Amazing Race 5 Contest

[J.T.]

Ok, Here we go, and bear with me since this is the first time I've run a contest. There are bound to be some bumps in the road....

Here are the teams, quick synopsis....go to www.cbs.com for more details.

Alison and Donny
Young couple, she was the runner-up on Big Brother 4 :exams: , and consider themselves to be the end-all, be-all of young couple teams....yada, yada, yada.

Bob and Joyce
He's 61, she's 54, and their both widowers who met online and have been dating for a year. The kids are supportive of the relationship. The couple believes that they will kick all of the younger teams butt....(Where have we heard that before?)

Brandon and Nicole
He's 25, she's 21. She is the past Miss Texas, and the 2 met at the Bridal Extravaganza in Houston while modeling gowns and tuxes. He's a model. I'm betting the smarts that these two have will help them go far.

Charla & Mirna
Cousins originally from Syria. Charla has a form of dwarfism, and Mirna is a lawyer. Charla wants to break stereotypes.

Chip & Kim
Married 25 years. Have 3 kids....not much else to say.

Colin & Christie
Dating after meeting at UT Austin. They live in Corpus. Christie is a former Miss Teen USA. Testing whether or not they have marriage potential.

Dennis & Erika
Mid to late 20's, and once engaged. They broke off the engagement because Erika went skydiving naked...Interesting.

Jim & Marsha
Father/daughter group from Florida. She was an ugly duckling until she transformed herself to become a cheerleader for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Kami & Karli
Identical twins, 26, from Oregon. Kami's pet peeve about herself is that she is always correct, all the time. Kami says that one of the most exciting moments of her life was at a Prince concert when she was asked to get on stage and dance with him. Karli's fear is getting stranded in a third world country without clean bathrooms. Karli adds that she is sweeter and more forgiving than Kami. Kami & Karli list among their similarities that they can get really upset when they are not fed, they have similar mannerisms, are ardently determined and extremely competitive.

This one's long, but full of good measures. :roll:


Linda & Karen
Two moms who met while bowling, both in their 40's.

Marshall & Lance
Brothers, around 30, who are originally from New York, but now live in Dallas running their own pizza shop.

More to follow....

[J.T.]

OFFICIAL CONTEST RULES

Each episode, pick a win it all pick. Scoring for the win-it-all is based on the number of teams remaining at the end of the episode. So, at the end of episode 1, that pick is worth 10 points (unless episode 1 is a non-elimination round, in which case the pick is worth 11 points). In order to reward contestants for picking teams that last longer, I am introducing a confusing point deduction system. At the point incorrect "win-it-all" picks are eliminated, points are deducted for incorrect picks. The deduction will equal: -1 x # of times the team was picked to win it all x number of teams remaining at the time of elimination. For example, if your "win-it-all" pick is tossed on the second episode, you lose 20 points if you chose that team twice. If you ride that team to the final three, you only lose 14 points (or however many episodes there actually are).

Each episode, pick a "first to arrive": Points awarded = number of teams at the beginning of the episode. Incorrect picks score -1.

Each episode, pick a "last to arrive": Points awared = number of teams at the beginning of the episode. Incorrect picks score -1. Exception: If the episode is a non-elimination round, only half the points are awarded, and no points are deducted.

At any point during the contest, you may predict a non-elimination round. If you are correct, you score +10. If you are incorrect, you score -10. This time around you are not limited to one guess. This will NOT apply to the final non-elimination round, which traditionally takes place in the last episode.

In the case that there are 2-hour episodes, it is your responsibility to cover yourself by making two sets of picks. Each pit-stop will be considered to conclude an episode, even if there is more than one pit stop in a 2-hour episode. Any time you put down two sets of picks, the first set will be official in the case that there is only one pit stop. If you only put down one set for a double episode, that same set will count for both legs.

I think that covers it. Good luck!

If you couldn't get in for the first episode, you may join at any time.

These are the same as Nacho....so get your picks in now. The premiere is tonight at 9:30 Eastern.

Small addition to rules....

Additional Penalties:

If your win-it-all pick on that episode is eliminated, -5.

If your pick for FIRST is eliminated, -3.

If your pick for LAST is actually FIRST, -3.

[J.T.]

My Picks, Week 1...

First: Colin & Christie
Last: Linda & Karen
Win-it-all: Dennis & Erika

[Jables]

Will these rules

Scores Through Episode 1:

The scoring was fairly straightforward, but I must note a quick addition to the scoring. I had intended to include this and forgot. I do not feel bad about adding it now, because the only person impacted is yours truly, and it is a negative impact:

Additional Penalties:

If your win-it-all pick on that episode is eliminated, -5.

If your pick for FIRST is eliminated, -3.

If your pick for LAST is actually FIRST, -3.

that nacho added after the first episode of last contest be going into effect? Any scoring change depending on if a team finished first by using the Fast Forward? Any points for predicting this? Just some thoughts from the last game, if I recall...

[Cosmo]

My Picks, Week 1...

First: Dennis & Erika
Last: Bob & Joyce
Win-it-all: Marshall & Lance

[J.T.]

Will these rules

Scores Through Episode 1:

The scoring was fairly straightforward, but I must note a quick addition to the scoring. I had intended to include this and forgot. I do not feel bad about adding it now, because the only person impacted is yours truly, and it is a negative impact:

Additional Penalties:

If your win-it-all pick on that episode is eliminated, -5.

If your pick for FIRST is eliminated, -3.

If your pick for LAST is actually FIRST, -3.

that nacho added after the first episode of last contest be going into effect? Any scoring change depending on if a team finished first by using the Fast Forward? Any points for predicting this? Just some thoughts from the last game, if I recall...

You know what....add these. Do you want to do something with the fast forward? I think that may be difficult to do, but am willing to try!

You know, we could do something like if your last pick ends first by virtue of the FF, we don't count the 3 point penalty.

[Jables]

I'm still enjoying my imaginary prize from the last game, let's hope for another!

Week 1
Win-it-All: Dennis/Erika (damn, JT, I wanted to pick them first! ;))
First: Brandon/Nicole
Last: Kami/Karli

[Jables]

Will these rules

Scores Through Episode 1:

The scoring was fairly straightforward, but I must note a quick addition to the scoring. I had intended to include this and forgot. I do not feel bad about adding it now, because the only person impacted is yours truly, and it is a negative impact:

Additional Penalties:

If your win-it-all pick on that episode is eliminated, -5.

If your pick for FIRST is eliminated, -3.

If your pick for LAST is actually FIRST, -3.

that nacho added after the first episode of last contest be going into effect? Any scoring change depending on if a team finished first by using the Fast Forward? Any points for predicting this? Just some thoughts from the last game, if I recall...

You know what....add these. Do you want to do something with the fast forward? I think that may be difficult to do, but am willing to try!

You know, we could do something like if your last pick ends first by virtue of the FF, we don't count the 3 point penalty.

Sounds good to me...I don't really see a need to reward people predicting use of the FF, but eliminating that penalty is a good idea :)

[Elisha]

First: Charla & Mirna
Last: Bob & Joyce
Win-it-all: Dennis & Erika

[Redhead]

First: Chip & Kim
Last: Bob & Joyce
Win: Dennis & Erika

[BC]

First to arrive: Colin and Christie
Last to arrive: Jim and Marsha
Win-it-all: Colin and Christie

[Leela]

First: Colin & Christie

Last: Jim & Marsha

Win-it-all: Dennis & Erika

[Traina]

First: Colin & Christie
Last: Bob & Joyce
Win-it-all: Dennis & Erika

[J.T.]

OK, I like the idea that if your team you picked for last then uses the FF, you don't get penalized. So that rule is duly added.

And enjoy the show tonight!!!!

p.s. I forgot to add....we have a really cool prize...1M cool RF bucks!
Unless I get get glenn to chip in here....

[urysohn]

First: Chip & Kim
Last: Kami & Karli
Win-it-all: Jim & Marsha

[urysohn]

bonus post to "lock it in" in case no one registers before the show starts.

[Macroman]

Winner: Dennis & Erika
First: Chip & Kim
Last: Kami & Karli

I was looking for this in the "Games" section.

Thanks Anonymouse!

[Gandalf]

First: Brandon & Nicole
Last: Charla & Mirna
Win-it-all: Dennis & Erika

[Gandalf]

bonus post to "lock it in" in case no one registers before the show starts.
Ditto, except that I will admit it is just post count padding.

[J.T.]

OK you post padders....cut it out or I'll impose new and interesting penalties involving leather and whips.... :wink:

Mods, if you could, will you please move this to Games when you get a chance....I posted in the wrong section. :oops:

[Macroman]

Winner: Dennis & Erika
First: Chip & Kim
Last: Kami & Karli

I was looking for this in the "Games" section.

Thanks Anonymouse!

duh! I have Anon on the brain. Thanks J.T.!

[Gandalf]

Bonus post to lock in the leather and whips. For a worthy objective like that, this can't be considered just post count padding.

[urysohn]

Shows on. Anyone who tries to join for here on out is a CHEATER. Yeah, I'm talking about you :P

[Jables]

Wow, good first episode, but pretty crummy results for most of us! :lol:

[urysohn]

Wow, good first episode, but pretty crummy results for most of us! :lol:
I thought I was pretty much toast when my "win-it-all" pick went down with a nail in the knee approximately 3 seconds into the race. :rofl:

[BC]

I'd read about the 25 stitches in TV guide. I thought I'd done badly missing both of my picks, until I saw how many had Dennis and Erika for win-it-all...

[Moderator1]

OK you post padders....cut it out or I'll impose new and interesting penalties involving leather and whips.... :wink:

Mods, if you could, will you please move this to Games when you get a chance....I posted in the wrong section. :oops:
The Games section is not really for games involving leather and whips, but I have moved it for you.

[urysohn]

The Games section is not really for games involving leather and whips, but I have moved it for you.
Out of curiosity, which section is the right section for games involving leather and whips? :-?

[Maine-iac]

That would be The Reef.

Enter at your peril.

[J.T.]

Episode 1 is in the books with many of us falling, and falling hard (like Jim) since Dennis & Erika were eliminated.

For the beginning of the show, Phil introduces all the teams with various clips from them. Most interesting was Colin's remark that he was the most intense person to ever run the Race (how could anyone be more intense than Will?).

OK, on to the start. Phil states that there will be 13 legs, 8 of which are elimination legs. A new twist is added in that if you are last at a non-elimination stop there will be a new penalty.

So, Phil finally starts the race from the Santa Monica Pier. As they all race to the cars, Dennis and Jim both take a spill, Jim's being the more serious of the two (more on that later). Dennis thinks that Colin tripped him.

Most zoom to the airport in their cars, with Colin and Christie taking an early lead since she has lived in LA and knows the quicker route. The last 4 in vehicles are the Bowling Moms, Jim/Marsh, Charla/Mirna, and Bob/Joyce.

There are 2 flights to get to Uruguay: an American flight that can carry 4 teams and leaves LA first, but gets to Uruguay last, and a United flight that gets to Uruguay first (about an hour earlier).

Charla/Mirna seem to get lost often, so unless they learn how to follow directions and read a map, they will probably get stranded somewhere. Marshall and Lance tell their shuttle to leave 3 teams that are waiting at the airport parking lot.

It seems to me that no one checked (besides Alison and Donny) what time the flights arrived. So, many of the early arriving teams got the slower flight.

On the later flight: Chip and Kim, Colin and Christie, Dennis and Erika, and the Brothers.

A paramedic comes by and sees Jim's leg and tells him that he will need to go to the medical center and get stitches. They barely make the flight, but do so without amputating Jim's leg.

Now that they are in Uruguay, they must travel 75 miles by bus to Punta del Este and find the hand on the beach. Kind of a weird death monument. All 7 of the teams catch the bus, and the remaining 4 catch a bus 40 minutes later.

Once at the hand, the clue tells them that they must travel by ferry to Gorriti Island. All of the teams took cabs except Brandon/Nicole and the Bowling moms, who decided to walk. Bob/Joyce, Alison/Donny, and the twins catch the first ferry.

Once they get to the island, the route marker tells them to search among 100 trees to get tickets to return on the ferry the next morning. There are times at 8, 8:30 and 9. So, after searching, Bob/Joyce, Alison/Donny, and Linda/Karen get the 8AM ferry. The twins, Jim/Marsha, and Charla/Mirna get the 8:30 ferry, and everyone else is on the 9AM.

They hang out on the beach all night. Once they get to the dock the next morning, the clue tells them to travel to Moldonado to a meat warehouse. The 1st 3 teams take the bus to get to the warehouse. Once the 2nd ferry lands, Charla/Mirna find the clue first and don't tell the other two teams, as they search the dock to find the clue. They take a cab to the warehouse and catch up with the other 3 teams.

Once at the warehouse, the team must carry a 55 slab of beef to a butcher shop about 1/2 mile away. As Alison and Donny carry the meat, we are introduced to the newest part of the Race: the Yield. The Yield can only be used once during the race and can make one team stop racing for a period of time.

Charla/Mirna are having trouble carring the beef, but finally get to the butcher after going 4 blocks too far. The next clue tells the teams to return to Punta del Este and find the route marker across the street from the Blue and White Hotel. Alison/Donny are first to drop the meat and head back, with the Bowling moms and Bob/Joyce following.

Meanwhile, the last 7 teams find the dock clue and all finish the meat project at about the same time, which makes cabs scarce. Dennis and Erika make the fatal mistake of being nice and let all of the other teams take cabs before them.

The route marker at the hotel must have been hard to find, since we seem many teams searching for a while, and 2 miss it completely. At this route marker, we get Zips or Chips. Zips is a horizontal zip 210 feet above the ground with another zip line 18 stories down into the pool. Chips is playing roulette with 20 chips. Within the 20 chips, you must match 1 number; if you don't succeed, you must do zips.

The twins and Chip/Kim spend some time looking for the clue, but find their way into the casino and begin playing. Both are lucky enough to hit their numbers so they get the next clue. The other roulette players are the brothers, and Charla/Mirna. Curiously enough, Mirna wants to stay and play blackjack.

Everyone else does Zips, which must take considerably longer, judging by the times they show up. The clue then tells them to take a taxi to the pitstop 10 miles away to the Casa del Pueblo.

At the pitstop, Chip/Kim show up first, but Phil tells them that they missed a route marker and have to go back and get it. The twins show up second, but also missed the route marker. So both of them head back to the hotel.

So the official order of finish is: Alison/Donny (who won a vacation to Hawaii), Marshall/Lance, Linda/Karen, Bob/Joyce, Charla/Mirna, Brandon/Nicole, Christie/Colin, Chip/Kim, Twins, Jim/Marsha, with Dennis/Erika arriving last and being eliminated.

Charla says that Phil is gorgeous. :D

Points-wise, we all suck. :wink:

Most of us picked Dennis and Erika to do well, so the totals are as follows:

Name Win-it-all Points
Urysohn Jim/Marsha -2
BC Colin/Christie -2
Cosmo Marshall/Lance -5
J.T. -17
Jables -17
Ladeeda -17
Elisha -17
Redhead -17
Traina -17
Macroman -17
Gandalf -17
Leela -17

Good first episode....If you missed it, there is a rebroadcast Saturday at 8ET. Hopefully we do better next week.... :wink:

[J.T.]

OK you post padders....cut it out or I'll impose new and interesting penalties involving leather and whips.... :wink:

Mods, if you could, will you please move this to Games when you get a chance....I posted in the wrong section. :oops:
The Games section is not really for games involving leather and whips, but I have moved it for you.

Thanks Mod 1! I believe in my 870 some odd posts that is the only one that needed extra attention from you! And leather and whips is acceptable for the games forum (see the EC thread for more details). :wink:

[J.T.]

Post padding, here I come....

If you missed the first week, have no fear! You can jump in whenever.

[Traina]

Thanks J.T. Awesome recap!

Well hopefully the points move in the right direction next week. :D

[J.T.]

Thanks J.T. Awesome recap!

If my husband didn't think I was nuts before, he does now. Not only was I recording on 2 different VCRs (reception was very bad at our house last night and I was trying both channels), but I was fervently taking notes during the hour and a half. Numerous snorts came from him during the episode. He never did ask what I was doing tho... :roll:

[the mole]

This game sounds like fun. Count me in. Here are my round 1 picks, well before Sunday's show:

First: Alison/Donny
Last: Dennis/Erika
Win-it-all: Brandon/Nicole

Trust me, folks, you haven't got a chance. Not only will my intellect get the right picks, one look at my eyes and JT will do whatever I want.

[Leela]

J.T. - You seemed to have forgotten me on your tally. I think I should have -17 like most of the others.

[TiderInsider]

Is CBS going to have an encore showing of the first episode. I was out last night and missed it? :cry:

[TiderInsider]

Never Mind.......Sat at 8EST

[J.T.]

J.T. - You seemed to have forgotten me on your tally. I think I should have -17 like most of the others.

Sorry....I totally missed you.... :oops:

[Jables]

Was it Donny and Alison who said:

D: "Looks like we'll have to take a boat"
A: "Yeah, a ferry is a boat!"

:lol: (or was that a different M/F team?)

I thought it was funny that Mirna wanted to stop and play blackjack to increase their funds. I also laughed as they were carring the beef, going on and on about being independent women who can do things on their own without any help... as a local man is walking with them, carrying their bags for them.

Am I the only one who finds Charla/Mirna completely annoying?

[J.T.]

Was it Donny and Alison who said:

D: "Looks like we'll have to take a boat"
A: "Yeah, a ferry is a boat!"

:lol: (or was that a different M/F team?)

I thought it was funny that Mirna wanted to stop and play blackjack to increase their funds. I also laughed as they were carring the beef, going on and on about being independent women who can do things on their own without any help... as a local man is walking with them, carrying their bags for them.

Am I the only one who finds Charla/Mirna completely annoying?

That was Al/Don...and no, I find Charla/Mirna completely annoying also.... :roll:

[mister nacho]

I am proud of the work being done here by J.T.

Nice work, and good luck the rest of the way!

[BC]

Does anyone think that the laws of probability went on strike, letting EVERYONE who tried "CHIPS" win? I was REALLY hoping that someone would have to do both. Also, I was surprised at how much faster the "CHIPS" option seemed to be.

So will we see any fast forwards or roadblocks, do you think? Or are yield and detour going to be our most exciting options?

Any idea what the twist for those teams finishing a non-elimination leg last are? I'm guessing something lame like losing all of their accumulated money...

[J.T.]

Does anyone think that the laws of probability went on strike, letting EVERYONE who tried "CHIPS" win? I was REALLY hoping that someone would have to do both. Also, I was surprised at how much faster the "CHIPS" option seemed to be.

So will we see any fast forwards or roadblocks, do you think? Or are yield and detour going to be our most exciting options?

Any idea what the twist for those teams finishing a non-elimination leg last are? I'm guessing something lame like losing all of their accumulated money...

I have no ideas on the new twist, but there usually isn't a roadblock in the first episode....Hopefully they come back, since I usually like watching them argue over who gets to do it.

I wonder if the FF thing is still here, since we have the yield. You have to know who is behind you and know that it will help you by holding them back. Tough to choose I think, but maybe fairer in the ideal than the FF.

[BC]

I suspect that the best time to use the "yield" is when you are the second-to-last team at the checkpoint.

[Moderator1]

Thanks Mod 1! I believe in my 870 some odd posts that is the only one that needed extra attention from you! And leather and whips is acceptable for the games forum (see the EC thread for more details). :wink:That thread is 145 pages long! I'm supposed to look through all that for leather and whips? Why don't you just PM me some photos or links to leather photos in that thread? Buffy once sent me some great ones.

[eponine]

I saw the thread too late to enter my picks for the first round. I was going to pick Dennis & Erika to win it all too.

First to arrive - Marshall/Lance
Win it all - Marshal/Lance
Last to arrive (eliminated) - Kami & Karli

[urysohn]

I saw the thread too late to enter my picks for the first round. I was going to pick Dennis & Erika to win it all too.

First to arrive - Marshall/Lance
Win it all - Marshal/Lance
Last to arrive (eliminated) - Kami & Karli
Since she wanted to register on time but was just running a bit late, I think we should let her in retro to last week. Please chalk up her points from last week: -17 :)

[BC]

Picks for week 2:

First to arrive: Donny and Alison
Last to arrive: Jim and Marsha
Win it All: Christie and Colin

[Loner]

Who cares about this season? Reichen has a calendar out! Woo-hoo!


http://www.calendars.com/images/012/1254/200500000797.back.jpg

[Traina]

First to arrive: Linda and Karen
Last to arrive: Chip and Kim
Win it All: Marshall and Lance

[urysohn]

First: Chip & Kim
Last: Kami & Karli
Win-it-all: Jim & Marsha

[urysohn]

bonus post to "lock it in", just in case those whips and chains are still being threatened :D

[Gandalf]

First: Brandon & Nicole
Last: Charla & Mirna
Win-it-all: Brandon & Nicole

[J.T.]

First: Kami/Karli
Last: Chip/Kim
Win-it-all: Donny/Alison

[TiderInsider]

First: Marshall/Lance
Last: Linda/Karen
Win it all: Brandon/Nicole

ditto for me

[Jables]

Completely on a whim...

First: Chip/Kim
Last: Kami/Karli
Win it All: Colin/Christie

Chances are I'll be watching the All Star game over AR5 tonight, so I look forward to reading the recap! :)

[Macroman]

First to arrive: Christie and Colin
Last to arrive: Jim and Marsha
Win it All: Christie and Colin

[Leela]

First: Colin & Christie
Last: Linda & Karen
Win-it-all: Colin & Christie

[Jables]

Ok, so curiosity got the better of me... thoughts:

Alison, what a biatch! Glad to see you go! :burn:

Charla/Mirna thinking "fast hands" would mean sticking them up a cow's ass... :lol:

Jim: "I guess you've got to go to Uruguay to go to a "foam club"..." :-?

[Macroman]

Aye Aye Aye!

[Elisha]

I forgot to put my picks in for the week! :crying: :duh: :oops:

[urysohn]

Not to be picky, but shouldn't all the -17's from the first week be -18's?
-1 (wrong first pick), -1 (wrong last pick), -11 (11 teams left, when win-it-all eliminated), -5 (picked in week eliminated)
?

I notice our hostess is surprisingly quiet. Ouch, I wonder who she'll pick to win-it-all next week ;)

[J.T.]

Sorry, I've been really busy, and haven't had time to work up the summary. I really need to not pick a win-it-all. At least y'all should know not to follow me.

And ury, I will double check the scoring.

p.s. If anyone makes their picks for Week 3, please put that in the post if you do it before I get my summary updated. I would appreciate it.

BTW, ury, this is for you, with your blatant post-padding in my thread (one of the very few I have started...

http://members.tripod.com/~xenaversity/pictures/xena14.gif

Don't make me use it... :wink:

[urysohn]

hmmm, that "image hosted by Tripod" graphic is really, ummm, something. But I'll use my imagination and warn you that if that's how you crack down on thread-abusers, you might not be providing much of a deterant. :P

[Traina]

:bump:

[urysohn]

Since we're on a new episode tomorrow, here's a recaplet, with the notes that I did NO quality checking on my scoring and made no effort to make the episode recap complete, accurate or interesting ;)

Donny and Alison crashed and burned. Shocking.
Mirna and Charla continue to be annoying, but despite numerous flubs landed in second place.
Brandon and Nicole -- who are making no impression on me whatsoever, to the point I can't even remember what couple they are -- finished first.

I re-read the rules and figured out my comment on the possible misscoring was wrong, so I'll retract that comment now :D

Special scoring notes:
BC picked Donny and Alison to win the leg [(-1)+(-3)]
J.T. picked Donny and Alison to win it all, this week only [(-1)+(-1)+(-5) + (-9)]
Gandalf picked Brandon and Nicole to win the leg [(-1) + 10]
Cosmo, Elisha and Redhead miss their picks, eponine and tider_insider get a late start (and thus start a leg up on everyone else :D)
Everyone else is -2 on the week.

Name Win-it-all PriorPts NewPts TotalPts
eponine 0 -2 -2
tider_insider 0 -2 -2
urysohn Jim/Marsha -2 -2 -4
Cosmo Marshall/Lance -5 0 -5
BC Colin/Christie -2 -4 -6
Gandalf -17 +9 -8
Elisha -17 0 -17
Redhead -17 0 -17
Jables -17 -2 -19
Ladeeda -17 -2 -19
Traina -17 -2 -19
Macroman -17 -2 -19
Leela -17 -2 -19
J.T. -17 -16 -33

[Traina]

Week 3:
First to arrive: Linda and Karen
Last to arrive: Chip and Kim
Win it All: Linda and Karen

[J.T.]

Special scoring notes:
BC picked Donny and Alison to win the leg [(-1)+(-3)]
J.T. picked Donny and Alison to win it all, this week only [(-1)+(-1)+(-5) + (-9)]
Gandalf picked Brandon and Nicole to win the leg [(-1) + 10]
Cosmo, Elisha and Redhead miss their picks, eponine and tider_insider get a late start (and thus start a leg up on everyone else :D)
Everyone else is -2 on the week.

Name Win-it-all PriorPts NewPts TotalPts
eponine Marshall/Lance 0 -2 -2
tider_insider Marshall/Lance 0 -2 -2
urysohn Jim/Marsha -2 -2 -4
Cosmo Marshall/Lance -5 0 -5
BC Colin/Christie -2 -5 -6
Gandalf Brandon/Nicole -17 +9 -8
Elisha -17 0 -17
Redhead -17 0 -17
Jables Colin/Christie -17 -2 -19
Ladeeda Brandon/Nicole -17 -2 -19
Traina Marshall/Lance -17 -2 -19
Macroman Colin/Christie -17 -2 -19
Leela Colin/Christie -17 -2 -19
J.T. -17 -16 -33


Small update here...only changed B.C. Thanks ury...have had some personal issues to deal with. I will get the summary posted shortly.

[Gandalf]

First: Brandon & Nicole
Last: Charla & Mirna
Win-it-all: Brandon & Nicole

[urysohn]

Win-the-leg: Linda and Karen
Last to arrive: Marshall and Lance
Win it all: Jim and Marsha
Rolling the dice and predicting a non-elimination round

[J.T.]

OK....Episode 2 starts off kind of slow, but nothing looks very interesting. Donny/Alison didn't have that big of a lead, and all of the teams started within an hour of one another.

They must travel by car to Montevideo to the Shake Mega Disco and find balls on the foam dance floor to find their next clue. At the club, Linda/Karen get there first and decide they want to open one of these clubs in Palmdale. Brandon/Nicole go to the club, where Nicole gets a patron excited (of which she is not too happy). Charla/Mirna are last (they can't seem to read a map or get directions). Jim makes an interesting comment "Gots to go to Uruguay to go to a foam club."

The next clue tells them to drive 100 miles to a public ferry that will take them to Buenos Aires. Alison/Donny arrive at the ferry first at 3:30, but the first ferry leaves at 4:30. Everyone arrives before the first ferry except Charla/Mirna, who get there as the boat is about to leave. They beg and plead and get the people to hold the ferry for them, so the bunching up occurs and everyone is on the ferry.

There next clue tells them to find the cemetery with the grave of Evita Peron. There are 2 cemeteries, and it is obviously confusing, since the teams get different answers to which of them to go to.

Interesting sidenote: Linda/Karen told Jim/Marsha to get currency exchanged, which almost cost them this round. Bad blood is already brewing.

So, Bob/Joyce, Chip/Kim, Christie/Colin go to the wrong cemetery, but eventually everyone gets there.

The next clue is the Detour. They must choose between Perro or Tango. Perro is dog walking (8 dogs) for 1 mile, finding 3 checkpoints. Linda/Karen, Alison/Donny, Kami/Karli, and Bob/Joyce take this route. Tango is to go 1.5 miles to tango dance studio and find the man in the program given. If you pick the wrong man, you have to go back out, get another program, and find the correct man.

The Tango seems to be the quicker route. Alison/Donny and Linda/Karen try the dog route for a while, but can't get anywhere, so move to the tango. The next clue tells the teams to travel by bus or taxi to La Invernada 70 miles away. Everyone takes a cab except Alison/Donny (on first bus) and Kami/Karli and Chip/Kim (second bus, but express).

Marshall/Lance 's cab runs out of gas, so they lose their lead.

Once Kami/Karli and Chip/Kim arrive at the bus stop, there is only one cab, which neither will relinquish, so they all sit there until the next one comes.

Alison can't do much but yell at Donny for all the choices he has made (dog walking, bus, dating her, etc.). It's a long bus ride, but thankfully, they only showed us about a minute of it.

Once they arrive at La Invernada, their clue is a roadblock. This one tells them that the person should have quick hands and feet. Brandon/Nicole (who arrive first) choose Brandon. They must get into a corral filled with steers and remove a bandana from a calf's neck. The guacho will then give them their next clue.

So, in order of arrival to the roadblock, I will try to tell you who does the roadblock, but I can't tell some of the people apart yet.

Brandon, Mirna (Charla tells her that she is going to have to stick her hand up a cow's butt), Marsha, Linda?, Bob, Colin, one of the brothers, Chip, Kami, Donny.

Once they receive the clue, it tell them to take a horsedrawn carriage 2 miles to the next pit stop. Order of arrival: Brandon/Nicole, Charla/Mirna, Jim/Marsha, Linda/Karen, Bob/Joyce, Colin/Christie, Marshall/Lance, Chip/Kim, Kami/Karli, and Donny/Alison finished last.

Gandalf picked the winner this week so he's +10 for that pick. BC picked Donny/Alison to win the leg, so he's -2 for regular picks and -3 for the first finished last, and yours truly can't make a good win-it-all pick, so I'm down some un-godly amount.

Sorry about the delay, and I will try to do better in the future. Pick early, pick often (but only the last right before showtime will count. :D ).

[eponine]

First - Brandon/Nicole
Last - Kami/Karli
Win it All - Marshall/Lance

Even though urysohn was joking, I agree I should lose 17 points for the first week.

[BC]

First: Brandon/Nicole
Last: Bob/Joyce
Win-It-All: Colin/Christie

[J.T.]

:bump: to remind you to vote if you haven't already. I won't have the update done tomorrow since I have annual convention night, but I will be sure to watch the episode Wednesday night. I will be staying away from the thread tomorrow, so if you need something from me, PM me and DON'T say who was knocked off.

[Leela]

First: Colin & Christie
Last: Chip & Kim
Win-it-all: Colin & Christie

[TiderInsider]

First: Linda/Karen
Last: Bob/Joyce
WIA: Brandon/Nicole

[Redhead]

Dang...missed it last week, but it actually helped!

First: Colin/Christie
Last: Bob/Joyce
Win-It-All: Brandon/Nicole

[Ladeeda]

First: Linda/Karen
Last: Bob/Joyce
WIA: Brandon/Nicole


Are you going to copy me every week? :)

[J.T.]

First: Linda/Karen
Last: Bob/Joyce
Win-it-all: Brandon/Nicole

[Jables]

First: Marshall/Lance
Last: Bob/Joyce
Win it All: Colin/Christie

[Elisha]

Good. Actually remembered this week.

First: Linda/Karen
Last: Kami/Karli
Win-it-all: Brandon/Nicole

[Macroman]

oops too late. had a thing after work. Not like it matters a lot with my mega-negative points tho'

[BC]

No Spoilers...

I was on the CBS website, and it would seem that both Fast Forward and Yield (the new thing) exist in this race; it makes a note of which team uses/finds which, and both are mentioned. I don't know if they can appear in the same leg or not; I assume we'll learn more later.

There's also a graph that suggests (probably misleadingly) when the non-elimination legs are going to be.

[Elisha]

C'Mon J.T. You should be able to borrow someone's laptop in order to update.

[J.T.]

I'll get to it tonight....I promise; even brought home all of the stuff. Meant to do it at work today, but only got half of the synopsis typed up. So, as soon as I finish it, and get the points done, I'll post.

BTW...ury.... :P

[J.T.]

Episode 3

We start off at the pitstop for the last leg around Buenos Aires. Brandon/Nicole, who finished first last leg, start at 11:50 PM. Charla/Mirna start at 11:51. The two of them decide to work together.

Clue #1: Drive 60 miles to Buenos Aires, take a flight to San Carlos de Bariloche at the base of the Andes mountains. Find the office of the mayor to get the next clue.

Before they get back to the main road, there is a really muddy section of the back road. Nicole is driving through the mud, but then Brandon (who I really think is an idiot) tells her to stop (a really big no no). A tractor ends up pulling them out, and Charla/Mirna wait for them. In the process, Brandon gets muddy shoes, Charla gets electrocuted by a fence, and Mirna seems as clueless as ever. Once they finally get going again, Mirna goes the wrong way (I don't think these 2 can read a map ever).

Jim/Marsha start at 12:21 and seem to do fine by themselves (until later). Linda/Karen, Bob/Joyce, and Colin/Christie start at 12:28, 12:31, 12:32. All 3 of them stop to chat after a while because they can't seem to find the airport. At 12:41 Marshall/Lance take off. They end up getting a flat tire. Neither one of them seems to know how to change a tire (which is interesting), but somehow, they end up doing it in only 13 minutes. As they leave the side of the road, I believe Marshall says "Who said 2 fat Jewish guys don't know how to change a tire?"

At 1:08 Chip/Kim take off and at 1:13 starts the twins. Chip and Kim state that they will have no alliances.

They arrive at the airport in about the same order except that Charla and Mirna are in 6th.

Once the ticket agents open, Marshall and Lance seem to have an advantage because they found another airline with an earlier flight at 9:40. Most everyone buys tickets for the flight at 10:30, except for Jim/Marsha who buy one on the 9:10 and one on the 10:30 (never figured this out yet). Everyone then proceeds to get on standby for the flights at 9:10 and 9:40. Charla/Mirna use their dwarf advantage (does anyone else besides me find them completely annoying and not helping the stereotypes about dwarves?) by saying that Charla needs to get to the doctor.

Sooooo, Colin/Christie and Charla/Mirna get on the 9:10 flight. Marshall/Lance and Brandon/Nicole get on the 9:40 flight. Everyone else besides Jim/Marsha get on the 10:30 flight, and Jim/Marsha take off at 11:30.

OK, in Bariloche, Argentina, they get Jeeps to drive (Jeeps seem complicated by watching some of them, particularly Charla/Mirna). Most of them find the mayor's office fairly easily. Clue #2: Find the chocolate factory (one among hundreds) 2 blocks away. Clue #3: Roadblock: For someone with a sweet tooth: Bite through chocolates to find one with a white center. There are 11,000 chocolates with only about 20 with white centers.

OK, order of arriving to the chocolate along with who ate the chocolate

Arrived Individual Left
1 Colin 2
2 Charla 1
3 Brandon 3
4 Marshall 8
5 Joyce 4
6 Linda 6
7 Kramli ?? 5
8 Chip 7
9 Jim 9

Clue #4: Drive to the Villa Catedral and take the Gondola to the top of the Mountain.

As they leave Mirna hits another car while trying to put the car in gear.

OK Clue #5: Detour: Smooth sailing or Rough Riding. Smooth sailing is paragliding in tandem w/ instructor off of 5000 ft mountain. Rough riding is mountain biking a 6 mile course down the same mountain. Everyone decides smooth sailing. Linda and Mirna are the only two that seem really scared, but both follow through.

Clue #6: Drive yourself 14 miles to the next Pit Stop in Bahia Lopez at a little unnamed island in the water. (Weird place for a pitstop...the island isn't very big, nor seems to hold significant value).

Order of finish:
Colin/Christie, Charla/Mirna, Brandon/Nicole, Bob/Joyce, Kami/Karli, Linda/Karen, Chip/Kim, Marshall/Lance, and lastly, eliminated Jim/Marsha.

Notables for last part of leg: Mirna makes a dumb comment that "Every time Phil sees us we look horrible." Phil must really hate having to hug them at every pitstop. Karli/Kami somehow end up on the deep side of the island and actually swam to the pitstop when every other team waded in ankle deep water.

I am sad to say that Jim/Marsha are gone. They seemed to work well together and enjoyed everywhere they were (but aren't over the top like Charla/Mirna). Points to follow.

[J.T.]

Special scoring notes:
Leela and Redhead picked Colin/Christie correctly to win the leg (+9-1)
Urysohn took the big fall this week, by losing his win-it-all pick and predicting the non-elimination round. [-1+-1 +-5 + -24 + -10]
Macroman and Cosmo miss their picks.

Everyone else is -2 on the week.

Name Win-it-all PriorPts NewPts TotalPts
eponine Marshall/Lance -2 -2 -4
tider_insider Brandon/Nicole -2 -2 -4
Cosmo Marshall/Lance -5 0 -5
BC Colin/Christie -6 -2 -8
Redhead Brandon/Nicole -17 +8 -9
Gandalf Brandon/Nicole -8 -2 -10
Elisha Brandon/Nicole -17 -2 -19
Macroman Colin/Christie -19 0 -19
Jables Colin/Christie -19 -2 -21
Ladeeda Brandon/Nicole -19 -2 -21
Traina Linda/Karen (1) -19 -2 -21
Leela Colin/Christie -19 -2 -21
J.T. Brandon/Nicole -33 -2 -35
urysohn -4 -41 -45

[J.T.]

Next week seems to be tough. The roadblock involves eating a big bowl of caviar. Many seem to have trouble with the task. Should be interesting. :)

[Gandalf]

First: Brandon & Nicole
Last: Charla & Mirna
Win-it-all: Brandon & Nicole

[Traina]

First: Brandon & Nicole
Last:Marshall & Lance
Win-it-all: Linda & Karen

[TiderInsider]

First: Linda/Karen
Last: Bob/Joyce
WIA: Brandon/Nicole


Are you going to copy me every week? :)

Yup. It's easier that typing the names myself. :P BTW, JT, I think you have me down for the wrong WIA pick. I picked Brandon/Nicole.

[BC]

First-To-arrive: Colin/Christie
Win-It-All: Colin/Christie
Last-To-Arrive: Brandon/Nicole

[urysohn]

First-to-arrive: Chip + Kim
Win-it-all: Chip + Kim
Last-to-arrive: Kami + Karli

Throwing good points after bad, I'm predicting another non-elimination round.

(If I'd paid closer attention to when these happened in the last shows, would I know that this is just a waste of points, and non-elims always happen on the same legs?)

[J.T.]

First-to-arrive: Chip + Kim
Win-it-all: Chip + Kim
Last-to-arrive: Kami + Karli

Throwing good points after bad, I'm predicting another non-elimination round.

(If I'd paid closer attention to when these happened in the last shows, would I know that this is just a waste of points, and non-elims always happen on the same legs?)

Yea, that would be valid....the non-elims don't usually happen until later, but you could get the bonus!

[BC]

Typically they happen in the late stages of the race. IIRC, I think the majority opinion was that they typically don't happen consecutively, and usually when there are 6 or fewer racers remaining. I think that last two season they were at episodes:

5 left - non-elimination
elimination
4 left - non-elimination
elimination
3 left - non-elimination
Final Episode (2-hour special)

[eponine]

First: Colin/Christie
Last/Eliminated: Marshall/Lance
Winner: Colin/Christie

[J.T.]

Yup. It's easier that typing the names myself. :P BTW, JT, I think you have me down for the wrong WIA pick. I picked Brandon/Nicole.

tider, I apologize. I have it correct on paper, just not online...It's been corrected. :)

[Elisha]

First: Colin/Christie
Win-it-all: Brandon/Nicole
Last: Kami/Karli

[Redhead]

First: Colin/Christie
Last: Marshall/Lance
Win-It-All: Brandon/Nicole

[J.T.]

First: Linda/Karen
Last: Marshall/Lance
Win-it-all: Brandon/Nicole

Think we will see the first FF of the competition.

BTW, I read that there are only 2 this time, so we won't be seeing them as often.

[BC]

Interesting. I wonder how many "yields" there are?

[Jables]

First: Linda/Karen
Last: Brandon/Nicole
Win it All: Colin/Christie

[Macroman]

Against my better judgement I'll make picks again this week!

First: Colin/Christie
Last/Eliminated: Brandon/Nicole
Winner: Colin/Christie

[Leela]

First: Bob & Joyce
Last: Marshall & Lance
Win-it-all: Colin & Christie

I'm going all in and predicting a non-elimination round this week.

Does anyone else think this will come down to who has the least negative amount of points? :wink:

[J.T.]

Interesting. I wonder how many "yields" there are?

My understanding from reading around a bit is that there is a yield on every leg, but that it may be off the path. More that you have to search for it. Maybe within a 1/4 mile or something....I'll try to do more research on that.

[Aaron Brachowitz]

I thought Chip was going to ask for seconds. That was a great detour, one of the show's better moments. My wife's comment as Joyce sat down to her bowl, their team clearly bound for elimination: "So she's going to eat that for nothing?" Yup, pretty much. :P

I'm pissed that they got rid of the fast forward. It added a great element of strategy.

[BC]

I thought it was completely idiotic for Colin and Brandon to let their "significant others" handle the roadblock, just because I think men can eat a LOT more than women can. Maybe I'm wrong on this, but I know that 1Kg takes a lot lower percentage of space in my stomach than my wife or just about any woman I can think of that would go on the race with me...

[Elisha]

Did you guys notice the Orthodox Priest standing next to Phil at the pitstop? I thought that was kinda cool.

[Traina]

Cool episode. Wow that win came out of nowhere!

[Jables]

I missed about the first 15 minutes of the episode (I was out for a late birthday dinner), and when I got back to the show, I saw like 30 minutes without a mention of the Bowling Moms (who I had picked to finish to first)... I was paranoid for a bit that I had screwed up and they weren't in the competition anymore! :yikes:

[J.T.]

Episode 4

They start out in Bariloche, and it doesn't look like they are still on the little island, but there didn't seem to be a hotel there. Colin/Christie leave at 3:10 am, followed by Charla/Mirna at 3:21 and Brandon/Nicole at 3:54. Bob/Joyce left at 4:22, the twins at 5:04, Linda/Karen at 5:15, Chip/Kim at 5:17 and Marshall/Lance at 5:34. They are give $241 for the leg.

The first clue tells them to find the guns of the Battleship Aurora which is 20 hours by bus to the airport and 8000 miles to St. Petersburg Russia. Well, guess what, they all get to the bus station before it opens. Charla/Mirna pick a fight with Colin/Christie (who don't they pick a fight with). They find out that the first bus out leaves at 9:30 and arrives at 7:30 the next morning. So, everyone decides to be orderly and chooses numbers (who saw that working?) by order. Colin/Christie then find out that their is another bus that doesn't leave until noon, but arrives at the same time the next morning. Colin says that he doesn't care which bus he is on, as long as Charla/Mirna aren't on it.

So, Colin/Christie go to a different desk, to which everyone follows. Of course the whole numbering system blows up, and Colin buys tickets for the teams that he chooses to put on the later bus. He picked a strange group of teams (at least in my opinion). He bought the tickets for his team, Brandon/Nicole, Chip/Kim and Marshall/Lance. The four teams then go to a travel agent to secure their flights to St. Petersburg, since they have the luxury of time. If I understood what happened correctly at the travel agent (my notes are sketchy here), Colin/Christie get on an earlier flight than the other 3 teams.

Once they get to the airport, it is madness for the other 4 teams. They are all scrambling to find flights, which seem to be in short supply. The twins and Linda/Karen work together, but don't seem to do very well with the added head space (I'd say brains, but I don't believe the twins have very many). All four end up getting flights, with Bob/Joyce having the most trouble. Charla/Mirna actually have the toughest time, but they get lucky with a cancellation.

Meanwhile, Brandon/Nicole scheme a bit to get an earlier flight than the other 2 teams they were with. I have the flight info for each of them, but it doesn't seem to add much value. The teams went through some combination of the following cities (Sao Paulo, London, Paris, Madrid, Frankfurt, Paris). Charla/Mirna, although they have a later flight, only stop once in Frankfurt and hence meet up with Marshall/Lance and Chip/Kim, who are thrilled to see them.

Once they get to Russia, Colin/Christie have a commanding lead. They cruise to the next stop. After the Battleship, the next clue is the detour. Block 5 shots or Drink 1 shot. Block 5 shots is to go a short distance to the hockey rink, get geared up and block goal shots made by professional hockey players. Drink 1 shot is a longer distance away and requires one to drink a shot of vodka from a shot glass balancing on a sword (hard to describe, but definitely the faster of the two). So, at the detour, our vodka drinkers are Colin/Christie, Marshall/Lance, Chip/Kim, Linda/Karen, and Kami/Karli. The other teams choose the hockey; most of them did pretty good, blocking about 50% of shots from the ones they showed.

The next clue (with Colin/Christie still way out front) is to find the Bronze Horseman. This statue of Peter the Great (found of St. Petersburg) is located in the middle of the city. Clue #4 tells the teams to go to the Old Tower Restaurant outside of the city in Pushkin. Colin/Christie seem to get there miles before the other teams. Clue number 5 is the Roadblock. It asks who has the taste for the good life. The team member must eat 1 kg of caviar (this is a HUGE bowl of caviar). For some dumb reason, both Christie and Nicole are chosen to do this. Christie does well at the beginning, but slows down, starts crying, and wants to quit. Nicole then comes in, and has just as much trouble. (more on her later). Chip, Marshall, and Charla all come in. Chip is a madman when it comes to eating caviar, and finishes the bowl quickly. Christie then starts eating again, and finishes 2nd. Marshall does quite well, and finishes 3rd. Charla finishes 4th. Meanwhile, Nicole seems to be very sick. She acts like she's dying, but we don't know much else. She finally gets up and finishes her part of the caviar.

The last clue tells the teams to go out and choose a horsedrawn sleigh to go to the pitstop at Catherine's Palace. This place is over 300 years old and was built by Peter the Great for his wife. No one seems to enjoy this sleigh ride (which is beyond me), but maybe they are just tired. (maybe it's the caviar).

Back at the caviar, Karli and Linda arrive, both forcing down caviar much better than Christie and Nicole. They seem to finish fairly close to one another. Joyce comes in later (after the other two have left) and eats.

So, order of finish: Chip/Kim (who saw that coming?), Colin/Christie, Marshall/Lance, Charla/Mirna, Brandon/Nicole, Linda/Karen, Kami/Karli. Eliminated were Bob/Joyce.

They had a drawn out talk between the two (Bob and Joyce)...they seem like nice people who really enjoy each other's company. They seemed to enjoy the race. Results to follow....

[J.T.]

Special scoring notes:
Urysohn tried to boost last week's downfall, but didn't succeed: Chip/Kim won the leg, but there was an elimination [ +8-1-10]
tider insider picked Bob/Joyce to be eliminated [-1+8] - He is the only player in posive territory.
Leela picked Bob/Joyce to finish 1st and missed the non-elimination pick; therefore she falls [-1-3-1-10]
Cosmo misses his picks.

Everyone else is -2 on the week.

Name Win-it-all PriorPts NewPts TotalPts
tider_insider Brandon/Nicole -4 +7 +3
Cosmo Marshall/Lance -5 0 -5
eponine Colin/Christie(1) -4 -2 -6
BC Colin/Christie -8 -2 -10
Redhead Brandon/Nicole -9 -2 -11
Gandalf Brandon/Nicole -10 -2 -12
Elisha Brandon/Nicole -19 -2 -21
Macroman Colin/Christie -19 -2 -21
Jables Colin/Christie -19 -2 -21
Ladeeda Brandon/Nicole -21 -2 -23
Traina Linda/Karen -21 -2 -23
Leela Colin/Christie -21 -15 -36
J.T. Brandon/Nicole -35 -2 -37
urysohn Chip/Kim -45 -3 -48

[BC]

This is the second consecutive leg where bad luck at the airport early in the episode told us who the eventual loser was going to be. I hope this trend doesn't continue.

I am not keen on all the bottlenecks, either, but whatever...

[Aaron Brachowitz]

I thought it was completely idiotic for Colin and Brandon to let their "significant others" handle the roadblock, just because I think men can eat a LOT more than women can. Maybe I'm wrong on this, but I know that 1Kg takes a lot lower percentage of space in my stomach than my wife or just about any woman I can think of that would go on the race with me...
Didn't the clue just say to pick the team member with "a taste for the good life" or something like that? Nothing about being a competitive eater. Seems like most of the mixed-gender teams chose the female.

[BC]

True... I wonder how much info they get about the roadblock before they decide who gets to do it? Just the cryptic clue? For a detour, they get the cryptic ("Zips vs. Chips") but they also get to know what the task consists of, it seems to me.

[eponine]

First: Colin/Christie
Last/Eliminated: Kami/Karli
Winner: Colin/Christie

[Traina]

First: Charla & Mirna
Last: Colin & Christie
Win-it-all: Linda & Karen

[TiderInsider]

First: Marshall/Lance
Last: Charla/Mirna
WIA: Brandon/Nicole

[BC]

First: Colin/Christie
Last: Linda/Karen
Win-It-All: Colin/Christie

[Gandalf]

First: Brandon & Nicole
Last: Charla & Mirna
Win-it-all: Brandon & Nicole

[urysohn]

First-to-arrive: Chip + Kim
Win-it-all: Chip + Kim
Last-to-arrive: Kami + Karli

[Macroman]

First: Brandon & Nicole
Last: Charla & Mirna
Win-it-all: Collin/Christie

[Leela]

First to arrive: Brandon & Nicole
Last to arrive: Karen & Linda
Win-it-all: Colin & Christie

[Redhead]

First: Kami & Karli
Last: Charla & Mirna
Win-it-all: Brandon & Nicole

[Jables]

First: Marshall/Lance
Last: Charla/Mirna
Win it All: Colin/Christie

[J.T.]

First: Charla/Mirna
Last: Karli/Kami
WIA: Brandon/Nicole

Non-elimination.....

[J.T.]

What a twist! No money. I think L/K will have a very hard time getting anywhere, but possibly they won't need money???

[urysohn]

No money "at the start of the leg". I bet it costs them a little time -- 20 minutes maybe and then they get their cash. If it was a death blow then they might as well have eliminated them.

I was this close to picking yet another non-elimination leg but I figured Nah, no sense in just continuing to throw away point. :roll:

[Aaron Brachowitz]

What a twist! No money. I think L/K will have a very hard time getting anywhere, but possibly they won't need money???
I don't get this at all. In all previous seasons, money has never appeared to be a factor. We're always told how much each team gets, but then it's not mentioned again, ever. How they choose to use it has never seemed to factor into the outcome. Now they make a big deal about taking it away. :-?

[J.T.]

Episode 5

The leg begins at the last pit stop of the race, in Russia, 20 miles out of St. Petersburg at Catherine's Palace. Chip/Kim, who arrived 1st at 9:11 pm, leave first at 9:11 am. The first clue tells them to travel to the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg by train, search the over 3 million paintings in the museum to find Rembrandt's "Return of the Prodigal Son." They are given $123 for this leg.

Chip/Kim take a cab to the train station, where they are able to get on the first train out. Colin/Christie leave at 9:42 and take the second train. Marshall/Lance (I believe Marshall is the one with knee trouble) leave at 10:09 and take the third train. Charla/Mirna leave at 10:13, can't find a cab to take them to the train station, so they end up walking the entire way (I will say that it looked very cold there). They get a good piece of advice from a fellow passenger about where the painting is located while they are on the fourth train.

Brandon/Nicole leave at 11:50 and take the 5th train. Linda/Karen leave at 12:14 and Kami/Karli leave at 12:50. They take the train together.

Once arriving at the museum, they search this place for the painting. This place looked huge, with tons of paintings. A definite place to visit. Everyone finds the paintings in about the same order that they arrived, with the last two switching (Karen/Linda in last place). Kami/Karli find some Russian girl who not only shows them where the painting is, but also takes them to a travel agent.

The second clue is that the teams are to fly to the Tower of Cairo, 2000 miles away in, you guessed it, Cairo, Egypt. Chip/Kim arrive at the airport first, and find that the only flight that they can get tickets on is a flight that arrives tomorrow at 3:15PM. Colin/Christie go to a travel agent, which gets them on a flight that arrives at 2:25PM the next day.
Everyone else (besides Linda/Karen) get on the same flight as Chip/Kim. Karli/Kami nearly miss the flight, but arrive shortly before it takes off. Once Linda/Karen finally get to the proper airport, they get on a flight that takes off the next morning, but still gets them to Frankfurt in enough time for the pair to join the rest of the bunched teams.

Colin/Christie get to Paris (their layover stop) and find out that their is an earlier flight to Cairo that will get them 12 hours ahead of their last flight (I believe I saw that it landed at 2:35 am). So, basically, Colin/Christie are in Cairo, while the rest of the teams are all stranded in Frankfurt (except for Linda/Karen, who are still in St. Petersburg). Charla/Mirna are up to their savvy airport skills again, and find in Frankfurt that they can get on an earlier flight that gets them in Cairo at 2:25 PM. They wait until everyone else is sleeping before they sneak off to their gate.

Colin/Christie arrive at the Tower of Cairo to find out that it doesn't open until 9AM. So, they sleep at the base of it to be there when it first opens. They find the clue, which has one of the 2 Fast Forwards included. I can't seem to understand why they would decide to use the FF when they have a 9 hour lead on the teams, especially if they know ANYTHING about AR's bunching up :-? ). Plus, I wouldn't have missed anything to do with the tombs....Anywho, they use the FF, which tells them to go to the Pharaonic Village. Once there, they needed to find a sarcophagus and transport it by ferry to a temple and deliver it to the priest inside to receive the Fast Forward reward. They do this (not without fighting), but successfully receive their clue to go to the pitstop. They end up meeting Phil at 11:27 AM (which is still 3-4 hours before the other teams even arrived in Cairo). I wouldn't be surprised if Colin/Christie are leaving as the other teams are arriving. I don't think that the second place team arrived until at least after 7PM (this is about the earliest I can figure).

OK, order of arriving at the tower (all orders will be shifted 1 due to Colin/Christie already being at the pitstop). Charla/Mirna, Brandon/Nicole, Chip/Kim, Marshall/Lance, Linda/Karen, Kami/Karli. The second clue tells them to go 14 miles away to the Giza Plateau: follow the yellow rocks to the next clue (oh my, follow the yellow brick road! :P ). Actually, the yellow rocks seem quite difficult to find, but each team seems to eventually find the next clue.

Clue #3: Roadblock: "Who's up for going down?" (I didn't know you could snorkel in Egypt! :P ) One team member must descend into the Osiris shaft 140 feet (by ladder) to find a satchel of artifacts in a watery tomb.

Order of descent: Charla (Mirna is claustrophobic :shake: ), Brandon, Chip, Lance (Marshall can barely walk), Kami, Karen.

Once ascending out of the tomb, the teams are given a map of Giza and each satchel contains a puzzle. These combined will get the teams to their next clue. The puzzle has to be placed on top of the map. The puzzle is missing a small piece which directs them to an area next to a pyramid. It doesn't seem that it takes Charla/Mirna too long to figure it out (they are ahead of the other teams by about an hour). Brandon/Nicole, Chip/Kim, Marshall/Lance (who are pretty much even) figure out the puzzle fairly quickly.

The next clue: Detour: Rock & Roll or Hump & Ride. In Rock & Roll, teams must use ancient Egyptian tools to move 600 lbs of stone 100 yds. In Hump & Ride, teams must ride a pair of horses leading a pair of camels loaded down with carpet 1 mile to a carpet buyer. Charla/Mirna get to the Camel place (which closes at 5:30 PM) right in the nick of time in order to take their camels for the trek. It didn't look like they had much trouble. Everyone else has to do the rock moving, since I don't believe that the other 3 teams arrived until 6:30 ish. I have to say, the rock moving looked tough. If you didn't see this, try to catch the repeat on Saturday. I can't give a very good explanation of how they had to move these stones, but it seemed very difficult. Brandon/Nicole had a bit of trouble (they kind of derailed their stones), and asked Chip to help them get back on track (which he did: points for Chip for being nice in this episode :wink: ).

OK, back to our struggling last placers: Kami/Karli decide that the puzzle is much too hard to figure out, so they decide to wander around for a while and hope the clue magically appears in front of them....They have a quote of them saying that they are clueless (NO kidding :roll: ). Linda ends up twisting her ankle while on the way to the shaft (which they arrive at after Kami/Karli have left). Linda/Karen actually figure out the clue.

Chip/Kim finished the Detour first, and get the final clue which tells them to proceed to the pitstop at the Sphinx (how cool is this episode). As they are on their way, they run into Kami/Karli (still wandering) and take them to the detour clue (thank goodness, or they may have been wandering in the desert all night). In the process, Brandon/Nicole beat out Chip/Kim to the pitstop. Kami/Karli and Linda/Karen seem to be doing the rock moving at the same time, and the twins actually get this done (color me surprised).

OK, at the pit stop, order of arrival: Colin/Christie, Charla/Mirna, Brandon/Nicole, Chip/Kim, Marshall/Lance, Kami/Karli, Linda/Karen. Luckily for Linda/Karen, this is a non-elimination round. Unfortunately, the new twist is that Linda/Karen have to give Phil all of their accumulated money and they will receive no money at the start of the next leg. Who knows if that means they will receive money in the middle of the leg, but they are shown begging for money in the previews.

I have gotta say (this is all my opinion here) that I was thrilled with this episode. I love the desert, and have always wanted to see the pyramids. How cool of AR to get them there (and up close). Chip turns out to be a really nice guy by helping 2 teams out of a jam. Marshall/Lance seem to have major troubles with Marshall's knee problems. Looks like they stay in Egypt for the next episode.

Scores to follow....stay tuned.

[J.T.]

What a twist! No money. I think L/K will have a very hard time getting anywhere, but possibly they won't need money???
I don't get this at all. In all previous seasons, money has never appeared to be a factor. We're always told how much each team gets, but then it's not mentioned again, ever. How they choose to use it has never seemed to factor into the outcome. Now they make a big deal about taking it away. :-?

Actually, in one show a couple of seasons ago, a team didn't take a cab because they didn't have enough money. They ended up losing the leg because of it. But, you have to think, if they have to take a cab, they have no money to do so, so they must beg for money. I think that the non-elimination legs proved to be boring in the past, so they had to try to do something to spice it up. This was their solution.

[J.T.]

I forgot one thing: Did anyone else find it curious that no one else attempted the FF? I was surprised that the other teams didn't try it.

[BC]

Episode 5Colin/Christie get to Paris (their layover stop) and find out that their is an earlier flight to Cairo that will get them 12 hours ahead of their last flight (I believe I saw that it landed at 2:35 am). So, basically, Colin/Christie are in Cairo, while the rest of the teams are all stranded in Frankfurt (except for Linda/Karen, who are still in St. Petersburg). Charla/Mirna are up to their savvy airport skills again, and find in Frankfurt that they can get on an earlier flight that gets them in Cairo at 2:25 PM. They wait until everyone else is sleeping before they sneak off to their gate.

Based on how this episode developed, with the camel stop closing at 5:30pm and the tower of Cairo opening at 9AM, I got the impression that the producers expected ALL of the teams to catch Colin/Christie's flight, but that this intended "bottleneck" went wrong.


Colin/Christie arrive at the Tower of Cairo to find out that it doesn't open until 9AM. So, they sleep at the base of it to be there when it first opens. They find the clue, which has one of the 2 Fast Forwards included. I can't seem to understand why they would decide to use the FF when they have a 9 hour lead on the teams, especially if they know ANYTHING about AR's bunching up :-? ). Plus, I wouldn't have missed anything to do with the tombs....Anywho, they use the FF, which tells them to go to the Pharaonic Village. Once there, they needed to find a sarcophagus and transport it by ferry to a temple and deliver it to the priest inside to receive the Fast Forward reward. They do this (not without fighting), but successfully receive their clue to go to the pitstop. They end up meeting Phil at 11:27 AM (which is still 3-4 hours before the other teams even arrived in Cairo). I wouldn't be surprised if Colin/Christie are leaving as the other teams are arriving. I don't think that the second place team arrived until at least after 7PM (this is about the earliest I can figure).


I thought that taking the fast forward was reasonable, given that (A) there are only two of them the entire race, and (B) they have enough of a lead that taking the fast forward might enable them to escape the next bottleneck or two (although based on scenes from next week, perhaps not). I thought it was nice that the producers showed the time C/C arrived at the pit stop; I wish they'd done that with the other teams (or at least 2nd place)... my guesstimate was 6:30, but you're probably right, C/M probably arrived closer to or after 7pm.

I have to say, the rock moving looked tough. If you didn't see this, try to catch the repeat on Saturday. I can't give a very good explanation of how they had to move these stones, but it seemed very difficult. Brandon/Nicole had a bit of trouble (they kind of derailed their stones), and asked Chip to help them get back on track (which he did: points for Chip for being nice in this episode :wink: ).

I thought it looked like it would be easier with 4 people moving 1200 lbs of rock - 2 to pull, and 2 to move the rolling logs. I always marvel at the creativity of ancient engineers, and wonder how much we as a society have lost by being born on the shoulders of giants rather than having to climb up. I thought of a book I read when I was little about the Wright Brothers - they used a similar method to move their plane up Kill Devil Hill. A plane that could roll on tracks, and 2 moveable lengths of track.


Kami/Karli decide that the puzzle is much too hard to figure out

Okay, who wants to jump on this line?

I have gotta say (this is all my opinion here) that I was thrilled with this episode. I love the desert, and have always wanted to see the pyramids. How cool of AR to get them there (and up close). Chip turns out to be a really nice guy by helping 2 teams out of a jam. Marshall/Lance seem to have major troubles with Marshall's knee problems. Looks like they stay in Egypt for the next episode.

Scores to follow....stay tuned.

I thought it was a fantastic episode too. I liked the last one, too, but the "Bob and Joyce lose the race because of bad luck at the airport" kind of dampened it for me. I thought the tasks/puzzles on this one were a lot better. Also, Brandon and Nicole are growing on me as a couple, while Colin and Christie don't seem like a great couple but they seem like great racers.

I got the impression from the scenes for next week that Linda and Karen are going to be begging for money. Given the reasonable probability that this is staged, you're probably right, J.T, it's probably just a delaying tactic.

[J.T.]

Special scoring notes:
BC racks up the points this week, both correctly picking the first and last teams and are up (+14) on the week.
eponine gets that Colin/Christie finished first so is up 6.
Leela correctly gets that Karen/Linda finish last so is up 6 (7-1).
J.T. correctly gets the non-elimination pick so is up 8 (10-1-1).
Traina doesn't get the big hit on picking Colin/Christie for last since they used the FF...(big exhale Traina :) ).
Cosmo, Elisha, Ladeeda miss their picks.

Hey, we actually have some of you in positive territory!

Everyone else is -2 on the week.

Name Win-it-all PriorPts NewPts TotalPts
BC Colin/Christie -10 +14 +4
tider_insider Brandon/Nicole +3 -2 +1
eponine Colin/Christie -6 +6 0
Cosmo Marshall/Lance -5 0 -5
Redhead Brandon/Nicole -11 -2 -13
Gandalf Brandon/Nicole -12 -2 -14
Elisha Brandon/Nicole -21 0 -21
Macroman Colin/Christie -21 -2 -23
Jables Colin/Christie -21 -2 -23
Ladeeda Brandon/Nicole -23 0 -23
Traina Linda/Karen -23 -2 -25
J.T. Brandon/Nicole -37 +8 -29
Leela Colin/Christie -36 +6 -30
urysohn Chip/Kim -48 -2 -50

[J.T.]

Episode 5Colin/Christie get to Paris (their layover stop) and find out that their is an earlier flight to Cairo that will get them 12 hours ahead of their last flight (I believe I saw that it landed at 2:35 am). So, basically, Colin/Christie are in Cairo, while the rest of the teams are all stranded in Frankfurt (except for Linda/Karen, who are still in St. Petersburg). Charla/Mirna are up to their savvy airport skills again, and find in Frankfurt that they can get on an earlier flight that gets them in Cairo at 2:25 PM. They wait until everyone else is sleeping before they sneak off to their gate.

Based on how this episode developed, with the camel stop closing at 5:30pm and the tower of Cairo opening at 9AM, I got the impression that the producers expected ALL of the teams to catch Colin/Christie's flight, but that this intended "bottleneck" went wrong.

I think I agree with you there....The caviar eating seemed to take the teams longer than the producers expected.

Kami/Karli decide that the puzzle is much too hard to figure out

Okay, who wants to jump on this line?

I'm surprised you didn't jump on the snorkeling line....

I have gotta say (this is all my opinion here) that I was thrilled with this episode. I love the desert, and have always wanted to see the pyramids. How cool of AR to get them there (and up close). Chip turns out to be a really nice guy by helping 2 teams out of a jam. Marshall/Lance seem to have major troubles with Marshall's knee problems. Looks like they stay in Egypt for the next episode.

Scores to follow....stay tuned.

I thought it was a fantastic episode too. I liked the last one, too, but the "Bob and Joyce lose the race because of bad luck at the airport" kind of dampened it for me. I thought the tasks/puzzles on this one were a lot better. Also, Brandon and Nicole are growing on me as a couple, while Colin and Christie don't seem like a great couple but they seem like great racers.

I got the impression from the scenes for next week that Linda and Karen are going to be begging for money. Given the reasonable probability that this is staged, you're probably right, J.T, it's probably just a delaying tactic.

I didn't like last week's episode very much. It didn't seem like they did very much interesting stuff last week. They played some hockey, drank some vodka, ate some caviar. The sleigh ride was pretty cool, but it didn't seem like anyone enjoyed it. And funny, but you and I have exact opposite opinions on C/C and B/N.

[Leela]

I forgot one thing: Did anyone else find it curious that no one else attempted the FF? I was surprised that the other teams didn't try it.

I believe the fast forward was only in one of the clues. Didn't they say the first team to find the fast forward may choose to use it or not? Plus, it didn't look like anyone else pulled it out with their clue on the tower.

[J.T.]

I forgot one thing: Did anyone else find it curious that no one else attempted the FF? I was surprised that the other teams didn't try it.

I believe the fast forward was only in one of the clues. Didn't they say the first team to find the fast forward may choose to use it or not? Plus, it didn't look like anyone else pulled it out with their clue on the tower.

I believe that I saw at least one other team with the green envelope. I'll go back and check tonight if I have time.

[Traina]

Traina doesn't get the big hit on picking Colin/Christie for last since they used the FF...(big exhale Traina :) ).


:oops: I'm probably better off not picking at all for the rest of the season. :D

[Traina]

When Linda and Karen almost didn't get a flight, and Colin and Christie got the earliest flight...I knew I was in over my head.

[Elisha]

Yes! I moved up be being a chode and forgeting to get my picks in!

Sheesh, more than half the workday yesterday on the internet and I can't remember to get my picks in. :shake:

(And no, I'm not happy about this lack of work in my job.)

[working girl]

Is it just me, but didn't it seem as though the horse and camel people were still there in the evening watching the crazy Americans, or were those just random desert people.

I really dislike Myrna and Schmirna, but they definitely use all they have to their advantage to get where they need to. The whistle to get those guys' attention was pretty smart. Unlike Kami and Karli, twin wander-girls. And BIG kudos to Chip for helping them. He seems like a good guy, even if they end up losing. I find it good that some of the teams seem to help each other out, even if it means they don't win. Maybe I just don't have that killer instinct...

[BC]

Out of curiosity, does anyone know if they get a 12-hour respite or a 36-hour respite at each stop? I assumed it was 12, but my wife suggested that it is probably 36 (based on something either Marshall or Lance said about his knee).

[urysohn]

They say each team must stop for a "mandatory 12 hour resting period to...[eat, sleep, mingle]"

[eponine]

I had the first team correct but picked Kami/Karli to be last. I had a chance to get both until Chip helped them find the clue.

[Gandalf]

First: Brandon & Nicole
Last: Charla & Mirna
Win-it-all: Brandon & Nicole

[BC]

First: Colin and Christie
Last: Linda and Karen
Win-It-All: Colin and Christie

[eponine]

1st - Colin/Christie
Last - Linda/Karen
Winner - Colin/Christie

[Elisha]

First: Colin/Christie
Last: Linda and Karen
Win-It-All: Brandon/Nicole

[Redhead]

First - Colin & Christie
Last - Linda & Karen
Winner - Colin & Christie

[TiderInsider]

First - Colin & Christie
Last - Marshall & Lance
Winner - Brandon & Nicole

The bowling moms might not have any money....but Marshall can barely walk.

[Traina]

First - Brandon & Nicole
Last - Marshall & Lance
Winner - Linda & Karen

[Jables]

Using my lucky random number generator for my first and last picks this week...

First - Kami/Karli
Last - Charla/Mirna
Win it All - Colin/Christie

[Macroman]

First: Brandon & Nicole
Last: Marshall/Lance
Win-it-all: Collin/Christie

[J.T.]

First: Colin/Christie
Last: Marshall/Lance
Win-it-all: Brandon/Nicole

[J.T.]

Time check....

[J.T.]

post padding too....

[J.T.]

One more time.....locking in....show start....

[Leela]

First: Charla/Mirna
Last: Linda/Karen
Win it all: Colin/Christie

[Leela]

I might be too late, but the real show hasn't started yet.

Oh well. If I'm too late, it will probably mean I won't go down more. I'll probably be better off for getting here late. (I almost forgot to watch the show. :o )

[J.T.]

No, you're OK...I watched the time....

[J.T.]

I probably won't get the update done until tonight, unless I miraculously finish this project before hell freezes over (I mean 6 PM tonight :oops: ).

For those of you who don't watch the show and are wondering how you did, tough.

[J.T.]

I'm going to try and get this in....our internet tonight has been spotty. I'll at least it get typed. It will be short, if you need more detail check out the CBS website.

Episode 6 starts out with 7 teams. Colin/Christie have a commanding lead, about 7 hours. They leave at 11:27 PM from the Giza Plateau outside of Cairo, Egypt. Their first clue tells them to make their way to the Great Pyramid, climb 350 ft down to the Creation Room, and I think they said this was the Geographic Center of the Earth (if anyone got that, please explain it to me). They were given $65 for the leg.

Colin and Christie take off to the Great Pyramid, but, alas, it doesn't open until 6AM. They go back to sleep at the entrance. At 6AM they proceed to be Room of Creation (the crawling and going down was a tight fit). They get the second clue which tells them to now go to the mound of creation which is at the Karnak Temple in Luxor, Egypt. They must get to the old airport and take either any commercial flight or a charter flight that leaves at 11:30. They take off for the airport.

Meanwhile, Charla/Mirna leave at 6:40AM, followed by Brandon/Nicole at 6:45 (those camels of Charla/Mirna must have taken a while), and Chip/Kim at 6:46. While they are all traversing the Great Pyramid, Colin/Christie are trying to get an earlier flight out of Cairo. Unfortunately, they arrive about 15 minutes too late for the only flight earlier than the charter. They then try to proceed to the area for the charter. At this same time, Charla/Mirna are back to their old tricks of not getting along with anyone, and decide to try to steal Colin/Christie's cab as they are searching a terminal. Mind you, Colin/Christie hadn't paid the cab, nor had they taken their backpacks out of the cab. Mirna absolutely had a fit (more than once this episode; Personally, I can't stand Mirna, everyone is always out to get HER.).

OK, Marshall/Lance leave at 7:21. (Marshall can barely walk; I can't believe they aren't giving him medical attention.) Kami/Karli (the wonder twins) leave at 8:33 and Linda/Karen (who are given no money for arriving last last week) leave at 10:09 am (almost 12 hours behind Colin/Christie).

Linda/Karen actually stand at the touristy spot of the Giza Plateau and hit up other tourists for money. They find enough nice people and they are on their way to the Great Pyramid.

Marshall has a very hard time in the pyramid, but makes it through. So, everyone but Linda/Karen is at the airport for the charter flight. To make the show interesting (is this scripted or what?), Linda/Karen get their 2nd clue at 10:30, and hop in the cab to go to the old airport. Amazingly, they arrive at the new airport (international) at 11:29. They get another cab and head over to the old airport, convinced they are now out of the game. For some reason, the charter is delayed, and when they arrive at 11:33, all the teams are bunched up again. The flight doesn't actually leave until 1:45 (wonder if a commercial plane would have been quicker?).

At 2:30, when they land in Luxor, everyone jumps in a cab. Some are speedier than others, and Chip/Kim seem to make great leaps in front of the other cabs. However, the secret to the Karnak Temple seems to be how quick you can find the ticket booth. Somehow, the wonder twins seem to do this first. Order at the temple: Kami/Karli, Chip/Kim, Colin/Christie, Brandon/Nicole, Linda/Karen, Marshall/Lance.

The next clue is a detour: Herd it or Haul it. Herd it: ride in a kalesh (carriage) 5 miles to Banana Island, get 10 sheep into a boat and then get them to the west bank of the Nile to the Shepherd who is waiting. Haul it: ride in a kalesh 3 miles to Pigeon House Farm. Fill an urn with water, take it by riding a donkey to fill a large urn (takes more than one trip).

Most teams decide to herd sheep (why, I have no idea). Colin/Christie and Brandon/Nicole decide on the Haul it. Haul it is much less amusing, so I'll cover it first. They both arrive and take two trips to fill the jug; Nicole doesn't seem to know how to lead a donkey and Brandon doesn't seem to know how to ride one.

Now to herding the sheep. The sheep have to basically be picked up and carried onto the boat. Of course, all of their sheep friends are still on the shore, so they of course want to try and jump out to go back to their friends. Chip/Kim seem to do OK with Kim guarding the sheep and Chip doing the grunt work. They are first in the water. While they are cruising the Nile in their sailboat, Chip comments how excited he is to be in the "motherland." I thought he was from the US?
You are probably wondering about the wonder twins, yes? Well, they forgot to tell their carriage driver where he was suposed to go, so they got a bit behind schedule. Linda/Karen manage to find the baby goats, and haul them into the boat much quicker. They are second in the water. Kami/Karli get there while Charla/Mirna are trying to load. That was an utter fiasco. Mirna complains about the smell and how heavy they are and that she can't do it anymore after getting about 6 of them loaded. Charla can't keep the ones they have on the ship because she's scared of them (I can't believe anyone is scared of sheep, especially one's without horns). Kami or Karli is sneezing all the way across the Nile (seems she allergic to the animals). Marshall/Lance finally get the sheep loaded and set sail.

Ok, the 4th clue tells them to take the marked taxis to the Habu Temple. Once there, they find the 5th clue, which is the Roadblock. It requires someone with good eyes and a lot of patience. They have dig sites marked off behind the temple, and they must use given tools to find a stone scarab in their dig place. (Amazingly, no one seems to know what a scarab is).

Colin is first to arrive, followed by Brandon, and (oh my gosh, she does participate) Kim. Colin finds his scarab, retrieves his clue and they leave. They are followed by Linda, Karli, Mirna, and Lance. Kim finds the scarab next, followed by Karli, Brandon, Linda and Mirna. Linda and Mirna seem to have the toughest time.

The last clue tells the teams to go to the pit stop. they are to go to the West Nile Ferry Port, and take the ferry to Crocodile Island. Order of arrival: Colin/Christie, Chip/Kim, Karli/Kami, Brandon/Nicole, Charla/Mirna. BTW, Colin/Christie won a trip to exotic Mexico.

Once Marshall/Lance arrive at the dig point, Lance has a tough time finding the scarab, and basically says forget it. Everyone else has already dug, and you can't walk. Phil comes in and says how this is the first time a team has ever quit, and the first time he had to come out to find a team. Well, since they are last, they are eliminated. Scores to follow, pending working internet.

[J.T.]

Special scoring notes:
Yours truly and tider_insider rack up the points this week, both correctly picking the first and last teams and are up (+14) on the week.
Redhead, elisah, eponine and BC get that Colin/Christie finished first so are up 6.
Macroman, Traina correctly get that Marshall/Lance finish last so are up 6 (7-1).
Cosmo misses their picks.
Ury, did you give me picks and I miss them?

Hey, a lot of positive movers this week....I'll try to get a better setup before next week, but will be on vacation, so it might not happen.

Everyone else is -2 on the week.

Name Win-it-all PriorPts NewPts TotalPts
tider_insider Brandon/Nicole +1 +14 +15
BC Colin/Christie +4 +6 +10
eponine Colin/Christie 0 +6 +6
Cosmo Marshall/Lance -5 0 -5
Redhead Colin/Christie -13 +6 -7
Elisha Brandon/Nicole -21 +6 -15
J.T. Brandon/Nicole -29 +14 -15
Gandalf Brandon/Nicole -14 -2 -16
Macroman Colin/Christie -23 +6 -17
Traina Linda/Karen -25 +6 -19
Jables Colin/Christie -23 -2 -25
Ladeeda Brandon/Nicole -23 -2 -25
Leela Colin/Christie -30 -2 -32
urysohn Chip/Kim -50 0 -50

[TiderInsider]

I will preface this by saying that I am skeptical of all "Reality" TV shows, including the Amazing Race, being real. The producers have an obvious conflict of interest - they don't need the show to be real, but to be interesting.

That being said, I wonder if the Amazing Race has some sort of contengency plan for teams getting way ahead. I know there is usually some equalizer (everybody on the same flight, hours of operation of tomb 9-5, etc), but I bet when someone gets way ahead of the pack (e.g. Collin/Christe) the producers step in to make it more interesting. Any thoughts?

[Gandalf]

First: Brandon & Nicole
Last: Charla & Mirna
Win-it-all: Brandon & Nicole

[Traina]

I think they stepped in to save Linda and Karen...not that I'm complaining :) ...charter flight to Luxor mysteriously delayed.

[BC]

I think they said this was the Geographic Center of the Earth (if anyone got that, please explain it to me). They were given $65 for the leg.

(Musical interlude) "It's a Small World After All"

Yeah, I didn't get that either...

Personally, I can't stand Mirna, everyone is always out to get HER.).

At this point, I'm on "everyone's" side. I'm out to get her too.

OK, Marshall/Lance leave at 7:21. (Marshall can barely walk; I can't believe they aren't giving him medical attention.)

They can't give him surgery because he has to cut his knee open on his own first. (Bu-dump-bump. Okay, that was weak. I need to get more sleep).


Linda/Karen actually stand at the touristy spot of the Giza Plateau and hit up other tourists for money. They find enough nice people and they are on their way to the Great Pyramid.

Am I the only one who thought that they should have gone to the great pyramid first and THEN begged for money later?

For some reason, the charter is delayed, and when they arrive at 11:33, all the teams are bunched up again. The flight doesn't actually leave until 1:45 (wonder if a commercial plane would have been quicker?).

Yes, and they must not have told the Racers just how long the delay is going to be, or else Colin would have been looking, I imagine.

Chip comments how excited he is to be in the "motherland." I thought he was from the US?

Maybe he's Jewish?

Charla can't keep the ones they have on the ship because she's scared of them (I can't believe anyone is scared of sheep, especially one's without horns).

I'm going with the "little person" thing here. I know that if a 6-foot 3-inch sheep walked up to me with murder in its eyes and 20 of its best friends and said "You had lamb chops last night, didn't you" I'd be scared too (hey, if I'm visualizing a 6-foot-plus sheep, I can imagine it speaks English, can't I?)

Kami or Karli is sneezing all the way across the Nile (seems she allergic to the animals).

While I thought the sheep would be easier when I first saw the detour, with my allergies I'd probably have wanted to choose the "haul it" option also.

(Amazingly, no one seems to know what a scarab is).

That's because you have to go to the Geographic Center of the Earth to find them.

Yeah, I thought that this many people not knowing that a scarab is a beetle was pretty sad, too. Did it seem like this roadblock was pretty random in amount of time needed? I mean, some search algorithms are obviously inferior to others (like Linda and Karen's "pile all the sand up in the middle - it probably wasn't there anyway" plan).


Once Marshall/Lance arrive at the dig point, Lance has a tough time finding the scarab, and basically says forget it. Everyone else has already dug, and you can't walk. Phil comes in and says how this is the first time a team has ever quit, and the first time he had to come out to find a team. Well, since they are last, they are eliminated. Scores to follow, pending working internet.

Wasn't it last year a team was a day late to Hawaii, and they got a note saying "the race is over, give up" or something like that?

Good recap, JT. Thanks.

I will preface this by saying that I am skeptical of all "Reality" TV shows, including the Amazing Race, being real. The producers have an obvious conflict of interest - they don't need the show to be real, but to be interesting.

That being said, I wonder if the Amazing Race has some sort of contengency plan for teams getting way ahead. I know there is usually some equalizer (everybody on the same flight, hours of operation of tomb 9-5, etc), but I bet when someone gets way ahead of the pack (e.g. Collin/Christe) the producers step in to make it more interesting. Any thoughts?

I don't know, I think the "hours of operation", "same flight" stuff is applicable enough across a broad spectrum of contingencies that they haven't had to do that yet.

That said, I'd like to see a team manage to get a sufficient lead that it "permanently" screws up the bottlenecks, not because I think it would make the race any more interesting (perhaps even less so) but because I really hate the bottlenecks. I'd like to see teams "earn" their catch-up, not just have it handed to them on a silver platter at the airport.

[BC]

Oh, and next week's picks:

First to arrive: Colin/Christie
Last to arrive: Linda/Karen
Win it All: Colin/Christie

[urysohn]

Ury, did you give me picks and I miss them?

danged vacation! :swear: The one week I would have correctly picked both first and last!! Well, last was a toss-up between the out-of-money moms and the limping brother, but I had decided to go with the limpy one. And my wife had convinced me Colin and Christie had nearly a 24-hour lead, so I thought they were a lock. Details turned out to be off, but not enough to matter. :swear:

[Traina]

First to arrive: Colin/Christie
Last to arrive: Charla/Mirna
Win it All: Linda/Karen

[Leela]

I want to make sure I get my picks in on time this week.

First to arrive: Chip/Kim
Last to arrive: Kami/Karli
Win-it-all: Colin/Christie

[urysohn]

First-to-arrive: Chip + Kim
Win-it-all: Chip + Kim
Last-to-arrive: Charla and Mirna, oh please let it be!

[eponine]

1st - Colin/Christie
Last - Karli/Kami
Winner - Colin/Christie

[Jables]

Using my lucky random number generator for my first and last picks this week...

First - Kami/Karli
Last - Charla/Mirna
Win it All - Colin/Christie

Maybe Excel was prognosticating a week in advance... trying these again. :)

[Elisha]

First to arrive: Colin/Christie
Last to arrive: Kami/Karli
Win-it-all: Colin/Christie (yes, I'm changing from Brandon/Nicole).

[J.T.]

First: Brandon/Nicole
Last: Charla/Mirna
Win-it-all: whoever I earlier picked (I think Brandon/nicole)

[TiderInsider]

First: Brandon/Nicole
Last: Linda/Karen
Win-it-all:Brandon/nicole

[Jables]

They're gone! :clap:

Major :cry: -fest... :roll:

[Aaron Brachowitz]

They're gone! :clap:

Major :cry: -fest... :roll:
I'd say that qualifies as a Very Special Episode of The Amazing Race. And they jerked our chain a bit by letting us think it was a non-elimination leg. Best part was when Phil said, "You've got a very special teammate there," and Charla thought he was talking about the very un-special Mirna. :lol:

[working girl]

Is the episode replayed over the weekend? Does anyone know when? thx

[J.T.]

Is the episode replayed over the weekend? Does anyone know when? thx

Usually Saturday at 8ET

[Gandalf]

First: Brandon/Nicole
Last: Linda/Karen
Win-it-all:Brandon/nicole

Same for me!
Ditto. I can't catch tider_insider that way, but I've consistently picked Brandon/Nicole to win the week and Win-it-all, so I'll stick with them.

[Macroman]

First: Brandon/Nicole
Last: Linda/Karen
Win-it-all:Brandon/nicole

Same for me!
Ditto. I can't catch tider_insider that way, but I've consistently picked Brandon/Nicole to win the week and Win-it-all, so I'll stick with them.

I'd settle for catching you right now, Gandalf.

[J.T.]

I'll try to get the update soon...pretty busy at work....

[TiderInsider]

First: Brandon/Nicole
Last: Linda/Karen
Win-it-all:Brandon/nicole

Same for me!
Ditto. I can't catch tider_insider that way, but I've consistently picked Brandon/Nicole to win the week and Win-it-all, so I'll stick with them.

Not catching me won't be a problem if I am in 6th place. Man my picks stunk this week. I thought I had it rapped up if not for the bus running out of gas! Also, things would have been a lot more interesting had Brandon kicked that dudes a$$ when he wanted more money for the bus ride. Oh, well there's always next week.

[urysohn]

I'll try to get the update soon...pretty busy at work....
You had plenty of time to work on during the night, as I understand. :lol:

[J.T.]

I'll try to get the update soon...pretty busy at work....
You had plenty of time to work on during the night, as I understand. :lol:

Hey, I was busy trying to get 3 threads up to page 5 so I could go back to bed.:lol:

Plus, I left the dang notes here at work (I really was going to do it last night before I went to bed the first time).

[Aaron Brachowitz]

Also, things would have been a lot more interesting had Brandon kicked that dudes a$$ when he wanted more money for the bus ride.
I loved that guy. They should make him a recurring character.

[BC]

First to arrive: Colin/Christie
Last to arrive: Linda/Karen
Win it all: Colin/Christie

Non-elimination round.

[TiderInsider]

:bump:

[eponine]

1st - Chip/Kim
Last - Kami/Karli
Winner - Chip/Kim

[J.T.]

OK, sorry about the delay. I have been swamped at work and then became under the weather this weekend when I planned to do this.

This will be short, because I plan on spending the bulk of time getting a new scoring summary going.

They leave from Luxor, Colin/Christie being first at 5:33am, and Linda/Karen being last at 6:33am.

The first clue gives them $75 and tells them to fly to Narobi Kenya, then take a charter flight to a mystery location. There are two flights out of Luxor to get to Cairo. Amazingly, they all make the first flight. :roll:

They then get to Cairo and take taxis to the international airport. Everyone besides Charla/Mirna and Linda/Karen decide to work together. They get a crappy flight, and when they try to get the better flight that the annoying team got, they are shut down since Mirna tells the airline worker that they are violent.

Eventually, all of the teams get on the same flight, which arrives in Kenya at 6:30 the next morning. In a stopover somewhere (I missed where), Charla/Mirna and Linda/Karen find a flight that will allow them to get there 1/2 hour before the other teams. Unfortunately, it doesn't work out since the flight out of Dubai is delayed. Therefore, they end up arriving later than the bunch.

They sign up for 1 of 3 charter flights. Chip/Kim, Colin/Christie are on the 8AM flight, Brandon/Nicole and Kami/Karli are on the 8:45AM flight and Charla/Mirna and Linda/Karen are on the 9:30 flight.

The charter takes them to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, where they get their second clue. It tells them to take a bus 17 miles to Wambu. Chip/Kim, Colin/Christie get on the same bus and each paid $5 to get there. (The buses seemed very disorganized; it didn't seem like there were schedules). Brandon/Nicole and Kami/Karli end up having to pay $100 + $20 when their bus runs out of gas and they end up getting harassed. The last 2 teams ride for $3, pass the second bus, but lose the lead when the Charla's bus ends up taking a "potty break" on the side of the road.

3rd Clue: Detour: Buzzing or Busy
Buzzing is to take a bicycle to a honey farm and farm 2 kg worth of honey. Busy is putting furniture on a cart and taking it to a certain address in the city (not the same for each team), get the receipt and bring it back to the starting location. Everyone takes Busy (anyone else upset about this? I would have enjoyed seeing a few of them getting stung by bees). Everyone also has help. Chip/Kim take a little time and talk with the locals.

Leaving the Detour: 1st: C/C, 2nd C/K, 3rd K/K, 4th L/K, 5th B/N, and 6th C/M

Clue 4: go to the Kiboni Village and find the kavishe hotel. Clue 5: Roadblock. Cook an ostrich egg and then eat it (one ostrich egg = 2 dozen chicken eggs).

Colin, who arrives first, is a pansy when it comes to eating food (how does he live). He ends up leaving second. Chip, who arrives second, eats again like a madman and leaves first. Brandon arrives 3rd, leaves 4th. Karen arrives 4th, leaves 3rd. Kami and Charla do the honors for their teams. Clue #6: Go to valley's edge, take zipline across a 230 ft gorge to the pitstop at Lake Manyara lookout, a watering hole for Africa's wildlife.

Arriving first and winning a vacation to Latin America are Chip/Kim.
The order of arrival after 1st: Colin/Christie, Linda/Karen, Brandon/Nicole, Kami/Karli. Charla/Mirna arrive last (thank goodness) and are eliminated. Phil gets quite choked up (must of had a soft spot for them).

OK, scores to follow after dinner.

[urysohn]

First: Colin/Christie
Last: Kami/Karli
Win-it-all: Chip/Kim

non-elimination

[J.T.]

Special scoring notes:
Ury gets the picks this past week, moving up 12 points (but still in last). 4 of us either got Chip/Kim first or Charla/Mirna last.
Ladeeda, Macroman, Redhead, and Cosmo misses their picks.

Everyone else is -2 on the week, except the 3 of you who had Marshall/Lance picked to win-it-all in earlier picks. I fixed those.

New code as promised.

Name Win-it-all PriorPts NewPts TotalPts
B/N C/C C/K K/K L/K
tider_insider 42 +15 -2 +13
BC 52 +10 -2 +8
Redhead 22 6 -7 0 -7
eponine 25 +6 -2-12 -8
J.T. 33 -15 +5 -10
Cosmo -5 -6 -11
Gandalf 42 -16 +5 -11
Elisha 21 5 -15 -2 -17
Macroman 29 -17 0 -17
Traina 33 -19 +5-6 -20
Jables 42 -25 +5 -20
Ladeeda 30 -25 0 -25
Leela 42 -32 +5 -27
urysohn 19 -50 +12 -38

[Macroman]

First to arrive: Colin/Christie
Last to arrive: Linda/Karen
Win-it-all: Colin/Christie

[Traina]

First to arrive: Colin/Christie
Last to arrive: Kami/Karli
Win-it-all: Linda/Karen

Non Elimination round

[Leela]

First: Colin/Christie
Last: Kami/Karli
Win-it-all: Chip/Kim (I'm getting tired of rooting for Colin/Christie)

Non-elimination round

[Elisha]

First to arrive: Colin/Christie
Last to arrive: Kami/Karli
Win-it-all: Colin/Christie

[Jables]

First - Brandon/Nicole
Last - Linda/Karen
Win it All - Colin/Christie

Non-elimination round

[TiderInsider]

First - Brandon/Nicole
Last - Linda/Karen
Win it All - Brandon/Nicole

Non-elimination round

[Redhead]

First to arrive - Chip & Kim
Last to arrive - Linda & Karen
Win it All - Colin & Christie

[J.T.]

First: Linda/Karen
Last: Kami/Karli
Win-it-all: Brandon/Nicole

Non-elimination

[Traina]

Yes, yes, yes!

[Marshall]

Since the race is over before the show airs its first episode, and they love to show Chip/Kim being nice and happy and the twins and Colin/Christie being a-holes, does that make you think that Chip/Kim will win? Or at lease that Colin/Christie and the twins won't win? I can't imagine them showing the eventual winners in such a bad light. Any opinions?

[urysohn]

Since the race is over before the show airs its first episode, and they love to show Chip/Kim being nice and happy and the twins and Colin/Christie being a-holes, does that make you think that Chip/Kim will win? Or at lease that Colin/Christie and the twins won't win? I can't imagine them showing the eventual winners in such a bad light. Any opinions?
The couple that won the last (?) Race were bickering and bitchy throughout the entire show.

[Marshall]

Since the race is over before the show airs its first episode, and they love to show Chip/Kim being nice and happy and the twins and Colin/Christie being a-holes, does that make you think that Chip/Kim will win? Or at lease that Colin/Christie and the twins won't win? I can't imagine them showing the eventual winners in such a bad light. Any opinions?
The couple that won the last (?) Race were bickering and bitchy throughout the entire show.

Oh well, seemed like a good theory to me.

[Edited to add] Thanks to Mrs. Frog, it still does.

[Elisha]

I think that was AR3 then, where the guy was super nice and the gf gradually turned into a super biatch by the end of the show and they won in the end. I forget their names.

[Traina]

That would be Zach and Flo.

[m_m]

Colin and Christie definitely make a perfect couple, Colin is abusive, and Christie is dumb and submissive :shake:

[working girl]

I really hope Colin isn't as big a jerk as he appears. It's possible that he regretted his behavior and that got edited out (come on, it's TV - pure entertainment, not always 100% truth). If it were me in Christie's place I would have looked like a screaming b****. I was yelling at the TV enough as it was.

And, they did not replay the episode when Mirna and Shmirna got eliminated. So sad!!! I wanted to see their disappointment on the delayed flight.

Dip twins: good luck in Dubai. That area of the world finds shoulders and knees offensive, so good luck flirting with the guys for money. Can't wait to see Colin's meltdown next week!!!

[J.T.]

I really thought I had done this, or I would have updated this weekend. So, I apologize.

OK, we leave Northern Tanzania at the lake with 200 dollars.

Chip and Kim leave first at 2:42 AM, followed by Colin/Christie at 3, Linda/Karen at 3:06, Brandon Nicole at 3:10, and Karli/Kami at 3:12. Clue #1 is to fly to city of Dubai, and then get 1 of 3 charter flights to Narobi.

They have to take a taxi 100 miles to the airport. Most of them get a cab ride for 100 dollars. Seems to be a travel of issues. Colin/Christie's cab gets a flat, and the cabbie is already driving on the doughnut. Karli/Kami take pity on them and gave them their spare. Further up the road, Linda/Karen have no oil, but Kami/Karli won't stop again, but Colin/Christi stop to allow them to call for another cab.

At the airport, Chip/Kim and Brandon/Nicole get on the first charter flight leaving at 8:30. Brandon/Nicole get in a huge fight over money, and Chip gets caught in the middle. Kami/Karli and Colin/Christie get the 9:30 flight and Karen/Linda get the 10:30.

Colin decides he will only pay the cab driver $50 instead of the full 100. The cabbie then gets the cops, and Colin gets escorted to the police station. Colin keeps pressing the issue, and Christie keeps telling him to pay. Anyway, Colin finally realizes he's being stupid and pays the cabbie 100. He then yells at Christie for not supporting him (WTH?). I don't get him. He's a little too high strung.

Meanwhile, back to the race. At the Narobi Airport, Chip/Kim, Kami/Karli, Brandon/Nicole, and Chip/Kim get on a plane to Dubai just as Linda/Karen land in Narobi. They can't get on the flight. Everyone else's plane lands at 6:00PM. Linda/Karen get one that lands at 12:19.

In Dubai, they proceed to the Dubai Hotel (I believe, my notes are sketchy), and get the second clue that tells them to take the elevator to the heliport. (Big surprise, hours of operation from 8AM to 6PM).

So, everyone is together. At the top of the heliport at 8AM, they find out they need to get across town to the abra station and take a water taxi to the port. Then find a boat to get their next clue.

Chip/Kim are running out of money, and they, Kami/Karli, Brandon/Nicole are on the first taxi. The other two teams get on the last taxi. Clue #4: Detour: Off Plane or Off Road. Off Plane is skydiving tandem 10,000 feet. One catch: Planes take off 45 minutes apart. Off Road is 4x4ing a 6 mile course in desert.

Chip/Kim decide to off-road, but don't have money to pay the cab driver when they get there. He decides to be a nice guy and let them go with what they have.

Brandon/Nicole and Kami/Karli decide to skydive. Brandon/Nicole get to the airport first, so Kami/Karli wait. Off roading, Colin/Christie do pretty well, and Linda/Karen get stuck. Chip/Kim can't find the flags, but manage to get through the course. Finishing the course or skydive, they find their last clue (no roadblock I guess) to proceed to the pit stop by riding a camel led by a camelsman by directing him using a GPS navigation system to travel 1/2 mile to a desert oasis.

Order of leaving the detour and arriving at the pitstop: Colin/Christie, Brandon/Nicole, Chip/Kim, Linda/Karen, Kami/Karli. If anyone cares, Colin/Christie win a trip to the Carribean. Aha, but it's a non-elimination round, so Kami/Karli are safe except that they lose all of their money. They think that they are cute and will have no trouble getting money (in the middle of the desert....they are having hallucinations already).

Next week should be interesting. Scores to follow.

[aces219]

I really thought I had done this, or I would have updated this weekend. So, I apologize.

OK, we leave Northern Tanzania at the lake with 200 dollars.

Chip and Kim leave first at 2:42 AM, followed by Colin/Christie at 3, Linda/Karen at 3:06, Brandon Nicole at 3:10, and Karli/Kami at 3:12. Clue #1 is to fly to city of Dubai, and then get 1 of 3 charter flights to Narobi.

Actually, they drove to Kilimanjaro and caught a charter flight to Nairobi, and then they flew to Dubai. Maybe that's what you meant.

[J.T.]

Special scoring notes:
Hey, everybody did pretty well, minus a few....
Ury, Traina, and Leela got the +20, and BC takes the lead!



Name Win-it-all PriorPts NewPts TotalPts
B/N C/C C/K K/K L/K
BC 57 +8 +15 +23
tider_insider 47 +13 +9 +22
J.T. 38 -10 +14 +4
Traina 38 -20 +20 0
eponine 25 5 -8 +4 -4
Elisha 21 10 -17 +10 -7
Leela 42 5 -27 +20 -7
Redhead 22 11 -7 -1 -8
Jables 47 -20 +9 -11
Cosmo -11 0 -11
Gandalf 47 -11 -1 -12
Macroman 34 -17 +5 -12
urysohn 24 -38 +20 -18
Ladeeda 35 -25 -1 -26

[J.T.]

I really thought I had done this, or I would have updated this weekend. So, I apologize.

OK, we leave Northern Tanzania at the lake with 200 dollars.

Chip and Kim leave first at 2:42 AM, followed by Colin/Christie at 3, Linda/Karen at 3:06, Brandon Nicole at 3:10, and Karli/Kami at 3:12. Clue #1 is to fly to city of Dubai, and then get 1 of 3 charter flights to Narobi.

Actually, they drove to Kilimanjaro and caught a charter flight to Nairobi, and then they flew to Dubai. Maybe that's what you meant.

Yea, that's it....My notes for the beginning were horrible. I was guessing. The main clue told them to fly to Dubai....all of the other stuff was to get there....

[Traina]

Whoooo 0 points!!! :clap:

[eponine]

1st - Chip/Kim
Last - Kami/Karli
Winner - Chip/Kim

[Elisha]

1st - Chip/Kim
Last - Kami/Karli
Winner - Colin/Christie (although I like Brandon/Nicole better)

[TiderInsider]

First - Brandon/Nicole
Last - Kami/Karli
Winner - Brandon/Nicole

[Leela]

First: Chip/Kim
Last: Kami/Karli
Win-it-all: Chip/Kim

[Macroman]

Time to switch horses for me:

First - Brandon/Nicole
Last - Kami/Karli
Winner - Brandon/Nicole

[Traina]

First - Brandon/Nicole
Last - Kami/Karli
Winner - Linda/Karen

[Redhead]

First - Brandon & Nicole
Last - Kami & Karli
Win it All - Colin & Christie

[Jables]

Looks like the episode is on early this week, I almost missed my picks...

First - Chip/Kim
Last - Kami/Karli
Win it All - Colin/Christie

[urysohn]

First: Linda/Karen (I say they take the fast-forward and shave the heads)
Win-it-all: Chip/Kim
Last: ooooh, hard to pick here. from the previews it looks like everybody screws something up huge. What the heck, let's go with Colin and Christie

[urysohn]

lock

[J.T.]

Hey, wait a minute ury....

First: Brandon/Nicole
Last: Kami/Karli
WIA: Brandon/Nicole

I really think it will be another non-elim....but I don't want to lose 10 points.

[J.T.]

Locking now....

[urysohn]

OK, well here's a lock for you too then ;)

I tried to check out the leaderboard on CBS.com today (to compare players remaining to shows remaining) but it seemed to be down. :swear:

[Jables]

The Red Sox are red hot, so I couldn't not watch the game tonight...anyone care to fill us in on who finished first, last, and if there was an elimination?

Thanks!

[urysohn]

The Red Sox are red hot, so I couldn't not watch the game tonight...anyone care to fill us in on who finished first, last, and if there was an elimination?

Thanks!
I don't think it's been shown on the West Coast yet. I'll PM you.

[Jables]

The Red Sox are red hot, so I couldn't not watch the game tonight...anyone care to fill us in on who finished first, last, and if there was an elimination?

Thanks!
I don't think it's been shown on the West Coast yet. I'll PM you.

Another non-elimination leg? I got excited when ury told me B/N finished last...I thought a lot of players were gonna lose a bunch of points this week... :shake:

[Elisha]

Woa. That was a surprise. I thought they were gonners fer sure.

Now, I'm definitely glad I switched to Colin/Christie (even though I like Brandon/Nicole better). They should've just shaved their heads. It's hair. It will grow back.

[J.T.]

I am on a major studying day so I won't be doing a recap. Check CBS for the recap of the show. Here's my super short summary....

1. Brandon/Nicole are pansies. "We can't shave our head because we are models and that's how we make our living." Too bad: you are last with no money, since you lucked out with a Non-elimination round.
2. They finished in Calcutta at the Vicoria Memorial.

Special scoring notes:
Hey, everybody did poorly, except for BC, who holds on to his lead.
Ury got an extra 3 taken off for the extra penalty of last finishing first.


Name Win-it-all PriorPts NewPts TotalPts
B/N C/C C/K K/K L/K
BC 62 +23 +5 +27
tider_insider 52 +22 -1 +21
J.T. 43 +4 -1 +3
Traina 43 0 -1 -1
eponine 25 10 -4 -1 -5
Elisha 21 15 -7 -1 -8
Leela 42 10 -7 -1 -8
Redhead 22 16 -8 -1 -9
Jables 52 -11 -1 -12
Cosmo -11 0 -11
Gandalf 47 -12 0 -12
Macroman 5 34 -12 -1 -13
urysohn 29 -18 -4 -22
Ladeeda 35 -26 0 -26


I have that Gandalf, Cosmo, and Ladeeda didn't make picks. Let me know if I missed your post.

[Gandalf]

I forgot to make picks, and remembered 15 minutes into the show. Like every prior week, I would have taken Brandon/Nicole, but I don't see anything in the rules that says I should lose points for wanting to take them.

After that performance, it's time to bail:

First: Kami/Karli (since no one else has them to WIA, probably for good reason)
Last: Brandon/Nicole
WIA: Kami/Karli

[Macroman]

....After that performance, it's time to bail:

First: Kami/Karli (since no one else has them to WIA, probably for good reason)
Last: Brandon/Nicole
WIA: Kami/Karli

me too...

First: Kami/Karli (since no one else has them to WIA, probably for good reason)
Last: Brandon/Nicole
WIA: Kami/Karli

I missed the show since I didn't check the schedule. I gather it was bad.

[Traina]

First - Colin/Christie
Last - Kami/Karli
WIA - Linda/Karen

[Leela]

First: Chip/Kim
Last: Colin/Christie (Just some wishful thinking here)
Win-it-all: Chip/Kim

[urysohn]

Is the CBS leaderboard (http://www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race5/route/leaderb.shtml) working for anybody? I'm wondering how many more episodes are left. Thanks!

Either way, I'm not going with the non-elimination this week, so let's go with:

First - Chip/Kim
Win-it-all - Chip/Kim
Last - Linda/Karen

[J.T.]

Is the CBS leaderboard (http://www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race5/route/leaderb.shtml) working for anybody? I'm wondering how many more episodes are left. Thanks!

Either way, I'm not going with the non-elimination this week, so let's go with:


Works for me. There are 13 legs, 8 elimination (check the first update). They have 12 episodes listed and a final on the leaderboard page.

[eponine]

1st Place - Chip/Kim
Last Pace - Kami/Karli
Win it all - Chip/Kim

[Redhead]

First - Chip & Kim
Last - Linda & Karen
Win it All - Colin & Christie

[TiderInsider]

First - chip/kim
Last - kami/karli
WIA - brandon/nicole

[Elisha]

First - chip/kim
Last - kami/karli
WIA - colin/christie

[J.T.]

First: Colin/Christie
Last: Kami/Karli
WIA: Brandon/Nicole

[Jables]

First - Chip/Kim
Last - Linda/Karen
Win it All - Colin/Christie

[TiderInsider]

:bump: How about it JT???

[J.T.]

Sorry, I'll get it done tonight while I'm doing my posting marathon for ury. Too much stuff to do at work today, but I promise the update tonight.

[the mole]

Just to clarify, J.T.: When I PMed you "How about it, JT???" and you replied "12:15 AM Saturday?", I didn't think we were discussing Amazing Race results. :o

[J.T.]

Just to clarify, J.T.: When I PMed you "How about it, JT???" and you replied "12:15 AM Saturday?", I didn't think we were discussing Amazing Race results. :o

I wasn't discussing the AR results either. :judge: :o