Amazing Race: All-Stars

[EricBess]

I wonder how the people were picked to write the letter in the Detour?

Here's what I think. There were 8 different bags and each one contained 2 letters to find. But they said, the teams "choose one of these bags", which means that each bag must have had letters for all teams. It may be that the bags were assigned, but they made it sound like the team could choose which bag they wanted.

If that's the case, then there were a total of 16 letters for each team. I'm guessing that they got all of the old teams to write letters and used them all, duplicating a few of them to have enough. Which letter they ended up reading was just based on which one they found.

It might be that they hand-selected people to write letters, but since some letters were from people that worked together and some were from "bitter enemies", I think it's more likely that there was more than one team they could have found a letter from.

 

[Spiderman]

Hmm, I never thought about that. I just thought the show chose one team to write and they duplicated that letter in all of the bags. But your way definitely makes more sense.

 

[EricBess]

Wow, that was quite the twist they played this leg. You win this leg by being the worst team possible and lose by playing a solid game...

Okay, there were a few shaky moments that ended up putting a couple of people at risk that wouldn't have otherwise, but realistically, I'm not even sure how this episode happened...

Everyone was so worried about not finding people willing to get their nails painted that they didn't take into consideration that it must be something that is typically done or they wouldn't have asked them to do it in the first place. And how long does it take to paint some nails compared to filling bags of coal?

Ian and Terry were the funniest, the last people to arrive at a detour stop and they were upset. And from what I saw, the only problem they had was that they were trying to get the entire amount from one person...

 

[Spiderman]

Doh! Basketball (I'm pretty sure, what else could it be) caused a cascade effect so even though I allowed for a half hour PAST when Amazing Race should have been over (9:30), I STILL didn't get all of it. Missed the last 15 minutes.

So impressions are that the rat challenge was pretty cool, but either Myrna and Charla weren't that far behind or it took the coal teams a LONG time to fill up their bags since they overtook them and got to the pit stop first.

And yeah, painting nails definitely seems easier than filling 10 bags of coal AND carrying one of them. I was kinda surprised that Team Guido and Danny and Oswald didn't go for it, especially since it's common for guys to paint the nails, but maybe they didn't know that part (it wasn't on the clue?).

 

[EricBess]

It took a very long time for the coal teams. Only 3 teams did the nails, the two teams that I most want ousted.

Hopefully you'll get a chance to see it somewhere, but I guess I'll go ahead and tell you what happened.

There were two different ways to get to the city and the straight route was quicker, but a few of them went the other way and got stuck in traffic. So, Charla and Mirna actually ended up in third or forth place by the time they got to the clue for the detour.

The teams that were trailing at that point were Eric and Danielle, Ian and Terry, and the Beauty Queens. Of those 3, the Beauty Queens decided to do the nail painting and the rest decided to do the coal.

Eric and Danielle knew they needed to catch up with people, so they put on the after burners with the coal and ended up passing Uchena and Joyce, but nobody else.

Meanwhile, Ian and Terry got turned around and ended up at the wrong plaza. Since they were already there, they decided to do the nail painting instead and just "suck it up", all the time complaining about how they wish they were doing the other one because they couldn't convince anyone to let them paint their nails.

To be clear, Ian and Terry were the last ones to arrive at their destination for the detour. By the time they finally got to the wrong market, everyone else was either already headed for the pit stop or shoveling coal.

No two people were painting nails at the same time. That's because it was so quick that there was no overlap. On the other hand, no one finished the coal until everyone else was already there.

Ian and Terry finally had a girl tell them that she wouldn't let them paint her nails because they were charging too much...They were trying to get the entire amount with from a single person. They asked her how much she was willing to pay and I think she felt pity on them because she said 20 (they needed 30) and her friend let them do hers also for the other 10. Based on everyone else's experience, I got the impression that 5-10 was more than reasonable for the service, so they would need to paint nails for 5-6 people. Only having to do 2 was just lucky.

Regardless, Ian and Terry, after being the last team to arrive at one of the detour stops, ended up in third place, behind the other two teams that did the nail painting. In the meantime, none of the coal people had even finished stitching up their bags, even though some of them arrived way before that.

Obviously, we get a distorted view of time, but if I had to guess, I would say that the nail paiting took between 15-30 minutes to do and the coal took between 90-120 minutes.

You are right about it not being on the clue about men painting nails and maybe that's why they didn't want to do it. However, Ian was also reluctant and he had his wife with him. I think it's just a cultural thing. After all, did you think anyone in the states would be willing to get their nails done in the middle of the street?

In the end, Uchena and Joyce were the last to arrive, but it was non-elimination, so they are now marked for elimination and will get a 1/2 hour penalty if they don't arrive first next week.

 

[Spiderman]

Thanks for the recap. Yeah, I doubt we'll see the rest of the episode (especially since it's not On Demand with Comcast) so that's a good catchup.

 

[EricBess]

If you didn't watch it yet...It's almost not worth an hour of your life. Way to go Charla and Myrna. [sarcasm]An amazing victory achieved by getting on a flight nearly two days earlier than the other teams. [/sarcasm]

When the episode is over half over and half the teams are still waiting for their first flight, the producers have got to be asking themselves how stupid this episode is...

Detour and roadblock? Yeah, I guess they had those too, but they basically weren't important.

 

[Spiderman]

I did see it... except stupid basketball again caused the cascade effect of Race starting about 40 minutes late and even though I adjusted my DVR to record up to an hour later from when Race was supposed to end, it didn't and only recorded up to 30 minutes (the original setting). I manually set Record at 9:30 but still lost some minutes (not too much, just Terri & Ian and Team Guido's efforts at the roadblock).

So yeah, I saw most of it, and this episode should put to rest any "theories" that the producers rig the airplane flights "behind the scenes" to get better TV. Charla and Myrna did turn out to be "geniuses" in hindsight and the the last two teams very unlucky.

It appears that the puzzle part of the Detour was the task to do as it appeared to be very quick.

But yeah, with all the teams spread out, there wasn't a lot of suspense.

 

[EricBess]

So, we are currently 45 minutes into a 2-hour episode and one team is starting the next leg...while 2 other teams haven't even arrived in the city yet....

And the big losers today are everyone that's watching this episode...

To be honest, if Eric and Danelle and the Guidos are both eliminated by the end of the night, then the other 4 teams will be more or less together again. But considering the elimination comes effectively from things they have little control over, I'm not impressed...

When a late flight means losing another 12 hours...the show falls apart as far as I'm concerned. This is three legs in a row. The fact that they have a "safty" flight is great, but having such a close layover on that safty flight isn't addressing the problem.

Is this episode even worth continuing to watch?

 

[EricBess]

Okay, so the second half was better. They did a slow-down point. Although why they decided to have 2 teams way ahead while the other 4 get further behind I'm not sure.

Still, at least there is some challenge now.

I loved how the Guidos said they were going to have to outsmart the other teams, then they were right in front of the ticket dispenser asking if anyone had seen it...

 

[Spiderman]

I had no idea this was two hours long. I just saw that they were starting the next leg while the other two teams still needed to finish the previous leg and thought "Wow, they've never done THAT before".

Yeah, the charter bus AND the intersection caused them to bunch back up again. Although the Guidos were pretty much out of it... there was no way they could get first and from the intersection, they'd have to beat their partner team by 30 min, which was pretty much impossible since after the intersection was the pit stop. But yeah, them asking about the ticket dispenser was pretty funny.

Pretty amazing how Charla and Mirna dropped back to fourth after being in first. And despite their whining, it was kinda odd to see no one really help them in Poland. Although with that taxi incident about the driver wanting more money, it seems they rely too much on people leading them instead of asking for direction or getting a map like some other teams do.

Also funny was how tone-deaf some people apparently are, when they tried to tune the piano and thought it sounded okay. Ugh... and how Danny and Oswald kept snapping strings (Eric did it once but not as much as those two).

 

[EricBess]

I've never actually tuned a piano. I would need to ask my mom what it entails. I've tuned other instruments and I've noticed that pianos have multiple wires that are struck by each hammer, but I'm not really sure if they each tune individually or how it works.

I was waiting for Myrna to actually start "tightening all of them". That would have been the funniest thing ever as they would have put all of the keys out of tune.

I didn't notice Eric break the string. I must have stepped away for a moment. Danny and Oswald the first time just weren't thinking the strings were very delicate. The second time, they were tightening when they should have been loosening.

I think the biggest problem most of them had was they weren't musically inclined enough to know if the note was too high or too low. That can take some getting used to. It's actually a lot easier if the note is close to on than if there is still a ways to go. Once each group got close to in tune, the last little bit wasn't too hard.

Plus, they weren't being incredibly picky. As long as the note was close, they gave it to them. There were only a couple of teams that weren't still a bit out of tune.

But yeah, Charla and Myrna were particularly funny. "Test it again" when it was so far out of tune as to make you cringe. "Okay, so it's not the right note, but it sounds good... right?"

My problem with Charla and Myrna is that they seem to act as if anyone that doesn't speak English (or that doesn't speak it well) is stupid. Does it bother you as much as it bothers me that anytime they are trying to talk to a native, they go into "baby talk" mode. As if that's going to help people understand them better. If I had to guess, I think their problem is that they end up turning people off with that, which is why no one wants to help them.

There must have been some really creative editing on this one, though. I could have sworn that Eric was about to pass Charla in the armor and the Guidos were nowhere in sight. Here's what I want to know - the road block didn't seem to be hidden. It seemed like they could see the horses from where they were reading the clue. Why didn't Myrna do this? Charla's horse kept going in circles because of how short she was. She wasn't fast enough to stay in front of the horse, so the lead was always down and to the side. That's a clear indicator to the horse that it should turn.

 

[Spiderman]

I didn't notice Eric break the string.

Yeah, he broke it when Danielle had stepped away to watch the guy demonstrate how to tune it.

Plus, they weren't being incredibly picky.

yeah, I noticed that too. A couple of time I was thinking it needed to be tuned more but they got it.

Does it bother you as much as it bothers me that anytime they are trying to talk to a native, they go into "baby talk" mode.

it doesn't bother me a whole lot but it annoys my wife incredibly. However, she calls it "speaking to others in a fake foreign accent".

There must have been some really creative editing on this one, though. I could have sworn that Eric was about to pass Charla in the armor and the Guidos were nowhere in sight. Here's what I want to know - the road block didn't seem to be hidden. It seemed like they could see the horses from where they were reading the clue. Why didn't Myrna do this?

Yeah, I have no real idea how the ending happened - I guess the show was running out of time I think Charla did it because of the raggin' that Myrna placed on her in the car, when she said, "I have to do everything, I have to do the challenges, I have to do <this>, so please hold onto the clue!". That whole diatribe. I think Myrna felt guilty about supposedly not helping enough or whatever.

 

[EricBess]

it doesn't bother me a whole lot but it annoys my wife incredibly. However, she calls it "speaking to others in a fake foreign accent".

Yes!!! I couldn't think how to call it, but that's exactly it.

Yeah, I have no real idea how the ending happened - I guess the show was running out of time I think Charla did it because of the raggin' that Myrna placed on her in the car, when she said, "I have to do everything, I have to do the challenges, I have to do <this>, so please hold onto the clue!". That whole diatribe. I think Myrna felt guilty about supposedly not helping enough or whatever.

Good point. I hadn't thought about that, but you're probably right.

 

[Spiderman]

Well, this was an incredibly bad episode for Joyce and Uchenna, since they were pretty much out of it from the get-go. Unfortunate that they missed their connection but apparently they knew the risk going in... I didn't know 45 minutes minimum was suggested for international flights.

How did Charla and Mirna get their early flight when the others didn't? That seemed a bit odd... my wife said maybe it was an internet special or something. But they squandered their 2 1/2 hour lead somehow - I wish I knew where it went. It seemed they found the Batu Caves okay so maybe the challenge? But it doesn't make sense that they spent all of that time at the cookies... but maybe they did.

I heard the two challenges and immediately thought the art one. Trying to find a box in 600 pretty much guarantees you a long time.

What did you think about Danny and Oswald's different interpretation of the "one cookie with licorice"? I thought the same as whoeever thought it meant the whole box was all the same cookie of one type, so you just had to check one in each box. My wife thought the other, where a box could contain different cookies. I think that makes it way too hard, since there's 600 boxes to begin with.

 

[EricBess]

Who knows how much time they spent eating cookies...

Yes, Uchenna and Joyce knew they were taking the risk going it, but it's still yet one more episode that was determined in the airport... This time it wasn't just a "dumb luck" thing, but that doesn't make it any more suspensful for the viewer.

Notice they intentionally made it seem like there were only 4 teams. I think they realize that the tension isn't there and they try to make you forget that there's another team until the very end.

Did you notice how the first clue in Kuala Lampur changed for them? As soon as they got the first clue, it sent them straight to the pit stop.

The cookie thing was interesting. My understanding of the clue was that only one cookie (not one type of cookie) had the licorice. I was sort of hoping that they would show Danielle and Eric trying one more cookie in that box just to see. The clue was read out loud several times and it could be interpreted either way. Regardless, I think Danielle got lucky, which is what you have to do to make that challenge take less time than the other.

Sometimes travel agents look for specific airlines because they are affiliated or get kick backs. If there is a decent flight on one airline, they might be reluctant to even check another. Or, like your wife suggests, some airlines do offer online deals. But my guess is they want to sell the flight, so unless they got lucky and caught a cancellation, I'm thinking it was just the airline thing.

 

[Spiderman]

With the airport though, Uchenna and Joyce pretty much determined their destiny in that one. I mean, at least two other teams had a chance to get that flight also but didn't want to take the risk of the tight connection. Yeah, they would have looked like heros if they made it, but they didn't... it's just a more extreme version of getting lost with a taxi driver, really.

Yeah, I saw how the clue changed for them. I'm sure they knew what it meant too

I wonder if the CBS/Amazing Race website has the explanation for the cookie challenge

Well, I know that sometimes not the earliest/best flight is told to the teams. But since it was a conciege, not a travel agent, I thought he would have been fairly neutral about the flight and just tried to get them the earliest one. But maybe he would get a kickback-type thing too, who knows...

 

[EricBess]

Two things...

First, I'm very curious to see what time everyone finished this week. Unfortunately, they don't show you, so the only way is going to be to see what time everyone starts next week.

Second...Yet once again, this entire leg was determined in the airport. I'm getting very tired of it personally. There are so many cool races, road blocks, detours, etc. that when 50% of the teams getting eliminated are because everyone else got through on standby tickets, or because they got a bad connection, or because...whatever else might have happened in an airport out of their control...

Now, there was a lot of interesting stuff that happened this episode in the airport. Going straight to the office instead of waiting and the ticket counter and giving your code to another team. Great. But three out of four teams got through on standby and the remaining team was 2 1/2 hours behind. The rest of what happens after simply doesn't matter anymore. It's so painfully obvious that they do creative editing that the suspense they try to build is just so contrived that it doesn't fool anyone.

Thus, my interest in seeing how close the game actually was. Come on, with the level of mistakes that Charla and Myrna were making??? Changing their mind twice on which detour to take...having to take the ferry twice because they went to the wrong side....

They make it look like Eric and Danielle had problems to...like getting stuck in traffic, just like everyone else. Sure, trying to find the pit stop they could have gotten a taxi sooner, but regardless, any other season, Charla and Myrna's mistakes would have gotten them eliminated. But this season their in luck because they passed the "get lucky at the airport" challenge...

Blah...

 

[Spiderman]

I agree, I'd also like to see the departing times to see how close Eric and Danielle were to Myrna and Charla.

I also kinda agree on the airport thing, but on the other hand, it IS a race, and part of the race is finding the best flight. If the producers wanted to take the airport out of it, they'd just supply all teams with the same flight. So while I think it is bad luck for a team to get a "bad flight", it comes with the territory.

I thought the Fast Forward "challenge" was pretty lame. Cool, but lame. I mean, all they had to do was ride in a car ala Fear Factor. They should have actively done something to earn it.

Speaking of Fast Forwards, it's also a bit anticlimatic when only one team reaches it first, with such a big lead on the others. Obviously the producers can't know the flight times and who's gonna get on what, but *I* think it'd be better TV if more teams got to the FF at the same time and decided to go for it. Like the very first clue box in the very first leg

The ninja thing was also cool but not that challenging, except maybe physically climbing it. They weren't actually going to be knocked off or anything, so the ninjas were pretty much all show.

 

[EricBess]

I don't have a problem with the airport being part of the race. There have been plenty of seasons where a 1/2 hour delay at an airport has meant a team really had to work hard to catch up.

My problem is that there have been three or four times this season where the airport was the entire race and the rest was just a formality.

There was one leg where they did provide all of the teams with a flight and they could try to get a better flight if they wanted. I liked that except for the fact that the flight they provided ended up being an unreasonable layover, so when the first leg of the flight arrived late, it put the teams back nearly a full day.

A difference of 30 minutes to as much as 2 hours is reasonable (it also depends on the types of challenges after the flight). A full day is rediculous. A team being a full leg ahead of another based solely on airports is not good TV either.

The Fast Forward was just another symptom. Only one team makes the first flight, so the Fast Forward is a no-brainer...

They can't control the flights, but they can predict to some degree. A lot of flights arrive at night or early morning, so putting the first clue behind something that doesn't open until a certain time in the morning goes a long way. Obviously, they have to fluxuate when and where they do that because otherwise the flight times become completely unimportant, but they should also be able to reasonably determine which flights are likely to be booked solid and hard to get.

I agree with your comments on the ninja. They were their strictly for indimidation.