TAR22: Eps 1 to 3
Mar. 12th, 2013 08:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spiderbraidsBack into the fray again...
Leg 1:
I only got to see a chunk of the episode, so quick overview:
Everyone heads to Bora Bora, and gets two Roadblocks: First one is skydiving, and and second is a needle-in-a-haystack task that calls for digging up sand (and making sandcastles when necessary). In what seems to be an attempt to make TAR more like Survivor, the winner of the leg (couple Jessica/John) gets TWO Express Passes: One for themselves, and one to be given to another team. There's discussion between the teams on the first flight to Bora Bora, before deciding to give it to the 2nd place team from their flight. The final three teams in the back (country singers Caroline/Jennifer, newlyweds Max/Katie, firemen Matt/Daniel) decide to pull a Romber and take a 4-hour penalty, before assembling va'as (traditional kayaks) to head to the Pit Stop. The firemen think they have this handled because they can put together things well, and though they do put it together well, they end up capsizing right out of the race. More to come if/when I see a repeat later.
Leg 2:
1. Everyone (minus the penalized teams from the last leg) take water taxis at 7:30am to get a blessing from a local priest at a chapel. First though, we get a bit of discussion on the deal for Jessica/John to give their 2nd Express Pass to Dave/Connor (father/son/cancer survivors, 2nd from their flight but 3rd overall), and J/J have decided to keep it hush-hush for now and let other teams try to suck up to them.
2. After the blessing, we have a Detour between picking up oysters to look for pearls and (get this) setting up a dinner table underwater and getting a clue from an appropriately-attired waiter (!) Dave/Connor (father/son) forget their snorkling gear on the island and have to go back and get it :-\ Mona/Beth (roller derby team) pride themselves on their communication and thus do the dinner table :-) Twin doctors Idries/Jamil, with their chronic fear of water, spend a good chunk of time arguing over whether to take the penalty :-\ and even when they do decide to do it, they're not very efficient with the oysters and end up switching to the dinner table. Which turns out to be the better choice for them because they get proper scuba helmets to do it in.
3. After the Detour, teams get "traditional" maps to navigate themselves to the next island on jet skis. Of course, the usual bad navigation factor comes into play (e.g., best friends Pam/Winnie) We then have a Roadblock involving kicking a coconut on stilts. (Just like walking on heels, say Pam/Winnie :-))
4. Pit stop, and in a footrace, Dave(/Connor) appears to have ruptured his Achilles, which is also relevant to the Express Pass discussion. The winning team (Bates/Anthony, hockey bros) gets a trip to London, while the twin doctors spend so much time on the Detour that they get eliminated.
Leg 3:
1. Next stop, Phil's hometown of Christchurch, New Zealand. Except for Dave/Connor, who after being told that they'll need a sonogram in Papeete, and getting crutches, take advantage of having a whole day to kill there (we get to see all the counters at the airport closed) to pay a visit to the hospital, confirm that Dave has a small tear in his foot muscle and surrounding Achilles, and get a stabilizing boot. As promised, Jessica/John give them the 2nd Express Pass at the Papeete airport.
2. After a connection in Auckland staggers everyone's arrival in Christchurch, they get to drive Ford Focuses (Chuck[/Wynona, Alabamans who have previously only went as far as Niagara Falls] briefly gets into the "American" side of the car :-D) to a nearby river gorge, for another staggered bunching, before getting to ride boats the next morning ("We're lke James Bond again" -- Joey/Meghan, YouTube hosts :-D)
3. Detour: Drive modified vintage car (we're talking 70's vintage, with stick even!) around cones, or fishing. Dave/Connor and Chuck/Wynona do fishing (no choice for D/C really), everyone else does driving. So we spend what feels like half the episode on showing people driving and talking about how recently they learned stick. Max(/Katie) drives in donuts and runs over cones, while Meghan(/Joey) looks like Vanellope (Wreck-it Ralph) in that light green jacket of hers :-) D/C fish for a couple minutes before using their Express Pass. Good call.
4. Roadblock at Mt. Hutt Station: Another bizarre challenge, this one involving an obstacle course known as a Shemozzle and collecting eggs. Obviously Connor has to do this one :-) and Dave is all "Can you imagine me doing this?" They finish before anyone else shows up. Oh, and the obstacle course involves getting covered in molasses and feathers (!) We find out that Jennifer(/Caroline)'s grandfather was John "Duke" Wayne (!!!) as she comments on the dog paired up with her for this task being named Duke :-) "Beverly Hills has left the building" -- Caroline :-)
5. Pit stop at a golf course at a nearby adventure resort, and Dave/Connor become the first team to win a leg on crutches (their words!) and get a trip to Bangkok, though Dave won't exactly be able to partake in the Muay Thai lesson offered as part of the trip... or even have a chance to rest his leg before the start of the next leg.
This week's leg to come in the next post.
Leg 1:
I only got to see a chunk of the episode, so quick overview:
Everyone heads to Bora Bora, and gets two Roadblocks: First one is skydiving, and and second is a needle-in-a-haystack task that calls for digging up sand (and making sandcastles when necessary). In what seems to be an attempt to make TAR more like Survivor, the winner of the leg (couple Jessica/John) gets TWO Express Passes: One for themselves, and one to be given to another team. There's discussion between the teams on the first flight to Bora Bora, before deciding to give it to the 2nd place team from their flight. The final three teams in the back (country singers Caroline/Jennifer, newlyweds Max/Katie, firemen Matt/Daniel) decide to pull a Romber and take a 4-hour penalty, before assembling va'as (traditional kayaks) to head to the Pit Stop. The firemen think they have this handled because they can put together things well, and though they do put it together well, they end up capsizing right out of the race. More to come if/when I see a repeat later.
Leg 2:
1. Everyone (minus the penalized teams from the last leg) take water taxis at 7:30am to get a blessing from a local priest at a chapel. First though, we get a bit of discussion on the deal for Jessica/John to give their 2nd Express Pass to Dave/Connor (father/son/cancer survivors, 2nd from their flight but 3rd overall), and J/J have decided to keep it hush-hush for now and let other teams try to suck up to them.
2. After the blessing, we have a Detour between picking up oysters to look for pearls and (get this) setting up a dinner table underwater and getting a clue from an appropriately-attired waiter (!) Dave/Connor (father/son) forget their snorkling gear on the island and have to go back and get it :-\ Mona/Beth (roller derby team) pride themselves on their communication and thus do the dinner table :-) Twin doctors Idries/Jamil, with their chronic fear of water, spend a good chunk of time arguing over whether to take the penalty :-\ and even when they do decide to do it, they're not very efficient with the oysters and end up switching to the dinner table. Which turns out to be the better choice for them because they get proper scuba helmets to do it in.
3. After the Detour, teams get "traditional" maps to navigate themselves to the next island on jet skis. Of course, the usual bad navigation factor comes into play (e.g., best friends Pam/Winnie) We then have a Roadblock involving kicking a coconut on stilts. (Just like walking on heels, say Pam/Winnie :-))
4. Pit stop, and in a footrace, Dave(/Connor) appears to have ruptured his Achilles, which is also relevant to the Express Pass discussion. The winning team (Bates/Anthony, hockey bros) gets a trip to London, while the twin doctors spend so much time on the Detour that they get eliminated.
Leg 3:
1. Next stop, Phil's hometown of Christchurch, New Zealand. Except for Dave/Connor, who after being told that they'll need a sonogram in Papeete, and getting crutches, take advantage of having a whole day to kill there (we get to see all the counters at the airport closed) to pay a visit to the hospital, confirm that Dave has a small tear in his foot muscle and surrounding Achilles, and get a stabilizing boot. As promised, Jessica/John give them the 2nd Express Pass at the Papeete airport.
2. After a connection in Auckland staggers everyone's arrival in Christchurch, they get to drive Ford Focuses (Chuck[/Wynona, Alabamans who have previously only went as far as Niagara Falls] briefly gets into the "American" side of the car :-D) to a nearby river gorge, for another staggered bunching, before getting to ride boats the next morning ("We're lke James Bond again" -- Joey/Meghan, YouTube hosts :-D)
3. Detour: Drive modified vintage car (we're talking 70's vintage, with stick even!) around cones, or fishing. Dave/Connor and Chuck/Wynona do fishing (no choice for D/C really), everyone else does driving. So we spend what feels like half the episode on showing people driving and talking about how recently they learned stick. Max(/Katie) drives in donuts and runs over cones, while Meghan(/Joey) looks like Vanellope (Wreck-it Ralph) in that light green jacket of hers :-) D/C fish for a couple minutes before using their Express Pass. Good call.
4. Roadblock at Mt. Hutt Station: Another bizarre challenge, this one involving an obstacle course known as a Shemozzle and collecting eggs. Obviously Connor has to do this one :-) and Dave is all "Can you imagine me doing this?" They finish before anyone else shows up. Oh, and the obstacle course involves getting covered in molasses and feathers (!) We find out that Jennifer(/Caroline)'s grandfather was John "Duke" Wayne (!!!) as she comments on the dog paired up with her for this task being named Duke :-) "Beverly Hills has left the building" -- Caroline :-)
5. Pit stop at a golf course at a nearby adventure resort, and Dave/Connor become the first team to win a leg on crutches (their words!) and get a trip to Bangkok, though Dave won't exactly be able to partake in the Muay Thai lesson offered as part of the trip... or even have a chance to rest his leg before the start of the next leg.
This week's leg to come in the next post.
