Mad-at-a-gas-car

Wurstfest was great - will blog about that later, but I've had a request to get on the stick and give my TAR recap, so here goes!

The teams' first task was to travel to Madagascar. When I was a kid, I used to play Risk with my brother, and the memory clue I used for Madagascar was to call it "Mad-at-a-gas-car." But that's neither here nor there. Let's chat about what happened in this segment.

The Beauty Queens took someone else's car because they wrecked theirs. Of course they did. Bitches. Luckily, the Cho's, who got stuck with the BQ's wrecked car, were not slowed by getting stuck with it, and everyone caught up at the airport.

In Madagascar, the teams had to find the "black angel" in a lake. It bites that the first three teams passed the angel, which is now painted white, leaving the BQ's to get there first. Whatever happened to karma?

Once there, though, the BQ's, then other teams, realized that they'd have to work with another team for the Detour. I couldn't help but grind my teeth at the way Kandice smiled happily while saying the other teams hate them and no one would want to work with them.

Detour: Long Sleep or Short Letter.
Both sets of a joined teams went for Long Sleep, which is what I would've done, too. I think this may be the fist time that no one went for the other possibility in a Detour. Anyway, I wanted to scream when the Cho's got stuck with the BQ's. The BQ's kept acting like the Cho's were the lucky ones to be teamed with them. And I cringed audibly (didn't know you could, but you can) when one of the BQ's said to the Cho's "You are Asian. We could've made paper!" Bitchy *and* racist. Fab-o. On the van to the Detour site, the BQ's kept trying to dis the other teams and talk about lucky they and the Cho's were to be teamed, and the Cho's wouldn't even look at them. They must've been ready to gag.

And one more comment on the BQ's - I'm about sick of hearing them say, "Shoot!" when something goes wrong, like they're innocents whose sweet, honest souls can't be soiled with foul language. I'll take a "Shit!" with integrity anyday. Oh yeah - the smiles, too. The day I can watch TAR without looking at their Crest Whitestrips teeth glaring at me will be a red-letter day.

Bama and KY were ruining those mattresses, by the way, by dragging them instead of carrying them. I can't imagine the customers receiving those mattresses were too happy when they received them!

Fast Forward: While the other four teams were stumbling around delivering mattresses and collecting rubber stamps, the Models and Kim and Rob were choking down plates of cow lips for the honor of jetting directly to the Pit Stop. That would've been a problem for me. As I've said before, Suzanne doesn't do eating challenges. I'd have been there with Kim, puking under the table. For those who missed it, James polished off his plate first, saying he was glad he finally found something in this game he's good at. Tyler was next, then Rob, who certainly gagged and may have puked at one point. He seriously looked like he was stunned by the whole exercise, and I enjoyed that immensely. But he did manage to finish, and then they were all really supportive of Kim until she finished. It was as nice as any of them have been all game.

Road Block: rubber stamps.
This was the task the non-Fast Forward teams had to complete after the mattresses. They had to wander around a market, collecting 4 specific stamps on a piece of paper from various vendors. The BQs did this the fastest and actually managed to beat out the Fast Forward teams for first place. You can guess how I felt about that.

The Chos finished next, and then David and Mary, but because D&M weren't first, they had to step aside and wait 30 minutes before they could check in. Unfortunately, Bama was not a full 30 minutes behind them. They made it to the Pit Stop 10 minutes after D&M, causing D&M to be eliminated. I was sorry to see them go, but not surprised. They've been hanging on by the skin of their teeth for the last few rounds.

I am very proud of them, though. They said that because of this experience, they now know that they love Kentucky and that it will always be their home and their identity, but they don't have to be limited to it. They said they want to travel more of the world, and they want to share it with their kids so their kids will have a wider experience than they had. I think that's awesome! I think they've grown during this race, and that other people have grown as a result of knowing them and watching them, and I think that's fantastic. I hope the future holds good things for them.

That's it for this week! I'll give the low-down on Wurstfest as soon as I can - maybe tomorrow, but I'm not sure. I'm having some computer problems, and I'll have to see how that all plays out.

Everyone go vote tomorrow! Let your voice be heard! It's a privilege and an obligation to all the people who fought to give us this freedom. Don't belittle their sacrifice by blowing it off.