# Amazing Race - 11/29/09 (Spoilers!)



## ebf (Mar 21, 2005)

Stupid Globetrotters! And I was rooting for them... Don't like any of the final three.


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## HoosierFan (May 8, 2001)

Couldn't he have tried all the possibilities in less than 4 hrs?


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## ebf (Mar 21, 2005)

Gah! I know! 1x5x5x5x5 = 625 combos (he knew it started with 'F'). But still! Unless you know someone is still behind you, why would you sit for four hours in last place?!? The third-place guy did it the right way-- try English-style words and the combinations decrease...


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## ElJay (Apr 6, 2005)

I'm ambivalent about the final three and not terribly sad to see the Globetrotters go. He couldn't brute force "Franz" in the 2.5 hours that he was supposedly doing it? They definitely don't deserve to be in the race after that. Weren't there only 120 (5!) combinations to choose from?! Then he knew it started with an F, that's down to 24 combinations. Even if it took 5 minutes to fill out that form each time, that's only two hours instead of four. 

Team Yellow clearly chose the wrong activity to do at the detour and it will be interesting to see if there is a bunch-up point at the start of the next episode to minimize that mistake.

I did think it was bad of the speed bump to require drinking absinthe. What if a teammate was on a drug that is affected negatively from alcohol consumption? It just seems like a needless thing to insert into the race, along with similar challenges that happened in previous seasons, such as forcing vegans to eat meat and people to shave their heads.

I am hoping that the "DON'T SCREAM AT ME" brothers get left behind somewhere to never be seen again. I was really hoping they'd get dinged for that broken arm and be forced to do it again.


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## caslu (Jun 24, 2003)

As much as I hate the brothers and their underhanded approach, and as much as I was rooting for the Globetrotters, what they did made no sense... I couldn't believe they took a 4-hour penalty!!!! WTF????


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## ebf (Mar 21, 2005)

Math update... 1 (the 'F') x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 24 combos, right?

F +...

ANRZ ANZR ARNZ ARZN AZNR AZRN NARZ NAZR NRAZ NRZA NZAR NZRA *RANZ* RAZN RNAZ RNZA RZAN RZNA ZANR ZARN ZNAR ZNRA ZRAN ZRNA


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## tiams (Apr 19, 2004)

Anybody dumb enough to take a 4 hour penalty when they could have just tried every combination does NOT deserve one million dollars!


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## LeVich34 (Jan 8, 2002)

No comments about the whiny brother complaining that he hated to work with Big Easy because he was so competitve and would stab him in the back.... then proceed to do exactly that? No excusing not being able to figure out Franz in 2.5 hours, but I hope karma comes back and slaps the whiny one right back in his face


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## gossamer88 (Jul 27, 2005)

HoosierFan said:


> Couldn't he have tried all the possibilities in less than 4 hrs?





tiams said:


> Anybody dumb enough to take a 4 hour penalty when they could have just tried every combination does NOT deserve one million dollars!


+1!

I really can't stand the bros. How old are they anyway? (rhetorical)


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## bluebird-mom (Jul 30, 2004)

The one brother talked about the judges being d-bags, and then, he turned around and was exactly that. Sad to see the Globes go! Not a smart choice on their part. 

As long as the whiny, back stabbing brothers don't win, I will be happy.


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## zuko3984 (May 4, 2002)

ElJay said:


> I am hoping that the "DON'T SCREAM AT ME" brothers get left behind somewhere to never be seen again. I was really hoping they'd get dinged for that broken arm and be forced to do it again.


I really don't understand how the statue thing the brothers did wasn't rejected. I thought the task included getting it approved by the guy at the end. If a statue in any condition is going to be passed what's the point of even saying it has to pass in order to get the next clue. If a broken arm isn't going to fail nothing is.


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## mike_k (Sep 20, 2005)

tiams said:


> Anybody dumb enough to take a 4 hour penalty when they could have just tried every combination does NOT deserve one million dollars!


This. I think Flight Time could have done this challenge very easily.



LeVich34 said:


> No comments about the whiny brother complaining that he hated to work with Big Easy because he was so competitve and would stab him in the back.... then proceed to do exactly that? No excusing not being able to figure out Franz in 2.5 hours, but I hope karma comes back and slaps the whiny one right back in his face


This



ElJay said:


> I did think it was bad of the speed bump to require drinking absinthe. What if a teammate was on a drug that is affected negatively from alcohol consumption?


This (besides the alcohol, was this the easiest speed bump ever?)



ElJay said:


> I am hoping that the "DON'T SCREAM AT ME" brothers get left behind somewhere to never be seen again. I was really hoping they'd get dinged for that broken arm and be forced to do it again.


And this. I was so hoping that they would be rejected for the broken arm.

Dan is an a$$.


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## VegasVic (Nov 22, 2002)

I like the Trotters and hate the brothers but the Trot's deserved to go. Boneheaded move. A rare (I think) leg with no bunchups. There will certainly be an equalizer at some point next week. Gotta go with the blondes, they've run the smartest race.


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## Inundated (Sep 10, 2003)

Yipes. I'm basically reduced to rooting against the whiny brothers, and to a lesser extent, pain-in-the-behind ex-Miss America.

But yes, the Trotters deserved to lose, making that decision. Two and a half hours of wheel spinning plus four hours of penalty meant even Brian and Ericka finishing in daylight, delivering to get their clue from a guy who was sleeping on the street, could still beat them.

I'm sorry to see Flight Time and Big Easy go...but...they made their own end here.

I guess I'd be OK with Meghan and Ch...ch...SHANE, dammit, SHANE! winning, but there's not a lot of enthusiasm on their behalf from here.


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## Mikeyis4dcats (Oct 2, 2003)

I didn't like seeing the alcohol challenge. Unlike certain lifestyle choices (vegan, wanting hair) for some consumption of alcohol has consequences (due to religion, alcoholism, etc.)

I would guess that the application would include a question about any allergies or religious things, but still.


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## Jeff_in_Bklyn (Apr 26, 2003)

Question, back when Romber took the time penalty was it not 2 hours? Did they increase it so others would not use it as an option.


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## Inundated (Sep 10, 2003)

Jeff_in_Bklyn said:


> Question, back when Romber took the time penalty was it not 2 hours? Did they increase it so others would not use it as an option.


I'll have to look it up, but I'm pretty sure it was 4 hours for Rob-n-Ambuh.

ETA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amazing_Race_7



> Leg 3 of this race featured a difficult Roadblock in which players had to eat four pounds of meat and organs. Four players actually quit the food eating task: Rob, Meredith, Deana, and Patrick; the most anyone has ever quit a task in a single leg. Although it was not aired on television or in the DVD, Patrick quit the Roadblock but later decided to complete it. The aired portion had Patrick eating and finishing the meat and never did take the four hour penalty.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

Yeah, I was sad to see the Globetrotters go. I was really pulling for them. They kept a sense of humor even when they knew they were probably going to lose.

And I agree with the absinthe road block. I actually gasped when they said "chase the green fairy" because I knew what was coming and was kind of shocked.


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## appleye1 (Jan 26, 2002)

I forget...why is it we don't like Megan and Shane? I don't recall them doing anything objectionable over the past few weeks, but I remember criticism earlier in the season. I wasn't paying much attention to them then though so I can't remember what the criticism was for.


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## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

I knew the Globetrotters were in trouble when they sent Big Easy in to do that challenge, after watching him try to get the 3 number combo on the briefcase on that early leg. He had no method or anything to the combinations he was trying then, and he sure didn't this time either.

I'm bummed, they were my favorite team.


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## Jeeters (Feb 25, 2003)

I also couldn't believe it when the globetrotters decided to take the 4hr penalty.

And the female cab driver who drove Meghan and Shayne to the pit stop was stunningly beautiful. That is all.


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## Idearat (Nov 26, 2000)

No reason to grumble about the alcohol task. They were not on any medication that would prevent them from safely drinking it, their religion isn't going to send them to hell for it either. The producers know all that, these aren't random tasks they make up as they go along. It's funny how crazy people get about alcohol. What little they drank was no where near as bad to their system as a bowl of caviar or several pounds of meat.

If Ericka had been in the Kafka roadblock, there might have been a footrace to the end, she hasn't expressed much patience with tedious tasks. I was actually surprised that Brian didn't stick her with it again. She was trying to talk him out of the beer task, but probably wouldn't have held up too well with the mud and dragging the golem across town any better.

It was interesting that the entire leg was one night in Prague. It started out after 9PM, so struggling in at daylight made for a long night.

Bummer about the Globetrotters, but as others have said, it was their own fault for quitting. Going through the possible combinations shouldn't have taken 4 hours, let alone after spending several hours already. As nice as it was watching them race, that was a "deserve to not win" decision.

No one I really "like" left at this point, but the blondes have been first an awful lot of times. That sure makes them look like the ones to beat.


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## mike_k (Sep 20, 2005)

appleye1 said:


> I forget...why is it we don't like Megan and Shane? I don't recall them doing anything objectionable over the past few weeks, but I remember criticism earlier in the season. I wasn't paying much attention to them then though so I can't remember what the criticism was for.


Because Schayanee has a dumb-a$$ hair cut, and because he was such a sissy boy to wimp out on doing the flag-in-the-haystack challenge. No reason not to like Megan.


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## Inundated (Sep 10, 2003)

Jeeters said:


> And the female cab driver who drove Meghan and Shayne to the pit stop was stunningly beautiful. That is all.


They don't normally do a one-shot on the cab driver from outside the cab.


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## Inundated (Sep 10, 2003)

YCantAngieRead said:


> And I agree with the absinthe road block. I actually gasped when they said "chase the green fairy" because I knew what was coming and was kind of shocked.


I'd have been upset here, because I do not drink *regular* alcohol, let alone that stuff.


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## Inundated (Sep 10, 2003)

mike_k said:


> Because Schayanee has a dumb-a$$ hair cut, and because he was such a sissy boy to wimp out on doing the flag-in-the-haystack challenge. No reason not to like Megan.


I'm not thrilled with Ch-ch-SHANE, dammit, SHANE! (heh!), aside from being annoyed by the spelling of his first name. And Meghan is OK enough.

I just don't have a lot of rooting interest in them, other than the fact that they are Not Sam and Dan. and Not Ericka (and Brian, who I have no problem with, generally). I'd have definitely rooted for the Trotters over them, but with the Trotters gone...meh.


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## wendiness1 (Jul 29, 2005)

I'm very disappointed in the Globetrotters for giving up. Seems to me if you have a word with five letters and only one is a vowel, it's pretty evident the vowel goes dead center. "F" was first. Given those two placements the rest should have been quickly figured out or, at the very least, reduced the remaining combinations.

So you have F _ A _ _ . FZ, FN, nope, but FR fits together. F R A _ _ . We're down to two possible combinations. I think that could have been worked out in less than 4 hours.

Wow, there are a lot of drunks in Prague! 

Maybe I'm not remembering but have they had three challenges in the final few legs before? Telephone, freezer, Golum/drink delivery. I thought it was funny that Brian was actually saying "hello".

Dave has turned out to be quite a jerk.


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## Idearat (Nov 26, 2000)

I was intrigued by the Kryocentrum. Might be fun to try -290F. My friends joke about my wearing short sleeves at times they wear jackets, so it would be interesting to give it a try.

Funny that they had hardly any video from inside the freezer, too low for equipment perhaps?


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## appleye1 (Jan 26, 2002)

mike_k said:


> Because Schayanee has a dumb-a$$ hair cut


Hah! Yeah for a while we called him "the flock of seagulls guy".


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## heySkippy (Jul 2, 2001)

The blondes have earned their spot so far. I'm pulling for them to win.


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## JLucPicard (Jul 8, 2004)

I don't remember if it was disclosed that the 5 letter word was supposed to be a name, and maybe I'm oversimplifying because we knew what the answer was, but given the 5 letters that were in play, the name "Frank" is awfully close to an obvious "unscramble these five letters" result and I think 'Franz' is a prevalent enough variant to hit on that fairly easily - especially when you get to the "try any combination" point. I was really disappointed in the Trotters for taking the penalty.

And during the penalty time, wasn't Flight Time looking over the clue where Big Easy had written all over it? I wonder if he came upon the answer during that time and they just didn't show that exchange?


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## ElJay (Apr 6, 2005)

Idearat said:


> No reason to grumble about the alcohol task. It's funny how crazy people get about alcohol.


I'm all for them throwing physical and mental tasks at the teams. I just don't see how adding alcohol or having players engorge on meat to the point of vomiting adds to the entertainment value of the show. People who want that crap will tune into Survivor.


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## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

ElJay said:


> I'm all for them throwing physical and mental tasks at the teams. I just don't see how adding alcohol or having players engorge on meat to the point of vomiting adds to the entertainment value of the show. People who want that crap will tune into Survivor.


This.

And if I hear that ***** say "Brian" one more time....


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## catcard (Mar 2, 2001)

IMHO the only ones who really deserve to win at this point are Meghan and Cheyne - if either of the other teams win, I will be so mad!

I couldn't believe that Big Easy gave up so quickly!!! Why sit for 4 hrs doing nothing when he could have continued to try letter combinations??? Bad choice for him to do the task rather than his team mate.


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## heySkippy (Jul 2, 2001)

Personally, I think every season should have a task that gets each team drunk as skunks. That would be entertainment gold.

And I'm starting to hope Miss America and hubby win just because it'd bug some of the haters in this thread so much. She's not so awful at all. Y'all have forgotten what really bad is like.


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## Jebberwocky! (Apr 16, 2005)

Regarding a drinking task - part of the race is doing things that you don't want to. You don't want to take a drink (assuming you're not either are a recovering AA type or have a medical condition) too f'n bad. Like sliding down a water slide - it's not going to hurt you but the racer who couldn't do it - she went home.

It's not like they were trying to make you eat liver  (man I hate hate liver - but I would suck it up and force it down it I had to)


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## VegasVic (Nov 22, 2002)

Brian said it took them "all night" to serve 30 beers. That seems odd. Even if they just each carried two without the trays it shouldn't have taken very long at all. Unless it was a very long distance from the brewery to the bar and it didn't seem like that was the case.


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## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

VegasVic said:


> Brian said it took them "all night" to serve 30 beers. That seems odd. Even if they just each carried two without the trays it shouldn't have taken very long at all. Unless it was a very long distance from the brewery to the bar and it didn't seem like that was the case.


I think he was exaggerating. It was well after 11pm when they left. I think I remember thinking that they were 1.5 hours behind the Globetrotters and whiny brothers, which would have put them at like 11:45. The filming dates for this were in July and August, and the sun rises in Prague at about 5:30 in August.

I'm sure it still took them a long-ish time, but between time to do the absinthe, time to do the telephone thing, time to do the cryo chamber thing, plus driving to all of those places, I am betting it only took them maybe a couple hours.

How funny was that guy passed out on the sidewalk waiting to give them their clue.


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## DancnDude (Feb 7, 2001)

Flight Time and Big Easy deserved to go after not being able to figure that out. This was one task that it made no sense to take the time penalty as you'd be able to muscle out the answer in less time by trying all the combinations.

I still don't like Miss Amercia, but her husband is alright, perhaps he's the best of the bunch. I cringed when she got called an 'ugly American' and it didn't even phase her. In fact she told them she'd punch their lights out or something  Do not like.

The brothers I don't find nearly as annoying as some here. They are brothers. They're gonna bicker, but in the end it seems they are learning more about one another and helping get each another through it. The one even admitted he was weak and whiny during the golum challenge so I give him credit for admitting it.


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## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

DancnDude said:


> ...They are brothers. They're gonna bicker....


You call that "bickering"?! What they're doing is downright ridiculous, childish and disgusting....waaaaaay past bickering.


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## DancnDude (Feb 7, 2001)

It seems the brothers have only really bad the last few legs. Or have people hated them from the beginning? I only remember them being bad in the hay challenge and the golum thing. I just take this as the race having taken a toll and it's exaggerating their reactions.


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## Cragmyre (Mar 8, 2004)

So, based upon this episode, it sounds like you can take the 4 hour penalty for a road block, but not a detour. It didn't seem like the poker gals were able to take a penalty for the detours they couldn't do.


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## stark (Dec 31, 2003)

How many times has the whiney brother been a pain during the race and then "understood" how horrible he was during the interviews?


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## Anubys (Jul 16, 2004)

what was stranger than taking the penalty was the fact that flight time took so long between guesses...he just sat there for a long time "thinking" about it...it was all so surreal...


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## LeVich34 (Jan 8, 2002)

I'm still amazed by the reality television first: a team screwed over by a lying team that *didn't* call them out, blame them, or cry about it. Say what you will about their inability to figure out what should have been an easy clue, the Globetrotters figured out something not a lot of teams/people have: how to lose with class and dignity! 

Maybe the Washington Generals offer classes on that


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## David Platt (Dec 13, 2001)

appleye1 said:


> Hah! Yeah for a while we called him "the flock of seagulls guy".


Hey! Don't give away my title!!


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## David Platt (Dec 13, 2001)

As soon as they said "chase the green fairy," I had C-Bus flashbacks and got nauseous.


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## loubob57 (Mar 19, 2001)

Jeeters said:


> And the female cab driver who drove Meghan and Shayne to the pit stop was stunningly beautiful. That is all.


I definitely noticed.


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## latrobe7 (May 1, 2005)

From the cab driver to the girls at the bar to the girl waiting at the finish with Phil - Czech women are hot, apparently!


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## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

latrobe7 said:


> From the cab driver to the girls at the bar to the girl waiting at the finish with Phil - Czech women are hot, apparently!


They have my vote. That's the first time I recall such a stunner at the finish with Fill. Of course, the whiners could care less....


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

ElJay said:


> I am hoping that the "DON'T SCREAM AT ME" brothers get left behind somewhere to never be seen again. I was really hoping they'd get dinged for that broken arm and be forced to do it again.


Also what we were hoping. I was pissed when the Rabbi pulled out the clue and handed it to them. That was weak.


mike_k said:


> This (besides the alcohol, was this the easiest speed bump ever?)


Didn't Brian even say that as they were sitting at the bar? "*This* is the speed bump?"


Anubys said:


> what was stranger than taking the penalty was the fact that flight time took so long between guesses...he just sat there for a long time "thinking" about it...it was all so surreal...


And it even showed how he had written down several combinations on his clue, so he obviously knew what had to be done. He saw two other teams get it right. He knew what the first letter was. I just can't fathom the decision making to decide to take that penalty rather than simply trying every possible combination. That was just shocking.

I understand that Brian and Ericka were tired and stressed and in a hurry, but the way they treated some of those people on the street was pretty horrible.

Once again in this episode, there was a point where it became obvious that the teams don't see each other and get to fraternize at the pit stop. I think it was when Megan and Cheyne first got to the speed bump clue. They made some comment like they didn't know that Brian and Ericka had been saved and were still in the race. It makes me wish even more for a behind-the-scenes special to find out what goes on at the pit stop and at other times during the race.


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## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

DevdogAZ said:


> And it even showed how he had written down several combinations on his clue, so he obviously knew what had to be done. He saw two other teams get it right. He knew what the first letter was. I just can't fathom the decision making to decide to take that penalty rather than simply trying every possible combination. That was just shocking.


The saddest part is, when he and the brother started trying to work together, I am almost positive that Big Easy read out the letters in the correct order when trying to confirm with the brother that they both had the same letters. I've deleted it now so I can't check, but I remember thinking last night, "Did he just spell that out right and almost give it away to the brother right there? WRITE IT DOWN!"


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## Idearat (Nov 26, 2000)

ElJay said:


> I'm all for them throwing physical and mental tasks at the teams. I just don't see how adding alcohol or having players engorge on meat to the point of vomiting adds to the entertainment value of the show. People who want that crap will tune into Survivor.


A single shot of alcohol is the same as eating enough meat to make you vomit?


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## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

Idearat said:


> A single shot of alcohol is the same as eating enough meat to make you vomit?


For some people, yes.


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## Idearat (Nov 26, 2000)

From the Elimination Station:



Spoiler



They show the end city, which was in the previews as well. But the producers seemed to want to jerk us around a little with the "call from the eliminated team". The Globetrotters were calling from the same hotel as the rest of the eliminated teams.

It was funny to watch. As they switch back and forth during the phone call you can see the same wallpaper and same bed headboards behind them. Even if both hotels were from the same international chain, it's a pretty slim chance that they were in identically furnished rooms. Considering the Globetrotters were eliminated in Prague, they must have waited until they arrived in the US to make the call, or the whole call was just staged.


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## getbak (Oct 8, 2004)

latrobe7 said:


> From the cab driver to the girls at the bar to the girl waiting at the finish with Phil - Czech women are hot, apparently!


Yes they are. Prague is a very beautiful city, in more ways than one.

I am 90% positive that I've chased the Green Fairy in that same bar where they did the speed bump.


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## Idearat (Nov 26, 2000)

Bierboy said:


> For some people, yes.


Too bad for them then. I'm sure you could find people with equally delicate constitutions ( or mindsets ) that a single bite of meat would do the same. Along with fear of heights and other phobias, it's part of the race. Consuming things unusual for you is actually part of experiencing other cultures, which is what the Amazing Race is all about. Physical tasks and mental challenges alone wouldn't require traveling 25,000 miles.

Asking the racers to drink a single shot of an alcoholic beverage that is commonly consumed in that city is no different that asking them to eat the slimy looking salted fish in The Netherlands.

Keep in mind that these are all pre-screened contestants with any allergies, afflictions and sensitivities discussed beforehand. I wouldn't call foul on the producers unless it was something like a contestant allergic to shellfish who was given a task to eat a plate of scallops.

Also, any racer if free to refuse to do any task, like a fear of heights keeping them off a waterslide. No one is forcing any of them to do any of this, they are being asked. They can always say no, and they will be promptly whisked away on an all expense paid vacation.


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## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

Idearat said:


> From the Elimination Station:
> 
> 
> 
> ...





Spoiler



They are totally in the same hotel, and I bet that Marcy's (I think that's her name?) "vision" was that she saw them in the lobby or something.  I assumed they were at the MGM Grand based on the shots of the hotel.

I can't believe the poker girls and the dad/son are STILL not there, if they are going to be seeing Big Easy and Flighttime the next day (they said at the end of the call "see you tomorrow").


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

appleye1 said:


> I forget...why is it we don't like Megan and Shane? I don't recall them doing anything objectionable over the past few weeks, but I remember criticism earlier in the season. I wasn't paying much attention to them then though so I can't remember what the criticism was for.


You know, I have no idea. I just don't. His haircut doesn't help.

I just don't like them. Haven't since I started watching about half-way in.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

Back to the drinking, though...I have absolutely no problem with them including it IF it's been established that no one's on a medication or health issue that would interfere (I am on a medication that doesn't allow drinking, so I may be sensitive to that issue) or a religious objection or a very strong moral objection. And even then, maybe they could forgo it for a 30 minute penalty or something.

And that all may have been established and that's why they chose it.


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## zuko3984 (May 4, 2002)

DancnDude said:


> I still don't like Miss Amercia, but her husband is alright, perhaps he's the best of the bunch. I cringed when she got called an 'ugly American' and it didn't even phase her. In fact she told them she'd punch their lights out or something  Do not like.


Well if very drunk people kept getting in my face or actually touching me or the stuf I am carrying i wouldn't be a nice person either.



DevdogAZ said:


> I understand that Brian and Ericka were tired and stressed and in a hurry, but the way they treated some of those people on the street was pretty horrible.


Those people were drunk and were the ones starting with Brian and Ericka. It wasn't like they were just mean to someone they were asking directions from or a cab driver. They were mean to a bunch of drunks who were gettig in there face and in some cases actually touching them or there stuff.


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## Anubys (Jul 16, 2004)

YCantAngieRead said:


> You know, I have no idea. I just don't. His haircut doesn't help.


his hair is awful...it keeps reminding me of "there's something about mary"...


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## Idearat (Nov 26, 2000)

laria said:


> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> ...





Spoiler



In previous years they've had eliminated teams tag along at airports and some tasks to hide who the final 3 were from any onlookers or tourists with cameras. That might be the case with the teams who didn't go to Vietnam with the others.

I'd forgotten about the "vision", that makes it even more funny.


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## Maui (Apr 22, 2000)

I'll go with what somebody said a few weeks ago. Is it possible for some miracle to allow Brian and Meaghan to win?

I don't wan't the brothers to win. The whiney one should be ashamed when he watches the episode and sees what a trooper Meaghan was carting around the Golem. Actually Meaghan put them all to shame. 

I don't want Miss America to win because she is just too much of a complainer. I really like Brian though. 

That leaves the blondes. I think the reason many people were not rooting for them is because they were just kind of bland. They just steadily ran their race, avoided controversy and consistantly beat out the teams that we were all were rooting for. Meaghan has been very impressive lately.


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## IJustLikeTivo (Oct 3, 2001)

caslu said:


> As much as I hate the brothers and their underhanded approach, and as much as I was rooting for the Globetrotters, what they did made no sense... I couldn't believe they took a 4-hour penalty!!!! WTF????


The brothers are still dbags. Make a deal, stick to the deal.

I hope the Meagan and I can't spell my name win. They are really the only ones who really deserve to be there. The other two teams have played like crap and just been lucky that each time they played like crap one other team played still crappier. I hate Erica.........

"Ok, I'm not willing to make it work!". Dumbass.


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## IJustLikeTivo (Oct 3, 2001)

mike_k said:


> This. I think Flight Time could have done this challenge very easily.


Yep, they chose the wrong guy this time.



mike_k said:


> This (besides the alcohol, was this the easiest speed bump ever?)


Nope, making the soup for the poker girls was easier still.



mike_k said:


> And this. I was so hoping that they would be rejected for the broken arm.
> 
> Dan is an a$$.


This. How can breaking the statue not get rejected. And yes, Dan is a complete and utter a$$!


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## jneugeba (Jan 20, 2004)

I hope Ken & Barbie win. They have been my favorite team from the beginning. I'm glad the Globetrotters went home. They annoyed me, and they deserved to go home for being so dumb in the challenge.


----------



## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

I'm going to cut Erika some slack with the ugly American thing.

She's not a large woman, she's carrying a tray of fragile glasses, and there are all these drunk strangers crowding around her and grabbing at her. I'm not talking about the ones hired by the show to just follow them and distract them, I'm talking about the random people on the street who were grabbing for the glasses (the drunk woman) and who knows what else. I probably would have been a little scared of the non-show guys and been *****y to them too if they started harassing me.


----------



## IJustLikeTivo (Oct 3, 2001)

Anubys said:


> what was stranger than taking the penalty was the fact that flight time took so long between guesses...he just sat there for a long time "thinking" about it...it was all so surreal...


Right. Once he knew it was F + something. Write them all down and see if any make sense, then turn one in. Only 4! choices or 24 as someone already said. I like the team but that was beyond stupid.


----------



## 5thcrewman (Sep 23, 2003)

How far apart were the tap and the barroom in the Lager task? Why did it take so long for them to do that? I would have been telling the drunks along the way that they weren't real beers, that it was for a police program. That might have been enough to make them veer away.


----------



## IJustLikeTivo (Oct 3, 2001)

loubob57 said:


> I definitely noticed.


This.

BTW, was I the only one that was sad that they gave Meagan suck a dark top for the cold room challenge? She has a heck of a figure.


----------



## Anubys (Jul 16, 2004)

IJustLikeTivo said:


> This.
> 
> BTW, was I the only one that was sad that they gave Meagan suck a dark top for the cold room challenge? She has a heck of a figure.


no, you were not...I was really looking forward to them...er...I mean...to see...um...never mind


----------



## IJustLikeTivo (Oct 3, 2001)

Idearat said:


> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yep, I read that too.


----------



## Anubys (Jul 16, 2004)

IJustLikeTivo said:


> This.
> 
> BTW, was I the only one that was sad that they gave *Meagan suck *a dark top for the cold room challenge? She has a heck of a figure.


interesting mistake...


----------



## IJustLikeTivo (Oct 3, 2001)

Anubys said:


> interesting mistake...


Did I mention that my name is Freud.... ;-)

Whoops.


----------



## Idearat (Nov 26, 2000)

5thcrewman said:


> How far apart were the tap and the barroom in the Lager task? Why did it take so long for them to do that? I would have been telling the drunks along the way that they weren't real beers, that it was for a police program. That might have been enough to make them veer away.


I'm too lazy to do the detailed analysis, but it looked to be quite a hike. I'm pretty sure that after one of the deliveries I heard them yell out for a taxi, presumably to take them back to the tap room. If it was far enough to take a taxi when you weren't carrying drinks it had to be a heck of a hike.


----------



## Magnolia88 (Jul 1, 2005)

I can't add much to what's been said about Big Easy. I was rooting for them all the way, but man. I can't believe he gave up and took the penalty.

Once you know that F is the first letter, doesn't it seem likely that the answer is FRANZ or FARNZ? I mean, seriously, did he think that FZRNA was likely to be an actual word? I didn't get why he gave up after Dan told him that it started with F. That doesn't leave many options, and surely he had tried a few already. 

I know that Czech words are short on vowels and all, but still. Start with the likely options to what might be a word, and then go through the rest of the possibilities in an orderly fashion. It would be tedious, but it wouldn't take four hours.

Dan, you are such a tool. I didn't like you before, but you sunk to a new low. I am now rooting for Anyone But Dan to win. I don't like Ericka much either, but even she is better than Dan, and I do like Brian.



getbak said:


> I am 90% positive that I've chased the Green Fairy in that same bar where they did the speed bump.


I think I might have also. I drank absinthe in Prague, but I can't remember much about the bar. Probably because of the absinthe and all. 

Both the women and men in Prague are pretty hot. It's just a gorgeous city all around. But filled with rowdy drunks -- not all Czech, btw. Lots of drunk English and German louts too. That wasn't really exaggerated.


----------



## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

Magnolia88 said:


> I mean, seriously, did he think that FZRNA was likely to be an actual word?


Well they were in the Czech Republic, and apparantly didn't know if the word was Czech or not.  So, I guess maybe they concluded that the Z was fair game to go anywhere in the word.


----------



## Neenahboy (Apr 8, 2004)

For the first time that I can recall, I've gotten confused by the show's editing and the myriad of challenges or simple clue pickups the teams had to complete. Throw the speed bump in there, and I was lost for a couple minutes early on.

The Globetrotters. There's not much left to say.

Megan and Cheyne (mostly Megan) once again breeze through a leg and wind up in first place...yay? If there were an award for the most dull team to ever run the race, they'd be among the finalists.

Like many of you, I was also hoping that Sam and Dan would get turned away with that broken arm of theirs.

Brian has the patience of a saint.

I was hoping that what looked like really awful casting would get better as the season went along, but it hasn't. Disappointing.


----------



## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

Neenahboy said:


> ...Brian has the patience of a saint....


Yes. As others have stated, if not for his *****y wife, I would pull for them.


----------



## Roadblock (Apr 5, 2006)

Inundated said:


> I'd have been upset here, because I do not drink *regular* alcohol, let alone that stuff.


A lot of tasks require racers to do things they don't normally do. It's part of the challenge.


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Neenahboy said:


> For the first time that I can recall, I've gotten confused by the show's editing and the myriad of challenges or simple clue pickups the teams had to complete. Throw the speed bump in there, and I was lost for a couple minutes early on.


It might have been because the first clue they opened upon leaving the pit stop had them go to a certain location, where all they did was grab a clue from the clue box and get back in the taxi to go to the Roadblock location. It appeared that the only reason for the existence of that clue box was its proximity to the Speed Bump location, so that Brian and Ericka could walk to the bar from the clue box.

Someone else mentioned that its one of the first times they've had three tasks in an episode. Actually, it seems that three tasks are pretty common, but that some tasks never make it to air due to editing, time or other unknown reasons.


----------



## Roadblock (Apr 5, 2006)

zuko3984 said:


> Well if very drunk people kept getting in my face or actually touching me or the stuf I am carrying i wouldn't be a nice person either.
> 
> Those people were drunk and were the ones starting with Brian and Ericka. It wasn't like they were just mean to someone they were asking directions from or a cab driver. They were mean to a bunch of drunks who were gettig in there face and in some cases actually touching them or there stuff.


I think they overreacted when the initial group of guys started following them. They seemed to just be 'acting' drunk and loud, wearing the same clothes as the guys in the bar. Brian and Ericka immediately got defensive and annoyed, when I think it was just supposed to be funny.

Later on though, the random people would have made me pretty mad. One lady actually walked up and grabbed a glass for a second. I might have poured it over her head.


----------



## BadlyDrawnBoy (Dec 24, 2001)

The distance I've read was 2 miles between the 2 locations for Brian and Ericka.

Also Big Easy also couldn't handle the briefcase in Dubai with the numerical combination from the watch. so he must not be great at smarts.


----------



## Idearat (Nov 26, 2000)

If they wanted to suck up to Brian & Ericka the brothers should tell them that if it wasn't for Dan's move, they'd be out of the race. Maybe that would make up a little for the stolen taxi.


----------



## bruinfan (Jan 17, 2006)

mike_k said:


> This (besides the alcohol, was this the easiest speed bump ever?)





IJustLikeTivo said:


> Nope, making the soup for the poker girls was easier still.


i thought the sitting on the sauna bus was the easiest.. and get to look at naked girl in a towel to boot.



catcard said:


> IMHO the only ones who really deserve to win at this point are Meghan and Cheyne - if either of the other teams win, I will be so mad!
> 
> I couldn't believe that Big Easy gave up so quickly!!! Why sit for 4 hrs doing nothing when he could have continued to try letter combinations??? Bad choice for him to do the task rather than his team mate.


maybe they were hoping for a bottleneck/equalizer... catch a flight or something. i don't think he would've gotten it in 4 hours... he was burnt out on it.


Bierboy said:


> You call that "bickering"?! What they're doing is downright ridiculous, childish and disgusting....waaaaaay past bickering.


it's not just the whining... it's the way they whine, both of them. the sound like 8 year old girls going back and forth...

when zebra checked in, phil said "you are the third team to arrive". usually, that means an 'however' is coming... cuz he usually says "you are team number 3". and then they showed the cheering, so i was waiting for the bombshell that they did something wrong, but nothing happened... meghan said during the kafka challenge that they weren't allowed to write letters down, but it looked like everytime brian got a letter, he put his paper down as if he were going to write on it... it's like they edited it out, instead of emphasizing the mistake like they usually do.
either they just threw the rule out on the fly (which i doubt), or they edited the time penalty (and the whole story line that caused it) on zebra out since it was probably less than the 4 hr time penalty and didn't affect the outcome.


----------



## brianric (Aug 29, 2002)

Idearat said:


> A single shot of alcohol is the same as eating enough meat to make you vomit?


It is to a recovering alcoholic. Went from a carton of cigarettes and five cases of beer a week and went cold turkey after a massive bronchitis attack. Smoke and alcohol free since December 31, 2000. Put my cigarette and beer money into camera equipment. I'm now the event (volunteer) photographer for the American Cancer Society in Cherry Hill, NJ.


----------



## Idearat (Nov 26, 2000)

brianric said:


> It is to a recovering alcoholic. Went from a carton of cigarettes and five cases of beer a week and went cold turkey after a massive bronchitis attack. Smoke and alcohol free since December 31, 2000. Put my cigarette and beer money into camera equipment. I'm now the event (volunteer) photographer for the American Cancer Society in Cherry Hill, NJ.


Ahh, so you mean for _some_ people it is. Which makes this whole discussion about the show silly. Asking the people we saw to drink is not the same as asking you to drink. No one who's on the race would be so affected by this task. TAR producers ask the racers about illnesses, allergies, phobias and the like. Having disclosed problems to them, they're not going to ask someone to do something that will injure them. Or, if the person's restriction are too limiting, that person wouldn't be picked for the race.

Now if someone lied about their condition, allergies or illness , and later the show asked them to do something that would do them harm, they probably should come clean at that point. But I wouldn't berate the producers at that point, which is how this part of the discussion started, with "oh no, the show asked them to drink!".


----------



## mike_k (Sep 20, 2005)

bruinfan said:


> i thought the sitting on the sauna bus was the easiest.. and get to look at naked girl in a towel to boot.


Yes, but it took them some time to find the sauna bus. And the fact that the father/son team was navigationally challenged made it take even longer. It seemed like the bar that team Zebra had to go to was right down the street. And pour a drink and drink it - it couldn't have taken them more than two or three minutes to do the whole thing and get back to the clue box. I do agree with IJustLikeTivo that the soup speed bump was pretty easy as well.


----------



## ElJay (Apr 6, 2005)

Idearat said:


> TAR producers ask the racers about illnesses, allergies, phobias and the like. Having disclosed problems to them, they're not going to ask someone to do something that will injure them. Or, if the person's restriction are too limiting, that person wouldn't be picked for the race.


Certainly alcohol consumption is covered under a pre-production questionnaire.

I don't think a contestant who abstains from drinking should be expected to find out what the effects of alcohol consumption are on them while participating in a physically and mentally strenuous competition in the middle of the night in Prague. What next, visiting "coffee shops" in Amsterdam? How about a brothel? New definition of a "speed bump" coming soon...

I simply consider views on alcohol consumption to be on a different level than a phobia. It's likely a choice made by that person, yes, but I see nothing gained in the race by forcing people to override these values.


----------



## zalusky (Apr 5, 2002)

ElJay said:


> Certainly alcohol consumption is covered under a pre-production questionnaire.
> 
> I don't think a contestant who abstains from drinking should be expected to find out what the effects of alcohol consumption are on them while participating in a physically and mentally strenuous competition in the middle of the night in Prague. What next, visiting "coffee shops" in Amsterdam? How about a brothel? New definition of a "speed bump" coming soon...
> 
> I simply consider views on alcohol consumption to be on a different level than a phobia. It's likely a choice made by that person, yes, but I see nothing gained in the race by forcing people to override these values.


This is not a new show. People have seen the things they do and drinking booze is not new. Some people are vegetarian and/or even Kosher and they have had plenty of food challenges that don't comply with that. What about working on the sabbath, do these people get to go to Church on Saturday/Sunday. I doubt it. .

I would not sign up to any of these shows, if I wasn't ready to leave value preferences on the table. That doesn't mean I can't keep my preferences it just means I should be ready for the consequences of them.

I would love to do this show but I would either be bounced or stupid to because of being a kidney donor and need to be a little more careful about getting sick and/or dehydrated.


----------



## wendiness1 (Jul 29, 2005)

brianric said:


> It is to a recovering alcoholic. Went from a carton of cigarettes and five cases of beer a week and went cold turkey after a massive bronchitis attack. Smoke and alcohol free since December 31, 2000. Put my cigarette and beer money into camera equipment. I'm now the event (volunteer) photographer for the American Cancer Society in Cherry Hill, NJ.


:up: Congrats! :up:

I wonder if it's possible the Globetrotter has dyslexia? Perhaps he's illiterate? Lot's of people who are are pretty good at covering it. He did look defeated before he started. I'm guessing dyslexia - all those letters looked confusing to him and perhaps with dyslexia it's possible to keep submitting the same order without realizing it. Knowing this, he just gave up. Whaddya think?

ETA: Just rewatched it. He can't be illiterate as he filled out the form. Is it possible he could muddle through the form with dyslexia but have trouble with the letters? By the way, He announced his letter "find" as FARNZ. Close.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

heySkippy said:


> Personally, I think every season should have a task that gets each team drunk as skunks. That would be entertainment gold.


Then do you watch [Real World]? [Road Rules]? [Challenge]?

sorry, trying to vaguely make that a regular expression of "real world" or "road rules" or "real world / road rules challenge".. Basically, on every one of those, some/multiple people get insanely drunk and act like idiots, usually entertainingly (I don't drink).


----------



## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

DancnDude said:


> I still don't like Miss Amercia, but her husband is alright, perhaps he's the best of the bunch. I cringed when she got called an 'ugly American' and it didn't even phase her. In fact she told them she'd punch their lights out or something  Do not like.


I do like. I think this is one of the few times that the "ugly Americans" were *right*. (Usually, the players act like the locals are morons for not understanding English or something like that... when there's no reason they should.)

In this case, the locals were heckling them and getting in their way. Their response of "what happened to all of your friends?" at one point was funny though.


----------



## pmyers (Jan 4, 2001)

My wife has a theory that Big Easy might have reading problems. We went back through the episode and he never once read or opened the clues...I don't have any old episodes stored to go back further.

that would make giving up make a lot more sense!


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

I'm beginning to wonder if the dyslexia issue could be right.


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## KyleLC (Feb 6, 2002)

Idearat said:


> I was intrigued by the Kryocentrum. Might be fun to try -290F.


Did anyone else notice that the Kryocentrum sign said -160 deg C, but Phil and the instructions said -180?


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## mike_k (Sep 20, 2005)

wendiness1 said:


> I wonder if it's possible the Globetrotter has dyslexia?


I agree, this makes sense.

I will say that Flight Time is one classy teammate. Unlike the people from most of the other teams he has been supportive of his teammate no matter what. He even said that taking the four hour penalty was a good strategy - obviously he knew it wasn't, but he wasn't going to say something that would make Big Easy feel bad.

It's too bad that there isn't another option like taking a one hour penalty and then having the other person try to complete the challenge.

Oh, and Dan is an a$$.


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## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

KyleLC said:


> Did anyone else notice that the Kryocentrum sign said -160 deg C, but Phil and the instructions said -180?


The instructions said -180 F, while I think the sign at the Kryocentrum said that it would go down to -160 C (which is -256 F).

ETA: After looking at the cryotherapy section of their website, the Google translation of it says:



> while in the sauna are achieved normal temperatures plus 60 to 110 st.C, we use the polarity of the minus 110 to 160 st.C


So I'm guessing they just had them go in to "cold but not as cold as they can go" temps.


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## TIVOSciolist (Oct 13, 2003)

Jeeters said:


> And the female cab driver who drove Meghan and Shayne to the pit stop was stunningly beautiful. That is all.


The Czech Republic . . . where even the cab drivers are hot!


----------



## dbranco (Nov 20, 2003)

IJustLikeTivo said:


> Yep, they chose the wrong guy this time.


Just read an interview with the Globetrotters. Flight Time says this (as to why HE didn't do the challenge):
"We had a plan going into the race that we would each do six of the road blocks. I had kept notes from the race because we thought the last challenge would be a memory thing. So we had each done 5 road blocks and I was planning to do the last one so he had to do this one. But there are no regrets."​
Further, Big Easy says:
"If you watched, you saw I had the right word written on my piece of paper, but with so much going on and the telephones ringing and just being exhausted, I dropped the ball."​
The whole interview can be found here:
http://popwatch.ew.com/2009/11/30/the-amazing-race-talking-with-flight-time-and-big-easy/


----------



## danplaysbass (Jul 19, 2004)

You know, If I were Big Easy and I had just been screwed by the brother in that way I'm pretty sure I wouldn't trust that him telling me the first letter is "F" was true...I'm just saying.


----------



## KyleLC (Feb 6, 2002)

laria said:


> The instructions said -180 F


No, both Phil in his narration and the instructions said -180 C. You can hear Phil in this clip:








laria said:


> while I think the sign at the Kryocentrum said that it would go down to -160 C


Yes, that's what I said.



laria said:


> So I'm guessing they just had them go in to "cold but not as cold as they can go" temps.


My guess is that someone on the Amazing Race just made a typo.


----------



## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

danplaysbass said:


> You know, If I were Big Easy and I had just been screwed by the brother in that way I'm pretty sure I wouldn't trust that him telling me the first letter is "F" was true...I'm just saying.


I wondered that, too. But were most of the combos he wrote down starting with an "F"?


----------



## KyleLC (Feb 6, 2002)

danplaysbass said:


> You know, If I were Big Easy and I had just been screwed by the brother in that way I'm pretty sure I wouldn't trust that him telling me the first letter is "F" was true...I'm just saying.


Yeah I was kind of surprised that he didn't at least express doubt about that.


----------



## VegasVic (Nov 22, 2002)

bruinfan said:


> i
> when zebra checked in, phil said "you are the third team to arrive". usually, that means an 'however' is coming... cuz he usually says "you are team number 3". and then they showed the cheering, so i was waiting for the bombshell that they did something wrong, but nothing happened... meghan said during the kafka challenge that they weren't allowed to write letters down, but it looked like everytime brian got a letter, he put his paper down as if he were going to write on it... it's like they edited it out, instead of emphasizing the mistake like they usually do.
> either they just threw the rule out on the fly (which i doubt), or they edited the time penalty (and the whole story line that caused it) on zebra out since it was probably less than the 4 hr time penalty and didn't affect the outcome.


Yeah I noticed that right away. "You are the third team to arrive", instead of "You are team number 3". I do think there was a penalty of some sort but since it didn't affect the outcome it was edited out.


----------



## wendiness1 (Jul 29, 2005)

How come nobody was shivering when they came out?


----------



## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

wendiness1 said:


> How come nobody was shivering when they came out?


Because they hit warmer air when they came out? I'm sure they were shivering when they were inside!


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

KyleLC said:


> Did anyone else notice that the Kryocentrum sign said -160 deg C, but Phil and the instructions said -180?


There was one point where they showed the digital readout above the door of the cryo room, and it said -134, IIRC.


----------



## Magnolia88 (Jul 1, 2005)

dbranco said:


> The whole interview can be found here:
> http://popwatch.ew.com/2009/11/30/the-amazing-race-talking-with-flight-time-and-big-easy/


That's a great interview.

I like that Flight Time said that their motto was "patience and kindness" and it showed at how considerate and understanding he was to his teammate. They were so much fun to watch, and I'm sad they suffered the "fourth place curse" of previous TAR favorites.

It's interesting that they seem to get along so well with the brothers when the editing shows a lot of hostility there. They like Sam and Dan more than most viewers I think.


----------



## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

Is there just one more show now this season?


----------



## Jeeters (Feb 25, 2003)

Yes, the next episode is the finale. One hour.


----------



## BadlyDrawnBoy (Dec 24, 2001)

Bierboy said:


> Because they hit warmer air when they came out? I'm sure they were shivering when they were inside!


I'm pretty sure they had to warm up using exercise bikes, as Cheyne looked like he was getting off one when they handed them the clue.


----------



## DavidTigerFan (Aug 18, 2001)

I dont believe for a second that they actually stood in -200 degree temperatures. Humen skin would freeze on contact with that much cold. Up north when it gets to be about -40 degrees people start to talk about their eyeballs freezing.


----------



## Idearat (Nov 26, 2000)

DavidTigerFan said:


> I dont believe for a second that they actually stood in -200 degree temperatures. Humen skin would freeze on contact with that much cold. Up north when it gets to be about -40 degrees people start to talk about their eyeballs freezing.


According to the web site for Kryocentrum, their "Polarium" is chilled to between -110C and -160C. That's -166F to -265F

There a long string of precautions: masks, gloves, shoes, ear covering. All clothing of cotton or wool. Completely dry skin, especially in folds. Women who are menstruating may be prevented from entering. Doors are self-opening, so no touching of anything. They also threaten a 5000 Czech Koruna fine ( ~$290) for not following the instructions of the operator.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=cs&u=http://www.kryocentrum.cz/


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Magnolia88 said:


> That's a great interview.
> 
> I like that Flight Time said that their motto was "patience and kindness" and it showed at how considerate and understanding he was to his teammate. They were so much fun to watch, and I'm sad they suffered the "fourth place curse" of previous TAR favorites.
> 
> It's interesting that they seem to get along so well with the brothers when the editing shows a lot of hostility there. They like Sam and Dan more than most viewers I think.


I've read several of the interviews, and while I like their attitude, I simply can't understand their defense of the decision to take the penalty. It's like they still don't understand the fact that there were a finite number of options and that had he been methodical, he would have finished in well under four hours. Either they don't understand it, or they're simply deluding themselves to keep from being so pissed at each other for losing a chance at $1 million.

Reality TV World Interview



> *Reality TV World: Big Easy, after getting a chance to think about it some more, did you start to think the time you spent on the penalty might have been better spent trying to solve get the answer? There weren't a lot of combinations of the letters left to try...*
> 
> Big Easy: I don't think I never would have gotten it, but I think we took the four-hour penalty from a strategy standpoint. I think eventually I maybe would have gotten it. But if I would have taken another six hours to do it and gotten it right, who wins on that? It was all about time and it was all about getting it done. I definitely did not want to stop doing it, but it was a race. Strategy-wise, that was the smartest thing to do.


----------



## uncdrew (Aug 6, 2002)

DavidTigerFan said:


> I dont believe for a second that they actually stood in -200 degree temperatures. Humen skin would freeze on contact with that much cold. Up north when it gets to be about -40 degrees people start to talk about their eyeballs freezing.


I'm with ya.

They complained about like how I'd complain in 30 degree weather. And that's with me wearing clothes.

The way they all waltzed out of there I really don't think it was very cold.


----------



## uncdrew (Aug 6, 2002)

I must have missed something.

What did the ass-brothers do to screw the Trotters?


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

uncdrew said:


> I must have missed something.
> 
> What did the ass-brothers do to screw the Trotters?


They agreed to work together in the "FRANZ" roadblock and share their guesses so that when one got it right, the other would know what the correct word was. However, when the brother actually got the right word, he reneged on that deal and left without telling Big Easy the answer. All he would tell him was that it started with "F."


----------



## sushikitten (Jan 28, 2005)

Wow. Everything I was going to say has already been said. Saved me a lot of typing. 

I'm not rooting for anyone at this point, because I don't really like any of the teams. That's the first time that's happened.


----------



## pmyers (Jan 4, 2001)

uncdrew said:


> I'm with ya.
> 
> They complained about like how I'd complain in 30 degree weather. And that's with me wearing clothes.
> 
> The way they all waltzed out of there I really don't think it was very cold.


I agree...I think it's hogwash! And what would they have done if one of the women were menstrating or somebody had a runny nose?


----------



## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

DavidTigerFan said:


> I dont believe for a second that they actually stood in -200 degree temperatures. Humen skin would freeze on contact with that much cold. Up north when it gets to be about -40 degrees people start to talk about their eyeballs freezing.


I can't find a citation for it, but people have withstood very HIGH temperatures (for one thing, it was covered on a Krulwich podcast). In the hundreds of degrees. Yes, it had to be very low humidity. It's the 8/26/09 episode of Krulwich on Science podcast that's still available.


----------



## uncdrew (Aug 6, 2002)

DevdogAZ said:


> They agreed to work together in the "FRANZ" roadblock and share their guesses so that when one got it right, the other would know what the correct word was. However, when the brother actually got the right word, he reneged on that deal and left without telling Big Easy the answer. All he would tell him was that it started with "F."


Thanks, I did miss that.

And wow. That's rough.


----------



## DUDE_NJX (Feb 12, 2003)

mike_k said:


> Because Schayanee has a dumb-a$$ hair cut





appleye1 said:


> Hah! Yeah for a while we called him "the flock of seagulls guy".





Anubys said:


> his hair is awful...it keeps reminding me of "there's something about mary"...


Something about Mary makes sense. You need to pack light on a race like this, so no sense in carrying hair gel. 

There are some asthma treatments that involve temperatures like the cryo spa on the show, but they're usually limited to 60 seconds at a time.


----------



## IJustLikeTivo (Oct 3, 2001)

sushikitten said:


> Wow. Everything I was going to say has already been said. Saved me a lot of typing.
> 
> I'm not rooting for anyone at this point, because I don't really like any of the teams. That's the first time that's happened.


This is not ideal for sure. The only team I'll be OK with winning is Meagan and flock of seagulls guy. I don't like them ( him , she's actually fine ) but they have played well and the other two teams have been god awful. How either of them make it that far is just beyond me.


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## sushikitten (Jan 28, 2005)

dbranco said:


> Just read an interview with the Globetrotters. Flight Time says this (as to why HE didn't do the challenge):
> "We had a plan going into the race that we would each do six of the road blocks. I had kept notes from the race because we thought the last challenge would be a memory thing. So we had each done 5 road blocks and I was planning to do the last one so he had to do this one. But there are no regrets."​


But if there aren't _specific _rules about each person doing _exactly half_ of the roadblocks, then it wasn't necessary at all. And if it WAS a rule, he should have SAID that, instead of just saying "_We_ had a plan..." because then it would make MUCH more sense.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

sushikitten said:


> But if there aren't _specific _rules about each person doing _exactly half_ of the roadblocks, then it wasn't necessary at all. And if it WAS a rule, he should have SAID that, instead of just saying "_We_ had a plan..." because then it would make MUCH more sense.


It's a rule. I think what they were saying was that their plan was for Flight Time to do the final Roadblock, because that one usually requires quite a bit of memory and smarts. Therefore, he'd been keeping notes the entire race in preparation for that final Roadblock. So with each of them having done five already, and FT wanting to save himself for the final leg, it meant that Big Easy had to do this Roadblock.


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## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

sushikitten said:


> But if there aren't _specific _rules about each person doing _exactly half_ of the roadblocks, then it wasn't necessary at all. And if it WAS a rule, he should have SAID that, instead of just saying "_We_ had a plan..." because then it would make MUCH more sense.


It's definitely a rule. It was changed starting in Season 4 that they had to each do half, because in Season 3, Flo and Zach won and she only did 1 Roadblock, and he did 9 (although Teri and Ian were almost as bad that season, too, she only did 2).


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## sushikitten (Jan 28, 2005)

I know there are rules, but I wasn't sure if there were hard and fast rules that each person had to do EXACTLY half. I thought maybe it was like "teams must split roadblocks no less then 60/40" or something. 

If there ARE the 50/50 rules, I would think the Trotters would have said precisely that. To me it just sounded like that was "their plan" and not A RULE OF THE GAME.


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## Magnolia88 (Jul 1, 2005)

sushikitten said:


> I know there are rules, but I wasn't sure if there were hard and fast rules that each person had to do EXACTLY half. I thought maybe it was like "teams must split roadblocks no less then 60/40" or something.


IIRC, the rule is that one teammate can only do a MAX of 6 roadblocks on the race.

The rule was instituted after that season where Colin and the other guys did every task and Christie and the other girls did almost none, and there were several teams where it was just "guy does the task" every time (I think the other couples were Chip and Kim, and the two "Christian" models, I forget their names). Much like Zach did in a previous season, when Flo couldn't be bothered to do anything but whine and complain while Zach carried her backpack for her and sometimes carried her too.

No team knows how many roadblocks they are going to do total, because they don't know when they will be eliminated. So one teammate could do the first six roadblocks in a row if they wanted. But that's probably not good strategy, because then the other person will have to do all the remaining ones for the rest of the race.


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## Marc (Jun 26, 1999)

sushikitten said:


> If there ARE the 50/50 rules, I would think the Trotters would have said precisely that. To me it just sounded like that was "their plan" and not A RULE OF THE GAME.


I suspect that if they had said something like that, it might have been edited out. You don't generally hear the teams talking about the rules of the game during the show. The only times that it's been apparent that they know about the rules is when they become relevant (such as when the Globetrotters bailed out of their Roadblock task).

I'm sure that the Poker Girls must have discussed their game-rule options during their futile attempts to do their Detour tasks, but I don't remember seeing that during that episode.


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## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

Magnolia88 said:


> The rule was instituted after that season where Colin and the other guys did every task and Christie and the other girls did almost none, and there were several teams where it was just "guy does the task" every time (I think the other couples were Chip and Kim, and the two "Christian" models, I forget their names).


Hmm, you are right. I thought the rule started in Season 4 after Flo/Zach in Season 3, but the rule started in Season 6 according to Wikipedia. Chip/Kim, Colin/Christie, and Brandon/Nicole all had the women do only 1 while the guys did 8-9 (Colin only did 8 because they got a fast forward one leg and got to skip a roadblock).


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## Magnolia88 (Jul 1, 2005)

laria said:


> Hmm, you are right. I thought the rule started in Season 4 after Flo/Zach in Season 3, but the rule started in Season 6 according to Wikipedia. Chip/Kim, Colin/Christie, and Brandon/Nicole all had the women do only 1 while the guys did 8-9 (Colin only did 8 because they got a fast forward one leg and got to skip a roadblock).


Right. That is one of my favorite seasons because of Colin's insanity.

It became almost comical: every roadblock had the guys sweating it out against each other, while the girls just sat there and said "Hurry up, baby! C'mon, baby!!"


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## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

Magnolia88 said:


> Right. That is one of my favorite seasons because of Colin's insanity.
> 
> It became almost comical: every roadblock had the guys sweating it out against each other, while the girls just sat there and said "Hurry up, baby! C'mon, baby!!"


MY OX IS BROKEN!!!


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

sushikitten said:


> I know there are rules, but I wasn't sure if there were hard and fast rules that each person had to do EXACTLY half. I thought maybe it was like "teams must split roadblocks no less then 60/40" or something.
> 
> If there ARE the 50/50 rules, I would think the Trotters would have said precisely that. To me it just sounded like that was "their plan" and not A RULE OF THE GAME.


Once again, "their plan" that they were referring to was to have Flight Time do the final Roadblock. Therefore, because they had each done five up to this point, they had no other choice but to have Big Easy do this Roadblock.


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## sushikitten (Jan 28, 2005)

DevdogAZ said:


> Once again, "their plan" that they were referring to was to have Flight Time do the final Roadblock. Therefore, because they had each done five up to this point, they had no other choice but to have Big Easy do this Roadblock.


I know what their plan was referring to. It's already been addressed in this thread that if they DID make mention of the actual rule during one of their talky segments (like I thought they should have) it was edited out.


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## brianric (Aug 29, 2002)

Idearat said:


> Ahh, so you mean for _some_ people it is. Which makes this whole discussion about the show silly. Asking the people we saw to drink is not the same as asking you to drink. No one who's on the race would be so affected by this task. TAR producers ask the racers about illnesses, allergies, phobias and the like. Having disclosed problems to them, they're not going to ask someone to do something that will injure them. Or, if the person's restriction are too limiting, that person wouldn't be picked for the race.
> 
> Now if someone lied about their condition, allergies or illness , and later the show asked them to do something that would do them harm, they probably should come clean at that point. But I wouldn't berate the producers at that point, which is how this part of the discussion started, with "oh no, the show asked them to drink!".


I would let the show and my partner know in advance of my condition, and will, if necessary forfeit a chance for 1 million dollars then knowingly drink any liquor. I made my promise to a much higher power on going on the wagon.


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## TanyaS (Jun 2, 2007)

I was surprised by the absinthe road block also. If they had somehow not managed to prepare the drink correctly, they would have had to do it again. I would think two or three shots of absinthe drunk in a matter of minutes could be pretty dangerous for a non-drinking 110 pound women.


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## marksman (Mar 4, 2002)

I don't know if it would be dangerous. Funny yeah.. Dangerous probably not.

Also it wasn't exactly difficult to do. If they failed it 3 times, they might need to be really drunk anyways.


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