Amazing Race: Unfinished Business

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EricBess

Guest
I did. Tell us when you have. I don't think that I can comment much at all without giving things away.
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
All right, finally saw it.

So the cowboys are out... that's a shame. Their basic undoing was Chet having to redo the Roadblock while about half of the teams got the right answer from the other half as they passed each other. And like the other challenge(s) where teams got the answer from other teams, I think the show ought to change this so each team's answer would be unique; I mean, it's nice to see "good sportsmanship" but it's also essentially cheating by the team not having to do the work - they basically have a Fast Pass.

If it wasn't for that, the cowboys would have been in and the Globestrotters out as it came down to them and the Globestrotters reached the Double! U-Turn first and used it on the cowboys. 'Cause the cowboys were speeding through the luggage challenge.

Kent's still whining away.
 
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EricBess

Guest
I suspect that the cowboys were further behind in the luggage challenge than they made it look. We know they showed up before a couple of the other teams had finished, but realistically, beyond that, you don't see much, so the Globetrotters could have been just finishing up for all we really know. Their editing always tries to make it seem very close. In this case, using the light to detect is meaningless because the cowboys had to do the other challenge.

I personally didn't like the fact that they had the U-turn right at the end of the leg. No chance to make up for it if you get U-turned. I think all of the teams are "sporting" enough that they wouldn't want to get U-turned themselves, so they wouldn't use it on someone else (Kent and Vixen pretty much said that the only reason they didn't is because they had already used one, though - I guess that rule is still in effect). But when it comes right down to it and there is just one team behind you, all bets are off. On the one hand, you don't want to take the risk and on the other, since you are ahead of them, they are likely to be eliminated anyway, so are you really hurting them?

I think had another team been U-turned, the cowboys might have had a chance because they were making good time, but having to go back and remeasure was, as you said, pretty much a nail in their coffin. Basically, they were eliminated because everyone else ganged up against them. Right from the beginning, when Kesha sat their and listened to the answer before submitting hers, I thought that was just wrong. And the only team they didn't actually show being told the answer was Kent and Vixen, but those two are so scattered, that I'm pretty sure they were told as well. They did show them hanging out with other teams that had already been told.

All things considered, that was a rough challenge and having to repeat it because you took a wrong turn and didn't properly compensate was huge. How fast do you think those scooters go? 22 KM is between 13 and 14 miles, so at 60 MPH, that's put them 1/2 hour behind. I'm guessing closer to 40 MPH, so closer to 45 min just from driving.
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
I suspect that the cowboys were further behind in the luggage challenge than they made it look.
I'm not so sure, I thought they showed a scene with the Globetrotters and cowboys passing each other in the same shot. That's why I thought it was pretty close.

I thought this episode had a very poor job in editing because when they showed Zev and Justin doing the fondue challenge for the first time, they showed them going almost all the way to the bottom. In subsequent shots/scenes, they kept showing the pot full. It was very disconcerting :)

How fast do you think those scooters go?
I was wondering that myself, I couldn't do the conversion :) But 45 minutes sounds about right.
 
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EricBess

Guest
Yeah, I looked it up. 10 kilometers is between 6 and 7 miles. And I agree about the fondue. It seriously felt like they weren't making any progress at all.

The cowboys definitely passed the globetrotters, so they were at the challenge at the same time, but the editing made it look like the globetrotters had to practically start over and that the cowboys were flying through the challenge. I think it would be more accurate to say that the cowboys were barely starting when the globetrotters were on their last delivery, but thanks to the editing, it is very difficult to know for sure.

Have you seen this week yet? I'll try not to spoil too much, but don't read if you don't want any.

I'm not sure, but this might have been the first time I have actually seen someone eliminated due to a 1/2 hour penaltly. Usually, there might be another team that passes them, but they always seem to get to check in before they are eliminated. Still, the clue was pretty clear and they simply didn't read it. Its hard to say what would have happened otherwise, but they definitely left the challenge before Zeb and Justin, so the taxi in no way saved them 1/2 hour. There are times in this show that I wonder, though, if you could save more than 1/2 hour with a rules infraction. I think the penalties where they make you go back and do something differently are "more fair" in some ways, even if they are more brutal in terms of time.
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
I think it would be more accurate to say that the cowboys were barely starting when the globetrotters were on their last delivery, but thanks to the editing, it is very difficult to know for sure.
Yeah, it's hard to say. I didn't get the impression that the globetrotters had to start all over again, just get those two or three bags which doesn't take too long since I think they had all five hotels. If they didn't, *then* it might take a while to find some bags to the hotel they needed.

I did see Sunday's show just last night... I think it was just because there were so "few" teams left that they got unlucky and got eliminated, because we've seen teams pass others waiting out their penalty before. But I think at this stage, it's rare you see a team that careless. I think it's good they're gone though, Kent was just whack.

They were actually the first out of the challenge but despite taking the taxi, two other teams beat them on foot. That was weird...

This leg appeared short to me for some reason... it just seemed it was the Detour, Roadblock, and then Pitstop...
 
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EricBess

Guest
Right on the GTs. My point was just that they made it look like the cowboys were hot on their tail. I suspect the truth was that they were at least 1/2 hour to an hour behind.

I agree about Kent and Vixen. I'm not sure what is up with them, but Kent was getting more and more whiney all the time and Vixen was getting more and more irritated with him. I did notice that about their taxi. I'm thinking that the pitstop was probably pretty close. How far do you think they would make them walk? Maybe a mile? Much more than that and the 1/2 hour penalty isn't such a bad deal. Figure it takes about 10 minutes to walk a mile, add backpacks...you can run it out, but if you don't pace yourself, your just wearing yourself out. I think 2 miles and I would be willing to take the penalty.

I didn't really notice how long or short it was. Unfortunately, trying to get kids to bed at the same time you are watching sometimes means that I don't always pay attention to that sort of thing. I think most legs are a Detour, a Roadblock, and a Pitstop. Sometimes an additional challenge and frequently there are planes to catch, which is often a challenge in itself, as is getting from one challenge to the next. They pretty much stayed in the same place the whole leg and that often makes it seem like a shorter leg. Not really any "catch-up" points, either, but all teams were close enough that it didn't really matter. In fact, it seems like the order was pretty much reversed. The Globetrotters went from last to first and Zeb and Justin from first to last and were only spared elimination because of the penalty.

Next week is the 2-hour finale, so first hour a normal leg and the second hour the final 3. No more non-eliminations.
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
Unfortunately, trying to get kids to bed at the same time you are watching sometimes means that I don't always pay attention to that sort of thing
The power of DVR :)

Well, usually it seems there's a several more legs interspersed between the Detour, Roadblock, and Pitstop of a leg. For this one, it seemed it was just those three.

Can't believe it's almost the end already...
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
Well, Keshia and Jen won. I guess I'm sort of ambivalent about them and the other two; they are all okay teams, but not my favorites. Probably Zev and Justin were the front-runners from the final 4 but once they were knocked out, it was "eh".

I guess the dancing Roadblack did them in since it allowed the globetrotters to catch up and eventually pass them.

And I guess asking for directions to the challenge where they had to wade across to the island did the globetrotters, since it allowed Keisha and Jen to pass them when the globetrotters were first out of the Mermaid challenge.

I was a bit surprised there wasn't the "last challenge" where they had to remember stuff from the previous legs, but I guess since everyone has started to write everything down, it was made obsolete.
 
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EricBess

Guest
Honestly, of the top 4, the only team I really didn't want to win was Keshia and Jen. I didn't really have one team that I liked so much, but there was something about them that was a bit rude and rubbed me the wrong way. I think the other three teams always had a great attitude and were enjoying the race for the race's sake. Mallory in particular always had a positive attitude. I think the Globetrotters ended up wasting a lot of time throughout the race because they were trying to just have fun with things. I didn't realize just how much they did that until they showed the "team recap".

It seems like they do the "last challenge" about 80% of the time. I remember once where the final challenge before the pitstop was just some maze that they had to navigate. I don't know if it has anything to do with people writing stuff down or if they just want to shake it up a bit. Particularly since all of the teams had competed before. Maybe they didn't want any talk of unfairness since some of the teams competing had been in the last race. Maybe the wanted to avoid anyone getting the current race confused with their previous race. I'd guess that they have all the challenges mapped out before even starts and maybe just do a few tweaks as the race progresses.

Personally, I wasn't too impressed by the final challenge this time, particularly since the wind made it almost more about luck than anything else anyway. Both the globetrotters and Keisha and Jen had problems with what was on the table, but it seemed like the wind was wreaking more havoc with the fences and such for the globetrotters and they didn't know if the problem they were having was something blown away or something they had missed, which I think cost them more time then it did the girls. That could just be a bias on my part, but it was the impression I got. Clearly the wind was messing up all teams.
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
Mallory in particular always had a positive attitude.
It was actually getting on my nerves :)

I think the show was taking the wind into account; the judge kept saying "Despite the wind, you don't match the brochure". So it sounded like they would give some leeway with the wind blowing stuff around. Although I'm not sure if the teams knew that. But the basic thing was that they were missing that stuff from the table or how it was arranged (which didn't have to do with the wind).
 
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EricBess

Guest
Right, that was my point. If the teams didn't know that they were being given leeway for the wind, then for all practical purposes, they weren't. Or, at the very least, they had to wonder if they weren't. For example, the globetrotters spent a lot of time picking up the fences. Had they just let the fences fall down and not passed, they would have to wonder if it was just because of the fences, or if they had missed something else.

I do agree that it came down to something that wasn't the wind, but if all of their time was spent compensating for the wind whether they needed to or not, then the wind definitely played a huge part.

I can see how Mallory could get on your nerves. I personally found her a bit endearing and found myself cheering for them a bit because of it, but no moreso than for the Globetrotters or Zev/Justin.
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
Well, they did finally go over to Keisha and Jen's table to see what they had and what themselves did not, so I guess they didn't know if the wind was a factor or not.
 
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