The Amazing Race S34

[alexikeguchi]

After driving a rental (automatic thank goodness) on the left side of the road through multiple roundabouts from Inverness Airport to Tain, I'm going to give the contestants a bit of a pass on navigation under pressure. I was clutching the steering wheel and clenching my teeth the entire time but did fine getting to Tain. Once there, however, I overshot the B&B where I'm staying three times and had to make several three point turns in 1.5 lane roads. If traffic were heavy, I would have been hosed.

ETA: My bad, there is a Chapel Street and a Chapel Road which are not the same...

 

[jadingirl]

Anyone watch last night. Happy to see the end of the motivational speakers - I honestly didn't find them very motivating lol.

 

[Lilia A]

If Sharik is going to have a meltdown everytime she has to do a Roadblock, they're in trouble. She's done one out of four so far, so he doesn't have many left that he can do. I have anxiety too, so in a way I get her, but also, I feel like it was too much. You can pout and yell "I want to go home" over and over while also running for the next challenge, you know. Interesting that Phil gave them the choice to leave. I don't think anyone has ever quit TAR on the mat. We've seen people give up on challenges without trying knowing that for sure they'd be eliminated, but no one has ever quit after arriving at the pit stop (I think?). If they last long enough, we'll see if they get asked that question again.
Motivational speakers were annoying, but they also provided cringy entertainment. Won't miss them, really.
I'm starting to like the sisters and the brothers. Now that I've said that, watch them go from hero to zero next week.
Speaking of next week, Jordan! Woohoo! Finally someplace other than Europe.

 

[MacMadame]

I thought I'd be happy the Woo Woo Couple were gone but I got so angry at Sharik that I started to want her gone too. She had to know that there would be hard challenges on TAR and times she'd be sleep deprived. So if she's the sort of person that gets to a point where she's just done, why did she come on the show? There are tons of people who would kill to be in her place.

 

[Prancer]

Speaking of next week, Jordan! Woohoo! Finally someplace other than Europe.

Petra!

I thought I'd be happy the Woo Woo Couple were gone but I got so angry at Sharik that I started to want her gone too. She had to know that there would be hard challenges on TAR and times she'd be sleep deprived. So if she's the sort of person that gets to a point where she's just done, why did she come on the show? There are tons of people who would kill to be in her place.

ITA! At least the motivational speakers wanted to be there and keep racing. If Phil were Jeff Probst, he would have said, "You want to go home? Bye!" and tossed her torch into the fire with great disdain. But Phil just looked all kind and concerned.

I get that she's stressed, but what on earth made her go on this show?

 

[Lilia A]

But Phil just looked all kind and concerned.

Because that's just Phil. Always kind and concerned. I remember one team (guy and girl team) that got eliminated somewhat early on their race because the guy refused to use their express pass during a difficult challenge that was taking them forever. They get to the mat, get eliminated, girl is all sad, and guy is all like "yeah, well, I don't regret anything, I don't really care". Phil just quietly mouthed "oy vey". I feel like other reality TV hosts would have been like "dude, wtf is wrong with you?" Well, at least that's what I would have said.
ETA: I found it. Okay, so, he doesn't quietly mouth it. It was audible and to the camera, but he waited until the team left. A little polite, but may have tried to be considerate to Jessica. I remember feeling bad for her, yikes.

 

[love skating]

Loved the twins... they sure rocked the mega leg! So disappointed in Sharik... I too started rooting for Dom and Rich to beat them because I couldn't take the wanting to go home cries.

 

[MacMadame]

Loved the twins... they sure rocked the mega leg! So disappointed in Sharik... I too started rooting for Dom and Rich to beat them because I couldn't take the wanting to go home cries.

Next week will be interesting.

 

[sk8pics]

I thought I'd be happy the Woo Woo Couple were gone but I got so angry at Sharik that I started to want her gone too. She had to know that there would be hard challenges on TAR and times she'd be sleep deprived. So if she's the sort of person that gets to a point where she's just done, why did she come on the show? There are tons of people who would kill to be in her place.

I was angry at Sharik, too. I couldn’t believe the way she went on and on about wanting to go home. But the Woo Woo Couple drove me crazy, too, especially the woman who was all “this is not my wheelhouse” without stopping to consider the likelihood that sculpting was a piece of cake to the other contestants. I mean, really, who goes on the Amazing Race and gives up on a task just like that? I wanted both these pairs gone.

ITA! At least the motivational speakers wanted to be there and keep racing. If Phil were Jeff Probst, he would have said, "You want to go home? Bye!" and tossed her torch into the fire with great disdain. But Phil just looked all kind and concerned.

You’re right about Phil.

I get that she's stressed, but what on earth made her go on this show?

It’s like she never saw the show before and didn’t know that some of the tasks would be, you know, stressful, and some of the days might be long and tiring.

 

[Prancer]

It’s like she never saw the show before and didn’t know that some of the tasks would be, you know, stressful, and some of the days might be long and tiring.

The whole show is about stress--let's send people on trips all over the place with long, hard tasks to do against other people and very little rest in between and let's keep the cameras on them every second of it! What a good time!

I see the attraction of the show, but I think the downsides of it are pretty obvious, too.

What really stuck out to me was how her dad responded, which was pretty much not at all. Every now and then he would say something supportive or give her a pat, but mostly he just ignored her. That indicates to me that he is used to this sort of behavior and either doesn't take it very seriously or knows that talking to her just exacerbates things or both. I will say that I was really glad he wasn't saying things to her like "Be positive" or "Stop whining," both of which would have made things much worse.

 

[smurfy]

Wow - 2 Flos so early in the season. Have we ever seen 2 people saying they wanted to quit so early in a season?
Note - Flo and her partner were in /tAR many many years ago, and she hardly did any challenges (no rule on them being split) and she whined and was threatening to quit all the time. And they won - or really he won and dragged her to the end.
Sharik - I feel bad for her dad - I think he is or trying to enjoy the journey. And ITA how he seems to ignore her comments as been there, done that before.
The brothers - are doing well - and the twins - I really like both these teams and they are good racers.
The couple - with the tall lady and short guy - he so reminds me of Kevin Hart, but calmer. I thought they would annoy me - but they seem cool now.
Claire and Dereck - started strong, but Claire is a weak link.
Phil is a very nice man, but sometimes I would love to know what he really thinks.

 

[tony]

Wow - 2 Flos so early in the season. Have we ever seen 2 people saying they wanted to quit so early in a season?
Note - Flo and her partner were in /tAR many many years ago, and she hardly did any challenges (no rule on them being split) and she whined and was threatening to quit all the time. And they won - or really he won and dragged her to the end.

Yeah, season 3. She literally was the worst all the way down to the last challenge and I think the rule about having to split the roadblocks evenly (if you get all the way to the end) came in the following season, or shortly thereafter.

This season isn't bad, but the majority of the drama came from sneaky earlier flights or connecting flights in airports and that's obviously not been an option for quite some time. I also remember a fast forward in season one where team Guido had to pick a jar with the exact amount of coins to fill up each bucket and the race between them and the eventual eliminated team (Nancy & Emily) was so intense. We don't get that kind of stuff anymore

But it was also to fall a full day behind the other teams in the final leg, as Guido experienced in season 1 and another team experienced a few years later, which I'm sure producers dreaded.

 

[MacMadame]

It’s like she never saw the show before and didn’t know that some of the tasks would be, you know, stressful, and some of the days might be long and tiring.

What got me is that she kept trying to justify it like this was a reasonable response to having sore arms on a reality show about doing challenges.

 

[Lilia A]

Yeah, season 3. She literally was the worst all the way down to the last challenge and I think the rule about having to split the roadblocks evenly (if you get all the way to the end) came in the following season, or shortly thereafter.

The rule started in season 6. That's because in season 5, all couples in the final three had one team member do all but one roadblocks. All of them. When Colin and Christie finally returned a million seasons later, I wondered how they were going to do because Colin did all but one roadblock in season 5, and in the one RB Christie did she lost them a lot of time.
You guys mentioned Flo and now the flashbacks have started. Oh man, she really was insufferable. I'm so glad she said no to the all stars season. I say she and not they because they offered her the race with her then new bf instead of Zach.

 

[love skating]

Whenever I think of Flo I picture her floating around and whining in that circle raft.

 

[BaileyCatts]

Forgot most of what I wanted to say other than I really hope those guys at the motorcycle place took those bikes apart and put them back together with real mechanics once TAR was done filming for the day.

 

[Prancer]

Sharik got her wish, although she seemed to be a little more happy to be there this week than last.

I wonder who tests positive for COVID?

 

[Lilia A]

At least we didn't have to hear Sharik complain the entire detour. She did complain a lot about the roadblock, you know, the one she wasn't completing? Needle in a haystack roadblocks are nightmare inducing, but at least this time they had a metal detector. You know if this had been season 5 they would have had a toy shovel and that's it. Maybe not even that. I'm concerned at how often the twins were shown mentioning the thigh issue. I know how production and editing works, and if this weren't an issue they most likely would have mentioned it once and that's it. I hope it's just a cramp from the heat and the editing team is trying to mess with those who are familiar their editing tactics.

Next week: Oh man, a positive Covid test? Argh, that sucks. I hope it's not a team I like.

Also, yay a language challenge that's always entertaining to watch. And by entertaining to watch I mean watching the expression of the people listening other people butchering a language.

ETA: This is not a spoiler, but my own theory/speculation about who could have tested positive for Covid. Again, zero actual information, but I'll use the spoiler tag just in case

Spoiler: Just guessing based on the preview

I rewatched the preview twice. I'm assuming that teams get Covid tested before the start of each leg and whoever is positive will not get to start. In the preview we see Luis&Michelle, Claire&Derek, the brothers, the twins, Lumumba&Glenda, and Aubrey&David. That leaves us with Quinton&Mattie and Abby&Will. The ones shown completing a task are definitely in, but they also could have used old footage of teams running around. But, if I had to guess, I'd say it's one of the two teams not shown in the preview.

 

[Prancer]

At least we didn't have to hear Sharik complain the entire detour. She did complain a lot about the roadblock, you know, the one she wasn't completing?

Seriously! She did one road block and acted like she was being tortured, but there she was carrying on about her dad doing it all wrong.

Next week: Oh man, a positive Covid test? Argh, that sucks. I hope it's not a team I like.

I like all of the teams now that the last two are gone. I expected that I would hate the cheerleaders, but I don't. I usually really detest some team at this point and know that means they will go far, but so far I am okay with everyone who is left.

 

[screech]

What annoyed me most about this episode is that we didn't even hear a single apology from Sharik about her attitude. I understand that she was struggling, but even a cursory apology to her dad!

 

[Lilia A]

I like all of the teams now that the last two are gone.

Same. I was thinking about it after I posted this. I can say I like all teams. Sure, I have two favorites, but I don't dislike anyone. On day 1, I thought Abby could possibly get on my nerves due to her over the top enthusiasm (remember Team Fun and how she turned from a fun happy teammate to screaming and cussing her teammate nonstop when things went wrong? I thought this could be part 2), but I really don't dislike them at all. So, regardless, I'll be sad for whoever has to leave early because of a Covid test.

 

[MacMadame]

So, regardless, I'll be sad for whoever has to leave early because of a Covid test.

So much for no non-elimination legs.

 

[victorskid]

I get to see the show early from the CDN east coast. There was an elimination at the beginning due to + COVID, as expected. Everyone got to start at the same time (a sprint start); they were told that there would be no elimination at the end of the episode but that their order of finish would be important for the start for the next leg with small groups starting together and the final "group" of one team leaving 45 minutes behind the others.

Spoiler

Abby & Will out

 

[love skating]

With so many dancers on the race, it doesn't seem quite fair that they've already had two dance challenges. Anyway, I like everyone left - no one grates on my nerves. Gotta love the newlyweds' attitudes though.... they're so sweet. Still also rooting for the twins and Derek & Claire.

 

[Lilia A]

So far a lot of challenges involving dance and putting things together. Episode was alright, and I don't think knowing that there'd be no elimination was what made is not so exciting. I was so afraid they were going to bring Sharik back at the beginning of the episode . I'm glad they didn't.

 

[jadingirl]

OMG I never thought about bringing Sharik back though it would have been entertaining watching her get eliminated again.

On the Canadian version they did bring back people that had to be eliminated for COVID - 3 teams actually - they made them do a challenge to bring one of the 3 teams back to the race since it wasn't there fault for getting eliminated. And while they were down the 3 teams they brought the eliminated teams back for a second chance to fill out the field. It was a bit of a hot mess but still entertaining.

Since it was non elimination I would have had the weaker partner do the roadblock. Yes you might have ended up at the back of the pack but it would be one more roadblock down for them and one more for the stronger partner when it really counts.

Jordan looked amazing!

 

[Aceon6]

I was a bit surprised that Glenda didn’t pick up on the bounce in the dance challenge. Too many tries kind of doomed them to last place.

 

[MacMadame]

So far a lot of challenges involving dance and putting things together.

And memorizing things.

 

[Prancer]

On the Canadian version they did bring back people that had to be eliminated for COVID - 3 teams actually - they made them do a challenge to bring one of the 3 teams back to the race since it wasn't there fault for getting eliminated. And while they were down the 3 teams they brought the eliminated teams back for a second chance to fill out the field. It was a bit of a hot mess but still entertaining.

That sort of happened on TAR last season; they had to stop filming for a while because of COVID and when they came back, some of the teams were unable to return. So they brought back the teams that had been eliminated before filming stopped, only to have them all get eliminated again.

I LOL when someone asked why Claire was building again. I thought the same thing. Hasn't she done most of the detours so far? Are they trying to save Derek for the end?

I liked Will and Abby. I wonder if TAR will give them another shot at the game.

 

[love skating]

Heads up Amazing Race fans - Amazing Race will be moving to the 9 pm slot after Survivor. The Real Love Boat has been sent to Paramount+ for the remainder of its season due to poor ratings.

CBS’ ‘Real Love Boat’ Banished to Paramount+

The dating show based on the 1970s-80s series has pulled in meager ratings on the broadcast network.

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