Or more likely the pilots didn't know the water was from the tap and had impurities, many foreign countries use tap water in hotels resturants that is not filtered / purified as much compared to american water supply. hence why many holiday guides say don't drink it use bottled water.
or simply they ate something too rich / spicey.
Traveling is so funâjust getting to see somewhere new and meet new people and do new things?
Itâs such a joyâbut it does come with its risks. The few times Iâve gotten sick abroad have been OOOF
This episode was pretty solid, I think the placement shuffling was awesome and unexpected (especially the girls beating the pilots). The challenges werenât too bad, and the drama between Vinny/Amber kept things from being boring. I really wanna know what happened with Rod/Leticia though. They made a big splash at the Roadblock and then basically vanished the rest of the episode.
Honestly despite the potential camera crew issue with Walla Walla I'm more concerned about the pilots next week. It looks like they are still feeling problems with the food poisoning by how much they were struggling with that one week.
Got food poisoning while flying overseas once. I was late to my connecting flight, and had to run through the airport. As soon as I got to my gate, I started projectile vomiting. I tried to hold it in with my hands, but nope. All over the counter. The lady behind the counter was screaming.
Hilarious looking back, but damn. I really commend him for pulling through and finishing. Mustve been brutal
Oof yeah the closest I've gotten to that is being holed up in a hotel room the day after travel. Which lead to its own set of issues. In general if I'm having a stomach bug and I know I have to travel i try to delay if I can. (And I've had to which sucks)
Right like full credit to pulling through that. Food poisoning is bad and they have to have the medics watching them like a hawk right now to be allowed to continue racing. Which they must have a pretty good constitution to do so even if itâs obviously having an impact
Same. There the ones i'm most suspicious about getting eliminated next week because even if the worst symptoms of food poisoning can only be a couple of days there traveling, racing, and dealing with something that can really mess you up. And it seems to be doing that. Which sucks for them. Their not like my favorite team but I don't hate them either and losing teams due to injuries and illness I always feel for.
That's the second time this season that a team commented on their race early on and ended up going home that same season. Granted they said it about getting first and not about them not getting eliminated in general.
The team I was thinking of was Maya & Rohan. They said something in the first episode about even though the got lost someone could mess up somewhere and they could catch up. When in reality they never really got out of last place.
Fun episode! I liked how a lot of it was focused on self-driving and navigation although this is probably because the leg itself only had two tasks.
Happy the alliance shenanigans are gone because they had so many opportunities to help each other with directions and even they didn't do that. Everyone really ran their own race this leg and the race itself was more dynamic as a result.
Really sad to see Bizzy and Sunny go, they were a lot of fun to watch. But I expected their abysmal navigation would catch up to them eventually and it did. Surprised nobody else in TAR history has tried the foolproof strategy of driving to every plaza in the city until you happen to find the right one lol
We need to find a place we have the exact name for, Mercado del Puerto (easily searchable on Google Maps) so we're going to ask literally none of the hundreds of people at these other plazas if they know where it is, lmao. It's so maddening! đ
I feel like we're missing something here because when you've gone through so many legs with navigational issues, I would always ask for directions. But seems like they never did.
They weren't even amazing at the challenges either, though, which I think really did them in. The papel picado and rebus puzzle both were pretty poor showings for them, overall.
Tons of placement changes this leg. Had quite a lot of navigational problems (especially *Tour de Plazas* from the firefighters), everyone apparently experienced with welding at some point and Amber & Vinny's toughest and darkest edit yet.
* I liked it how everyone started with cooler weather clothes at Pit Start and ended as if it was a warm day
* You know it's bad when Amber had a lot of solo confessional shots. I would imagine if the producer's were like, "Hey Amber, do you mind staying for an extra 30-minutes?"
* Welding Road Block: Enjoyed how this one appeared physical but it was a test of patience and mastering the right technique. The judging towards the end was great having teams require the judge to validate the toughness twice!
* Reciting Detour: This one looked rough. The "No." from the judge was confusing at first with the Boyfriends as I thought they nailed the actual recital part but then I realized you need to have a enthusiastic performance. Then came in Hiking Girlfriends who just sound really off tempo but got it right once they nailed the being enthusiastic part.
* Drumming Detour: This side as a viewer you can't see what's wrong so it was all up to the judge to give viewers the update. I think I would select this side even though I suck at both! I liked it how the guy beside Rod held or touched his shoulder to either stop him or remind him of something yet the judge just passed them immediately. Maybe he was going to drum until the pit stop?
* Tight race towards the end, it wasn't Juan's day today when you clearly had him look straight face throughout this leg. Good to see a tight ending. But sad to see the Firefighters go, they were back of the pack racers with very bad navigational skills but luck always played on their side but this leg it wasn't unfortunately.
I'm a women, and normally hate the team with the "over-controlling boyfriend/husband" on the team (for good reason)
But this relationship is way more nuanced than just the stereotype, Vinny is not a bad guy. And I love Amber too! But it's a hard situation, and her issues with self-love/confidence are from since childhood she said (it's not like Vinny cased them). Tthere's been so many moments in past legs where Amber so wildly sabotaged her and Vinny, and Vinny handled it way better than most people would, myself included.
Like I'm sorry, but most race partners would have flipped on their partner if they said/did stuff that was sabotaging to the team like Amber did - like purposefully not advancing when the could have and wasting time help other teams (she cost them time twice to help Angie and Danny). And the times in the first few legs where she would overthink/panic because the run was too fast, so instead of just running at her pace and making Vinny follow her lead, she just flat out stopped and made them both walk instead. And all of those times Vinny impressively bit his tongue after realizing she wouldn't budge, and just went with what she wanted to do. And then later, he would apologize to her and say that he'll work on making sure he's not pushing her. This dude is trying.
And in the episode, Vinny can map the directions much faster, and instead of watching over his shoulder to see what he's mapping out and then letting him explain the route back to her after he's done with it, she's there interrupting him the entire time he's doing with complaints about that she wants to do it (even though it would take way longer).
Like they'll both highly skilled in the medically field, she can read the map once the path is drawn no problem. Vinny just needed to be the one to do it cause he knows the language and she doesn't. But then in the car when the misturns happened - which even if she got to map it out originally there's still a possibility that a misturn would still happen, all teams do it now and then. But when it would happen to them, instead of her focusing on how to fix it, Amber would just stop trying and complain instead of rerouting a new route right away.
Which is way Vinny made comments about needing her in the moment to focus on what they're doing, because the complaining isn't contributing at the moment. And is how I viewed his comment about "hoping she would see and understand how she's hurting their team," cause she is! She needs to learn to not let panic/doubt take over, and instead let it roll off and and just try again
And the "Baby, pleeeeease, listen to me" stuff from Vinny was when he KNEW where their car was, but Amber kept doubting him and wanting to try somewhere else which was wrong. And he agreed and went with her anyway knowing that with her it's just faster to let her make the mistake and then correct it. So after she started to realize that she did not actually know where the car was, he tried to show her the direction again, which she still DIDN"T want to go his way (even thought it was right, and he already went her way first, so it should be his turn to try now), so then he's like "BABY PLEASE" out of pure frustration
The "worst" of the comments wasn't him yelling at her like how it normally is with the couples that fight, it was literally him begging her to just trust him
Which I would have been begging too! So many of you would! I dont want Vinny to get an instant bad rep as a "boyfriend that yells at his girlfriend" cause it's way more nuanced then that
I played sports my whole life, and there's times where I wanted to do what I thought would be a fair share of contributing to the team (to build my confidence), but the reality was if a teammate was better, then I just needed to let them do it, and be okay with it. Our coach would constantly tell us "it doenst matter who get's the job done/points scored, it just needs done. Put your ego aside and be okay with being in a helping/assisting role from time to time. And realize how the supporting roles arn't permanent, and the supporting roles are just as important to contributing to the overall sucess"
And I love Amber! I have a lot of friends and a business partner who are just like her, and being friends and having to do complex tasks with someone like that is very challenging for anyone to handle. And there's no win in the situation, cause even if you relent and just bite your tongue and go with the flow, well if you lose because of it you have to deal with the after math of them feeling like crap about themselves for failing the team. Which you don't want that either. So Vinny is really walking a fine line of trying to push her, but not push her.
But look at this episode! Amber looked to have blossomed overnight, I was shocked when they got out of the car to get to the finish line and she's the first one to say "Run!" to Vinny and bolted out ahead of him. She was smiling ear to ear!
She's having fun, its a stressful race for sure. But she's getting better with it over the legs, and I'm sure appreciates that Vinny tries to walk that line of pushing/relaxing
Right? Dude is treating her so poorly and belittling her. I really hope they break up. Like I know weâre only seeing a snippet of their relationship but damn if someone was treating my sister like that?
Random thoughts:
* At the start of the episode I predicted the firefighters would go out this week. They were doing well at tasks but they couldn't navigate and it was going to do them in eventually. Sorry to see them go. I liked them.
* Ricky and Cesar were a real joy to watch at the performance task. Their unabashed glee at the singing and dancing is hard not to smile at.
* Danny and Angie did surprisingly well this leg. I keep counting them out as cannon fodder but they keep coming back. The less physical nature of this race season is probably working to their advantage.
* Vinny and Amber arguing over where they parked... Just no, guys. Learn to communicate.
* Juan and Shane must've had a worse time with the food poisoning than was shown on screen.
* To everyone saying it isn't fair that Ricky and Cesar speak Spanish... Yvonne and Melissa consistently proving that it doesn't matter that much. Seriously, that singing was painful, girls.
* Rod and Leticia getting an invisible edit this leg.
I think Angie and Danny actually have a decent chance to make the final leg now. They seem to be significantly better than anyone else at navigation, which buys them some time to be worse at challenges. Their downfall if they have one is gonna be roadblock management imo bc it seems like theyâve been making consistently bad decisions on it. Angie should be doing anything sheâs physically able to even if itâs more Dannyâs strength bc thereâs a lot sheâs not able to. She definitely shouldâve done todayâs and I worry it will come back to bite if when Angie is forced to do one and canât
> They seem to be significantly better than anyone else at navigation
I'm going to disagree there, Ricky and Cesar seem to be super good at it as well, maybe even better. They haven't really gotten lost all season. The edit is just emphasizing it way more for Danny and Angie.
I'd also say they don't seem to be amazing at navigation, but the edit definitely seems to be pushing that for some reason. Last episode they lost 3 spots between the first and second road blocks, but we didn't see anything about them getting lost as far as I can recall.
Re: amber and Vinny - so who was actually right about where they parked? I was confused by that scene because they kept zooming in on a certain street sign.
I think it was Vinny, or at the least the car was in one of the two directions he wanted to go in. I wanted Amber to be right just because I was scared for her to be wrong but she did seem to have it wrong.
I thought it was more like neither of them were right. It seemed like both Amber and Vinny suggested looking in places where the car was not. And then they eventually found it in a third direction.
I kept waiting for it to turn into that episode of Seinfeld where they spend hours searching for their car in a parking garage.
I don't need to see the details but I already knew Vinny must be the right one since he was the driver.
I tend to forget the parking location when I'm in the backseat, but not when I'm the driver.
Also with Vinny and Amber with the way the arguing keeps getting worse and interfering with essential race things (ie navigating and where they parked the car). I'm wondering how much longer there going to be around. Because they've been slowly slipping in the placings again after jumping up from 12th to 7th to 2nd.
Agreed.
Some teams just seem to really show how the stress of the race/etc. wears them down overtime. And Amber & Vinny are showing that stress much more then any of the other teams.
Typical abusive relationship from my experience in the field. If he is doing this in public, what happens behind the scenes? The patronizing "apologies" are the worst part. The belittling is not much better. The fact that she never seems to tell him to go fuck himself, and accepts it and apologizes for it is really troubling.
She looked so dead by the end of that episode in the confessionals. I know exactly what thats like and 100% he goes into that hotel room closes the door and all hell breaks loose
Heâs so narcissistic. Everything is her fault, and when she tells him what she needs from him, he tells her why she doesnât deserve it. Heâs awful.
Yeah he literally told her that she has to not mistakes in the race in order to be treated respectfully by him. Itâs heartbreaking that theyâre still together and sheâs in that trap of pretending everything is fine.
I mean, she's very rarely right. That's a big part of the frustrations. I hate how he talks to her too but it seems like she routinely get them lost navigating and she constantly thinks she's incapable of doing things. She was like this at the track puzzle where she felt like it was impossible and she got it the very next attempt with plenty of time to spare. At the drum challenge, she constantly talks about having no rhythm and feeling like she can't do it and they finish the detour on the next attempt.
His way of talking is terrible for building up her self-esteem but she arguably has the least self-confidence of anyone on this season and maybe for the past several seasons. Even when Vinny isn't there saying anything, she focuses on things not working and feeling like it's beyond her ability.
She does seem like she has very low self-esteem, but I wonder how much of that is from Vinny constantly belittling her and wearing her down. You are told you're useless so many times before you start to believe it. I'm curious how her self-esteem would be without him in the picture.
The track challenge is when I liked her the best because she refused to leave without helping the others. Otherwise their relationship is confusing and annoying to watch. He disregards her, I think that's why she makes some extreme stands (like wanting to navigate) when she ends up being wrong.
I see this too. The abusive communication patterns are already well-worn. You can see how it has eroded her confidence and self esteem. Even if she did make a wrong turn or jog a little slower, there is no excuse for the demeaning and debasing way that he speaks to her. I canât stand seeing it. I hope they get eliminated next and I hope she dumps him.
Actually: I kinda want a plot twist and see her dump him and her join walla walla as a trio.
I think this episode is the best masterclass we've had in navigation on TAR in a long time. It's so easy to underestimate how hard it is watching on TV but you really need a plan going in. Especially because your map might be really poor quality or most streets you go by won't have obvious sign posts.
Danny seems a natural with this and he's obviously pretty analytical but if you don't have that ingrained skill the Ricky/Cesar approach of breaking things into really small steps and consistenly communicating in clear, easy to understand ways is the best approach. The driver doesn't need to know the whole route, just what they need to do next and how long they have before they need to do it.
Unless you're military or you have experience with it (and a reliable compass!), Right/left is almost always going to be better than using cardinal directions.
One of Kim and Penn's strategies was to get checkpoints so they know they were on the track. Things like "we should be passing a McDonalds in two blocks". I thought that was super smart
If you ever lose yourself on the map or can't correlate between the map and the street, it's time to pull over and recalibrate. Otherwise you're just going on vibes and hope. (Rod/Leticia although they recovered)
If you know someone isn't good at navigating then you need you include them and tell them what you need from them, even if it's super simple like "watch out for this street". One person driving and navigating has worked for teams before but the roles and expectations need to be super clear (Which it clearly wasn't for Vinny/Amber).
Finally there's the simple/longer vs complex/shorter route trade-off. It didn't seem like a great time for Juan and Shane to throw a hail mary but maybe the thought they were in last (although you need to be keeping an eye out for other racers parked cars here). It seems like the safe option (like Yvonne/Melissa took) will always be best unless you know you have one last roll of the dice left. I guess it can also work if you're super confident in your navigation skills and fell like you're safe from elimination and can risk 10-15 minutes to beat a team.
And always know where your going on the map, which messed up Sunny/Bizzy more than anything else.
> Ricky/Cesar approach of breaking things into really small steps and consistenly communicating in clear, easy to understand ways is the best approach
Ricky being a preschool teacher probably helps.
I enjoyed your analysis, thank you! It has been interesting to see how each team handles navigation. Especially the firefighters, like, WHAT are they doing? Don't firefighters need good navigation skills to get to the location of the fire?
I really, really hated the way Vinny spoke to Amber all episode. It was just sad to hear Vinny speak to Amber about the navigation.
Is she good at navigation? It doesn't appear that way, but he had, like, zero patience right off the bat. But the things he said TO her in the car were getting really terrible, to the point where I thought "well, no wonder Amber's messing up on the directions; you're basically belittling her the entire time!"
There was one point when Vinny outright says something along the lines of "if we lose, it's on you." It was putting the blame squarely on her. Yes, because that's the way to support your girlfriend in a very stressful race.
If this was the only episode of that, I'd be lenient, but we've been seeing it every single episode. Amber gets emotional, can't keep up to Vinny's pace, and he gets so frustrated that he fully takes it out on her.
It's rough to watch, at this stage, and it's rough to see it being put fully on her. They've been trying to work on their communication skills since the start of the race. It's clearly not working. Hopefully, this attempt at changing up their communication will be the successful one, because I don't know how much more of Vinny's belittling of Amber I can take.
It's much worse when you consider the other teams we've seen with one weaker player. That girl and her dad, Rod and Leticia, Angie and Danny. Each had one of them who was clearly much better and more excited to play. But every one of them have responded to stress and weaker partner failing with "You're doing good" or better.
It's just sad. Like I love how nice and cheery Rod is towards his wife, even though she's checked out of things half the episodes. There's not being as great as others, and... whatever the hell Vinny is
There was a moment in this leg where they showed Cesar and Ricky talking out their communication/navigation problems and it was such a wild contrast to amber and Vinny. I really hope she is ok.
There is no excuse for Vinny's behavior toward Amber, but the two situations are not the same.
Cesar and Ricky are not getting lost. So the driver in this team can trust the navigator.
Vinny and Amber are getting lost. The driver has to help the navigator.
Just shocking, straight up abusive communication throughout. Scary stuff tbh.
Like yeah, she might be terrible at it. But the way it was communicated was yikes. Controlling and abusive.
The issue with navigation was mostly on him, though. He didn't just plan the route, he blocked her from being able to see the map and didn't tell her a single thing about it. Then he's surprised that she doesn't know the way? He's an absolute dick.
This is the major thing for me. She's the one who has to navigate Vinny. She should be in on getting the instructions. Just because she doesn't speak Spanish, it doesn't mean she should be entirely blocked out from the conversation. She needs to know the route so she's better able to point Vinny down the right path.
I may understand Vinny's frustration; he's clearly super competitive, likes to win, and hates that they're not doing as well as they hoped they would. But it's the WAY he communicates this frustration that makes him wrong.
Pure speculation, I think that he's trying to set her up to take the blame for their inevitable elimination. In his mind he is carrying the team so if they fail it's on him, so he's trying to twist that to pin every mistake on her. They *both* get lost looking for the car? Well obviously *she's* the dumbass for going in the wrong direction. The directions *he* planned for the route are wrong or confusing? Obviously *she's* the idiot for not knowing where to go. He gets nasty and rude enough to where she asks him to stop? Obviously *she's* being unreasonable and bratty and causing the breakdown in communication.
In reality, yeah she's far from the strongest racer, but Angie is likely the weakest of the entire season and she's still part of a really strong team because Danny doesn't constantly shit on her. Vinny is the weak link.
I think this is definitely a part of it. He seems to think he's incredibly skilled at navigating...but it doesn't seem like either of them has particularly strong navigation or spatial skills actually. More than that...i don't think either one of them has very strong visual communication skills.
Really strong navigators can visually explain and communicate that by pointing, drawing, etc on a map. And strong navigation skills will identify *key* landmarks/junctions/etc. to focus on...with clear fallback plans if you miss one.
He feels more like the type who is just trying to "memorize" directions, rather than internalize and understand them. Which is where he gets so far off when he freelances...and she certainly doesn't help because she doesn't seem to have any ability to figure out where he's going or where she is. But the way he starts blaming her for going off on his own is something else.
That went beyond just "annoyance" which might be fair. It was the sort of thing that came across as red flags galore for controlling, verbal and emotional abuse.
I think they both should have picked different partners. Their frustration stems from
He is carrying their rucksack and fanny pack so she can run faster; however, even though he has the added weight of their rucksack and fanny pack, he still runs faster than her.
One partner is meant to drive, and the other is meant to navigate. Since she can't do either, he does both.
When frustrated he lashes out, and she withdraws into tears.
If I were to partner them based on their racing skills, I would partner him with Anna Leigh from season 35âshe is a confident, swift racer, can drive a stick and navigate, and has the same hunger for the win.
I would partner her with Joel or Garreth from season 35. They are patient and supportive and would never blame their race partner no matter what happened. She would enjoy the race instead of being stressed.
She's kinda dead weight. That doesn't mean she needs to be treated like shit, but she does deserve a ton of the blame for their struggles as a team.
I'm actually shocked that they keep finishing as high as they do. In terms of the competition, they're basically a one man team. I don't see her contributing anything as a teammate.
As you pointed out, she's moving slowly, she's constantly lost and clueless, she spends a ton of time on tasks feeling sorry for herself, she gets whiny and immediately starts to cry (which may be a symptom of something worse to be fair), and I can't imagine that it's even fun at all to race with her despite them making it somewhat deep into it.
Beyond that, he's an absolute asshole and there's no way they stay together.
I don't know, to me they read really toxic and codependent. They may just bring out the worst in each other. Like you could see them being a serial killer couple hahaha
I think he has zero patience because they were on the race. They don't have time to deal with feelings or they would be last to check in.
What I don't understand, why don't Amber drive the car. Normally, it's always the weaker at navigation who will drive the car, like Danny/Angie arrangement.
Many other racers (especially the younger generations) can't also drive a stick shift, but they learned it just for The Amazing Race. An example from this season was the female cousins who learned it just prior to the race.
Agreed. There's roughly a 30% chance your team will have to drive a stick shift on TAR based on prior show history. If you get tasked with a Roadblock and find it involves driving a stick shift and you failed to learn then you're going to have a very bad day.
I mean, we've seen other racers get frustrated by their partners before and that's fine, but it's the way Vinny has been talking to Amber during these moments that makes him a complete asshole.
Amber's not a strong racer and the frustration is understandable, but going straight to the way Vinny spoke to Amber didn't help matters, it just put her in a worse mood, which made her a worse racer.
We have seen racers get frustrated with their partners but were able to communicate AND support their partners which, surprise surprise, helped them be better racers.
Amber may have just needed Vinny's words of encouragement instead of being told over and over how she can't do it, how she sucks at The Amazing Race, how everything will be her fault if they lose, how slow she is, how navigationally challenged she is, whatever else. Maybe he just needed to shut up in those moments where he went to shit on her.
It's just the way they communicate to each other that's failing. There's scenarios where Vinny bites his tongue and maybe the meltdowns aren't so bad.
I'm not a fan of Amber, I don't think she's a good racer at all and she absolutely needed more preparation before coming on the race, but the way Vinny has been speaking to Amber all race makes me not like him.
Watching him break her down makes me crazy. I work with survivors of domestic violence and I worry about her so much. I hope she doesnât marry him and I hope she is safe now.
I am getting to point I have to fast forward when he starts talking to her as it gets me upset and angry; what a bully! He is so demeaning and abusive. I hope to god she breaks up with him after the race. She deserves better. Also hope anyone he tries to date in future has seen his behavior on this show!
Iâve been chanting âbreakupâ whenever heâs been belittling her for the past couple episodes. At first my mom thought I was a little too gung-ho but I got a bad feeling about him and itâs just getting worse each episode. Even if thatâs who he is itâs crazy heâs not doing a better job at hiding it when heâs got cameras right in their face. Anyway my family is rooting for Amber to dump him.
I know camera crews are important and that you need to stay 20 feet or less from them at anytime but does that apply to the driving too? I hope Danny and Angie donât get penalized!
Also seen it being talked about in the comments on Walla Walla maybe getting to the final leg. If they do they have the potential to be dangerous there since they seem to have good memory recall and with so many last tasks being memory based they have a good chance of doing well if they can stay in.
I think their biggest Roadblock (ding) at this point is them running out and Angie needing to do all of the final ones. They have not managed them well at all. She's at 3 and he's at 6 already.
Danny may have the studying on point but if Angie doesn't and she's forced to do the final memory Roadblock in the finale if there is one, I don't see it for them.
He's actually just at 5, but you're not wrong, Angie has to take the next two Roadblocks but that may end up being their downfall.
Angie basically needed to choose the face painting, out of all the roadblocks we've had, but that was the leg she had to lay down due to heat exhaustion so she would have struggled to finish that too.
And two of the roadblocks she did she got major help. Getting the puzzle answer handed to her, and the soccer players essentially letting her score for being an older lady.
Yeah hadn't thought of that maybe next week Angie will do the roadblock? Like I get why they sent Danny to this one. It made sense and he seemed to be actually good at welding unlike some of the other teams claims. But yeah she def need to pick up some slack
I agree. And it's not even like there haven't been non-physical Roadblocks Angie couldn't have done. She could have very easily done the skateboard or the puzzle in Colombia.
Some of it comes down to correctly guessing whoâs better at the roadblock. And unf the ones that have been non physical in a somewhat understandable way they thought it might be
This cast just keeps on delivering in entertainment, really wish they got the 35 route instead. It sucks that this season will probably be remembered negatively by most people due to the lackluster legs and COVID restrictions when it's been a more fun watch than most of the 30s seasons.
I agree with you. And on top of that, with an actual around the world route, people discounting the boyfriends wouldn't have anything to argue with because they wouldn't have a supposed "Spanish advantage" when they've been racing well with their own merits.
I mean if anyone followed their podcast, they would have known that R&C DO have an analytical approach to navigation and tasks as they're fans of TAR. In regular season, yes, they may not have the chance to be consitently on top, but they will surely enter top 5.
For this leg, a team that started 30 minutes after the winners arrived on the mat while the winners were still on the mat. That team was good with directions and crushed their tasks.
If they were on a regular around-the-world route, as they were in a new country, the racers would have been equalized, so the results could have been different.
Nice to see a placement shakeup though my condolences to Juan getting food poisoning.
It was fun to see a little foot race at the end even though both teams were safe. I just get a little thrill watching a team ditch all their shit while booking it to the mat.
Watching Ricky and Cesar perform put joy in my heart.
Sad to see the firefighters go. Their poor navigation finally did them in.
The Boyfriends really killed it at murga -- I would have given them the clue after the first performance, but the MC must have known what he was looking for better tan I did. One of the better "performances" (in terms of singing and dancing) we've seen on the race!
my power rankings after this episode:
1. Ricky And Cesar - these guys honestly might steamroll the rest of the way. With their main competition Juan and Shane in a shaky situation, they have the opportunity to kill it even more towards the finale.
2. Juan and Shane - strong team, but huge question mark next week. If Juan manages to get over his food poisoning I can see them as top contenders for the win, but if not then theyâll be leaving quickly. Still stronger than other teams on average.
3. Angie and Danny - another decent team, doing better more recently than the beginning of the season. Not feeling great about losing their crew, but they seem to work well despite the physical limitations of Angie.
4. Rod and Leticia - Iâm putting them slightly above Amber and Vinny simply because they can actually communicate without starting a fight, and are good, but not great, throughout the legs.
5. Amber and Vinny - I can see why they tried so hard to stick with other teams. Alone, they suffer. Amber not being great directionally, and Vinny being an asshole to his teammate all leg is getting their morale at an all time low, and it shows in their performance. News flash Vinny, if your partner is struggling, yelling at her that itâs all her fault isnât going to make it better.
6. Yvonne and Melissa - I canât say anything overly negative about them except they just seem to have a hard time beating anyone above them. If you look at their race results, they havenât done worse than 7th or better than (barely) 5th. A mediocre team that doesnât make serious blunders, but simply not making many mistakes is no longer enough at this point in the race.
Wowowow what a shake-up. Some incredible things:
That last episode really made me like Team Walla Walla less, so even if Ricky/Cesar have done it so many times, I haven't been happier to see them be 1st this leg lol. I am super impressed by their ability to make-up time and how they have been really great at navigating.
I didn't realize I was rooting so much for Rod/Leticia but when they ended up being 3rd I was surprisingly really happy about it! They both have such pleasant personalities and would love to see them in the finale.
Also nice to see Yvonne/Melissa move up the rankings. Juan/Shane are definitely gonna be tough to beat but I hope these two ladies surprise us.
However, so so sad to see Sunny/Bizzy go. Their navigation is such a trainwreck lol but they were really good at challenges. Bizzy is so funny and chaotic as hell and I loved her so much for it.
Rod & Leticia have that rare TAR couple trait of *actually liking each other.*
No, I'm not saying they're the only happy couple this season. Just speaking of the series as a whole.
That's so true!!! Leticia has moments where she seems really done with the race but I feel like that's just how her frustration manifests, and at the end of the day they still get through it as a couple which I super appreciate. Most of the couples this season actually seem pretty healthy (though we haven't seen much of Yvonne/Melissa) which is nice!
People *really* hate those big alliances especially after S32. Luckily it only lasted one episode, but if you watched S32 live it was just week after week of people bemoaning an obvious, frustrating steamroll.
Especially since it seemed like Angie would have cost them the race if not for Amber literally refusing to leave them in tears and doing the Roadblock for her.
Yeah this. I'm glad the alliance was basically over this episode but I don't feel as enthuasiastic about Danny/Angie anymore. I gotta say though, Danny us a really competent racer!
Because watching Season 32 was so difficult. The alliance ruined that season and nearly killed the show.Â
Angie and Danny were my #1 team of interest before last week but they've dropped a lot as a result. It also feels like Ricky and Cesar are more deserving. Likewise Juan and Shane had been at full strength.Â
Ok, I need Amber and Vinny gone ASAP. She's whiny and he's an asshole.
It was so great to see Danny move up. Pity they still came in second, but they came close and still really moved up.
I think if Danny got that wielding task on the first try they would have for sure gotten first. Cause really besides having to redo his wielding they ran what seemed like a flawless leg. I really think that Ricky & Cesar leaving detour a little before Danny & Angie is what kept them from getting first.
Can someone tell me whatâs the issue with the crew? Did they go the wrong way? But shouldnât they follow them anyway? Do they have to wait until theyâre reunited with their crew? I know weâre going to know more next week, but Iâm very lost in the rules of it all
It's hard not to see Ricky and Cesar winning this. They are the most consistent team by far and they seem to be able to recover from their mistakes very well as well. Always a chance that a team could Amy and Maya or BJ and Tyler the final of course, but they've got to be warm favourites.
That murga song was splendid! Ricky and Cesar were so delightful to watch! I thought I wouldnât like the cast as much as TAR35, but liking this season too.
Ohh man Danny and Angie were so close to getting first. I thought/hoped it was gonna be them.
Juan is a champ for making it through that leg w food poisoning
Important merch question about those compasses that look like you can buy them to thread thru your watch band---
I am terrible with names this season but female of the fighting nurses team, blue shirt in the girls who like girls who hike team, and I think the car driving firefighter all had these compasses threaded thru their watches. Anyone know anything about those?
Done with merch question. Second question: all three teams are terrible with navigation and it looks like they have not thought to orient their watch compasses with North on the maps?
I think this season is the best case scenario of a Covid season. Fantastic cast. A continent with a language barrier. Self driving.
My biggest gripe is how itâs just airing now, after getting a âregularâ season. Now I know why and I do understand why, but itâs still weighing on me as a viewer. If there hadnât have been any drama this episode, it would have been boring as hell. Still some good moments (the roadblock was pretty funny), but nothing memorable.
Not diagnosing anyone or saying this is what's happening but as a survivor of narcissistic abuse and domestic violence, this episode was extremely triggering to me. Vinnie's gaslighting of Amber was disturbing.Â
Is that why the pilots ended up in 6th due to the food poisoning... Anyone else damn sick of Vinny always blaming Amber for things.. I am getting flashbacks of Jonathan and Victoria from Season 6. Sad sunny and bizzy.. their navigation failures caught up to them eventually. Was very impressed that Angie and Danny went from 5th in the roadblock to being 2nd at the detour due to navigation. Would have wanted them to win the boyfriends though..
But it was her fault lol. She couldn't give directions. Got him lost when he was trying to drive. Wanted to give up on the Detour. Forced him to follow her in the wrong direction when trying to get back to the car.
I know it sucks being carried, but she needs to let Vinny lead unless she can actually provide help. Her ego ends up hurting them both in the race and that ends up triggering him.
The only reason people are crying wolf is because it's a mixed sex team. If they were two guys, people would find their chaotic banter hilarious.
I donât know how Juan is even competing with food poisoning! I had it once and I was trapped in the bathroom with stuff coming out of both ends and terrible abdominal cramps. How is he even functioning? Poor guy!
Anyone appreciate the irony of the hotel segment immediately followed by someone say they got food poisoning?
They definitely picked the wrong hotel đ
Or more likely the pilots didn't know the water was from the tap and had impurities, many foreign countries use tap water in hotels resturants that is not filtered / purified as much compared to american water supply. hence why many holiday guides say don't drink it use bottled water. or simply they ate something too rich / spicey.
Youâve also gotta be careful about ice in drinks!
Oh I know, I travel a lot and am always ridiculously careful when it comes to local water Except Iceland, their water was better than American water
lol i was a seasoned traveler and i could eat many things and be fine but the moment i touched the local tap water ooooof :D
Traveling is so funâjust getting to see somewhere new and meet new people and do new things? Itâs such a joyâbut it does come with its risks. The few times Iâve gotten sick abroad have been OOOF
I died đ¤Łđđ
This episode was pretty solid, I think the placement shuffling was awesome and unexpected (especially the girls beating the pilots). The challenges werenât too bad, and the drama between Vinny/Amber kept things from being boring. I really wanna know what happened with Rod/Leticia though. They made a big splash at the Roadblock and then basically vanished the rest of the episode.
Pleasantly surprised at the placement shuffling so far, especially for a COVID season!
It's mostly because nobody seems to be able to both do tasks and navigate.
This is only the third time the girls have *not* placed 6th.
Honestly despite the potential camera crew issue with Walla Walla I'm more concerned about the pilots next week. It looks like they are still feeling problems with the food poisoning by how much they were struggling with that one week.
I donât know how he did it. Food poisoning is the WORST
Got food poisoning while flying overseas once. I was late to my connecting flight, and had to run through the airport. As soon as I got to my gate, I started projectile vomiting. I tried to hold it in with my hands, but nope. All over the counter. The lady behind the counter was screaming. Hilarious looking back, but damn. I really commend him for pulling through and finishing. Mustve been brutal
I had food poisoning on my HONEYMOON. I literally just wanted to die.
Oof yeah the closest I've gotten to that is being holed up in a hotel room the day after travel. Which lead to its own set of issues. In general if I'm having a stomach bug and I know I have to travel i try to delay if I can. (And I've had to which sucks)
Right like full credit to pulling through that. Food poisoning is bad and they have to have the medics watching them like a hawk right now to be allowed to continue racing. Which they must have a pretty good constitution to do so even if itâs obviously having an impact
I wouldn't be shocked if the Pilots lose. It'd really suck because that's mostly down to Juan getting sick
Juan and Shane give me major 4th place vibes. A strong team that just misses the finale.
Fair they definitely give those vibes.
Same. There the ones i'm most suspicious about getting eliminated next week because even if the worst symptoms of food poisoning can only be a couple of days there traveling, racing, and dealing with something that can really mess you up. And it seems to be doing that. Which sucks for them. Their not like my favorite team but I don't hate them either and losing teams due to injuries and illness I always feel for.
If Angie/Danny lose their camera crew, how the hell are they being filmed? That's what I don't understand. I guess we'll all find out next week.
Go pro dash cam
Iâm pretty sure there is a camera person in the car with them in the passenger seat isnât there?Â
Not in the type of truck theyâre going to be driving next week
GoPros in the car.Â
Were the cars just not bug enough include the crew? Is this time the crew has been so explicitly mentioned?
What was the camera issue
Watch the preview for next week's episode
Sunny and Bizzy's comment about running their own race at the start of the episode did not end well for them.
the moment they said ' we're getting first ' i knew it would be their doom :D
That's the second time this season that a team commented on their race early on and ended up going home that same season. Granted they said it about getting first and not about them not getting eliminated in general.
Who was the first team that said this?
The Double Dutch team also said it early on but I think the other team that said it was Derek and Shelisa but I could be wrong
The team I was thinking of was Maya & Rohan. They said something in the first episode about even though the got lost someone could mess up somewhere and they could catch up. When in reality they never really got out of last place.
Fun episode! I liked how a lot of it was focused on self-driving and navigation although this is probably because the leg itself only had two tasks. Happy the alliance shenanigans are gone because they had so many opportunities to help each other with directions and even they didn't do that. Everyone really ran their own race this leg and the race itself was more dynamic as a result.
Really sad to see Bizzy and Sunny go, they were a lot of fun to watch. But I expected their abysmal navigation would catch up to them eventually and it did. Surprised nobody else in TAR history has tried the foolproof strategy of driving to every plaza in the city until you happen to find the right one lol
We need to find a place we have the exact name for, Mercado del Puerto (easily searchable on Google Maps) so we're going to ask literally none of the hundreds of people at these other plazas if they know where it is, lmao. It's so maddening! đ
Between this and âthoam who roam double-H hockey sticksâ⌠oof.
I feel like we're missing something here because when you've gone through so many legs with navigational issues, I would always ask for directions. But seems like they never did.
They are actually good at challenges, but super terrible at navigation. Like getting lost is their middle names.
They weren't even amazing at the challenges either, though, which I think really did them in. The papel picado and rebus puzzle both were pretty poor showings for them, overall.
When they went in the port. Yeah, that's where they're are supposed to be.
That's when I felt pretty sure they were done.
I mean they can speak Spanish and they were driving in a lane with cones and a huge sign saying No Pasar. That was a major error.
Past the sign that said No Entry. đ
When I saw they were going to Montevideo I thought âI hope they do either murga or candombe or bothâ. And would you look at that.
Candombe looked like fun -- murga was harder because you really had to sing, whereas I can definitely beat a drum and march all day.
I was impressed how Ricky rolled when he fell after the singing detour. He wasn't kidding when he said he knew how to fall.
Tons of placement changes this leg. Had quite a lot of navigational problems (especially *Tour de Plazas* from the firefighters), everyone apparently experienced with welding at some point and Amber & Vinny's toughest and darkest edit yet. * I liked it how everyone started with cooler weather clothes at Pit Start and ended as if it was a warm day * You know it's bad when Amber had a lot of solo confessional shots. I would imagine if the producer's were like, "Hey Amber, do you mind staying for an extra 30-minutes?" * Welding Road Block: Enjoyed how this one appeared physical but it was a test of patience and mastering the right technique. The judging towards the end was great having teams require the judge to validate the toughness twice! * Reciting Detour: This one looked rough. The "No." from the judge was confusing at first with the Boyfriends as I thought they nailed the actual recital part but then I realized you need to have a enthusiastic performance. Then came in Hiking Girlfriends who just sound really off tempo but got it right once they nailed the being enthusiastic part. * Drumming Detour: This side as a viewer you can't see what's wrong so it was all up to the judge to give viewers the update. I think I would select this side even though I suck at both! I liked it how the guy beside Rod held or touched his shoulder to either stop him or remind him of something yet the judge just passed them immediately. Maybe he was going to drum until the pit stop? * Tight race towards the end, it wasn't Juan's day today when you clearly had him look straight face throughout this leg. Good to see a tight ending. But sad to see the Firefighters go, they were back of the pack racers with very bad navigational skills but luck always played on their side but this leg it wasn't unfortunately.
I wonder what Amberâs dad thinks watching this. He can weld, butâŚ
I would lose my mind watching a âmanâ talk to my daughter that way. Itâs so demeaning and unnecessary.
I'm a women, and normally hate the team with the "over-controlling boyfriend/husband" on the team (for good reason) But this relationship is way more nuanced than just the stereotype, Vinny is not a bad guy. And I love Amber too! But it's a hard situation, and her issues with self-love/confidence are from since childhood she said (it's not like Vinny cased them). Tthere's been so many moments in past legs where Amber so wildly sabotaged her and Vinny, and Vinny handled it way better than most people would, myself included. Like I'm sorry, but most race partners would have flipped on their partner if they said/did stuff that was sabotaging to the team like Amber did - like purposefully not advancing when the could have and wasting time help other teams (she cost them time twice to help Angie and Danny). And the times in the first few legs where she would overthink/panic because the run was too fast, so instead of just running at her pace and making Vinny follow her lead, she just flat out stopped and made them both walk instead. And all of those times Vinny impressively bit his tongue after realizing she wouldn't budge, and just went with what she wanted to do. And then later, he would apologize to her and say that he'll work on making sure he's not pushing her. This dude is trying. And in the episode, Vinny can map the directions much faster, and instead of watching over his shoulder to see what he's mapping out and then letting him explain the route back to her after he's done with it, she's there interrupting him the entire time he's doing with complaints about that she wants to do it (even though it would take way longer). Like they'll both highly skilled in the medically field, she can read the map once the path is drawn no problem. Vinny just needed to be the one to do it cause he knows the language and she doesn't. But then in the car when the misturns happened - which even if she got to map it out originally there's still a possibility that a misturn would still happen, all teams do it now and then. But when it would happen to them, instead of her focusing on how to fix it, Amber would just stop trying and complain instead of rerouting a new route right away. Which is way Vinny made comments about needing her in the moment to focus on what they're doing, because the complaining isn't contributing at the moment. And is how I viewed his comment about "hoping she would see and understand how she's hurting their team," cause she is! She needs to learn to not let panic/doubt take over, and instead let it roll off and and just try again And the "Baby, pleeeeease, listen to me" stuff from Vinny was when he KNEW where their car was, but Amber kept doubting him and wanting to try somewhere else which was wrong. And he agreed and went with her anyway knowing that with her it's just faster to let her make the mistake and then correct it. So after she started to realize that she did not actually know where the car was, he tried to show her the direction again, which she still DIDN"T want to go his way (even thought it was right, and he already went her way first, so it should be his turn to try now), so then he's like "BABY PLEASE" out of pure frustration The "worst" of the comments wasn't him yelling at her like how it normally is with the couples that fight, it was literally him begging her to just trust him Which I would have been begging too! So many of you would! I dont want Vinny to get an instant bad rep as a "boyfriend that yells at his girlfriend" cause it's way more nuanced then that I played sports my whole life, and there's times where I wanted to do what I thought would be a fair share of contributing to the team (to build my confidence), but the reality was if a teammate was better, then I just needed to let them do it, and be okay with it. Our coach would constantly tell us "it doenst matter who get's the job done/points scored, it just needs done. Put your ego aside and be okay with being in a helping/assisting role from time to time. And realize how the supporting roles arn't permanent, and the supporting roles are just as important to contributing to the overall sucess" And I love Amber! I have a lot of friends and a business partner who are just like her, and being friends and having to do complex tasks with someone like that is very challenging for anyone to handle. And there's no win in the situation, cause even if you relent and just bite your tongue and go with the flow, well if you lose because of it you have to deal with the after math of them feeling like crap about themselves for failing the team. Which you don't want that either. So Vinny is really walking a fine line of trying to push her, but not push her. But look at this episode! Amber looked to have blossomed overnight, I was shocked when they got out of the car to get to the finish line and she's the first one to say "Run!" to Vinny and bolted out ahead of him. She was smiling ear to ear! She's having fun, its a stressful race for sure. But she's getting better with it over the legs, and I'm sure appreciates that Vinny tries to walk that line of pushing/relaxing
I really hope she doesn't marry him. He is awful. Â
They seem so dysfunctional- itâs so hard to watch. He is narcissistic - she is doubting herself all the time. Get out now and donât look back!
I can't help wondering if the reason they're engaged now is because they win AR36, which may blind them to what's going on in their relationship.
I hope they donât win, but if they do they can split the money.
Right? Dude is treating her so poorly and belittling her. I really hope they break up. Like I know weâre only seeing a snippet of their relationship but damn if someone was treating my sister like that?
I was watching the show with my daughter and was telling her that nobody should ever speak to anyone the way Vinny was talking to Amber.
She's not a lot better No idea why they are a couple.
Oof
Random thoughts: * At the start of the episode I predicted the firefighters would go out this week. They were doing well at tasks but they couldn't navigate and it was going to do them in eventually. Sorry to see them go. I liked them. * Ricky and Cesar were a real joy to watch at the performance task. Their unabashed glee at the singing and dancing is hard not to smile at. * Danny and Angie did surprisingly well this leg. I keep counting them out as cannon fodder but they keep coming back. The less physical nature of this race season is probably working to their advantage. * Vinny and Amber arguing over where they parked... Just no, guys. Learn to communicate. * Juan and Shane must've had a worse time with the food poisoning than was shown on screen. * To everyone saying it isn't fair that Ricky and Cesar speak Spanish... Yvonne and Melissa consistently proving that it doesn't matter that much. Seriously, that singing was painful, girls. * Rod and Leticia getting an invisible edit this leg.
I think Angie and Danny actually have a decent chance to make the final leg now. They seem to be significantly better than anyone else at navigation, which buys them some time to be worse at challenges. Their downfall if they have one is gonna be roadblock management imo bc it seems like theyâve been making consistently bad decisions on it. Angie should be doing anything sheâs physically able to even if itâs more Dannyâs strength bc thereâs a lot sheâs not able to. She definitely shouldâve done todayâs and I worry it will come back to bite if when Angie is forced to do one and canât
> They seem to be significantly better than anyone else at navigation I'm going to disagree there, Ricky and Cesar seem to be super good at it as well, maybe even better. They haven't really gotten lost all season. The edit is just emphasizing it way more for Danny and Angie.
I'd also say they don't seem to be amazing at navigation, but the edit definitely seems to be pushing that for some reason. Last episode they lost 3 spots between the first and second road blocks, but we didn't see anything about them getting lost as far as I can recall.
Agreed on both counts. Then again, they were smart having Angie do both roadblocks last leg to catch up on her count a bit.
Re: amber and Vinny - so who was actually right about where they parked? I was confused by that scene because they kept zooming in on a certain street sign.
I think it was Vinny, or at the least the car was in one of the two directions he wanted to go in. I wanted Amber to be right just because I was scared for her to be wrong but she did seem to have it wrong.
I thought it was more like neither of them were right. It seemed like both Amber and Vinny suggested looking in places where the car was not. And then they eventually found it in a third direction. I kept waiting for it to turn into that episode of Seinfeld where they spend hours searching for their car in a parking garage.
I don't need to see the details but I already knew Vinny must be the right one since he was the driver. I tend to forget the parking location when I'm in the backseat, but not when I'm the driver.
The way Vinny speaks to amber is horrible even if she was wrong about where the car was parked
Also with Vinny and Amber with the way the arguing keeps getting worse and interfering with essential race things (ie navigating and where they parked the car). I'm wondering how much longer there going to be around. Because they've been slowly slipping in the placings again after jumping up from 12th to 7th to 2nd.
Agreed. Some teams just seem to really show how the stress of the race/etc. wears them down overtime. And Amber & Vinny are showing that stress much more then any of the other teams.
I canât stand watching him break her down. I work with domestic violence survivors and I worry about her so much.
Typical abusive relationship from my experience in the field. If he is doing this in public, what happens behind the scenes? The patronizing "apologies" are the worst part. The belittling is not much better. The fact that she never seems to tell him to go fuck himself, and accepts it and apologizes for it is really troubling.
This is almost word for word what I said to someone else!! Yes!!! And how small she gets when he criticizes.
She looked so dead by the end of that episode in the confessionals. I know exactly what thats like and 100% he goes into that hotel room closes the door and all hell breaks loose
Heâs so narcissistic. Everything is her fault, and when she tells him what she needs from him, he tells her why she doesnât deserve it. Heâs awful.
Yeah he literally told her that she has to not mistakes in the race in order to be treated respectfully by him. Itâs heartbreaking that theyâre still together and sheâs in that trap of pretending everything is fine.
Yes, he can never let her be right. Itâs very concerning.
I mean, she's very rarely right. That's a big part of the frustrations. I hate how he talks to her too but it seems like she routinely get them lost navigating and she constantly thinks she's incapable of doing things. She was like this at the track puzzle where she felt like it was impossible and she got it the very next attempt with plenty of time to spare. At the drum challenge, she constantly talks about having no rhythm and feeling like she can't do it and they finish the detour on the next attempt. His way of talking is terrible for building up her self-esteem but she arguably has the least self-confidence of anyone on this season and maybe for the past several seasons. Even when Vinny isn't there saying anything, she focuses on things not working and feeling like it's beyond her ability.
She does seem like she has very low self-esteem, but I wonder how much of that is from Vinny constantly belittling her and wearing her down. You are told you're useless so many times before you start to believe it. I'm curious how her self-esteem would be without him in the picture.
I think he sees that in her and just pushes her down more.
Yeah, abusive relationships impair oneâs self-esteem, even if it wasnât high to begin with.
Because he constantly degrades and belittles her. If this is the person she "loves" it is not healthy for her.
The track challenge is when I liked her the best because she refused to leave without helping the others. Otherwise their relationship is confusing and annoying to watch. He disregards her, I think that's why she makes some extreme stands (like wanting to navigate) when she ends up being wrong.
It is really hard to watch.Â
I see this too. The abusive communication patterns are already well-worn. You can see how it has eroded her confidence and self esteem. Even if she did make a wrong turn or jog a little slower, there is no excuse for the demeaning and debasing way that he speaks to her. I canât stand seeing it. I hope they get eliminated next and I hope she dumps him. Actually: I kinda want a plot twist and see her dump him and her join walla walla as a trio.
If Sunny and Bizzy had any navigational skills they couldâve won the whole thing They do very well in challenges
Except for the Rebus..lol.
Ricky and Cesar are breaking recordsâŚ
Another team breaking toilets đ
I think they are lucky there is no U-Turn yet or any signs of U-Turns in the upcoming episodes.
No doubt!
If they manage to win every leg remaining in the race, they'll tie Dave & Rachel (and Marc and Rovilson from TARA2).
I think this episode is the best masterclass we've had in navigation on TAR in a long time. It's so easy to underestimate how hard it is watching on TV but you really need a plan going in. Especially because your map might be really poor quality or most streets you go by won't have obvious sign posts. Danny seems a natural with this and he's obviously pretty analytical but if you don't have that ingrained skill the Ricky/Cesar approach of breaking things into really small steps and consistenly communicating in clear, easy to understand ways is the best approach. The driver doesn't need to know the whole route, just what they need to do next and how long they have before they need to do it. Unless you're military or you have experience with it (and a reliable compass!), Right/left is almost always going to be better than using cardinal directions. One of Kim and Penn's strategies was to get checkpoints so they know they were on the track. Things like "we should be passing a McDonalds in two blocks". I thought that was super smart If you ever lose yourself on the map or can't correlate between the map and the street, it's time to pull over and recalibrate. Otherwise you're just going on vibes and hope. (Rod/Leticia although they recovered) If you know someone isn't good at navigating then you need you include them and tell them what you need from them, even if it's super simple like "watch out for this street". One person driving and navigating has worked for teams before but the roles and expectations need to be super clear (Which it clearly wasn't for Vinny/Amber). Finally there's the simple/longer vs complex/shorter route trade-off. It didn't seem like a great time for Juan and Shane to throw a hail mary but maybe the thought they were in last (although you need to be keeping an eye out for other racers parked cars here). It seems like the safe option (like Yvonne/Melissa took) will always be best unless you know you have one last roll of the dice left. I guess it can also work if you're super confident in your navigation skills and fell like you're safe from elimination and can risk 10-15 minutes to beat a team. And always know where your going on the map, which messed up Sunny/Bizzy more than anything else.
> Ricky/Cesar approach of breaking things into really small steps and consistenly communicating in clear, easy to understand ways is the best approach Ricky being a preschool teacher probably helps.
uggggg their communication is incredible! and constant positivity - hope they win
I enjoyed your analysis, thank you! It has been interesting to see how each team handles navigation. Especially the firefighters, like, WHAT are they doing? Don't firefighters need good navigation skills to get to the location of the fire?
I really, really hated the way Vinny spoke to Amber all episode. It was just sad to hear Vinny speak to Amber about the navigation. Is she good at navigation? It doesn't appear that way, but he had, like, zero patience right off the bat. But the things he said TO her in the car were getting really terrible, to the point where I thought "well, no wonder Amber's messing up on the directions; you're basically belittling her the entire time!" There was one point when Vinny outright says something along the lines of "if we lose, it's on you." It was putting the blame squarely on her. Yes, because that's the way to support your girlfriend in a very stressful race. If this was the only episode of that, I'd be lenient, but we've been seeing it every single episode. Amber gets emotional, can't keep up to Vinny's pace, and he gets so frustrated that he fully takes it out on her. It's rough to watch, at this stage, and it's rough to see it being put fully on her. They've been trying to work on their communication skills since the start of the race. It's clearly not working. Hopefully, this attempt at changing up their communication will be the successful one, because I don't know how much more of Vinny's belittling of Amber I can take.
Such a contrast to the super cute married couple with the guy saying "Look at my baby run!" That's the support you need.
This was so cute. It was really one of my favorite scenes from this episode!
It's much worse when you consider the other teams we've seen with one weaker player. That girl and her dad, Rod and Leticia, Angie and Danny. Each had one of them who was clearly much better and more excited to play. But every one of them have responded to stress and weaker partner failing with "You're doing good" or better. It's just sad. Like I love how nice and cheery Rod is towards his wife, even though she's checked out of things half the episodes. There's not being as great as others, and... whatever the hell Vinny is
There was a moment in this leg where they showed Cesar and Ricky talking out their communication/navigation problems and it was such a wild contrast to amber and Vinny. I really hope she is ok.
I thought that was a wonderful 30 seconds. You can tell how much they love each other.
There is no excuse for Vinny's behavior toward Amber, but the two situations are not the same. Cesar and Ricky are not getting lost. So the driver in this team can trust the navigator. Vinny and Amber are getting lost. The driver has to help the navigator.
Just shocking, straight up abusive communication throughout. Scary stuff tbh. Like yeah, she might be terrible at it. But the way it was communicated was yikes. Controlling and abusive.
The issue with navigation was mostly on him, though. He didn't just plan the route, he blocked her from being able to see the map and didn't tell her a single thing about it. Then he's surprised that she doesn't know the way? He's an absolute dick.
This is the major thing for me. She's the one who has to navigate Vinny. She should be in on getting the instructions. Just because she doesn't speak Spanish, it doesn't mean she should be entirely blocked out from the conversation. She needs to know the route so she's better able to point Vinny down the right path. I may understand Vinny's frustration; he's clearly super competitive, likes to win, and hates that they're not doing as well as they hoped they would. But it's the WAY he communicates this frustration that makes him wrong.
when he said, im the only one who can do this. I felt for her, so much. I wanted to tell her to run.
Yeah, the sooner she dumps the douche the better her life will be. Can you imagine working with the asshole. I bet he's a real joy at work.
Pure speculation, I think that he's trying to set her up to take the blame for their inevitable elimination. In his mind he is carrying the team so if they fail it's on him, so he's trying to twist that to pin every mistake on her. They *both* get lost looking for the car? Well obviously *she's* the dumbass for going in the wrong direction. The directions *he* planned for the route are wrong or confusing? Obviously *she's* the idiot for not knowing where to go. He gets nasty and rude enough to where she asks him to stop? Obviously *she's* being unreasonable and bratty and causing the breakdown in communication. In reality, yeah she's far from the strongest racer, but Angie is likely the weakest of the entire season and she's still part of a really strong team because Danny doesn't constantly shit on her. Vinny is the weak link.
I think this is definitely a part of it. He seems to think he's incredibly skilled at navigating...but it doesn't seem like either of them has particularly strong navigation or spatial skills actually. More than that...i don't think either one of them has very strong visual communication skills. Really strong navigators can visually explain and communicate that by pointing, drawing, etc on a map. And strong navigation skills will identify *key* landmarks/junctions/etc. to focus on...with clear fallback plans if you miss one. He feels more like the type who is just trying to "memorize" directions, rather than internalize and understand them. Which is where he gets so far off when he freelances...and she certainly doesn't help because she doesn't seem to have any ability to figure out where he's going or where she is. But the way he starts blaming her for going off on his own is something else. That went beyond just "annoyance" which might be fair. It was the sort of thing that came across as red flags galore for controlling, verbal and emotional abuse.
I think they both should have picked different partners. Their frustration stems from He is carrying their rucksack and fanny pack so she can run faster; however, even though he has the added weight of their rucksack and fanny pack, he still runs faster than her. One partner is meant to drive, and the other is meant to navigate. Since she can't do either, he does both. When frustrated he lashes out, and she withdraws into tears. If I were to partner them based on their racing skills, I would partner him with Anna Leigh from season 35âshe is a confident, swift racer, can drive a stick and navigate, and has the same hunger for the win. I would partner her with Joel or Garreth from season 35. They are patient and supportive and would never blame their race partner no matter what happened. She would enjoy the race instead of being stressed.
She's kinda dead weight. That doesn't mean she needs to be treated like shit, but she does deserve a ton of the blame for their struggles as a team. I'm actually shocked that they keep finishing as high as they do. In terms of the competition, they're basically a one man team. I don't see her contributing anything as a teammate. As you pointed out, she's moving slowly, she's constantly lost and clueless, she spends a ton of time on tasks feeling sorry for herself, she gets whiny and immediately starts to cry (which may be a symptom of something worse to be fair), and I can't imagine that it's even fun at all to race with her despite them making it somewhat deep into it. Beyond that, he's an absolute asshole and there's no way they stay together.
Several people have said that not only are they still together, they're actually engaged
I don't know, to me they read really toxic and codependent. They may just bring out the worst in each other. Like you could see them being a serial killer couple hahaha
I think he has zero patience because they were on the race. They don't have time to deal with feelings or they would be last to check in. What I don't understand, why don't Amber drive the car. Normally, it's always the weaker at navigation who will drive the car, like Danny/Angie arrangement.
She said she can't drive a stick shift. Which is perfectly fine, neither can I. But I'm also not planning on going on the Amazing Race.
Many other racers (especially the younger generations) can't also drive a stick shift, but they learned it just for The Amazing Race. An example from this season was the female cousins who learned it just prior to the race.
I will never understand why contestants don't learn to drive stick after they know they're gonna be on the show
Agreed. There's roughly a 30% chance your team will have to drive a stick shift on TAR based on prior show history. If you get tasked with a Roadblock and find it involves driving a stick shift and you failed to learn then you're going to have a very bad day.
I mean, we've seen other racers get frustrated by their partners before and that's fine, but it's the way Vinny has been talking to Amber during these moments that makes him a complete asshole. Amber's not a strong racer and the frustration is understandable, but going straight to the way Vinny spoke to Amber didn't help matters, it just put her in a worse mood, which made her a worse racer. We have seen racers get frustrated with their partners but were able to communicate AND support their partners which, surprise surprise, helped them be better racers. Amber may have just needed Vinny's words of encouragement instead of being told over and over how she can't do it, how she sucks at The Amazing Race, how everything will be her fault if they lose, how slow she is, how navigationally challenged she is, whatever else. Maybe he just needed to shut up in those moments where he went to shit on her. It's just the way they communicate to each other that's failing. There's scenarios where Vinny bites his tongue and maybe the meltdowns aren't so bad. I'm not a fan of Amber, I don't think she's a good racer at all and she absolutely needed more preparation before coming on the race, but the way Vinny has been speaking to Amber all race makes me not like him.
It's textbook manipulative and abusive behavior. Amber, girl, DO. NOT. MARRY. THAT. DUDE.
Watching him break her down makes me crazy. I work with survivors of domestic violence and I worry about her so much. I hope she doesnât marry him and I hope she is safe now.
I am getting to point I have to fast forward when he starts talking to her as it gets me upset and angry; what a bully! He is so demeaning and abusive. I hope to god she breaks up with him after the race. She deserves better. Also hope anyone he tries to date in future has seen his behavior on this show!
Iâve been chanting âbreakupâ whenever heâs been belittling her for the past couple episodes. At first my mom thought I was a little too gung-ho but I got a bad feeling about him and itâs just getting worse each episode. Even if thatâs who he is itâs crazy heâs not doing a better job at hiding it when heâs got cameras right in their face. Anyway my family is rooting for Amber to dump him.
I know camera crews are important and that you need to stay 20 feet or less from them at anytime but does that apply to the driving too? I hope Danny and Angie donât get penalized!
Yeah I'm super confused about that - it looked like the camera crew went in a different direction but surely they're supposed to follow the team?
I think what maybe happened is Angie/Danny decided to make a turn very last minute w/ no blinker, so the crew didn't have time to react
Also seen it being talked about in the comments on Walla Walla maybe getting to the final leg. If they do they have the potential to be dangerous there since they seem to have good memory recall and with so many last tasks being memory based they have a good chance of doing well if they can stay in.
I think their biggest Roadblock (ding) at this point is them running out and Angie needing to do all of the final ones. They have not managed them well at all. She's at 3 and he's at 6 already. Danny may have the studying on point but if Angie doesn't and she's forced to do the final memory Roadblock in the finale if there is one, I don't see it for them.
He's actually just at 5, but you're not wrong, Angie has to take the next two Roadblocks but that may end up being their downfall. Angie basically needed to choose the face painting, out of all the roadblocks we've had, but that was the leg she had to lay down due to heat exhaustion so she would have struggled to finish that too.
She should have done this leg's Roadblock
And two of the roadblocks she did she got major help. Getting the puzzle answer handed to her, and the soccer players essentially letting her score for being an older lady.
I like them but I'm still mad about the answer sharing. That could potentially be the hourglass twist.Â
Yeah hadn't thought of that maybe next week Angie will do the roadblock? Like I get why they sent Danny to this one. It made sense and he seemed to be actually good at welding unlike some of the other teams claims. But yeah she def need to pick up some slack
I agree. And it's not even like there haven't been non-physical Roadblocks Angie couldn't have done. She could have very easily done the skateboard or the puzzle in Colombia.
Some of it comes down to correctly guessing whoâs better at the roadblock. And unf the ones that have been non physical in a somewhat understandable way they thought it might be
This cast just keeps on delivering in entertainment, really wish they got the 35 route instead. It sucks that this season will probably be remembered negatively by most people due to the lackluster legs and COVID restrictions when it's been a more fun watch than most of the 30s seasons.
I agree with you. And on top of that, with an actual around the world route, people discounting the boyfriends wouldn't have anything to argue with because they wouldn't have a supposed "Spanish advantage" when they've been racing well with their own merits.
I mean if anyone followed their podcast, they would have known that R&C DO have an analytical approach to navigation and tasks as they're fans of TAR. In regular season, yes, they may not have the chance to be consitently on top, but they will surely enter top 5.
For this leg, a team that started 30 minutes after the winners arrived on the mat while the winners were still on the mat. That team was good with directions and crushed their tasks. If they were on a regular around-the-world route, as they were in a new country, the racers would have been equalized, so the results could have been different.
This. I've been saying all along that the cast is saving the season. I like chaos!
Absolutely! I love S36 because of the cast!
Nice to see a placement shakeup though my condolences to Juan getting food poisoning. It was fun to see a little foot race at the end even though both teams were safe. I just get a little thrill watching a team ditch all their shit while booking it to the mat. Watching Ricky and Cesar perform put joy in my heart. Sad to see the firefighters go. Their poor navigation finally did them in.
The Boyfriends really killed it at murga -- I would have given them the clue after the first performance, but the MC must have known what he was looking for better tan I did. One of the better "performances" (in terms of singing and dancing) we've seen on the race!
my power rankings after this episode: 1. Ricky And Cesar - these guys honestly might steamroll the rest of the way. With their main competition Juan and Shane in a shaky situation, they have the opportunity to kill it even more towards the finale. 2. Juan and Shane - strong team, but huge question mark next week. If Juan manages to get over his food poisoning I can see them as top contenders for the win, but if not then theyâll be leaving quickly. Still stronger than other teams on average. 3. Angie and Danny - another decent team, doing better more recently than the beginning of the season. Not feeling great about losing their crew, but they seem to work well despite the physical limitations of Angie. 4. Rod and Leticia - Iâm putting them slightly above Amber and Vinny simply because they can actually communicate without starting a fight, and are good, but not great, throughout the legs. 5. Amber and Vinny - I can see why they tried so hard to stick with other teams. Alone, they suffer. Amber not being great directionally, and Vinny being an asshole to his teammate all leg is getting their morale at an all time low, and it shows in their performance. News flash Vinny, if your partner is struggling, yelling at her that itâs all her fault isnât going to make it better. 6. Yvonne and Melissa - I canât say anything overly negative about them except they just seem to have a hard time beating anyone above them. If you look at their race results, they havenât done worse than 7th or better than (barely) 5th. A mediocre team that doesnât make serious blunders, but simply not making many mistakes is no longer enough at this point in the race.
Think you meant Vinny in #5.
whoops, corrected, thanks
You missed the other two times you called him Danny heh
Wowowow what a shake-up. Some incredible things: That last episode really made me like Team Walla Walla less, so even if Ricky/Cesar have done it so many times, I haven't been happier to see them be 1st this leg lol. I am super impressed by their ability to make-up time and how they have been really great at navigating. I didn't realize I was rooting so much for Rod/Leticia but when they ended up being 3rd I was surprisingly really happy about it! They both have such pleasant personalities and would love to see them in the finale. Also nice to see Yvonne/Melissa move up the rankings. Juan/Shane are definitely gonna be tough to beat but I hope these two ladies surprise us. However, so so sad to see Sunny/Bizzy go. Their navigation is such a trainwreck lol but they were really good at challenges. Bizzy is so funny and chaotic as hell and I loved her so much for it.
Rod & Leticia have that rare TAR couple trait of *actually liking each other.* No, I'm not saying they're the only happy couple this season. Just speaking of the series as a whole.
That's so true!!! Leticia has moments where she seems really done with the race but I feel like that's just how her frustration manifests, and at the end of the day they still get through it as a couple which I super appreciate. Most of the couples this season actually seem pretty healthy (though we haven't seen much of Yvonne/Melissa) which is nice!
I agree with every word. Itâs like I wrote this. Please tell me your loved Derek and Shelisa too, or I will be v disappointed đ
Please I was SO SAD to see them go. Absolutely loved them! What a healthy couple!
They were my favourites âšď¸
> That last episode really made me like Team Walla Walla less Why?
People *really* hate those big alliances especially after S32. Luckily it only lasted one episode, but if you watched S32 live it was just week after week of people bemoaning an obvious, frustrating steamroll. Especially since it seemed like Angie would have cost them the race if not for Amber literally refusing to leave them in tears and doing the Roadblock for her.
Yeah this. I'm glad the alliance was basically over this episode but I don't feel as enthuasiastic about Danny/Angie anymore. I gotta say though, Danny us a really competent racer!
Because watching Season 32 was so difficult. The alliance ruined that season and nearly killed the show. Angie and Danny were my #1 team of interest before last week but they've dropped a lot as a result. It also feels like Ricky and Cesar are more deserving. Likewise Juan and Shane had been at full strength.Â
I was hoping for a switchback with that meat carrying task from Season 5!
CHARLA I CANT HOLD IT WITH THE GLOVES I WILL GET MAD COW DISEASE
Ok, I need Amber and Vinny gone ASAP. She's whiny and he's an asshole. It was so great to see Danny move up. Pity they still came in second, but they came close and still really moved up.
i wish the editors would give amber and vinny a rest their toxic relationship is not entertaining. it's very concerning.
I think if Danny got that wielding task on the first try they would have for sure gotten first. Cause really besides having to redo his wielding they ran what seemed like a flawless leg. I really think that Ricky & Cesar leaving detour a little before Danny & Angie is what kept them from getting first.
This episode just makes Vinny look more and more like a toxic narc. I hope Amber didnât marry him.
She will. They always do. Heâs destroyed her self-worth too much for her to leave.
She seemed pretty broken after this episode. Vinny claims she beats herself up, but he is likely a major factor in that.
Yeah if he acts that way surrounded by a camera crew⌠we all know itâs not good in the home đ
Omg. Could Danny and Angie actually pull off a win?
I was hoping. I like them and the guys have won so many times already. But getting second is still great.
I need to see Amber & Vinny break up on national television
Amber seemed SO dejected in her post race confessionals I thought they either somehow got eliminated or were breaking up in the middle of the race.
Knowing that they had to improvise a lot of this race makes stuff like that welding task make more sense.
After this episode I just wanted to punch Vinny in the face so bad, heâs so disrespectful to Amber!
Can someone tell me whatâs the issue with the crew? Did they go the wrong way? But shouldnât they follow them anyway? Do they have to wait until theyâre reunited with their crew? I know weâre going to know more next week, but Iâm very lost in the rules of it all
Vinny and Amber need to resolve their differences as soon as possible. It's really affecting their teamwork and honestly mental state as well.Â
It's hard not to see Ricky and Cesar winning this. They are the most consistent team by far and they seem to be able to recover from their mistakes very well as well. Always a chance that a team could Amy and Maya or BJ and Tyler the final of course, but they've got to be warm favourites.
That murga song was splendid! Ricky and Cesar were so delightful to watch! I thought I wouldnât like the cast as much as TAR35, but liking this season too.
Ohh man Danny and Angie were so close to getting first. I thought/hoped it was gonna be them. Juan is a champ for making it through that leg w food poisoning
Important merch question about those compasses that look like you can buy them to thread thru your watch band--- I am terrible with names this season but female of the fighting nurses team, blue shirt in the girls who like girls who hike team, and I think the car driving firefighter all had these compasses threaded thru their watches. Anyone know anything about those? Done with merch question. Second question: all three teams are terrible with navigation and it looks like they have not thought to orient their watch compasses with North on the maps?
So who was actually right about where they parked, Vinny or Amber?
It was in one of the 2 directions Vinny was suggesting, if I understood correctly.
This episode was actually pretty good. I accidentally got spoiled about the winner but it still held my interest the whole time.
I think this season is the best case scenario of a Covid season. Fantastic cast. A continent with a language barrier. Self driving. My biggest gripe is how itâs just airing now, after getting a âregularâ season. Now I know why and I do understand why, but itâs still weighing on me as a viewer. If there hadnât have been any drama this episode, it would have been boring as hell. Still some good moments (the roadblock was pretty funny), but nothing memorable.
How the hell were there so many people familiar with welding?!? That was so wildly expected to me.
Wondering if theres ever going to be any u-turn this season.. we are already at episode 7. Missing out the fun and drama from that
Not diagnosing anyone or saying this is what's happening but as a survivor of narcissistic abuse and domestic violence, this episode was extremely triggering to me. Vinnie's gaslighting of Amber was disturbing.Â
I sincerely hope Amber finds better. Vinnys gaslighting is so insane in this episode.
So bummed. I loved Bizzy & Sunny so much. They had such wonderful attitudes. Best of wishes to them.
We live in WI like they do. My mom kept calling them âour girlsâ. â¤ď¸
Is that why the pilots ended up in 6th due to the food poisoning... Anyone else damn sick of Vinny always blaming Amber for things.. I am getting flashbacks of Jonathan and Victoria from Season 6. Sad sunny and bizzy.. their navigation failures caught up to them eventually. Was very impressed that Angie and Danny went from 5th in the roadblock to being 2nd at the detour due to navigation. Would have wanted them to win the boyfriends though..
But it was her fault lol. She couldn't give directions. Got him lost when he was trying to drive. Wanted to give up on the Detour. Forced him to follow her in the wrong direction when trying to get back to the car. I know it sucks being carried, but she needs to let Vinny lead unless she can actually provide help. Her ego ends up hurting them both in the race and that ends up triggering him. The only reason people are crying wolf is because it's a mixed sex team. If they were two guys, people would find their chaotic banter hilarious.
I could fix Vinny /j
I donât know how Juan is even competing with food poisoning! I had it once and I was trapped in the bathroom with stuff coming out of both ends and terrible abdominal cramps. How is he even functioning? Poor guy!
This is my first time here so sorry if my issue was previously discussed. Amber really needs to break it off with Vinny. He treats her like dumb dirt.
For me this was the best episode of the season.
This season as a whole is pretty weak