TARflies Times

Another post in a different thread made me wonder what a bunch of former racers are up to... I seem to recall something similar to this being posted previously (maybe on TWoP), but here's an article from the Harvard University Gazette on what Heather worked on up through last year. It's actually rather interesting...

In all fairness, after all the famewhores on other "reality TV" shows and even the ones now assulting TAR, it's nice that they never went that way. It's actually rather refreshing. But then again, I always thought they were better racers than they were gernerally given credit for...

So explain the cab thing . . .

;-)

Depends on which version you'd care to believe. Of course a mistake was made, but I'd be willing to guess given a second chance they'd have done better. Alas, it's but one man's opinion.

Heather would have done better with another partner. Eve was not long for the Race even without WalkGate.

I'd agree. Heather was the better half. And the cuter half. Possibly the smarter half. Definitely the more personable half.

They made a mistake. It's happened to everyone on the race at least once. Their mistake just happened to be at the end of the leg, and cost them a penalty that was larger than their lead on the last place team. Those are the breaks. Someone has to be eliminated.

There are a lot of teams that were eliminated in the first half of the race, who with a little better fortune, (or slightly better timing in their mistakes), could have gone much further than they did.

Upon seeing Heather and Eve, to this day, after seeing Reichen and Chip, I still wonder why the luck could not have stayed the same. The final outcome would have made an already awesome season 3 times as good!

They made a mistake. It's happened to everyone on the race at least once

For me, the difference in their mistake and mistakes that others have made is that:

1) They realized they'd made a mistake when they were in the cab.

2) They knew what they had to do to correct the mistake (Heather: "We have to go back!") but they chose not to.

3) They knew exactly what the situation was but they tried to lawyer their way out of it: "Maybe walk means we have to walk INTO the Pit Stop."

4) They blamed it on the Amazing Cameraman. - Unforgivable!

All valid points, Rachel. And I always thought the unspoken thought in that cab was:

5) Maybe no one will find out about it.

Which pretty much makes points 1-4 moot, to me. Dang cheaters.

Like mjmarble, I have something of a soft spot for Heather, and had the whole taxi incident not happened it's possible Heave could have made it as far as Singapore in TAR3. Despite Eve's problems, what she did was broadly similar to Flo's behaviour anyway, and we all know what happened there! Before that they were consistent racers with a knack for getting results, and they were certainly no worse than any of the top five teams.

Whenever I watch that sequence, I actually put part of the blame on the cab driver, who instead of stopping and waiting for instructions tactlessly starts roaring along again at the slightest bit of hesitation from the ladies. Had he actually stopped the car for a longer period I think Heather would have had her way and saved them - or at the very least the penalty would have been less than the time it took Aaron and Arianne to get there.

Of course, had that happened, then the heartbreak of losing could've been a lot worse. I couldn't imagine how I'd feel by being the first to arrive to being booted because the penalty ended one minute after Aaron and Arianne showed up.

Anyway, while Heather actually thought of the clue, I've got to blame her just as much and possibly more than Eve, only because she wasn't too aggressive in getting Eve and Mr. Cab Driver to turn the hell around. While she realized what it meant, she just played along with it.

Anyway, while it clearly said "Walk to the Pit Stop," it doesn't make them look as dumb as Reichen and Chip (where it clearly said, "Travel By Foot"), and it definitely didn't make them look as stupid as Momily (aka Nancy and Emily), since it's not like they didn't do a task, but just that they did something incorrectly.

For me, the difference in their mistake and mistakes that others have made is that:

1)...

OK, so those point are all true. I just like to gloss over those little tiny details because Heather's so cute. Their Philimination dropped my eye candy quotient down that season to just Flo and Jill. ):

Wow, it's great that a random thought has brought up a bunch of old debates. Heh. Yeah, I have a soft spot for Heather (not so much for Eve - who definately was similar to Flo in some respects). Even with the soft spot, I thought she was undoubtably a capable racer. As for trying to lawyer their way out of it I personally think it was like a kid who got caught with their hand in the cookie jar - you just make up excuses and try to weasel your way out of trouble. We've all done it - they just did it on national TV.

And whilst blaming an Amazing Cameraman - for whom I have the upmost respect - is seen as an unforgivable sin in some corners, maybe what they said actually happened and the cameraman gave unauthorized and incorrect advice. Barring a midnight raid on WRP's vault of footage, we'll never know the truth.

Based on those few episodes from season three, I'd have to say Heather was one of the more competent female racers we've seen on this show. Anyone disagree?

Female Racers more competent than Heather:

Margarita
Christie
Kelly
Jill
Tara
Teri
both Bowling Moms
Margaretta
Paige
Mirna
Charla
Kim
Millie

That's just off the top of my head.

Heh.

I disagree with more than one of those, remembering that some had a physically gifted partner who was able to do many of the tasks. I don't know if, let's say - Kelli - would have done as well without Jon. Heather was required to be the more assertive and put together one on her team.

Don't get me wrong - there are definately some fine racers there. I just think that Heather ranks up higher than you give her credit.

but mjmarble, I remember when I watched that episode the second time, it struck me that there were no cuts whatsoever from the time Heather realized they were wrong to the time they decided to just keep going. I rewound to make sure and haven't watched it since, but I'm 99% sure. That's what gave me the vibe that they were just trying to get away with it. In the space of a minute, they went from realizing they screwed up to rationalizing how they should just keep going.