TBD on Ning
The Amazing Race
With two episodes to go, I should have seen the non-elimination leg coming on last night’s super-frustrating but also rather good episode of The Amazing Race. There was no question—no question!—that a team wasn’t going to be eliminated. Maybe I just hoped for a mid-leg check in so we’d have one super-long leg again. But those seem long gone.
And then I hoped Nick’s constant threats to quit—which included him actually lying down and perhaps even sleeping during the middle of their detour task—would result in him actually quitting. But no. He and Vicki accepted a six-hour penalty and have a speed bump to face in the next episode, but they remain in the race.
Although he’s an ass, I think Nick just smartly exploited a structural problem with the race. In the reality of the race this season, though, one of three things will happen next week, and the most likely one will negate the penalty:
1. There will be an equalizer before the teams get to South Korea, making only the speed bump the consequence for Nick’s behavior. And since the speed bumps have been so lame and easy this season, that basically means no consequence at all.
2. The six hour penalty deficit, plus the amount of time Nick and Vicki were behind to begin with, will make it impossible for them to catch up, so they’ll be behind the entire episode, even though the editing will likely suggest otherwise so that it’s not a boring episode.
3. One of the other three teams, who’ve been exceptionally competent all season, will fall significantly behind, giving Nick and Vicki a chance.
I’d bet at least 27 cents that the first one will happen. And that sucks because Nick sucks. His teary “she’s a blessing” speech about Vicki at the beginning was nice except it doesn’t match the reality of what we’re seeing. Sometime after telling Vicki to “quit crying” after her asthma kicked in and forced her to stop running, Nick actually suggested quitting and taking the penalty twice; during the detour, he said, “I don’t care if you don’t like to quit; it’s over. I’m done.”
“Physically, mentally tired,” he said later, and took a nap on the boat while Vicki kept looking for another boat, which is either a testament to her perseverance or an example of exactly what’s wrong in their relationship. The fact that Nick couldn’t even appreciate this effort made me wish he’d fall off the boat into the water and wake up.
And then I hoped Nick’s constant threats to quit—which included him actually lying down and perhaps even sleeping during the middle of their detour task—would result in him actually quitting. But no. He and Vicki accepted a six-hour penalty and have a speed bump to face in the next episode, but they remain in the race.
Although he’s an ass, I think Nick just smartly exploited a structural problem with the race. In the reality of the race this season, though, one of three things will happen next week, and the most likely one will negate the penalty:
1. There will be an equalizer before the teams get to South Korea, making only the speed bump the consequence for Nick’s behavior. And since the speed bumps have been so lame and easy this season, that basically means no consequence at all.
2. The six hour penalty deficit, plus the amount of time Nick and Vicki were behind to begin with, will make it impossible for them to catch up, so they’ll be behind the entire episode, even though the editing will likely suggest otherwise so that it’s not a boring episode.
3. One of the other three teams, who’ve been exceptionally competent all season, will fall significantly behind, giving Nick and Vicki a chance.
I’d bet at least 27 cents that the first one will happen. And that sucks because Nick sucks. His teary “she’s a blessing” speech about Vicki at the beginning was nice except it doesn’t match the reality of what we’re seeing. Sometime after telling Vicki to “quit crying” after her asthma kicked in and forced her to stop running, Nick actually suggested quitting and taking the penalty twice; during the detour, he said, “I don’t care if you don’t like to quit; it’s over. I’m done.”
“Physically, mentally tired,” he said later, and took a nap on the boat while Vicki kept looking for another boat, which is either a testament to her perseverance or an example of exactly what’s wrong in their relationship. The fact that Nick couldn’t even appreciate this effort made me wish he’d fall off the boat into the water and wake up.
Tags: RTV, TAR, dead, not, yet!
Views: 17
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Maxim Oleksyn on
-
Now some news--TAR17’s fifth-place team, Chad Waltrip and Stephanie Smith, got engaged on the race and are now three months pregnant with their first child. Meanwhile, Chad says “people are right” about their criticism of his frequently awful behavior.
They got married this weekend, coincidentally (or not), and Stephanie told TV Guide, “I just found out that I’m three months pregnant!” This season taped in June, which means the baby was conceived post-race and engagement, which we saw in an odd episode that suddenly wanted us to love them after the series basically made them into villains in prior episodes.
As to their apparently dysfunctional relationship, which seemed to improve slightly by the time they were eliminated, Chad told the magazine, “It’s funny. Stephanie and I are very strong-willed individuals. At the end of the day, we never go to bed angry. I learned a lot about myself. I know that there are some things I need to change — and people are right. But I love her with all my heart. She is my soul mate and we’re going to continue to work on it. No relationship’s perfect.”
That’s good to hear, although that he’s saying that there are things he still needs to change is slightly distressing, since they’ve known about these issues since June. -
© 2024 Created by Aggie.
Powered by
