Here’s the Leaderboard:
As an aside, my Texans won (Yes, Eric, I’m a Texans fan. It’s sad, I know). They OWN the Jaguars. OK, not really, but when you’ve got a crap record overall, a 5-4 lifetime edge pretty much qualifies as owning another team.
Travel
The teams traveled from Chennai, India to Kuwait City, Kuwait. I’m guessing that there was no faster flight from Mumbai as Tyler and James arrived about 2-3 hours before the other teams yet allowed them to catch up.
In Kuwait City, teams had a tough time driving around. I’m not sure what it is about the city that caused such confusion. And in at least one case (Dr. Dick and Sarah) a team had a map yet failed to use it well.
Fast Forward – Turn Up the Heat
This was a fear/determination task, as teams trying this task would have to endure high heat to win the Fast Forward. The negotiation to try this task was interesting, as noone wanted to take this after finding out that the Chos wanted to go for it, being in last and all. This proved to be a mistake for Dr. Dick and Sarah, but given their navigating ability they never would’ve made it there anyways.
Interestingly, the Chos put themselves at risk for elimination but managed to fall ass backwards into a good strategy for using the Fast Forward. By allowing Kentucky to get the Fast Forward and finish first, they kept a weaker team in the Race and managed to knock out a stronger team (Dr. Dick and Sarah).
Roadblock – Mind Games
The real key was finding the Roadblock. We got a throwback clue, where the teams were told to go to Kuwait City, shown the picture, and told to find that location.
As it turned out, all teams determined the location before they left Chennai, so it turned into a race to get there – one that the Triad dropped out of thanks to a mistake (see below).
The two-part nature of this task was interesting, as teams that climbed early had a theoretical advantage in having more time to complete the puzzle, yet we saw a lot of shifting of position.
Detour – Manual or Automatic
Apparently the real issues here was finding the locations. As we saw, Lyn/Karlyn, Tyler/James and Dr. Dick/Sarah all had problems trying to find the Detour locations.
With that being said, why wouldn’t you choose a task that isn’t physically demanding, and likely fast to boot? The two teams that chose this task blew through it and despite being lost, Lyn and Karlyn managed to finish ahead of the Chos who we assume had finished before the single moms.
Miscellaneous
– If you can find a local guide, it’s all well and good, but the trick is to not wait for them to get their luggage. The Chos, Alabama and Kentucky lost a lot of time waiting for their guide and as a result ended up the last three teams in line to perform the Roadblock.
– The Chos continue to amaze me as they make some poor gameplay choices because of their principles. It amazes me because it looks as if indeed karma looks out for them and makes sure that they don’t finish last.
– Speaking of karma, we saw it come into play as the single moms deliberately tried to slow down the beauty queens (who they dislike for reasons unknown to me) and naturally ended up finishing behind Dustin and Kandice. It looks like they’re going at it again next week, too.
– Nice to see that Sarah realized in the end that Peter is a jerk.
– This was the first time in a long while I’ve seen a team instructed to skip the task and head to the Pit Stop.
That’s all for this week.
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