I haven’t read the thread yet but I just wanna say that was the best leg evah! Har - to have Rob and Ambah beat by Charla & Mirna - sweeeeeeettttt. Yeehaw! 
Philiminated by the Philippines
And she mentioned she was a lawyer to explain why she wasn’t taken in by Amber’s lie…after she’d been taken in by Amber’s lie! Priceless!
I think a few people didn’t pay attention to the clue, and thought you were supposed to start at the start of the map, which was Guam (at least on one side, and I think it had arrows).
Thing is - they’re not going to last very long. (I don’t think…I didn’t see their first season). I’m not worried that they’ll win. I’m not even worried they’ll be on my TV screeen.
As much as I detest R&A - they had a chance because they were clearly competent racers. Until they were eliminated…and I did a happy dance because it wasn’t a non-elim leg. Yes!
I love Oswald and Danny.
Also, the detour was surprising. I would have sworn “paint 14 cities on a sign” would be the easier of the two tasks.
WOW. Just…wow.
Everything was going so well until Mirna said, “We’re done.” At that point, I just knew Rob & Amber were doomed.
I’m no fan of Romber, but they do have their moments. Lying to Charla & Mirna was absolutely priceless (in no small part due to who they were lying to!) And you gotta respect how they kept it together all the way to the end. I’m glad they’re gone, but at the same time I’m gonna miss them, strangely enough.
As for Wimp & Shrimp…sweet jesus complex! I don’t know where to start. It’s kinda like that Behind The Music episode when Jefferson Starship performed a concert in Germany, and Grace Slick got MASSIVELY drunk, to the point where she was directly insulting the audience, sneering at them for losing WWII, etc. People in the crowd started to leave…and then they turned around, and sat down, and continued to watch, as if they felt obliged to witness the ultimate meltdown. It’s that place beyond hate and pain, when you’ve passed through the looking glass and are simply bewildered by what’s transpiring before your eyes. I mean…daaaamn. Words fail me.
Now, about that detour…
WHO THE HELL WOULD THINK MAGELLAN STARTED HIS VOYAGE IN GUAM?!??!? Are American schools REALLY THAT BAD??? On second thought…stupid question. At least Rob knew it was Spain. Too bad he couldn’t spell. Or proofread. Or read a fucking map & compass.
I’m wondering…Phil said there were two letters in the bag, right? I wonder if the two letters were different – one nice, one nasty. (Or bizarre, like Frank’s.) Would be cosmic karma if all the evil teams happened to pull the nasty letter, as it seemed.
And finally, props to Phil’s best line ever (and tonight’s Alterna-Title): “That’s a different type of reality show!” 
:eek:
They are ubiquitous. Like roaches, they won’t go away. Reason enough to hate them.
And that’s part of what makes the show so much fun. When Phil was running down the detour I couldn’t figure out which of the two would be faster. I suspected the navigation just because it would be easy to make an error on the signs and then a lot of work to redo them but you can never be certain until the teams are there. I love playing armchair racer along with the show…
I thought the same thing at first, then thought there might be a trick. The description said the signs were to trace the voyage of Magellan, but Magellan did not live to complete the circumnavigation. If I’d been on this task, I might have stopped there and outsmarted myself.
Coincidentally, Magellan, like Rob, met his downfall in the Philippines.
bwahahahahahaha. Bwahahahahaha. I have never enjoyed the last ten minutes of a show as much in my life. Either Mirna or His Royal Smarmyness were going to go bye bye. I could only hope that somehow both of them would be gone, but one out of two is okay.
Does the Charla-Mirna relationship remind anybody else of semi-abusive marriages they have seen? Screaming and shouting and emotional destroying, but then ten second of ‘I love you’ and everything is okay.
Also the little ‘Zach and Flo, arn’t they great’ moment in the letter reading.A little inside joke to the long time viewers, with perfect poker face sarcasm, but notshoved in your face, perfect editing, 8 thumbs up.
I missed the first 40 minutes, and came in as the last teams were searching their mail. Can someone do a quick recap for me? Thanks.
Even though I did not even see the part of the episode that this is referring to, it made me smile.
Is there a way that I can hop into my TV and steal Phil’s jacket. That thing was awesome.
Charla is a lawyer?!
Yes – both letters were from Susan & Patrick. I am disappointed, frankly. It would have been a riot to see a letter that came from Brian & Greg.
I agree with you, but I just wanted to add that I believe very strongly that Zach did these things willingly to impress Flo, who was kind of a Hot Babe, and he thought he loved her, and what better way to get a woman to sleep with you than to win her half a million dollars? Even if she is kind of a nitwit who dumped you for a model who came in 4th and once posed naked with his twin brother.
This is what gets me about this whole thing. I mean, yes, they lost out to Charla and Mirna in the end, but it got to that point because they had a map right in front of them and they didn’t use it. It’s like my 6th grade social studies teacher always said: “Use the test to take the test.” As far as I can tell, the instructions didn’t say that the Teams couldn’t fill out their signs while standing up against the maps, but they did specify that spelling mattered. Why not paint each sign up against the map? Then you already know the names are spelled right, and it’s just the order you have to worry about. When Rob said, “I hope it’s not something stupid like spelling,” I yelled at the TV, “Then double-check the map, dumbass!” It’s not cheating if the resource is right in front of you. Of all the people who did that task, I am most surprised that it was Rob who never thought of this. He usually takes every advantage he can. And then, to keep working on the same task, when you can’t figure out what’s wrong and you won’t go double-check your work? Stupid. And typically pigheaded of Rob, frankly.
You know, I don’t really care for Rob & Amber to begin with, but I have to say, that was a rather unsatisfying exit. Of all the ways you can get eliminated on the Race, who would have thought in a million years that those two would be undone by spelling? I suppose if you want to get all metaphorical, you could say it was hubris, that they were defeated by the combination of their pride and their vanity, but … no. They just didn’t use the test to take the test. Somehow, I really thought that there would be pointy sticks or boiling hot oil or the cackle of the Evil Undead involved when they finally lost, I guess.
Phil is just awesome. My God, I love that man. Last night was an excellent example of how amazing he really is. Of course, his biases show – you can tell how fond he is of Danny & Oswald, for example, from their banter – but I personally believe that is just another sign of Phil’s excellent taste. And he sure does seem to love it down there at the End of the World.
Now, to me, this was a perfectly satisfying exit. Rob and Amber lost due to their own actions. Not a capricious fate causing their plane to be delayed, not someone’s strategizing at the airport, or a bad taxi driver, but a series of choices by Rob and Amber, starting with choosing the wrong detour choice, followed by not checking the spelling, followed by horrible luck at the sorting mail task–seemed like most teams finished that task before the next team arrived, not so for Rob and Amber. And so they ended up in more or less a footrace for next to last place, and lost.
When I heard what the two challenges were, I immediately thought navigation would be the one everyone should take. I mean, this whole contest is about the ability to read a map, so they should be able to use one!
Then, when Charla and Mirna came in and said, “Nobody’s doing signs, so we should do that,” I just about fell over. There’s a reason they all abandoned that task, you idiots!
So this was “the ending everyone will be talking about.” Note to CBS: crappy racing by Rob and Amber might be unusual, but it’s not exciting.
Taxi Assessment
Stuck in the Desert and Officially Detained - or, Philiminated with extreme prejudice.
John Vito & Jill and Kevin & Drew and David & Mary - Already gone.
Rob & Amber - (down fron “Cruisin’”) - Wow. I certainly didn’t see this one coming. I don’t know if any team has fallen so far so fast–three firsts in a row to eighth place and elimination. Certainly, anything can happen on this Race, but Rob and Amber have been racing so well for so long that I would have thought only a major blunder would put them out of the race. Instead, a string of silly mistakes and bad luck does them in. I admit to liking this team as Racers, but I also admit to getting a kick out of seeing Rob eliminated because he can’t spell.
Flat Tire - or, not likely to get anywhere soon.
Charla & Mirna - (holding steady) - One more leg that Charla and Mirna just barely survive. How long can they keep this up? Plus, some intra-team sniping shows up this episode, which could be deadly. I suppose this team, if any, thrives on the drama, but they’re still clearly the weakest of the remaining teams.
Stopping for Gas - or, not broken-down, exactly, but not a good sign.
Teri & Ian - (holding steady) - Third place for this team is pretty good. Granted, that’s third place because of some dumb mistakes by other teams, and a correct Detrour choice out of the gate, but hey. That’s the game. I’m still bearish about this team, so I’ll leave them here for the time being.
"Rapido! Por Favor?" - or, making meaningless ineffectual comments from the back seat, but in no immediate danger.
Joe & Bill - (up from “Stopping”) - They were on the last plane at the beginning, but roared past Rob & Amber and Dustin & Kandice, then beat everyone else on their charter flight to the Pit Stop. Nice work, and a step up in the rankings for them.
Uchenna & Joyce - (holding steady) - The only team to successfully spell words and put them in order. I guess that makes them the best of the pack, but c’mon. How hard was that Detour anyway?
Dustin & Kandice - (down from “Passing Lane”) - A terrible Detour performance, oddly exacerbated by teaming up with Rob and Amber. However, this team had a fairly decent recovery, zooming out of the airport into a middle-of-the-pack finish.
In the Passing Lane - or, ahead of the pack, but not quite comfortably.
Eric & Danielle - (holding steady) - Second place and a strong leg. Admittedly, like Teri & Ian, this team benefitted from the right Detour choice and foolish mistakes from other teams. And, admittedly, they’re not the brighteest bulbs in the chandelier. But a second place finish means their ranking holds steady.
Cruisin’ with Earl - or, drivin’ on the shoulder, takin’ shortcuts, and generally kickin’ butt.
Danny & Oswald - (up from “Passing Lane”) - The new front runners have a spectacular leg, cruising to a first place finish while remaining comfortable and stylish. They’re having fun and staying cool, which will be a huge asset later in the Race.
Next week: Eric apparently has some choice words about Joe & Bill’s relationship. I guess.
[sub]Props to Mullinator and his Raj Ratings.[/sub]
When I first heard the tasks, I leaned toward the navigation because (as Just Some Guy said) if you make an error on the signs, it would be harder to spot. That impression was borne out in spades by the actual events.
But c’mon. How hard would it be to transcribe 13 place names, in order? Seeing as how the trailing teams caught up with rob & Amber and Dustin & Kandice, they must have been dicking around for an hour trying to get that right before giving up.
No, that’s actually not a bad instinct, just in her case poorly timed. If everyone is doing the same Detour it’s difficult to gain any ground on the teams ahead of you because you have to do everything they’re doing and they’re already ahead. So if you pick the other Detour, maybe you can get through it and make up some ground while everyone else is still working through theirs. Of course she was stupid to come up with the notion just then, because the team was far enough behind so that she had no way of knowing whether everyone was doing the other Detour or whether they’d done the signs and had already finished (as a couple of teams had).
Did they say it was “exciting” or just that everyone was going to be talking about it? Because, be fair, we’re all talking about it.
Well, yeah…but to also be fair, we talked about Kentucky’s teeth, too. It’s not like it has to be terribly unusual or shocking for us to talk about it. I mean, that’s all we do!
This is exactly the type of task I knew was going to do in Rob and Amber. It was a very bad choice to have Rob do a “needle in a hay-stack” roadblock. He’s far too excitable to do some which requires fine detail work, as evidenced by the signage debacle.
This whole leg was karma biting Rob and Amber right smack in the ass. After stealing S&Ms cab, and then screwing with them about the clue (and then not having the sense to keep it to themselves, but bragging about it the others), it just made me chuckle. But I REALLY like the letter they got; “Hope to find you cold, starving and in last place”. Hehe. I just like that Rob was so offended by it. I mean, he gratuitously screws folks over, and then doesn’t understand when people don’t like him?
Maybe I’m wrong, but did everyone but Rob/Amber and Charla/Mirna get an encouraging/uplifting letter? Or at least a funny one? I wonder what that says about the opinion of whoever was in charge of getting the letters…