User blog comment:Stryzzar/Stryzzar reviews The Ridonculous Race/@comment-25383455-20151121212822

One thing I've noticed is that in most seasons, the contestant that is eliminated third (or ranks third-to-last) had a lot of potential that wasn't used (TDI: Noah, TDA: Trent, ROTI: Dawn, PI: Amy) and in this season, the Geniuses. I mean, I'll admit it, I think Ellody is cute. I'd explain why, but that'd take way too much time.

The Vegans...not really a fan. In defence of what happened to Laurie, it might have been her karma for what she did to Don. They really just felt like fodder. I absolutely agree with your thoughts on Mother & Daughter. Taylor is just a huge brat.

The Stepbrothers...yeah, every moment they had was hit-or-miss, mostly miss. If you didn't know, they're based off the Step-Brothers movie with Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly. There are so MANY references to that film. The only time I really had a problem with the Step-brothers was after they became friends, because they turned into complete idiots. This might be because I'm a huge fan of Darren Frost as a voice actor.

The Rockers take some time to grow on you. They really felt like the underdogs this season, and they had their moments. To be honest, there's a bit of Rock in me (making sound-effects). Spud made the team interesting, although I feel that sometimes the dynamic was a bit over-done and goofy.

I honestly liked the Nemma subplot. It was interesting to see the dynamic between Noah and Owen shift, and I don't think anybody was expecting how different the Reality TV Pros would be from their expectations. If anything, they overplayed Nemma a bit, but overall I was satisfied.

The Best Friends, I feel a little less strongly about it, but I agree that it was a disappointment. Probably the biggest fault among most of the teams was that some of the traits were over-emphasized and over-done, and this was second-worst among the Best Friends (worst is Haters). You get glimpses and pieces of what was a great idea, but it's overshadowed by Devin's issues with Shelley and the overall theme of romance. If the romance had been done more subtly (Carrie doesn't outright admit she loves Devin, Carrie doesn't display her feelings as frequently, Devin doesn't mention Shelley as often, they interact more as best friends and slowly realize their feelings for each other, Devin's stages of heartbreak are toned down, etc.,) it would have been pretty enjoyable to watch, especially since the few interactions that they make with other teams are actually pretty enjoyable. Probably the highlight for them was in Beijing, where they were just trying to get past the eating challenge (that was not chicken...).

The Sisters were one of my favorite teams because both of the characters grow significantly during the season. Kitty starts keeping Emma in check, and Emma learns to live a little and stop being so bossy.

I agree with you pretty much on everything else. The Surfer Dudes were nice, just needed more plot. Neither of the cadets would have worked alone, but together they excelled.