When The Goin' Gets Tough, The Weavers Get Weaslin'

... Spoiler Alert! ... Spoiler Alert! ...


If you haven't yet seen (and you intend to see) episode 9 of The Amazing Race Series 8 - Family Edition (TAR 8), do not read any further!


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The last TAR 8 episode we saw here in Australia ended with the Paolo family being the last team to reach the pit stop and the sixth team to be eliminated from the Family Edition of the show. The pit stop was located on a houseboat on Lake Powell near Antelope Point in Arizona, USA.

For the record, this was the order in which the teams reached Phil on the mat last episode, and the order in which they started this leg of the race:


1. The Godlewski Family
2. The Linz Family
3. The Weaver Family
4. The Bransen Family


Note: If you're already ahead of this point in the series, please refrain from giving any spoilers in your comments. Thank you.

As always, I'll provide my thoughts on each team in this episode, listing them in the order in which they arrived at the pit stop at the end of the episode (hence the 'Spoiler Alert!').



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1. The Linz Family


It was clear from the way Phil's voiceover right at the start asked the question about whether the Linz family could finally win a leg (coupled with the comment in the 'previously' bit that they were again beaten to the post last time) that these guys were going to come in first this week. And that made me glad that I'd tipped them! I knew that reversing their car and caravan (trailer) at the helicopter challenge was a mistake - they should have at least had one of them jump out and grab the clue! As it was, they missed out on grabbing the numbered token and had to watch as the Weavers and Godlewskis took the first ride on the chopper. Ha. It's constantly amazing to me just how nasty and mean everyone is to the Weavers. And by 'everyone', the Bransens haven't really been part of it (not since the very early days, anyway - and even then, only in a minor fashion), so I really mean the Linzes and the Godlewskis. It's getting very old and only makes me despise these two families all the more. What a disgusting way to behave! And it was simply too much when one of the Linz boys called Linda Weaver "the wicked witch". The solitary amusing comment with the Linz boys this week was when one of the three (who are impossible to tell apart) told another one of them that they'd get him a helmet, due to his excited chuckling and carrying-on. Not long afterwards he was wearing a helmet for therappell challenge! Phil stole the show again this week by joking with the Linz family when they reached the pitstop by saying that they'd won no prizes. I'm not sure what it is about this Family Edition (more time to fill, perhaps?), but seeing 'The Philiminator' relaxing a bit more and cracking jokes is the best.



2. The Godlewski Family


Well, just like last week, the Godlewski girls wasted no time getting stuck into one another. I guess it'd be wrong of me to say they 'started arguing' right off the bat - it's clear that they never actually stop arguing. The way they all turned on Christine for talking was pretty cruel (humiliating and embarrassing her on international TV just so they can make themselves feel better - because they sure aren't making themselves look any better!), and again it was the elder two sisters, Michelle and Sharon, who were particularly cutting and harsh. I was intrigued by the girls' complete absence at the "climb it or ride it" detour without any explanation - they were chugging along in second place and then suddenly both the Weavers and the Bransens arrived before them. It wasn't until the Godlewskis finally turned up that we were treated to Phil's very hasty voiceover: "Due to a production error involving the camera equipment, the Godlewskis' car battery was drained. A replacement vehicle was provided, but they have fallen into last place." Hehe - I bet they weren't happy about that!! (However, it's a condition of the Race that all teams accept the notion that dodgy or broken equipment / transportation will be replaced if the error is not the team's fault, but that no time credits will be awarded - so in other words, the producers will do whatever they can to get a stranded team whatever they need, but it's "luck of the draw" and they just have to lump it.) Frankly, everyone's behaviour and nastiness at the absent Weaver family being Yielded is just disgusting and really highlights their individual pettiness ... not to mention how ugly their true personalities are.



3. The Bransen Family


Whatever.




4. The Weaver Family: SAFE!


Considering everything I've said above in the Weaver family's defense, they really don't make it easy for us to like them, do they! I realise that three of their number are still quite young (the eldest daughter, Rebecca, is 19, equal in age to the youngest - and most immature - of the Linz boys, Tommy, and younger than anyone else still in the race), so you've got to keep that in mind, but really ... some of the things they say and do are quite alienating in themselves! In a sense, they only have themselves to blame. But in another, more accurate sense, they are doomed to be loathed at this point no matter what they do. They will never redeem themselves in the eyes of the Linzes or the Godlewskis - those two teams have reinforced their misrepresentations of the Weavers in their own minds so much that I bet they even saw and heard what they wanted to see and hear when they eventually watched the episodes of the show as they went to air in the US. They will never be able to go back to step one and clarify the misconceptions that have skewed things so far from reality now between the three teams. And that's why I can partly understand why the Weavers' desperate (and, in their minds, 'only') course of action is to lash out and bad-mouth the other teams while trying to build themselves up, and later spout on about how clean-cut and blameless they are. The problem is, the one cancels out the other (at least in the audience's "all-knowing, all-seeing" point of view). They certainly should never have gone the 'picturesque' route to the pitstop, but it's easy to say that from the comfort of my loungeroom. Who the Linz family decided to Yield (which I didn't think would appear for another week, dammit!) was certainly no surprise to anyone, and if the Weavers had gone with therappell detour like everyone else (instead of riding mountain bikes when Rebecca in particular didn't know how to change gears on them), they wouldn't have fallen behind so much during this leg. But they're not out yet. And yes, Phil was right - that was the most amusingly unenthusiastic reaction to a non-elimination announcement we've ever seen! Hilarious! It's a bit sad that it fell to Phil to give them a pep-talk before they felt charged up and ready to fight another day, but seriously - if you were being ostracised as much as they have (think of how they stayed in their caravan alone on the overnight bit because no one else wanted to talk to them), you'd be feeling pretty lousy as well. I know I'd certainly be 'jack' of it and want to go home to (other) family and friends! It must be really hard and lonely for them, and I completely understand why they're hating it. The experience shouldn't be so lacking in fun (the Paolos made their own bed with their arguing, but when the Weavers have barely done anything wrong - except respond poorly on occasion to their treatment by the other teams - then it becomes a different matter entirely). On a lighter note, Rolly's Dukes of Hazzard-style jump into the car through the open window was genius. Or as Wifey said, "Boys are fun."


Oh, and I also loved the skiier's pick-up line for the Bransen girl (who is also indistinguishable from her sisters): "If you live, let's go out!"



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Last week's tips:

First Team: The Linz family. Correct!
Last Team: The Weaver family. Correct!
Yield? No. (Wrong)
Fast Forward? No. Correct!
Elimination Week? No. Correct!
Biggest Argument: The Godlewski family. Correct!
Smartest Team: The Linz family. Correct!


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Next week's tips:


It's a double episode next week (but not yet the finale), so my tips for both respective episodes are as follows ...


First Team: The Linz family.
Last Team: The Weaver family.
Yield? No.
Fast Forward? No.
Elimination Week? Yes.
Biggest Argument: The Godlewski family.
Smartest Team: The Linz family.


First Team: The Godlewski family.
Last Team: The Linz family.
Yield? No.
Fast Forward? No.
Elimination Week? No.
Biggest Argument: The Linz family.
Smartest Team: The Bransen family.


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