# Amazing Race 15 Season Finale 12/6/09



## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

There Is A God!

Sooooo glad the bickering bros lost as did "Brian........" (although he is a saint for putting up with that *****.)


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## Maui (Apr 22, 2000)

Bierboy said:


> There Is A God!
> 
> Sooooo glad the bickering bros lost as did "Brian........" (although he is a saint for putting up with that *****.


That may be a little harsh. She definitely does not handle pressure/stress well.

I kind of was rooting for them as the underdogs until she freaked out again. I am happy with the outcome. The most deserving team won.


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## heySkippy (Jul 2, 2001)

That was about as good an outcome as was possible given the teams left. I liked Brian and Erika a LOT more than Sam and Dan, but have to admit the brothers were better racers.

Not as good as Cheyne and Meghan though. They were a consistently good team through the whole race. Congrats to them.


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## Jebberwocky! (Apr 16, 2005)

Maui said:


> The most deserving team won.


This - not so much that I liked them but I really had issues with the other two couples.

I mentioned before that my Son's best friend was on TAR - he was the male of the couple in the Chapel - he is actually the Chapel's photographer and I believe the young lady is his girlfriend who also works there.

I asked him a few moths ago who the last three couples were and he was short of information and he also mentioned signing a confidentiality agreement preventing him from disclosing any information under severe penalty.


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## VegasVic (Nov 22, 2002)

That was a great finale. I'm surprised there wasn't a memory challenge as is often the case in the finale but overall I really enjoyed this one.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

I haven't even watched this yet and already I'm sad at the outcome. 

I just don't like them.

Of course, I don't really want any of the three final teams to win, so I was going to be sad either way.


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## Inundated (Sep 10, 2003)

YCantAngieRead said:


> Of course, I don't really want any of the three final teams to win, so I was going to be sad either way.


Yep, same here. The finale was a very bit of minor rooting for C&M (SHANE!!! SHANE, DAMMIT!!!) only because they weren't Sam and Dan, or Brian and Ericka (mostly the pain-in-the-behind former Miss America).

I'm glad it ended up the way it did. Well, glad is kind of an overstatement.


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## bryhamm (Jun 30, 2004)

best team won


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## FireMen2003 (Apr 1, 2004)

If I never hear the name, Shane ever again in my life.....

Lmao @ Brian and Ericka. They had a nice lead but the whole jumping for the flower threw them off. I was dying when she wanted to switch out because it wasn't working then she got pissed again when he missed too...

Aww well, I'm ready for The Amazing Race 16.....


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## Mikeyis4dcats (Oct 2, 2003)

I loathe Ericka.

Nasty, whiny *****.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

Seriously, is it maddening to anyone else how clueless these teams (and honestly, a lot of the rest of America) is to basic geography? I can understand not knowing where Monaco is, but at least know how to pronounce it.


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## Inundated (Sep 10, 2003)

FireMen2003 said:


> Aww well, I'm ready for The Amazing Race 16.....


If you believe the Internets, lots of filming/casting spoilers below:



Spoiler



The Wikipedia article on TAR 16 says they were spotted setting off from LAX on 11/28, just a few days ago. They're probably somewhere in Europe or Asia as we read this 

Bad news here? A "Big Brother" contestant is rumored to be on the race with her boyfriend. But the biggest news is that the Miss Teen South Carolina contestant who became infamous worldwide for her challenged geography is on the race, too! Yipes!


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## Sirius Black (Dec 26, 2001)

I think anyone who can't identify Wayne Newton on-demand should be disqualified. 

That said, the most deserving team won. Does anyone know if the Globetrotters were racing for a charity or for themselves?


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## lambertman (Dec 21, 2002)

I was rooting for Meghan's legs.


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## Jebberwocky! (Apr 16, 2005)

Inundated said:


> If you believe the Internets, lots of filming/casting spoilers below:
> 
> 
> 
> ...





Spoiler



That's actually good news - I'm looking forward to seeing Jeff and Jordan compete.


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## cheerdude (Feb 27, 2001)

This episode was sponsored by MGM Mirage. 

I love that the taxi drivers knew where Wayne Newton's home was.


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## FireMen2003 (Apr 1, 2004)

Inundated said:


> If you believe the Internets, lots of filming/casting spoilers below:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Gotcha. I did see the pics posted the other day...

No idea on part 2 since I haven't watched since 2000.

Angie, I was shaking my head the whole time. Then, its normal in America so I don't know why I was shocked. Its the main city and no one knew beside Brian off the bat...


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## Sirius Black (Dec 26, 2001)

YCantAngieRead said:


> Seriously, is it maddening to anyone else how clueless these teams (and honestly, a lot of the rest of America) is to basic geography? I can understand not knowing where Monaco is, but at least know how to pronounce it.


The question was what is the number one casino in Monaco. I have no idea what that is. Not important. I am smart enough to know it isn't The Bellagio or The Venetian but after that, I wouldn't have a clue.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

Well, sure, that I wouldn't expect everyone to know.

It's more of a collective thing over the whole season, with the guy who didn't know how to say Monaco kind of the cherry on top that made me say something.

I can't tell you how many times I turned to my husband and said "if you're being cast on Amazing Race, or are even a finalist, why wouldn't you take some good time to bone up on your geography?"


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## Inundated (Sep 10, 2003)

Jebberwocky! said:


> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> That's actually good news - I'm looking forward to seeing Jeff and Jordan compete.





Spoiler



I'm just generally not fan of reality TV stunt casting, though the show certainly has a rich history of it. I'll have to treat these two much like I treated Rob-n-Ambuh...try to disconnect them from their Previous Reaiity TV Fame and treat them as a race team without the history.

One reason I don't like the stunt casting is because it basically "force feeds" fans of the racers from the other show into TAR, and they spend first couple of weeks talking about how they acted on the other show...I don't care what "Jeff and Jordan" did on BB, I will watch them based on what they do on TAR.


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## mike_k (Sep 20, 2005)

Sirius Black said:


> I think anyone who can't identify Wayne Newton on-demand should be disqualified.


No kidding. They proved once again what morons they are.

I wish Brian would have one. Seeing what he has to put up with, he deserves a million dollars. Holy crap, she's a mess.


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## Jeeters (Feb 25, 2003)

Inundated said:


> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> But the biggest news is that the Miss Teen South Carolina contestant who became infamous worldwide for her challenged geography is on the race, too! Yipes!


These two recent videos (they're part1 & part2) of the casting spoiler has made me change my mind on them. Very funny.



Spoiler



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/14/caitlin-upton-miss-teen-s_n_357843.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/14/caitlin-upton-miss-teen-s_n_357843.html


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## Jeeters (Feb 25, 2003)

Sirius Black said:


> I think anyone who can't identify Wayne Newton on-demand should be disqualified.


How would anybody under, say, 30, who's never been to Vegas, even have a clue?


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## ElJay (Apr 6, 2005)

I kinda felt bad for Brian during the bungee challenge. He had to know that switching off would not work, but he had no choice because Ericka probably would have shut down completely if he had not obeyed her frantic command. We've seen her getting frustrated fairly quickly. I could see that amount of emotion after a half hour maybe, I certainly know the feeling, but she was *****ing about it from the start. She seemed to have a bad attitude going into just about every situation throughout the race.

I'm not sure if I could have got the Monaco clue. Monte Carlo would have been obvious if I had a list of hotels to choose from, but pulling it out of thin air? Not sure if I could have done that. At least I wouldn't be embarrassing myself by not knowing how to pronounce it or wondering where it is or "what country it's in."



Jeeters said:


> How would anybody under, say, 30, who's never been to Vegas, even have a clue?


Hasn't everybody seen _Vegas Vacation_?


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## Inundated (Sep 10, 2003)

Jeeters said:


> These two recent videos (they're part1 & part2) of the casting spoiler has made me change my mind on them. Very funny.





Spoiler



Oh, I'm always a fan of people who can laugh at themselves or their public perception...William Shatner has made a third or fourth career out of it 

I'm just not sure I'm a fan of the mixed casting stunt, or if she's there for comic relief when she doesn't realize what country she's in. We'll see...I'm still open minded.


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## Inundated (Sep 10, 2003)

I agree that Wayne Newton would probably be a challenge for the under 30 set. Movie or not. 

Of course, with the clue taking you to his suite, and his own helpful nature, knowing his name didn't seem to be required. Unless you never got it before leaving with the clue, and had to hope a cab driver could take you to "Mr. Las Vegas' house, whoever he is".


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## zaknafein (Jul 17, 2001)

I actually like Ericka, she seems a genuinely good person who, for what ever reason, buckles horribly under pressure.

Makes me wonder how she managed to make it all the way to Miss America.

But for sure, the best team won. I didn't particularly like them, but they played the best race by far.


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## Inundated (Sep 10, 2003)

Just for information...first Google hit for "Mr. Las Vegas" is Wayne's official website, second hit is his Wikipedia article.

But there is a iink to an article here:

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/09/28/bob-stupak-mr-las-vegas-dies-at-67/

He just died a month or so ago, apparently:



> Bob Stupak, Mr. Las Vegas, dies at 67
> Bruce Watson
> Sep 28th 2009 at 3:00PM
> 
> ...


I've never heard of Mr. Stupak. I have heard of Wayne.


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## scottjf8 (Nov 11, 2001)

Best team won. And the vegasness was great. 

I would have ROCKED the poker chip challenge.


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## uncdrew (Aug 6, 2002)

I think I'm safe in saying the Globetrotters would not have won if they made the final three.

I think the poker chip counting and the Monaco/Monte Carlo thing would have thrown them off. Perhaps not, but from previous gaffs I think they would have messed that up.


Kudos to Cheyne (SHANE DAMMIT!!!) & Hot Legs! They deserved the win and their comeback in the chip counting was impressive.


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## VegasVic (Nov 22, 2002)

zaknafein said:


> I actually like Ericka, she seems a genuinely good person who, for what ever reason, buckles horribly under pressure.


She may very well be a good person but I don't know how anyone could watch her on TAR and come to that conclusion.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

I kind of agree-I think Ericka's probably a little bit like me, and doesn't do well when she gets frustrated. That being said, though, I don't know why you'd agree to do something like Amazing Race if you suffer from that particular affliction.

Still, though, there were moments when I liked her. I certainly never had that with the brothers or the Blondes.

Brian, though-I really, really liked him. A lot. I'm with everyone else who wishes he could have won, maybe even without his wife.


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## Inundated (Sep 10, 2003)

uncdrew said:


> I think I'm safe in saying the Globetrotters would not have won if they made the final three.


Yeah, I think you're right. Their past history on the show has similar gaffes in events like the ones in the finale. But they have surprised us a few times.



uncdrew said:


> Kudos to Cheyne *(SHANE DAMMIT!!!)* & Hot Legs! They deserved the win and their comeback in the chip counting was impressive.


Heh, it's catching on!

You're right about the comeback. At some point, you knew they were gonna come back, and you just KNEW Brian and Ericka would have a further hard time with it. C&M generally do have a positive attitude.


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## Idearat (Nov 26, 2000)

Ericka did nothing in this episode to change anyone's opinion of her. I got a chuckle out of her saying that she wanted to change people's opinions of a Miss America, but her childish tantrums looked more like a stereotype of a pampered beauty queen who wasn't getting her way. If it's her parents that weren't happy with Brian, he must have picked up some patience points for sure.

The "right" team won. They were consistently in the front over the course of the race. They were more calm and methodical than the other groups which in the end made all the difference at the chip counting task. And while it was the team that won, Meghan seemed to be the brains and the calming influence there. Cheyne picked the right partner.


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## MauriAnne (Sep 21, 2002)

If the poker girls had made it to the final 3, I wonder if they would have replaced the poker chip challenge with another one. Seems like they would have had a bit of an advantage there.


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## MarkofT (Jul 27, 2001)

It was quite funny to watch the show having lived here for a bit and driven daily from casino to casino for a few months. I recognized where the cabs were in every shot and could tell who was really in the lead and who was getting screwed.

And yes, the cabbies are really not all that bright. They only have to be smart enough to know who they can take through the tunnel.


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## tem (Oct 6, 2003)

MauriAnne said:


> If the poker girls had made it to the final 3, I wonder if they would have replaced the poker chip challenge with another one. Seems like they would have had a bit of an advantage there.


Only idiots who couldn't put their bickering aside for 15 minutes would have had a problem w/ that challenge. Putting chips into stacks of 1000 isn't that difficult but apparently 4 out of the 6 people were, in fact, idiots.


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## zalusky (Apr 5, 2002)

So how many of you could do the repel looking down the building?


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## Maui (Apr 22, 2000)

Idearat said:


> Ericka did nothing in this episode to change anyone's opinion of her.


She started out well with the repel but it went downhill after that.


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## DUDE_NJX (Feb 12, 2003)

Wayne Newton looks creepy like hell.

It's like somebody took a bad wax mannequin of him and tried to animate it to make it look somewhat human... and failed.


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## Idearat (Nov 26, 2000)

DUDE_NJX said:


> Wayne Newton looks creepy like hell.
> 
> It's like somebody took a bad wax mannequin of him and tried to animate it to make it look somewhat human... and failed.


When they first showed him, I thought it was an impersonator. Pretty scary looking. Looks like too much plastic surgery trying to stop the clock that can't be stopped.


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## Inundated (Sep 10, 2003)

Idearat said:


> I got a chuckle out of her saying that she wanted to change people's opinions of a Miss America, but her childish tantrums looked more like a stereotype of a pampered beauty queen who wasn't getting her way.


Exactly what I was thinking while watching the episode.

Look, Ericka isn't a monster or anything...she just seems to have a very, very, very short fuse. When things are going well, she seems nice...but things rarely KEEP going well for a TAR race team racing for the million.

Question: teams kept telling cabbies they were racing for such a prize, with at least one or two teams actually mentioning the million. Didn't saying "we're racing for a million dollars" used to be forbidden in the rules?


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## Jeeters (Feb 25, 2003)

Inundated said:


> Question: teams kept telling cabbies they were racing for such a prize, with at least one or two teams actually mentioning the million. Didn't saying "we're racing for a million dollars" used to be forbidden in the rules?


I think they're forbidden to specifically say they're in The Amazing Race. Where the line is drawn for "specifically", I don't know.


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## cheerdude (Feb 27, 2001)

Question that we had last night:

Is the *only* prize the 1st place million dollars? Do you get anything for finishing 2nd and lower?

As for the cabbies ... yeah, I was talking to the screen saying "Take Frank Sinatra... oohhh they are on Paradise"


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## Jeeters (Feb 25, 2003)

Accoding to here, the following was awarded in AR 6...

Runner-up, $25,000
3rd $10,000
4th $7,000
5th $6,000
6th $5,000
7th $4,000
8th $3,500
9th $3,000
10th $2,500
11th $1,500


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## montag (Mar 10, 2001)

Inundated said:


> Just for information...first Google hit for "Mr. Las Vegas" is Wayne's official website, second hit is his Wikipedia article.
> 
> But there is a iink to an article here:
> 
> ...


In Vegas, Stupak was more relevant than Newton.


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## danplaysbass (Jul 19, 2004)

I loved how when Ericka was whining at the Cirque du Solei she said something like "We had a lead and now we've lost it!" I was laughing because their lead was like 5 minutes. Sam and Dan actually had that task right. If you noticed, he grabbed the bungies and pulled himself up once he was near the top giving him that extra little boost he needed to get the height.

C&M really mopped up at the chip counting. Being calm and methodical they really nailed it and were correct the first time. Is it really that hard to count out a million in chips? I wouldn't think so. You have one person pulling the chips out and the other counting them.

Wayne did look very scary! I love how most teams burst into the sweet and then put on the brakes like, whoa, a real celebrity! The brothers not knowing who he was was plain unacceptable. I am under 30 and have known who he was since I was a kid and nobody in my family has ever been to vegas.

Props to the editors for the final sequence. I wasn't sure who was going to win.


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## montag (Mar 10, 2001)

cheerdude said:


> I love that the taxi drivers knew where Wayne Newton's home was.


It's a very well known "site" in Vegas for not being to secluded and out of the way.


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## montag (Mar 10, 2001)

What's up with the Vegas "theme" music and the Bond like editing show all three teams?


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## jlb (Dec 13, 2001)

I say it every season......but as much as I love TAR I wish they would do a post race reunion show a la Survivor. And can they please do this show in HD........cost of equipment is no longer an excuse given the amount of advertising directly in some of the eps..........


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## Inundated (Sep 10, 2003)

montag said:


> In Vegas, Stupak was more relevant than Newton.


Oh, I am not discounting his relevance...but the phrase "Mr. Las Vegas" for those not following the nuts and bolts of the area's development refers to Wayne Newton. 



jlb said:


> I say it every season......but as much as I love TAR I wish they would do a post race reunion show a la Survivor. And can they please do this show in HD........cost of equipment is no longer an excuse given the amount of advertising directly in some of the eps..........


I really don't think it's money or cost of equipment at this point. It's probably more the logistics of the show keeping it from being in HD.


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## Anubys (Jul 16, 2004)

anyone notice the kiss Cheyne gave Meghan just before getting off the plane in Vegas? Meghan allowed him to kiss her but she acted as if he had AIDS on his lips...


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

jlb said:


> I say it every season......but as much as I love TAR I wish they would do a post race reunion show a la Survivor. And can they please do this show in HD........cost of equipment is no longer an excuse given the amount of advertising directly in some of the eps..........


I agree with both of these comments. More and more shows are in HD. THe only thing here is you probably need quite a few cameras. but heck, I can take HD on a ZUNE (if I had one), or any number of hand held $300 cameras.

Anyway, I'm glad Cheyne and Megan won, as they kicked butt. But, they may be the more boring couple ever to win the race. Essentially they are two mildly goodlooking All-American kids, with little personality. For a show that regularly casts two opposites racing together, these two I would never have figured to make it past the auditions. They really had little to offer. But they were GOOOOD racers!!


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## Jebberwocky! (Apr 16, 2005)

Anubys said:


> anyone notice the kiss Cheyne gave Meghan just before getting off the plane in Vegas? Meghan allowed him to kiss her but she acted as if he had AIDS on his lips...


I also liked Team Zebra shaking hands at the end.


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## Cearbhaill (Aug 1, 2004)

zalusky said:


> So how many of you could do the repel looking down the building?





Maui said:


> She started out well with the repel but it went downhill after that.





mike_k said:


> No kidding. They proved once again what morons they are.
> 
> I wish Brian would have one.





danplaysbass said:


> Wayne did look very scary! I love how most teams burst into the sweet and then put on the brakes like, whoa, a real celebrity!


Perhaps if one of the teams had thought to _rappel _directly into the _suite_ they might have _won_.


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## KyleLC (Feb 6, 2002)

Cearbhaill said:


> Perhaps if one of the teams had thought to _rappel _directly into the _suite_ they might have _won_.


Thanks. LOL.


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## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

jlb said:


> And can they please do this show in HD........cost of equipment is no longer an excuse given the amount of advertising directly in some of the eps..........


I'm sure CBS can certainly afford the HD cameras, but there was an interview with Phil posted in one of the previous threads where he said they make use of a lot of local camera crews, and they can't count on camera crews in the middle of Siberia or wherever to have HD equipment.


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## heySkippy (Jul 2, 2001)

Steveknj said:


> I agree with both of these comments. More and more shows are in HD. THe only thing here is you probably need quite a few cameras. but heck, I can take HD on a ZUNE (if I had one), or any number of hand held $300 cameras.


That's some funny stuff right there. I can imagine production engineers waking up in a cold sweat after dreaming about having to work with video from a Zune or $300 consumer level camera. It would be like melding The Amazing Race with The Blair Witch Project.


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## Bob Coxner (Dec 1, 2004)

cheerdude said:


> This episode was sponsored by MGM Mirage.
> 
> I love that the taxi drivers knew where Wayne Newton's home was.


It's an enormous ranch, not just a house, owned by the most famous man in Vegas. It would be a bit like asking a cabbie in Memphis to take you to Graceland.


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## DUDE_NJX (Feb 12, 2003)

They already use footage from the helmet cams. The cheapest prosumer HD cam would do way better than that for regular footage.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

heySkippy said:


> That's some funny stuff right there. I can imagine production engineers waking up in a cold sweat after dreaming about having to work with video from a Zune or $300 consumer level camera. It would be like melding The Amazing Race with The Blair Witch Project.


LOL. Well that's not the point. The point is, if me, an average video moron can take HD, I would think that this should be standard practice by now for ANY show to be shot in HD. It should be the de facto standard. But, yes, I can understand, as someone stated, that foreign countries might not have the technology available. The question is, would it be an annoyance if they flipped back and forth during an episode?


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## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

laria said:


> I'm sure CBS can certainly afford the HD cameras, but there was an interview with Phil posted in one of the previous threads where he said they make use of a lot of local camera crews, and they can't count on camera crews in the middle of Siberia or wherever to have HD equipment.


I love Google.  I had no idea where the article I read was, but I googled "amazing race hd phil keoghan" and it was the first result. 

http://www.hitfix.com/articles/2009-3-28-phil-keoghan-discussing-biking-across-america

It's mostly about his bike ride across America, but then he talks about the show a little. The relevant part about the HD:



> Given that fresh look, why hasn't "The Amazing Race" followed the industry trend and moved into high definition?
> 
> "I think it should be in hi-def," Keoghan agrees. "The complication, or one of the challenges that we have is that we do utilize a lot of foreign crews when we're traveling. It's very difficult to just turn up in Siberia and say, 'Oh, let's call the local guy with the HD camera and he can come down and supplement our shooting.' It's a little bit more complicated than, say, facilitating an HD shoot on 'Survivor,' where you can fly all of the equipment into one spot and you've got all your technical support there, you've got a guy who can sit down every night and look after the equipment. We're moving at breakneck speed, 28 days, flying hundreds-of-thousands of miles, or at least anywhere from 75,000 miles in a given race, so we just don't have the same luxury of being an 'Idol' or 'Survivor,' where everything is brought to one place, it's 69 degrees, where the air-conditioning is perfect. We're out sweating in Botswana or anywhere else and that's been a huge part of the challenge. But, I absolutely agree with you. I'd love to see the show in HD. I don't think there's a show on TV that lends itself more to HD."


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

laria said:


> I love Google.  I had no idea where the article I read was, but I googled "amazing race hd phil keoghan" and it was the first result.
> 
> http://www.hitfix.com/articles/2009-3-28-phil-keoghan-discussing-biking-across-america
> 
> It's mostly about his bike ride across America, but then he talks about the show a little. The relevant part about the HD:


I just wonder, with that said, that they could eventually work out the logistics. It doesn's sound like it though.


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## jneugeba (Jan 20, 2004)

I'm glad Ken & Barbie won - they were the strongest team by far. 

I wonder what Miss America's family thinks of Brian (and her for that matter) now?


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## DUDE_NJX (Feb 12, 2003)

"if she had a proper black husband, they would've won fo sho!"


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## heySkippy (Jul 2, 2001)

DUDE_NJX said:


> "if she had a proper black husband, they would've won fo sho!"


Who are you quoting?


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## ElJay (Apr 6, 2005)

laria said:


> I'm sure CBS can certainly afford the HD cameras, but there was an interview with Phil posted in one of the previous threads where he said they make use of a lot of local camera crews, and they can't count on camera crews in the middle of Siberia or wherever to have HD equipment.


Then the production crew should hand the local crew a converter that at least gets them 16:9 content on the tape. Or they tell the crew to protect the top and bottom of the frame for a 16:9 crop. If the show can be at least mostly HD then I am fine with image quality varying between different shots; plenty of other shows do it. I'm assuming that most of what we see is from the TAR crew. Perhaps outsourced shots are like the distant view of the rappelling down the side of the hotel we saw last night or the crane shots at the rapids in Prague. I think the excuse from Phil was fine five years ago, but I'm not buying it today.


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## DUDE_NJX (Feb 12, 2003)

heySkippy said:


> Who are you quoting?


imaginary quote, a response to post #64


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## DUDE_NJX (Feb 12, 2003)

ElJay said:


> Then the production crew should hand the local crew a converter that at least gets them 16:9 content on the tape. Or they tell the crew to protect the top and bottom of the frame for a 16:9 crop. If the show can be at least mostly HD then I am fine with image quality varying between different shots; plenty of other shows do it. I'm assuming that most of what we see is from the TAR crew. Perhaps outsourced shots are like the distant view of the rappelling down the side of the hotel we saw last night or the crane shots at the rapids in Prague. I think the excuse from Phil was fine five years ago, but I'm not buying it today.


^ +∞


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## markz (Oct 22, 2002)

zalusky said:


> So how many of you could do the repel looking down the building?


I have done that from a 100-150 feet up. I would LOVE to try it from up there!


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## heySkippy (Jul 2, 2001)

ElJay said:


> Then the production crew should hand the local crew a converter that at least gets them 16:9 content on the tape. Or they tell the crew to protect the top and bottom of the frame for a 16:9 crop.


What do you gain by doing that? Seems like it would be better to just switch between 16:9 and 4:3 as necessary.


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## wendiness1 (Jul 29, 2005)

Once again Sam and Dan lose ground because Dan just doesn't listen. Sam repeatedly questioned their accuracy and Dan chose to plow through without checking.

Erika has her moments but I wouldn't call her a b*tch. Goodness knows we've seen some prizewinners in the past that make her look like a saint. I guess, when there isn't a certified b*tch in the bunch, the one who loses it once in awhile gets the title.

Meagan and Cheyne didn't stand out for me but I am glad they won as they did run the race well.

Wayne Newton? His name is well-known enough to me that I won $5,000 for it, but i'm not sure I would have recognized him. He's gone through . . . umm . . . changes. I really wouldn't expect the younger crowd to know who he was at all.

Someone earlier in this thread mentioned that there was no memory challenge. I consider the flags a memory challenge, no?

I have a hunch Erika's family's issue has to do with Brian not being black. Unfortunately, the race didn't change that. My mom would be thrilled if I had a husband and patient and loving as he is. Heck, she'd be happy if I just had one.


----------



## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

wendiness1 said:


> I have a hunch Erika's family's issue has to do with Brian not being black.


Yeah, she has said as much in her interviews that their issues are with the difference in color.


----------



## uncdrew (Aug 6, 2002)

jneugeba said:


> I'm glad Ken & Barbie won - they were the strongest team by far.
> 
> I wonder what Miss America's family thinks of Brian (and her for that matter) now?


What did they think of him before? I must have missed something. Does her family not like Brian?

Why can't they film some of it in HD. Do we/they think it would look bad to switch between regular and HD? The parts I want to see in HD the most are usually the shots from airplanes and of the cities and such -- seems that's the part they could use CBS cameras and crews to do quite easily.


----------



## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

laria said:


> Yeah, she has said as much in her interviews that their issues are with the difference in color.


....and she strongly inferred that in her post-race comments on last night's show mentioning how it's what is inside that counts and not appearances....


----------



## KyleLC (Feb 6, 2002)

uncdrew said:


> I must have missed something.


Yep. It's been mentioned several times.


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

I can't believe that, upon receiving the clue from Wayne Newton, not a single racer said, "Danke Schoen." That would have been a perfect time for that. Wayne must have realized after this that he really isn't nearly as popular in mainstream America as he probably thinks he is.

I was surprised the teams left the Monte Carlo and got in cabs to take them to the MGM. With strip traffic, etc., I'd think it would be faster to just walk right across the street. It would have been cool to see them running across those pedestrian bridges.

I was glad to see M&C win. They were the best team by far, and I loved that they came from third to first in the poker chip challenge by simply buckling down and sorting all the chips rather than fighting with each other about how they should be stacked/counted. Future teams should take a lesson from them.



wendiness1 said:


> Someone earlier in this thread mentioned that there was no memory challenge. I consider the flags a memory challenge, no?


What flags are you talking about?


----------



## Magnolia88 (Jul 1, 2005)

Like everyone else, I'm glad the best team won in the end. They were boring, and not very bright, but good racers overall.

Brian was my favorite of all of the finalists, but Ericka was such a pill. He deserves some kind of award for putting up with her. I find it so funny that it's her family who has a problem with _him_. They should be thanking him every day for putting up with her crap, and reacting so patiently to her.

Boy, that was, uh, awkward when the dimwit brothers were just staring at Wayne Newton saying "uh, we don't know your name." Ouch.  You'd think they might have asked the cabbie or other people who he might be ahead of time so they might have some idea.

I'm going to see "Love" next week in Vegas, so that was fun to see a little glimpse of the show, sorta.


----------



## Jeeters (Feb 25, 2003)

montag said:


> What's up with the Vegas "theme" music and the Bond like editing show all three teams?


I think it was an homage to the Ocean's Eleven movies, not Bond.


----------



## bryhamm (Jun 30, 2004)

So who is worse ... Ericka or that whiny B* from a few years ago who actually won?


----------



## wendiness1 (Jul 29, 2005)

DevdogAZ said:


> What flags are you talking about?


Oops. Yesterday afternoon I watching a rerun of TAR9. Got confused.


----------



## Magnolia88 (Jul 1, 2005)

bryhamm said:


> So who is worse ... Ericka or that whiny B* from a few years ago who actually won?


If you mean the dreaded whiny Flo, nobody is worse than her. Ericka at least did some tasks, like the rappeling.

Mika was starting to come close though, but she didn't make her teammate physically carry her while whining and crying about quitting the race. Flo was the worst teammate ever imho.


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

wendiness1 said:


> Oops. Yesterday afternoon I watching a rerun of TAR9. Got confused.


That makes more sense. I remember the flag challenge (isn't that the season the Hippies won?) but couldn't figure out what you were referring to in this episode.


----------



## FourFourSeven (Jan 3, 2003)

As a poker player, I thought that final challenge was ridiculously easy. Just make stacks of 20. It's really easy to level them at that height, and it's easy to count
20 $1000 chips is 20,000
20 $500 chips is 10,000

Also, I was mad that the black chips were $500s! Blacks are $100s - everyone knows that!


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

FourFourSeven said:


> As a poker player, I thought that final challenge was ridiculously easy. Just make stacks of 20. It's really easy to level them at that height, and it's easy to count
> 20 $1000 chips is 20,000
> 20 $500 chips is 10,000
> 
> Also, I was mad that the black chips were $500s! Blacks are $100s - everyone knows that!


Well, reds are $5. Everyone knows that too.


----------



## heySkippy (Jul 2, 2001)

DevdogAZ said:


> I can't believe that, upon receiving the clue from Wayne Newton, not a single racer said, "Danke Schoen."


Well, they are all under 60 years old so I think they can be forgiven that.

Hell, I'm 53 and I wouldn't have recognized Wayne nor do I think of him when I hear "Mr Las Vegas".


----------



## kettledrum (Nov 17, 2003)

zalusky said:


> So how many of you could do the repel looking down the building?


To me it wasn't even rappelling. It was being lowered slowly from a building by a rope. A lot of the time the racers didn't even have their feet touching the building. Lame, IMHO.


----------



## Inundated (Sep 10, 2003)

Magnolia88 said:


> If you mean the dreaded whiny Flo, nobody is worse than her.


Amen on that one. Ericka had plenty of annoying moments, but she was really not even above 5 on the Flo Scale from 1 to 10.

I think it just got to the point that I dreaded things going wrong for her and Brian, because she'd just start losing control.


----------



## Inundated (Sep 10, 2003)

DevdogAZ said:


> I can't believe that, upon receiving the clue from Wayne Newton, not a single racer said, "Danke Schoen." That would have been a perfect time for that.


I bet Marcy and Ron would have done that, had they reached the final 3.



wendiness1 said:


> I have a hunch Erika's family's issue has to do with Brian not being black. Unfortunately, the race didn't change that. My mom would be thrilled if I had a husband and patient and loving as he is. Heck, she'd be happy if I just had one.


Brian really came off looking good on this show. I don't for a moment think that Ericka is like that "all the time" in real, off-camera life, but she's gotta be a bit challenging. He was patient and caring, and that probably helps their relationship stay strong to begin with.

And I'd offer to propose to you, but I'm not as good as Brian. 



Steveknj said:


> I just wonder, with that said, that they could eventually work out the logistics. It doesn's sound like it though.


I think if they ever start looking at HD production, they have to figure out how much of the video will be HD. Obviously, the U.S. based start and end points would be, and anything in Canada probably would.

Then you start having to figure out local HD camera availability. You probably have little difficulty in places like the U.K. or industrialized Europe, but this show goes everywhere.

If the HD camera availability, between the show's in-house cameras, the above locations, etc. is below 25%, it might not be worth it to wrap local HD footage around a whole bunch of SD.


----------



## Anubys (Jul 16, 2004)

interesting to note that the teams did not know who was eliminated the previous leg...


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Inundated said:


> I think if they ever start looking at HD production, they have to figure out how much of the video will be HD. Obviously, the U.S. based start and end points would be, and anything in Canada probably would.
> 
> Then you start having to figure out local HD camera availability. You probably have little difficulty in places like the U.K. or industrialized Europe, but this show goes everywhere.
> 
> If the HD camera availability, between the show's in-house cameras, the above locations, etc. is below 25%, it might not be worth it to wrap local HD footage around a whole bunch of SD.


I think the bigger issue is maintenance of the equipment. With SD stuff, they can have backup cameras standing by, or simply go buy something that provides a decent SD picture in a pinch. But to fly around all the parts and equipment needed to maintain broadcast quality HD equipment would be very difficult.

Maybe they need to start chartering a plane to follow the race around. Phil, the producers, the extra camermen, all the crew, etc. would take this flight and with not having to wait for schedules or layovers, they could always get to the next city before the racers. For all I know, this is what they already do.


Anubys said:


> interesting to note that the teams did not know who was eliminated the previous leg...


There have been several instances of this happening this season. It's made me want a reunion show or a behind-the-scenes special even more, because it makes no sense that these teams don't see each other at the pit stop like they used to in previous seasons.


----------



## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

Inundated said:


> I bet Marcy and Ron would have done that, had they reached the final 3.
> 
> Brian really came off looking good on this show. I don't for a moment think that Ericka is like that "all the time" in real, off-camera life, but she's gotta be a bit challenging. He was patient and caring, and that probably helps their relationship stay strong to begin with.
> 
> ...


Simple solution. Just go to places where HD is available. This could be done pretty easily. As you said, US, Canada, probably Mexico as well. In South American, I'd bet you could get it in Brazil or Argentina. Europe, all of Western Europe for sure. Asia, I'm sure in Korea, Japan, probably China and India and Taiwan, it's available. Anywhere else, it's a crapshoot I would agree. But there's enough countries right there to do a decent season.


----------



## Mispelld (May 6, 2009)

Maybe someone with the DVDs can answer this - do they ever have a "Making of...." featurette or documentary on the DVDs? I'd love to see the behind the scenes stuff and the details of how the show is produced. It some seasons it would've been more interesting than the race itself.


----------



## scottjf8 (Nov 11, 2001)

Tiffany Michele posted this today.. the TAR girls (minus 2)

http://twitpic.com/sjq7o


----------



## IJustLikeTivo (Oct 3, 2001)

Mikeyis4dcats said:


> I loathe Ericka.
> 
> Nasty, whiny *****.


This times 1000. She thinks looks don't matter and that's right. She is ugly through and through. That challenge showed her for the whiny useless biatch she is.


----------



## DUDE_NJX (Feb 12, 2003)

I've said it before. She's a female Snoop Dogg.


----------



## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

IJustLikeTivo said:


> This times 1000. She thinks looks don't matter and that's right. She is ugly through and through. That challenge showed her for the whiny useless biatch she is.


See post #1...for which I was immediately criticized...


----------



## TIVOSciolist (Oct 13, 2003)

Sirius Black said:


> The question was what is the number one casino in Monaco. I have no idea what that is.


People need to watch more James Bond movies.

Sad to see that the team that never made it out of Los Angeles wasn't at the finish line. Well, at least, all of their friends got to see them in the opening credits every week.


----------



## heySkippy (Jul 2, 2001)

Bierboy said:


> See post #1...for which I was immediately criticized...


And rightly so. Undeserved and uncalled for IMO. Dan was a much bigger ***** than her.


----------



## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

heySkippy said:


> And rightly so. Undeserved and uncalled for IMO. Dan was a much bigger ***** than her.


----------



## IJustLikeTivo (Oct 3, 2001)

Jeeters said:


> Accoding to here, the following was awarded in AR 6...
> 
> Runner-up, $25,000
> 3rd $10,000
> ...


That may be the prize money though I suspect even that is too low. I would imagine there have to be normal union rate payments for TV work. Something like a min of $500 per day of work.


----------



## IJustLikeTivo (Oct 3, 2001)

kettledrum said:


> To me it wasn't even rappelling. It was being lowered slowly from a building by a rope. A lot of the time the racers didn't even have their feet touching the building. Lame, IMHO.


And not at the same rate. Dan was clearly being lowered much faster than the first two.


----------



## IJustLikeTivo (Oct 3, 2001)

Anubys said:


> interesting to note that the teams did not know who was eliminated the previous leg...


I thought that was odd too. Wonder why they did that.


----------



## IJustLikeTivo (Oct 3, 2001)

scottjf8 said:


> Tiffany Michele posted this today.. the TAR girls (minus 2)
> 
> http://twitpic.com/sjq7o


She cleans up well. As do many of the others. Especially some of the other shots.


----------



## omnibus (Sep 25, 2001)

Imagine for a moment if Wayne Newton had declined to tell the boys his name. But said the pitstop was at his home and let it go at that.

That would have set up a funny scene with the guys saying "some old guy playing the piano said to go to his house"


----------



## IJustLikeTivo (Oct 3, 2001)

omnibus said:


> Imagine for a moment if Wayne Newton had declined to tell the boys his name. But said the pitstop was at his home and let it go at that.
> 
> That would have set up a funny scene with the guys saying "some old guy playing the piano said to go to his house"


I thought that should be the way it was done. They were given a clue "Mr Las Vegas", they should have to solve it or know it.


----------



## cheerdude (Feb 27, 2001)

I thought that the clue specifically said it was Wayne Newton. Or maybe that was Phil mentioning it...

I also thought that he was going to sing where the finish line was.


----------



## pdhenry (Feb 28, 2005)

danplaysbass said:


> Is it really that hard to count out a million in chips? I wouldn't think so. You have one person pulling the chips out and the other counting them.


Probable smeek:

Do it the way the dealers do it: you count a stack of 25 (they practice picking up 10 or 25 based on the size of their hands), then make multiple stacks of the same height.


----------



## DUDE_NJX (Feb 12, 2003)

pdhenry said:


> Probable smeek:
> 
> Do it the way the dealers do it: you count a stack of 25 (they practice picking up 10 or 25 based on the size of their chands), then make multiple stacks of the same height.


That's just common sense, isn't it? (I'd think...)


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

IJustLikeTivo said:


> And not at the same rate. Dan was clearly being lowered much faster than the first two.


I'm pretty sure the racers had some control over the rate of descent, which is why Dan went so much quicker than the other two. He was fearless and trying to hurry, while Cheyne, on the other hand, had his eyes closed and wasn't trying to hurry at all.


----------



## Magnolia88 (Jul 1, 2005)

DevdogAZ said:


> I'm pretty sure the racers had some control over the rate of descent


Yes, I am too.

I think they've done that type of rappeling before, and it was made more obvious that they were controlling the mechanism that moved them down the rope. They aren't being "lowered" from above, they are using some device which moves them down the rope, so if they get the hang of it, they can move faster. At least I think that's how it works. If you close your eyes and are terrified, you are probably going to move more slowly.

_ETA:_ I can't find photos from TAR, but here are photos of that type of rappelling and they are using some device that moves them along. They aren't being lowered from above, the rope is stationary.


----------



## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

DevdogAZ said:


> I'm pretty sure the racers had some control over the rate of descent, which is why Dan went so much quicker than the other two. He was fearless and trying to hurry, while Cheyne, on the other hand, had his eyes closed and wasn't trying to hurry at all.


I think so too... you could see their hands moving down and doing something on the rope. Otherwise their arms wouldn't have been moving like that if they weren't controlling something.


----------



## Magnolia88 (Jul 1, 2005)

Questions. Was there a detour at all on the final leg? Did I miss it? Has been there been a final leg with no detour before?

I also can't remember the last time there was a final leg without a "remember the race" challenge. I'm not sure they've had them every season, but it does seem like that's been the final challenge over the past few seasons. I like those, and would have preferred to see that over the chip counting.


----------



## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

Magnolia88 said:


> Questions. Was there a detour at all on the final leg? Did I miss it? Has been there been a final leg with no detour before?


We did not see one but there might have been. They don't always show all the tasks in each leg.


----------



## GoHalos (Aug 30, 2006)

Bierboy said:


> ....and she strongly inferred that in her post-race comments on last night's show mentioning how it's what is inside that counts and not appearances....


I thought she said it outright (not inferred), something like, "it's what is inside that counts not your skin color..." Maybe I'm remembering wrong.



Anubys said:


> interesting to note that the teams did not know who was eliminated the previous leg...


That was really interesting to me as well.

I'm happy with the team that won. At the beginning of the episode, I was just rooting against the brothers. After Ericka started in with her antics, I then rooted only for C & M.


----------



## Inundated (Sep 10, 2003)

IJustLikeTivo said:


> I thought that should be the way it was done. They were given a clue "Mr Las Vegas", they should have to solve it or know it.


They'd probably have still been OK, even if Wayne Newton didn't give up his name.

They'd have to keep asking "who is Mr. Las Vegas?" and then "I have to go to his home" to the cabbies.


----------



## Magnolia88 (Jul 1, 2005)

Weren't the brothers the ones who were bragging about their extensive travel and knowledge of geography earlier in the race? 

First they didn't seem to realize that "Persian Gulf" was a body of water and not a country, and in the final leg, they did not know how to pronounce Monaco (or Sam didn't anyway and I thought he was the bragger), or know that Monte Carlo is in Monaco. 

Don't any of these kids watch old James Bond movies? Or is that only for old fogies.  I think I knew about Monaco and Monte Carlo when I was probably 8. But it was more famous when Princess Grace was alive, and when Princess Stephanie was young and wild and the Paris Hilton of her day, and doesn't get much attention anymore.


----------



## JLucPicard (Jul 8, 2004)

Magnolia88 said:


> Questions. Was there a detour at all on the final leg? Did I miss it? Has been there been a final leg with no detour before?
> 
> I also can't remember the last time there was a final leg without a "remember the race" challenge.


They did the thing at the Cirque and the rapelling (however you spell that ) and the chip counting. I think one of those was a detour (the bubgy thing? I get a little mixed up at what they call what - Detour both members do, Roadblock is for just one?).

I wonder if the Trotters had known there wouldn't be a memory challenge at the end if Flight Time may have done the "Franz" challenge?


GoHalos said:


> That was really interesting to me as well.


Brian and Ericka were three hours behind Meghan and Cheyne and I think, two hours behind the Bickerson Brothers (or 4 & 3 hours maybe?). Anyway, if they go to the pit stop, sleep, wake up, grab breakfast maybe then take off, I could see the first two teams being on a schedule that "just misses" the third team with a three hour or so difference in arrival/departure times.


----------



## IJustLikeTivo (Oct 3, 2001)

Magnolia88 said:


> Yes, I am too.
> 
> I think they've done that type of rappeling before, and it was made more obvious that they were controlling the mechanism that moved them down the rope. They aren't being "lowered" from above, they are using some device which moves them down the rope, so if they get the hang of it, they can move faster. At least I think that's how it works. If you close your eyes and are terrified, you are probably going to move more slowly.
> 
> _ETA:_ I can't find photos from TAR, but here are photos of that type of rappelling and they are using some device that moves them along. They aren't being lowered from above, the rope is stationary.


Not here. They have a roller on the edge and the rope is tied to the back of their harness. The rope to the side is just for balance. Normally, there would be just one rope and you WOULD control that type of descent and I've done that for about 200 feet from a bridge.

If you look at your pics, you can see there is just one rope. It enters the harness then extends around the body to the hands where you control the speed. IN this case, there were two ropes. One attacked to the harness and another that extended to the ground that they were holding on too. Since they were moving along that rope hand over hand, it clearly wasn't the brake.


----------



## markz (Oct 22, 2002)

IJustLikeTivo said:


> Not here. They have a roller on the edge and the rope is tied to the back of their harness. The rope to the side is just for balance. Normally, there would be just one rope and you WOULD control that type of descent and I've done that for about 200 feet from a bridge.
> 
> If you look at your pics, you can see there is just one rope. It enters the harness then extends around the body to the hands where you control the speed. IN this case, there were two ropes. One attacked to the harness and another that extended to the ground that they were holding on too. Since they were moving along that rope hand over hand, it clearly wasn't the brake.


When we did it in the Army, we tied our own seats with one length of rope and hooked into the rope we rapeled from with just a carabiner. Our decent was controlled by holding the leading end of the rope (the rope between you and the ground) in your hand and bringing your arm across your chest to slow down. No special device to control decent.


----------



## GoHalos (Aug 30, 2006)

JLucPicard said:


> Brian and Ericka were three hours behind Meghan and Cheyne and I think, two hours behind the Bickerson Brothers (or 4 & 3 hours maybe?). Anyway, if they go to the pit stop, sleep, wake up, grab breakfast maybe then take off, I could see the first two teams being on a schedule that "just misses" the third team with a three hour or so difference in arrival/departure times.


I'm sure you're right. I just don't recall a time that the other teams didn't know who was eliminated. Note: I didn't start watching until AR 7, so if it happened before that, I wouldn't know about it. If it happened in AR 7 or later, then my memory is as bad as I think it is.


----------



## mike_k (Sep 20, 2005)

JLucPicard said:


> I wonder if the Trotters had known there wouldn't be a memory challenge at the end if Flight Time may have done the "Franz" challenge?


I wonder if Big Easy could have done the rappelling - seems like there might be a weight limit on that one. On the ropes course a few weeks back his feet were almost in the water.


----------



## MarkofT (Jul 27, 2001)

It seemed to me that the "worldly" brothers knew who Wayne was, but were stunned when they walked in and saw him so they couldn't actually come up with his name.

It would have been a long run between Monte Carlo and MGM. They are not directly across Las Vegas Blvd. so you would have to run across the front of NYNY and a parking lot, then cross LVB and into the cavernous MGM.

Since they only went to MGM/Mirage properties and Wayne is now appearing at the Tropicana, I wonder if MGM/Mirage feels ripped off.


----------



## Todd (Oct 7, 1999)

jlb said:


> I say it every season......but as much as I love TAR I wish they would do a post race reunion show a la Survivor. And can they please do this show in HD........cost of equipment is no longer an excuse given the amount of advertising directly in some of the eps..........


What I'd really like to see is them do a behind the scenes look into how this show is produced. I think it would be interesting. Also, it should be in HD!


----------



## BluesFools (Apr 5, 2000)

JLucPicard said:


> I get a little mixed up at what they call what - Detour both members do, Roadblock is for just one?).


A Detour is a choice between two tasks, each with its own pros and cons.
A Roadblock is a task that only one team member may perform.


----------



## Bob Coxner (Dec 1, 2004)

Magnolia88 said:


> I'm going to see "Love" next week in Vegas, so that was fun to see a little glimpse of the show, sorta.


There's a documentary movie about the making of Love. It's called "All Together Now" and it's currently on Showtime. Very enjoyable!


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

GoHalos said:


> I'm sure you're right. I just don't recall a time that the other teams didn't know who was eliminated. Note: I didn't start watching until AR 7, so if it happened before that, I wouldn't know about it. If it happened in AR 7 or later, then my memory is as bad as I think it is.


There was at least one other time in this season when the teams found out who the final team was at the airport, and I was surprised about it then as well.


----------



## Anubys (Jul 16, 2004)

DevdogAZ said:


> There was at least one other time in this season when the teams found out who the final team was at the airport, and I was surprised about it then as well.


I agree...there were a couple of times this season that this happened...they spent a lot of time on it in this ep and made it CLEAR that this was going on...I also agree that this is the first time since I started watching (season 9, I think, was my first) that this has been happening...very strange...

my guess is that there was a lot of fraternizing between the teams...I think some teams even had sex, IIRC...so maybe it was starting to have an effect on the game as teams were now segregating themselves into teams of 4 instead of teams of 2...


----------



## kettledrum (Nov 17, 2003)

IJustLikeTivo said:


> Not here. They have a roller on the edge and the rope is tied to the back of their harness. The rope to the side is just for balance. Normally, there would be just one rope and you WOULD control that type of descent and I've done that for about 200 feet from a bridge.
> 
> If you look at your pics, you can see there is just one rope. It enters the harness then extends around the body to the hands where you control the speed. IN this case, there were two ropes. One attacked to the harness and another that extended to the ground that they were holding on too. Since they were moving along that rope hand over hand, it clearly wasn't the brake.





markz said:


> When we did it in the Army, we tied our own seats with one length of rope and hooked into the rope we rapeled from with just a carabiner. Our decent was controlled by holding the leading end of the rope (the rope between you and the ground) in your hand and bringing your arm across your chest to slow down. No special device to control decent.


However that form of descent works, I still thought it was lame how the racers were doing it. Rappelling involves your feet, not just dangling there!


----------



## IJustLikeTivo (Oct 3, 2001)

markz said:


> When we did it in the Army, we tied our own seats with one length of rope and hooked into the rope we rapeled from with just a carabiner. Our decent was controlled by holding the leading end of the rope (the rope between you and the ground) in your hand and bringing your arm across your chest to slow down. No special device to control decent.


As did I but no one uses a rope type swiss seat anymore, they use custom harnesses. In this case, over the shoulder, fill body due to the forward descent.


----------



## IJustLikeTivo (Oct 3, 2001)

kettledrum said:


> However that form of descent works, I still thought it was lame how the racers were doing it. Rappelling involves your feet, not just dangling there!


Agreed, this should have been called lowering.


----------



## Maui (Apr 22, 2000)

IJustLikeTivo said:


> Agreed, this should have been called lowering.


Well, I am pretty sure they did it the way they did so it could not be called falling.


----------



## markz (Oct 22, 2002)

IJustLikeTivo said:


> As did I but no one uses a rope type swiss seat anymore, they use custom harnesses. In this case, over the shoulder, fill body due to the forward descent.


Wow, we sound old! "When I was your age..."!

By the way, here's a nice video of how to make an old-style "Swiss Seat" rappelling harness!






And pictures:

http://home.arcor.de/varn/rappel/swiss_seat.htm


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## IJustLikeTivo (Oct 3, 2001)

markz said:


> Wow, we sound old! "When I was your age..."!
> 
> By the way, here's a nice video of how to make an old-style "Swiss Seat" rappelling harness!
> 
> ...


Yep, that was how we did it. Still have a couple ropes the correct length for that someplace.


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## martinp13 (Mar 19, 2001)

BluesFools said:


> A Detour is a choice between two tasks, each with its own pros and cons.
> A Roadblock is a task that only one team member may perform.


Now where have I heard that before???


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## Sirius Black (Dec 26, 2001)

For those who say that anyone under 30 might have trouble with Wayne Newton, I'm 35 (when you are five, you aren't listening to Wayne Newton - probably) and I know exactly who he is and it isn't because he's "Mr. Las Vegas".

For those who say that people should watch more James Bond and they'll learn about both Monte Carlo and Monaco. Which movie were either of those locales used? The only James Bond movie that I can remember where a large, relevant portion of the movie took place in a casino was Casino Royale and that took place on Montenegro, which is not Monaco.

To tie it together, I learned about Wayne Newton from a James Bond movie. _License to Kill_.

I must have missed the season with "Flo" but the season with the two friends, one of whom was a little person, were far more annoying than Ericka ever was during this season.

I also watch some of season 9 over the weekend and rolled my eyes every time someone spoke Spanish in Brazil.

I'd love to see an All-Star season, if the contestants would consent to go through the game again. I'd imagine it is rather rough.


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## bruinfan (Jan 17, 2006)

wendiness1 said:


> Once again Sam and Dan lose ground because Dan just doesn't listen. Sam repeatedly questioned their accuracy and Dan chose to plow through without checking.


yeah, but sam whines like such a baby, it's easy to dismiss him... more like tell him to STFU.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Sirius Black said:


> I'd love to see an All-Star season, if the contestants would consent to go through the game again. I'd imagine it is rather rough.


They've had one All-Star season already. I wouldn't be surprised to see them do it again in a couple seasons.


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## sushikitten (Jan 28, 2005)

Not much to say that hasn't already been said. Best team won. Erika is a nutjob. Brian should have won alone. 

When is TAR 16 supposed to air? I'm ready.


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## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

sushikitten said:


> Not much to say that hasn't already been said. Best team won. Erika is a nutjob. Brian should have won alone.
> 
> When is TAR 16 supposed to air? I'm ready.


I think I read in the casting spoilers thread that they started filming like a week or so ago, so probably after the Superbowl, I guess?


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## Bob Coxner (Dec 1, 2004)

Sirius Black said:


> For those who say that people should watch more James Bond and they'll learn about both Monte Carlo and Monaco. Which movie were either of those locales used? The only James Bond movie that I can remember where a large, relevant portion of the movie took place in a casino was Casino Royale and that took place on Montenegro, which is not Monaco.


The original Casino Royale (1967), with Woody Allen as one of the James Bond characters, takes place in the casino of Monte Carlo.

For those of us of a certain age, To Catch A Thief with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly placed Monaco firmly in our minds.


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## TIVOSciolist (Oct 13, 2003)

Nice video interview with the winners:

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-366948

Meghan shows off the post-race tattoo that three or four of the teams got. Cheyne also mentioned that they gave their Hawaii trip to Brian and Ericka as a honeymoon gift.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

I listened to an interview with all of the final three teams (RFF Radio Podcast) and Brian claims that the dealer counting their poker chips made a mistake in counting. He doesn't really elaborate on when the mistake was made or whether it would have changed the outcome, so I assume it wasn't really a big deal. If I were him, and I thought something like that negatively affected my ability to win $1 million, I'd be shouting it from the rooftops.


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## marksman (Mar 4, 2002)

Bierboy said:


> There Is A God!
> 
> Sooooo glad the bickering bros lost as did "Brian........" (although he is a saint for putting up with that *****.)


There is pretty much the exact sentiment here... down to the last B- part....

I didn't want the boys to win for sure. I thought it was cool when Miss America did the face forward repel, but then she lost it on the Cirque task, and went from hero to zero fast.

Cheyne and Megan are the only team left that I wanted to win. I thought she was great. I don't think she every complained at any time, and he really only had a time where he was acting badly.

I don't know how people could screw up the counting chips thing. I suspect the poker girls would have been able to do it fastest, but it is simple addition and multiplication. I don't know how you could mess it up with only being moderately careful as to what you are doing.


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## marksman (Mar 4, 2002)

YCantAngieRead said:


> I just don't like them.


Different tastes and all that, but I am not sure why people dislike the team that won. They were one of the most successful TAR teams ever, and they essentially never fought, and never got into it with other teams. I can understand them not being your favorite, but I find it hard to see a reason why someone would actively not like them.


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## marksman (Mar 4, 2002)

Anubys said:


> anyone notice the kiss Cheyne gave Meghan just before getting off the plane in Vegas? Meghan allowed him to kiss her but she acted as if he had AIDS on his lips...


Actually I noticed that, but what I think it was is if you watch it, she caught the camerman right behind him and I think she got very self-conscious at that point.

If you just watched the finale, one could think they are more likely brother and sister than dating. I am not sure they are in some hot and heavy romance. I wonder if they have really been dating at all, or just claimed so to get on the show.


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## zalusky (Apr 5, 2002)

If you saw them on Jimmy Fallon. They toyed with the audience where Cheyne got down on one knee and then tied his shoelace. They then implied someday but kept it vague.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

The interview I referenced earlier said that the bungee task wasn't nearly as big of a deal as it seemed on the show. Sam and Dan said they got the boquet on the second try, and that it took them longer to get rigged up than it did to actually do the task. They said they were at that task for less than 10 minutes total. Brian and Ericka said they were there for 15-20 minutes total, and pointed out that even though they left that task last, they got to the Monte Carlo before Megan and Cheyne, which shows that they were only at the bungee task for a few minutes after the other teams left.

Brian said that Megan and Cheyne got to the chip counting task about five minutes after them and Sam and Dan said they were there about five minutes before Brian and Ericka.

Finally, Brian said that all the teams finished the race within about 25 minutes of each other, so it was a pretty close leg.


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## DVC California (Jun 4, 2004)

IJustLikeTivo said:


> Yep, that was how we did it. Still have a couple ropes the correct length for that someplace.


Haha, Me too!

_En rappel!

En belay!_


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## VegasVic (Nov 22, 2002)

I'd like to see an allstar season where they actually have the past winners. I believe the last one only had like one or maybe two winners. Maybe they were asked and declined.


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## mostman (Jul 16, 2000)

IJustLikeTivo said:


> She cleans up well. As do many of the others. Especially some of the other shots.


Yes. Indeed.

http://www.tiffanymichelle.com/Tiffany_Michelle/Home.html


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