Three posts in a row? Yeah, it’s crazy, but that’s because I’ve just been alerted to a MAJOR SPOILER.
The bookies at sportsbook.com have stopping taking bets for this season of TAR because one team started getting major, major bets.
According to sportsbook.com, the winner of this season of the Amazing Race will be
Uchenna and Joyce
I for one don’t think Rob was unethical or in any way cheating. My complaint is with the game’s producers who set it up so that Rob could game te system like he did. I think Rob was pretty smart in this situation.
I have questions about two players: (1) Gretchen looks like somebody, but I can’t think of who - does anyone else see a resemblance to someone famous, and if so, to whom? and (2) How freaking smokin’ hot is Uchenna? Seriously, burping and all, the man is en fuego! And he is totally not my usual type.
I wanted to like Patrick and his mom. I can’t. I try. I can’t.
Go goofy brothers! You make me laugh.
Sure, it looks silly now that they were able to take advantage of it. The producers might have to change the rules to avoid a repeat in the future.
Oh, it probably did help other teams, but you don’t keep score as you go along. You just need to NOT BE LAST. That’s why the move was kind of interesting. His move benefitted another team while at the same time benefitting himself.
The most destructive thing that could have happened was for everyone to keep eating, and have everyone finish before his time was up. In retrospect we know that didn’t happen, but it COULD HAVE. What he did essentially guaranteed that he wouldn’t be last.
If he HADN’T convinced another team to stop, then it’s possible (however unlikely) that what he did would have backfired if every other team had somehow figured out a way to eat within the 4 hours.
Quitting was a well-calculated move. Getting another team to quit was an inspired-move.
During each episode, I flip flop back and forth on the Rob issue. He *is * a smart racer, so I like him. Then he nabs another team’s cab and I’m like “Slime.” Then he decides to quit and take the penalty - “Okay. Whiner.” But then he coerces other to follow - “Slime.” (Not that it was all that hard. Idiots.)
I just don’t know what to think. I want people to race, but I want the race to be virtually free of pettiness. Yes, you have to plan ways to get ahead of the others, but do things that don’t *feel * so underhanded.
I agree that the penalty is strange. I don’t like quitters, and I think that quitting should put you in grave peril of losing the race. I also agree that the eating of large amounts of crap needs to go. I’m so worried someone will encounter an allergy they didn’t know they had and die. If I want to watch people eat nasty crap, I will watch Fear Factor. It’s just stupid, and they could have them do so many other cooler things.
I think she resembles Judi Dench, but that could just be me.
If your four-hour penalty starts when the next team arrives at the challenge - what if you are the last team and can’t complete it?
Thinking about it, maybe I can answer my own question - we saw what happened to the Pizza brothers in Egypt and the Haystack girls last season.
It’s infuriating how the other teams are so willing to let themselves be manipulated and affected by Rob and Amber’s presence. And yes, Rob was working within the rules of the Race, set up beforehand, but in my ideal world if you say “I quit,” then you deserve to go home. Most of those teams just rolled over and quit–Ray and Deana, I’m looking at you–without even taking a stab at the eating challenge. And I’m no fan of eating challenges. I think they’re pointless and gross and should no longer be a part of the show.
On a brighter note, there was some seriously cool camerawork happening in the Andes, when the brothers noticed the other team floating by in their raft. Excellent work.
[QUOTE=amarinth]
But it was petty revenge for having been caught lying.
He lied. They called him on it. And then he got revenge (for what? he was the one who had done something wrong!) Don’t like them. But I had no problem with what they did for the penalty.
QUOTE]
I think that was some after the fact rationalization for “stealing” their cab. They would have done it regardless of whether he had been called a liar by that team or any other team. It’s what Rob does.
Nancy & Emily’s penalty in season 1 was for skipping a task entirely, and was a Detour, not a Roadblock.
Of course, if that were the rule, Rob wouldn’t have quit and he still would have beaten the other teams.
This is kinda like intentionally walking Barry Bonds in baseball. Is it 10% spotsmanlike? Debateable. Is it a manager doing everything he can to maximize his teams chances of winning? Yes.
It is a race. It is about winning.
Oops. 100%. But not 110%.
I don’t think the Haystack Girls were the last to arrive, though. If she’d given up before the last team arrived… Hm. Did it take any of the other teams four hours to find the clue?
If there are no other teams behind you, I imagine your penalty starts right after you quit the task.
No, that’s it! Somewhere in the back of my fragile little mind, I kept picturing Gretchen and Pierce Brosan together 
, and I couldn’t figure out why. Now I know. Thank you.
Y’know, I’ll bet there’s folks somewhere on teh Intarweb that want Gretchen/Remington Steele slash, at that…
No, I don’t think it did. Don & MJ took a little while, but nowhere close to 4 hours, I don’t think. Everybody else went through 10 haystacks, tops, before the found the clue. I would imagine that was, what, maybe 60 minutes at worst?
And Skammer - The Pizza Brothers quit outright. They didn’t even try. They got to the Roadblock, did the math, and then just threw in the towel. It could have been a non-elimination leg, but they didn’t even bother to find out.
The Pizza Brothers didn’t quit outright. They gave it a try, but as soon as they knew the one’s knees couldn’t make it they took a seat and waited for the Philimination House Call.
I don’t think an injury should be lumped in with quitting.
Lena and Kristy were the 3rd team to arrive at the haystacks. They spent over 8 hours unrolling hay bales to no avail. A 4 hour penalty would’ve clearly been the better choice for them to have made, if that was the rule at the time, as it is this season.
BTW, I had to laugh at Phil when Rob and Amber showed up. He seemed genuinely amused at Rob’s antics. That was a good moment.