Monday, April 21, 2014

TAR Episode 8: Donkeylicious

Harlem Globetrotters in Season 24 Episode 8
Finally we have some drama injected
into this stagnant race!


Well, this last episode was certainly a change from the long, drawn-out march to the finish line through a handful of countries that we've seen throughout TAR All Stars, wasn't it?

Finally we have some drama injected into this stagnant race! While this spring's iterations of Survivor and Big Brother have been stellar, Amazing Race All Stars has been a let down; I much preferred TAR 23.

But enough disappointing thoughts. Onto the (relative) excitement of this episode. (Image credit CBS)

Teams race quickly made their way to the town of Civita di Bagnoregio, where they faced some devilish donkeys, as well as a Double U-Turn. Since we really didn't have much going on besides the U-Turn this leg, I'm going to knock out the other stuff real quick and then spend the majority of this post talking about the U-Turn fallout.

The Detour forced teams to choose between riding donkeys or assembling a wooden donkey, with the added trick (not really that tricky) of utilizing the box holding the pieces of wood as one of the pieces. From the episode, as well as Flight Time's and Big Easy's exit interview on Rob Has a Website, it seems clear that riding the donkeys around the track was by far the easier option.

Poor Big Easy. From coming out of taxis as small as birth canals to not being able to rappel down a waterfall and now having difficulty riding a donkey, this race has been tough on him. And tough on a lot of teams, apparently; Leo and Jamal and Flight Time/Big Easy both switched Detours (in FT/BE's case, they switched twice), which should really only be a last resort.

And finally we had a Roadblock that I was satisfied with, for once. No, it wasn't as potentially mentally challenging as last week's (which ended up being a dud), but at least it wasn't something to do with heights or assembly.

The illumination Roadblock just visually looked cool, had a terrific location--the monks wearing the cowboys' hats was hilarious--and was sufficiently difficult, so congratulations to the Race producers for finally getting something right this season. Best Roadblock so far.
Cord and Jet in Season 24 Episode 8

Ok, now let's talk about what you're really here for. U-Turn-gate. Brenchelgate...no, that was something else. Davegate. Whatever you want to call it, it was an explosive night for Dave.

He did not take well to being U-Turned by Brenchel, and I'll just throw my (popular) opinion out there: stop being so self-righteous, suck it up, and keep going; you're on a race! Dave kept complaining about how he was a 60-year-old man and that people shouldn't be U-Turning him, but he's 1/2 of an extremely strong team this season; what do you expect?
Dave and Connor in Season 24 Episode 8
Stop being so self-righteous...
you're on a race!

I think part of Dave's problem was that he was trying to be extremely (exceedingly, perhaps) nice to the other racers...essentially, losing the "race" part of The Amazing Race. It's clear that both Leo and Jamal and Caroline and Jennifer have established strong friendships and race alliances with Dave and Connor, who were perturbed last week when Rachel wouldn't point them to the clue box.

They extend their hands of friendship to other racers, and so they expect those racers to be nice to them, but again, it's a race! I think I'm now actively rooting against Dave and Connor--which is tough because I like Connor--and with the elimination of Flight Time and Big Easy, have only a few horses (donkeys?) left in this race.

So we've covered the emotional response to the decision. But was the move itself a good one to make? I would have to say no.

Brendon and Rachel (mostly Brendon) had unusual motives for using the U-Turn on Dave and Connor. Most teams try to systematically eliminate someone else from the competitive, but here it appeared that Brendon was solely focused on winning the leg and the prize money that came with it.

Brendon and Rachel
Brendon was solely focused on winning
the leg and the prize money.
He knew full well that Dave and Connor weren't going anywhere, U-Turn or no U-Turn, but acknowledged that he just wanted to buy himself and Rachel a little time to get 1st place.

I'm not sure whether this could actually come back to bite Brenchel or not; even though Dave is obviously furious, this isn't Survivor, and Dave doesn't get a jury vote at the end. It's more than possible that we won't see another U-Turn this season, so Dave and Connor may not have a chance to repay Brenchel in kind. Of course, they won't be helping out Brenchel after this point, but I'm not sure what they can do to stop them or hinder their progress, so this may not have been a terrible move after all.

It would have been smarter, however, for Brenchel to target Leo and Jamal or the Globetrotters; the ideal way to use a U-Turn is to knock out the strongest team from the competition. And although we did see Dave and Connor U-Turn the Afghanimals, it wasn't in a vindictive attempt to eliminate them; the two teams actually worked together on the Detour!

Caroline and Jennifer in Season 24 Episode 8
I will be very disappointed if we don't get
a Country Singers victory.
I think this just about sums up this week's episode...anything else? Cowboys used their Express Pass...Globetrotters made some errors with the Detour...Caroline and Jen get lost...whoop-de-do.

We're down to the Final Five, and I will be very disappointed if we don't get a Country Singers victory. I could live with the Afghanimals winning or...dare I say it...Brenchel. Well, Rachel at least. I still dislike Brendon but Rachel is certainly winning me over.

Alright, we're off to Switzerland next week, so stay tuned!

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