We did hear at least one team ask specifically for a direct flight. But if it's in the rules, they should indicate that so we don't think they're all a bunch of dumbasses.

Yeah, the airport/flight scrambling and negotiations are some of my favorite parts of TAR.

I didn't even like the poker players, but what a heartbreaking way to go out. Hand to god, there's no way that I could've rung that bell or done that golf thing, either. I have no upper body strength to speak of.

Yeah, it was the type of task that makes me think they really don't want a female-female team to win ever. At least, they should have made it so both partners have to ring it so that couples couldn't get out of having the woman do it too.

I did dig how fake-cheerful she was at eating the herring though.

You really saw her Miss America training come through on that one!

As for the Poker girls, I wish we had seen them actually do the bell challange. That they were able to skip through that (thanks Sam/Dan) irked me.

Yes, however, the reaction of Meghan and Cheyne made me like them even more. They called them on it and then they got over it.

I was really surprised nobody tried to get an earlier flight out. I know there was only the one nonstop flight, but they had nearly twelve hours to find alternatives! Dubai is a major international port - surely they could have found a flight to somewhere else in Europe with a connection to Amsterdam, even if it meant taking two or three planes instead of one.

I was surprised about this too. That seemed obvious. If they really can't do that, I am liking this show even less as time goes on.

At least, they should have made it so both partners have to ring it so that couples couldn't get out of having the woman do it too.

YES. That really bugged.

Yeah, very annoying.

Stephanie Izard, winner of Top Chef a few seasons ago, recently had a bacon feast--three courses, ten dishes, all with at least some bacon involved. Sounds like it was fun! (All 100 tickets sold out within 90 seconds.)

God, there's a girl after my own heart.

I did appreciate how non-bitchy with each other they were when the challenge(s) kept going so badly. Not a lot of teams would have gotten through that without more sniping at each other.

This definitely. I really started to like them more and more the worse they started doing on the tasks. They stayed supportive and generally positive. I even liked the way they quit. I would've hung it up, too, if I'd been out there for hours in the freezing cold wind in wet long johns, knowing that I wasn't strong enough to do the task in the first place back when I was relatively warmer and stronger. I still wonder what would've happened if they'd just gotten some male Fern and had him do the bell ringing for them.

I really dug Team Zebra at the beginning of the race, and I'm still a huge Brian fan, but Erica has been grating on me for a while now. The only two road blocks she's done so far are this last one and duck block, no? Otherwise, she always steps aside to let him do the task. And even when they are doing a group task, it's mostly him working and her kibbutzing and occasionally yelling at him to get the task done faster. And while I agree that they generally do a good job of overcoming challenges and pulling it together as a team, it seems like he is always the one who is calming her down, keeping her focused. And she's usually the one that leads them into the mess. You know, Miss America, don't yell at him about how he can't get the car in gear. Why not just switch places and you drive? Mad that you had to walk miles and miles in wooden shoes? You were the one rushing him out of the changing station before thoroughly reading the clue, yelling at him to hurry up and follow you while you were halfway down the road. And the whole prissy girl thing? OK, I get that because I'm a prissy girl, too, but the "Chocolate melts in the sun", can't get wet, "I spend money, not count it" thing. Yeah, that's not nearly as cute as she thinks it is.

TAR: Yeah, that was another really tough way to go out. Just hard to watch. I respected how long they tried it and how supportive they were of each other. However! I still am pissed at my token Asian because she only did sushi & monkey of the Roadblocks the whole time. And in the bell ringing task she backed out of her attempts, barely swinging on her turns, making Tiffany do all the physical work. But yeah, that was rough because both tasks required not only the physical aspect, but the same muscle group. And so did swimming across the lake.

I agree about Team Zebra. I really want to like them, and she was growing on me for a while, but yeah. I do agree that they did a good job, especially Brian, getting themselves calmed and ready to try again.

I really miss the travel vagaries part of the competition. I realize that it makes it tougher for the producers, but it is so much more interesting a show when you've got the risks and rewards of actual travel decisions that you might actually have to make were you actually traveling.

That and money management. I miss money management playing into things.

Finally caught up on watching my reality shows (and reading here)! Sadly, somehow my TiVo didn't catch the Top20 picking show...and the other Top 20 (where they danced in groups) one taped, but was all black!!

But I did get last week's Top 20 (the pairs), so that was good. Still hate evil married ballroom girl who is paired with the awesome guy. And krump guy, who made no sense in the bottom two. Poor guy who got pulled in and kicked off in the space of like, three days. And the girl with the knee thing--seriously, why did she get a pass??

Meanwhile, on Top Model....sucks for them they don't get to go anywhere international! And...she put them in BLACKFACE! WTF, TYRA???