Monday, January 15, 2018

TAR 30, Recap Leg 2, 1/10/18

Welcome to Leg 2! Last time, on But Both O’s Are in the Right Positions, Except Not, 11 teams started Amazing Race 30, the Most Competitive Season Ever! There was a romp in a fountain and then a flight to Iceland. Team Big Brother made good time, and Goat Yoga got into fights. Slam Dunk got a penalty, the Skiers finished first, and in the closest finish ever, Dessie and Kayla were eliminated. Who will be eliminated. . . next? (click for more)


Arrival at the pit stop last episode:
1st – Kristi and Jen, The Freestyle Skiers, #TeamExtreme
2nd – Cody and Jessica, Team Reality Show YDC, #TeamBigBrother
3rd – Henry and Evan, Beauty and the Geek Take 2, #TeamYale
4th – Trevor and Chris, Team Classical Rainbow, #TeamWellStrung
5th – Alex and Conor, The Race Car Drivers, #TeamIndyCar
6th – Joey and Tim, Team Bring On the Food Challenge, #TeamChomp
7th – Lucas and Brittany, Team Baywatch, #TeamOceanRescue
8th – Eric and Daniel, The Wondertwins, #TheFirefighters
9th – Cedric and Shawn, Team Globetrotters Redux. #TeamSlamDunk
10th – April and Sarah, The Southwest Moms, #TeamGoatYoga

Reykjavikurtjorn, Reykjavik, Iceland

8:08 AM Kristi/Jen (1st)
Clue: Travel to Antwerp, Belgium! First, fly to Amsterdam, Netherlands, by booking the only flight out of Reykjavik at a nearby travel agent. Then, take the train to Antwerp. Once there, make your way to Paleis op de Mer, a chocolate shop that opens at 9 am to get your next clue. You have $272 for this leg of the race.

Kristi thinks she has to throw up due to the Brenniyin from the last leg. Then she doesn’t. They make their way to the travel agent.

8:16 AM Cody/Jessica (2nd)
8:18 AM Henry/Evan (3rd)

And because the TAR producers don’t like me, they stop showing departure times.

Trevor/Chris (4th)
Alex/Conor (5th)
Joey/Tim (6th)
Lucas/Brittany (7th)
Eric/Daniel (8th)
Cedric/Shawn (9th)
April/Sarah (10th)

So teams make their way to the travel agent. (Toyouke: “I don't like this spoon-feeding of travel arrangements.”) Teams arrive (we assume) in the following order:

1- Kristi/Jen
2- Cody/Jessica
3- Henry/Evan
4- Trevor/Chris
5- Alex/Conor
6- Joey/Tim
7- Lucas/Brittany
8- Eric/Daniel
9- Cedric/Shawn
10- April/Sarah

Once there, teams all make it on the 3:10 pm flight to Schiphol. Teams arrive at Keflavik International Airport in the following order:

1- Kristi/Jen
2- Cody/Jessica
3- Henry/Evan
4- Trevor/Chris
5- Cedric/Shawn – who plan on still racing, even after the penalty.
6- Eric/Daniel
7- Joey/Tim
8- Alex/Conor
9- April/Sarah – who admit they had issues on leg one. You think?
10- Lucas/Brittany

Anyway, we board, and we magically end up outside Paleis op de Mer, because there apparently were no issues whatsoever on the airplane or the train. 9 am happens, and teams get their clues from Stan (Toyouke: “WAIT how many chocolate makers employ little people?! There can't be more than one. Also I wanted that to be a Switchback.”) in the following order:

1- Joey/Tim
2- Cedric/Shawn
3- Kristi/Jen
4- Eric/Daniel
5- April/Sarah
6- Cody/Jessica
7- Henry/Evan
8- Trevor/Chris
9- Alex/Conor
10- Lucas/Brittany

When they rip open the clue, teams get the second roadblock.

ROADBLOCK:

Who’s ready to get high?

In this roadblock, one team member must participate in the SkyClimb, a crane with four ladders that rises 100 feet above the city. Roadblockers had to climb the ladders to retrieve a clue at the top before the end of the ride. Once complete, teams could move on.

The following teammates take the Roadblock:

1- Shawn – who drops the clue. Which, apparently, doesn’t matter. (Toyouke: “This is a poorly designed task if you can knock the clue loose in the normal completion of the task.”)
2- Chris
3- Jessica
4- Joey – who also drops the clue.
5- Evan
6- Sarah – (Toyouke: “Oh look, Goat Yoga got lost again.”)
7- Lucas
8- Kristi
9- Alex
10- Eric

After much ladder climbing, teams complete the Roadblock in the following order:

1- Trevor/Chris
2- Cedric/Shawn
3- Cody/Jessica
4- Joey/Tim
5- Kristi/Jen
6- Lucas/Brittany
7- April/Sarah
8- Henry/Evan
9- Eric/Daniel
10- Alex/Conor

And we get the Detour Clue.

DETOUR:

Old Print OR Diamond Glint

*Old Print: Teams must travel to the Plantin-Moretus Museum and use an old printing press to set up and print their clue using traditional printing methods. Once the letters have been arranged properly, the printmaker will give them their printed clue.
*Diamond Glint: Teams travel to the ADC Building in the Diamond Quarter to evaluate three diamonds and find their values. Then teams add those values to the value of an unfinished necklace to find the final value. Once complete, the appraiser will give them their next clue.

(Toyouke: “Printing press! It makes me think of that weird musical we listened to that time that was like a Whose Line game! Hey, but the Detour choices rhyme. Also, I would need to know how lenient the diamond rating is to know how hard that side of the Detour is. The math part doesn't bother me.”)

1- Cody/Jessica choose Old Print
2- Cedric/Shawn choose Old Print
3- Henry/Evan choose Old Print
4- Kristi/Jen choose Old Print
5- Joey/Tim choose Diamond Glint
6- Alex/Conor choose Diamond Glint
7- Trevor/Chris choose Diamond Glint
8- Eric/Daniel choose Old Print – but somehow struggle with this choice, and make our first Bald Snark of the season to Diamond Glint. (Toyouke: “Oh, Bald Snarking is probably not a great idea. But that's a perfect example of what I mean about the Head-to-Head. In a normal leg, those boys would suffer from their poor decision and possibly come in last. But here, as long as they are faster than whoever is stuck waiting for them, they don't suffer from their poor decision making.“)
9- April/Sarah choose Diamond Glint
10- Lucas/Brittany choose Old Print

Much printing press running and diamond appraising ensues. (Toyouke: “Either Goat Yoga or the twins should go home for sucking at the Detour.”) So, teams complete the detour in the following order:

1- Cedric/Shawn
2- Kristi/Jen
3- Cody/Jessica
4- Henry/Evan
5- Trevor/Chris
6- Alex/Conor
7- Joey/Tim
8- Lucas/Brittany
9- April/Sarah
10- Eric/Daniel

Teams are now instructed by their clue in Dutch to travel to City Hall and find the Silvius Brabo Statue at the Grote Markt. Teams arrive in the following order:

1- Cedric/Shawn
2- Cody/Jessica
3- Henry/Evan
4- Kristi/Jen
5- Trevor/Chris
6- Alex/Conor
7- Lucas/Brittany
8- Joey/Tim
9- April/Sarah
10- Eric/Daniel

And teams find the new task: the first Head to Head of the Race! Because, these are the Most Competitive Teams Ever! (Toyouke: “Can we please stop calling these teams "the most competitive" because the more you say it the less I believe it.”)

HEAD-TO-HEAD

In this Head to Head, teams must don French fry costumes. (Phil: “Belgians love their frites, as they call French fries. And sometimes they get so excited that they dress like them!”) Then, teams must wait until at least two teams are at the task. Once there, each team picks one person to race an obstacle course with a dolly filled with eight bags of frites. The winner moves on to the next task. The loser stays behind to compete until they win. Teams may switch competitors between races.

(Toyouke: “I don't know if I like this twist. It's not like legs are never won or lost based on task performance, but I don't like making it so direct, I guess.  Let's say you were a slower team, physically. You could stay in the Race for ages based on good navigating and good Detour selection. And being smart. But then you get to this and now your elimination is based on how fast you are, and how tired you are. You could arrive first and get stuck there losing to everyone and be eliminated, and I don't think that's a reflection of how good you are at the Race. I know things like bad cabs aren't a reflection of your skill either, but the risk of things like that are more equal across the teams, as opposed to a physical task. Are there going to be other Head-to-Heads that aren't physical? Because then why not just make all your tasks physical and let an alpha male team win and quit screwing around.”)

Team members compete in the Head to Head in the following order:

1) Cedric VS Cody – Cody wins, so Slam Dunk switches partners and races again. Also, Phil gives us his play by play. (Toyouke: “Also unrelated, I HATE this Phil play-by-play.”)
2) Shawn VS Henry – Shawn wins, and Yale switches partners.
3) Evan VS Kristi – Kristi wins, so Yale switches partners again.
4) Henry VS Chris – and Chris wins, making Yale switch again.
5) Evan VS Alex – and Alex wins, so Yale switches again.
6) Henry VS Lucas – and Lucas wins, as Yale gets more and more tired. (Toyouke: “If Yale goes home because they're too tired to win a foot race against teams who can't navigate and did a shitty job at choosing a Detour, that's BS. Why have any mental tasks at all? Just cast all meatheads and quit pretending to value intelligence.”)
7) Evan VS Tim – and Tim wins, so Yale races for the seventh time.
8) Henry VS April - and because it’s Goat Yoga, Henry finally wins.
9) April VS Daniel - (Toyouke: “It's one thing when it came down to a footrace last leg. This is way different.“)

Teams find now that they must travel a few feet to the Silvius Brabo statue, the PIT STOP of the second leg of this racearoundtheworld. The last team to arrive WILL be eliminated!

1- Cody/Jessica – who win $2500 each.
2- Cedric/Shawn
3- Kristi/Jen
4- Trevor/Chris
5- Alex/Conor
6- Lucas/Brittany
7- Joey/Tim
8- Henry/Evan
9- Eric/Daniel
10- April/Sarah

At the end of race 9, Eric and Daniel win the race, so April and Sarah are eliminated at the mat. Sarah: “We gave it a shot. It’s just another crazy thing we did.”

ORDER NOW:
1st – Cody/Jessica
2nd – Cedric/Shawn
3rd – Kristi/Jen
4th – Trevor/Chris
5th – Alex/Conor
6th – Lucas/Brittany
7th – Joey/Tim
8th – Henry/Evan
9th – Eric/Daniel


Next week: Off to Morocco! It’s Travelocity Gnome time, and someone forgot theirs! And Cedric gets tired. Until next time!

No comments: