TAR21: Eps 5 to 7
Nov. 18th, 2012 07:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spiderbraidsLeg 5:
1. Staying in Bangladesh for a rather linear leg, we lead off with a Roadblock saying "It ain't heavy, it's a Roadblock." In this case, put together a scale on a primitive stand, before balancing a bunch of wood against a bunch of stones. The main challenge is putting together the scale properly. James/Abba manage to have a bit of problem finding the ropes to hold the stand together, while the goat farmers (in addition to having problems just getting to the proper taxistand to head to the Roadblock) have a locking pin in the wrong place, dropping them to the bottom. Incidentally, it turns out that Abba apparently hurt his knee, a la Bopper from last season, while James' dad has cancer.
2. On the way to the Detour in a cab, one of the contestants comments on the traffic, basically saying "I think this is hell" :-D Detour is between making sacks from jute (which entails whipping jute trees on to a small bed on nails to comb them into fibers) and carrying long bamboo sticks to a construction site (which entails plenty of navigational issues). Most take the latter, except Abbie/Ryan, who make a comment on the sack task requiring plenty of jute force (see what they did there?) Meanwhile, amidst the confusion between Trey/Lexi and the Chippendales, the latter team ends up carrying three less than they need, forcing them to go back.
3. Pit stop at some folk arts and crafts museum, and James/Abba rock their way to another win, and a trip to Malaysia, while in spite of their exhaustion from having to make an extra trip to carry the bamboo they need, the Chippendales still finish ahead of the goat farmers, but since this is a non-elim, both teams are still in it.
Leg 6:
1. Moving on to Istanbul now, and plenty of traditional clueboxes. But first, Abbie/Ryan make a rather off-kilter comment on being appreciative of what you have (involving a 52" TV going all fuzzy :-D) and complain about three other teams not having three brain cells between them (Ryan's words, not mine), and Natalie/Nadiya grab a wad of money that fell on the floor at the travel agency. It turns out that it belonged to James/Abba, who end up begging for money in the more affluent parts of Dhaka :-\ before catching the same flight as everyone else.
2. Istanbul, and most take taxis to the first clue pickup, while R/K and the Chippendales take the metro. Mid-ride, Chippendales are told that traffic is not so bad in the morning, and so they get off and take cabs. Good idea, since everyone who cabbed straight to the clue pickup has already picked up their first clue at this point, basically saying "Welcome to Europe, now take the ferry back to Asia" (on the other side of the Bosphorus). James/Abba get a ferry to themselves, reminding them of their times on tour :-D
3. While cabbing to the next stop, Chippendales have a little fourth wall play: "Look at the bottom of the screen, they'll put up what place we're in right now" (and post-production actually obliges :-D) Next stop is a stall at the local spice bazaar, with Turkish delight, and a Detour between carrying traditional bagels on your head and... taking a Turkish bath :-D Before that though, is the goat farmers' Speed Bump... getting ice cream :-D :-D And they even manage to screw that up by getting their cones at the wrong stand first :-D :-D :-D
4. Not surprisingly, most of the teams take a bath, except for goat farmers and Rob/Kelley walking around town to deliver bagels. Turns out one of the goat farmers has the perfect flathead for this job :-) Moving on to another market, it's a Roadblock to serve sherbet. Not the ice-cream kind of sherbet, but some sort of juice, which Phil claims was "the world's first soft drink" (Perrier would beg to differ on that :-\) It involves wearing a really big kettle and leaning over to pour the drink into a cup. One contestant's lid falls off a few times :-D Goat farmers aren't Chippendales, but they brag they can rock the outfit just as well, while the Chippendales resort to selling to women. Abbie/Ryan resort to getting some local to find customers for them for a commission :-D N/N are hoping that for Trey/Lexi to finish first, simply because they don't want Abbie/Ryan to win.
5. Pit stop is near some boat, and N/N get their wish, as Trey/Lexi take the leg and get a trip to Australia. In the race to avoid last, goat farmers do a little traffic direction to finish ahead of the monster truckers and knock them out of the race. Nothing about N/N taking J/A's dough though... :-\
Leg 7:
1. Next stop is a statue garden in Moscow. At the airport, Trey/Lexi look for flights, manage to confuse Alitalia for Aeroflot, and end up taking a fast-food break at the local Popeyes :-D For some reason, everyone ends up connecting through Munich, Frankfurt, or Amsterdam and land in the middle of the night (something like 3-4am). The key one is the Frankfurt connection (with Abbie/Ryan and the goat farmers [the latter of whom picked this one based on cointoss]), which has only a one-hour layover, which is already bad enough, but guess how long their landing in Frankfurt has been delayed (give or take 3 minutes)? So they'll have to take a morning flight via Warsaw, getting into Moscow at 3:10 PM (!)
2. And it turns out that even without the delay, the Frankfurt connection wouldn't have even given them much of an advantage, as the statue garden has an "hours of operation" bunch. (Some guy yells "Here comes Abbie/Ryan" just before the opening :-D) We then have another clue pick-up involving guys dressed up as Ivan the Terrible's guards.
3. It's for a Detour between Alphabetized and Synchronized. The former involves searching for books using the Cyrillic alphabet, the latter involves synchronized swimming. I know I'd pick the former... (editors add a tooth glint to a shot of a swimming judge :-D) N/N consider using the Express Pass, but Chippendales point out that there's no chance of being eliminated at this point (see A/R and goat farmers), so they stick to it. Hilariously, we get a record scratch when James/Abba switch from library to swimming, while Trey/Lexi manage to get a system going to finish the library task.
4. Roadblock: "Who's ready to unlock their future?" At a set of trees with locks hanging on them, contestants unlock a bunch of locks to pull out a race-colored ribbon to get their next clue, sending them to Bolshoi Theater for the pit stop. This is also a place where lots of couples getting married walk by, so Trey tells Lexi not to get any ideas :-D T/L take their 2nd straight win and a trip to Maui.
5. During their Warsaw connection, A/R and goat farmers decide to run the leg together (a la the Intersection from seasons gone by), while at the Roadblock, J/A apparently lose track of their taxi with their stuff (including Abba's passport) in it (facepalm) J/A: "Don't leave your stuff in the cab, kiddies." This means they're not allowed to check in in 4th until they get their stuff (i.e., Abba's passport) back, while A/R are stuck watching the goat farmers fail at swimming (they have no choice since the library's closed), which will make for an interesting end of the leg... when they show it in the next episode. Wait, what?
1. Staying in Bangladesh for a rather linear leg, we lead off with a Roadblock saying "It ain't heavy, it's a Roadblock." In this case, put together a scale on a primitive stand, before balancing a bunch of wood against a bunch of stones. The main challenge is putting together the scale properly. James/Abba manage to have a bit of problem finding the ropes to hold the stand together, while the goat farmers (in addition to having problems just getting to the proper taxistand to head to the Roadblock) have a locking pin in the wrong place, dropping them to the bottom. Incidentally, it turns out that Abba apparently hurt his knee, a la Bopper from last season, while James' dad has cancer.
2. On the way to the Detour in a cab, one of the contestants comments on the traffic, basically saying "I think this is hell" :-D Detour is between making sacks from jute (which entails whipping jute trees on to a small bed on nails to comb them into fibers) and carrying long bamboo sticks to a construction site (which entails plenty of navigational issues). Most take the latter, except Abbie/Ryan, who make a comment on the sack task requiring plenty of jute force (see what they did there?) Meanwhile, amidst the confusion between Trey/Lexi and the Chippendales, the latter team ends up carrying three less than they need, forcing them to go back.
3. Pit stop at some folk arts and crafts museum, and James/Abba rock their way to another win, and a trip to Malaysia, while in spite of their exhaustion from having to make an extra trip to carry the bamboo they need, the Chippendales still finish ahead of the goat farmers, but since this is a non-elim, both teams are still in it.
Leg 6:
1. Moving on to Istanbul now, and plenty of traditional clueboxes. But first, Abbie/Ryan make a rather off-kilter comment on being appreciative of what you have (involving a 52" TV going all fuzzy :-D) and complain about three other teams not having three brain cells between them (Ryan's words, not mine), and Natalie/Nadiya grab a wad of money that fell on the floor at the travel agency. It turns out that it belonged to James/Abba, who end up begging for money in the more affluent parts of Dhaka :-\ before catching the same flight as everyone else.
2. Istanbul, and most take taxis to the first clue pickup, while R/K and the Chippendales take the metro. Mid-ride, Chippendales are told that traffic is not so bad in the morning, and so they get off and take cabs. Good idea, since everyone who cabbed straight to the clue pickup has already picked up their first clue at this point, basically saying "Welcome to Europe, now take the ferry back to Asia" (on the other side of the Bosphorus). James/Abba get a ferry to themselves, reminding them of their times on tour :-D
3. While cabbing to the next stop, Chippendales have a little fourth wall play: "Look at the bottom of the screen, they'll put up what place we're in right now" (and post-production actually obliges :-D) Next stop is a stall at the local spice bazaar, with Turkish delight, and a Detour between carrying traditional bagels on your head and... taking a Turkish bath :-D Before that though, is the goat farmers' Speed Bump... getting ice cream :-D :-D And they even manage to screw that up by getting their cones at the wrong stand first :-D :-D :-D
4. Not surprisingly, most of the teams take a bath, except for goat farmers and Rob/Kelley walking around town to deliver bagels. Turns out one of the goat farmers has the perfect flathead for this job :-) Moving on to another market, it's a Roadblock to serve sherbet. Not the ice-cream kind of sherbet, but some sort of juice, which Phil claims was "the world's first soft drink" (Perrier would beg to differ on that :-\) It involves wearing a really big kettle and leaning over to pour the drink into a cup. One contestant's lid falls off a few times :-D Goat farmers aren't Chippendales, but they brag they can rock the outfit just as well, while the Chippendales resort to selling to women. Abbie/Ryan resort to getting some local to find customers for them for a commission :-D N/N are hoping that for Trey/Lexi to finish first, simply because they don't want Abbie/Ryan to win.
5. Pit stop is near some boat, and N/N get their wish, as Trey/Lexi take the leg and get a trip to Australia. In the race to avoid last, goat farmers do a little traffic direction to finish ahead of the monster truckers and knock them out of the race. Nothing about N/N taking J/A's dough though... :-\
Leg 7:
1. Next stop is a statue garden in Moscow. At the airport, Trey/Lexi look for flights, manage to confuse Alitalia for Aeroflot, and end up taking a fast-food break at the local Popeyes :-D For some reason, everyone ends up connecting through Munich, Frankfurt, or Amsterdam and land in the middle of the night (something like 3-4am). The key one is the Frankfurt connection (with Abbie/Ryan and the goat farmers [the latter of whom picked this one based on cointoss]), which has only a one-hour layover, which is already bad enough, but guess how long their landing in Frankfurt has been delayed (give or take 3 minutes)? So they'll have to take a morning flight via Warsaw, getting into Moscow at 3:10 PM (!)
2. And it turns out that even without the delay, the Frankfurt connection wouldn't have even given them much of an advantage, as the statue garden has an "hours of operation" bunch. (Some guy yells "Here comes Abbie/Ryan" just before the opening :-D) We then have another clue pick-up involving guys dressed up as Ivan the Terrible's guards.
3. It's for a Detour between Alphabetized and Synchronized. The former involves searching for books using the Cyrillic alphabet, the latter involves synchronized swimming. I know I'd pick the former... (editors add a tooth glint to a shot of a swimming judge :-D) N/N consider using the Express Pass, but Chippendales point out that there's no chance of being eliminated at this point (see A/R and goat farmers), so they stick to it. Hilariously, we get a record scratch when James/Abba switch from library to swimming, while Trey/Lexi manage to get a system going to finish the library task.
4. Roadblock: "Who's ready to unlock their future?" At a set of trees with locks hanging on them, contestants unlock a bunch of locks to pull out a race-colored ribbon to get their next clue, sending them to Bolshoi Theater for the pit stop. This is also a place where lots of couples getting married walk by, so Trey tells Lexi not to get any ideas :-D T/L take their 2nd straight win and a trip to Maui.
5. During their Warsaw connection, A/R and goat farmers decide to run the leg together (a la the Intersection from seasons gone by), while at the Roadblock, J/A apparently lose track of their taxi with their stuff (including Abba's passport) in it (facepalm) J/A: "Don't leave your stuff in the cab, kiddies." This means they're not allowed to check in in 4th until they get their stuff (i.e., Abba's passport) back, while A/R are stuck watching the goat farmers fail at swimming (they have no choice since the library's closed), which will make for an interesting end of the leg... when they show it in the next episode. Wait, what?
