The Amazing Race - 2011-12

4 more.

 

Got lucky this week in that I forgot to DVR the show (Only remembered it was on after ijag sent me a PM) and got home at 8:30 to see ... that my cable box was tuned in to the right channel and so I could record it.

Just watched it and I enjoyed the hell out of it. I decided not to watch Survivor this go around because I'm kind of burned out with that show but I love me some TAR.

Right now I'm rooting hard for Ethan's team, obviously, but I'm also kind of pulling for the Showgirls. Scripted or not, that passport scene was awesome. I kind of hope they make it somewhat far as, unlike the twins, they're both attractive and easy to deal with.

The old folks and twins are done next week though.

 

A bottle of Nobilo is on its way to you, my friend ...

 

Win!

 

3 more.

 

The one thing I cannot figure out is why people try to keep secrets on this show. The fact that you are a former Survivor winner/NFL player/airline attendant/Miss America candidate or whatever eventually will come out, usually by the second episode when you go around blurting it out to everyone. Making a big show in the first couple of episodes about how you're going to be all *secretive* and not reveal your true identity....*eyeroll* please. It never works. Ever.

 

What I don't get is why more teams don't work together, especially early on.

If I were on the show, the first thing I would do is find two teams that I liked well enough to form an alliance with. It would make solving the clues a lot easier, such as this week's proverb one and would make it much, much easier for you to plot out race strategy to detour the teams you don't like/are challenged by and whatnot.

I get that there's a certain level of mistrust and, at the end of the day, every team is out for themselves but, to me, until you get to that clue that says "Go to the pit stop", I don't see why you can't work with an alliance to ensure you don't outthink yourselves/get lost because of bad directions.

 

Well, specific to the proverb task, it would have been against Race rules, seeing as they couldn't even write the proverb down. WRP has done enforced team cooperation before (the Intersection) and it went over like a lead balloon with Racers and viewers alike, and did not last long. Teams who have attempted "alliances" before have found them to be advantageous only up to a point. And usually that point comes up pretty quickly. Additionally, if you waste too much time trying to thwart other teams, you have less time to, y'know, RUN THE RACE. My personal feeling is this: Run Your Own Effing Race. Don't rely on other teams to do the hard work for you, and don't expect to get bailed out just because you're friendly. It's one of the things I really liked about Jet and Cord.

 

I don't know. I've always been amazed that it hasn't worked. I figure you've got a hell of a better chance getting through some of the more challenging tasks if you're working with one or two teams than if you're working on your own.

Take, for instance, the challenge a couple seasons back where the Harlem Globetrotters couldn't figure out the word puzzle. I don't remember the exact details but I know there was a level of cooperation allowed in that challenge and had they been working with a team in the traditional sense of the word, they might have gotten by that obstacle.

I guess I'm just of the mindset that I'd rather join a bit of an alliance and work together and then duke it out with the teams I like/think I can beat at the end.

With a million bucks on the line, though, I'm sure I'd think differently.

One other thing about this season. I thought for sure he was going to say the new twist at the end was that the team that finished last in a non-elimination leg had to race the next leg of the race as individuals. Don't know why I thought that. Would have been interesting.

 

Yeah, really. I mean does anybody really give a fuck who Marcus Pollard is/was? (And I would question how much "blocking" he did for Peyton Manning too.) It's not like he's Randy Moss, Terrell Owens or Jerry Rice and you're right, these people end up blabbing it themselves.

I'd argue he has a lower profile than Flight Time and Big easy and they had no problem telling everyone who they were and what they did.

 

I love the lower third on the passport bimbos:

"Former Las Vegas Showgirls."

OK, I could understand that tag if they were in their 50s or something...but they are 23 or there abouts. What's a 23-year-old "former showgirl" but an "unemployed cocktail waitress."

Speaking of, on Survivor this year, they have a "VIP Cocktail Waitress." What's the mean? That she only serves Dom?

 

Whilst naked and sitting on the customers' lap.