10/2 TAR 19 Episode 2 *West Coast Spoilers*

[Tilden]

While she was on her rant at the train station, I found myself saying - out loud - PLEASE!!! JUST SHUT UP. But I doubt she would have heard me. All she can her is her own mouth. I think it's obvious how much she has alienated people with that attitude, including her brother. When they were sitting together, talking to the camera at the end, she broke down and cried (probably from exhaustion). The natural thing would have been for her teammate/brother immediately to reach out and try to comfort her. He just looked at her. Never touched her, never said a word. That spoke louder than all of her vitriolic words to him. She has really set a nasty tone for their relationship. Sad.

I noticed how embarrassed the rest of the contestants within earshot looked while they were arguing. It was like they didn't know what direction to look. Made me wonder if they were embarrassed because it was an unexpected outburst or because they'd already heard so much more of them arguing than what we've heard that they're just uncomfortable being around them.

Of course, it's also possible that they're not quite so outwardly and loudly contentious with each other under more normal conditions but that they don't deal well with the stress of traveling and competing. One can only hope that's true anyway.

[Newsboi]

Did anyone else notice that Ma and Pa started a full 8 hours after the leaders -- answering last week's question.

[pikachu]

Snowboarders for the win! How can you not like these guys? Go dudes!

I hope the bitchy sister shrieking at her brother gets laryngitis so we don't have to hear her constant arguing. I feel so bad for him having that harpy on his team.

I'm disappointed Ethan and Jenna didn't go further in the race. You'd think they would have learned from their previous experience on reality shows to read everything and keep aware of your surroundings (and possessions).

[SugarMama]

It's not just that Ethan had cancer. It's also that after his season of Survivor in Africa, where he had a reward that involved going to an orphanage for children with AIDS (it was a better reward than it sounds--they got to deliver a bunch of stuff to the orphanage and had a lot of fun with the kids), he got very involved in charitable efforts there. In fact, the t-shirt he was wearing tonight had the logo for the charity he started. During his season of Survivor, it was also pointed out that even as a teenager, he was enormously helpful to his mother when his father became terminally ill, literally doing all the heavy lifting when his father became bedridden. I suspect that if they had won, they would have been paying medical bills with the money and/or funneling much of it back into his charity. I was sort of surprised that the other teams seemed not to know anything about him other than that he won. If they followed Survivor enough to know that, I don't know why they wouldn't know the rest of it, including that he was one of the more decent people to win Survivor...

I remember when Ethan won. One of the questions from the jury was what he would do with the money if he won, and he (being a soccer player) said he wanted to use part of it to help bring soccer to the kids there and create a charity for them. One of the reward challenges that season had been to visit a village, and it seemed to impact him...he played hacky sack with the children. What impressed me most was that after he DID win, he actually did what he said he was going to do!!!

It was devastating to learn he had cancer, and his attitude was just so great throughout (from what we've seen, at least). What makes Ethan my all-time favorite Survivor winner was that attitude, his genorosity, his sincerity, and he's awfully darned cute.

[sweetpea]

I was just arguing with Mr. Sweetpea last night about Ethan. He hates the 'retreads' from other reality shows coming on TAR because this is the only reality tv he watches. I was trying to explain that Ethan is a pretty great guy, who has been through a lot and has done a lot of good, but since he doesn't watch Survivor and has no idea who this guy is, he didn't care. I was sorry to see them go, and the other team as well, but E/J just seemed so scattered and unfocused last night, I was pretty sure they were going to be one of the last teams. From losing the clue to not reading the sign at orphanage, they just didn't seem to be thinking on their feet. I had thought perhaps that their previous experience with Survivor would teach them to pay attention to details since everything is about the game on that show and if you miss something you could suffer for it. But, alas, they didn't. At least they get a nice holiday somewhere together!

I'm firmly team snowboarders! "Don't dude me, Dude!" was awesome. I'm not sure about the other teams yet but the brother/sister can go next.

[mushybrain]

I wish the producers would stop editing the show in a way that broadcasts early on who is going to be eliminated. When they showed the clip of Ethan and Jenna at the airport with Jenna saying something like there are a lot of teams they will be able to beat (paraphrasing there), they might as well have had a neon sign overhead with arrows pointing at them flashing ELIMINATED!

[Longhornfan]

Okay, I have a couple of questions about that twist where they were supposed to give ALL their money to the orphanage.

(1) When Phil was telling us, the audience, what the next task would entail, how did he word it? Did he say you must turn "over all of THE money", or or did he say "all of YOUR money" in order to get your next clue? I am remembering him using the word THE. Otherwise, I don't think so many of them would have failed to turn over all of their money.

(2) Does Phil have a blog or twitter account? I would like to hear what he had to say about that twist at the end.

[ralanprod]

Here's my issue with the sign twist...

I'm pretty sure the sign said something along the lines of "Leave ALL of your money and you will receive your clue to the pit stop".

Those that didn't leave all of their money were still given the clue - so why would they have any reason to suspect that they hadn't fulfilled the requirements of the task?

I can't think of a time in the past where racers were given the clue if they hadn't completed the task. Usually it's exactly the opposite. I think it may have been less of an issue of racers not reading the sign - than just misinterpreting what it said. They thought they had done what was required of them.

While I like the concept of changing up things, I'm not a fan of this particular twist.

Think about it... Yes in this case the sign seemed to be pretty obvious. However, requiring racers to look for random clues in addition to the clues they are given isn't really fair to them. Then it becomes less a race and more of let's try to figure out if this random roadside display is a clue or just a random pile of trash.

[Rembrant]

Okay, I have a couple of questions about that twist where they were supposed to give ALL their money to the orphanage.

(1) When Phil was telling us, the audience, what the next task would entail, how did he word it? Did he say you must turn "over all of THE money", or or did he say "all of YOUR money" in order to get your next clue? I am remembering him using the word THE. Otherwise, I don't think so many of them would have failed to turn over all of their money.

I just checked it, and these are Phil's exact words when describing the task:

"Both Detours require teams to travel to this orphanage, home to scores of children orphaned by the devastating 2010 eruption of Mt. Merapi. There, they must donate their Detour earnings to receive their next clue. But that's not all. In addition, teams must notice this sign, which instructs them to hand over all the money in their possession."

So from what I see, the part of donating all their money was definitely not in their clue, it was something they had to notice there right on the spot. Teams would be given their clue by donating what they earned at the Detour, but the part of donating all their money was an additional task on the spot, clearly done with the idea that, in their rush, teams may not notice the sign on the table, or if they do, think it has nothing to do with them so they won't read it. It obviously worked, seeing that only 3 out of 11 teams noticed and read it. Score one for the Showgirls on their wanting to show they can be smart.

[Fanny Mare]

I would have missed that sign, in a rush we miss many things.Its easy for us to see it on TV( over and over) it wasnt in their clue..