Zdravo, dober dan guys! This was a fun leg in Slovenia and it was the first time that TAR has visited this country. Oh I got my hopes up that Steve & Anna Leigh were going to be eliminated after that massive error at the Planica ski jump, but Morgan & Lena self-destructed in the end due to their inability to navigate whilst driving. I've been to both Lake Bled and Ljubljana, Slovenia is a country I have actually visited several times already, including most recently this year in April! I was staying in Ratece then, which is only 2.9 km (1.8 miles) from the Planica ski jump. I'm off to Chisinau in the morning so this post is going to be a bit shorter than my usual posts, but let's start with the average ranking statistics as always.
Average rankings after leg 8 in Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Rob & Corey = 3.37
- Greg & John = 3.37
- Todd & Ashlie = 4
- Steve & Anna Leigh = 4.25
- Joel & Garrett = 5.5
- Robbin & Chelsea = 6.25
- Morgan & Lena = 6.25 (eliminated in Ljubljana)
A nice throw back to the good old days
Whilst all that drama with the trains upon landing in Vienna didn't actually give the teams any advantage in the end, it was still a nice throw back to the good old days when teams had a lot more freedom when it came to picking their own travel routes and the race then was as much about the journey to the next destination as it was about the tasks that awaited the teams there. I missed that aspect of TAR. Still, that was fun to watch even though I wondered if the teams have an unlimited budget for train tickets as those train tickets were not cheap. Back in the good old days, the teams would start the leg, read their first clue and announce what budget they were allocated for that leg - this no longer seems to be the case as there's no reference to money. However, even if the teams ahead were able to get to Ljubljana at about 1 am, then they would be able to pick up the car from the carpark very early and drive all the way to the Lesce airfield where they would simply be able to pick up a number that would determine the order they performed that roadblock. Given that Lesce airfield is just a 40 minute drive away from central Ljubljana, the teams would see their massive 8 hour lead slashed as the flights are not going to take place until the sun rises, as the teams would not be able to spot the numbers on the boats in the lake in the dark - therefore this would be a task that would have clear 'hours of operation'.
How do you pronounce Slovenia? And where is Dracula from?
Good grief, I got annoyed when Greg & John kept saying 'Slo-vay-nia" when it is "Slo-vi-nia". In the local language of Slovenian, it is "Slovenija". Still, that's not as bad as Ashlie's faux pas when she confused Slovenia for Transylvania where Dracula is from. Transylvania is in Romania, another country altogether and Todd didn't even correct her. Oh no!
More navigation woes in Slovenia
Some teams clearly excel at navigation whilst others suck at it - Greg & John never seem to get lost and that certainly played a big part in their win in this leg but it looked like Steve & Anna Leigh were driving around in circles or were halfway to Romania before they even got to the Lesce airfield. However, they were spared elimination when Morgan & Lena threw away their lead by getting hopelessly lost driving back to Ljubljana and couldn't find the designated car park. Now what I hate about both of these teams is that neither of them seem to understand the importance of deescalating a situation - when you have partner who is stressed out and upset, you don't say something stupid or nasty to insult them and make them even more stressed out, that only makes the situation worse. You need to calm them down, that's why these two teams are always fighting as they do not understand that simple principle that comes with social skills 101. At times like that, you need to say, it doesn't matter who is right or who is wrong, we just need to calm down and focus on what needs to be done. The teams were made to drive quite a long distance - from Ljubljana to Planica, they had to drive 92 km (57 miles) and that drive would have taken approximately1 hour 10 minutes, that is plenty of time to get very lost.
How can you get that first roadblock wrong?
If you can see the digits 1-1-9-9 in the lake, then you know you're looking for a year in the past, that means the first digit has got to be 1. That leaves us with just three options: 1199, 1919 and 1991. 1199 is so long ago in the distant past that's in the middle ages. That should have been the first one you rule out, then you're left with 1919 and 1991. 1919 does seem more plausible but anyone who is old enough or at least not ignorant would remember that it was the break up of the former Yugoslavia after a brutal civil war that led to the formation of a few new countries, including Slovenia. Hence that's why most teams were able to make a calculated guess, but Garrett for some reason went for 1199 despite it being the least likely answer, argh. He even said, "because it is such an old country". Good grief, it just shows how some Americans know so little about the world beyond their borders. As for Lena, she couldn't even see the numbers clearly and ended up with 1976? It couldn't have been her eyesight, so was she perhaps having problems with the binoculars?
Todd & Ashlie's squandered opportunity
Good grief. Todd & Ashlie didn't have fun at the Planica Nordic Centre - first they got lost trying to find the marked entrance to the ski jump, then they wasted precious time making an attempt to catch Rob & Corey who were already halfway up then Ashlie struggled with the cross country skiing. They lost out to Greg & John by a matter of seconds in the race to the pitstop, if they had only saved a bit of time earlier by simply looking up at the ski jump and saying, we've missed our opportunity, let's move on - they would have probably had enough time to win this leg. Still, second place is their best ever finish so far; they have consistently finished in the top 5 over 8 legs, giving them the 3rd best average.
Was it worth sacrificing first place for the Express Pass?
Yes, I think so, Rob & Corey took a calculated risk to go for the Express Pass and in doing so, they knew they could never win this leg (and thus couldn't win the prize for this leg), but they are thinking long term and I hope that they will use it wisely when they encounter a really difficult task in the next two legs. So given they were in the lead when they got to the Planica Nordic Centre, they could have easily won this leg if they had not chosen to go for the express pass.
Which detour was easier?
Well, in this case, I think it was pretty much the same. It was lovely that they got a taste of the beautiful countryside in Slovenia - on my first trip to Slovenia many years ago, I stayed on a farm near the ski resort of Kravavec which is in turn, very close to Ljubljana airport. So instead of going to a noisy bar after the ski lifts closed, I was playing with all these gorgeous animals in the farm yard. None of the teams actually struggled with either task on this detour, apart from Joel & Garrett who left their diary behind - this is a repeat of what they did in E2 in Thailand when they left their fanny back behind after completing a roadblock, so Joel & Garrett really need to be a lot more careful with little things like that.
No problems asking for directions in English in Slovenia!
Oh yeah, people in Slovenia really speak English surprisingly well. It is a rich, modern country and a member of the European Union, they have a well-funded education system where English tends to be the default second/foreign language taught from a young age. I remember buying street food in Slovenia and struggling on in Slovenian with the lady selling me my kebab and she spoke perfect English - kinda surprised me, like honestly, I was not expecting that and I even felt slightly embarrassed to have assumed that she wouldn't speak any or much English. Even when we asked the policemen for directions in the streets, they spoke perfect English. What did make my roll my eyes though was when Robbin & Chelsea said danke schön after receiving their clue at the detour - wrong language, that's German and it is Slovenian you're looking for. The words for 'thank you' in Slovenian are 'hvala vam'. When in doubt, just stick to English.
My predictions last week were wrong.
Last week, I guessed that Rob & Corey would win and Joel & Garrett would be eliminated. However, Rob & Corey didn't win as they went for the Express Pass and whilst Joel & Garrett did make two big mistakes in this leg, Morgan & Lena finally self-destructed when their navigations woes got too much for them. This was a shock to me as they actually did pretty well in the hay stacking detour but all that precious time wasted when they were hopelessly lost finally did them in.
Who will win the next leg? Who will be eliminated next?
Given that Greg & John have just won 3 legs in a row, there's no reason that they will not win another leg and make that 4 in a row and so I think they'll win the next leg - however, Rob & Corey are hot on their heels and they have the Express Pass that could easily give them the win. However, they can use it either in leg 9 or 10, so I think that they might want to save it for leg 10 if they can get through leg 9 without it. Now that Morgan & Lena are eliminated, the weakest team left are Robbin & Chelsea and Joel & Garrett. However, in the previews for the next episode, we see the teams still driving themselves around Slovenia and it was clear from this leg that Steve & Anna Leigh can't navigate - heck, they are so far behind, they can't even follow Greg & John. So I'm left to choose between the accident prone Joel & Garrett who keep making careless mistakes and Steve & Anna Leigh who are going to argue the moment they start driving - I am going to go out on a limb and say that it will be Steve & Anna Leigh who will go this next leg as they must be exhausted at this point of the race and they don't know how to calm each other down when the tension gets to them, they are probably going to get lost again in this next leg. When things are going well, Steve & Anna Leigh can do very well and they have proven that in the past but they are terrible when it comes to dealing with pressure the moment they fall behind the pack.
And this is why I blog.
I am irked by the people on social media who want to talk about TAR but can't even get the names of the teams right, referring to them as "the father and son team" or "the sisters". I am just shaking my head. You've watched them week after week and this is the 8th leg now and you can't even remember their names? It's like watching a movie and forgetting the name of the main characters, like do these people really have such poor memory that they cannot even remember the names of the racers? Or if you are simply not that interested, why bother talking about it on social media?
That's it from me, I'm going to post this and then finish packing! Please leave a comment below, many thanks for reading.
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