Thanks for challenging me Peetah and let it be known that I wish you are right. The Blondes have been the best racers of the second half and, like I wrote, they race the way it should be done: They have fun, support each other, respect the locals and treat the competition as competition.

First, it's not that I saw them as being phoney for complimenting Mirna's hair. The way it was presented, the scene fell flat: Kandice's words were important enough to be shown on screen, nothing else in that scene was. After Mirna thanked her, we saw Oswald not even looking at Mirna to agree. Wouldn't it have been natural for him to say "She's right"? Was that cut out? The way it was shown opened the door to see the compliment as insincere and thus the blondes as phoney.

The manipulation came from all the unnecessary scenes:

-Did we need to see Charla telling D/O they'd given them money? The girls could have done the same, only asking not to be yielded. Including Charla's remark increased the chance of some viewers seeing that the girls were indeed nasty to demand something in return.

-Why even include Mirna's opinion on the yield since it didn't concern them? When Chip and Kim yielded Colin and Christie, did we hear anyone comment that it was a bad move? Everyone agreed that it would throw C/C off their game and that is exactly what happened. Here, we heard that it would motivate E/D. Could it be again what happens?

-Why include Oswald's own repudiation of the tactic, not once but 3 times? It seemed the intent was to show that the fan favorites knew they had to offer more than just a promise not to yield, that Oswald had to offer someone's head to satisfy the girls.

-Why show Dustin and Kandice laughing in the cab when Mirna said "The blondes obviously convinced the guys..." Why not show the guys laughing it off instead?

If, after the yield, we had only seen E/D reacting and heard little else about it, then I would be certain the girls would win. That their action became the focus of the episode leads me to conclude that they don't win.