# The Amazing Race 12/5/14 - "Smells Like Dirty Tube Socks"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-12-5-14-smells-like-dirty-tube-socks/706466>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [December 6, 2014, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-12-5-14-smells-like-dirty-tube-socks/706466 "2014-12-06T02:28:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 6

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**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2014, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-12-5-14-smells-like-dirty-tube-socks/706466/6 "2014-12-06T07:52:01Z")

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I’m even more confused now than last week in trying to figure out the timing of that FFWD. What I said last week for easy reference:

> [@Amazing Race 11/28 "You're Taking My Tan Off!"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-11-28-youre-taking-my-tan-off/705870/6):
>
> That fast forward must have been really far out of the way. The scientists went to six merlion statues compared to the cyclists’ one, but the scientists still finished ahead of them. The detour was a fixed amount of time, so there was no other difference for either team the whole leg.
> 
> Meanwhile, the dentists must have absolutely _crushed_ that crab leg task because they were slow on the tightrope but still finished ahead of the scientists despite having a 40 minute flight deficit to make up.
> 
> If checking all six statues made up that 40 minutes, was going to the wave pool 30 minutes each way?

This week, the scientists started the leg just shy of 2.5 hours after the surfers, and a full hour behind the wrestlers. That means that the cyclists spent over an hour on the FFWD, including travel time to and from it.

To put it another way, after the cyclists left the FFWD, they had 2.5 hours to get the massage and find the merlion. The editing implied that they found the merlion on the first try, and that the scientists wasted a full hour circling back after the wrestlers gave them bad intel.

Just how long was that massage? An hour? Sheesh. In any case, it appears that just driving to the FFWD and not completing it (even if you didn’t spend a single minute trying it) was a guaranteed last place.

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