Culturally Preconditioned

A pretty okay episode, so I’m going to get right into this. Teams started off from Salamon Tower somewhere in Hungary from the last pitstop. In the order of departure, Adrian and Colin (5:08 am), Marc and Rovilson (5:35 am), Pamela and Vanessa (6:51 am), Ann and Diane (7:01 am), Paula and Natasha (8:01 am). Teams had to drive into the city and find The Little Princess (which turns out to be a statue) on a promenade somewhere. Both Adrian/Colin and Marc/Rovilson reach their first clue at almost the same time - and the clue informs that there is a Fast Forward.

Both teams opt to do the Fast Forward, which is to count the vertical bars on the Elizabeth Bridge. It was a pretty suspenseful task since both teams were neck and neck with that one. Using the belt to count the bars quicker was a nice idea, unfortunately their execution was not. I could be wrong, but it seemed like they counted the bars at both ends of the belt - twice. Oh well.. sucks to be them. Anyway, this task provided us with a valuable lesson. Vandalism is A-okay on this race. Yay! Colin and Adrian won the Fast Forward (both teams did it twice) and headed on to the next pitstop - the Freedom Monument (the Acitidale). This leg must’ve been exhausting for them since it must’ve taken them about 120 minutes to complete the entire race.

Marc and Rovilson lost about an hour for failing the First Forward. An hour is a far cry from what got Ernie and Jeena screwed in TARA1. Poor things. Anyway, the remaining teams next had to go to Buda Castle, where a Roadblock awaits them. The roadblock is for one of them to search through the darkened labyrinth to find their clue in a specific treasure box (yeah, the millions of candles surrounding the particular box sure didn’t make things obvious, now, did it?). Once they get the clue, they needed to head to Margaret Island, also known as the Rabbit Island.

Once there, teams had to ride a pedicab and search for the island’s symbol (a stuffed bunny rabbit) and bring it back to the person handing out the clue. At one point, three teams were doing this task concurrently - Marc/Rovilson, Pam/Vanessa, Ann/Diane. Once they delivered the bunny rabbit, they get the clue which tells them to head to Hero Square. And Caution : Yield Ahead.

Seriously now, is it any surprise that Marc/Rovilson were going to yield Ann/Diane? Well I’m not. In fact, I think it was a really good strategic move. Unfortunately, wanting to maintain their ‘good guys’ image, they just won’t outright admit that they wanted the Moms gone because they can easily beat Pam/Vanessa and Paula/Natasha in the Final Three. Oh well. So the Moms were yield and Diane got pissed. Again. LOL. I’m actually loving it when we see this side of the racers.. there is nothing fake about it. Hell I woulda been pissed too, regardless who did the yielding if I was in her position.

After the Yield, it was a detour between (1) Say It - where teams had to pronounce the names of 14 Hungarian icons. I have a feeling this task was tailor-made for Aurelia. LOL. Can you imagine her trying to pronounce zee names? (2) Play It - where teams had to solve a Rubik’s cube puzzle. I thought this would be tough (although I used to be able to in under three minutes in 1996) - until I heard, it was to be solved one side at a time. Lame. Both challenges would’ve taken no more than 10-15 minutes to complete. After the detour, all teams head to the next pitstop. In the order of the arrivals at the pitstop :

1. Colin and Adrian - I was quick to almost denounce this team ‘useless’ if they had lost the Fast Forward to Marc and Rovilson . But luckily for them, they didn’t. Congrats, boys!
2. Marc and Rovilson - Aside from being ‘politically correct’ behind their yielding, they were actually tolerable this episode. I find their rabid fans a lot more intolerable than them at this stage of the race.
3. Pam and Vanessa - They were pretty competent this episode. What I like about this team is the bickering between the sisters. It’s real and it shows.
4. Ann and Diane - I still think this team will surprise us in the following episode. I love Diane getting prissy about getting yield. Do I feel bad for them? Sure.. but it’s not as if we didn’t see that one coming.
5. Paula and Natasha - I’m still amazed that they maintained their cheery attitude all the way to the end. Just like the Beauty Queens. Except the Beauty Queens probably didn’t get the producers to bend the rules and give them a two-hour head start so that they are able to bunch up with the rest of the teams 2 episodes ago. I’m not questioning the integrity of the show.. I just find it funny that they weren’t able to guise this up better. LOL.

I’m kinda glad that the show is coming to an end.. because Survivor Micronesia and Big Brother starts next week! And OMFG LOST SEASON 4 WILL BE PREMIERING TOMORROW! SQqqquuuuuuuueeeeeeeeeee!!!!!