# Amazing Race Finale -- 5/18/14



## Squeak (May 12, 2000)

Lamest. Finale. Ever.

Ugh. No real challenges? No bunch ups?


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## Regina (Mar 30, 2003)

I guess it took me a while to type my thread starter...
I will ask the mods to delete mine...here are my thoughts...

YAY! Dave and Connor won-the evil Brenchels did not prevail! 

I know there has been a lot of hate for Dave and Connor, but I thought it was HILARIOUS when Dave was mocking Rachel .... complaining about being old and mistreated, not so much, but hey-he's old, I give him some leeway...

LOVED that this time it was Brendan that missed the clue box and Rachel had to send them back to the entrance. Neener neener neener! 

I loved the David Copperfield illusion, everything else was pretty "meh" - although the parachute jump out of a helicopter was cool. 

I wonder why it was a one-hour finale this time instead of a 2-hour finale? I would have loved to see the dust-up in customs between the country singers and Rachel!

Man, Phil had a BIG ol' smile on his face when he was hugging up with the country singers after Dave & Connor won! 

To all those who predicted a Rachel squeal when she found out the finale was going to be in Vegas-RIGHT ON! A fat lot of good it did them! HA HA!


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## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

Wow, what a lame finale. No real challenges and Rachel and Brendon got pretty screwed over by their taxi driver.


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## Azlen (Nov 25, 2002)

Definitely missed the final leg memory challenge. I wonder if any of the teams studied their copious notes about order of pit stops, everything the greeter was wearing etc only to realize that it was alll for nothing.

Wasn't really disappointed with the order of finish but was definitely disappointed in the types of tasks they had to do. The finale should have a task that is much more challenging.


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## debtoine (May 17, 2001)

To the TV powers that be: Please keep Brendan and Rachel off my screen now. Forever. 

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. 

deb


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## CharlieW (May 30, 2001)

debtoine said:


> To the TV powers that be: Please keep Brendan and Rachel off my screen now. Forever.
> 
> Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
> 
> deb


Amen.


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## Inundated (Sep 10, 2003)

debtoine said:


> To the TV powers that be: Please keep Brendan and Rachel off my screen now. Forever.
> 
> Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.


Signed, America.

When Rachel started that whole "the race means we'll be able to have a baby" stuff, I shouted to the heavens - "PLEASE DON'T LET THEM REPRODUCE!"


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## bryhamm (Jun 30, 2004)

Agreed on the lameness of the finale. I didn't want any of the teams to win, so it didn't really matter to me.


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## Inundated (Sep 10, 2003)

bryhamm said:


> Agreed on the lameness of the finale. I didn't want any of the teams to win, so it didn't really matter to me.


I was very much on the Anyone But Brenden/Rachel bandwagon, but once it was clear that they were out of the running...meh.


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## Fool Me Twice (Jul 6, 2004)

One more vote for lame.

I wonder if Brenchel had been able to successfully switch to the better cabbie, would they would have won the race? I wish they would release race splits.

I also wish the Country Girls had been able to flirt their way to victory, but D&C were the only ones able to charm their cab driver into gunning it.


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## Neenahboy (Apr 8, 2004)

I would say that's the worst finale they've ever had, but watching Brendan and Rachel fail made my week. Dave and Connor winning was just gravy.


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## JFriday (Mar 20, 2002)

Dave and Conner winning made my day!! Only because I have them in my AR pool.


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## JLucPicard (Jul 8, 2004)

I got a little excited when I thought they might have dedicated drivers for the finale, but alas, idiotic cab drivers affected things again.

This was the most anti-climactic finale _TAR_ has had in a long time.

Hopefully this means I won't have to see Dave's whiny visage on my TV screen anymore!

Here's hoping the next cycle has all new contestants - no more returning players for a while please!?!


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## WO312 (Jan 24, 2003)

I can't believe Connor was able to keep doing the roadblocks. Whatever happened to evening them out??


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

I'm very pleased with the outcome. I guess I was excited enough to see Dave & Connor doing well that it never even occurred to me that they should have had a more involved task. But now that I'm reading this thread, I agree that there wasn't much of substance. The challenges didn't really require much in the way of skills or memory, and didn't provide much chance for teams to pass one another. 

Although I do think the idea of skydiving to the finish was pretty cool. I only wish there had been a more substantial challenge before they were allowed to get on the helicopter.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

WO312 said:


> I can't believe Connor was able to keep doing the roadblocks. Whatever happened to evening them out??


There were two in this episode, and Dave & Connor each did one. I suspect the rule doesn't require them to be exactly equal, but simply not be totally unequal like in early seasons.


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## murgatroyd (Jan 6, 2002)

debtoine said:


> To the TV powers that be: Please keep Brendan and Rachel off my screen now. Forever.
> 
> Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
> 
> deb


I can sign on to that petition, with pleasure.

The powers of TV were merciful. They wrapped up this miserable finale as quickly as possible.

It does remind me of that old joke that the Jewish comics used to say about the bad restaurant:

"The food was awful -- and such small portions, too!"


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## Ment (Mar 27, 2008)

I don't mind that Dave/Connor won but what a stinker of a finale.


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## FrodoB (Jan 3, 2005)

JLucPicard said:


> This was the most anti-climactic finale _TAR_ has had in a long time.


I'm not sure about that. The finale in Alaska, while very picturesque, was extremely anti-climactic. Once Amy hit the target correctly, they were way ahead of the other teams the entire way. Whereas in this finale, the country singers could potentially have beaten D&C to the helicopters if their cabbie had known where the place was.

That being said, I hate legs where the proficiency of your cabbie (which you can't control for the most part) is the deciding factor. As much as I dislike the Brenchels, they lost almost entirely on the weight of getting a bad cabbie, and the country singers nearly won because they got a very good one.

It was clear that this finale was set up to favor strong visuals over difficult tasks. None of the tasks were that physically challenging (arguably the digging, but the shovels were basically exactly over top of the boxes), and there was no mental challenge at all.


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## loubob57 (Mar 19, 2001)

The group I was watchting with also wondered what was up with no memory challenge.


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## dbranco (Nov 20, 2003)

Brendan trying to steal the girls' taxi was sleazy, but when digging the hole for the box, did Rachel really throw dirt into another team's hole? If so, that's not just sleazy, it's really poor sportsmanship.

Until this episode, I didn't really mind the Brenchels. I was impressed at how Rachel's emotions throughout the season seemed so much more under control than her last season. I didn't think the singers deserved to be in the finale, so I was rooting for the Dave & Connor or the Brenchels. After the above (imho) sleazy strategies, I was ok with the girls coming in second.


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## zordude (Sep 23, 2003)

If this was Survivor, throwing dirt into someone else's hole would have been part of the challenge


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## Inundated (Sep 10, 2003)

Look, I don't care if BrenRa* have a baby. Good for them. I'm just concerned that they'll drag the kid onto their next reality show.

* - I refuse to call them "Brenchel". I don't use names teams adopt for themselves and wear on their shirts. As a certain sports talk radio host would say, you "don't create your own gloss".


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## Bob Coxner (Dec 1, 2004)

laria said:


> Wow, what a lame finale. No real challenges and Rachel and Brendon got pretty screwed over by their taxi driver.


I thought they got screwed MUCH worse by Rachel having worked at the Mirage and knowing where the "employee entrance" was. It's hard to know from the editing but it seemed like they lost several minutes wandering through the hotel before going back out and finding the clue box. At one point Brandon was saying they would have to search the entire hotel and Rachel pointing out it's one of the largest in the world.

I put this one on Rachel for assuming she knew what was meant by the employee entrance in the clue versus her previous experience there.


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## Squeak (May 12, 2000)

Bob Coxner said:


> I thought they got screwed MUCH worse by Rachel having worked at the Mirage and knowing where the "employee entrance" was. It's hard to know from the editing but it seemed like they lost several minutes wandering through the hotel before going back out and finding the clue box. At one point Brandon was saying they would have to search the entire hotel and Rachel pointing out it's one of the largest in the world.
> 
> I put this one on Rachel for assuming she knew what was meant by the employee entrance in the clue versus her previous experience there.


Huh? They went in the employee entrance (where they were suppose to), exactly where Rachel had said it was. They just happened to have ran past the clue box because Brenden was running in so fast.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

Inundated said:


> I was very much on the Anyone But Brenden/Rachel bandwagon, but once it was clear that they were out of the running...meh.


Yep, here too. I didn't like that they didn't have the countries memory thing. I really like that. The DC and lights challenges were ok, I didn't like the helicopter challenge because it was way too clear that whoever got to the jump first would win

Does seem like taxis have a huge effect on the finals quite often. Bad from with B/R trying to steal the taxi. Glad the cabbie stuck to his guns and you could see poop-eating grin on his face after he started heading toward the next stop. That was classic.

I agree that hopefully this will be the last we see of B/R on TV, but unfortunately somehow I doubt it.

Hopefully we'll be back to new teams next go around.


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## murgatroyd (Jan 6, 2002)

Bob Coxner said:


> I thought they got screwed MUCH worse by Rachel having worked at the Mirage and knowing where the "employee entrance" was. It's hard to know from the editing but it seemed like they lost several minutes wandering through the hotel before going back out and finding the clue box. At one point Brandon was saying they would have to search the entire hotel and Rachel pointing out it's one of the largest in the world.
> 
> I put this one on Rachel for assuming she knew what was meant by the employee entrance in the clue versus her previous experience there.


I thought this was a repeat of the red/silver question-mark sign issue, where the sign was right under their nose, and they went running off to look for it somewhere else. I.e. they went to the right entrance but ran past the clue box.

I was messing around on the computer at the time, and not watching (irony much?) so I wouldn't swear to it.

But it's not the first time that they've charged off to do a task without reading all the way to the end of the clue.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

FrodoB said:


> I'm not sure about that. The finale in Alaska, while very picturesque, was extremely anti-climactic. Once Amy hit the target correctly, they were way ahead of the other teams the entire way. Whereas in this finale, the country singers could potentially have beaten D&C to the helicopters if their cabbie had known where the place was.
> 
> That being said, I hate legs where the proficiency of your cabbie (which you can't control for the most part) is the deciding factor. As much as I dislike the Brenchels, they lost almost entirely on the weight of getting a bad cabbie, and the country singers nearly won because they got a very good one.
> 
> *It was clear that this finale was set up to favor strong visuals over difficult tasks.* None of the tasks were that physically challenging (arguably the digging, but the shovels were basically exactly over top of the boxes), and there was no mental challenge at all.


Definitely agree. Notice that they "timed" the finale so that they could do everything at night in Vegas? I think they should have made them jump out of helicopters in Elvis costumes


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

Bob Coxner said:


> I thought they got screwed MUCH worse by Rachel having worked at the Mirage and knowing where the "employee entrance" was. It's hard to know from the editing but it seemed like they lost several minutes wandering through the hotel before going back out and finding the clue box. At one point Brandon was saying they would have to search the entire hotel and Rachel pointing out it's one of the largest in the world.
> 
> I put this one on Rachel for assuming she knew what was meant by the employee entrance in the clue versus her previous experience there.


It was actually Brenden who screwed that up. Didn't they go through the correct entrance but totally missed the clue box? Then Brenden said they need to hunt through the hotel for the clue, and it made sense to him that it was a huge hotel and that would be "part of the challenge". But you are right though because at that point of the race, the teams were pretty even. Spending time hunting around for the clue put them WAY behind. It was that time that we all thought they were done.


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## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

They definitely went to the right entrance but Brendon ran past the box and Rachel just followed him. Then it seemed like she was the one that insisted they go back outside when he wanted to search the hotel.

They made some mistakes, the Mirage thing and however much time they lost at the neon sign place by missing that the question mark was right there behind the box, but their cab driver certainly seemed to hurt them more than those 2 mistakes.


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## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

Steveknj said:


> But you are right though because at that point of the race, the teams were pretty even. Spending time hunting around for the clue put them WAY behind. It was that time that we all thought they were done.


Maybe, maybe not. We have no idea how long they looked inside the hotel before going back outside, but they got to the employee entrance long after everyone else, even though they left the neon sign place before the country singers, so they'd already lost a ton of time to their cab.


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## DancnDude (Feb 7, 2001)

What a disappointing finale. Moreso than any other leg they need to have a challenge that is difficult enough that there is some actual skill or ability needed in order to pass other teams. All we had here was finding a random key from a large keyring and screwing in lightbulbs.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

I thought all season long they had some really good challenges. It's really such a shame the final one was so bad.


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## rjay717 (Nov 18, 2005)

Phil's Twitter response to the most asked question:



> Phil Keoghan ‏@PhilKeoghan
> 
> Mixing it up RT @ajfanale why isn't there a memory-type roadblock in this final leg?


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## TonyTheTiger (Dec 22, 2006)

I'm not convinced that rachel & Brendan did go to the right entrance. The clue clearly stated 'back entrance' and she insisted it was the 'employee entrance'. I don't know the layout of the Mirage, but they could well be different entrances. I think they may have gone IN the employee entrance and then come out of the back entrance and found the clue.

How stupid for Brendan to suggest they needed to search the WHOLE resort! It would take a week.

The result was satisfying enough for me. I also was screaming every time they mentioned a baby and we both commented on the lack of a memory challenge.

As previously mentioned, I'm sure they wanted to run the final at night and a memory challenge could well make it ridiculously late.

D&C got lucky with their guess for the number of lightbulbs when their first guess was wrong, but I have no problem with them winning. The girls had too many lives (TWO non-elims!) and, well, we won't mention whiny and dumb.


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## JFriday (Mar 20, 2002)

They didn't really run past the clue box. They showed them running then they cut to a shot of the cameraman turning and looking at the clue box. It was editing that made it appear they ran by it.


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## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

The reason I thought they ran past it was because they showed them running in down that tunnel, and then when they showed them running back out to the box, they were running back out the tunnel.


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## TomK (May 22, 2001)

debtoine said:


> To the TV powers that be: Please keep Brendan and Rachel off my screen now. Forever.
> 
> Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
> 
> deb


Yes please! I never watched much of this season for the very reason that Rachel was on it. I hate CBS for ruining this season and her selfish performance in the finale was typical of why I never want to see her again. Be gone witch!


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## ducker (Feb 21, 2006)

Mixing it up? Well they shouldn't mix it up with a couple of completely non-challenging roadblocks. What a major stinker finale. This is what people have to remember TAR For months to come... A forgettable final episode of a rather enjoyable whole race!


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## Maui (Apr 22, 2000)

Loved the outcome 

Rachel and Brenden definitely looked to be throwing dirt all over the place. I have no doubt that some of it was making it into other holes. 

Rachel and Brenden tried to steal the Country Girls cab. Another semi-sleazy move. I love that the cab driver refused them and the country girls were the first to the next task.

All the baby talk, which I have complained about all year bothered me. Rachel crying when she realized things were not going their way bothered me. Although, I kind of enjoyed watching her cry as Brendan sky-dived as she realized they were in third place.

The ending kind of proved that you can have good sportsmanship and still win the competition. In spite of how many people hated Dave talking about his age, Dave and Connor ran a pretty clean race. They let the girls step on the mat once even though they beat them to the mat. They lived up to their promise to Leo and Jamal to help them after u-turning them. As much as some people here disliked them I think it is telling that they were seemingly thought of so highly by the other racers while Brendan and Rachel were disliked by most. 

I agree the memory task was missed but it has been a bit of a staple and I am sure that the teams all took copius notes in anticipation of the task so I kind of liked that they did not have it.


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## verdugan (Sep 9, 2003)

FrodoB said:


> I'm not sure about that. The finale in Alaska, while very picturesque, was extremely anti-climactic. Once Amy hit the target correctly, they were way ahead of the other teams the entire way. Whereas in this finale, the country singers could potentially have beaten D&C to the helicopters if their cabbie had known where the place was.


It was anti-climatic just because Amy and her b/f (can't remember name) did so well and the other teams did so bad in the target challenge.

If they had been relatively close, the totem challenge at the end would've resulted in an exciting finale. So it was anti-climatic, but at least it wasn't because of the lame challenges.


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## verdugan (Sep 9, 2003)

dbranco said:


> Brendan trying to steal the girls' taxi was sleazy, but when digging the hole for the box, did Rachel really throw dirt into another team's hole? If so, that's not just sleazy, it's really poor sportsmanship.
> 
> Until this episode, I didn't really mind the Brenchels. I was impressed at how Rachel's emotions throughout the season seemed so much more under control than her last season. I didn't think the singers deserved to be in the finale, so I was rooting for the Dave & Connor or the Brenchels. After the above (imho) sleazy strategies, I was ok with the girls coming in second.


I couldn't agree more. In last week's thread I defended Brenden and Rachel saying that they hadn't done anything unsportmanship. That changed in this episode. The taxi stunt that Brenden tried to pull was just lame. I'm glad the girl's cabby didn't go for it.

BTW, I didn't see Rachel throwing dirt in D&C's hole.


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## kettledrum (Nov 17, 2003)

WO312 said:


> I can't believe Connor was able to keep doing the roadblocks. Whatever happened to evening them out??


According to wikipedia the tally was Conner 8 and Dave 5. Evidently this was within the rules?

At the beginning of the episode there was a voiceover from Phil about Dave being 58. Dave's been whining about U-turning a 60 year old man for how many episodes now?



verdugan said:


> In last week's thread I defended Brenden and Rachel saying that they hadn't done anything unsportmanship. That changed in this episode. The taxi stunt that Brenden tried to pull was just lame. I'm glad the girl's cabby didn't go for it.
> 
> BTW, I didn't see Rachel throwing dirt in D&C's hole.


I was pulling for them as I like the underdogs and still don't get all of the hate here, but I'm also not a BB watcher. But stealing cabs isn't cool.


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## heySkippy (Jul 2, 2001)

I'm irritated that Dave is constantly referred to as "old". He's the same age as me, and I am sure as hell not old.


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## WO312 (Jan 24, 2003)

heySkippy said:


> I'm irritated that Dave is constantly referred to as "old". He's the same age as me, and I am sure as hell not old.


Hmm, then what's with "oldweakandpathetic"


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## loubob57 (Mar 19, 2001)

heySkippy said:


> I'm irritated that Dave is constantly referred to as "old". He's the same age as me, and I am sure as hell not old.


Calm down Gramps.


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## Honora (Oct 16, 2006)

FrodoB said:


> That being said, I hate legs where the proficiency of your cabbie (which you can't control for the most part) is the deciding factor. As much as I dislike the Brenchels, they lost almost entirely on the weight of getting a bad cabbie, and the country singers nearly won because they got a very good one.


The Brenchels lost because once they saw their cabbie wasn't that good for them (really! obeying speed limits!), they should have had him/her (I wasn't sure) pull over on the Strip and get another cab.


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## heySkippy (Jul 2, 2001)

Honora said:


> they should have had him/her (I wasn't sure) pull over on the Strip and get another cab.


I think it took her out of her comfort zone to have a foursome pile in complete with camera and sound gear and a pair hyperactive racers trying anything to get to the end. She looked miserable.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Inundated said:


> Look, I don't care if BrenRa* have a baby. Good for them. I'm just concerned that they'll drag the kid onto their next reality show. * - I refuse to call them "Brenchel". I don't use names teams adopt for themselves and wear on their shirts. As a certain sports talk radio host would say, you "don't create your own gloss".


"You don't gloss yourself."



Maui said:


> The ending kind of proved that you can have good sportsmanship and still win the competition. In spite of how many people hated Dave talking about his age, Dave and Connor ran a pretty clean race. They let the girls step on the mat once even though they beat them to the mat. They lived up to their promise to Leo and Jamal to help them after u-turning them. As much as some people here disliked them I think it is telling that they were seemingly thought of so highly by the other racers while Brendan and Rachel were disliked by most.


This was evident by how ecstatic all the other teams were when they saw that it was Dave landing first and not Caroline.


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## Squeak (May 12, 2000)

DevdogAZ said:


> This was evident by how ecstatic all the other teams were when they saw that it was Dave landing first and not Caroline.


Meh. That is all fake enthusiasm prompted by the producers.


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## TonyTheTiger (Dec 22, 2006)

I did notice that there were decidedly more shots of D&C and the Country Girls hugging the other contestants than there were of B&R.

Coincidence?


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## brianric (Aug 29, 2002)

loubob57 said:


> Calm down Gramps.


Slap them down if there under 60.


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## Azlen (Nov 25, 2002)

The number 1 rule of Amazing Race, especially in the final leg, is to make sure you have a competent cab driver. Don't just pile into the first cab available. Vet a few to improve your odds of not being stuck with a bad one.


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## stellie93 (Feb 25, 2006)

heySkippy said:


> I'm irritated that Dave is constantly referred to as "old". He's the same age as me, and I am sure as hell not old.


This--while a 58 year old might not be in quite as good a shape as a 40 year old, still he's hardly ready for the nursing home. I thought he was at least mid 60's the way he talked. I found him at least as annoying as Rachael. But the baby thing was ridiculous. If she won BB once then they should have plenty of money for his school and a nice home. If they don't that's her fault.

But I didn't really want the girls to win, as much as I liked them, because they got so many second chances with non-elimination legs. So once the Cowboys were gone, it wasn't going to be exciting for me.


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## VegasVic (Nov 22, 2002)

I don't like the cab driver roulette stuff but the last leg always has them in cabs rather than driving themselves, they don't want to risk anyone's life/limb racing to the $1 million. 

I'll agree that for a final leg the challenges were weak. There should have been at least one that took some time/skill to allow each team a shot at bypassing other teams. I agree with someone earlier in this thread who said overall the challenges were pretty good this season. Until the end. I don't mind them nixing the memory challenge, they've done is pretty much every race and I'm sure the teams were ready for it.


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## Dnamertz (Jan 30, 2005)

In the end, all the Accidental Alliance's fake whinning about Brendan & Rachel U-turning Dave & Conner was for not. Looks like B&R made the right move by U-turning the team that actually won the last 4 legs and the entire race.

I'm not fans of B&R (I couldn't stand Rachel on Big Brother), but the attitude of the Accidental Alliance after that U-turn (mainly Dave & Conner and the Country Girls) turned me against those two teams. Why is it any worse to try to talk another team's cab driver into switching than it is to use flirting to talk the Cowboys into giving you the Express Pass? Anything within the rules of the game?


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## JLucPicard (Jul 8, 2004)

Re: the cab thing - I think it was a good move to try to swap with the girl's cab. What I would not have condoned would have been taking their cab with no other cab available, leaving them with none. If they could convince the girls' cabbie to swap, more power to 'em.

I'm sure the reason they s-canned the memory challenge is that it would have been totally unfair to have an old guy have to compete in a memory challenge, right? Right, Dave? Not sure I liked the 8/5 challenge ratio either.


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## gschrock (Dec 28, 2001)

I'm sorry, but I'm not going to agree that having a bad cab driver cost B&R the race. Putting up with the bad cab driver is what cost them. Vegas has got to be one of the easiest cities in the US to get a cab, especially when you look at the areas they were at. As soon as they realized that their cab driver wasn't all that good, they should have hopped out and gotten a different cab. Wouldn't have taken them that long. (And at the very least, they could have done it pretty easily at a couple of points where they were out of the cab anyways).


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

gschrock said:


> I'm sorry, but I'm not going to agree that having a bad cab driver cost B&R the race. Putting up with the bad cab driver is what cost them. Vegas has got to be one of the easiest cities in the US to get a cab, especially when you look at the areas they were at. As soon as they realized that their cab driver wasn't all that good, they should have hopped out and gotten a different cab. Wouldn't have taken them that long. (And at the very least, they could have done it pretty easily at a couple of points where they were out of the cab anyways).


I agree with this. But to alleviate the issues, I kind of wish that on these final legs when everything comes down to transportation between challenges, that they'd either stick to public transportation (bus, train, subway, etc.) or have three pre-assigned taxis waiting and available, where the drivers would know what was at stake and would all be willing to be a little aggressive.


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## realityboy (Jun 13, 2003)

I agree that the cab drivers decided the race due to quick and easy challenges. Once behind, there was no catching up. Maybe a detour could've been added to make it interesting. 

I like Rachel better than Dave, but I don't have a problem with the old man winning. They won the last few legs and were one of the strongest teams. 

I would think the people that are sick of Rachel would really want her to win. She would most likely stay away from TV once having a kid. 

Are Brenchel the first team to finish the race twice?


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

So are we to believe that when Dave and Connor convinced their cab driver to pass Caroline and Jennifer right before they got to Maverick Helicopeters, that this is what determined who won the $1 million? C&J ran up to the clue box just a few seconds after D&C. Do we think that D&C's helicopter got to take off first because they got to the clue box first? Did the amount of time it took them to get dressed into the jump suit have any factor? Because of flight safety rules, I'm assuming that Caroline's helicopter couldn't "race" Dave's to try and find the sign first and then try and get her over the LVMS first.


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## Maui (Apr 22, 2000)

realityboy said:


> I agree that the cab drivers decided the race due to quick and easy challenges. Once behind, there was no catching up. Maybe a detour could've been added to make it interesting.


Once again I am not sure I entirely agree. How much time did Brendan and Rachel waste at the neon Boneyard or running around inside the Mirage? The Country Girls caught up to B&R when B&R missed the question mark. The girls had the best cab driver and got to the mirage first but Dave and Connor passed them on the lightbulb task.

Maybe the cab drivers were the difference makers in the end but the way this show is edited it is just too hard to tell. This is not like in past finales where drivers were just utterly lost


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## realityboy (Jun 13, 2003)

stellie93 said:


> If she won BB once then they should have plenty of money for his school and a nice home. If they don't that's her


Idk. Big Brother only pays out $500,000. She won almost 3 years ago. He's still working on his PhD, and she has had trouble finding work ever since she first appeared on Big Brother. How much would it cost for 2 adults and a baby in LA?


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## Squeak (May 12, 2000)

realityboy said:


> Idk. Big Brother only pays out $500,000. She won almost 3 years ago. He's still working on his PhD, and she has had trouble finding work ever since she first appeared on Big Brother. How much would it cost for 2 adults and a baby in LA?


Yeah...she would only net about $250k from that winnings. That is not a ton of money for 3 years in LA.


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## realityboy (Jun 13, 2003)

Maui said:


> Once again I am not sure I entirely agree. How much time did Brendan and Rachel waste at the neon Boneyard or running around inside the Mirage? The Country Girls caught up to B&R when B&R missed the question mark. The girls had the best cab driver and got to the mirage first but Dave and Connor passed them on the lightbulb task.
> 
> Maybe the cab drivers were the difference makers in the end but the way this show is edited it is just too hard to tell. This is not like in past finales where drivers were just utterly lost


It is impossible to tell from the editing. I think it looked like more time was lost in the cab, but it could've been the opposite. Either way the challenges were bad. They took no skill. The right team won almost by chance. The country singers almost won.


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## stellie93 (Feb 25, 2006)

realityboy said:


> Idk. Big Brother only pays out $500,000. She won almost 3 years ago. He's still working on his PhD, and she has had trouble finding work ever since she first appeared on Big Brother. How much would it cost for 2 adults and a baby in LA?


Do they have to live in LA? Around here half a million will pay for a good education and a nice house. And I'm sure there are jobs where you aren't in the public eye if you want to work. No sympathy from me.


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## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

stellie93 said:


> Do they have to live in LA?


Since he's a student at UCLA, I'm guessing he needs to be somewhat near there. If his research and his lab and his advisers are all there, I don't think you can just pick up and move that somewhere else that easily. It's not like he's a brand new Ph.D. student. He's been one since at least the first season of Big Brother 4 years ago... probably longer since he is 33.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

stellie93 said:


> Do they have to live in LA? Around here half a million will pay for a good education and a nice house. And I'm sure there are jobs where you aren't in the public eye if you want to work. No sympathy from me.





laria said:


> Since he's a student at UCLA, I'm guessing he needs to be somewhat near there. If his research and his lab and his advisers are all there, I don't think you can just pick up and move that somewhere else that easily. It's not like he's a brand new Ph.D. student. He's been one since at least the first season of Big Brother 4 years ago... probably longer since he is 33.


And don't forget to factor in taxes when you think about how much money Rachel got from that first BB win. She probably only took home between $250k and $300k, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if she had lots of debt to pay off with that money.


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## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

One thing I was confused about was the other teams saying that Brendon and Rachel lived in Vegas. Rachel used to live there when she was on Big Brother, but I don't know why they were saying they did now.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

laria said:


> One thing I was confused about was the other teams saying that Brendon and Rachel lived in Vegas. Rachel used to live there when she was on Big Brother, but I don't know why they were saying they did now.


Probably just because that's how Rachel is always introduced in these shows, as a "Former Las Vegas Host" or something like that.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Do we really think both Dave and Caroline spotted the sign at Aria telling them to go to LVMS without any help? Based on the way it was edited, I thought they were both a little freaked out about missing it, but then they both saw it so easily that I'm pretty sure the producers made sure they didn't miss anything.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Dan Fienberg, TV critic for HitFix.com just posted this on Twitter:



@HitFixDaniel said:


> Talked to the "Amazing Race" Top 3 this morning, but this week is a nightmare. They'll post when the post!


So I asked him:



> Probably too late to ask, but I'd love to know if when D&C's cab passed C&J, did that determine who won the race?


And his reply:



HitFixDaniel said:


> I asked J&K a variation on that. But... In short... Yes.


That's pretty disappointing, but not surprising.


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## realityboy (Jun 13, 2003)

She moved to LA to be with him after they met on BB. I'm sure by now she probably has found some job, but it's not going to be Las Vegas hostess. She made good money doing that and had a considerable amount of savings that they lived off of when she moved to LA. 

I'm not sure what else she's qualified for. She did originally move to Vegas to take a job as a chemist.


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## Squeak (May 12, 2000)

stellie93 said:


> Do they have to live in LA? Around here half a million will pay for a good education and a nice house. And I'm sure there are jobs where you aren't in the public eye if you want to work. No sympathy from me.


But they didn't get half a million. That is before taxes. More like $250k. His education might eat up half of that right away.


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## markz (Oct 22, 2002)

In addition to throwing dirt in the other hole and trying to steal the girls' cab, didn't they say at the beginning of the episode that Rachel pushed one of the girls?


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## Fool Me Twice (Jul 6, 2004)

The girls claimed Rachel pushed someone. But, just like the claim that Rachel was throwing dirt in Dave and Connor's hole, it may have been nothing more than hysteria.


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## bacevedo (Oct 31, 2003)

DevdogAZ said:


> Dan Fienberg, TV critic for HitFix.com just posted this on Twitter:
> 
> So I asked him:
> 
> ...


I think the producers envisioned that the helicopter ride to find the sign could trip up the racers and that they might have to go around a few times to find it. They probably didn't think the arrival order of the contestants arriving at the same time would be the final order of the racers at the mat.

The other thing is that it appeared the girls knew another team was in a cab behind them at the time they were being passed. They could have just as easily said, don't let them pass you, but they didn't do anything.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

Squeak said:


> Lamest. Finale. Ever.
> 
> Ugh. No real challenges? No bunch ups?


I very much enjoyed it.. I actually thought this was one of the "use editing to make the race to the finish seem real" that seemed actually close..


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

bacevedo said:


> I think the producers envisioned that the helicopter ride to find the sign could trip up the racers and that they might have to go around a few times to find it. They probably didn't think the arrival order of the contestants arriving at the same time would be the final order of the racers at the mat.


I think the problem with this idea is that the helicopters have to clear their flight paths and be careful of other air traffic. They couldn't both take off at the same time and be racing for the same airspace over The Strip or over LVMS. My guess is that they couldn't just fly low over The Strip multiple times, so I'm pretty sure the producers ensured that the players saw the sign the first time by. Also, they probably couldn't have two different choppers flying that route at the same time. So basically, whichever team took off first would be the team that won the race. The only real question is whether the order was determined when they arrived at the clue box, or was it determined by who got their jump suit on first? Presumably, there was some training/briefing they had to go through while still on the ground, so really the only variable other than who got to the clue box first was who got their jump suit on first.



bacevedo said:


> The other thing is that it appeared the girls knew another team was in a cab behind them at the time they were being passed. They could have just as easily said, don't let them pass you, but they didn't do anything.


That is true. They could have asked their driver to block. Not sure if the driver would have done that, but they should have at least tried.


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## Azlen (Nov 25, 2002)

DevdogAZ said:


> That is true. They could have asked their driver to block. Not sure if the driver would have done that, but they should have at least tried.


Maybe they asked about doing it earlier and were shot down. We are only seeing a very small amount of what happened so it's difficult for us to judge what was and wasn't said when we aren't seeing everything.


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## VegasVic (Nov 22, 2002)

realityboy said:


> Maybe a detour could've been added to make it interesting.


Agreed. At least a detour would have given the teams in second/third the option of trying a different challenge to make up time.


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## brianric (Aug 29, 2002)

VegasVic said:


> Agreed. At least a detour would have given the teams in second/third the option of trying a different challenge to make up time.


A two hour finale would help.


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## VegasVic (Nov 22, 2002)

It sure would.


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## TonyTheTiger (Dec 22, 2006)

Have we EVER had a two-hour finale?

Previously, when there's been a two hour finale. the final four will race for the first hour and then the three remaining teams complete the second, so it's actually two one-hour episodes!


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## NJChris (May 11, 2001)

Go Brenchals! 

I was disappointed there wasn't a real task that had to do with the whole race / where they've been/done/etc... 

I don't like D&C, but honestly most teams are hypocritical. They act all high and mighty then act like babies.


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## Numb And Number2 (Jan 13, 2009)

JLucPicard said:


> I'm sure the reason they s-canned the memory challenge is that it would have been totally unfair to have an old guy have to compete in a memory challenge, right?


2.71828182845904523536028747135. From memory. Check it out, kid.


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## loubob57 (Mar 19, 2001)

Numb And Number2 said:


> 2.71828182845904523536028747135. From memory. Check it out, kid.


I only have the first 12 digits of that one memorized. But I know a couple more for pi. 3.1415926535897 I think.


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## Doh (May 18, 2001)

I liked the finale just because I thought it was cool that no one knew who was landing on the field and the teams finished in my preferred order. I got a little tired of Dave and Connor but a team that got 2 saves (and a bonus express pass to keep them from being eliminated another time) just doesn't seem like they really deserve to win (and by the last show I was yelling at the tv every time that other team that shall not be named mentioned their baby).

The challenges were a little on the easy side but I can understand why they mixed it up a little on the memory challenge to keep the contestants on their toes (and the timing issue).

p.s. does the BB or AR winner get a lump sum for winning? I thought it was spread out over 20 years.


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