If it's Tuesday, this must be our third huge blowup: Amazing Race 3

Cafe Society
1

It’s that time again…time for 22 hardy contestants to discover the thrill of the chase, the excitement of grueling head-to-head competition, the unbridled splendor of the world…not to mention the nervous crapshoot of getting ariline tickets, the frustration of totally screwing up challenges, and the total embarrassment of realizing you picked the most incompatible, abrasive partner imaginable.

All we know is that it’s going to be a hell of a ride.

The principals:
Aaron Adrienne - Art-school buddies who entered the race for a chance to see the world.
Andre & Damon - Policeman and fireman, respectively. Physically fit and well-travelled; touted as an early favorite by CBS.
Dennis & Andrew - Night-and-day father/son duo (Dennis is a conservative Southern Baptist, Andrew is an archtypical college liberal and openly gay).
Derek & Drew - Twin brothers who had a somewhat unsteady upbringing; now doing various grunt jobs in the entertainment industry. This is their first time together in a while.
Flo & Zach - Your typical wacky college kids. Have travelled extensively, but not together.
Gina & Sylvia - The prototypical homemaker mom gal-pals.
Heather & Eve - Roomies and fellow law-school students; this race is their last big adventure before starting their careers.
John Vito & Jill - The predictable post nine-eleven knickerbockers; really fired up for this.
Ken & Gerard - Typical we’re-nothing-alike brothers.
Michael & Kathy - Obligatory unmarried-couple-unsure-about-their-relationship-using-a-reality-TV-show-to-see-how-much-they-really-love-each-other. Extensive travelling experience.
Teri & Ian - Another longtime married couple trying to set an example for the kids.
Tramel & Talicia - Hardnosed brother/sister duo. Tramel (the brother) has coasted through life so far, but that’s definitely going to chance the moment the race starts.

It all starts in just a few minutes. Be back when it’s over.

2

Hmmm, no Gutsy Grandmas or Husband & Wife Minister Duos this time 'round huh? Just once I’d like to see Legolas and Gimli run in this race. I’m positive that a correctly brandished battleaxe and short bow will get you on the plane first every time.

I didn’t get to see it but don’t spoil the first team cut, I’ll prolly catch that in the “previously, on the Amazing Race” portion of next week’s show. Where was the starting point and where are they now?

3

Well, other than the team that lost (not a big shocker), there appear to be about 4 teams you can look at and say that they have no chance of lasting long enough to win.

Most teams seemed to arrive in an order that fits with how well they would be expected to do overall. However, while I initially thought the twins and the cop/fireman duos would do well that first episode sure made it seem less likely. Granted, both teams could learn from mistakes, but this is a game that doesn’t give you a ton of opportunities.

4

Welll, the Race looks to be off to a good but predictable start so far. We had the “first teams get on the earlier plane” challenge, the “sign up for the earlier bus” challenge and the “do something fast and scary or something slow and safe challenge”. No Roadblock this time out.

Interesting that Heather & Eve have already gone the “let’s beg for money route” pioneered by Blake & Paige. They will probably have better luck than Blake & Paige or Gary & Dave but may want to be careful doing that depending on what country they are in.

Two teams went for the Fast Forward this time. Normally I would have thought that would be a bad idea this early in the Race but they were on the third bus, which was two hours behind the second and four hours behind the first, so it was pretty obvious that one of the four teams on that bus would be the one eliminated. Looking at it that way it makes more sense.

What was with those donkey carts? Heather & Eve’s seemed to fall apart and it looks like Teri & Ian lost their driver somewhere along the way.

No meltdowns within any of the teams yet and no blowups between teams either. In fact, there didn’t seem to be a whole lot of interaction between the teams (beyond the usual “follow them”) except for when Derek & Drew and Ken & Gerard both went for the Fast Forward. We don’t seem to have a Frank & Margarita or Tara & Wil at-each-other’s-throats team nor do we seem to have a Kevin & Drew or Gary & Dave style entertaining team. In fact, none of the teams have shown any real personality yet, except maybe Heather & Eve at the thought of jumping out of the plane or Derek & Drew’s frustration at falling so far behind.

One thing I caught is that this leg ran from Miami to Mexico City. The two previous Races have gone from west to east; this one looks to have started by going east to west. I wonder if they’re circling the world in the opposite direction this time?

Still, it looks good so far and I’m assuming things with heat up within and between the teams as we go forward. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the series.

5

Yeah, still too many teams to find the truly watchable ones yet.

As for the detours, I fail to understand some of the people in this race. On the application, one of the questions is to list your biggest fears. Knowing full well from previous incarnations of this series what goes on, if heights or jumping out of a plane or licking snakes is your fear, you know it is going to come into play somehow. Heck, even if you lie and don’t mention your fear, if it is something common like heights or the dark, it will come into play.

I fail to understand how someone like that lawyer chick last night couldn’t have expected a plane jump (or bungee or tall bridge) to happen at some point. This is especially important because if part of a detour, the quick but dangerous is almost always a better choice than the safe but slow option.

Either address your fears prior to the show starting or suck it up and don’t whine like a 2 year old when what you know is going to happen happens.

6

I agree. I am afraid of heights and would never otherwise choose to skydive, bungee, etc. but if I was going on a show like this, I would prepare myself ahead of time to do whatever it takes. Why go through everything to get on the show just to not experience it in full? I would agree with my partner ahead of time that there would be no consideration of personal fears in choosing routes, it would be the most efficient, fastest way every time. Skydiving is faster? that’s what we do, suck it up. I might be crying and screaming my head off the whole time, but I’m not going to lose because of something I could have easily chosen to do differently.

7

First impressions: I liked the stocky, bald brothers (It’s too early in the season to remember any of their names). One of them speaks great Spanish. Waiting for the twins at the fast forward was a good gesture too, though I don’t think it would’ve made a difference. Not good losing the fast forward so early, but I was surprised more teams in the last bus didn’t go for it as they had a few hours before the bus left.

The “afraid of skydiving” woman and friend have pissed me off a bit already, mostly because of the begging. Maybe acceptable much later in the race if you’re totally out of money or something, but that couldn’t have happened so soon, could it? Have some dignity, will ya.

The model twins might be fun to have around for some time, to laugh at as they do stupid things - Sheesh, even when not racing around the world, I would not be stupid enough to leave my baggage in a cab if I had to spend more than a minute out of it. I really thought the cabbie had done a runner on them.

None of the others made an impression yet.

8

I can’t believe I’m going to have to use the spoiler feature here, but here goes.

Gina and Sylvia are hasta la vista. I didn’t notice any one big blunder they made, but they got on the later flight, they got on the last bus, just got beaten on the stretch run.

Eve was the one who was really afraid to make the jump. I can’t really fault her for her reaction, because it’s never easy to confront a deep-seated fear, no matter what the stakes…and, more importantly, she did it anyway. Yes, there were tears, there was a moment of embarrassment, but she made the jump. If you’re my partner, I don’t care how much you whine, whimper, grumble, cry, or moan (I’ll probably be doing a fair amount myself), so long as it doesn’t stop you from actually completing the task.

Ken and Gerard may have made a mistake by getting nervous and taking the Fast Forward right away, but it’s really too early to tell. Remember, the first ever winner (Rob & Brennan) did the same. I do think that there shouldn’t be a special prize for finishing first at this early stage…or at least if there is, everyone should know beforehand.

One thing that’s really struck me is how important it is to run hard at the very beginning. That’s because everyone’s bunched up and there’s no surefire way to come out ahead. The eliminated duo didn’t totally screw up (at least not like Matt & Ana), but they fell behind just enough to be the first casualty.

As for personalities…remember, there are twelve teams in it this time instead of eleven, so technically we’re not at the usual starting point until next week. It’ll happen, trust me.

9

I mentioned this above and I’m not sure it was a mistake. They were on the last bus, which put them two-to-four hours behind the other eight teams. Barring a major screw-up by one of those eight teams (unlikely, given the time lead and how early in the Race it is) someone on that last bus was going to be eliminated. This drops the odds of leaving from 1 in 12 to 1 in 4.

Also, they were going to be exactly even with those other three teams going into the round and they don’t seem to be in as good of shape as the other three teams. Going for the Fast Forward may have kept them in the Race.

10

I was entertained that I knew the starting point for the race. For the first fifteen minutes or so of the race I was saying things like “Oh, this time of day if they take 95 they’ll hit traffic.” :slight_smile:

I was disappointed that the male models weren’t taken out immediately considdering the number of incredibly stupid things they did. They almost certainly won’t be in it past next week. Maybe they’ll lose their luggage again next week…

11

Again, I’m a bit disappointed with the start of the race. I still think they’re making it too easy, hardly any challenging tasks at all. While luck playes a part of anything, with this race, there really wasn’t a place where a smart team could benifit. If your cab driver drove a little faster, you made it to the sign up moments before another team, and they lost hours because of it. I don’t know…it seemed last year that the tasks were harder, so the outcome was more determined by the teams own initiative, and intelligence, not just that they got a good cab. As far as I could tell, nobody did anything this leg that was a major mistake. I want tasks like the first season…make 'em think more.

12

My philosophy going into the start of Race 3 was: find the team made up of nice looking best friend guys who are either lawyers or accountants. They’ll win. Imagine my surprise when no such team existed!
At first I thought the identical twin model boys might fill the bill, but Episode One proved they were dumb as rocks. No. . . dumber. We’ll bid them farewell soon, I think.
The Harvard law school girls come close, but they are the second most annoying team so far, just behind the middle-aged married sharks. (I must admit I did get a chuckle when the girls’ donkey cart fell apart dumping one of the girls onto her. . . face. Can you tell I was going for an unworkable pun here?)
I’m not crazy about the Straight Dad/Gay Son team or the Straight/Gay Brothers, but I may warm up to them in future episodes.
I’m annoyed by the 9/11 dating team. Please don’t chafe my emotions any more with siblings lost on that horrible day!
The Black Brother and Sister have potential, but seemed to be a little over the top in this episode.
The Soccer Moms had “losers” written all over them. They were way too perky and they jumped the shark when they went all ga-ga over the little kid in the market. You just knew they were going to be at home with their own little kids before too long.
The rest of the teams, with one exception, don’t stand out yet in my mind. The exception: the Fireman/Cop duo. They come about as close to my concept of the Ideal Amazing Team as we can get in this series. So, until they prove me wrong, my money’s on them.
Can’t wait until Wednesday for Episode II.

13

I too thought the Fireman/Cop team would be one to watch, but I’m not too sure anymore if they’ll do as well as I had figured. When they showed that the detour involved skydiving, I thought “The cop/firefighter team mentioned they’d been in Desert Storm together. They’ll jump for sure!”. Imagine my surprise when we see them riding in the donkey cart! I don’t know what part of the Armed Forces they were in, but I figured they’d be jumping, especially since they knew they were well behind several other teams.

14

Round two done. Pretty demanding leg, particularly due to the two water challenges. And of course, an important lesson: a bunch-up point doesn’t help you if you can’t find it. Another one to tuck in the ol’ memory bank for all you future AR hopefuls.

Well, it’s still too crowded a field for a lot of individual moments (again, this was the equivalent of the first leg of the past two contests), but the field’s starting to shape up. Starting, of course, with a slightly unexpected #1:

  1. Derek & Drew (used Fast Forward)
    Yes, it took them a Fast Forward (and it was pretty tight at the end), but they’ve jumped from worst to first. This is, in fact, the biggest jump in the history of this event, ten places, and, barring an even bigger race in the future, one that’s unlikely to ever be challenged.

As for their prospects? Who the heck knows. They seem to have found their second win, but how long it’ll last is anyone’s guess. And now everyone’s out to get them, but how successful they’ll be…who knows. In any event, their struggle to stay on top alone should make round 3 exciting.

  1. Aaron & Adrienne
  2. Heather & Eve
  3. Michael & Kathy
  4. Flo & Zack

Here we have the lead pack; they’re strong, they’re motivated, they can recover from mistakes quickly (can’t begin to tell you how important this is), and they never stop moving. Any one of them can win it all.

Oh, before anyone says anything, Heather & Eve are right on the money for exploiting every advantage they can get. This not a contest that’s kind to the timid.

  1. Ken & Gerard
  2. John Vito & Jill
  3. Andre & Damon
  4. Dennis & Andrew

The second pack. Still in it, but none look like strong favorites to go the distance. Dennis & Andrew are probably the most vulnerable; they just don’t seem to have the killer instinct it takes to come out ahead. It’ll be interesting to see who ends up where. BTW, mad props (that’s the correct term, right?) to John Vito for 1. admitting that he’s not perfect, and 2. completing that Roadblock anyway. That took guts.

Which leaves Team Middle Age and Team Hot And Cold Sibs (notice that we don’t seem to have any smarmy nicknames for the teams this time?). Of course, since it’s still early, I’ll do the proper courtesy:

Tramel & Talicia, who didn’t look good at all in the beginning, saw the bottom completely fall out. The Detour really hurt them…they must have fallen off that damn jetski five times…and getting lost in crunch time was the nail in the coffin.

Can’t really say I’m unhappy to see them go. I could where they were headed (hello, Lenny & Karen), and I’m just relieved that they were eliminated before becoming unbearable.

Teri & Ian lost a lot of time and are really on the bubble at #10.

15

Thought I’d die laughing last night at the inept Wave Runners! Wayyyyy too funny. Folks, the handwriting was on the wall for last night’s losers. No big loss. Now, if we can just get rid of the Middle Aged Sharks.
The character of some of the teams is starting to gel. The Doublemint Boys are still dumber than rocks. I don’t think they’ll last too long, even though the shot of them in the surf at the end of the show was very yummy.
I can’t stand Flo and Zack. Flo is such a nag!
And I have a new found respect for the Harvard girls.
The Gay/Straight brother duo is starting to appeal to me.
I’m worried about the Cop/Fireman team. Oversleeping is not a good sign. And they seem to be missing some of the smarts needed to win this race.
And the guy in the Long Distance Dating team has no business being in this competition. What a wuss! This girl can do much better. Maybe Zack!
Aside from that, an altogether enjoyable hour that ended in Tulum, a place I have been. Good.

16

Spoilers Ahoy…

Yet another fun episode of the Amazing Race! I could not believe how often Tramel & Talicia dumped their Wave Runners! Once you could put down to inexperience, but after that, you’d think they’d be more careful. But like you said DKW, they must have fallen off four or five times!! I think that’s what put them in last place. I didn’t notice any other big mistakes, but they seemed to really get stuck on the Wave Runners.

And why did team fiftysomething bring their packs on the waverunner with them? I don’t remember anyone else doing that, but maybe I just didn’t notice. I think Ian is used to being waited on at home. In last weeks episode, we saw him riding the donkey cart while his wife pulled the donkey along. This week, they fall off the wave runner, and he jumps on and starts telling her to get the packs out of the water! He seems pretty high strung, and I don’t think its going to get better as the race goes on.

annieclause, I’m still not sure what to think of the Cop/Firefighter duo. They made up a ton of time when they got the guy from the hotel to help them (smart move!), but then their lead seemed to bleed away again. And did I see one of them using a life preserver for the Roadblock? Not a good sign, if there are more water challenges ahead.

One other thing that bugged me is the way several other teams (Aaron & Adrienne and Flo & Zach I think) have a real dislike for the twins, which seems to spring from nothing more than the fact that they’re good looking. As far as I’ve seen, the twins seem to treat other teams well, and they haven’t really been trash talking them in the interviews, so I don’t think there’s any real reason for them to be so despised. Based on last weeks performance, they don’t seem to be a huge threat to the other front runners, whether or not they’re in good shape.

I do wish they’d start showing more of the interaction between the teams during the rest periods. I enjoy the dirt that seems to turn up.

17

Surprised to not find this thread updated. Has our intrepid reviewer DKW given up on us? :slight_smile:

This was a very good episode. Just lacking a bit in suspense, due to the spacing out of the buses. The airport sequence was a bit chaotic, but I liked the fact that there seemed to be so many options available. I don’t think there’ve ever been so many different flights, routes, connections taken on a single leg in the past.

This thread should’ve really been a spoiler thread with big spoiler tags in the subject. Not that anyone seems to care… Why don’t more people watch this amazing show? Best reality show on TV.

Anyway, Spoilers Ahead

Spoilers begin here, you’ve been warned!:

Was this the first time a team took the fast forward and were still eliminated? Dennis and Andrew seemed to screw up big time getting on the flights. How did they manage to arrive a whole day later?! I was really hoping they could make up the time, I was really starting to like them.

My thoughts on the teams left, so far…
I’m extremely irritated by Aaron and Arianne. Hating someone just because they’re good looking is as bad as hating someone because they’re ugly. And they’re annoying to boot. Most hated team, just edging out…

Teri and Ian: I don’t have to explain, do I? They are an older Wil and Tara.

Heather and Eve, the begging, crying lawyers: Well, I didn’t dislike them much during this leg, and I’m kinda starting to like Heather. She seems polite and no-nonsense, and she seems to be holding them together. Another Mary and Peach situation?

I don’t like Flo and Zach. Flo is screechy and annoying. Zach has bad hair… er, ok, I don’t have anything against Zach.

Teams I don’t mind:
I kinda like Michael and Kathy, they seem ok. I like the twins because everyone hates them for no reason, and they seem like nice guys. Not at all cocky (despite what Arianne might try to tell me). Andre and Damon haven’t managed to make much of an impression even now.

Teams I like:
Ken & Gerrard: They’re cool, funny, smart and they seem to be enjoying themselves. The bit on the boats at Cambridge was classic. Definitely my favourite team to far. So I guess they’ll be finishing fourth :frowning:

Jon Vito & Jill: Because Jill kicks ass. Rambette is the perfect nickname for her. Did you see her paddling away? Then the bit where they got to the 10 o’clock bus, the highland games-lite part. Wow. I like her.

Favourite NPCs so far: The Scots. “You’re too pretty for muscles” … I wanna go to Scotland.

Come back, DKW! :slight_smile:

18

Oh, I might as well do the current placements:

  1. The Twins (Derek & Drew)
  2. Ken & Gerrard
  3. Flo & Zach
  4. Aaron & Arianne
  5. Heather & Eve
  6. Michael & Kathy
  7. Jon Vito & Jill
  8. Andre & Damon
  9. Teri & Ian
  10. (Eliminated) Dennis & Andrew
19

sc913 -

Just to let you know, people are posting over on this thread instead of here. It will probably be easier to do threads in that format (i.e. one for each week), than to keep finding this one, and resurecting it.

20

Thanks… When did that happen? I had this thread bookmarked and every thing. Thought I was first to do a recap for a change {pouts}

Thanks again… Cya in the new thread.