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RSS'The Amazing Race': Maria, Tiffany, Brian and Ericka - quitters and fools
For some reason, I have always wanted to go to Holland. That is where our "Amazing Race" teams were off to tonight, and all on the same plane, too. As nice as the whole thing should have been, the episode was destroyed for me when two teams showed incredible levels of ridiculousness.Now, I've complained in the past about things bunching up and teams that were way ahead ending up tied with everyone else, but Meghan & Cheyne were way out in front only because they had done a pretty easy Fast Forward. I was happy to see things even out tonight when everyone ended up on the same plane.
Once in Holland, though, Meghan & Cheyne were still the first team to try to count the bells in the carillon for the Road Block. That looked like an incredibly hard task. There were big bells, small bells, hidden-looking areas and 62 bells in total. That's a lot of room for error, even more than in one of those "count the steps" tasks, which still aren't easy. It was actually Matt who finished the task first, even though Meghan was working with Sam.
Both Detours tonight required the teams to put on traditional clothes, which is always fun to watch. The choices involved swimming and playing golf (with odd clubs) or dancing and eating herring (and ringing a bell on a "high striker," which is apparently the name for those carnival strength-testing ring-the-bell things). Sam & Dan motored through the golfing Detour and wound up in first place for the leg.
In what ought to be a terribly embarrassing moment, Gary & Matt apparently didn't read the clue. They got all set to dance, not paying attention to the fact that they'd have to eat a herring when they were done. They left the task because Matt doesn't eat that sort of thing.
Let me ask you this: What if it was something that wasn't a choice? What if it was a required task? What would they have done then? They were at that Detour and didn't know their exact position in the race (though they knew they weren't last); they should have done the dancing and herring eating.
Now for the night's real ridiculousness. I have no idea exactly why Brian couldn't put his car in drive once they were in Holland, but he couldn't, so he and Ericka found themselves quickly behind. Thank goodness for Brian allowing Ericka to count the bells in the carillon, because she would have yelled and screamed at him for being too slow, never realizing what was involved in the task.
Ericka failed to get the answer correct on her first (or second or third or umpteenth) try. To be fair to her, Meghan and Sam worked together and Tiffany was given the answer, so that was three teams who, in some respect, worked together while she was left alone. Ericka may have taken a break, but she didn't give up, and I definitely respect that.
I have never been a fan of Ericka & Brian and they were impossibly behind because he couldn't figure out how to drive a car and she couldn't count the bells, and neither bothered to read the where the Detour clue said they should ride bikes to get to the tasks. But all that is fair and just; they should have disappeared tonight. They didn't.
Ericka & Brian were saved because the team I liked even less, Tiffany & Maria, started with the dancing Detour but couldn't strike the bell. They left to try the golfing only to go back to the dancing, which they then left again in order to go back to the golf.
Crazy, yes, but not the limit of their insanity. They quit. Seriously. They quit, bailed on the whole race. Ericka & Brian aren't my favorite team, but they at least gutted it out when they ran into trouble. Not Tiffany & Maria. I told you from the beginning those poker players should go.
Bits and pieces:
- Sam and Dan announced to the others that they were the "token gay team" tonight. I don't really see it changing the race's dynamic, but if I'm wrong I'm sure you'll let me know.
- Gary claimed to have put on a dress before, but never for anything "kinky." Was someone implying he had done it for kinky reasons?
- Why was it necessary to strip to their underwear for the swimming and golfing? Just because they didn't want their clothes wet?
- I loved Big Easy & Flight Time dancing. That's why they're my team. Almost heaving on the herring? Not so much.
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Did anybody else get a good laugh when they showed the preview for next week and that an old challenge would be revisited?
i think tiffany and maria got bad karma by being told the number of bells.
too much of a good thing is bad.
I wouldn't rag on the poker players for quitting. It isn't like they had not pushed themselves and tried multiple times. They took over 15 shots at the golf thing and could not even get past hole number 1. Plus they had both taken over 25 swings at the bell where they apparently had to take turns because the one girl was just horrible. It would not even go up a foot on some swings.
However i was surprised they left that task the second time because they seemed to be getting close with each swing and had already tried golfing which they knew was hard for them.
IN the end, they gave it everything they had and were stuck. They had to know they were done anyway once Phil showed up. They just could not physically do it.
The girls should have just taken the penalty on the bell striking task. I can only imagine how frustrating that was. Erika and Brian really got on my nerves. Uuugh!!!
" They quit. Seriously. They quit, bailed on the whole race."
Well, not exactly. From Tiffany herself on her blog (can be found at http://www.tiffanymichelle.com/Tiffany_Michelle/Blog/Entries/2009/11/1_Amazing_Race_-_Amsterdam.html):
"Technically we didn’t “quit”, we took a penalty for not completing the Detour which happens to be a 24hr penalty (for an unfinished Detour)... mind you, that was AFTER over THREE HOURS of attempting both challenges. Obviously we knew that by giving up on the Detour and asking for the penalty we could VERY likely be eliminated, it was unlikely that we could withstand a 24hr penalty unless it was a non-elimination leg but “quitting the Race” was not what we did, technically we took the penalty (although they worded it differently when Phil came out to the field) and at the point that Brian & Ericka checked in we were then eliminated."
While I disliked the poker girls and wanted them gone from day one, they were already so far behind that I can't really consider that true quitting. They simply weren't in the best shape they could have been, and that was what cost them in the end.
If you really want to see quitting, go back to last week's episode...
Hello
Tiffany and Maria are my favorite characters and I like them to watch very much.Thank you very much for sharing this information with us.I like this blog very much.I visit this blog every weekend.
Even though girls are not my favorite team I can sympathize. They gave it 100% physically. They didn't quit...they just couldn't finish the task.
Additionally, they had been in cold, windy temperatures and had swam the river 3 times. At the point they gave up they appeared to be exhausted mentally and physically. I don't think anyone not in their situation should judge them for that. Perhaps the big mistake was that they should have just skipped the bell-ringing part, but it did not appear that that was an option.
Still if that's the best they could do physically it is probably better they went now. Things were not going to get easier for them.
What I want to know is how Megan and Cheyne were allowed to do the roadblock TOGETHER? I thought perhaps I'd misunderstand and this wasn't a roadblock until every other team only send one member up to count bells. How did they get away with that and not be penalized? Gee even Ericka might have gotten the number pretty quickly if Brian had been there backing her up.