# Amazing Race 15: Preseason Team Rankings **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 25, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-15-preseason-team-rankings/511522 "2009-09-25T15:29:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-15-preseason-team-rankings/511522/61 "2009-09-28T18:40:07Z")
> [@rockle](#): > > And I’m overweight, short, a terrible dresser, I have stringy hair, and I run like a girl. Team Short & Chubby for the win! ---
**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:** [September 28, 2009, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-15-preseason-team-rankings/511522/62 "2009-09-28T18:42:09Z")
> [@Draelin](#): > > Team Short & Chubby for the win! Team Short, Chubby and Bedazzled, you mean! ---
**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:** [September 28, 2009, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-15-preseason-team-rankings/511522/63 "2009-09-28T18:46:18Z")
I think the tree/mud task was not a detour or a roadblock, it was just that: a task they had to complete (like finding the license plates at the beginning). ---
**Author:** ![rockle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rockle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rockle)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-15-preseason-team-rankings/511522/64 "2009-09-28T18:53:44Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Team Short, Chubby and Bedazzled, you mean! Well, if you can’t beat them with actual speed, confuse them with sparkles! ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-15-preseason-team-rankings/511522/65 "2009-09-28T19:03:20Z")
When the poker chicks picked their tree I didn’t see a ribbon on it. I was hoping the guy would let them pack it all up, then tell them to go to a tree with a ribbon and start over. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-15-preseason-team-rankings/511522/66 "2009-09-28T19:32:11Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > Either that, or he genuinely \*doesn’t \* want to have sex with her. Because he’s gay. Or, he does want to have sex with her and is able to control himself because of his principles (as misinformed as they may be). I would have been very annoyed at the randomness of Sushi Roulette if it had been an elimination leg. But then, the actual finish for the leg still had a fair amount of differentiation from the order in which they left there. What was the spread in the start times leaving Japan? I know the poker players were two hours behind but it seemed like pretty much everybody else finished within a very short window. ---
**Author:** ![zut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zut/32/2875_2.png) [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-15-preseason-team-rankings/511522/67 "2009-09-28T19:53:41Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > I think the tree/mud task was not a detour or a roadblock, it was just that: a task they had to complete (like finding the license plates at the beginning). Although you’re probably right, I seem to recall at least one previous season where a Detour was edited to look like a single task (because everyone chose the same option, so the fact it was a Detour made no difference). I think this was later confirmed by the Racers. > [@obfusciatrist](#): > > I would have been very annoyed at the randomness of Sushi Roulette if it had been an elimination leg. But then, the actual finish for the leg still had a fair amount of differentiation from the order in which they left there. What was the spread in the start times leaving Japan? I know the poker players were two hours behind but it seemed like pretty much everybody else finished within a very short window. I was thinking exactly the same thing–a task where all teams _start_ at the same time, with _random_ finish times, is a pretty shitty way to end a leg because you’ve essentially eliminated all the, y’know, _Racing_. “The Amazing Random Luck” just isn’t as interesting. However, the actual Pit Stop finish order showed a fair mix-up v. the game show finish order, so I guess the final herding-tourists task\* was actually pretty critical, moreso than the roulette wheel. Plus it was a non-elim, which took some sting out of it, plus it was fucking hilarious. So overall I’m happy with it, although I would have been more satisfed if they’d in some way rewarded the first teams to arrive by making them more likely to leave earlier. [sub]\*Did the producers intentionally give the tourists the funny long-billed visors so they’d look like ducks? If so, that parallelism was wildly underplayed.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-15-preseason-team-rankings/511522/68 "2009-09-28T20:02:10Z")
> [@zut](#): > > Did the producers intentionally give the tourists the funny long-billed visors so they’d look like ducks? If so, that parallelism was wildly underplayed. I think those are fairly common headwear. They’re so common on the streets around here (where we have a high percentage of Asians) my son started calling them “Asian Lady Visors”. I asked an Asian co-worker about them…she said that a sun-tanned face is very undesirable in her culture. ---
**Author:** ![ChordedZither](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9c0ed/32.png) [@ChordedZither](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChordedZither)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-15-preseason-team-rankings/511522/69 "2009-09-29T02:01:13Z")
No one has mentioned one of my favorite moments of the night - one of the Globetrotters urging (helping?) the slightly pudgy older Japanese woman across the street, while she kept looking up at him, saying “Thank you, thank you, thank you, …” ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-15-preseason-team-rankings/511522/70 "2009-09-29T02:03:10Z")
> [@obfusciatrist](#): > > Or, he does want to have sex with her and is able to control himself because of his principles (as misinformed as they may be). They seemed to be rather interesting principles. He said he didn’t want to sleep with her because he wanted to stay pure, but during the duck herding challenge, he yelled that he wanted to rip her head off. I didn’t believe in sex outside of marriage either, when I was his age, but even if I was in a tense, frustrating situation, I wouldn’t want to hear the man I loved yell he wanted to rip my head off. I’d be a bit concerned about which impulse he’d yield to first! 😉 I loved the herding Japanese tourists task. You see, I used to do that for a living back when I lived in Hawaii. I got pretty good at being able to count, walk backwards, and keep up a running spiel in Japanese all at the same time. I don’t think I ever lost one, although we did have a couple of cases of tourists turning up at the wrong hotel. Someone does need to tell one of the teams that speaking Spanish in Japan doesn’t usually work well. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-15-preseason-team-rankings/511522/71 "2009-09-29T02:32:04Z")
> [@ChordedZither](#): > > No one has mentioned one of my favorite moments of the night - one of the Globetrotters urging (helping?) the slightly pudgy older Japanese woman across the street, while she kept looking up at him, saying “Thank you, thank you, thank you, …” When one of the other teams was carrying a tourist to the shrine…the tourist looked completely mortified. I was wondering if they were committing some terrible Japanese faux pas, and the poor woman would now be required to commit seppuku. j/k. ---
**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:** [September 29, 2009, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-15-preseason-team-rankings/511522/72 "2009-09-29T03:03:40Z")
> [@Siege](#): > > Someone does need to tell one of the teams that speaking Spanish in Japan doesn’t usually work well. I only heard Spanish from the one Globetrotter, and his partner came in so quickly with the line about it being the wrong language that I’m not sure it wasn’t on purpose, as a joke. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-15-preseason-team-rankings/511522/73 "2009-09-29T03:42:51Z")
> [@lorene](#): > > _eeeeeat the wasabiiiiiii_. Best line of the night. I may just post it every week just because it makes me laugh. _eeeeeat the wasabiiiiiii_ _eeeeeat the wasabiiiiiii_ _eeeeeat the wasabiiiiiii_ ---
**Author:** ![zut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zut/32/2875_2.png) [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-15-preseason-team-rankings/511522/74 "2009-09-29T11:49:44Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > I only heard Spanish from the one Globetrotter, and his partner came in so quickly with the line about it being the wrong language that I’m not sure it wasn’t on purpose, as a joke. Sounded to me like a joke, and one for their own amusement, at that. As I recall, the snippet went something like: **GT1:** (mock excitement) Andale! Andale! **GT2:** (mock resignation) Wrong country, Flight. **GT1:** (mock chagrin) Oh, yeah. The dialogue was so quickly paced I have a hard time believing they weren’t anticipating each other. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-15-preseason-team-rankings/511522/75 "2009-09-29T12:56:44Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > When the poker chicks picked their tree I didn’t see a ribbon on it. I was hoping the guy would let them pack it all up, then tell them to go to a tree with a ribbon and start over. Ditto. And a couple of those trees looked like the mud was about 3" too low but was just smeared up the trunk a bit to reach the ribbon. I was sure Farmer Mud was going to reject a couple. ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-15-preseason-team-rankings/511522/76 "2009-09-29T13:25:19Z")
> [@kiz](#): > > … shuddered at the thought how easy it is to lose somebody navigating the intersection/shrine walk, … > [@Siege](#): > > I loved the herding Japanese tourists task. You see, I used to do that for a living back when I lived in Hawaii. I got pretty good at being able to count, walk backwards, and keep up a running spiel in Japanese all at the same time. I don’t think I ever lost one, … **Siege** , that is truly incredible. I’ve never led a walking tour but I’ve participated in a few. As **kiz** notes, it is soooooo easy to lose people. A couple months ago in Prague we signed up for a full day walking tour. There were only 11 of us and we lost two people _twice_! As soon as I heard they had to herd 20 of the “human ducklings” (heh, heh – nice attribution **MissTake** ), I knew somebody would be in trouble. All in all, I’m surprised more didn’t get left behind. I missed a bunch of stuff due to heavy thunderstorms in my area. The local affiliate lost their network feed. Missed the Yoga team elimination at the beginning and the entire sub-plot with the poker players claiming to be something they’re not. Thank goodness for the Dope! These threads are as entertaining as the show itself. ---
**Author:** ![slitterst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecc23a/32.png) [@slitterst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slitterst)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-15-preseason-team-rankings/511522/77 "2009-09-29T15:44:37Z")
> [@zut](#): > > I was thinking exactly the same thing–a task where all teams _start_ at the same time, with _random_ finish times, is a pretty shitty way to end a leg because you’ve essentially eliminated all the, y’know, _Racing_. “The Amazing Random Luck” just isn’t as interesting. Except there was some racing element to it. Two players did fail to eat the Wasabi Bomb before the clock ran out and had to try again. ---
**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:** [September 29, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-15-preseason-team-rankings/511522/78 "2009-09-29T15:56:07Z")
I would have nailed that wasabi bomb challenge. I love that stuff. I actually heard the Globetrotters call each other “Flight” and “Easy” a couple of times. Clearly they use their fake names with one another more than their real ones. Mika saying that Canaan didn’t want to have sex with her was the funniest moment of the night. Just because he’s not doing it doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to. So far I love Zev, for reasons that others have stated, plus the fact that he remained _remarkably_ calm and forgiving when his partner lost the clue–he didn’t freak out about how they were now very close to elimination, and then turned around right after that scare and NAILED the duck roadblock. I also love the Globetrotters, because of all the teams with the potential of Zev and Justin(?) and Pinky and the Brain, they get along the best. ---
**Author:** ![Sweetums](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Sweetums](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sweetums)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-15-preseason-team-rankings/511522/79 "2009-09-29T16:25:50Z")
> [@slitterst](#): > > Except there was some racing element to it. Two players did fail to eat the Wasabi Bomb before the clock ran out and had to try again. ``` That was one of my favorite parts. Poker girl slowly nibbling the wasabi bomb. Ensuring that the heat would be in contact with her taste buds for the longest time and that she would take the longest time in the challenge. I honesty hope the poker players stay in for a while. Simply because of the fact that despite their belief that their mad skills at the card table would give them some advantage, they seem to know precious little about playing the game. Always good humor value! ``` ---
**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:** [September 29, 2009, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-15-preseason-team-rankings/511522/80 "2009-09-29T19:40:35Z")
> [@Sweetums](#): > > That was one of my favorite parts. Poker girl slowly nibbling the wasabi bomb. Ensuring that the heat would be in contact with her taste buds for the longest time and that she would take the longest time in the challenge. > > ``` > I honesty hope the poker players stay in for a while. Simply because of the fact that despite their belief that their mad skills at the card table would give them some advantage, they seem to know precious little about playing the game. Always good humor value! > > ``` I like how they’re always assuming that the other teams are lying too. Their whole spiel about how Lance can’t be a lawyer because he’s so much of a meathead is great. A sizeable minority of actual courtroom trial attorneys I know are very much like that guy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-15-preseason-team-rankings/511522.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-15-preseason-team-rankings/511522.md?page=5)