Matt & Red 2.63
Tara & Joey 3
Becca & Floyd 3.5
Liz & Michael 4.75 (Eliminated in Athens)
Brooke & Scott 5.13
London & Logan 5.75
But wait, you know how I hate these stats which are based on TAR producers' decision to do away with ties (which to me, was a decision that didn't make any sense at all), so here are my statistics if ties were given and I added a few more tweaks (see my explanation when I first did this) to better reflect the positions so far.
Matt & Red 2.25
Becca & Floyd 2.5
Tara & Joey 2.88
Liz & Michael 4.5 (Eliminated)
Brooke & Scott 5
London & Logan 5.13
Well, my tweaks don't really change the statistics that much - it is still exceedingly clear that Matt & Red are the strongest team by far, but I think that Becca & Floyd are much stronger than most people make them out to be and Tara & Joey have certainly proven themselves to be extremely strong in Greece as well in this leg. The two teams at the bottom of the pack are certainly not of the same calibre as the top three, which makes it an extremely curious choice as to why Brooke & Scott chose to U-turn Liz & Michael when they were definitely weaker than the top three teams - on top of that, they still had to do a speed bump after having been spared eliminated at the end of the last leg.
Brooke & Scott's justification was simple: they knew they were one of the weaker teams, so they had to ensure that they were not going to be last in order to ensue their survival in that leg. So they decided to sink team Liz & Michael with the U-turn, knowing that it would most probably mean their elimination in that leg. It worked of course, but what was the point of that? Just to limp on to another leg at the bottom of the pack, where they get to compete with team Lolo to see who finishes last? If they were strategic and more confident, then they would have had the balls to U-turn one of the top three teams - take your pick, they're all real threats. If you were to make it to the final leg, do you want to compete with stronger teams or weaker teams? Like I said so many times before, you want to bring the weakest opponents with you into the finals and eliminate your biggest competition as early as possible - this is so similar to the way Survivor works at each tribal council. This is a poor decision that will come back and haunt Brooke & Scott - they were only thinking of surviving that leg, they didn't consider the wider strategy in terms of what it takes to win the race. If they had boldly U-turned Tara & Joey, they could have even won this leg or at least came in second.
At least Tara & Joey were a bit more strategic in U-turning Becca & Floyd who have proven to be a very strong team - in pitting them against Liz & Michael, they were at least giving Liz & Michael a chance to survive that leg and it would make complete sense for a team like Tara & Joey to want to take Liz & Michael onto the next leg with them, given that team fun are a lot stronger. It is nothing personal, it is a race and you do whatever you need to do to win a million dollars. Of course, at that stage, given the way the teams had been split up during the drive from Patras port to the town of Arachova, there was no way they could have known just how far back the other teams were. Nonetheless, there's no point in U-turning a weak team who will probably get eliminated anyway as they struggle on, U-turns should be used strategically to get rid of a strong team who would be your biggest threat - I'm sick and tired of the teams on social media defending their strategically poor decisions to U-turn weaker teams whilst refusing to U-turn the strong teams: the teams understood this in Tanzania, but seemed to have lost the plot in Italy and Greece. It seems the hardcore fans of TAR understand strategy far better than some of the racers - boo, you ought to pick more super fans like Justin Scheman to go on the race. I do wonder if the current batch of racers are actually genuine fans of TAR?
Michael does have a bad temper and that's two legs in a row when he has lost his temper - he vented his anger in Piazza San Marco's when team Lolo didn't help him and now he got angry over the U-turn because he had gone out of his way to help Brooke in Dar Es Salaam. No, the simple answer is no - because getting upset about it and venting your anger doesn't change anything - more to the point, the people receiving the brunt of his anger was not ones who made him angry in the first place, it was in fact his teammate Liz, who had done nothing to cause him to be upset in the first place. Oh dear. Whilst many people question Brooke & Scott's poor judgement in U-turning Liz & Michael, many also have said, "it is a race" - it is not a popularity contest. It really shouldn't come as a surprise if another team wants to beat you to the pit stop. Yes there is a time and place to be nice, make friends and even form alliances, but don't be surprised when you get stabbed in the back like that. Personally, I think it is sweet justice because they U-turned Vanck & Ashton at Lake Como - how ironic that it was a U-turn that got them eliminated as well.
How nasty was Michael in that driving fiasco?
But even before the U-turn happened, Michael threw a nasty tantrum and condemned his team to elimination. Liz made a navigational error and missed a turning, she did ask Michael to turn around but he refused to listen to her. Now that's plain nasty - even childish. He didn't have the map in front of him, he couldn't have known where the road he was on was leading or if it would eventually lead them to Arachova. All he had to do was to pull over, stop and look at the map for a minute with Liz and then make a plan calmly. Instead, like yelled and shouted at Liz, vented his anger at all and it was worse than a todler throwing a tantrum. Poor Liz just stood back and took the abuse rather than stand up for herself - at which point, the viewers probably realized that they were going to self-destruct in that leg. We've seen the nice side of Michael when things go well but we're now seeing the really nasty, horrible side of Michael when he gets frustrated - there's no excuse for a grown man behaving so badly and treating Liz like that. It is embarrassing to see someone lose his temper like that on TV, most of us would realize there is a camera pointing in our faces and try to keep a bit more composure even under very stressful situations. Their elimination was entirely Michael's fault.
I really don't like the way this race is going because the teams were all put on the same flight from Venice to Bari then on the same ferry to Patras. Good grief. I missed the days when teams were just given a destination in another country and told to make their own way there by any means necessary, resulting in teams taking different routes, often via different countries - just like way back in TAR S1 E6 when teams had to make their way from Tunis to Rome, they rushed into the airport in Tunis only to find out that there was a strike in the airport in Rome. They ended up booking a bunch of different flights to Europe and used different routes to get to Rome. The drama at Tunis airport with that infamous blocking incident involving team Guido was so much more interesting than the following tasks the teams performed in Rome. Instead of planning the journey from Venice to Patras for the teams in this leg, they really should have just told them to make their own way to Patras by any means possible - that would have been far more in keeping with the spirit of TAR. The worst version of this is in TAR China, where teams start each leg in a new city and the journey from one city to another is never ever a part of the race - it is just completely taken out of the equation.
The teams start in Venice - a major city in northern Italy - where there is a big airport but no direct flights to Patras. In contrast, Patras has a rather small airport, only served by a few airlines. The teams will then have to figure if they are better off trying to get a connecting flight to Patras via somewhere like Milan or Vienna or to just get a flight to Athens or even somewhere like Kefalonia which would at least get them into Greece, but still have to then figure their way to get to Patras by public transport. You can still have them self-driving from Patras to Arachova if you really want them to self-drive in Greece. I like to see teams rushing into a travel agency, trying to figure out the best route and book flights. Why are the producers removing that element of TAR from this season? Is it for budget reasons? Are they afraid that one team may be so clueless about geography that they may book a really expensive, long flight via somewhere like Moscow or Cape Town that will cost a ridiculous amount of money? Or do they just not trust the teams anymore to make decisions like that for themselves when getting from one country to another, like in so many previous seasons?
Oh this made me angry, Becca was rude to the cheese lady in Arachova. She called the lady, "you sneaky cheese lady, you're such a sneaky cheese lady, over here off the beaten path" and didn't even say thank you in Greek or English when given the cheese. Look, here's a lesson when it comes to dealing with Greeks (and other nationalities in continental Europe), people tend to speak English as a second or foreign language. However, older European people tend not to speak much English - the younger ones will be the ones who are far more confident when it comes to using the English language. Thus when you approach an elderly Greek lady, stop playing it up to the camera by trying to be funny for the American viewers - when you say things like "your're such a sneaky cheese lady" to an elderly Greek lady, you risk upsetting or insulting her because she may understand enough English to think that Becca was trying to be rude to her. None of the other teams were rude to the ladies giving out the cheese apart from Becca, I don't think she was trying to be rude per se, but it was a desperate attempt to be funny that failed miserably. Like oh look at me, I'm team fun, I've got this fun meter thing, I'm hilarious, I'm a comedian - no you're not Becca. You tried to make a joke and that failed miserably. Don't quit your day job, your jokes suck, it wasn't funny at all, it was pathetic. And be polite!
Kokoretsi is so delicious!
Liz & Michael's speed bump in Athens involved preparing a dish of kokoretsi in a food truck. Oh my, I love kokoretsi so much - it is so divine. It is definitely one of my favourite dishes from that part of SE Europe. Basically, it involves wrapping various pieces of goat's/lamb's innards around a skewer and barbecuing it. I had it in the town of Roda in Greece many years ago and loved it - I have since tried hunting it down in Greek restaurants in London but was told that whilst the Greeks love it, British people tend to be quite averse to eating offal, hence it is not on the menu. I suppose it is a cultural thing, in some countries people are quite happy to eat offal whilst in others, it is seen as something disgusting. The face Liz made when she had to prepare the kokoretsi was priceless - unless she is vegan or vegetarian, I don't know why she was so upset, it is just meat after all. They should have made both Liz & Michael eat a portion of the delicious kokoretsi before they could move on, I'm sure even Liz would have enjoyed a plate of authentic Greek kokoretsi. Trust me, it is absolutely awesome, do try it if you ever get the opportunity, it tastes great!
Yeah. I was amazed. I was expecting her to breakdown and cry, have a tantrum or scream for help, hurl abuse at Scott "for making her do this" etc throughout this leg but somehow, she kept her composure and even learnt the Greek changing of the guard routine fairly quickly with none of her usual drama. I wonder what made the difference, I just felt relieved for Scott that he didn't have to put up with more of her usual crybaby childish crap on this leg. But then again, they made the very strategically poor decision to U-turn Liz & Michael - so even if they are finally learning how to work together, I don't think this team is going to go much further. I am guessing they're going to be eliminated before team Lolo because they just don't understand how strategy works in this race. Oh winning TAR is a lot more than being able to pull off those road blocks and detours quickly, you need to use the U-turns to have the odds in your favour.
The Panathenaic Stadium in Athens
The teams had to do a lap around the Panatheanic Stadium in Athens - some fans on social media have asked if it was the original Olympic stadium, well I can put on my teacher hat and help you guys out here. The stadium where the ancient Olympics were held between 776 BC and 393 AD is located in Olympia, Greece. That's 255 km roughly to the West of Athens or 90 km to the south of Patras. The teams actually visited the Panathenaic stadium where the 1896 Olympics - the first modern summer Olympic games - were held. An ancient stadium did exist in the same site, dating back to 330 BC, but it was abandoned since the 4th century AD and was only excavated and rebuilt in the period of 1869 to 1875. It has since remained in use constantly for various sporting activities and in the 2004 summer Olympics, it hosted the archery event and was the finishing point for the marathon events. Oh and did anyone else notice that Tara & Joey were so excited that they ran their lap whilst still carrying their backpacks, whilst the other teams were sensible enough to put down their bags before running? I'm sure those backpacks must be rather heavy to run with!
We have another two-hour episode to look forward to next week! I saw from the previews of the next two episodes that the teams are going to do the famous Corinth canal bungee jump before leaving Greece. TAR last visited this famous bungee jump in TAR S9 E6 (I really liked that season - who can forget BJ & Tyler). The teams then head on to Hanoi, Vietnam. Teams would be reminded of the kind of chaos, confusion and huge language barriers that they encountered in Tanzania as Hanoi is well and truly chaotic. Been there, done there, believe me. It is a very pretty and exotic place to visit if you go join a guided tour and get driven from one tourist attraction to another by an English speaking guide, but trying to navigate the city by public transport can be a nightmare given the heavy traffic and language barrier. Oh and Brooke throws yet another tantrum in the streets of Hanoi, quelle surprise, I would have expected nothing less from her. So in fact, the teams are spending one and a half legs in Greece and one and a half legs in Vietnam.
Based on the way the previews have been presented to us, we had a warning that Liz & Michael were going to fall apart in this leg from the last preview when we saw Michael throwing a tantrum whilst driving and we have seen how that led to their elimination in Greece. Given that we were shown a preview of Brooke totally falling to pieces in Hanoi and getting very little sympathy from Scott, I am predicting that they would finally be put out of their misery and eliminated in Hanoi next. Team Lolo aren't that strong but at least they work well together under pressure - we have seen how teams have self-destructed when under a lot of pressure. It happened to Michael in Greece, it will probably happen to Brooke in Hanoi. When one team member falls apart like that and rumbles under stress, it is virtually impossible for the other team member to hold the team together. By that token, I feel so sorry for Liz and Scott! As for the winning team, Tara & Joey are my favourite right now - I think Tara is a superwoman, she is by far my favourit racer in this season and I really want her to win but really any of the other two strong teams (Matt & Red, Becca & Floyd) could win as well. Of the teams left at this stage, Tara & Joy have won three legs, whilst Matt & Red and Becca & Floyd have only each one one. So let's see what awaits the teams next in Vietnam, many thanks for reading guys!
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