Amazing Race 12

[Spiderman]

We caught up on the last two episodes but it was over the weekend and I forgot about it on Wednesday when I came in so I don't remember a lot...

Let's see, I remember Kynt and Vyxen came in last the on the 23rd, so they had a new Speed Bump obstacle to do on the 30th show. I think the show keeps trying to tweak the penalty for the non-elimination legs to not put them so much in the hole, I guess, as I believe this is new (before, they had to come in first, right? And before that, they took all of their money). I think it's a good idea and K&V could have beat Nathan and Jenn IF they had used the delay card! It's obviously easy to see watching, but they didn't know where any other teams were except Jenn and Nathan, so they should have delayed them instead of the grandfather/grandson team. Ugh!

So that was the big thing I remember from the shows

 

[Spiderman]

Saw last nights...

Man, TK and Rachel were out of it from the beginning. I think there was a problem with communication with the airline agent though - I thought TK was asking the earliest to get into Osaka, but I guess the agent thought he meant earliest leaving the airport, so that's they got a 6:55 flight but had like 4 connections, while the other teams left at 8:40 but only had 1 connection (I think). So I do like them and glad it was a non-elimination round, but three hours behind the 3rd place team AND a Speed Bump seems like a lot to overcome. Hopefully there will be a bottleneck like flights or some place opening somewhere

 

[EricBess]

We missed the 30th, so I didn't see what the speed bump was. But yes, it seems they are trying to come up with a penalty for the non-elimination rounds that is relevant, but not an auto-loss. They took the money for a while, but everyone got it back pretty easily. They took money and everything not currently worn. We saw people load up with clothes to get out of that.

Last season's, "you have to come in first" was okay. If they didn't, it was a 1/2 hour penalty. I guess they felt that a come-back team (or a fast forward) left that as a non-penalty, so they are doing this instead. It seems that when a team is already seriously behind (like TK and Rachel are now), then next weeks episode is going to be almost a formality.

I think you are right about where the confusion was. Having the extra layover obviously caused problems. We were watching to see what time they landed, but they didn't show it. I'm guessing they were farther behind than they seemed. At the end, we know they are 3-hours behind the nearest team, but it's really hard to judge just how far they were throughout. for all we know, the other teams were finished by the time they landed.

They definitely need a bottle-neck. I personally don't like flights determining the outcome of the race because it sort of defeats the purpose and ruins any suspense there might be. I think they need a "not open until the morning" and they should do a lot more of those after flights...

At least it was clearly their mistake and not just a case of "we only have room for 3 of the 4 teams on this flight" like it has been in the past. That's the worst when someone is eliminated just because they are the last to try to book the flight. If 3-4 teams get bumped to a later flight, that's fine, but just 1 gets rediculous.

 

[Spiderman]

I didn't like the "You have to come in first" because that put added pressure on the already behind team. I like the Speed Bump "twist" so far.

I agree with you that it was pretty much their fault and it wasn't a case of "this flight is full so they get bumped to the next flight". I think it's the show's way of kinda "weeding" out the obviously crazy one... I mean, if it works, then it pays off and they come in first. If it doesn't like this time, well...

In other words, teams still have to "play the game" to get somewhere, rather than just give them all a flight and essentially a "free pass" to another location.

 

[Spiderman]

Kynt & Vyxsyn Interview

 

[Spiderman]

Saw last night's episode...

Man, I'm glad Jenn and Nate are off. I can't believe how much bickering they do (which isn't unusual, since lots of past teams have done it) but also how much blame they put on others and not themselves. Like Ron and Christina noted, they just weren't together as a team.

I'm glad TK and Rachel caught up, although having that place open at 10 at the beginning was a huge break, and the Speed Bump didn't take that much time away from them.

That's about it... oh, it's funny how two of the final 3 teams have "elders" in them. I can't remember if any of the past final 3's have had that also, maybe just one team with an elder, but it'd be cool if one of them wins (although I still vote for TK and Rachel).

 

[EricBess]

Agreed. We're pulling for TK and Rachel as well, but at this point, we won't be dissapointed with any of the 3 teams that remain. I would have been very dissapointed had Jenn and Nate won.

 

[Spiderman]

Wooo! They won!!

I guess the turning point was the puzzle, as Ron and Chris had a slight lead going into it... I wonder what they were thinking when they watched it and saw that she only had one wrong on her first try... too bad it put Don and Nick out of it... but a very good close last leg!

 

[EricBess]

Yeah. I always like to see what they do for the final challenge. The puzzle was really good this time. It seems like there was one a season or two ago where they just had to put some number as a combination on a box to the the next clue and that simply didn't have the visual appeal.

This one was great, being able to see just how close Ron and Chris were, as you mentioned, and for a while, it looked like anyone's game.

I did get the sense that Rachel was being a lot more systematic and logical about solving it than anyone else, so I'm glad they did so well.

The only thing I didn't like was that there were about 3 more clues after the puzzle that were basically meaningless. I can only think that they put those in so that they would be able to make it look like a closer end game, but with as many seasons as they've had now, I don't think I've ever seen one where it wasn't blatent that they were just trying to "draw out the suspense". I actually find it a bit annoying.

I was surprized by how close everyone was once they hit the glacier. Don and Nick having to go back for their equipment had to hurt, but TK and Rachel apparently took quite a while on the crabs. Both teams that did the fish seemed to get very lucky. I'm glad TK stuck it out just a few crabs more after they decided to switch tasks. The ending could have been very different had they been that much further behind.

 

[Spiderman]

I didn't see the ending clues after the puzzles as drawing out the suspense, but rather last chances for a team to mess up and another team overtake them. In the past, the puzzle was the last thing so if you got it, you pretty much won. Here, if you perhaps messed up on the directions and couldn't find it or whatever, a team that finished the puzzle later had a chance to catch up.

Yeah, TK and Rachel did seem to take a while with the crabs, when they showed that they finished when Don and Nick came back after getting their gear. Forgot about that.

 

[EricBess]

Well, I would agree with you if they had been driving themselves. As it stands, either you get a good taxi driver or you don't. Sorry, no million for you because your taxi driver drove 15-minutes the wrong direction...

The thing with the fish, yeah, they had to ask around and figure out what exactly they were looking for and where it is.

But to be honest, I got the impression that TK and Rachel had a decent head start. I think they said something about "five minutes" and if that was all it was, then yes, messing up at that point could cost the win.

But there was one season when the hippies won where the final challenge was just a quick sprint to the final pit-stop. When the hippies finished the puzzle, they took off running and even though the two friends were close behind, you already knew they couldn't overtake them, so it really didn't matter after that.

So yeah, I agree that someone could still mess up, but I really think that the main reason they did it was to make sure they could edit the tape to seem suspenseful. Call me cynical

 

[Spiderman]

Cynical

The thing with the taxi drivers would be the same in any leg in any country.

Didn't the final episode used to be two hours? I'm glad they shortened it if it was

 

[EricBess]

I think it was in some of the earlier seasons, but it's been 1 hour for at least the last couple.