FORTY MINUTES!!
This was the delay in the east coast broadcast of The Amazing Race as Andy Rooney’s segment on “60 Minutes” talks about falling asleep while riding a city bus. I am falling asleep waiting for The Amazing Race to begin 40 minutes later than its scheduled time thanks to an NFL game that ran overtime.
Anyway, during this delay there was a preview for this broadcast that indicates that my predictions for elimination on this leg of the race may be wrong but my pre-mature predictions on who won’t make the final three may prove true. The preview for THIS broadcast showed us a team with lost “documents” and a team loses its passports. So know that before I finish writing this blog I am expecting some surprises on this broadcast.
So on to the weekly blog about the Amazing Race and I start with a totally biased opinion. I am sick of the NFL delaying the Amazing Race on the east coast! Dammit, tell the players to get their crap over with on time or cut some of the boring ass segments on “60 minutes” and maintain an accurate prime-time schedule. You can save most of the segments from 60 minutes for another week.
Now on to the race, this next leg began in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam with teams flying to Cambodia.
The departure times were in the early evening, the first team left at 6:53pm and the last team left at 7:32pm. When teams arrived at the airport they discovered the earliest flight wasn’t until 12:25 the next afternoon. So it was a very long wait for the racers but two teams were almost out of luck. Lance & Keri and Zev & Justin faced a sold out flight so they booked for a flight leaving 2 hours later with standby for the 12:25 flight. And they all made the standby flight. So all teams traveled together to Cambodia.
Once in Cambodia, teams had to find the Foreign Correspondents Club to get their first clue from an “assignment editor”. Their assignment was contained in a photo of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis riding in a car on a visit to Cambodia. Teams had to travel to the location in the photo which was the Royal Hotel then request to see the hotel suite named after the former United States First Lady. But the interesting part here is that many of the teams did not recognize the late former first lady as the woman in the photo. Canaan (of Mika & Canaan) thought she was Queen Elizabeth, the Globe Trotters thought she was some sort of princess and another team only said they thought she was some Cambodian Queen. Only the oldest remaining person on the race, Gary ( of Gary & Matt) identified her as “Jackie Kennedy” and saying that he probably was the only person who would have caught that. But Zev & Justin also knew who she was which made it easy for them to get their next clue.
The next clue was the “detour” choices of “cover” where teams had to sell motorcycle helmets or “Wrap” where teams had to go to a local market, select a scarf from a shopkeeper then search for a woman within the market that is wearing the exact same scarf. Most teams chose the “wrap” detour. Last place team (and my least favorite team) Lance & Keri were the only team choosing to sell helmets.
After the “detour” teams were required to travel by foot to their next destination. At this time, Zev & Justin kept their taxi and walked behind it.
The “roadblock” required a team member to perform a series of monkey related maneuvers. Zev & Justin were the first team at the roadblock and Zev performed the task but nearly passed out and he sat down for a while as the gay brothers Sam & Dan completed the task and headed for the pit-stop assuming to be the first team. But their cab driver and vehicle were much slower than the taxi that Zev & Justin retained for the day. So Zev & Justin arrived at the pit-stop first.
There was no mention of any prize for Zev & Justin’s first place finish. Then after viewers saw Dan & Sam arrive as the second team and “Flight Time & Big Easy” arrive as the third team, it was revealed that Zev was missing his passport. He and Justin were denied check-in as first place and they were told they would have to return to the course to locate the missing passport and return before the last time checks in or they would be eliminated. This made the gay brothers the first place team by default. Justin happened to have a business card to call his taxi driver and the driver helped them backtrack to locate the passport but they were not successful in locating it.
So, the official pit-stop arrivals are in this order..
FIRST: Sam & Dan
SECOND: Harlem Globetrotters “Flight Time & Big Easy” (Herbert & Nathaniel)
THIRD: Brian & Ericka
FOURTH: Gary & Matt
FIFTH: Meghan & Cheyne
SIXTH: Lance & Keri, blowing my prediction (and hope) that they would be eliminated.
SEVENTH: Mika & Canaan
EIGTH: Maria & Tiffany escaped elimination because of Zev & Justin losing Zev’s passport.
Zev & Justin were eliminated from the race. But they were not saddened by the situation. They have a strong friendship.
And so we are down to EIGHT with one team I hate rising up a few positions. Lance & Keri may stay around just to piss off viewers like me who cannot stand him. Lance has his arrogant competitive spirit but he didn’t argue with his partner and that is what I think causes good teams to fail. So if they keep their personal attitudes toward each other, then Lance & Keri will be around for a while.
I watched the “elimination station” segments online and I watched as some eliminated racers predicted the next team to go would be the two Harlem Globetrotters. I don’t know if there is some hate going on there but the Globetrotters seem to be one of the strongest teams on the race. I include them as strong contenders to make the “final three” of The Amazing Race.
The other teams I predict as strong contenders to make the final three are Meghan & Cheyne, Brian & Ericka, Sam & Dan and I am replacing consideration of Mika & Canaan and (reluctantly) replacing them with Lance & Keri. This puts Mika & Canaan into a questionable status. Their performance on this leg of the race was satisfactory at best.
What’s easier to predict is the team for next elimination. The professional poker players Tiffany & Maria are struggling and I don’t see signs of improvement. The youth and physical strength of the other teams along with Maria & Tiffany being in the last place make them the prime candidates for next elimination. So my prediction for next team elimination is for Maria & Tiffany.
My hope is that the Amazing Race will start on time next week. Would this be wishful thinking?
Well we shall see next week. Save Amazing Race weekly blog, same old internet channel.
Have a good week!
Showing posts with label The Amazing Race 15. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Amazing Race 15. Show all posts
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Sunday, October 04, 2009
The Amazing Race 15 weekly blog: Team Zebra "Movin' on Up"
This is the second weekly blog for the 15th season of The Amazing Race but we are already on the THIRD leg of the race after the two hour season premiere. The title of this blog is in reference to "The Jeffersons" and if you were a fan of the show, you'll get the references as you read the blog.
This third leg started with another new twist as the 10 teams were on a riverboat as their pit-stop in Vietnam. But the riverboat sailed to another location while the teams rested and they were not told of their location. So they began the next leg from an unknown location where they would have to take a taxi to Ho Chi Minh City. It turns out that this would be a 2 hour taxi ride from their unknown location.
Departure times only ranged 45 minutes from the father and son team Gary & Matt to the interracial married couple Brian & Ericka leaving at 6:30am. This was a rare occasion when the pit-stop departure times weren’t obscured by what I call the “Great Amazing Race Team Equalizer” which means whatever great lead a team would have is lost when everyone is forced to wait together because of a flight, train or bus schedule or a closed departure location.
Once in Ho Chi Minh City, teams had to get their first clue by locating a theatre where teams had to pull their clue from the mouths of simulated dragons in a pool. The clue was on a photo stamp enclosed in an empty bullet. Teams had to figure out that the photo was of a post office and they would travel there for the “detour” task choices of “Childs Play” where teams would have to transport a large concrete animal statue on a cart collecting balloons along the way or “Word Play” where teams had to look for letters from atop an observation deck to make out a word. Those letters would be traveling through the crowd on the ground below. Then they would use the letters to make the Vietnamese word for “independence’
Most teams had no problem figuring out the clue was INSIDE the bullet except the team I immediately disliked the most, the engaged couple Lance & Keri as they didn’t open their bullet to get their clue. They ran around aimlessly with Lance yelling at Keri until they figured out the clue was inside the bullet and later while locating the clue box. Lance and his arrogant highly competitive ego was already effecting their progress in the race. These kinds of attitudes always get in the way of success and I tend to route for such teams to fall flat on their asses. This Lance guy reminds me of ROB & AMBER who’s 15 minutes of reality show fame went on much longer than it should have. Long time Amazing Race fans may remember them. But I digress and return to this season.
Anyway most teams chose to do the “kids play” detour task of transporting the concrete animals. There were a couple problems, one team had a broken cart and another team dropped their animal and pieces of it broke off. But there was one team that would make “George Jefferson” cringe, that would be Brian & Ericka who are the “Tom and Helen Willis” of The Amazing Race choosing a ZEBRA as the concrete animal they would transport. And they were “movin on up” during the race.
Only one team chose the “word play” detour and that would be the oldest team on the race Marcy & Ron who at this point were acting more like tourists than contestants on a race. Ron even stood for a minute to say that he was “taking it all in” which I am sorry to say that is NOT what you are there for. While is cool that you are traveling around the world for free, you are not really there to sightsee, you are there to win a race. Sightseers don’t win The Amazing Race.
After completing the “detour” teams traveled to an electronics “chop shop” where they would have to disassemble a VCR and place all its parts into separate piles for recycling.
After taking apart the VCR’s teams went to the next pit-stop, Reunification Palace in Ho Chi Minh City, which is the former Saigon. And there was a foot race to the finish with the first team to make to the pit-stop mat was the Harlem Globetrotters, Nathaniel & Herbert and for their first place finish they each won a vacation package to Aruba from show sponsor Travelocity.
“Flight Time & Big Easy” had a good lead but could not get good directions from the “roadblock” to the pit-stop so they chose to follow Meghan & Cheyne’s taxi to the Reunification Palace gate knowing they would beat them in a foot race. And while Cheyne was the first to reach the mat, both Globetrotters made it to the mat before Meghan. This meant Meghan & Cheyne were officially in SECOND place.
The rest of the arrivals were..
THIRD: Gary & Matt
FOURTH: Brian & Ericka, “Team Zebra” moved on up from last place to fourth.
FIFTH: Gay brothers Sam & Dan.
SIXTH: Maria & Tiffany
SEVENTH: Mika & Canaan
EIGTH: Zev & Justin
And the final two teams are where they are at this point for traditional reasons.
NINTH: Lance & Keri, now at the back of the pack after a leg of Lance’s ego and competitiveness combined with his poor treatment of his partner and fiancée’ Keri. His ego is getting in the way of their making progress in the race. His yelling at Keri is getting in the way. She is not happy being treated with the disrespect Lance has displayed toward his team partner AND his fiancée’
And
TENTH: Marcy and Ron had a short “vacation” on CBS and The Amazing Race’s tab. Like I said earlier, sightseers don’t make Amazing Race winners and on this leg of the race, Marcy and Ron were sightseers who took a break to play a word game is if they had all afternoon to do it. Sorry, but you play Scrabble at home. You play a QUICK word scramble when it is on The Amazing Race. But Marcy and Ron can now relax for a couple weeks at the “elimination station” where they will meet Garrett & Jessica at a nice tropical cottage somewhere in Vietnam.
And at the "Elimination Station" seen only online at CBS dot com, we learn that Garrett & Jessica were the ONLY team at the hideaway. The first team to be eliminated BEFORE the race began (Eric & Lisa) didn't even get to go to the "Elimination Station" to wait for the race to complete. And while Garrett & Jessica seemed to be a little depressed at this vacation hideaway, Garrett moved up his plans to surprise Jessica with a marriage proposal and she accepted. It was done off camera but mentioned during the online segment.
Well they sort of have a pre-honeymoon until Ron & Marcy show up.
Now that we are a couple episodes into the season, I now begin my weekly blog predictions for next team elimination and my predictions for which teams will make the final three. Now to be honest, these “predictions” are really my own personal wishes and I admit that it is based on who I like or don’t like most of the time. But I try to be honest about it. You can’t deny who are the strongest and weakest teams whether you like them or not.
I definitely can’t base any prediction on the previews for the next broadcast. The previews mention that one of the teams will lose their passports but the visual shows all of the “strong” teams in some sort stress moment. But they are always in a stressful moment on the race because it is a competition. And creative editing can play with your mind. That is their intention. So my predictions for elimination are more biased and wishful.
I predict (hope) for LANCE & KERI as the next team eliminated. I cannot stand Lance for his arrogance and disrespectful treatment of his partner. You saw in this episode their relationship struggles which mean TEAM struggles in the race unless Lance makes an attitude adjustment. I would not be surprised if it turned out that Lance & Keri were the team that lost their passports. When you have attitude issues and aren’t properly focused you tend to screw up . I am looking for Lance to do just that.
My early predictions for which teams will make the final three will change from week to week. My predictions are based on who I feel are the strongest teams on the race in terms of their relationship (how they treat each other on the race) and their physical ability. I usually pick 5 teams as having a good chance to make the final three and that number decreases every couple weeks.
So my predictions for any of these FIVE teams to make the final three are.
Meghan & Cheyne
The Harlem Globetrotters Herbert & Nathaniel (or “Flight Time & Big Easy”)
Brian & Ericka
Mika & Canaan
Sam & Dan
Those five teams are the ONLY ones I think have a chance at making the final three. I do not believe that Zev & Justin, Maria & Tiffany or Gary & Matt will make the final three. The upcoming legs of the race will wear them out. Maria & Tiffany struggled through the physical running of the recent “detour” and Zev, Justin, Gary and Matt may simply be outrun by the other teams I predicted for the final three.
Because I predicted Lance & Keri to be next eliminated I don’t include them in anything else. I feel any further appearances by them this season is either out of luck or Lance manages to back up the bullshit he talks and his fiancée doesn’t completely give up on him. But I don’t see that happening. What I do see is he keeps treating her like crap with his Bostonian Machismo and she doesn’t take it well.
And that’s my opinion on The Amazing Race this week. See you next week!
This third leg started with another new twist as the 10 teams were on a riverboat as their pit-stop in Vietnam. But the riverboat sailed to another location while the teams rested and they were not told of their location. So they began the next leg from an unknown location where they would have to take a taxi to Ho Chi Minh City. It turns out that this would be a 2 hour taxi ride from their unknown location.
Departure times only ranged 45 minutes from the father and son team Gary & Matt to the interracial married couple Brian & Ericka leaving at 6:30am. This was a rare occasion when the pit-stop departure times weren’t obscured by what I call the “Great Amazing Race Team Equalizer” which means whatever great lead a team would have is lost when everyone is forced to wait together because of a flight, train or bus schedule or a closed departure location.
Once in Ho Chi Minh City, teams had to get their first clue by locating a theatre where teams had to pull their clue from the mouths of simulated dragons in a pool. The clue was on a photo stamp enclosed in an empty bullet. Teams had to figure out that the photo was of a post office and they would travel there for the “detour” task choices of “Childs Play” where teams would have to transport a large concrete animal statue on a cart collecting balloons along the way or “Word Play” where teams had to look for letters from atop an observation deck to make out a word. Those letters would be traveling through the crowd on the ground below. Then they would use the letters to make the Vietnamese word for “independence’
Most teams had no problem figuring out the clue was INSIDE the bullet except the team I immediately disliked the most, the engaged couple Lance & Keri as they didn’t open their bullet to get their clue. They ran around aimlessly with Lance yelling at Keri until they figured out the clue was inside the bullet and later while locating the clue box. Lance and his arrogant highly competitive ego was already effecting their progress in the race. These kinds of attitudes always get in the way of success and I tend to route for such teams to fall flat on their asses. This Lance guy reminds me of ROB & AMBER who’s 15 minutes of reality show fame went on much longer than it should have. Long time Amazing Race fans may remember them. But I digress and return to this season.
Anyway most teams chose to do the “kids play” detour task of transporting the concrete animals. There were a couple problems, one team had a broken cart and another team dropped their animal and pieces of it broke off. But there was one team that would make “George Jefferson” cringe, that would be Brian & Ericka who are the “Tom and Helen Willis” of The Amazing Race choosing a ZEBRA as the concrete animal they would transport. And they were “movin on up” during the race.
Only one team chose the “word play” detour and that would be the oldest team on the race Marcy & Ron who at this point were acting more like tourists than contestants on a race. Ron even stood for a minute to say that he was “taking it all in” which I am sorry to say that is NOT what you are there for. While is cool that you are traveling around the world for free, you are not really there to sightsee, you are there to win a race. Sightseers don’t win The Amazing Race.
After completing the “detour” teams traveled to an electronics “chop shop” where they would have to disassemble a VCR and place all its parts into separate piles for recycling.
After taking apart the VCR’s teams went to the next pit-stop, Reunification Palace in Ho Chi Minh City, which is the former Saigon. And there was a foot race to the finish with the first team to make to the pit-stop mat was the Harlem Globetrotters, Nathaniel & Herbert and for their first place finish they each won a vacation package to Aruba from show sponsor Travelocity.
“Flight Time & Big Easy” had a good lead but could not get good directions from the “roadblock” to the pit-stop so they chose to follow Meghan & Cheyne’s taxi to the Reunification Palace gate knowing they would beat them in a foot race. And while Cheyne was the first to reach the mat, both Globetrotters made it to the mat before Meghan. This meant Meghan & Cheyne were officially in SECOND place.
The rest of the arrivals were..
THIRD: Gary & Matt
FOURTH: Brian & Ericka, “Team Zebra” moved on up from last place to fourth.
FIFTH: Gay brothers Sam & Dan.
SIXTH: Maria & Tiffany
SEVENTH: Mika & Canaan
EIGTH: Zev & Justin
And the final two teams are where they are at this point for traditional reasons.
NINTH: Lance & Keri, now at the back of the pack after a leg of Lance’s ego and competitiveness combined with his poor treatment of his partner and fiancée’ Keri. His ego is getting in the way of their making progress in the race. His yelling at Keri is getting in the way. She is not happy being treated with the disrespect Lance has displayed toward his team partner AND his fiancée’
And
TENTH: Marcy and Ron had a short “vacation” on CBS and The Amazing Race’s tab. Like I said earlier, sightseers don’t make Amazing Race winners and on this leg of the race, Marcy and Ron were sightseers who took a break to play a word game is if they had all afternoon to do it. Sorry, but you play Scrabble at home. You play a QUICK word scramble when it is on The Amazing Race. But Marcy and Ron can now relax for a couple weeks at the “elimination station” where they will meet Garrett & Jessica at a nice tropical cottage somewhere in Vietnam.
And at the "Elimination Station" seen only online at CBS dot com, we learn that Garrett & Jessica were the ONLY team at the hideaway. The first team to be eliminated BEFORE the race began (Eric & Lisa) didn't even get to go to the "Elimination Station" to wait for the race to complete. And while Garrett & Jessica seemed to be a little depressed at this vacation hideaway, Garrett moved up his plans to surprise Jessica with a marriage proposal and she accepted. It was done off camera but mentioned during the online segment.
Well they sort of have a pre-honeymoon until Ron & Marcy show up.
Now that we are a couple episodes into the season, I now begin my weekly blog predictions for next team elimination and my predictions for which teams will make the final three. Now to be honest, these “predictions” are really my own personal wishes and I admit that it is based on who I like or don’t like most of the time. But I try to be honest about it. You can’t deny who are the strongest and weakest teams whether you like them or not.
I definitely can’t base any prediction on the previews for the next broadcast. The previews mention that one of the teams will lose their passports but the visual shows all of the “strong” teams in some sort stress moment. But they are always in a stressful moment on the race because it is a competition. And creative editing can play with your mind. That is their intention. So my predictions for elimination are more biased and wishful.
I predict (hope) for LANCE & KERI as the next team eliminated. I cannot stand Lance for his arrogance and disrespectful treatment of his partner. You saw in this episode their relationship struggles which mean TEAM struggles in the race unless Lance makes an attitude adjustment. I would not be surprised if it turned out that Lance & Keri were the team that lost their passports. When you have attitude issues and aren’t properly focused you tend to screw up . I am looking for Lance to do just that.
My early predictions for which teams will make the final three will change from week to week. My predictions are based on who I feel are the strongest teams on the race in terms of their relationship (how they treat each other on the race) and their physical ability. I usually pick 5 teams as having a good chance to make the final three and that number decreases every couple weeks.
So my predictions for any of these FIVE teams to make the final three are.
Meghan & Cheyne
The Harlem Globetrotters Herbert & Nathaniel (or “Flight Time & Big Easy”)
Brian & Ericka
Mika & Canaan
Sam & Dan
Those five teams are the ONLY ones I think have a chance at making the final three. I do not believe that Zev & Justin, Maria & Tiffany or Gary & Matt will make the final three. The upcoming legs of the race will wear them out. Maria & Tiffany struggled through the physical running of the recent “detour” and Zev, Justin, Gary and Matt may simply be outrun by the other teams I predicted for the final three.
Because I predicted Lance & Keri to be next eliminated I don’t include them in anything else. I feel any further appearances by them this season is either out of luck or Lance manages to back up the bullshit he talks and his fiancée doesn’t completely give up on him. But I don’t see that happening. What I do see is he keeps treating her like crap with his Bostonian Machismo and she doesn’t take it well.
And that’s my opinion on The Amazing Race this week. See you next week!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)