Stop Yelling At Me; I Gotta Go Teepee
If you haven't yet seen (and you intend to see) episode 11 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 Godlewski family being the last team to reach Phil at the mat but the fourth team to be saved from elimination on the Family Edition of the show. The pit stop was located on a ranch in Wyoming, USA (Number 15200; near Highway 287).
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 Bransen Family
2. The Weaver Family
3. The Linz Family
4. The Godlewski 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 Bransen Family
I got nuthin’ on these guys again this week. They maintained their lead, and good on ‘em, but that’s about it. The Bransen family might be the dark horse in this race, but I think the Linz family’s more likely to take out the prize money.
2. The Linz Family
The brother with the weird eyes (he stares with them wide-eyed quite a lot – perhaps he’s wearing contacts on the race but is used to glasses?) is a little off-putting. Their crass jokes, cruelty and bullying behaviour aside, you’ve got a pretty effective team here. I have nothing in my notes about them for this episode, except to say that they’re my tip for winning the race next week.
3. The Weaver Family
The Weaver family got into an argument about filling up their car with ‘gas’ (petrol) when they had the chance – and for what it’s worth, I agree with Rachel; it would have been smart to fill up while they were stopped anyway and had the chance. They’d be a lot further behind if they tried to fill up where there were no gas stations around at all, and ended up running out of petrol on the side of the road! (This still may happen at the start of next week’s episode, because they were running out of gas completely when they pulled in to the pit stop in this episode.) For constantly spotting things like the cluebox and various other items they’re meant to be looking out for, Rolly wins this week’s Carissa Gaghan Honorary Eagle-Eye Award For Exceptional Observation Skills. It was hilarious (but adrenaline-pumping) when the cops pulled Rebecca over for speeding … only to give her a warning. Why didn’t she ask the cop for directions to the pit stop? He may even have escorted them there! She really doesn’t think very clearly. Rolly putting his seatbelt on in a mad hurry when he heard the cop’s sirens was funny, too. Why didn’t his mother make sure he was wearing it anyway?! Especially considering how her husband died (sort of in a car accident!). From the ad, it looks like next week Rolly gets into a tussle with the weird-eyed Linz brother, who later mutters, “He’s lucky I didn’t break his arm” after the pair trip over one another (or so it appeared in the quick flash we saw on the ad). And let me just commend this grown man on restraining himself from hitting a kid. Oh, well done. --> sarcasm
I’m just so happy they’re gone. What another terrible episode for these sisters. Again, I hope shame befalls their household when it comes to facing everyone they know. They just really shouldn’t be treating their fellow sisters like that – they’re not fourteen-year-olds anymore! It was clear in the teepee challenge in particular that Christine was trying so hard to prove herself to her two bitchy older sisters, and there was simply no way they (especially Sharon, from the interviews they all gave right at the end) were ever going to give Christine her dues. Michelle’s a cold-hearted b*tch, and I know I certainly wouldn’t accept being spoken to and treated the way she speaks to and treats her younger sisters. That goes triple for when we’re being filmed on an international television show! Do these women have any brains between them?!? The section towards the end where Michelle and Sharon absolutely cracked it with each other on the golf cart was just plain ridiculous. There’s simply no excuse for behaviour like that. These are the kinds of people who give American tourists their bad reputation across the globe. The one amusing moment was when they started to muck around with Buffalo Bill, and he broke character (or maybe not), and started seducing them! So in summary: Good riddance.
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Last week's tips:
First Team: The Godlewski family (Wrong)
Last Team: The Linz family (Wrong)
Yield? No Correct!
Fast Forward? No Correct!
Elimination Week? No. (Wrong)
Biggest Argument: The Linz family (Wrong – Godlewskis again)
Smartest Team: The Bransen family Correct!
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Next week's tips:
It's a double episode again next week (the finale), 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? No.
Biggest Argument: The Linz family.
Smartest Team: The Bransen family.
First Team: The Linz family.
Last Team: The Weaver family.
Yield? No.
Fast Forward? No.
Elimination Week? Yes - obviously!
Biggest Argument: The Bransen family.
Smartest Team: The Linz family.
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posted by BEVIS @ 9:56 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Hey dude.
I'm stunned at your lack of criticism of the behaviour of the Weaver family. For Christians, they sure are nasty. I would've expected more from people who preach brotherly love and tolerance.
Mummy Weaver's comments about the Godliewski family being 'all peroxide and chest implants' was b*tchy beyond belief - what kind of family is she raising?
I was shocked by their behaviour then and I'm shocked by it now.
Please give me your insight on this.
xx Charlie
Hey there, you. Happy New Year. :)
I'm more than happy to oblige:
I've commented before on that remark Linda Weaver made (although I thought it was one of the girls this time). The line you're referring to about the Godlewski sisters was originally said in the episode where the Paolo family first Yielded the Weavers.
While their behaviour in recent episodes has been disgusting and offensive without a doubt, they weren't always like that. It's been interesting to see them devolve into the bitter people they now are, which has been a direct result of the way they have been bullied and ostracised for the majority of the race.
That's where my sympathies come to the fore; not so much on the backstabbing or double-standards (because everyone does that on this race and I daresay absolutely anybody would be the same). But if a family's being bullied (whether for their beliefs or something entirely different - and I don't actually think the bullying had anything to do with their beliefs whatsoever; just that they were 'different' and frankly a little odd), then that's going to "angry up my blood" in the same way it did if someone working at reception in my former workplace was being unfairly put upon by their manager. It's simply not right.
Keeping all that in mind, Christians are 'mere humans', too. It's just that sometimes they're set upon more swiftly and with greater vitriol when they stuff up than anyone else is for the very same thing. To my way of thinking, the Weavers' biggest mistake is not in the bitching and moaning they're doing about the other teams - they're in a fast-paced, highly stressful race against those other teams and copping nothing but rudeness all round (and yes, they're now dishing it back just as much [if not more]) ... I know I'd be extremely competitive and would never want to make friends with the other teams, if I was the one on the show. Their biggest mistake in my opinion is in sitting down afterwards and spouting on about their values and blamelessness and honour and pious behaviour. They're not blameless anymore; they've jumped into the gossip and backstabbing cesspool with both feet, so they should drop the high-and-mighty act in their interviews and maybe even cut back on the 'wounded victim' thing as well. It's getting old, and they can hardly be said to be Golden People at this point.
You'll note that Part 1 of this double-episode recap (this post being Part 2), my comment: "How quickly we forget the values we’re only too quick to boast about to others" was a direct reference to the kind of hypocrisy you're talking about. I was 'harsher' with the Weavers in that part of the double episode (did you read that post as well as this one? I'm not suggesting that you haven't read it; I just want to make sure that you did - or do). While not touching on it directly here, I've felt that the Weavers were badly-done-by through some very unnecessary bullying early on in the piece (which was all based on false information and a poor re-telling of events courtesy of the Linz and Godlewski families to the other teams), and the Weavers had no way to come back from that. Since then, I've been on their case when necessary, but you see, the Weavers are never short of providing me with plenty of material for these recaps - it's the Bransens and some of the others at times who I find it difficult to say anything about!
I have a REAL problem with bullying (as evidenced from - and experienced at - my former workplace), so that's what I take the bigger exception to.
But I'm not shirking the Weaver family's appalling double-standards at all. I've talked about it plenty of times (but they're still the pick of the bunch when it comes to selecting a 'heart' winner instead of a 'head' winner). I guess that's what happens when the only teams left in the game are either repulsive or drop-dead boring.
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