# The Amazing Race 10/2/2011: The Sprint of Our Life **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 2, 2011, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-10-2-2011-the-sprint-of-our-life/598380 "2011-10-02T22:34:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2011, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-10-2-2011-the-sprint-of-our-life/598380/61 "2011-10-05T13:30:56Z")
> [@obfusciatrist](#): > > Second, it would require knowing up front what the penalty would be for failing to follow the signs. This plan wouldn’t work if it was simply a “sit over there for X minutes.” They wouldn’t know from the beginning that it would be better to ignore the sign, but in the end, that would be the better play (assuming the cabs are available, which I have a feeling might not be the case). If they got to the Pit Stop and the host said “Did you give them _all_ the money in your possession? No? Then you must go back and give them all your money”, the team would then have enough information to go with my idea. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2011, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-10-2-2011-the-sprint-of-our-life/598380/62 "2011-10-05T13:46:58Z")
> [@Hal\_Briston](#): > > Correct me if I’m wrong, but if teams played it smart, it seems to me it would’ve actually be to their advantage to _not_ see the sign. Hear me out… > > (For this, we’re going to work under a couple of assumptions – that the orphanage and the Pit Stop are about a mile apart, and that taxis are available to take players from one to the other) > > Scenario 1 – Players see the sign: > They see the sign, give up all their money, and take 10-15 minutes to walk/jog the mile to the Pit Stop. > > Scenario 1 – Players _don’t_ see the sign: > They take a cab from the orphanage to the Pit Stop and are told they have to go back and give up all their money. They leave the Pit Stop, hail a cab, pay the driver in advance with enough money to take them to the orphanage _and back again_ (plus a nice tip to ensure he doesn’t take off while they’re in the orphanage). Go to the orphanage, give them whatever they have left, and quickly ride back to the Pit Stop. Zip-zip-zip, three quick cab rides should be quicker than the one-way walk, right? Even moreso if the distance is further than a mile. Except if they were expected to give up all the cash they had _at the time the went to the table first_. If they used some of the cash taking cabs, they would’ve been short. StG ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2011, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-10-2-2011-the-sprint-of-our-life/598380/63 "2011-10-05T14:27:42Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > Except if they were expected to give up all the cash they had _at the time the went to the table first_. If they used some of the cash taking cabs, they would’ve been short. There’s nothing to indicate that. By that reasoning, if someone who didn’t see the sign stopped and grabbed a Gatorade on the way to the Pit Stop, their race would be over since they wouldn’t be able to hand over as much cash to the orphanage as they had the first time they were there. I know that if I were in the situation where I was told to go somewhere and give someone all the cash I had on me, my first thought would be “is there any place between here and there where I can spend some money to gain an advantage yet still be able to adhere to the letter of the rules?” (and yes, I know, I’m a very, very bad person for trying to gain a slight advantage by taking money away from orphans – s’ok, I’ll go back and give them twice as much after I win the million bucks). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2011, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-10-2-2011-the-sprint-of-our-life/598380/64 "2011-10-05T14:51:38Z")
The smartest play is to read the sign at your first visit, walk over to your cab and give most or all of your money to the cabbie explaining you want to pre-pay and that you expect the extra overpayment returned at the end of the trip, minus a healthy tip. Then, walk back to the table and donate the Detour earnings plus some loose change in your pockets. Now, you have zero money in possession and it was all given to the orphanage. Walk to the cab and zip past the other racers to the Pit Stop and collect some extra cash for the next leg. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-10-2-2011-the-sprint-of-our-life/598380/65 "2011-10-06T12:41:03Z")
> [@The\_Controvert](#): > > The smartest play is to read the sign at your first visit, walk over to your cab and give most or all of your money to the cabbie explaining you want to pre-pay and that you expect the extra overpayment returned at the end of the trip, minus a healthy tip. > > Then, walk back to the table and donate the Detour earnings plus some loose change in your pockets. Now, you have zero money in possession and it was all given to the orphanage. > > Walk to the cab and zip past the other racers to the Pit Stop and collect some extra cash for the next leg. Nah, that wouldn’t work. Phil asked one of the couples (the Survivors, I think), “Do you have any money in your possession now?” When the guy said he did, Phil told them to go back and give it to the orphans. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-10-2-2011-the-sprint-of-our-life/598380/66 "2011-10-06T12:54:11Z")
Prepaying the cab _might_ work, but the bit where the taxi driver gives you back money afterwards certainly wouldn’t. TAR accepts gaming the rules to a degree (Rob/Amber on the Meatblock) but draws a firm line on rules lawyering–team heave\* being the best example and I think the midget stuntmen got smacked for rules lawyering too (something like "The clue doesn’t actually say we can’t hide the stuff from the other teams) \*Two really dumb lawyers who interpreted “You must walk to the next pit-stop” as “You can take a cab to someplace close to the next pit stop and _then_ walk. After all, it doesn’t say _where_ we have to walk from, right?” Then they blamed the cameramen for lying to them. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![tavalla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tavalla/32/89_2.png) [@tavalla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavalla)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-10-2-2011-the-sprint-of-our-life/598380/67 "2011-10-07T11:18:08Z")
Count me in as liking the sign. For a good few seasons there, the race clues were all “go here, do this, go there” - all very explicitly spelled out. I like clues that make the racers think, and be observant. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-10-2-2011-the-sprint-of-our-life/598380.md?page=3)