Eric and Dani are the first to get the clue, which tells them to travel 2,300 miles to their final destination, San Francisco, where they must make their way to the Old Mint. The BQ's get the clue next, and then finally Mirna and Shmirna.
In the car on the way to the airport, we finally get the big BQ fight that the Show has been promo-ing all week, and let me be the first to say "Overhyped." Here's how it began: "Dustin, out there on the water, you were not a good teammate." Dustin tells her "You're saying a lot of hurtful stuff right now."
Basically, the "fight" is made up of both BQ's saying things like: "I feel extreme frustration with this, and I feel that doesn't help the team at all." Which is not a fight, it's a seminar on How to Communicate Your Feelings. Where's the yelling? The insulting? The cat fight? Nowhere, that's where, because after a few seconds more, they touch hands, make up and recommit themselves to the Race. Lame.
Eric and Dani are the first to get to the airport. They book a flight to Oakland that leaves at 11:55pm and gets in at 6:57. The BQs are right behind them and get on the same flight. Mirna and Shmirna arrive a little bit later. Shmirna tells the person at the ticket counter that "It's a true emergency for me to get to Oakland."
Maybe that isn't the most horrible fib to tell, but remember when Team CrazyPants was walking the moral high ground, gloating about how squeaky clean they are? Well, I call foul on then claiming getting to Oakland is a "true emergency." It's not. It's just something that you really want. Big difference. So shut up.
In the end, it doesn't matter, and all three teams end up on the same flight. We get more airport action as the teams check in, sit on the flight and land. Everyone runs out and we get more Go Go Gadget Mirna Shoes.
The BQ's get to the Mint first. And basically the challenge is a test of what teams are the biggest gossips and most able to reduce other teams to stereotypes. In the task, one team member must enter a vault and answer four questions, which will be used to create a four digit code. They must use that code to lock the clue inside. The second teammate then enters the vault and tries to guess the answers to create the code and open the vault. Oh, and after ten minutes, whether you guess or not, you get the clue.
And suddenly I feel like I'm on Survivor... They do challenges like this all the time, to try to stir things up amongst the tribes ("How do you feel now that you know everyone on your tribes hates you?"). But one of the things I like about the Race is that it's about working together as a team to get through tough stuff, not about gossiping about other teams. That's why I liked the flags challenge (the year that Eric came in second, incidentally) - it was about remembering the countries you visited. I also think the ten minute time limit is lame. But either way, this is the challenge... So....
Dustin goes first for the BQ's and Eric for his team. Team CrazyPants Go Go Gadgets in, and Mirna goes for them. Dustin is pretty sure that she and Kandace see eye to eye on the other teams. And Eric says that this test is "based on communication. And since Danielle does talk so much, like about gossip and stuff", he thinks they'll do well. Mirna tells us: "Charla and I are strong mentally, so we will always find a way to defeat whatever odds are placed against us, because we know that that's our strength."
The questions ask the teams to guess who is the least trustworthy, who has the best sense of humor, who is the most overrated and who they want to stay in touch with. And then the teams switch out. There's a lot of guessing and reguessing. And then finally Dani gets it right. She and Eric get their clue, which tells them to travel by taxi to the San Francisco Botanical Garden, which is the Pit Stop.
Kandace and Shmirna are still trying to guess the code. But neither can get it, and Kandace gets her clue when the ten minutes run out. And then a couple of minutes later, Charla gets her clue.
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Comments (9)
That phone call Eric made to Jeremy was probably one of the most uncomfortable things I've ever had to watch on TAR. What was with Jeremy yelling "I'm rich!", and the spankings? Didn't he realise that would be on tv? Idiot.
1 of 9 | Posted by tenny
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Posted on May 11, 2007 9:29 PM
Kind of disappointed that the BQs didn't win, but oh well.
I too noticed Dustin's thong - not so much that she wears one, but that she didn't have the brains to figure: pants aren't meant for swimming. Would it have been worse if her pants slid down and she didn't have underwear?
The last challenge was stupid stupid stupid. Why did they all fly into OAK? Wouldn't SFO be closer to the old mint? And more flights into SFO? What the hell do I know, I'm not a travel agent.
Getting back to the stupid challenge: Why couldn't it be something that required some skills?
Let's hope the next season is harder and better.
2 of 9 | Posted by GiadaFan
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Posted on May 11, 2007 10:15 PM
I still have no idea which is Dustin and which is Kandice. Anyone else?
3 of 9 | Posted by Merick
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Posted on May 12, 2007 5:05 AM
Hola! I was disappointed, of course, at the BQs' defeat, but given that I'm also firmly in category #2 (i.e., team no-crazy-pants-winnage-please), I can take some solace in that. Not that I hate them, I don't; I just wouldn't be able to stomach Mirna's nonsense/gloating if they had won. Cringing just thinking about it.
I think I read somewhere that they went to Oakland rather than San Fran because the producers told them they had to. Apparently because too many people would have seen them if they flew to SFO. Because, of course, there are no people in Oakland. ?? Don't ask me. If they want to avoid people, the final leg should be in Wyoming or something.
Any-way, I also hated the final task. There should have been more to do on the last leg after the flight bunching, and the gossip challenge was just .. lame.
And, Awesomeness, Eric & Danielle aren't just broken up; they HATE each other. It's kind of funny. I think they were broken up before the race ever began. I mean, they didn't act at all like BF/GF. They won $1,000,000 and he doesn't even kiss her on the lips; he kisses her on the forehead.
Ah well, next year..
4 of 9 | Posted by Lime23
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Posted on May 12, 2007 7:52 AM
Oh, and Merick, I couldn't tell the BQs apart last season either -- but Kandice is the one with the curlier hair, sort of Maggie Gyllenhaal-esque; she's the one in the back seat of the car/the "angry" one during the "fight"...
5 of 9 | Posted by Lime23
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Posted on May 12, 2007 7:56 AM
Yeah, if they wanted anonymity, they should have landed in SJC. Or Butte, Montana. One of the two.
For the longest time, I thought Kandice was Dustin as well, Kandice looks like a Dustin. Either way, I was a bit sad when they lost.
It's kind of funny that Eric hooked up with Danielle, or wanted to at least. First episode, they seemed chummy; by the end, you could see that she was so tired of him. Even on their CBS morning show interview, they seemed to be quarrelsome siblings instead of a couple.
I still can't get over that lame final challenge. I know they are trying to do something that ties in all the destinations or contestants, but that was so lame. I know they did something in the past where the finalists had to put the other Racers in order of Elimination - what they should have done is something along the lines of naming the other racers' ranks in their respective season. Something that is more factual, and not so arbitrary like "Who is the least trustworthy?" I don't trust anyone, so I'd have taken that ten minute penalty off the bat.
6 of 9 | Posted by GiadaFan
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Posted on May 12, 2007 11:53 AM
I am so glad the BQ's didn't win. They drove me crazy in terms of using their "beauty" for things and just being generally dumb. They aren't very pretty and just...ew.
Anyway, SFO is way further away than Oakland is to the Mint in terms of how long it would take you to get there. SFO is is super-south san francisco where oakland is far, but in terms of what the traffic would look like and such, Oakland was a better choice. I don't think any of the teams knew that but I do believe that the producers knew :)
7 of 9 | Posted by PixieGal
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Posted on May 13, 2007 12:08 PM
Ummm...if Eric said he was a afraid of sharks and then got bit by one, that wouldn't make it irony but coincidence, or comeupance. Had Dani got bitten by a shark - irony.
Also, SFO has more weather delays than Oaktown so that's probably why they went into Oakland.
8 of 9 | Posted by r.pupkin
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Posted on May 14, 2007 5:28 PM
Awesomeness, I almost skipped the recap since the show was so boring, but, again, you are hilarious- loved it. And kudos for always handling the topic of Crazypants without lapsing into bad taste. It isn't easy to laugh at her shoes, butt, and luggage cart escapades, but you made it possible without ever feeling mean. And always being damn funny. Well done.
9 of 9 | Posted by Lucy
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Posted on May 16, 2007 12:36 AM