019 by Rachel RSL

[xcrayon2215x]

I don't get why some of the other teams took penalties if they wanted Dave and Irena to be eliminated. Had they not done that they likely would be. James and Anthony are growing on me, glad to see them do well.

[Keener]

8 hours ago, aemom said:

The Roadblocks used to be 4 hours and I'm not sure about the Detours, but I agree they need to increase the penalty time.

I'm mixing up their names, but one of the Anthony/James team said that he used to live in the area and was familiar with Goats on Roof, so he figured that was the clue.

(Dr.) James was the one who lived in Nanaimo. Anthony was smart and on their way to the cave task, started to pull apart the Dora backpack to see what was inside that might give them insight into the task. One they started the task they couldn't work together and their strength is very much in working together. Anthony itemized that they had carrots and the white board with 11 dashes and surmised that the location will be 11 letters. Recognizing that there was carrots in the bag (which didn't fit with the spelunking gear) James suggested it might be the Goats on Roof location. I suspect it's probably a famous location in Nanaimo, or at least recognizable to locals. 

I really really thought it was so upstanding for Aarthy to insist they stay back and help Anthony and James. Doing so really helped them out in the end since James & Anthony returned the favour with the Goats location. 

Irina and Dave are really working to be the villains of this season. For me they are playing a TAR:US Rob & Amber game. Taking penalties and forcing the hands of those behind them and guaranteeing their success because if others take penalties, then they're still ahead of them. Penalties didn't start off as uniform 2 hours. In the past, it was meant to equal the length of time it would take racers to complete a task. So if it would take the average racer 4 hours to complete, then the penalty would be 4 hours. Considering the oysters seemed to take an enormous amount of time, their penalty should've definitely been longer. They're acting ridiculous and I hate that they're so single minded about placing first on legs. 

My pick to win is James and Anthony. They are so much fun to watch and I love that they use their platform to bring attention to First Nations causes. I need more backstory from them. The snippets they give isn't enough! 

Quote

It’s unfortunate that you’re so put off by people talking about how diverse Canada is. It’s the greatest thing about our country and even if people mentioned it  endlessly (which they didn’t), it wouldn’t bother me. We always learn bits and pieces about the Racers’ lives throughout the season so I’m not sure why the segment about one of them being a doctor who often works with transgender people is such an issue. 

What I love about TAR:Can is its diversity. TAR:US has grown tired and always picks the same "characters" to create drama. It's exhausting and difficult to root for anyone on that show. I love seeing the different groups of people. You'd never see the same type of representation on TAR:US that you see on TAR:Can and I think that's what makes it unique. I was moved to tears seeing James & Anthony wearing skirts and headbands drawing attention to Murdered & Missing Indigenous Women. You'd *never* see that on TAR:US. 

Edited July 31, 2019 by Keener

[aemom]

1 hour ago, Keener said:

Penalties didn't start off as uniform 2 hours. In the past, it was meant to equal the length of time it would take racers to complete a task. So if it would take the average racer 4 hours to complete, then the penalty would be 4 hours. Considering the oysters seemed to take an enormous amount of time, their penalty should've definitely been longer. They're acting ridiculous and I hate that they're so single minded about placing first on legs. 

Actually, for Detours, Roadblocks, etc, there are specific penalty times - some which have changed over the years.  Scroll down to Penalties on this page:

https://amazingrace.fandom.com/wiki/Rules_and_Penalties

[Lady Calypso]

2 hours ago, xcrayon2215x said:

I don't get why some of the other teams took penalties if they wanted Dave and Irena to be eliminated. Had they not done that they likely would be. James and Anthony are growing on me, glad to see them do well.

I think it's because the task seemed to take forever. We saw that Aarthy/Thinesh and Anthony/James were at the task for 3+ hours. Dave/Irina seemed to leave about 20-30 minutes in (not sure exactly what time). I think, once Dave and Irina took the penalty again, it subconsciously put the fear of elimination into the racers' heads, especially since they knew that the moms had the non-elimination leg the day before, so it would NOT be a non-elimination leg this time. 

The teams who took penalties seemed to realize that this would be a long task (and we know that it WAS a long task, and luck-based). Some of them were smarter to take the penalty earlier (the Moms, for example). Then Meaghan/Marie just stumbled upon bad luck with how late they decided to take their penalty. 

I don't blame the teams who took penalties. Again, we saw that the only way Anthony/James were going to not get last is with Aarthy's help. They weren't close to finishing on their own, as they said when they were getting their checks. 

I think it was just a leg that they could have teamed up together to get Dave and Irina out, but as soon as Dave cheated off of Trish, it was basically over on trying to get them out.

[Jessa]

My kids and I were also talking about how taking multiple penalties should lead to successively longer penalties. It seems ridiculous that someone could win a race while skipping many of the tasks.

I know they always look to cast villains to make it interesting, but I truly enjoy this show more when I like the teams that are racing. 

[Evenshorter]

Even though I dislike their gameplay, I'm hoping Dave and Irina stick around a little longer. She hasn't done her share (I don't think) so if they keep going, there's going to come a time when she HAS to do them. Hope they are dirty, horrible and cold tasks.  She won't be able to penalty her way out, and Dave can't do them for her.

[aemom]

1 hour ago, Evenshorter said:

Even though I dislike their gameplay, I'm hoping Dave and Irina stick around a little longer. She hasn't done her share (I don't think) so if they keep going, there's going to come a time when she HAS to do them. Hope they are dirty, horrible and cold tasks.  She won't be able to penalty her way out, and Dave can't do them for her.

Oooooh.  Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Very cold... and muddy... 

*snicker*

[TV Anonymous]

On 7/31/2019 at 12:19 AM, Rachel RSL said:

Not that this should matter but Dave & Irina don’t even live in Canada. I don’t know why that bugs me but it just makes me dislike them even more.

Were not there siblings from previous season who also did not live in Canada? I agree with that sentiment. IMO, TAR-C racers need to be Canadian residents.

[RunningMarket]

1 hour ago, TV Anonymous said:

Were not there siblings from previous season who also did not live in Canada? I agree with that sentiment. IMO, TAR-C racers need to be Canadian residents.

I'm sure they are Canadian residents, as in, they hold Canadian passports. (I'm guessing that is a requirement to be eligible to be on the show.)

I had to laugh yesterday, as I took a Harbour Air float plane flight, clearly filled with people (such as myself) who were back and forth for the day for work. Everyone was nodding off or flipping through a magazine. A far cry from the racers who ooh'd and ahh'd at the scenery (as they should, it's really incredible.)

Anyone who lives on Vancouver Island knows Coombs and the goats on the roof of the market, so I was not surprised when James/Anthony got the answer right away. I loved them all sitting there, waiting out their penalties.

Also, did anyone else find it odd that they had a major product placement for a Huawei phone? Given the ongoing tensions between Canada and China due to the arrest of a Huawei executive, I thought it was misplaced. I'm still flabbergasted that the company is being advertised in Canada.

Edited August 1, 2019 by RunningMarket
Adding thought.

[aemom]

1 hour ago, RunningMarket said:

Also, did anyone else find it odd that they had a major product placement for a Huawei phone? Given the ongoing tensions between Canada and China due to the arrest of a Huawei executive, I thought it was misplaced. I'm still flabbergasted that the company is being advertised in Canada.

I noticed that too.

Now that you mention that, it triggers another recollection of the Clif bars that they keep giving the racers.  I actually like that one, because I often wonder if racers are starving, and this actually seems like a smart product/show collaboration - free food with some energy for the racers and free (?) advertising for the company.

[UsernameFatigue]

4 hours ago, RunningMarket said:

Anyone who lives on Vancouver Island knows Coombs and the goats on the roof of the market, so I was not surprised when James/Anthony got the answer right away. I loved them all sitting there, waiting out their penalties.

I live in the Okanagan and knew it, from visiting the area several times. I loved that that is where the pit stop was. 

I read an interview with a producer of the show, and he thinks having Dave and Irina on the show makes it "Must see TV". For me it makes it barely watchable TV. If I didn't like the other teams so much, and the fact that the whole season will be in Canada this year, I would have already stopped watching. I really hope that the other teams are able to work together to get rid of them next episode. I think the producer may have miscalculated what many Canadians opinion on what "Must See TV" is. 

[aemom]

44 minutes ago, UsernameFatigue said:

...and the fact that the whole season will be in Canada this year...

Really? I hadn't heard that and other than Season 1, they've always gone elsewhere. 

[Rachel RSL]

1 hour ago, UsernameFatigue said:

I think the producer may have miscalculated what many Canadians opinion on what "Must See TV" is

Completely agree! There are reality show “villains” and then there are legitimate assholes. Dave & Irina are definitely the latter. I skimmed the comments on Twitter after the show and the overwhelming sentiment was that they were making the show unwatchable. I also noticed that the word that kept coming up in tweets was “disgraceful”. People think their behavior is just un-Canadian and I completely agree.  It is possible to be competitive without being a douche.

6 hours ago, aemom said:

Oooooh.  Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Very cold... and muddy... 

*snicker*

I don’t remember if it was TAR Canada or TAR US but remember that one task where they had to stick their head in a box while giant roaches crawled all over them? That one would be just perfect!

Edited August 2, 2019 by Rachel RSL

[aemom]

18 minutes ago, Rachel RSL said:

I don’t remember if it was TAR Canada or TAR US but remember that one task where they had to stick their head in a box while giant roaches crawled all over them? That one would be just perfect!

I remember that one well.  It was TAR Canada.

[UsernameFatigue]

59 minutes ago, aemom said:

Really? I hadn't heard that and other than Season 1, they've always gone elsewhere. 

It was in an interview in the Toronto Sun published after the Nanaimo Leg titled "Quitting Attitude: Jon Montgomery Loses His Cool As Amazing Race Hits Nanaimo". It is an interesting article. The producer doesn't come right out and say that Dave and Irina make it must watch tv (as I reread it) but that is what he implies. They talk in the article about staying in Canada this season. 

I didn't know until I read that article that that was going to be the case, but assumed that if they were going to leave they would have by now. Also usually when it is a non elim leg as last week's was, they are usually out of the country when that happens. (From my limited memory of the show, as I stopped watching the American version years ago). 

Edited August 2, 2019 by UsernameFatigue

[Kelda Feegle]

Wow, did Irina seriously mock people for enjoying the scenery on the flight? Not cool.

On the other hand jogging in the forest singing Backpack Backpack was adorkable.

[SomeTameGazelle]

2 hours ago, Kelda Feegle said:

Wow, did Irina seriously mock people for enjoying the scenery on the flight? Not cool.

Look, if Irina isn't happy, no one else is allowed to be happy. Irina was not in first place! Everyone needed to be absolutely miserable until that error was rectified. If we are lucky we will be put out of Irina's misery soon.

I had been inadvertently spoiled by seeing the eliminated team interviewed on TV the next morning, so I didn't have any hope that Dave and Irina would actually be eliminated, but it was still disappointing when Dave picked up the answer to Goats on Roof. 

[Tiggertoo]

18 hours ago, Kelda Feegle said:

Wow, did Irina seriously mock people for enjoying the scenery on the flight? Not cool.

On the other hand jogging in the forest singing Backpack Backpack was adorkable.

Not only that but at the end when the others were hugging, Dave was mocking their crying.   He did a boo hoo thing and then laughed. Such a nice couple. 

[NJRadioGuy]

This has to have been the worst TAR-C segment ever in a very, very lacklustre season. Dave and Irina were just the mouldy cherries on top of that @#$% sandwich of an episode.

Race design shouldn't include tasks that will take more time to accomplish than the penalty that would be incurred for missing them. Also in the clam challenge, the results weren't under the control of production. If they'd seeded the ground with the the rare clams or included a provision for moving on without penalty if they couldn't find the rare ones within X hours then it wouldn't have bothered me as much.

And as for acceptable race behaviour there should indeed be a penalty for taking someone else's taxi and other forms of unsportsmanlike conduct. And likewise, some form of time credit or other nice bonus (next flight you get bumped into first class) if you perform a selfless good deed for another team.

As for Dave and Irina, I (facetiously) blame Jon. At the start of the season he never said "Make Canada Proud" at the starting line, as he has in seasons past. Because those two most certainly aren't.

I know this won't happen, but should those two douchecanoes end up coming in last, if I were Jon I'd say "I'm pleased to tell you that you've been eliminated," with a nice smirk thrown in for good measure.

[Bunnyette]

That clam digging was a bit too hard.   And I think yes, teams can only take one penalty during the race.  Or on certain tasks you can take the penalty others you can’t!

[TV Anonymous]

On 8/2/2019 at 2:00 AM, RunningMarket said:

I'm sure they are Canadian residents, as in, they hold Canadian passports. (I'm guessing that is a requirement to be eligible to be on the show.)

Those holding Canadian passports are Canadian citizens. They are not necessarily residents. Canadian residents live in Canada and pay Canadian taxes. Non-resident citizens do not.

[RunningMarket]

30 minutes ago, TV Anonymous said:

Those holding Canadian passports are Canadian citizens. They are not necessarily residents. Canadian residents live in Canada and pay Canadian taxes. Non-resident citizens do not.

I was using the terms residents and citizens interchangeably, which I understand led to confusion. To the original point, I agree that TARC contestants should be citizens. The argument still stands if they should also be current residents.

[HeShallBMySquishy]

On 7/30/2019 at 9:19 PM, Rachel RSL said:

Not that this should matter but Dave & Irina don’t even live in Canada. I don’t know why that bugs me but it just makes me dislike them even more. Apparently his fighting career is centered in Burma and I found this on his Wikipedia page, which might explain why Princess Irina thinks everyone else is a peasant. 🙄 

“The two got married on Leduc's birthday, in a traditional Burmese wedding ceremony in Yangon.The ceremony was nationally televised on MRTV with an approximate of 30 million viewers, only two days after his world championship title fight, catapulting them to celebrity status in Myanmar. According to Burmese magazine The Yangon Times, the couple is a national emblem in Myanmar. Leduc and his wife currently reside in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.”

Wow, really? I knew she wasn't born here, had no idea about him. That probably does explain the whole "peasant" thing.

[Kel Varnsen]

On 8/6/2019 at 4:21 PM, Bunnyette said:

That clam digging was a bit too hard.   And I think yes, teams can only take one penalty during the race.  Or on certain tasks you can take the penalty others you can’t!

I thought it seemed a bit too difficult too. Like I wondered how high would the tide at that beach get, and would it eventually get high enough to making finding clams impossible. 

[Keener]

I honestly can't believe that anyone would choose to live in Myanmar over Canada knowing the human rights violations that are currently and continuing to take place there. Obviously they're there because money talks, but it's disappointing that Dave & Irina so willing to turn a blind eye to it. Meanwhile, we have Anthony & James who use the TAR platform to draw attention to the human rights abuses against First Nations people in Canada. It's such a stark contrast and makes it way easier to root for the latter over the former.