Episode 11: "The Family Christmas Card!"
I just want to get this rant off my chest straight out: there are few episodes of TAR that suck more than this one. I'm not even talking about the ending; I'm talking about the tasks. Of the three, only the first is vaguely interesting or unique. Though the second is apparently Wild-West themed, you can do it at almost any tourist trap in America (for example, there's a store which offers the service on almost every other block of the boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland, I can tell you from personal experience). The third task is at a freakin' golf course, and it requires infinitely less skill, and is much more boring, than golf itself, if you can even imagine that. And why? For product placement. Combine that with the enforced bunching at the beginning of the episode, and you get one of the most poorly designed legs ever.
Anyway, in this episode, the racers must find "Irma," who I swear to you is not a bear this time; the Godlewskis prove that they can sustain an argument even in Christine's absence; and for once, the Weavers do not have a monopoly on embarrassing behaviour and ignorance (although they're still the Microsoft in those categories).
Bonus Questions:
1. Who says, "Lack of food in the _____ family is no good. We all get crabby"? [16/4]
2. Who says, "Don't worry about it. Everyone loses at some point"? [17/4]
3. Who says--in the presence of an actual Indian chief--"Too many chiefs and not enough...what's the saying?"? [17/4]
4. Who confuses Buffalo Bill with Paul Bunyan? [17/4]
(If you don't know who they are, Google them. If you do…you know more about American history and folklore than some of these teams, which is pretty embarrassing for us Yanks!)
5. For what traffic violation are the Weavers ironically pulled over? [7]
a) speeding
b) running a red light
c) not wearing seatbelts
d) hit-and-run
e) littering
f) weaving
g) something even more ridiculous
6. Who says, "It's ours unless somebody takes it from us, and that's not going to happen"? [16/4]
Delayed Bonus Questions:
Just to make sure this ending doesn't get too predictable, we are adding some final Delayed Bonus Questions (admittedly the first since Week 1). Here they are:
DB1: How many clue envelopes will each of the Final 3 teams receive in the last 3 episodes?
Scoring: 50 points for the closest guess; 25 points for the next 3 closest guesses; 15 points for the next 5 closest guesses.
DB2: How much money will each of the Final 3 teams receive in clue envelopes over the last 3 episodes?
Scoring: 75 points for the closest guess; 50 points for the next 3 closest guesses; 25 points for the next 5 closest guesses.
DB3: How many rides will each of the Final 3 teams take over the last 3 episodes? [A "ride" is any sort of transportation (except by foot) the Racers use that we find about in the episode, including vehicles the Racers operate themselves. A ride only counts if all 3 teams must use it (so a ride that only exists as one Detour option will not count). Two trips in the same vehicle will count as different "rides" if and only if the Racers do some sort of official Race Task inbetween; going from Location A to Location B in one vehicle counts as the same ride no matter how many times the team stops for gas or directions.]
Scoring: 75 points for the closest guess; 50 points for the next 3 closest guesses; 25 points for the next 5 closest guesses.
DB4: How many miles will each of the Final 3 teams travel over the last 3 episodes? [Only Phil's official declaration of the distance between two points will be used, unless Phil is obviously estimating. In such a case, or when Phil gives no estimate, Lingo will do his best Googling to get a measurement. Hint: the finish line will be at a popular tourist destination somewhat close to the starting line.]
Scoring: 300 points for the closest guess; 150 points for the next 3 closest guesses; 100 points for the next 5 closest guesses.
Answer Template (*=1 team, **=1 person):
*First:
*Last:
**Titleist:
*Winners:
RBers (2/team, ""):
**B1 (crabby):
**B2 (loses):
**B3 (chiefs):
**B4 (confuse):
B5 (traffic):
**B6 (ours):
DB1 (clues):
DB2 (money):
DB3 (rides):
DB4 (miles):
Bransen: Walter, Beth, Lauren, Lindsay
Godlewski: Michelle, Sharon, Christine, Tricia
Linz: Nick, Alex, Megan, Tommy
Weaver: Linda, Rebecca, Rachel, Rolly
Happy thumbsucking!