Damn. I really wanted Mallory and Dad to win. Goddamn cab driver.
Me too. They were the only remaining team that had kept a good attitude throughout the race. I’m just glad the globetrotters didn’t win. And although I couldn’t stand Jen & Keisha during their previous race, they were more likeable this time.
Kind of anti-climatic in the end. I’m disappointed in the taxi luck. I know they don’t want to have people driving in the finals because of speeding, but it’s unfair to the team that gets the driver who just keeps going in circles. They should end the race in cities where they can walk / take public transportation everywhere and don’t let them take taxis.
Also, was anyone expecting the Globetrotter’s checking their bags to come back and bite them? It looks like all the teams left their bags behind, but I figured the fact that they showed the GTs say something about it meant something.
And where was the “Remember where you’ve been” final puzzle? The trailer park challenge was fun, but it felt out of place for the finale.
Was that first leg expressly designed to knock Zev & Justin out of the race. Dancing, waxing, and selling swimsuits; none of which would seem to be their forte.
In Brazil, too. Zev & Justin got lost on the way to the salon and never recovered.
I’m surprised it wasn’t more of a factor in the final leg. From Miami to Big Pine Key looks like about 100 miles. After that, they took boats to the trailer park task and none of the teams had a problem finding a taxi after that.
I think the final nail in the Globetrotters coffin was on that task. It looked like the site they got was giving them a lot more trouble with the wind.
There was something really weird going on. First, when they were leaving Brazil, Phil said that they needed to get to “Rickenbacker Marina”. Then all the teams told their cab drivers Marine Stadium Marina. Then they showed a cut-away shot of Marathon marina, which ended up being a place they were supposed to get to much later in the race. Bizarre.
I agree that it was anticlimactic. I also didn’t like the absence of the mental challenge at the end.
I did like the fact that after setting up an all-female team to win last season by seeding the field with really weak competition, they had an all-female team win against actual competition the very next season.
I’m back from my own race-around-some-but-not-all-of-the-world, Thanks to enalzi for ably filling in in my absence, and let’s wrap up the season!
Taxi Assessment:
Stuck in the Desert and Officially Detained - or, Philiminated with extreme prejudice.
Amanda & Kris and Mel & Mike and Jaime & Cara and Margie & Luke and Ron & Christina and Jet & Cord and Kent & Vyxsin - Already eliminated.
Zev & Justin (down from “Cruisin’”) - I’ve noted before that Zev & Justin’s Achilles heel might be the equal-Roadblocks rule, and that’s exactly what did them in, as they finished the Roadblock dead last after starting in first. I don’t necessarily disagree with Justin’s assessment that they wanted to go into the finale with an equal Roadblock count, but in hindsight, I think Zev would have done better at both the final Roadblocks than he did on the dancing one, so maybe they should have reconsidered. I’d also like to know what drove them to pick the bikini-selling Detour option first. I suspect it was a gamble, in that there’s no way they could’ve made up time doing a mechanical task like making caipirinhas (aside: mmmmmmmm caipirinhas) with the other three teams ahead of them, but with some luck they might have been able to sell bikinis. If they really thought it was the best option, then…well, obviously they were wrong. But it really didn’t matter, because it was the Roadblock that eliminated them, not the Detour.
Flat Tire - or, not likely to get anywhere soon.
No one.
Stopping for Gas - or, not broken-down, exactly, but not a good sign.
No one.
"Rapido! Por Favor?" - or, making meaningless ineffectual comments from the back seat, but in no immediate danger.
No one.
In the Passing Lane - or, ahead of the pack, but not quite comfortably.
Gary & Mallory (up from “Rapido!”) - OK, decision is that making the final three gives a team the rght to be ranked this high, especially when the actual racing skills of all three teams looked pretty darn equal. Gary & Mallory came in third, but that was after winning the previous leg, then getting dropped out of competition due to a lousy cab driver rather than anything they did (or didn’t do) themselves. I really really don’t understand why the producers don’t have the Racers drive themselves on the final leg, or arrange pre-briefed transportation, so that the final three teams rise or fall on their own merits. Coupled with final tasks that were pretty mechanical, there wasn’t really any chance for Gary & Mallory to catch up unless both the other teams also had cab trouble. Which they didn’t.
Flight Time & Big Easy (holding steady) - Flight Time & Big Easy were neck-and-neck with Kisha & Jen for the whole last leg, but just took a little longer to get places with their taxi, and couldn’t quite catch up all the way.
Cruisin’ with Earl - or, drivin’ on the shoulder, takin’ shortcuts, and generally kickin’ butt.
Kisha & Jen (up from “Passing”) -
As they themselves noted, Kisha & Jen didn’t win a single leg until the last one. But as I’ve noted before (and the Globetrotteres echoed), they’d never been even close to elimination either. And that’s what the Race is all about: most of the Race isn’t about winning, it’s about not losing. It’s only a the very end that winning is important. I suppose there’s some kind of life lesson to be extracted from that philosophy, but I’ll be damned if I know what it is.
[sub]Props to Mullinator and his Raj Rating[/sub]
bolding mine.
Selling tasks are generally more like begging tasks. The fact that they not only had to sell bathing suits to people who were already on the beach in their bathing suits, but they also had to have the women model them for the camera is I think part of what went wrong. I mean, if that weren’t the case, they could probably have just lowered the price to R$2/each and sold 50 of them quickly.
Anyhow, my husband reminded me not to feel too badly for them, as they left with cars and trips and some valuable stuff. I did really love them as a team, though.
ETA: I was never a huge fan of Kisha and Jen, nor did I ever dislike them. But man, I was a little teary during their mat/interview speech. And the fact that their wonderful tribute to their mom came on Mother’s Day…
That reminds me that I meant to say how much I hated the forklift task. Now, of course, there was an element of danger involved so that you really wouldn’t want the teams driving around willy-nilly with large boats on forklifts. On the other hand, there was nothing at all interesting about having three players do exactly what someone standing beside them tells them to do. Apart from some kind of fit or spasm, they weren’t really in any position to do anything but complete the task without much difficulty. Boo!
Run to the island and find the tallest tree? Sure, a physically taxing task, but not one to cause any particular difficulty for the teams. Boo!
Set up the trailer park site? Kind of interesting, sure. Some potential to get small details right, but not much room for significant (non-wind-oriented) struggle. Meh!
The bike ride? Absent teams being really within range of one another, this task was physically demanding, sure, but not very interesting at all. They should have gotten them drunk and made them race real tricycles, a la Revenge of the Nerds. That would have been fun.
Who buys only half of a bikini?
They’re on the infamous beaches of Rio. Who buys a BIKINI, period?
TAR obviously scheduled a leg in Rio because they still had a lot of money left in their video blurring budget and wanted to make sure they got to use it.
Not sad to see Jen and Kisha win, but in general, the Final Four finished in the exact opposite order I would have preferred. In terms of what teams I liked better, Zev and Justin were my favorites followed by G&M, the GTs and then the sisters. Still it was nice to have a finale where I could be happy no matter who won.
Overall, a solid season with a traditionally mediocre ending.
First, as far as I’m concerned, this is the first all-female team to win a legit race. I loved Nat and Kat and I hope they appear in a future All-Stars, but their race was so nerfed that it doesn’t seem like a ‘real’ victory to me. No such problems with Jen and Keisha–this was a hard-ass race, a good blend of physical, mental and endurance tasks, generally well-designed legs (the one that got the Cowboys was an exception–why put a u-turn in at the very end of a leg?)
I’m sorry Gary and Mallory got screwed by an incompetent cabbie as I was rooting for them, but I loved Jen and Keisha so that’s ok. I didn’t care for the Globetrotters (actually, Big Easy is the douche–Flight Time seems pretty cool) so I’m glad they didn’t win.
I also hope that this season serves as a model for future races:
-
Almost no inter-team draaaaaama. I don’t like Survivor largely because I don’t like that crap. I don’t mind drama within a team, but I hate team A vs team B drama. There was nearly none of that this time around.
-
They started with a strong group of racers. Except for the Goths (who got lucky) everyone got eliminated in more-or-less the right order. They didn’t dumb down/wimp out the team selection to force an all-woman victory–and they got one anyway (and a great female team at that). Even with a bunch of alpha-male competitors, Jen and Keisha kicked ass. Maybe the Amazing (sexist) producers have finally learned that it’s better to get really strong all-female teams and put them up against good competition than to get semi-competent female teams and putting them up against total lusers.
-
We got to see a few glimpses of “eat/sleep/mingle” again (the impromptu basketball game, for one)
-
No really cringeworthy non-sequiter tasks (like the “Jump off a pier dressed like a bird…because…um…it’s…um…cutural” one). Ok, the kangaroo one was close, but they had the sproingy things on their feet so I’ll give 'em that one.
Overall, I was really pleased with this season and hope it’s a starting point for some really good races going forward.
(PS, as someone hairier than Justin I totally sympathized with him and his reaction. Does hair grow back after that? I mean, are they tearing out the “root”?)
The hair does grow back. I was waiting to hear that Zev and Justin were going back to get the rest of their chests waxed after they were eliminated, seeing as they ended up half-done. But I just loved Justin and the “I will PUNCH YOU!” stuff.
I doubt if Kent has much hair but I am sure he would have whined big time if he had his legs and chest waxed.
Has anyone ever seen a hirsute guy wax (or shave) their chest or back into an interesting pattern? Or even dye their hair green or pink?
Wow, that was a ridiculous amount of taxi driving in the final leg. I’d like to know how much the fare ended up being! I was following along on Google Maps during the leg, and when they found out they were going to Key Largo, I checked the map and thought…wow, that’s a trek…but then they sent them more than halfway to Key West with the task in Big Pine Key. Google pegs the distance from downtown Miami to Big Pine Key at 132 miles.
I was rooting for Zev and Justin so I was bummed after the first hour. I decided not to pick a new favorite, which is just as well because I probably would have pick Gary & Mallory.
The pre-show press releases mentioned a “photo finish”…so it was a little surprising and disappointing when the 'Trotters couldn’t catch up to sisters on the bridge.
I think the taxis after the trailer park challenge were prearranged. They were all nice looking cars that were just waiting there. I’m guessing that the trailer park probably doesn’t get a lot of taxi traffic.
What do you mean? They had to do actual math! 4 from 33 involves borrowing, even.
I don’t get why they aren’t just given cars on the last leg, and actual difficult clues that involve either asking locals or some amount of figuring things out/navigation.
And if they can give them taxis for the final approach, they should give them out of the airport as well.
The walk-to-the-island-and-back didn’t seem like a bad idea. Much better than the boat task which was too dangerous not to be carefully guided. There was no tension in that one.
Kisha & Jen ran that pretty much perfectly - never killing themselves by trying too hard to win, but making sure they put it together to win at the end.
I’m pretty sure I saw an interview with the producers once where the basically said they don’t give cars on the last leg because all the racers would drive way too unsafely.
Did anyone else get a kick out of the number of times teams were saying “Rapido, por favor!” from the backseat of their cabs in Brazil?
One of the racers from a much earlier season said that the Amazing Producers have enough trouble keeping people from speeding on a normal leg. They don’t want to risk any sort of bad publicity from a speeding racer killing someone on the last leg.
That said, why not plan it around public transportation. The bus drivers aren’t going to get lost.