# Time to cast Amazing Race All-Stars! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 20, 2004, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-cast-amazing-race-all-stars/275835 "2004-11-20T16:18:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-cast-amazing-race-all-stars/275835/1 "2004-11-20T16:18:47Z")
Hey, if survivor could do it… I move we start with a pool consisting of the runner-ups and final Philiminees (just 2nd, 3rd & 4th, none of the winners) from the previous five seasons. Reasons for this: 1. All have shown what they’re made of, and the show would be compelling 2. The winners of each race already have their million 3. It eliminates Flo from even being considered, A GOOD THING! That gives us: **From TAR1:** Frank & Margarita (reconciling couple) Joe & Bill (Team Guido) Kevin & Drew (The original wiseasses) **From TAR2:** Tara & Wil (The original abuse couple) Blake & Paige (down homey brother and sister) Oswald & Danny (The Cuban Team Guido) **From TAR3:** Teri & Ian (Abuse, like everything, gets better with age) Ken & Gerard (Wunza homo, his brother ain’t) Derek & Drew (dumb-as-two-posts twin brothers) **From TAR4:** Kelly & Jon (she was the redhead always ready to collapse) David & Jeff (two guys who have left no impression whatsoever on your memory) Jon & Al (The clowns) **From TAR5:** Colin & Christie (C&C Abusic Factory) Brandon & Nicole (Team Blue Lagoon) Linda & Karen (Bowling Moms) So eliminate three or four to get to 11 or 12 teams. Or, elminate more and add your favorite also-rans. My picks: Everyone from seasons 1 and 5. How could you not? Lose Tara & Wil, and Oswald & Danny (redundant, once you have Team Guido and C&C). Keep Blake & Paige, I liked them. So now I need to eliminate 1 or 2 teams from Seasons 3 or 4. Hmmmm… Teri and Ian might seem redundant, but could provide an important life lesson for Christie and Nicole, and what’s AR without life lessons? Ken & Gerard might come across as a hybrid of Team Guido and Kevin and Drew. They weren’t bad, but I’m booting them. And of course Jon & Al need to stay, they were great. So it’s down to Kelly & Jon, or David & Jeff, or Derek & Drew. I didn’t like Kelly but they did well, and David & Jeff were good competitors who might be able to give Colin a run for his money. Why do the twin teams always come off so dumb? I boot Derek & Drew. So mine’s an 11-team race (I always preferred those) consisting of: Frank & Margarita Joe & Bill Kevin & Drew Blake & Paige Teri & Ian Kelly & Jon David & Jeff Jon & Al Colin & Christie Brandon & Nicole Linda & Karen So all that’s left is, Where do they start, Where do they go, what do they have to do, and who wins? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-cast-amazing-race-all-stars/275835/2 "2004-11-20T18:21:23Z")
> [@scotandrsn](#): > > Lose …Oswald & Danny (redundant, once you have Team Guido and C&C). Keep Blake & Paige, I liked them. No no no no no – I adore Oswald and Danny; good racers and a lot of fun. Here are my picks: Frank & Margarita (reconciling couple) Joe & Bill (Team Guido) Kevin & Drew (The original wiseasses) Blake & Paige (down homey brother and sister) Oswald & Danny (The Cuban Team Guido) Teri & Ian (Abuse, like everything, gets better with age) Ken & Gerard (Wunza homo, his brother ain’t) Derek & Drew (dumb-as-two-posts twin brothers) Kelly & Jon (she was the redhead always ready to collapse) Brandon & Nicole (Team Blue Lagoon) Linda & Karen (Bowling Moms) These are process of elimination picks – I got rid of the teams I hate and this is who I was left with. Colin and Christie (who I had my money on last season) – excellent racers, but the meltdown if he lost again is too horrifying to contemplate. My poor shattered nerves can only take one Team Abuse, and Ian at least was competent. (Remember the Detour where he had to put together the bike?) I never got into the Clowns the way most people did – they always seems like a cut-rate Kevin and Drew to me, and with the real Kevin and Drew, who needs 'em? As for where to travel – they should start in Philly with a run (a la Rocky) up the steps of the Art Museum. From there? Wherever – surprise and delight me. Have they been to Japan yet? And I loved the Aussie slang challenge, whenever that was – Season II? III? I love when there’s a more mental element to the challenges, like with the Venetian masks in Season IV. As to who would win – might be Frank and Margarita – that race was a squeaker. It’s interesting to note that by eliminating two of the three majorly abusive teams, I’m also eliminating obvious contenders. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-cast-amazing-race-all-stars/275835/3 "2004-11-20T18:48:05Z")
I agree that we gotta keep Danny & Oswald, they were the anti-Guidos. The Clowns bored me. In fact, most of the teams from Season 4 bored me. I’d like to add a few “dark horse” teams that finished worse than 4th place, just to keep it interesting. Nancy & Emily from S1, the most heartbreaking elimination to date. Perhaps Jim & Marsha from S5, assuming they’ve learned how to work the airports since then. Who else? How about the ATC’s from S4, for good humor, and Tian & Jaree – for eye candy. 😃 As for destinations…they should pull a fast one and make the race course go _counter-clockwise_, that is, from east to west. First stop Japan, then Mongolia, after that who knows where? Not a lot of places left that they haven’t been to and are safe for Americans to travel… ---
**Author:** ![NotWithoutRage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NotWithoutRage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotWithoutRage)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-cast-amazing-race-all-stars/275835/4 "2004-11-20T18:53:00Z")
**Must Haves** Guidos (TAR1) Momily (TAR1) Drew and Kevin (TAR1) “Run, you fat bastard!” Cha Cha Cha (TAR2) Tara and Wil (TAR2) Ken and Gerard (TAR3) Jon Vito and Jill (TAR3) The Clowns (TAR4) C&C (TAR5) Charla & Mirna (TAR5) and a yet to be decided team from Tar6 No previous winners. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-cast-amazing-race-all-stars/275835/5 "2004-11-20T18:56:56Z")
> [@](#): > > and a yet to be decided team from Tar6 As long as it’s not Jonathan & Victoria! ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-cast-amazing-race-all-stars/275835/6 "2004-11-20T19:17:06Z")
Realized I shoulda included some links to make things easier [Season 1](http://www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race/leaderboard/index.shtml) (This one’s telling me to get Flash Reader 5, but you can read the history to remind yourself of the teams and what place they came in.) [Season 2](http://www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race2/leaderboard/index.shtml) [Season Three](http://www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race3/leaderboard/index.shtml) [Season 4](http://www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race4/leaderboard/index.shtml) [Season 5](http://www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race5/route/leaderb.shtml) And, just in case the thread lives long enough for it to matter, [Season 6](http://www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race6/route/leaderb.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-cast-amazing-race-all-stars/275835/7 "2004-11-20T19:20:44Z")
> [@KGS](#): > > I agree that we gotta keep Danny & Oswald, they were the anti-Guidos. > > The Clowns bored me. In fact, most of the teams from Season 4 bored me. > > I’d like to add a few “dark horse” teams that finished worse than 4th place, just to keep it interesting. Nancy & Emily from S1, the most heartbreaking elimination to date. Perhaps Jim & Marsha from S5, assuming they’ve learned how to work the airports since then. Who else? How about the ATC’s from S4, for good humor, and Tian & Jaree – for eye candy. 😃 > > As for destinations…they should pull a fast one and make the race course go _counter-clockwise_, that is, from east to west. First stop Japan, then Mongolia, after that who knows where? Not a lot of places left that they haven’t been to and are safe for Americans to travel… Season 4 WAS pretty lackluster. I think I even missed the first and last episodes. HATED Tian and Jaree. Not pretty enough for my tastes to overcome how annoying they were. I always wondered why they never go West. Of course, East makes for more jarring jet lag, which the producers love to see the results of. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-cast-amazing-race-all-stars/275835/8 "2004-11-20T19:29:52Z")
Although I agree that it’s probably a good idea that winning teams not compete, I personally would love to see Chip & Kim and a few other past winners again. Yes, even Flo. I’d like to see the winning teams and some of the more memorable contestants (like the father/daughter teams) from TAR 1-5 greet the teams as they each come into the Pit Stops, along with Phil and a native representative. ---
**Author:** ![NotWithoutRage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NotWithoutRage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotWithoutRage)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-cast-amazing-race-all-stars/275835/9 "2004-11-20T20:18:32Z")
> [@scotandrsn](#): > > I always wondered why they never go West. Of course, East makes for more jarring jet lag, which the producers love to see the results of. Depends on the teams though. Already, most of the TAR6 teams see a little edgy. Wouldn’t want them any angier. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2004, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-cast-amazing-race-all-stars/275835/10 "2004-11-21T08:45:50Z")
I’d structure it diffently, and take every team that started out a leg in first place only to get eliminated that episode (it happened three times in the past two seasons, if I recall correctly), and I’d take teams that got wiped out on the first day, just to see if they’ve learned anything. Getting all the incompetents together would make for _great_ TV, instead of watching all the mildly competent and competitive teams. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2004, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-cast-amazing-race-all-stars/275835/11 "2004-11-21T17:14:12Z")
It would be cool to see Marsha McCoy from the last season get another chance, along with her father Jim, but that’s only because she was a friend of mine from law school, and a really sweet, smart, and gorgeous girl. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-cast-amazing-race-all-stars/275835/12 "2004-11-22T17:17:28Z")
> [@NotWithoutRage](#): > > Depends on the teams though. Already, most of the TAR6 teams see a little edgy. Wouldn’t want them any angier. I was thinking back to the commentary that Team Guido used to do on a particular website related to reality TV on later TAR seasons. They often mentioned specific things that the producers made happen in an apparent attempt to get people to do exploitation-television worthy things. Making them fly West-to-East, which gives VERY shortened day-night periods, as opposed to East-to-West, which simply extends the daylight or darkness, screws more with the body’s natural diurnal rhythms, which would affect mood more drastically. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-cast-amazing-race-all-stars/275835/13 "2004-11-22T17:20:24Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#): > > It would be cool to see Marsha McCoy from the last season get another chance, along with her father Jim, but that’s only because she was a friend of mine from law school, and a really sweet, smart, and gorgeous girl. I thought that early fall set them further behind than they might have achieved, but then again, their gullibility makes me question how much of a contender that team really was. In a regular TAR season, the producers always seem to include teams that are more or less obvious cannon fodder. In an all-star show, I’d want to see the best of the best, for the most part. That said, I wouldn’t mind seeing them myself. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-cast-amazing-race-all-stars/275835/14 "2004-11-22T17:37:09Z")
> [@Barbarian](#): > > I’d structure it diffently, and take every team that started out a leg in first place only to get eliminated that episode (it happened three times in the past two seasons, if I recall correctly), and I’d take teams that got wiped out on the first day, just to see if they’ve learned anything. > > Getting all the incompetents together would make for _great_ TV, instead of watching all the mildly competent and competitive teams. Let’s see that would give us: Matt & Ana from season 1 Deirdre & Hillary from season 2 Mary & Peach from season 2 (who would be good to see again) Gina & Sylvia from season 3 John Vito & Jill from season 3 Derek & Drew from season 3 Debra & Steve from season 4 Amanda & Chris from season 4 Steve & Josh from season 4 Dennis & Erika from season 5 Allison & Donny from season 5 Avi and Joe from season 6 That’s 12 teams. It could be called “Amazing Race: Grudge Match” ---
**Author:** ![Mullinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@Mullinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mullinator)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-to-cast-amazing-race-all-stars/275835/15 "2004-11-22T19:24:54Z")
I had posted this long ago (well, a month or two) in a thread dealing with the pending AR6, so with permission from myself, a re-print of who I came up with for Amazing Race: All Star Edition. > [@Mullinator](#): > > An All-Star Amazing Race would be fun. It could be made more difficult considering the teams are made up of 2 people in a pre-existing relationship. Say that relationship is now on the outs (like Lenny and Karen from the first season or Chip and Reichen from the 4th) and you may not be able to get them back. > > On a quick first pass, I came up with 20 teams I thought would be fun enough to make the cut. Amazing Race usually has 11 or 12 starting, but I’ll make it 14 because these shows tend to do a bigger is better feel for something like this. > > 1. Rob and Brennan - season 1. They won and they were fairly dominant in doing so. Likable and interesting. > 2. Frank and Margarita - season 1. Second place. He could be a villain and they have an interesting dynamic. Solid racers. > 3. Joe and Bill - season 1, third place. Clear villains but also very good racers. > 4. Kevin and Drew - season 1, fourth place. Pretty good racers, but fan favorites and actually funny as opposed to trying hard to be funny but looking like a tool. > 5. Wil and Tara - Season 2, 2nd place. Hateful, evil, and mean. But, they raced well in spite of heavy dysfunction. > 6. Danny and Oswald - Season 2, 5th place(?). They enjoyed the ride. They would be eaten alive in an All-Star race, but they were relaxing and nice. > 7. Teri and Ian - Season 3, 2nd place. With 14 teams, you need a 3rd villain. Along with Team Guido they bring a competent aged racer vibe. > 8. Ken and Gerard - Season 3, 3rd place. Another likable, feel good team. They’d be marked for an early exit due to the level of solid racing teams, but they would be fun to watch. > 9. Jon Kelly - Season 4, 2nd place. More women needed, but they also race well and, while not the nicest people, do keep things interesting. > 10. Chip and Reichen - Season 4, 1st place. They get in mainly because they won. I could live without seeing them again. > 11. Chip and Kim - Season 5, 1st place. Fan faves. Underdogs. They skew older and minority which this group needs. They are darn fine racers. > 12. Colin and Christie - Season 5, 2nd place. Best team to not win, at least on racing ability. I think they become a clear team to watch hoping they mess up. I also think this level of competition would be an interesting test. > 13. Nancy and Emily - Season 1, 5th place. A couple of reasons for them here. Season 1 was my favorite, mainly for the newness. We need an all woman team as a good storyline. There is also the “what might have been” factor if they hadn’t skipped a leg when they were eliminated. Plus, one more truly nice team is needed. > 14. Mary and Peach - Season 2, 6th place. Who? They were opposite sisters. But, you need another all woman team and Linda/Karen ain’t it. This team might vaguely surprise and I think the producers would likely pull a couple of “Who are they” teams into the fold for strategic reasons. > > Just missing the cut: > 15. Linda and Karen - Season 5, 4th place. Frankly, I think they were a fluke. Nice and persistent, but they succeeded mainly due to circumstance. They seem an obvious easy out and I am trying to mostly avoid that. > 16. Derek and Drew - Season 3, 4th place. Twins and dominant male athleticism. But we have plenty of that with more personality. > 17. Heather and Eve - Season 2, 9th place. Another Who Dat pick. If you’ll remember, they screwed up the last part of a leg and took a cab when it said “Walk to the pit stop”. They lose the redemption spot to Emily and Nancy because they are worse when it comes to racing and they are idiots. > 18. Charly and Mirna - Season 5, 6th place. We have enough evil teams. > 19. Chris and Alex - Season 2, 1st place. Yeah, they won, but they are utterly forgettable. > 20. Flo and Zach. This team does not exist. A secondary note, in the response to this list, people asked where the clowns were. My response? The clowns shoes are already filled by Kevin/Drew and Ken/Gerard who seem funnier with less of an “We’re on camera, act goofy” feel.