Oh. My. God. I didn’t think they could top the intensity of the last episode, but wow! That was a heartstopper right to the end and it was filled with amusing touches. The edits for God communicating with Brandon. Nicole’s self assurance that Chip would get what’s coming to him since “there’s this little thing called karma” without a hint of irony. The Moms finally hitting their limit on a leg that really was stacked against them and Chip and Kim (the only place to make up time for those not extremely fit was with the locating the right island task and as the moms demonstrated that wasn’t enough). And of course that last desperate run as Colin and Christie get a man who should have his license revoked after this episode airs (seriously, that guy was a threat to the lives of people on the road and I hope that the next race has strict rules against instructing the driver to do anything illegal). Wow.
That reminds me of something else. Did anyone else find Chip and Kim’s lead pretty big? Their plane was only ten minutes earlier, their driver was slower, and they seemed much less strategic. But C and K had time for a long interview before a cut away to show C and C slowly ariving. I was wondering if they did get smacked-down or penalized for breaking the law in encouraging the driver.
wolfman - they had a 10 minute lead at the airport. We can’t tell what was edited out, but they were talking to Phil for far less than 10 minutes of air time before C&C arrived.
Man, that was great. It would have been nice if C&K had won through skill and thought instead of a huge stroke of luck, but that’s part of the game. The taxi idea was brilliant, and should have been the winning move. I’m glad it wasn’t.
Did anyone else flash back to Monty Python and the Holy Grail as C&C were coming up on the rope climb? You know that scene where Lancelot is running at the castle, and every time they cut back to him, he’s back where he started? They seriously showed about 10 shots of C&C “almost there!” as the other teams climbed the rope, climbed back down, knitted sweaters, cooked a meal, etc, etc.
I knew the moms were doomed as soon as they showed that rope climb, but good on them. They did a great job.
Oh, and all the complaining about Chip and Kim screwing over the other teams? Please. If you don’t want to get Yielded, get to the Yield first. If you want to know if you’re on the right island, hop out of the damn boat and go check. Give me a break.
I think I’ve got the high points, but can I trouble somebody for a recap again?
I looked up one of the decoy flags, the other flag with a triangle and two stripes, and ID’d it as Czech Republic.
Which country was the third flag?
If the rules allow it, should I compete in this I’d pack a handheld computer loaded with an almanac, plus a cell phone.
Cell phones are verboten – don’t know about handheld computers.
I’ve never seen the show, but my wife watches it every week. She set the VCR last night and we went out to dinner. When she went to watch it, she realized that she had forgotten to turn off the VCR, triggering the timer. Missed the whole episode. She was fuming. I figured she could just catch a repeat ver the summer, but when she was still fuming this morning, I knew how upset she really was.
If anyone happened to tape it, would it be possible for me to borrow that tape? I will return it ASAP, and reimburse your postage expense. My e-mail is casey1505@yahoo.com
Thanks in advance.
The thing that slayed me was that everyone went initially to the flag that was least likely to be the right one. The Philippines were an American colony. It stands to reason that their post-independence flag would have red, white and blue. That narrowed it down to two. I probably would have guessed the one with the sunburst since there are other flags in the region that use a similar design.
Definitely the best episode ever. My neighbors are probably wondering about my mental status after hearing me yell my head off around 10:55 last night. 
I must agree, Colin’s move of hiring the car was brilliant. If I had been that driver (Earl?), I wouldn’t have wanted my face on camera, though. That man’s gettin’ fined. I wondered myself what the point of checking their luggage was. I would have just mailed it home, to save myself the effort of going back to the airport later to pick it up. And they still seemed to have a large amount of stuff. If you’re going to go so far as to pack up some of it, hell, pack it all, you’re on the last leg!
So, big congrats to Chip and Kim–they may not have been the fastest, or the smartest, but they were good where it counted, really. They got lucky with that delayed flight, and they know it. I don’t blame Chip a bit for lying to Brandon, though. You wanna know? You get out of the damned boat, AngelHair.
TARCon5 Recap
Wow.
If you live on Earth, and ever have the chance to come to a TARCon, DO! I can’t believe I waited so long! (And I can’t believe that after getting home at 2AM, that I’m up and at work!)
Highlights of the evening:
Watching with 400 other people. 400 other people who gave the Moms a standing ovation upon their exit, 400 people screaming “Chip Chip Chip”, 400 people going NUTS when Chip and Kim ran up to the mat…
About 11:30, the racers started to show up.
Chip and Kim - nicest people in the world. JUST how they come off on TV. So friendly and gracious, spent time with everyone waiting to meet and hug them!
Colin and Christie - the big surprise of the night. They were (pardon the pun) amazingly fun and cheerful. Colin really has a sense of humor about himself. (Many of us were wearing “My Ox is broken” tee-shirts and pins. Colin, when authographing, wrote “My Ox is broken”, Love Colin! When asked, he said it was frustrating because they were there for 49 minutes! Anyway, they were very sweet. And, if you saw the Early Show this morning, the happy couple is now engaged!
Bowling Moms - about 1AM I asked Karen if she was having fun, and she said, “Yes, but my feet hurt so much!” Again, exactly as they come off on screen. Fun, hilarious women who genuinely were having a good time. I think they were a little astounded at how popular they were at the party.
Mirna - For someone I detested as a racer, she was very nice. Charla was home sick or something. She loved the goody bag “Mirnish-English dictionary” that someone had made. (Stoppo! - Stop!).
**Brandon and Nicole ** - spent the least amount of time with them, but they seemed nice enough. Very quiet…
I don’t know that shipping it was an option. You’d have to find a place to ship it from, fill out the airbills, deposit it, etc. The hotel business office might have done that for actual guests, as opposed to people crashing in the lounge, but it probably wasn’t open early enough. And the airport offices for FedEx, DHL, Purolator, etc. probably weren’t open. And they didn’t have access to a computer (that we could see) for Internet access to print an airbill. So, lots of reasons why they couldn’t have shipped even if they wanted to.
Ooh, I forgot to add Phil. I asked him how he was enjoying te party, and he said that he was having a great time, but he’d been at the CBS store earlier int he day, and seen the “I’ve been Philiminated” shirt, and was only given a 20% discount…
When C&K were in the cab, leaving the maze challenge, they noticed C&C pulling up in the Town Car, so it couldn’t have been that big of a lead. C&C seemed to fly through the maze, so I thought the “on the shoulder” driving would win it for them. Soooooooo glad it didn’t!
I can’t remember the last time my heart was pounding while watching a TV show! Oh wait, that would be David’s car-jacking on SFU…nevermind.
What a fanTAStic episode! Their Emmy is well-deserved! I got choked up when the moms lost. They did so well.
Wow, Nicole’s tears certainly were “Flo-ing”, weren’t they? 
Tee-hee. My husband doesn’t watch the show and I’ve had that joke in me since I saw Nicole’s breakdown on the bike. Sorry I had to unleash that on all of you.
Best part was Brandon looking through the binoculars, and the camera pans to one of the lens caps that was still on. The camera then shows a “binocular view” with only 1 circle (onocular?)!
I also was very surprised by Colin’s graciousness at the end. No hissy fit - just an immediate congratulations to the excellent race Chip and Kim put on.
So this is why they call this race AMAZING!!!
Just ditch the stuff in an airport locker upon arrival. Doesn’t seem all that difficult, really.
. . . How rude. I wasn’t finished.
I win the office pool. . . for the second consecutive time. . . with a team that contains a CHIP!!!
I do the dance of joy!
My daughter calls from Madison to congratulate me. (I did nothing. Just picked Chip and Kim out of a hat!)
I did watch the whole 22 minute Amazing Race episode on CBS THIS MORNING. Chip and Kim were their gracious selves. Colin mucked up the whole thing by proposing to an elegantly made-up Christie. Harry Smith hugged the Bowling Moms. And Team Blue Lagoon was a non-entity.
I hope there’s a Team Chip in TAR6!!!
It’s a small world. As Chip and Kim crossed the finish line, the phone rings, and it’s my daughter calling from Madison. “Yaaaaaayyyyyyy!!!” is all she said.
An excellent end to another excellent season. I was especially enamored of the fact that all three final teams were so close up until the last moments; it certainly added a lot to the tension. I actually had to get off the couch and pace around the living room during the maze and Chip and Kim running to the finish.
I thought Christie was really starting to lose it, mentally. After the Yield, she began giving off some very frantic energy, manifested in her constant drumming of her lips with her fingers and a general sense of freakedness.
I loved the giant clam clue.
Yes, and you’re from Milwaukee, too. Even smaller world!