Sunday, September 25, 2011

THE PHRASE THAT PAYS:  Look. If you're going to give me a leg of The Amazing Race with Clues That Actually Require Thinking, a missing passport, teams lying about who they are ("I protect people," as well as the Survivors) and others fretting about being underestimated, and then top it off with one of the more blatant Loser Edits in show history, I'm going to be happy.

No, I'm not quite sure what the first challenge was other than "pay attention to which umbrellas seem to work for the other teams," and I'm not thrilled with the ending, but hey: it's a show that started ten years ago with teams scrambling around Central Park looking for payphones, and a decade later it's still around and a team is aided because folks on Twitter spotted them being filmed. Welcome back, Phil's Eyebrow.

added, NYT:  The backstory on the Twitter-save; more details via RealityBlurred.

6 comments:

  1. 1.  How exactly is a Hazard different from a Speed Bump, other than that only one team member had to perform it, and that it was earned in the same leg it was served?

    2.  I called who'd be last from the team introductions.  Oldest team almost invariably goes out first.

    3.  I don't mind the first leg being an NEL, since it gives us a little more time to get to know the teams, but the "Double Elimination" twist seems problematic, since the strategy has always been "be not last."

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  2. Marsha10:50 PM

    You still want to not be last - just that now it's the two last. Strategy is basically the same, isn't it?

    I actually prefer the first leg to be NEL for the reason Matt says, and I'm hoping the old folks stick around because it's fun to have people on the race who have agrarian skillz. That said, I'm not holding out a lot of hope.

    Yeah, that's a fun leg. Let's hope they can keep it up.

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  3. Meghan10:00 AM

    I've always been in favor of the first leg being a NEL for the reason Matt stated and if the double-elimination is the price we pay, I'm okay with it.

    My loathing for Peyton Manning has me rooting against Amani and Marcus.

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  4. Genevieve10:38 AM

    I was sure the showgirls were going to be out, and I didn't mind (how dumb is it not to put your passport in the most secure pocket you have in your bag?).  But I like a good Samaritan story, even updated with Twitter.

    Felt bad for the grandparents -- I thought they seemed more in shape than most older teams, and had hope they'd be in it for a bit.  But they were so terribly clueless.  I did like that they didn't bicker like most teams that hit a bump.

    The show hasn't given me much for rooting interests yet.  I thought the self-described control freak would be annoying, but ended up liking her so far.  I like the sailors, maybe the snowboarders, maybe the previously married to others now dating couple (though his comparison of the Race effect on relationship to taking a car to the mechanic was a little grating -- comparing a woman to a car you're testing generally annoys me -- but I liked them on the Race).  Maybe Amani and Marcus (my son likes the Colts so he's rooting for them).  Not sure about the flight attendants.  The siblings from Georgia bickered too much, but my husband gives them a pass for that since they're siblings.  The twins completely lost me at the memory task -- non-Task sister was horrible and I'm sure she made Task sister so nervous that it contributed.  Survivor people I'm not sure yet.

    Did you notice that when the snowboarder was failing on the memory task, they were playing reggae music in the background?  Not-so-subtly hinting at possible reasons for his memory not being the strongest.

    Did you notice that when the snowboarder

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  5. The Pathetic Earthling4:31 PM

    TAR tryouts down the street from me on Saturday but, alas, my ideal partner lives in Denver these days.

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  6. Tim Tebow?

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