The Amazing Race -- All-Purpose Thread

It was probably a matter of getting all of the teams and crew on the same flight from Manila to Los Angeles.

Phil said one of the teams would be eliminated during the final leg, so he may show up randomly at a clue box and axe the last place duo.

 

Robbie, in case you've forgotten, there's usually a mental task during the final leg. And when it comes to brains, you guys really don't have it.

I really hope Amy's okay, because she did not look okay at the mat. :/

Rooting for Adam and Bethany.

Pool update:
TigerVols - #TheDentists Misti and Jim 110
Jay Ferrar - #SoulSurfers Adam and Bethany 88
*MTM - #TheCyclists 69
Write Thinking - #TheWrestlers Brooke and Robbie 54
Amy - #SweetScientists Amy and Maya 36
*Huggy - #CollegeSweethearts Tim and Te Jay 34
*Iron_chet - #TeamNashville Keith and Whitney 24
*bumpy mcgee - #MomDaughter Shelley and Nici 21
*WolvEagle - #TheFirefighters Michael and Scott 8
*Wenders - #TheDatingCouple Dennis and Isabelle 6
*#MiamiRealtors Lisa and Michelle 1

 

I'd like to see Adam and Bethany win, too.

 

Um. Wow. Holy shit.

A-Brooke and Robbie, LEARN HOW TO NAVIGATE BEFORE THE RACE. When you're going into the final leg, don't rely on following other teams to get to your location. That leads to...well, driving around the second largest city in the country in circles and getting eliminated before the road block. Morons. Also, the shade that y'all threw at the scientists was kind of not cool. It's not like they got on the mat and begged for another chance. They got on the map and got handed a clue by Phil and was told to keep going. Yeah, it's disappointment that they were still in, but you deal with it.

B-I would still be out there with those 15,000 storage containers. ESPECIALLY if I was Bethany. How in the hell was she able to read a white number on a fluorescent yellow background? Holy crap, my eyes. Also, props to Amy for getting that right on the first try. That was one convoluted task and would have been really difficult.

C-Yay for Amy and Maya though! Factoid: only one other team has not won a leg in on the Amazing Race until the final leg: Eric and Danielle, TAR All-Stars Season 1. The previous all-female teams to win were: Nat and Kat (crazy awesome doctor friends) and Kisha and Jen (sisters who were former basketball players, probably most famous for being eliminated in their original season because one of the sisters had to stop in the next-to-last leg to pee).

I was definitely a fan of seeing Jim not win. Heeeeee.

FINAL POOL: Congrats TigerVols! With all of those 10-point bonuses, of course you were going to win.
*TigerVols - #TheDentists Misti and Jim 113
*Jay Ferrar - #SoulSurfers Adam and Bethany 90
*MTM - #TheCyclists 69
*Write Thinking - #TheWrestlers Brooke and Robbie 55
Amy - #SweetScientists Amy and Maya 50
*Huggy - #CollegeSweethearts Tim and Te Jay 34
*Iron_chet - #TeamNashville Keith and Whitney 24
*bumpy mcgee - #MomDaughter Shelley and Nici 21
*WolvEagle - #TheFirefighters Michael and Scott 8
*Wenders - #TheDatingCouple Dennis and Isabelle 6
*#MiamiRealtors Lisa and Michelle 1


...also, did anyone else watch the preview for the next season? What in the blue hell is THAT? Not a fan of whatever they're planning...at all. I watch the Amazing Race to see amazing countries and cultures, not for any sort of insane reality dating show drama. Let's hope, like The Amazing Race: Family Edition, that this next season has an untimely death and they go back to the norm.

 

I had pretty much the same reactions you did, Wenders.

Nobody -- except maybe Brooke and Robbie (who might've feared it) -- could've seen that finish coming, especially with the way Amy looked at the end of the last episode and how she was limping and having to push through this one.

Brooke and Robbie turned back into their typical dumb selves this week (I was laughing at how Brooke called it about the possibility of the final task being a mental thing). I can't be too hard on them getting lost in L.A., though. It's probably not hard to do, especially if you've never been there, have no idea of anything there and are in a competition that, by its very nature, entails hurrying and speeding, on congested roads that often don't lend themselves to either of those things.

I, too, hated that Brooke was basically blaming the candy scientists for still being in the race. The fact that team was there didn't, and probably wouldn't have, made any difference in the fact that The Wrestlers didn't win, anyway. I don't think either Brooke or Robbie would've done well on that last challenge, and the scientists did, after all, go from last to first in the leg. That's a big jump in a what appeared to be a pretty close final stint that proved they earned what they got.

We'll just have to see how the next season goes, but yeah, the apparent premise does have the feel of being more manipulated than is typical of TAR. Maybe it'll be good and interesting, though. I do differ with you about the family-edition season. I actually kind of liked that one, thought it brought out some interesting, compelling family dynamics, both for good and ill, and I wouldn't mind if there was another such edition.

Oh, and Jim's eyes still look like pinballs.

 

That was an incredible ending. I absolutely did not see Amy and Maya winning until Amy aced the shipping container challenge.

My favorite moment, though, was when Adam and Bethany went to the fire station and one of the firefighters recognized her and said his daughter was a big fan of Bethany. If I were them, I would have gone back to the station afterward to thank him and meet his daughter, if possible.

Next season looks like it's going to be a train wreck. Not stooping to the level of many other reality shows has helped make TAR so great. I'm hoping that the show isn't jumping the shark come February because it's such a cool show.

 

Crazy ending, but they usually do something in the final leg that puts all three teams on equal footing, so there's more of a reason to watch.

 

I loved Maya's enthusiasm about everything. I thought her commentary on the chemical (and sweet) content of the fake glass door was hysterical and totally what I'd expect from the candy scientists.

I don't know if I ever would have gotten the shipping container challenge right. Great job by Amy in nailing it the first time.

Can someone expand on the structure for next season? I didn't watch the preview.

 

The next season is all dating couples, with five them this being their first blind date. So they literally meet at the starting line.

Also, if you're a fan of NKOTB, Jonathan Knight will be racing with his girlfriend in the next season.

 

As always, I want to know the winning margin. How long were the scientists on the mat before the dentists showed up?

 

The wrestlers were pissed that Amy and Maya were allowed to continue in the race, but it was the dentists who were hurt by it. They would have won if the scientists were eliminated in the Philippines. Brooke and Robbie still would have been last in the finale.

 

Wow, I've never won anything on SJ. Thanks for organizing this, Wenders. YOU are the true winner!

Great ending...but as a longtime resident of Los Angeles, it was even more fun to see what route people took from LAX to downtown (the wife and I argued over the best route...I would have taken LaBrea and stayed off the freeway! And talk about karma, it was hilarious to see the wrestlers trying to figure out where they were, with the ocean in the background. Clearly, then went west on I-10 when the directions were to go east. D'oh!

And, yes...I'm super worried about the upcoming season. Blind dates? WTH? Why mess with success, TAR?!?