The Amazing Race, 29 April -- "I Need Hair to Be Pretty"

[notfrommensa]

Originally Posted by Skammer

Wow, I've seen every season but have absolutely no memory of this "Nick & Starr" of which you speak. I do remember Cheyne, though - I think he had funny hair.

Nick and Starr last name was SPANGLER.

How can anyone not remember STARR SPANGLER?

(other than some notable singers)

Hopefully she does not marry the Incredible Hulk's alter ego and become Starr Spangler Banner.

[jayjay]

Originally Posted by notfrommensa

Hopefully she does not marry the Incredible Hulk's alter ego and become Starr Spangler Banner.

We DO have standards here, you know...

[NoClueBoy]

Your agonizer, please.

[randwill]

Oh stop, you guys are killing me!

[Hal Briston]

Question for long-term TAR watchers:

This is only my second season, but the seething douchiness of Art & JJ has me wondering -- has there ever been a situation where they had a team such as those two had their buttons pushed too far?

I can see a situation where someone could recognize that Art & JJ are 1) A strong team likely to make it into the finals, and 2) A pair of hot-headed jackasses who could possibly be manipulated. If you were to be outwardly dismissive and condescending enough to them, it's likely their egos couldn't handle it and you may be able to bait them into physically attacking you.

I would imagine punching out another contestant would spell the end of your journey. Has there ever been a physical altercation like that on the race?

[Moonlitherial]

Not between teams that I can remember but for the ultimate in taking things to the edge or in the opinion of many, too far and not quite getting kicked off the race have a look at Jonathon and Victoria.

[jsc1953]

Unlike, say, Survivor -- most of the interpersonal dynamics are between team members, and not from team to team. They just don't interact with each other all that much, so there's not that much opportunity for one team to push another's buttons -- with the possible exception of hanging around airport terminals.

[Saint Cad]

Originally Posted by StGermain

What other team has had 7 first-place legs?

StG

As Kisha and Jen showed us, you only need to win one leg.

[Fenris]

Originally Posted by Moonlitherial

Not between teams that I can remember but for the ultimate in taking things to the edge or in the opinion of many, too far and not quite getting kicked off the race have a look at Jonathon and Victoria.

I heard from someone who was at a TARcon who talked to either Phil or a racer, (so, we're talking at least 4th hand info) that the rules at the time of Jonathon and Victoria didn't permit Phil to throw people off for abusive behavior*. The rules were changed afterwards so he could.

I don't know if that's true...I can't imagine any show not having a "We can kick you off for any reason whatsoever" clause, but allegedly, that's why Phil/Producers didn't actually throw Jonathon off.


*And ignoring the "shove"/"hit" incident, he slammed car trunk lids on her head at least twice, closed doors on her at least once, threw his backpack at her and raised his hand as if to slap her (and then caught himself, realizing the smack would have been on-camera)

[Fenris]

Originally Posted by jsc1953

Unlike, say, Survivor -- most of the interpersonal dynamics are between team members, and not from team to team. They just don't interact with each other all that much, so there's not that much opportunity for one team to push another's buttons -- with the possible exception of hanging around airport terminals.

From what I've read of the racers, that's not right--remember a leg (in the old days at least) was 3-4 days of real time compressed down into 40 minutes of broadcast time and it's more now since pit-stops aren't strictly 12 hours, no matter what. They're with each other quite a bit on planes/trains/etc. They also sleep in the same place and eat/sleep/mingle at the Pit Stops. Some contestant (Gus of Gus and Hera maybe?) said that a contestant was so obnoxious that it really did ruin his enjoyment of the entire experience. The hippies were apparently terrible too--they'd "play pranks" on the other racers, they'd be obnoxious on planes to every passenger, racer or not, etc.

[Saint Cad]

One thing that has been bothering me about the fast-forward is how it seemed biased towards the 2-men teams versus those with a woman or two women in them. Yes I know Rachael is all sorts of crazy and a woman has done that task in the past, but it seems to me that some women would opt out (like Rachael) whereas almost any guy would have the Border patrol attitude and say "Fuck it, this is a million bucks, Shave it."

[Skammer]

Originally Posted by Saint Cad

One thing that has been bothering me about the fast-forward is how it seemed biased towards the 2-men teams versus those with a woman or two women in them. Yes I know Rachael is all sorts of crazy and a woman has done that task in the past, but it seems to me that some women would opt out (like Rachael) whereas almost any guy would have the Border patrol attitude and say "Fuck it, this is a million bucks, Shave it."

You'd think so, but I can remember two other teams facing this FF before. One was Joyce and Uchenna, and she fabulously sat and had her head shaved (not without some tears) and won the million dollars.

The other team included a guy - I don't remember his name - who was a "male model" with thick curly hair. He refused to shave his head, and they were eliminated (but maybe not on that leg). I'll have to see if I can validate my memory.

EDIT: Aha, it was Brandon and Nicole in season 5, and I was wrong, they were not eliminated -- they crossed the finish line in 3rd place (the youngest team to ever cross the finish line).

[Fenris]

Originally Posted by Saint Cad

One thing that has been bothering me about the fast-forward is how it seemed biased towards the 2-men teams versus those with a woman or two women in them. Yes I know Rachael is all sorts of crazy and a woman has done that task in the past, but it seems to me that some women would opt out (like Rachael) whereas almost any guy would have the Border patrol attitude and say "Fuck it, this is a million bucks, Shave it."

Except that a few seasons back there was a Brazilian? wax task that both team members had to do--and for the women? No big deal. But for a few of the gorilla-like guys? It was probably the most painful task I've ever seen them require.

[Robot Arm]

Originally Posted by Saint Cad

One thing that has been bothering me about the fast-forward is how it seemed biased towards the 2-men teams versus those with a woman or two women in them. Yes I know Rachael is all sorts of crazy and a woman has done that task in the past, but it seems to me that some women would opt out (like Rachael) whereas almost any guy would have the Border patrol attitude and say "Fuck it, this is a million bucks, Shave it."

Are you suggesting they balance this out with a task that favored women over men? What sort of Fast Forward would you create, genital piercing?


ETA: Or waxing. Whatever.

[pancakes3]

i've always thought the begging for money challenges are biased towards the hotter groups.

[Hal Briston]

Well, as we learned last week, the dancing challenges are totally skewed towards the chicks.

[Moonlitherial]

One thing I was surprised to see when I went looking for information on the most legs won record was the fact that if anything the race is biased towards teams of one man and one woman. Actually I'd have to do more math to find out if that was true since most particpants fit that description but the overwhelming success of the alpha male teams that people believe occurs is not reflected in the list of records

[muldoonthief]

Originally Posted by Fenris

Except that a few seasons back there was a Brazilian? wax task that both team members had to do--and for the women? No big deal. But for a few of the gorilla-like guys? It was probably the most painful task I've ever seen them require.

That was Zev & Justin. I remember Justin saying to one of the waxers (in all seriousness) "If you do that again I'm going to punch you in the face."

[jsc1953]

Originally Posted by Moonlitherial

One thing I was surprised to see when I went looking for information on the most legs won record was the fact that if anything the race is biased towards teams of one man and one woman. Actually I'd have to do more math to find out if that was true since most particpants fit that description but the overwhelming success of the alpha male teams that people believe occurs is not reflected in the list of records

Just because it's more fun than actually doing the work I'm paid to do, I categorized all teams since Season 1 by relationship, and their average finish.

Male friends -- 26 teams, avg finish 6.0
Female friends -- 30 teams, avg finish 6.6
Mixed friends* -- 9 teams, avg finish 4.4
Dating couples -- 48 teams, avg finish 5.6
Married couples -- 29 teams, avg finish 7.1
Gay couples -- 8 teams, avg finish 5.1
Parent/child -- 23 teams, avg finish 7.0
Siblings -- 28 teams, avg finish 5.5
Other relatives -- 5 teams, avg finish 6.0


*I included divorced and other ex-couples here.
I also had to make some guesses on gender and relationships. Some teams double-counted due to All Star seasons. Excluded Season 8 (Family)

One conclusion I can draw is that married couples tend to do poorly probably because they tend to be older.

[notfrommensa]

8 gay Couples only? in 19 (non-family) seasons?

[jsc1953]

Originally Posted by notfrommensa

8 gay Couples only? in 19 (non-family) seasons?

And that's including the fabulous hispanic couple who appeared on 2 seasons (Danny, and somebody else), who only listed themselves as friends. Of course this is uncloseted...I have my suspicions about some of the "friends".

[Ellis Dee]

I agree that shaving your head is over the top for female racers. The way Big Brother handles that (in a "what would you endure to stay in the house" type challenge) is that if a guy pulls that challenge, he has to shave his head. If a girl pulls it, she has to dye her hair bright neon hot pink.

[jayjay]

Originally Posted by notfrommensa

8 gay Couples only? in 19 (non-family) seasons?

The rule is generally "at least one gay PERSON per season" (not officially, but the observed rule). That one gay person has been a member of a friends team (even if they're unofficially "friends"), or a parent/child team, or a siblings team, or an other relatives team in a lot of seasons. That there have only been 8 explicit "gay couple" teams isn't surprising given that it's "gay person" rather than "gay couple" per season.

[jayjay]

Originally Posted by Ellis Dee

I agree that shaving your head is over the top for female racers. The way Big Brother handles that (in a "what would you endure to stay in the house" type challenge) is that if a guy pulls that challenge, he has to shave his head. If a girl pulls it, she has to dye her hair bright neon hot pink.

Vyxszxin would have been all over that...of course, so would Kuy/ent...

[Ellis Dee]

I can't see Kynt shaving his head, but yeah, I could totally see him begging for the dye it pink option. hehheh.

[Drain Bead]

I would have expected the male friends team to have a higher average finish.

[Fenris]

Originally Posted by jayjay

The rule is generally "at least one gay PERSON per season" (not officially, but the observed rule). That one gay person has been a member of a friends team (even if they're unofficially "friends"), or a parent/child team, or a siblings team, or an other relatives team in a lot of seasons. That there have only been 8 explicit "gay couple" teams isn't surprising given that it's "gay person" rather than "gay couple" per season.

Wait--then where would you put the lesbian ministers? They were married: do they go in the "gay" bucket or the "married couple" bucket?*

Also, JSC: that was Oswald and Danny, aka "Team Cha-Cha-Cha". The most zen racers ever. Reading interviews with them, apparently they just don't work as a romantic couple--they keep trying but it doesn't work out--they're just better as friends. (Which is sad, because you WANT them to get together).

*They were mediocre racers but they got a shout-out line off to the fans and TAR hates those. One of them was clearly asked "Do you think God will help you" and she said something like "Uh--no. I think God has better things to do with his time than cheat in a race on my behalf".

[jayjay]

Originally Posted by Fenris

Wait--then where would you put the lesbian ministers? They were married: do they go in the "gay" bucket or the "married couple" bucket?*

Dunno. jsc1953, how did you count them in that list?

[jsc1953]

Originally Posted by jayjay

Dunno. jsc1953, how did you count them in that list?

Dang, I forgot about them! As I recall, they're listed as "married ministers" -- I picked up on the "married" part, but didn't notice the gender implications of their names. So they're under "married".

[lorene]

Originally Posted by Robot Arm

Are you suggesting they balance this out with a task that favored women over men? What sort of Fast Forward would you create, genital piercing?

I'm sorry? That favors women how, exactly?!