davidh777

Yeah, the massage task was relatively easy, but it had a definite duration, so teams could gamble that they could do the other one faster. But it never works out that way when you have to learn a routine then perform it. There was also the limited-number-of-masseuses factor, though it ended up affecting only one team due to the split flights.

Chelsea and Robbin are from my area, so that’s an interesting local angle.

MLBFan24

Hmmm, not my favorite set of contestants, but I guess I’ll root for Morgan and Lena. Eating the bugs was a mental and physical task and they made quick decisions.

The siblings were embarrassing with their indecisiveness. Especially the brother - needs to take action.

Don’t remember the season number (year 2013), but Jessica and John got eliminated without using their Express Pass.

Josh-da-man

Props to Morgan and Lena.

No way in hell am I ever going to eat a fucking tarantula.

bluesix

Thank you! I don't remember this working this way in the past but I probably just never paid attention. Or maybe most teams that won the express pass always just used it on that leg right away...either way, thanks for explaining.

Josh-da-man

In earlier seasons of The Amazing Race, they had Fast Forward tasks -- one for each leg -- which would allow a team to complete them and bypass all of the other challenges and go directly to the pit stop of that particular leg.

They were given a Fast Forward at the beginning of the leg, and teams that wanted to attempt it were free to do so, but only team could win the Fast Forward, and the teams that didn't win then wasted a bunch of time on it and had to go back and do the other challenges.

The usage of Fast Forward tasks over the seasons decreased. Later seasons would only have one FF per season, if any. I don't think they've even had any in the past six or seven seasons.

TheBang

Because of the added cost of setting up and manning an additional challenge (the Fast Forward) that might not even get used, they eventually reduced it to only running it on one leg per race, instead of every leg like it was at the start of the series. And then, eventually, they removed it entirely. The Express Pass, though introduced at the same time Fast Forwards were running, has kind of supplanted the concept of the Fast Forward. Especially since they made the Express Pass earned by completing an additional task, rather than as a reward for finishing first in a particular leg, as it was when it was first introduced into the game.

MLBFan24

Fun second leg. I liked the farmer’s market challenge.

Morgan and Lena continue on. Seems like I picked a decent team.

dom56

I'm rooting for the CODA to win it all.

MLBFan24

Dang it, I hate the “you’re still racing” episodes.

I liked the fruit delivery challenge. No lead was safe.

Josh-da-man

Yeah, it's a total cheat when they're touting no non-elimination legs. They did that last time.

Red Dog

Given the pacing of this episode, seemed pretty obvious that this was going to be a continuation leg.

davidh777

The way the fruit thing was stacked up, it was the correct decision to use the express pass, but it sucked for them that it was a non-elimination leg.

at Liam and Yeremi excited that they maybe could finish higher than eighth this time.

The editing wasn’t even a fakeout at the end because they saw Victor and Jocelyn on the road.

GatorDeb

Well I feel duped they said there were no non-elimination legs and then they just do a two episode long leg, it's the same just semantics. This WAS a nonelimination leg.

GatorDeb

The dad's a really cool dude.

But did anyone noticed that Phil said you're still racing and the dad cheered right away? Wonder if he reads lips.

davidh777

it is just semantics, but they have done that in the past so not a surprise.

MLBFan24

Either he does read lips, or like in the first episode, there was a translator (rooftop word scramble challenge, Derek and Claire + translator)

Josh-da-man

There's a deaf guy on Big Brother this season, too.

I don't think he's completely deaf, though, because I don't know how you could play Big Brother without being able to hear.

mwbmis

There is a difference. What has happened before in a continue racing leg is relevant. It's highly unlikely they are going to get somewhere and have an "it's not open yet" bunch up like at the start of this leg so if you are in last you're going to have to catch up in task. It's kind of like when they have two legs in the same city. There is a consequence for when you got to the mat in this episode; there isn't always.

It's kind of funny. This season they brought back all for the airport jockeying. This episode had twenty minutes of it (I assume it was more on the broadcast version because of commercials). The consequence...the first few teams started 15 minutes ahead of the second few teams who started 15 minutes ahead of the third few teams, which is basically how legs started last season. But we did get that 20 minutes of TV in the airport that meant absolutely nothing.

chowderhead

these guys arent the sharpest tool in the shed. They clearly knew they were among the last group to leave the dock. They were behind other groups on the boats and had to wait for them to unload. They saw two teams (3 teams including Victor and Jocelyn) from the second group at the detour leave before them. they saw no other teams behind them . Why would they assume they were ahead or jumped up?

And the most compelling reason they were last is that they started talking about their history and backstory in their interviews this episode

MLBFan24

Wow, Morgan and Lena barely survived. Hope they can turn it around next leg.

Good roadblock, again no lead was safe.

Technically, Phil never said “you’ve been eliminated from the race” to Jocelyn and Victor

davidh777

Joel dabbing away his tears with his beard

Red Dog

Good challenges in the latest episode.

I think I would have had a heart attack and died doing the mattress challenge.

chowderhead

one of the sisters sAid they can only use the pass up to leg 4 which is the next leg since this was a continuation.

skatefan20

Kind of ruined a sentimental moment of reflection during that Ong Pagoda cast-a-wish segment.

bluesix

Did anyone else burst out crying at the story Liam and Yeremi told about not getting along and his brother enlisting in military and getting sent to Iraq and sending his brother all the letters because he was alone and afraid and his brother finally replying back to him just to say, 'stop mailing me letters'.

Holy. I dont know why but that story just got to me. I wanted to smack that brother across the face for that shit but I guess they had their reasons for being estranged.

Anywho, it brought me around to switching for super bitches Chelsea and Robbin to win to the brothers. They probably won't win because they are still pretty clueless but I hope they do.