The Amazing Race -- All-Purpose Thread

I agree - Travis and Nicole came across as so cool until the last few legs. It seems like he sets the bar impossibly high for her and she's disappointed when she doesn't reach "his" standards. That is so wrong. It's almost like the teacher-student dynamic has continued after all these years (and five children). Isn't a marriage about treating each other as equals?

And what about Marie and Tim's 60-40 split? He's a fool and she's an even bigger *&^%$ than I previously thought.

 

Travis is a bully and I have a feeling that living with him is no prize, "Nicole, these pancakes have a crisp edge, I know you want to do better, you should work on making better pancakes."

He would be a better parent by not treating the mother of his kids like a piece of shit. Lead by example dickbag.

 

When Phil asked Travis and Nicole what their kids will think about them following the race, my reaction was "Daddy hates Mommy."

 

When Travis was giving his lame, passive-aggressive excuse about holding his wife up to such high standards, the director cut to a shot of Phil clearly setting his jaw and clinching his first.

Would have been great TV for Phil to punch that dude in the throat!

 

Travis is an asshole. I hope he was embarrassed by his behavior when he watched the show (although I suspect he won't be). On the other hand, I'm not so sure I'd want Nicole to be my doctor in the ER. She definitely seemed to fold under pressure.

I'm very happy that Jason and Amy won. I would have been happy if Tim won on his own after throwing Marie off the glacier, though.

 

Thought this was an interesting read from the AV Club

http://www.avclub.com/article/whats-it-like-to-be-a-contestant-on-the-amazing-ra-106277

They talk to the rockers from a couple of seasons ago about what it is like to be on the race and all the insider-y stuff that people don't see.

He makes a nice point about the producers messing with people, with early wake-ups, long flights and jet lag and now that makes normally smart people making really bad decisions.

 

I wonder whether she was so crappy at the challenges because she was worried about pissing off Travis and her anxiety caused brain freeze.

 

Thanks for sharing. He answered a couple of things I've always been curious about.

He also brought up an issue I've complained about: "You sleep until 11 o’clock and then get up and go to this place and it doesn’t open up till 7 o’clock in the morning so now you’re up all night, whereas this person you beat by seven hours gets to sleep in a bed until 6 o’clock. Then they get up, and you’re both at the same place at 7 o’clock in the morning."

Always found that unfair.

But, he made a good point: "Still, they can’t let anyone get too far out. It is a race and there has to be some kind of competition to it. If one team finished eight days ahead of everyone, that’s not a good TV show."

I wonder how separated teams would get without all the equalizers and preplanned flights. Didn't a team fall a day behind in one of the first couple seasons?

 

Sorry for the late posting, but SportsJournalists.com wouldn't load for me last night.

Final results
Amy - Travis/Nicole 90
MTM - Tim/Marie 81
IJAG - Jason/Amy 67
*Wenders - Leo/Jamal 67
*Inky - Brandon/Adam 34
*Huggy - Chester/Ephraim 29
*TigerVols - Nicky/Kim 29
*WolvEagle - Ally/Ashley 24
*bumpy - Tim/Danny 22
*Jay Ferrar - Rowan/Shane 10

Travis was an ASS. Dear god, I would have had divorce lawyers on the phone if I had been Nicole those last few legs. I didn't mind them until about 3-4 legs ago and suddenly, he turned into a belittling jackass.

I wasn't a big fan of Jason's comment about Marie being a girl and beating everyone at the robot challenge.

I was also not a big fan of Marie in general, who always wanted people to help her out but then turned snotty when asked for help by others.

I started almost rooting for the Afghanimals by the end because you knew who Leo and Jamal were. They were goofballs who lied throughout the Race as a strategy and made their peace with it. At least you almost never saw them getting down on their teammate, which is one of my absolute pet peeves.

However, BEST FINALE EVER. Getting to ride in a plane and helicopter over Alaska? Climbing a glacier? Kayaking? YES PLEASE.

 

With all my favorite duos eliminated along the way, I am happy for Jason and Amy. I would have been overjoyed to see Nicole plant that ice axe deep in A. Hole's sternum.

Amy in that phone booth............

 

Marie might be close to Brenchel on my most-hated list now. A 60/40 split? Picking your ex because, well he was sitting there? Good grief.

 

Wait ... I won even though Nicole and Travis lost?