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HaMerotz LaMillion 9 (TAR Israel) Bitch, Moan & Squal Here! *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*

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Xoruz:
As we await a possible elimination, I want to express some pity for Lior & Sapir. They struggled with the Detour, switched multiple times, and finally finished only to discover that they were U-Turned. To add insult to injury, they’re still in Austria while everyone else has gone to Germany.

Xoruz:
Show contentOuch. Worst to first and first to worst in the same episode.

Mongolia is next!

georgiapeach:
MONGOLIA??? WHOOEEEEEE!!

Jai Ho:
And we've done Austria and Germany, four episodes later.

Before I start - I was overall disappointed with a lot of elements of this leg, especially putting two mental tasks at the very end when the teams are already wiped out. The two latter episodes were particularly frustrating to watch, as teams literally had no straws to grasp.

Highlights:

- ...and of course we start with the least culturally authentic task. Also, this is Hanny Nachmias's second appearance on the race (she was part of a clue in season 1 or 2). For the record, The Sound of Music is 100% American - Rodgers and Hammerstein - not that that's a bad thing, but it is actually not that popular in Austria or Germany. In fact, I've heard that Austrians get irritated when people think that "Edelweiss" is their national anthem or a traditional song, because it is neither.

- Also, another Sound of Music fact: when the movie was translated into Korean, the film board of South Korea thought that it was too long and audiences would get bored...so they cut out all the songs, making it effectively...the sound of nothing?

- The Loacker task seemed fun, culturally relevant, and let's face it, delicious.

- Yay for a detour! We've seen the log sawing task before in multiple seasons of TAR, so that's no big deal, but the tiny bikes seemed to have a really steep learning curve for most teams. The male racers did much better than the women because it probably relies on a) core strength and b) a more distributed center of gravity. It was heartbreaking to see Hasi/Yarin struggle with it for a WHOLE ENTIRE EPISODE where the other teams moved onto Germany and completed those tasks.

- The beer garden task seemed fun, with several ways to execute it and teams generally having fun and laughing while getting drenched with beer. The little sips method seemed to work better than raising a full cup of beer, as it was a) less likely to tip over and b) more likely to get into the racer's mouth, since there is no way you could hold a full cup of beer in your mouth long enough to spit it without swallowing some.

- The movie theatre and take-away box tasks...brutal. It was funny when Sapir took the vacuum and started to clean, and then went through the vacuum sack before getting the clue from the custodian. Also, after watching the episode, I get the whole "take-away" reference, but if I were a racer, I would have totally been in the dark. Once again, Mody/Mickey making an educated guess and taking a risk helped them finish in the top half, and had they not gotten lost on the grounds of the arena, they could have possibly finished first.

- Udi/Matan had a fantastic leg, all things considered. Worst to first, well done.

- Hasi/Yarin had a heartbreaker of a leg, going from first to worst. They managed to catch up to Inbar/Avishai and Lior/Sapir at the movie theater task and the take-away box task, but it was too little too late.

- Biggest lowlight of the leg: the editing for the finish. I understand the "drama" of it, but showing Hasi/Yarin physically step on the mat before Inbar/Avishai was not a great editing choice. Even if the racers do not know their positions right away, by this point, the viewers should know, at least. I had a feeling it was Hasi/Yarin but with all the quick cuts, the mat chat, and alternating between teams, it wasn't clear until the very last seconds. Even though Hasi/Yarin did get their say at the end, there was too much footage of Inbar/Avishai...not being eliminated...which has no impact on the race.

Next set of episodes are in glorious Mongolia. It seems like Lee/Anne are stuck in some mud, and Sahar/Yiftach are in the SECOND car accident of the season, so they are probably both safe. But still...we're less than halfway in and already, two car accidents? Yeesh.

Xoruz:
Oh how the mighty have already fallen with Udi & Matan getting U-Turned and falling to last place at the ger task. This leg has also already reused a lot of tasks from drinking yak milk, assembling a ger, shooting flaming arrows, as well as the warrior code task from Asia, Australia, Philippines, and the first Israeli season.

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