The Amazing Race -- All-Purpose Thread

Thus is the game of TAR. It can always come down to a poor decision (taxi vs. subway), getting a taxi driver that takes you to the wrong location, etc. I think they started doing the all-on-the-same flight, especially late in the game, after they had some people get as much as a day behind the other teams. Also, when you're flying across several countries, there may only be one or two flights a day that will get you from Vietnam to South Korea. Especially non-stop flights...can you imagine getting on a puddle jumping flight? From Ho Chi Minh to Hong Kong to Shanghai to Beijing and finally to Seoul? Ew.

and I agree with Write - this seemed like one with fewer physical challenges to give them some time to recoup. All the teams probably really needed some challenges where they weren't being pushed to their physical limits because of the sheer amount of energy they expounded in Vietnam. That being said - most of the time, I feel like I might be able to do the challenges put forth. I think I would have been fine on the video games but I might still be there, trying to stack and unstack 12 cups in 7 seconds.

 

In the tease for next week's finale, I saw one of the guys wearing a Vienna Beef hat. If one of the final tasks is to make a Chicago dog, my wife is going to have a fit. She spent three summers in high school/college working at a Chicago-style hot dog place in the Atlanta suburbs.

It was the same when they finished in Atlanta about 5 years ago. A lot of "Holy shit! I've been there!" that night. Particularly when one team had to find the historic home known as "the dump" (Margaret Mitchell House) and instead went to The Dump (a discount furniture store near Buckhead).

 

There is no real reason for teams to be "the first to depart" any more, it seems. If I was part of the first team to arrive, and thus the first to depart, I would tell the producers to let me catch a little more shuteye since we will all be waiting at the airport/train station/bus stop anyhoo.

 

It was the same for me when the show ended in Dallas a few years ago.

 

Worst.Winning.Team.Ever

 

Yecch. Scott deserves hazard pay for having to put up with Brooke's ridiculous whining and negativity.

 

That was a bad finale. Wasn't going to watch, but got roped into it. I should have kept reading my book instead.

 

I can't believe the whiners won. Seriously, they would have been sunk if half the teams hadn't helped Brooke during the road blocks. We weren't even to the first real ad break and Brooke was already going "I can't do ittttttt" at the car challenge. REALLY GIRL?! Have you even tried or is just whining that you can't do it until someone does it for you the way you get through life?!

It was a pretty anticlimactic finale. Thought it was cool that they showed the inside of the scoreboard though. Also, from personal experience, when they say "the friendly confines of Wrigley Field" what they mean is you'd better be friends with your neighbors. Went to game there last year and my friend and I were packed in like sardines and we are both petite girls.

also, I have zero doubt that had Matt and Redmond made it over one of the other teams, they would have dominated the finale. Hell, half of their placings were 2nd. LOL

Also, they may have come in second in the Race, but Tara & Joey won Huggy the pool! Congrats!!

Final Pool:
Huggy - Tara & Joey 86
*MTM - Matt & Redmond 81
*WolvEagle - Becca & Floyd 70
bumpy mcgee - Brooke & Scott 65
*Amy - Liz & Michael 34
WriteThinking - London and Logan 34
*Iron_Chet - Seth & Olive 29
*WCIBN - Vanck & Ashton 29
*Wenders - Shamir & Sara 13
*Jessie & Francesca 4
*Kevin & Jenn 1

 

Would've loved to see them actually MAKE the Chicago dogs before delivering them to the rooftop.

 

The finale didn't leave much room for changing the order in the race. It would have been interesting to see two teams in the scoreboard at once trying to complete that task.

Overall a good season. The matching strangers worked well. It was good that teams didn't have predetermined storylines.

 

I didn't mind the finale. In fact, I thought it was good, and I was sorry to see this season come to an end.

As MTM noted, there wasn't going to be much chance of a change of order, unless someone got really lost, hurt or otherwise took way longer on the tasks than the other teams did. But really, aren't most of the finales a little anticlimactic. You know it's going to be over and whatever happens, happen, right?

And I did get a sense of the urgency and the very real pressure the teams must have been under as the idea that they really were thisclose to winning a million dollars was hitting them -- especially Brook and Scott, when Brooke was struggling with the pit-stop work, and when she looked, sounded, and probably felt like she was going fall over in her tracks from exhaustion while running around Chicago, and then Scott offered to carry her on his back. (I have to say, I was glad, and impressed, that she refused him, and wanted, all night, to make sure she didn't let Scott down).

One thing I was thinking about last night was how TAR ends its races exactly the same way all the time. I like that the other teams meet the finalists at the finish line, but in this case, especially, I would've liked to have, perhaps, heard some sound bites about the winners, and the final finishing order.

I mean, I doubt anyone thought Brook and Scott would win. And as they panned on Michael with the camera, I couldn't help but wonder what he thought about the results, given how much he helped Brooke on the metal-shaping challenge, and after how mad he was after she and Scott nonetheless U-turned Michael and Liz.

I, myself, actually did start thinking about two or three weeks ago that Brooke and Scott just might win it, and really, I don't mind that they did. Brooke did get a lot of help, but the other contestants chose to do that, and Brooke and Scott did well down the stretch. And their relationship was real, at least, and seemed to progress and evolve as things went on, and I it was noticeable to me how Scott really celebrated that final victory with her. I was surprised at the couple of real, genuine hugs, and bear hugs, he gave her. They did seem to get, understand and like each other by the end.

That car racing challenge did look fun, if scary, too. I can't imagine driving that fast. And even though I'm sure the guys all wanted to do the driving, I would've had the girls drive and the guys do the pit-stop work, for exactly the struggles that I anticipated, correctly, that Brooke would have, with the tools and maneuvering and lifting the heavy tires, and doing it quickly. I was surprised that only the parents team did that. But I guess there was no way Scott and Logan could resist an opportunity to drive those cars.

 

I enjoyed the finale, my wife went to college in the suburbs and we visit Chicago at least once a year so it was cool to see a lot familiar places. Really enjoyed the clues based on Chicago landmarks and figuring them out before the contestants. Also, I don't want to imagine how expensive a cab ride from O'Hare to the speedway in Joliet back to downtown would be.