So I screwed up my DVR and only saw the last bit, starting with the chip counting. Any reason I should seek out the rest?

The only things that really stick out for me was Cheyne/Meghan and Sam/Dave's shock at seeing Erika and Brian at the airport (they didn't find out at the pitstop who came in third--they were both betting on the Globetrotters still being in), then Brian/Erika's good taxi luck in Vegas getting them to Mandalay Bay first, then Cheyne/Meghan taking forever to figure out that their next destination was the Monte Carlo, which is where they were counting chips.

So, no, I wouldn't bother seeking out the rest of it.

Are they not "mingling with other teams" at the pit stops anymore? Because I think last episode it was also clear that at least one team didn't know who had been eliminated.

I wonder if the time of day was a factor? They might have just gone to sleep before Brian and Erica got there.

There were a couple of other eps that made it seem like they're sequestering them now. I wonder why, and why they haven't said so outright.

I like the concept of sequestering cause, while teams will know their place in the pack, they won't know the time spreads. But the airport bunching defeats any advantage/disadvantage that would give.

As much as the blonds were bland, for the way they raced, they deserved to win. Shoot, in that last leg alone, being the last ones into the poker room and the first ones out was huge.

She yelled his name an awful lot, even if it wasn't because she was mad at him...

This about Erica/ka/cka(?). Not so much at the beginning but towards the end, she did start to take her frustrations out on him. I especially noticed it in the beer challenge and last night during the Cirque challenge. The way she was kicking her feet like a 2 year old having a tantrum, demanding that he get in the harness and get her down immediately and just overall refusing to display even a lick of good sense, just . . . ugh. No. I'm sure she's probably a lovely person in real life away from the stress of the game and killer fatigue. But on the show, she was a pill. I wouldn't have been Flo/Zach or Freddy/Kendra levels of upset had they won, but my annoyance would've maybe reached Eric and Pink winning TAR All Stars level.

Fun fact:

apparently the couple who were left behind in LA on TAR were so mad at production that they decided to take a several week long trip to India and elected not to be at the finish line.

This read over at TWOP.

You know, if you're really going to leave a team at the starting line, the least you can do is spring for an all-expenses paid trip to somewhere fabulous as a booby prize. And I'm not talking being secluded in Loserville, but an actual separate trip prize.

That's true. I can't blame them for not wanting to be there.