# The Amazing Race S32E05 (OAD 11/11/2020) - You Don't Strike Me as a Renaissance Man



## MikeekiM (Jun 25, 2002)

As promised...I am catching up... I am just not CAUGHT up yet... 

Here's the thread for the 11/11/2020 episode... I'll be here shortly to contribute!


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## trainman (Jan 29, 2001)

The new "not knowing how to drive a stick shift" is "not knowing how to read a paper map."


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

trainman said:


> The new "not knowing how to drive a stick shift" is "not knowing how to read a paper map."


Those are the first two lessons anyone on TAR should take, learn a stick and learn how to read a map. In the US both are becoming lost arts with very few cars even coming with a stick anymore and GPS replacing maps. But it's always funny seeing some team struggling with a stick, or thinking they know how to drive one but can't get the knack. FWIW I have no idea how to drive a stick, but if I was going on the show, I'd take lessons.


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## Regina (Mar 30, 2003)

Steveknj said:


> Those are the first two lessons anyone on TAR should take, learn a stick and learn how to read a map. In the US both are becoming lost arts with very few cars even coming with a stick anymore and GPS replacing maps. But it's always funny seeing some team struggling with a stick, or thinking they know how to drive one but can't get the knack. FWIW I have no idea how to drive a stick, but if I was going on the show, I'd take lessons.


Didn't Will say he took lessons? And he still had all that trouble? Maybe he can get his money back! 

And that was cool of Leo to help them-if for no other reason to get them out of the way. Good race karma!

The pies! OMG! Even if you knew it was coming, the force was crazy! What a fun challenge!


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

Regina said:


> Didn't Will say he took lessons? And he still had all that trouble? Maybe he can get his money back!
> 
> And that was cool of Leo to help them-if for no other reason to get them out of the way. Good race karma!
> 
> The pies! OMG! Even if you knew it was coming, the force was crazy! What a fun challenge!


What's amazing to me is that they didn't drop the pies they were carrying. That was great.


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## PJO1966 (Mar 5, 2002)

Leo didn't help them out of goodness, he just wanted them to get the hell out of the way. As soon as he was back in the car they were saying they hoped they got eliminated because of Will's issues. I wouldn't be sad to see Leo and his wife go. They're still holding a grudge after two legs? Let it go and run your race.


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## bryhamm (Jun 30, 2004)

my recording didn't pick this one up. had to watch it online.

wow, 6+ hours of driving around.


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## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

trainman said:


> The new "not knowing how to drive a stick shift" is "not knowing how to read a paper map."


I have to admit, I still LOL a few times over the stick shift "problems," both Will and James trying to get out of the parking garage, and the blonde sisters later on. Stalling in the stop-and-go traffic. I learned to drive with a stick, and every car I've owned has been/is a manual.

How long must the Vietnamese sisters have been lost to have fallen behind the blonde sisters, who had the roadblock? It looked cold and dark by the time both those teams got to Phil. I'd really like to see the time when each time reaches the mat. I'm not usually paying much attention to their departure times at the beginning of an episode.


bryhamm said:


> wow, 6+ hours of driving around.


That long? Yikes. I wonder if they had to stop for gas.


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## DVR_Dave (Apr 19, 2017)

Steveknj said:


> Those are the first two lessons anyone on TAR should take, learn a stick and learn how to read a map. In the US both are becoming lost arts with very few cars even coming with a stick anymore and GPS replacing maps. But it's always funny seeing some team struggling with a stick, or thinking they know how to drive one but can't get the knack. FWIW I have no idea how to drive a stick, but if I was going on the show, I'd take lessons.


I always rent a stick in Europe. Cheaper and more fun.  And I can even drive a stick with my left hand (UK/Ireland). 

P.S. I haven't owned a stick shift car since 1994.


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## spear (Oct 11, 2006)

I stopped being surprised at racers who can't drive or read a map many seasons ago. I suspect you'd get a better chance of being cast if the producers figure out you're that kind of person.



justen_m said:


> [...]I'd really like to see the time when each time reaches the mat. I'm not usually paying much attention to their departure times at the beginning of an episode.[...]


They don't always show the departure times anyway. I was waiting to see how far behind the blondes were at the start of the leg. Instead, they just got lumped in with the group taking the second flight.


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## robojerk (Jun 13, 2006)

PJO1966 said:


> I wouldn't be sad to see Leo and his wife go. They're still holding a grudge after two legs? Let it go and run your race.


From our point of view that was weeks ago, but for Leo & Alana that was probably just a few days for them. Plus the same could be said for Will & James. Their attitudes toward Leo & Alana and Kaylynn & Haley from the first few legs seemed to come from absolutely nowhere other than they're catty. It seemed to stem from the truck decorating challenge and something seemed to happen that they couldn't let go of and just run their own race. If someone pointlessly U-Turned me and made me spend hours in the hot humid sun I'd probably hold a grudge too.


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## JFriday (Mar 20, 2002)

When I was 16 my friend turned 16 and his mom bought him an El Camino, it was a stick and he had to learn driving that, he hadn’t perfected it yet and he had to go register it at the DMV and asked me to go with him. We drove down Monterey rd which is long and straight with lots of lights. He stalled it at every light. After about 4 times a guy pulls up to us at the next light and rolls down his window and says “next time you guys steal your dads car, learn how to drive it”. At 16 I looked 13 and he looked 12.


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## heySkippy (Jul 2, 2001)

I still vividly remember my mom taking 13 y/o me out to an old airstrip and teaching me to drive stick in her 60s VW Beetle. That's a skill I'll never surrender.


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## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

What is with the screwed up guide data on this? My TiVo recorded a suggestion marked new that was labeled episode 6, but it was just 5 again.

I can’t believe the blondes survived. How did the other sisters not stop somewhere in 6.5 hours of driving around not 2km from their destination! Also it is crazy how much alike the blonde sisters look... they aren’t even twins!


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## realityboy (Jun 13, 2003)

laria said:


> What is with the screwed up guide data on this? My TiVo recorded a suggestion marked new that was labeled episode 6, but it was just 5 again.
> 
> I can't believe the blondes survived. How did the other sisters not stop somewhere in 6.5 hours of driving around not 2km from their destination! Also it is crazy how much alike the blonde sisters look... they aren't even twins!


An episode got bumped for extra election coverage. We were originally getting 2 that week, but now the double episodes are 11/18 & 11/25.


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## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

realityboy said:


> An episode got bumped for extra election coverage. We were originally getting 2 that week, but now the double episodes are 11/18 & 11/25.


That was last week, though. This week I got 2 episodes marked 5 and 6, but they were both 5.


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## LlamaLarry (Apr 30, 2003)

Learning how to drive a stick in case he is ever on The Amazing Race is one of the "tips" I gave to my 13 year old on his birthday. He learned on my VR4 so he should be good to go.  

That was some seriously aggressive pie throwing! My favorite parts were when their hats dropped down and covered their entire heads. 

I wish there was a little more detail on what happened to the sisters. It sounded like it was pretty close (I thought they originally got directions that it was 2km away) so I can't see how they decided to drive for hours.


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## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

LlamaLarry said:


> I wish there was a little more detail on what happened to the sisters. It sounded like it was pretty close (I thought they originally got directions that it was 2km away) so I can't see how they decided to drive for hours.


They did! She even said something later on around when they showed the graphic that said elapsed time in the car 6 hours and 30 minutes that they were 2km away and driving for hours. How do you not stop again, perhaps multiple times?!


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## madscientist (Nov 12, 2003)

I forced my kids to learn to drive and take their drivers' tests on a manual transmission. They complained a LOT. We gave that car to my daughter when she got her first job, then a few months later someone hit her and the insurance company said the car was totaled so she went out to replace it with the insurance money... and decided she wanted a manual transmission again. So I win!


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## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

I would probably fail driving on the show. I got so much anxiety and flashbacks to my old car watching the guy trying to get up the parking garage ramp.

Back in 2002, I bought a manual transmission car because it was the only one available in the color I wanted. Yeah, not a great reason... especially since I didn't know how to drive a manual. My SO had tried to teach me ONCE in his Jeep Wrangler, which had a horrible clutch for learning, when we first started dating in 98... it's a miracle that we are still together 22.5 years later. That attempt ended in a stalled engine at a light, tears, and switching drivers to get out of the road. The salesman assured me that he would give me a lesson once the car arrived (they had to get it from out of state), and he did take me for one in an abandoned parking lot and I did ok. The clutch was much more forgiving. But I was never comfortable starting on anything remotely resembling an incline. My anxiety about it got so bad that I put a sign in my back window saying I was learning, and started planning convoluted routes around town to make sure that anyplace I might have to come to a stop was flat, and eventually just stopped driving altogether.

I was so glad to get rid of that car 4 years later.


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## PJO1966 (Mar 5, 2002)

I considering a manual transmission for my next car. It's been years, and I figure out may be one of my last opportunities to drive one.


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## tigercat74 (Aug 7, 2004)

PJO1966 said:


> I considering a manual transmission for my next car. It's been years, and I figure out may be one of my last opportunities to drive one.


I haven't driven a car with a manual transmission in over 30 years since my dad taught me to drive. Can I still? Probably but I have no desire to see.


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## MikeekiM (Jun 25, 2002)

Starting in 3rd gear would definitely make you question whether you actually took those lessons, and if you learned anything at all... I can only imagine how that must have felt, pressing on the accelerator and trying to get the clutch to grab in 3rd gear going uphill on that parking lot incline would have been absolutely frustrating (especially when I swear I took those lessons)! LOL...

Driving a manual in Paris traffic had to be absolutely maddening for those that are can't drive, or are not competent at, a manual transmission... I remember first learning to drive a manual, and the biggest challenge was getting going... continuing the momentum was easy (though sometimes the gear transitions were rougher than they should be)... But I remember thinking "please don't make me stop...please don't make me stop"... Having these guys drive a stick in urban traffic was a pretty nasty move (and a funny one) by the producers... It would have been challenging enough for them to drive stick in the country/suburbs...

How can you be so close to your destination, yet circle around for 6 hours without finding your destination? Even if you don't know how to read a map, wouldn't you (in real life) stop and ask people and get the whole "turn left here, and then go down three block until you see the blah-dee-blah, and make right", etc??? 6+ hours???

When Phil said that the last team _may_ be eliminated, I was thinking to myself: Has there ever been a back-to-back non-elimination leg?


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## PJO1966 (Mar 5, 2002)

We also need to factor in that they had just gotten off a ten hour flight. I know I'm not at my best after a flight like that.


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## pdhenry (Feb 28, 2005)

madscientist said:


> I forced my kids to learn to drive and take their drivers' tests on a manual transmission. They complained a LOT.


My Dad told me I could take my driver's test when I could drive the Beetle well enough to take the test in it. I struggled mightily with the clutch until someone else pointed out that the Beetle had a "sticky" clutch pedal. I drove the Pinto for a bit until I got used to the clutch and then I could drive the Beetle well enough.

But if I ever put the car into 3rd instead of 1st it was immediately apparent to me.


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