# Amazing Race 10/25 -- starts on time! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 25, 2009, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-10-25-starts-on-time/515104 "2009-10-25T23:03:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-10-25-starts-on-time/515104/61 "2009-10-27T01:06:05Z")
> [@BMada](#): > > pretty sure they never thought to ask for a calculator from the store owners in the vicinity. > > also pretty sure they’re a married couple so “valet/consort” isn’t exactly who he is. > > also pretty sure it’s not as easy to use pen and paper for long division that has two decimal places. You can estimate that the range is from 900 to 950 and divide those 2 numbers to 500,000 and figure out a base weight. But doing all that in a quick enough time before the rates changed was the whole point of the challenge. The calculator made the challenge very simple. She seems (to me at least) to treat him more like an indentured servant than a husband and equal partner, hence the valet comparison… I tried the division problem, and I was able to get the correct number in under 3 min. though I realise that it would be MUCH tougher under Race conditions. (cameras, onlookers, etc) I dont remember if they asked for a calculator or not, but even without one it would have been (for me) a much simpler task than the bong-a-thon. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-10-25-starts-on-time/515104/62 "2009-10-27T01:16:52Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > I assume you accidentally left out “different,” right? > > But they aren’t different at all. They are functionally identical, and differ only in form. Both draw smoke from burning materials through water, presumably to smooth it out, and into the user’s mouth. Yeah, I meant different. Sure, they’re functionally the same, in the same way that a cigarette and a joint are. No one is confusing those two. There’s a few posts in here that sound like people thought they were actually making bongs and CBS just came out with a fun word to call them instead. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-10-25-starts-on-time/515104/63 "2009-10-27T01:30:48Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Yeah, I meant different. Sure, they’re functionally the same, in the same way that a cigarette and a joint are. No one is confusing those two. There’s a few posts in here that sound like people thought they were actually making bongs and CBS just came out with a fun word to call them instead. Oh, I’m well aware that they’re two different things, but I think that for the sake of comedy, we’ll all overlook that. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-10-25-starts-on-time/515104/64 "2009-10-27T03:35:04Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > I tried the division problem, and I was able to get the correct number in under 3 min. though I realise that it would be MUCH tougher under Race conditions. (cameras, onlookers, etc) > > I dont remember if they asked for a calculator or not, but even without one it would have been (for me) a much simpler task than the bong-a-thon. I don’t know if it would have been faster; it took you three minutes in ideal conditions, but the price was changing every minute! Of course with a calculator it would be easy (as the poker players demonstrated). ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-10-25-starts-on-time/515104/65 "2009-10-27T05:27:01Z")
> [@BMada](#): > > pretty sure they’d call that cheating and then incur a time penalty. The Globetrotters aren’t idiots to bend the rules and cheat. Perhaps they coulda asked the teams leaving for a number and hope someone would actually help. Doubt they would but that’s more of a realistic option than actually looking at the numbers. > > Another reason could be that the Globetrotters didn’t think the numbers were all the same for all the teams. Not sure about that one though. I recall its been done before on a previous season - a racer left a puzzle or something assembled, and as she walked out the remaining racers looked and copied. In the taxi the racer concerned was cursing herself (I think an all woman team if I recall) ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-10-25-starts-on-time/515104/66 "2009-10-27T05:30:34Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Was this the first time in all the seasons of The Amazing Race where someone said “I’m so scared! I can’t do it!” and then actually _didn’t do it_? And that it cost them the race!? There wasn’t even any ambiguity about it, the order of winners was determined by the order you went down the slide, it’s not like they had to do something after. The \*only \*reason they lost was because Mika chickened out. The blame is 100% on her. In TAR Asia, on one of the final two legs there were two consecutive teams that couldn’t finish a roadblock - it was a hand over hand rope trapeze thing. Neither team had the physical strength to finish ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-10-25-starts-on-time/515104/67 "2009-10-27T05:51:49Z")
Something I noticed looking at the Wiki page for this - Caanan had done 5 of the Roadblocks to Mika’s 1. If the halvies rules was still in place, they were going to potentially be in pretty rough shape down the road if they had somehow stayed in. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-10-25-starts-on-time/515104/68 "2009-10-27T06:09:19Z")
> [@Raygun99](#): > > Something I noticed looking at the Wiki page for this - Caanan had done 5 of the Roadblocks to Mika’s 1. If the halvies rules was still in place, they were going to potentially be in pretty rough shape down the road if they had somehow stayed in. Who needs Wiki? You have the Taxi Assessment. As far as I know, the six Roadblocks rule is still in effect. It just doesn’t get mentioned very often. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-10-25-starts-on-time/515104/69 "2009-10-27T13:09:08Z")
I have to admit to a good amount of schadenfreude as Canaan demonstrated that he’s such a good Christian he won’t screw his girlfriend, but he’s perfectly willing to try to throw her down a six story waterslide for $1M. I’m going to choose to believe that Mika is really kind to animals or something, because otherwise she’s just a waste of space - stupid, cowardly, weak, and whiny. As for the gold challenge, I think doing it with pen and paper is near impossible for most people. Even once I remembered I had to move the decimal point to the right on both numbers, it took me about a minute just to get half way through the problem. I do agree you could have put the approximate amount on the scale and saved time that way, but it would have been really hard to do the math quickly enough, especially under pressure, fatigued, with cameras on you. On the other hand, the brothers not being able to figure it out even with a calculator was just sad. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-10-25-starts-on-time/515104/70 "2009-10-27T13:18:43Z")
I read on the TWoP forums that Flight Time and Big Easy will be donating a substantial portion of their winnings, if they win, to Katrina relief and recovery charities. So “Do it for the hood” takes on a whole new meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-10-25-starts-on-time/515104/71 "2009-10-28T01:04:34Z")
Did anyone notice that the gold price seemed to just oscillate between three specific values? It looked bogus to me. And the silver and copper prices never budged. (But maybe they only shot three bits of footage from that screen? I dunno.) ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-10-25-starts-on-time/515104/72 "2009-10-28T01:16:47Z")
> [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](#): > > I’m going to choose to believe that Mika is really kind to animals or something, because otherwise she’s just a waste of space - stupid, cowardly, weak, and whiny. I kinda wish they stayed on just to see what she else she can’t do. One thing no one’s mention yet (probably because it was situated between the slide freakout and “Muslim Time”) is that she said she doesn’t really run at all. You know, something she might want to have address before joining a RACE. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-10-25-starts-on-time/515104/73 "2009-10-28T02:01:24Z")
I was not a fan of Mika’s behavior, and will not miss her being off the Race, but I am guessing that the “Muslim time” comment was just her being confused about the Islamic Calender which IS of course different than the calender Mika observes… ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-10-25-starts-on-time/515104/74 "2009-10-28T02:10:11Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > I was not a fan of Mika’s behavior, and will not miss her being off the Race, but I am guessing that the “Muslim time” comment was just her being confused about the Islamic Calender which IS of course different than the calender Mika observes… I think you’re giving her far too much credit. I doubt she knows that. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-10-25-starts-on-time/515104/75 "2009-10-28T02:13:19Z")
> [@Neidhart](#): > > Did anyone notice that the gold price seemed to just oscillate between three specific values? It looked bogus to me. And the silver and copper prices never budged. > > (But maybe they only shot three bits of footage from that screen? I dunno.) It occurred to me that the “proctors” of that Detour task would have to be calculating on the fly, in their heads, to know whether or not the teams had gotten the correct amount for a genuinely previously unknown gold value. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-10-25-starts-on-time/515104/76 "2009-10-28T14:36:23Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > It occurred to me that the “proctors” of that Detour task would have to be calculating on the fly, in their heads, to know whether or not the teams had gotten the correct amount for a genuinely previously unknown gold value. Or they had calculators, or someone offscreen had one, and just did the calculation every time it updated, but we weren’t shown that. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-10-25-starts-on-time/515104/77 "2009-10-28T15:23:14Z")
I like TAR. But I have to wonder how many of the teams that were in a relationship when the race started had the relationship survive the race. Some of the things that have been said by one partner to another over the years…well, all I can say is that if I were on the receiving end, my response would be to tell my _ex_-partner to go fuck themselves and head back home, million bucks or no. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-10-25-starts-on-time/515104/78 "2009-10-28T15:32:08Z")
I just finished watching Season 2, and by the end I’m amazed Tara and Wil didn’t kill one another or never speak again afterwards. And of course they didn’t get back together, but Wiki says they’re still business partners. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-10-25-starts-on-time/515104/79 "2009-10-28T15:39:53Z")
There was that one couple in season one that had broken up by the time they were Philiminated. Let’s see…ah, yes: Lenny and Karyn. I really hated Karyn’s shrill “Lenny!” every time they fell behind so I was really glad to see them go. Felt bad for Lenny, though. ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-10-25-starts-on-time/515104/80 "2009-10-28T16:20:14Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > I kinda wish they stayed on just to see what she else she can’t do. One thing no one’s mention yet (probably because it was situated between the slide freakout and “Muslim Time”) is that she said she doesn’t really run at all. You know, something she might want to have address before joining a RACE. Now I definitely want to catch up on this season, just to see Mika’s Epic Fail of Amazing Race Rule Number One: THIS IS A FUCKING RACE. @ **Clothahump** et al: A few seasons back, there was Team Ironleg, wherein Miss Disabled Triathlete dumped Mr Unhelpful on the Pit Stop mat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-10-25-starts-on-time/515104.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-10-25-starts-on-time/515104.md?page=5)