Fast Forward musings: Previously, Lib, there was a Fast Forward available on every leg of the race (this season, there’s only two legs with a FF). And you can only use the FF once during the entire race. So, previously again, it made most sense to use it to ensure you wouldn’t be eliminated; i.e., when you were at the back of the pack, or a team member had some injury (a la Marshall) that needs recuperation time.
Now, though, with only two FFs, that seems to change the strategy. Might as well grab it when you’re the first one by, both because you can, and to prevent another team from catching up with you (altough it looked like Colin and Christie didn’t save that much time). One thing I wonder though: Previously, only one team could take any given FF, but later teams wouldn’t know it was taken until they actually got to the FF site. That makes taking a FF chancy: you could actually lose time if you traveled to the FF site only to find it taken. However, I didn’t see any of the trailing teams even considering the FF. I wonder if the FF option is simply taken off the table once another team opts for it?
All in all? The FF is way less suspenseful when there’s only two total. Ought to have gotten rid of it entirely.
I’ll bet the producers considered this in designing tasks for the next leg. My guess is that the first task on the next leg is something like visiting a nearby museum with 9-5 hours of operation. Walkable distance, so no cab fare. Everyone has to wait outside, so the trailing Moms don’t lose time in compparison. And… they’ve got plenty of stuff in their packs to sell, right? Bet ya some pair of Egyptian women are walking around in BOWLING MOMS T-shirts right now.
Also losing money changes strategy for other teams. With a couple more non-elimination legs, probably bunched at the end, there’s a decent chance that any given team in the final leg will have undergone a cash-ectomy at some point. For the team(s) that haven’t, their opponents have. That means building up cash reserves is less important, because a) you might lose it all, or b) your opponents will lose it all, giving you an advantage anyway. Thus, more incentive to spend now.
Oh, this ep: Good work Colin; smart, smart, smart. Neither Mirna/Charla nor the Pizza Bros. were particularly annoying. Twinkies ought to fall on their knees and worship Chip, 'cause they deserved to be wandering out in the desert. And the Moms stay around. Yay!