Amazing Race: Sassy Ponies

lilsebastiantrashtalk

Teams traveled to Scotland to chase Li’l Sebastian up hills, build viking torches and try to corral sheep. Come join Amy, Steve and I as we laugh at the teams deal with many hilarious animals that are having none of their nonsense.

We made our picks on who we thought would be going home first. I picked the scientists even though they have been middle of the pack so far. Steve and Amy went with the mom/daughter flight attendants, most likely due to all their crying in the last leg.

Teams learned they would be traveling to Shetland Islands, Scotland to hang out with Li’l Sebastian, er I mean, Shetland ponies and sheep. The dentists started to become super annoying this leg. At first, they just scared us with their intensity, but Mr. Dentist was all bummed that they were not starting the race in first place (but all the way in second place!) since they were such a strong team. He has commented that they have watched past seasons, but apparently has not paid attention that even strong teams don’t come in first every leg.

One of the firefighters fell down while running from the Pit Stop. The camera man didn’t catch it, but we got to see the aftermath of his swollen ankle. The most confusing part was him saying he “took a dixie.” What does that mean?

ankleferry

The teams took an 8-hour train ride, jumped in some cars, and drove their cars onto a ferry to take it over to the Shetland Islands. The teams talked about how they went on the race to see the world. Amy said, “I like that this is how people decide to travel. Not save money and make plans, but be on the show.”

After the teams arrived on the Shetland Islands, they went to the Royal Lifeboat Institute to get a clue from someone in a puffin outfit. While driving to the next clue location, the Survivor girl was trying to tell the story of how they met three years earlier on Survivor. She was in the middle of her story, when the guy cut her off. I said, “Story over! We are here.” In the castle, teams searched around until they found a clue near a scary guy hanging out with a dog.  The dog looked like it wanted to go with any of the teams and not be there any more.

dogbegging

The last team to arrive at the castle was the gay couple since they drove to the wrong side of the island. When they stopped to ask for directions, a Scottish guy was telling him where to turn when he reached a quarry. He asked, “What’s a quarry?” Seriously? Steve said in his best Scottish accent, “What’s a quarry, lad? It’s what’s in your arse!”

The clue was a detour. On one detour, teams had to cut 50 pieces of peat with a special tool and then carry it up a hill on a Shetland pony. It could only carry half the load at a time, if they felt like carrying it at all. The other detour had teams properly building a Viking torch and then take take it to a Viking to light up a small ship. I wondered if the torch was hard to do since that task seemed super easy, but it did have judging involved so it could be hard. The other one involved an animal, which can make any task unpredictable.

The dentists were not the first team to get the clue, but were the first one to show up at either detour, which was the pony one. Mrs. Dentist said that when she had dealt with a Shetland pony in the past, it was sassy and not very nice. Amy said, “Is she trash talking ponies?!?!”

hardpeat

The mom/daughter, surfers and scientists showed up at the peat task. Everyone seemed to be cruising along except for the scientists. They made the task look super hard so I wondered if they needed more strength like the Mr. Dentist made it seem or if they were just doing it wrong. Then, they figured out how to use the tool and it was super easy. Of course, Mr. Dentist will tell you it was all his manly strength that got him through it.

Over at the other detour, the rest of the teams arrived around the same time. The wrestlers wanted to do the pony/peat task, but they got lost and stumbled across the torching building one. They expected it to be hard and it turns out it was pretty hard because judging was involved. There were three very detailed steps and teams couldn’t move on until each step had been approved by the judge. Amy said it was because “Vikings are picky.” I said, “Oh, very high Viking standards! I’ve heard of those.” The Survivor team struggled a bit, but finally got how exact they had to follow the instructions. The other teams caught on and were cruising along with the first step. The wrestlers were just getting frustrated. Well, mostly lady wrestler who sees other people doing well and gives up. I decided I hated her since she slowed everything down by making people try to make her feel better so they could move on. She was also on the verge of crying.

Back over in ponyland, the Dentists had taken one load of peat up a very steep hill that made all our legs sore just watching them and the ponies climb up it. They had to go back down and get the second half of the peat to take up the hill. Pony was not informed that the task was not done yet and refused to do it! Amy said it was acting up since they were trash talking the pony earlier. They weren’t the only team that had unruly ponies. The mom/daughter team were also struggling with their pony that wanted to run circles around them instead of heading up the hill.

mrviking

While the wrestlers were on the verge of crying because they were still on the first step, the rest of the teams were working on step two, which involved a lot of wrapping.  One of the gay couple guys said he loved the second step since it was just like wrapping a present which was his favorite thing to do. I asked, “Does he always have presents to wrap?” Then all the teams started calling the judge Mr. Viking when they needed their step approved.

The dentists were the first team to finish a detour. Mr. Dentist proclaimed that was how it should be since they were the first to arrive so they should be the first to leave. He said no other team should pass them. Amy said she thought the other teams would think otherwise. I said he was a spaz. Also, if he had watched past seasons like he said he had, then he would know that even strong teams sometimes run into problems. I’m sure he thinks he is the exception so I can’t wait for things to fall apart for him. Soon after they left, the mom/daughter team also finished the task. They were both headed to Berry Farm. Then the surfers and scientists finished a bit later. The scientists had the best pony that they named Cupcake. Steve said their pony behaved because it had a cute name.

At the torch task, the other teams were moving onto the third step while the wrestlers were still on the first. All the teams were now calling the judge Mr. Viking sir. The cyclists were the first team to get their torch approved and headed out to find the Vikings on the dock to set stuff on fire. Soon after the Survivor team, gay couple and firefighters left. The wrestlers could not figure out how to bend a nail. Steve asked, “Why are they so stupid?”  When all the other teams left, they quit focusing on being behind and actually figured out the task. Also the wrestling guy called him, “Viking Master Bro.” Hilarious!

The cyclists and Survivor teams ran to the wrong location so they didn’t get to the Vikings first. The gay couple made it there first, lit a tiny ship on fire and then took off to the Berry Farms. The rest of the teams followed them soon after.

When teams arrived at Berry Farm, they had the task of herding eight sheep down a hill and into a pen like a sheep dog would do. This was magnificent to watch. It took teams a really long time to realize that if  you made a lot of loud noises or ran right at the sheep, they would get startled easily and jump the opposite direction the teams wanted them to go. They needed to calmly walk towards the corral and the sheep eventually figured out where they needed to go. Until teams figured that out though, hilarity ensued! Steve could not stop laughing when the mom of the mom/daughter team said, “Oh, this is going to be easy and fun,” when they arrived. Now, they said they had watched this show before, right? When are animal tasks easy? Didn’t she just chase a pony in a circle on a hill?

sheepdirections

The dentists finished up the sheep task first, which did not help Mr. Dentist from thinking he was most awesomest awesome team there ever was. He said, “We knew we were the most dominant team coming into this, but now the other teams know it too.” Amy said, “The other teams are trying not to be last. They aren’t worried about you.” I said he dreams that the other teams think about him all the time. We can’t wait for things to not go his way in a future leg.

The scientists figured out the sheep second. While the sheep were running into the pen, one of them was saying, “Orderly fashion! Orderly!” When the surfers figured it out, mostly by being exhausted from chasing sheep for over 30 minutes so they were just slowly walking down the hill with the sheep until the sheep went into the pen, the girl surfer said it was a sheep miracle. The Survivor girl just started pointing and telling the sheep where to go and they seemed to listen. Then she thanked them a lot as she was shutting them in their pen. The mom/daughter team that thought the task was going to be so fun and easy and arrived in second place, finally finished the task in fifth place.

sheepline

Shockingly, the wrestlers who arrived in almost last place to the sheep farm, just before the firefighters, got the hang of it quickly and left soon after the cyclists. That just left the firefighters and the gay couple trying to round up the sheep. The gay couple…oh boy….they thought they should corral the sheep by making a line of their clothing from one fence to another and the sheep would see it and just turn into the corral. Of course the sheep were startled and ran under and jumped over their clothes line. They were shocked that it didn’t work.

The firefighter guy that hurt his ankle fell while chasing sheep and immediately wanted to take the 4-hour penalty. If you are that close to last place, I’m not sure how the penalty would work for you unless they really thought they could convince the other team to do it too. His teammate didn’t want to do it though so they eventually figured it out and finished the sheep task before the gay couple did.

jauntyhat

When the teams finished up the sheep task, they were given a piece of jewelry and said to go where it was found. The answer was St. Ninian’s Isle. The dentists figured it out by stopping at a nearby museum and then found the pit stop soon after that. They were team number one and won a trip to Dubai.

The scientists were the second team to finish the task, but they were given bad information about where to go so they went to a random castle first before finally finding the pit stop. They arrived in fifth place after the surfers, Survivor and mom/daughter teams though. The wrestlers and cyclists showed up at the same time. The firefighters left the sheep task before the gay couple, but they got bad information from asking at a bar so they drove way out of the way. The fire fighters ended up showing up to the pit stop in last place and were eliminated. It’s probably for the best since that ankle was pretty bad.

What do you think about the dentists thinking they are Team Domination? Are you getting sick of the wrestlers always wanting to give up? Do you think the firefighters could have continued on that ankle if they hadn’t come in last place?

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