The Amazing Race Season Finale 12/10/06

[pdhenry]

So there's a 24-hour requirement for online flight booking?

[Martha]

I think I replayed Kimberly falling into the clue box 5 or 6 times. Priceless!

[pdhenry]

Bama gambles for Orly a second time - will it pay?

EDIT: Guess not...

[scottykempf]

Rob and Kim on first flight.
Bama and Models on stand-by for same flight. Model: "There's no way, dude. " Of course, this means that they will make the flight FOR SURE.

We come back from the break, the producers release two extra seats on the plane for the Models (you would find it pretty boring to watch Rob and Kim win all by themselves, now wouldn't you?), but Bama is SOL.

Cool to see them go back to Paris. (I don't think that they have been there since season one, and if they have, I'm sure that it's the first time that they have been back to the Eiffel Tower since the first season. Hmmm, why haven't they ever gone to Ireland? Have they ever been to England? I don't think so. )

Cool to see them go to Bayeux, Caen, and the Normandy beaches. I was there in 2000 and it was neat to see it again.

[TomK]

What a bummer for one of the teams to miss the most important flight of the whole race, but that is what makes it a race.

[scottykempf]

Models win. First question they will ask: "Exactly how much crack does $1,000,000 buy us, anyways?"

Interesting commercial for TAR All Stars at the very end. The announcer states: "The toughest teams will compete...." yada yada. Oh really, the toughest? We'll see, we'll see.

[scottykempf]

So there's a 24-hour requirement for online flight booking?

Apparently, from what the boys said. But one still wanted to go look for internet, and the other one said "what's the point?". Well, you could get on the internet and find the fastest way to get from the airport into downtown NYC for instance. Look up roads, expressways, etc. I don't know if they had the exact place in NYC that they were going or not. If they did, they could find out exactly where that was. Dummy.

[pdhenry]

What a bummer for one of the teams to miss the most important flight of the whole race, but that is what makes it a race.Don't forget that the flight was soon followed by a 2-mile run. I don't think the outcome would have been different had they made the flight.

[scottykempf]

Don't forget that the flight was soon followed by a 2-mile run. I don't think the outcome would have been different had they made the flight.

True. It has been proven that Bama cannot run.

[scottykempf]

Be sure to watch the Early Show tomorrow for the inevitable proposal of James and Tyler.........ooops, I mean Rob and Kim. LOL

[eddyj]

I was very disappointed that there was not a task right before the finish.

[Anubys]

Have they ever been to England? I don't think so.


Yes, they have 1 or 2 seasons ago...

I was annoyed how Lynn kept saying she's made too many sacrifices...what sacrifices is she talking about? :rolleyes:

very glad the models won...they were my second favorites after the Blondes...Rob and Kim did a good job and raced well...

[ElJay]

I don't get why Bama went back to Orly... I mean it didn't really cost them anything in the long run, but still it made no sense. Charles de Gaulle is the second largest airport in Europe, and it should have been obvious to them when they were at Orly that the airlines represented there were European-centric.

The entire airport thing while the teams were trying to get to NYC looked really suspicious to me. I didn't like how that was handled at all. BS BS BS.

Is this the longest cab ride yet to the finish line? I recall previous years' being much more exciting... this was like a Sunday afternoon ride by comparison.

I'm not terribly excited about the "all star" season coming up. Most of these teams were barely tolerable the first time around.

[InterMurph]

So are there no flights from De Gaulle to the USA in the evening?

They arrived at the airport before dark, and ended up taking an 8:25 a.m. flight. Couldn't they fly to any city in the US (Boston, NY, Philadelphia, Baltimore, even Chicago) the night before, and then take the first flight to NYC the next morning?

I have to go t

[InterMurph]

And no puzzle at the end? That was the best part of last season, when the (non-)frat boys arrived at the flag puzzle first, but the hippies figured it out and won.

[cyke93]

Be sure to watch the Early Show tomorrow for the inevitable proposal of James and Tyler.........ooops, I mean Rob and Kim. LOL

oh low blow hehehe

wow that was an incredible episode, im so glad that James and Tyler won. i travelled through france extensively and know paris like the back of my hand and i live right by nyc so i knew what the teams were up against. When that train in Caen left 10 minutes earlier, i felt so worried because some towns have two train stations and the bama and the models could've gotten on the wrong train. i've always rooted for james and tyler and i was on my knees waiting to see if they were able to get to that 825 flight. bama made the wrong choice by going back to orly. i want to know what the time difference between the models and rob/kim.. it goes to show you.. it pays to have ez-pass haha

[ElJay]

So are there no flights from De Gaulle to the USA in the evening?

They arrived at the airport before dark, and ended up taking an 8:25 a.m. flight. Couldn't they fly to any city in the US (Boston, NY, Philadelphia, Baltimore, even Chicago) the night before, and then take the first flight to NYC the next morning?
That made no sense to me AT ALL given the size of CDG... They had a dozen+ airlines to choose from for a flight to NYC and I find it really hard to believe that Air France and Continental were the only two options that were explored.

[Raj]

I was very disappointed that there was not a task right before the finish.


Getting a cab to drive you all the way from the city to Putnam county is a task all by itself.

Also remember they had to WALK from 42nd street to the village through NYC streets to get to the clue. That's about 37 blocks. I've walked that kind of distance through the city before but it's not exactly trivial, especially if you're racing. (fwiw, longest walk I did was from spring street, close to chinatown, to my apartment in astoria, queens during the 2003 blackout).

[TomK]

Yea, I knew I was missing something at the end of the race...the usual task at the end. Is the finale always an hour? It seems like it's been a two hour show before and tonight's conclusion show seemed bland for some reason.

[Neenahboy]

Is the finale always an hour? It seems like it's been a two hour show before and tonight's conclusion show seemed bland for some reason.

I think almost every finale up until last season was two hours. It was 90 minutes last season, and they chopped it further tonight. You're right, it did seem very rushed, and I was disappointed.

[Raj]

Yea, I knew I was missing something at the end of the race...the usual task at the end. Is the finale always an hour? It seems like it's been a two hour show before and tonight's conclusion show seemed bland for some reason.


I agree, but don't tell me you didn't see a 1 hour finale coming. The two hour finale would have had a non-elim. They used up all three of them already.

But I agree, 1 hour finale, no real final task, boring. I wasn't impressed.

[pdhenry]

So are there no flights from De Gaulle to the USA in the evening?

They arrived at the airport before dark, and ended up taking an 8:25 a.m. flight. Couldn't they fly to any city in the US (Boston, NY, Philadelphia, Baltimore, even Chicago) the night before, and then take the first flight to NYC the next morning?

I have to go tI found these on Orbitz for Tuesday 12/12:

Paris - Amsterdam: Lv 3.25 Ar 4.40 (Air France) ; Amsterdam - New York: Lv 620p Ar 8:25p (Northwest) (probably too late to make this)
Paris - London: Lv 510p Ar 525p (British Airways) ; London - Newark: Lv 810p Ar 1050p (Virgin Atlantic)
Paris - New York: Lv 5:50p Ar 8:15p Nonstop on American
Paris - New York: Lv 650p Ar 900p Nonstop on Air France

[ElJay]

Yeah, were they required to take a direct flight or something? There are connections through Amsterdam, Munich, Geneva, London, Milan, Detroit, Chicago, DC...

[cyke93]

I was very surprised myself that CDG did not have any flights to nyc. you could've taken a flight to london -> nyc .. nyc area has 3 airports, they could've found something sooner.

i was also in barcelona too, daym if i was on that last leg, i would've been all on it haha

[TiVo'Brien]

Definitely the tamest finale in TAR history -- a very simple final leg, nothing special really.

I was really surprised by the phone call (the Sprint phone call :rolleyes: ) at the very end. I'm amazed the producers allowed the final results to leak out. That's a first in race history. I wonder if it really happened or was it dubbed in later?

[scottykempf]

Definitely the tamest finale in TAR history -- a very simple final leg, nothing special really.

I was really surprised by the phone call (the Sprint phone call :rolleyes: ) at the very end. I'm amazed the producers allowed the final results to leak out. That's a first in race history. I wonder if it really happened real time?

I'm sure that they had the parents sign non-disclosure agreements, just like they do for all the contestants. Basically, if you leak the results and we can trace it back to you, you give up the million dollars.

Oh, and everyone watch TAR: Asia, avialable on bitorrent now!!

[cyke93]

Definitely the tamest finale in TAR history -- a very simple final leg, nothing special really.

I was really surprised by the phone call (the Sprint phone call :rolleyes: ) at the very end. I'm amazed the producers allowed the final results to leak out. That's a first in race history. I wonder if it really happened or was it dubbed in later?

this was my first TAR finale so haha, it was the most suspensful i've ever seen haha. i wonder that since bama didn't get on the flight, did they even do the other challenges in nyc or did they just taxi it straight to putnam county. once it was def. that they werent going to catch the flight, they didn't even bother to even show them anymore.

[pantherman007]

Yawn. The final stage is a 60-mile cab ride? No final challenge/puzzle? Of the remaining teams, I'm happy with the models winning. But the producers couldn't have put less effort into the finale. :rolleyes:

I bet there was a restriction on which flights to take. Getting out on that last AF flight would have meant arriving in NYC around 9-10pm. Then the producers would be faced with either someone crossing the finish line at night, or inserting an equalizer/delay on the last day and really skewing things. For the season that finished in Chicago, I thought I remembered reading that the producers made some changes at the last minute (specifically the pizza eating roadblock) to either speed up or slow down things.

[Steve_Martin]

What was up with the old man's eyebrows (during the phone call)?

[FourFourSeven]

I found these on Orbitz for Tuesday 12/12:

Paris - Amsterdam: Lv 3.25 Ar 4.40 (Air France) ; Amsterdam - New York: Lv 620p Ar 8:25p (Northwest) (probably too late to make this)
Paris - London: Lv 510p Ar 525p (British Airways) ; London - Newark: Lv 810p Ar 1050p (Virgin Atlantic)
Paris - New York: Lv 5:50p Ar 8:15p Nonstop on American
Paris - New York: Lv 650p Ar 900p Nonstop on Air France

They could have arrived too late for the 6:50 flight It's light well past 6:50 in Paris in the summer.

However, couldn't a team have flown to, say, Heathrow, and take an early flight from there the next day? Did it have to be non-stop?

[wendiness1]

Probably the most boring final leg I've seen. What were the producers thinking?

[Anubys]

What was up with the old man's eyebrows (during the phone call)?

that was very strange! now we know why the kid took drugs :eek: ;)

do they have to keep their backpacks? once it was clear that they had to sprint for 40 blocks, why didn't they just ditch their bags?

[David Platt]

Probably the most boring final leg I've seen. What were the producers thinking?

Agreed. The end was just so..... meh.

Even if it's a foregone conclusion who will win, the producers usually do a good job of ratcheting up the tension so you feel at least a LITTLE bit of drama. There wasn't any of that here. J&T just get out of their cab, stroll to the finish line, and Phil announces them the winners. It was so boring.

[Alpinemaps]

I dunno...seems like the teams are always asking for the earliest flight to <x>, when they should be figuring out the quickest flight.

The earliest direct connection to NYC was that 8:25 flight. But, as everyone is suggesting - why couldn't you connect up a different way?

I bet there was something production-wise that told the racers they couldn't do that.

[zalusky]

I have to agree something didnt seem quite right. I know in the past they have edited out tasks because they were boring or time contraints. It almost seemed like there were different producers or something. I agree there was a fix to allow the models to make the flight just like Rob and Amber because they didnt want a runaway but this jus seemed really flat. In fact because its Tivo I was assuming it was 2 hours like in the past. As were coming up on the end of hour I am thinking how are they going to fill the last hour and bam game over.

Frankly I had no real enthusiasm in any of the final three wining.

[Idearat]

I thought it was funny when Karlyn said about them flying into Orly: "Now that's thinking". There was no thinking, when they couldn't get on the flight they wanted and wandered off looking for another flight they were told it went to Orly, they didn't choose Orly.

The topper though was heading to Orly instead of CDG later. Did see her pointing to her head and talking about thinking then!

Of the final 3 I was rooting for the Models, so I'm Ok with the results.

And it's official now, an All-Star race. For some reason they want to keep the teams "secret". The only reason for that I can think of that is if they're still racing they don't want too many people interfering.


Oh, as for the producers rigging the extra seats, keep in mind we don't know that there only 2 extra seats, just that we saw the models get 2 more. They were higher up on the waiting list than 'Bama since they got on the list the night before. For all we know there were other tickets handed out before and after the model's, just not enough for 'Bama to get on.

[martinp13]

I'm sure that they had the parents sign non-disclosure agreements, just like they do for all the contestants. Basically, if you leak the results and we can trace it back to you, you give up the million dollars.When I competed on AOL Gold Rush, I had to sign the standard Mark Burnett non-disclosure paperwork. 32 pages :eek:, but it boils down to "you have no privacy, even in the bathroom, and if you blab we can sue you for $5 million". Very intimidating!

[getbak]

I found these on Orbitz for Tuesday 12/12:

Paris - Amsterdam: Lv 3.25 Ar 4.40 (Air France) ; Amsterdam - New York: Lv 620p Ar 8:25p (Northwest) (probably too late to make this)
Paris - London: Lv 510p Ar 525p (British Airways) ; London - Newark: Lv 810p Ar 1050p (Virgin Atlantic)
Paris - New York: Lv 5:50p Ar 8:15p Nonstop on American
Paris - New York: Lv 650p Ar 900p Nonstop on Air France
The models arrived at the airport around dusk (there was still light in the sky, but the street lights were on).

Here is a timeline of when the race took place (scroll to last post for the latest info - right now there is no info on the final leg but there might be by the morning): http://www.tarflies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=972&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=60

According to that, the previous episode was shot on June 21-22. So, the teams probably did the stuff in Paris on June 23, and flew to New York on June 24, which would be in keeping with the producers' tendency to have the final leg reach the US on a weekend.


Here is a calendar with sunset times for Paris in June: http://www.sunrisesunset.com/calendar.asp?comb_city_info=Paris,%20France;-2.5;49;1;2&month=6&year=2006&time_type=0&use_dst=2&want_mrms=1&want_mphase=1

Sunset on June 23 was 9:58pm. Since the teams didn't reach the airport until dusk, I'd say it's safe to assume that the earliest any of the teams were at the airport was maybe 9:30pm, and there's no way any of them were there in time to catch a flight at 6:50pm.

The 6:50 seems to be the last flight out of Paris for New York, and the next one is at 8:25 the next morning.

Even if they had tried for a connecting flight through Heathrow or something, they probably wouldn't have been able to get anything faster (for example, the last flight from Heathrow to New York leaves at 4:00pm and the earliest the next morning is 8:30am).

[Anubys]

I found it strange that the models and the Bama teams didn't beg passengers to give up their seats...heck, didn't they watch Home Alone?!

[Mikkel_Knight]

Lamest.Finale.Ever.

Thankfully, Bama wasn't even in the race at all towards the end. Too bad they actually finished ahead of the Beauty Queens...

[TomK]

That was a very unfulfilling finale. I needed/wanted more than CBS gave to us.

[Sadara]

I was hoping for a 2 hour finale, it was just a normal hour...... blah!

I'm just glad the models won.

Oh and I suspect if they got to the airport late enough they took the flight they could. Although, I do wonder if they had a rule that they had to take a direct flight. At one point, one of the teams was offered a connecting flight and it was rejected pretty quickly.

[Lee L]

I was hoping for a 2 hour finale, it was just a normal hour...... blah!

I'm just glad the models won.

Oh and I suspect if they got to the airport late enough they took the flight they could. Although, I do wonder if they had a rule that they had to take a direct flight. At one point, one of the teams was offered a connecting flight and it was rejected pretty quickly.


I wondered about that too. Since Orly does mostly travel to and from Europe, I figured they could connect to London or back to Barcelona or something.

I wll say I am glad Bama was basically Guidoed at the end. They got there by a little bit of work, but mostly dumb luck, no reason to be so proud to be the first female team. In fact, female teams all over should be offended by that.

The crossing hte finish line was a little lame with the long cab ride, but I suppose it would be hard to get a cab to drive out there. Though since they knew it was the final leg, they could give all their money to the cabbie to entice them to go.

[ToddAtl]

The timing of the flights really didn't surprise me. Most flights leaving Europe are timed to arrive in the US mid-day so that passengers can make connections to secondary cities and, more importantly, the planes can turn around and leave the US in the late afternoon back to Europe and arrive at what amounts to be early morning the next day there.

The show did seem really rushed at the end. They basically just flew back to the US to jog 2 miles and take a couple cab rides, no fun in that!

[cyke93]

I think the producers expected that it would be a hard time to find a taxi to drive to putnam county. thing is, both teams found one relatively quickly it seemed. but the whole episode, each team was neck and neck. say what you will about the taxi ride to in nyc but the rest of the episode was very exciting.

when they left barcelona rob/kim were in the lead and bama was last. models were left out of the flight to paris. it was pretty remarkable that all teams were on different flights, yet they managed to stay neck and neck in paris. the lead kept changin in paris, rob/kim arrived first but bama went to the eifel tower first, at concord, rob/kim took charge and the models moved to 2nd. when they did the fashion, the models took the lead and then it was then the flight to nyc. the bamas lucked out but arriving in nyc, it was 50/50 between rob/kim and the models. up until the flight to nyc, you didn't know who would win.

i saw cbs morning show and james/tyler said that rob/kim were only 10-15 minutes behind them. getting stuck in the cash lane would've only been a 10 minute set back.

[Lee L]

That reminds me. What the heck is up with the cab driver not having an EZ pass? Is that common?

[TBDigital]

My favorite part of the (mainly boring) finale was Rob whining because he didn't get to sky dive. Instead of being excited for Kim, he just moans and complains that 'that was the one thing I wanted to do'. Well then save a Roadblock for it, crybaby. If you've ever watched TAR before, you know that they go skydiving either pretty early or pretty late in the race. Not the easiest thing to remember when you are in the middle of the race, but again, what does it matter? Sure, be disappointed that you don't get to do it, but don't be mad that the other person gets to. Typical Rob...

[eddyj]

To be fair, he was supportive once they got in the plane. But he did go back to whining later.

[Gunnyman]

That reminds me. What the heck is up with the cab driver not having an EZ pass? Is that common?
I was wondering why they didn't have GPS myself.

[TBDigital]

To be fair, he was supportive once they got in the plane. But he did go back to whining later.

I think he realized how cool that nosedive really was...which was why it was so disappointing (but not unexpected) to see him going back to whine after the task was over.

[eddyj]

I think he realized how cool that nosedive really was...which was why it was so disappointing (but not unexpected) to see him going back to whine after the task was over.
Maybe disappointing, but totally in character!

[PeteEMT]

Maybe itwas a glitch or maybejust me, but at DeGaulle it distinctly showed them waiting at the Continental Desk. When the Plane pulled up to the jet port and the door was opened, it had AA markings.

[Chibbie]

I thought it was odd that there was no final puzzle, but I was thinking that maybe there was one, but they just didn't show it.

If the models got there and completed it before Rob and Kim even showed up, there would be no point in showing it. It would only be exciting if two teams were working on it at the same time.

I wonder if Bama went straight to the mat from the airport.

[bluebird-mom]

do they have to keep their backpacks? once it was clear that they had to sprint for 40 blocks, why didn't they just ditch their bags?Good point! My husband said they should just leave them on the airplane and pick them up at baggage claim later. The clue told them that it was the last leg so all they needed was their TAR bag and cash. In one of the seasons, before the last leg, didn't a team mail their bags home or something like that?

[TIVOSciolist]

do they have to keep their backpacks? once it was clear that they had to sprint for 40 blocks, why didn't they just ditch their bags?

At that point in the race, their bags would have mainly been filled with dirty underwear. In a previous season, one pair just threw out most of their old clothes away at the airport after they got back into the United States.

Also, congratulations to Tem for predicting the 'Bama loss based on the expressions on their faces and the fact that they were shown still wearing their packs in the preview:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4637150&&#post4637150

[scottykempf]

Interesting seeing the teams on the Early Show this morning. Phil was not there as he always is. More proof that they are still shooting TAR: All Stars right now.

[Joeg180]

One of the seasons a team checked theor bag and then tried to switch flights and the airline said no.

Bama should have asked to use a cell phone, they may have realized that Orly wasn't the best choice for the last flight.

We also don't know if a task was skipped given the editing.

Rob and Kim had to pick a cabbie without EZ Pass. I suprised he didn't tell him to run through it anyway.

[jlb]

I fell asleep watching.......

Maybe next time, they will add a little bit back to the final leg. That was boring!

[dolfer]

My favorite part of the (mainly boring) finale was Rob whining because he didn't get to sky dive. Instead of being excited for Kim, he just moans and complains that 'that was the one thing I wanted to do'.

Agree on all counts!

They DEFINITELY blew it by: a) not having an equalizer in New York and b) not having some kind of puzzle to solve right before the finish line.

The hippie's puzzle solving victory last time was great! I can't believe they didn't do something similar for this installment.

Things were very anti-climactic and relatively uneventful. Fly to New York, find the globe, and race to the finish. [Yawn...] Are they running out of ideas??? C'mon!

[wendiness1]

I wonder if the plan was to have a two hour finale but there just wasn't enough material to work with. As it was, the one hour was boring enough.

[ToddAtl]

Maybe itwas a glitch or maybejust me, but at DeGaulle it distinctly showed them waiting at the Continental Desk. When the Plane pulled up to the jet port and the door was opened, it had AA markings.

I noticed that as well. TAR seems to recycle a lot of footage when it comes to general plane/airport shots. Since it was just the shot of the boarding door opening without seeing any of the teams, I am guessing it was just stock footage.

[Raj]

That reminds me. What the heck is up with the cab driver not having an EZ pass? Is that common?


Yes it is, largely due to how the system works.

The EZPass deposit is $10 (you have to keep at least $10 in the account) and auto-charges your credit card when you are below $10. The amount that is auto charged and deposited to your EZPass account is based on your average usage over 3 months. Imagine for a cab passing through lots of tolls every day - it can add up, and they can charge a large amount when it's time to replenish.

Some cabs don't really care, but others would rather just have the passenger pay the toll directly.

I am not 100% sure the same rules apply for cabs but that's how it is for us regular drivers. My cow-orkers who come from NY every day tell me about EZPass charging them $200+ each replenish.

[Raj]

I was wondering why they didn't have GPS myself.


It isn't necessary. They don't often drive far out of the city and they are required to know the 5 boroughs pretty much inside out.

[Raj]

I wonder if the plan was to have a two hour finale but there just wasn't enough material to work with. As it was, the one hour was boring enough.


Maybe not.

Two hour finales in the past included a pit stop and since there were only 3 teams left it had to be a non-elim. The non-elims were used up already.

[Raj]

Rob and Kim had to pick a cabbie without EZ Pass. I suprised he didn't tell him to run through it anyway.

In NYC airports you can't just pick a cabbie. They line up at the taxi stand and you who are in the passenger line take the first one. You can give it up for people behind you, but this is a race, and I don't think the racers saw "no EZ-Pass" coming.

[Sadara]

In NYC airports you can't just pick a cabbie. They line up at the taxi stand and you who are in the passenger line take the first one. You can give it up for people behind you, but this is a race, and I don't think the racers saw "no EZ-Pass" coming.

It's like that at nearly every major airport in the US.

[PeteEMT]

Anyways they showed the Cabbie with the Ez Pass digging it out as they were at the toll barrier, so absence of one wasnt a sign either.

[Lee L]

I had not thought of that aspect of it Raj. I kind of figured maybe they had a special program for cabs.

[appleye1]

My favorite part of the (mainly boring) finale was Rob whining because he didn't get to sky dive. Instead of being excited for Kim, he just moans and complains that 'that was the one thing I wanted to do'. Well then save a Roadblock for it, crybaby. If you've ever watched TAR before, you know that they go skydiving either pretty early or pretty late in the race. Not the easiest thing to remember when you are in the middle of the race, but again, what does it matter? Sure, be disappointed that you don't get to do it, but don't be mad that the other person gets to. Typical Rob...
"You do it, babe."

Backfired on you didn't it Rob?

[Sadara]

If you go to CBS.com and watch the video about Lynn and Karlyn's NYC adventure, you'll see they didn't get to skip any of the tasks. They had quite a hilarious romp in NYC basically going to every single news building to find the right one!

[IJustLikeTivo]

This was the second most suspicious ending after the Uchenna and Joyce mystery plane return in the Romber TAR. They went from looking very bad to getting a seat on a completely oversold transatlantic flight? I can see that happening on a shuttle from laguardia to DCA but not on a transatlantic flight. I call shenanigans! I don't actually hate them winning which I would have if Bama had won so I can live with it but I still call shenanigans.

[SuperZippy]

Don't forget that the flight was soon followed by a 2-mile run. I don't think the outcome would have been different had they made the flight.

true, but frustrating that they couldn't get all 3 teams to the destination city to compete...

[Havana Brown]

I think I replayed Kimberly falling into the clue box 5 or 6 times. Priceless!


I busted out laughing LOUDLY for quite a bit. It was hillarious.

Dullest TAR ending evah! :rolleyes: I think it would have been much more exciting with the models, Rob and Kim, and the Blondes.

[SuperZippy]

count me in as wanting a puzzle at the end...

and as long as mr flo didn't win i was happy..

oh, and the skydiving whining was hilarious...

shoot, use the 2nd place money and go skydiving...

[FourFourSeven]

For what it's worth, I checked - that there are flights leaving from Heathrow that arrive only 5 minutes after the Air France flight was scheduled to arrive. And there were plentiful early-morning flights from Paris to London, so you could easily catch a flight from London. I have no idea why a team that didn't look like it would make its flight wouldn't try a connection like this. Unless, as has been noted, the producers required teams to take a non-stop.

[Lee L]

shoot, use the 2nd place money and go skydiving...

I was thinking the same exact thing.

[zordude]

But I agree, 1 hour finale, no real final task, boring. I wasn't impressed.

I agree. I was very disappointed.

[dirtypacman]

Worst finish in TAR history... not that you could expect much from the final 3 but when the highlight is a slip and fall you know its going to be a snoozer.

I could have cared less who won out of the 3 but could have guessed that outcome 3 - 4 weeks ago.

[cyke93]

man im glad this was my first TAR, i enjoyed last night tremendously.

[Jebberwocky!]

I agree the final was a tad boring - only thing that would have been worse would have been to stretch it to 90 minutes or 2 hours.

It was like watching TAR on steriods.

[jking]

Rob didn't bother me as much as he did some folks here. He's a competitor and I understand that. But this whole leg with the "please, please, help us, it's for a million dollars" really got on my nerves. If I was their cabbie or ticket clerk at the airport would have said "what do I care if it means a million to you? i've got bills to pay too."

[bluebird-mom]

This was the second most suspicious ending after the Uchenna and Joyce mystery plane return in the Romber TAR. They went from looking very bad to getting a seat on a completely oversold transatlantic flight? I can see that happening on a shuttle from laguardia to DCA but not on a transatlantic flight. I call shenanigans! I don't actually hate them winning which I would have if Bama had won so I can live with it but I still call shenanigans.Not that I have that much transatlantic flight experience; however, something similar happened to my family when we were returning from Brussels two summers ago. We missed our regularly scheduled flight because we had not checked in at the counter 1 hour before the flight departure time. Long story short, we had to be added to the standby list for the same oversold flight the next day, but the people for the airline seemed pretty sure that we would make the flight. There were 6 of us trying to get home, and there were already several names ahead of us on the list. I never thought we would get called, but finally, all 6 of us made it. I could totally relate to the models last night when they said how stressful is was waiting to see if their names would be called. Granted I wasn't racing for a million dollars!

[DevdogAZ]

true, but frustrating that they couldn't get all 3 teams to the destination city to compete...
I hope you aren't one of the people always complaining about the equalizers. ;)

This final showed why the race is so much more exciting with the equalizers and keeping the teams all together. It would be so dull if one or two teams got a big lead and left the others in the dust.

As for the teams not being able to take a connecting flight, it's possible that it has something to do with getting seats for the camera crews. The teams only ever buy tickets for two people, but invariably the camera crew goes on the plane with them, which tells me they've purchased their tickets previously since they can gauge what time the teams will arrive at the airports and what flights they'll choose. I'll bet that the TAR staff had tix on any flight leaving that morning from CDG to NYC, but didn't have tix on flights from any other city, and therefore restricted the teams to the direct flight.

It also makes you wonder if the producers buy up enough tix on the likely final flight just to ensure that there are at least two teams on that flight. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they held a bunch of the seats and released enough of them to ensure that the models got on the flight, just to preserve the competition aspect of the show. Viewers would be pissed if the entire season came down to one team making a flight that the other two teams missed.

Oh, and I'll agree that this was the worst finale ever. No final challenge, not longer than one hour, very little drama. BOOOOORING!!!

[wendiness1]

I may be wrong but I believe I heard that the racers ask for 2 tickets on camera but for 4 off camera. (cameraman and sound person.)

[Anubys]

add me to the list of people who don't see anything fishy...heck, Rob and Kim also faced the "flight is booked" deal but a manager got them on it...people get on standby and get on the plane in the end all the time...no big deal...

they had a whole night to get to any other city in europe...not sure why it had to be a direct flight...I guess the producers wanted to limit their options in order to get them bunched up in NY...they didn't count on the Bama girls not knowing the difference between Orly and De Gaulle or the fact that the plane was booked...

[Jayjoans]

question about the preview for the all star show at the end of the finale...

Haven't I been reading that the two T-TOW dudes are all bitter about not being invited onto all-stars, yet their picture was part of the teaser for the all-star show? I thought I read that the all star show is already in the can. (not the same can as the family show I hope)

[Idearat]

question about the preview for the all star show at the end of the finale...

Haven't I been reading that the two T-TOW dudes are all bitter about not being invited onto all-stars, yet their picture was part of the teaser for the all-star show? I thought I read that the all star show is already in the can. (not the same can as the family show I hope)


The voiceover for the preview said the contestants were still a secret. Since it would be silly to say that and then show all the people who will be competing I think that was just a selection of previous racers.

[pdhenry]

I saw that also but thought they were saying "Who will be on?" rather than "Here's who's in the all-star race"

EDIT: What Idearat said.

[hefe]

I was pleased that the Finale was a regular one-hour episode. There's nothing about a finale that necessitates extra programming time. I can take it or leave it.

However, the teams competing made it rather boring by TAR standards, so I'm doubly glad it was only an hour.

Can't wait until All-Stars... ;)

[mlisowski]

I'm surprised no one noticed the historical institution just behind the finish line...The United States Military Academy at West Point. Putnam is just across the river from there and the backdrop of West Point was nice to see.

[Inundated]

Gotta weigh in as well that it was the most boring TAR finale I've seen. Meh.

It would have been more interesting with the Blondes instead of 'Bama, but after they left Paris, the bottom just fell out even accounting for having just two teams. It felt like a knockoff of TAR, not the original!

[NYHeel]

I just loved the fact that Rob and Kim lost because they're cab didn't have EZ-pass. It's been a long time pet peave of mine regarding people in the New York area not having ez-pass. It drives me absolutely crazy. Not only does ez-pass save a lot of time but it also saves money (the tolls are cheaper if you have ez-pass). I once had to drive without an ezpass because I had a rental and forgot to transfer my ezpass and I was so embarrassed to be driving in the cash lane. Personally, I think all cash lane people should be arrested and caned for not having ezpass.

[cyke93]

the ez pass helped the models but keep in mind that rob/kim didn't know where to go. the models could've still tried to lose them. also, the treck to the east village is tough. the boys no question are the best team physically.

[Anubys]

I agree about the stupidity of living in NY and not having ez-pass...hell, I had to drive to NY recently and I got ez-pass just for the trip up!

but...

the models didn't know that their driver had ez-pass...that was just dumb luck...they knew the city well enough to give them a slight advantage (as long as they lost Rob and Kim), but the ez-pass thing was just luck...

[Sadara]

I couldn't imagine living in the NE or east coast for that matter without EZ pass. I use to drive I-95 to DC from Philly several times a year when I lived in the area. EZ Pass would cover me all the way through Baltimore where I would have my last toll. Also went to Northern Jersey a few times. I can't imagine not having EZ Pass for all that driving! I just smirked when I saw the models fly through EZ Pass and Rob/Kimber had to sit in the cash lane.... too funny!!

[martinp13]

For what it's worth, I checked - that there are flights leaving from Heathrow that arrive only 5 minutes after the Air France flight was scheduled to arrive. And there were plentiful early-morning flights from Paris to London, so you could easily catch a flight from London. I have no idea why a team that didn't look like it would make its flight wouldn't try a connection like this. Unless, as has been noted, the producers required teams to take a non-stop.You really can't look at today's schedule and compare it. They didn't race yesterday... they raced months ago. Wiki says "filming ran from May 27, 2006 to June 25, 2006". Flight schedules change a lot in six months.

In this case I'm sure there are still plenty of flights to London, etc... but for the flights they seemed to be restricted to, who knows what the actual flights were then.

[Raj]

I just loved the fact that Rob and Kim lost because they're cab didn't have EZ-pass. It's been a long time pet peave of mine regarding people in the New York area not having ez-pass. It drives me absolutely crazy. Not only does ez-pass save a lot of time but it also saves money (the tolls are cheaper if you have ez-pass). I once had to drive without an ezpass because I had a rental and forgot to transfer my ezpass and I was so embarrassed to be driving in the cash lane. Personally, I think all cash lane people should be arrested and caned for not having ezpass.


No, I like the fact that some people use cash. It helps keep the EZPass lanes clear!

Imagine if everyone used EZpass, the EZPass lines would be just as long as the cash ones.

[Havana Brown]

I'm surprised no one noticed the historical institution just behind the finish line...The United States Military Academy at West Point. Putnam is just across the river from there and the backdrop of West Point was nice to see.


It would have been nice for TAR to tell us that!

[DevdogAZ]

Do the meters in NYC cabs run based on time or mileage (or both)? If it's purely mileage based while you're actually driving somewhere, I would think it would be in the cab driver's best interest to have EZ Pass so he can get his passengers to their destination faster and pick up another fare. If you're making the airport run regularly, that could result in a couple of extra fares per shift.

However, if the meter runs on both time/mileage, than the driver probably makes more by sitting in traffic. Slimy, but more profitable.

[Havana Brown]

I was at the gym last nite and was replaying in my head the scene where Kim falls on the floor and I busted out laughing. Even thinking about it is funny. :D And yeah, that's something that would happen to me. :o

[pmyers]

As a cab driver why WOULD you have Ez-pass? Wouldn't the meter keep running while your sitting in the cash lane meaning more money for you? Sure, it's nice for the passanger, but what advantage for the Cabbie?

[hefe]

As a cab driver why WOULD you have Ez-pass? Wouldn't the meter keep running while your sitting in the cash lane meaning more money for you? Sure, it's nice for the passanger, but what advantage for the Cabbie?
I'm not a cabbie, nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, so I wonder, is there more money in more fares? Do you get a baseline initial charge, and then add to it with mileage? Then you add more tip opportunities...I don't know if it makes a difference or not. I really don't have much cab experience, being a suburban kid. ;)

[danplaysbass]

Cabbies get paid for time and mileage. I'm not sure how it works exactly but my uncle got charged $150 fare to sit in traffic 2 hours and only go like 5 miles. This was San Diego though...

What is the cash prize for 2nd or 3rd place? I didn't even know there was a prize.

[cmgal]

I'm surprised no one noticed the historical institution just behind the finish line...The United States Military Academy at West Point. Putnam is just across the river from there and the backdrop of West Point was nice to see.
Also, the pitstop, St Basil's Academy, was a school for Greek-American orphans. I don't know its status now because there was some kind of controversy in recent years.

[eddyj]

No, I like the fact that some people use cash. It helps keep the EZPass lanes clear!

Imagine if everyone used EZpass, the EZPass lines would be just as long as the cash ones.
It still bugs me that you have to slow down for the EZPass (or the FL equivalent - SunPass) lanes. I wish they would put in some of those lanes that you can go through at highway speeds (they have them in some places, but not anywhere I have been).

[eddyj]

I'm not a cabbie, nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, so I wonder, is there more money in more fares? Do you get a baseline initial charge, and then add to it with mileage? Then you add more tip opportunities...I don't know if it makes a difference or not. I really don't have much cab experience, being a suburban kid. ;)
I think the moving (mileage) costs add up faster than the standing (stopped) costs. And there is that initial charge too. So faster is better, for them.

[madscientist]

I think the moving (mileage) costs add up faster than the standing (stopped) costs. And there is that initial charge too. So faster is better, for them.Yes, this is how it works. You get charge some amount per minute (or whatever), and an extra amount per tenth of a mile (or whatever). While for an individual trip it would seem like the slower you go the more you make (since the distance per trip is constant regardless of how long it takes you), you have to remember that after they drop you off they'll pick up someone else... if they're sitting in traffic with you they're not making as much money as they could driving someone else.

[Lee L]

What is the cash prize for 2nd or 3rd place? I didn't even know there was a prize.

CBS has never come out and reported it, but according to various things I have read at reality TV sites and boards like this, for both Survivor and AR, it is rumored that second place is $100-150k and third is around $50-75k IIRC and then they go down for all the places under, with last place getting a few grand for their trouble.



Not sure how true, but I have seen it mentioned that this might be in addition to getting paid scale wages for all their time being filmed or maybe it amounts to that, plus a bonus for 3rd, 2nd and 1st. No contestant has ever come out and explained it (I am guessing their NDAs run a for a while still) and the producers never have either.

I keep expecting Richard Hatch to write a tell all book one day as soon as his NDA is up since he is likely the first major winner of one of these shows to expire, especially with his legal trouble, he could use the money.


As for taxis, every one I have seen has a set amount just to get started then cost per mile or minute of wait time is added, so I am sure htere is a break point where getting more fares is better, but I am guessing you would really have to pump out a lot of short trips before that makes a big difference.

In Sept 2000, my wife and I were in a cab in Vegas heading from the Hilton to meet someone at Mandalay Bay IIRC (it was somewhere near the airport)when Al Gore was accepting the Teamsters' union endorsement. We got stuck in a traffic jam as all teh vehicles in his convoy went by (all were enviro friendly - NOT!) and it cost us an extra $20 on top of the fare. :rolleyes:

[NYHeel]

As a cab driver why WOULD you have Ez-pass? Wouldn't the meter keep running while your sitting in the cash lane meaning more money for you? Sure, it's nice for the passanger, but what advantage for the Cabbie?
You do get something for wait times but it's better to actually pick up another passenger during that time since the wait time money is so much less than the per mile money. EZpass is good for everybody. It's just the morons who think that they want to stick it to the "man" or that the "man" is out to get them.

[DevdogAZ]

CBS has never come out and reported it, but according to various things I have read at reality TV sites and boards like this, for both Survivor and AR, it is rumored that second place is $100-150k and third is around $50-75k IIRC and then they go down for all the places under, with last place getting a few grand for their trouble.



Not sure how true, but I have seen it mentioned that this might be in addition to getting paid scale wages for all their time being filmed or maybe it amounts to that, plus a bonus for 3rd, 2nd and 1st. No contestant has ever come out and explained it (I am guessing their NDAs run a for a while still) and the producers never have either.

I keep expecting Richard Hatch to write a tell all book one day as soon as his NDA is up since he is likely the first major winner of one of these shows to expire, especially with his legal trouble, he could use the money.
I thought those NDAs were only good for 5 years. I might be misremembering, or getting it mixed up with the $5 million dollar penalty clause, but I thought they timed out after 5 years. Maybe there's some provision in there for the NDA to be renewed as long as the series is still on the air.

As for taxis, every one I have seen has a set amount just to get started then cost per mile or minute of wait time is added, so I am sure htere is a break point where getting more fares is better, but I am guessing you would really have to pump out a lot of short trips before that makes a big difference.

In Sept 2000, my wife and I were in a cab in Vegas heading from the Hilton to meet someone at Mandalay Bay IIRC (it was somewhere near the airport)when Al Gore was accepting the Teamsters' union endorsement. We got stuck in a traffic jam as all teh vehicles in his convoy went by (all were enviro friendly - NOT!) and it cost us an extra $20 on top of the fare. :rolleyes:
Regardless of whether Al Gore was there or not, it's almost inevitable to get stuck in a traffic jam if you're trying to go from the Hilton to Mandalay Bay on surface streets (especially the Strip). I'll bet Al Gore only had a small effect on that.

[Lee L]

Actually, we were on a side street and trying to cut over to the strip after coming up one of teh paralel streets. The motorcade was going down the strip and blocking crossing traffic.


I thought the same about the NDA, 5 years, which is why I am puzzled Hatch or no one else have written about it. Maybe I overestimate how much the general public wants to know about this stuff. :D

[Jayjoans]

Al Gore invented traffic jams.

[Honora]

There is a flat charge for trips from Kennedy to Manhattan, plus tolls. I met some women who got burned when they took a non-Yellow Cab from Kennedy to Midtown a couple of months ago. They didn't know the flat rate only applied to Yellow Cabs. I don't know what it was when they were filming this, but it recently went up to $45.

[gschrock]

I agree about the stupidity of living in NY and not having ez-pass...hell, I had to drive to NY recently and I got ez-pass just for the trip up!

Yeah, I went to NY for a cruise this last summer, and got the ez-pass myself because I figured it'd make life easier. And I definitely have to say that for the couple days of driving around the area I had, it was well worth it.

I did find it amusing though that the cabbie held the pass up to the windshield. From the paperwork I got when I got the pass, that was expressly forbidden in the user agreement.

[martinp13]

It still bugs me that you have to slow down for the EZPass (or the FL equivalent - SunPass) lanes. I wish they would put in some of those lanes that you can go through at highway speeds (they have them in some places, but not anywhere I have been).????? How slow do you have to go? I always drive 60+ mph on the Dallas toll roads and it's always worked.

I don't live in Dallas but enjoy the freedom from tollbooths when I do have to brave the roads over there. :) I don't keep it on the windshield, and leave it in the console. I've only held mine up to the windshield once. :)

[KyleLC]

????? How slow do you have to go? I always drive 60+ mph on the Dallas toll roads and it's always worked.You can go as fast as 85 and they'll work in Houston.

[eddyj]

????? How slow do you have to go? I always drive 60+ mph on the Dallas toll roads and it's always worked.

I don't live in Dallas but enjoy the freedom from tollbooths when I do have to brave the roads over there. :) I don't keep it on the windshield, and leave it in the console. I've only held mine up to the windshield once. :)
They are marked as 25, I usually hit them at closer to 40. But they are too narrow to really blow by them at 75. And some even have gates!

[pdhenry]

On the PA turnpike the speed limit through most of the EZPass tolls is 5 mph. It's (allegedly) a toll-taker safety thing, not a sensor thing.

[smak]

I think a cabbie would like to go through tolls quicker with ez-pass.

The best thing a cab driver could do to make money would be to pick somebody up, start the fare, and then end it 5 seconds later. They'd get the initial starting fee which is whatever: $3, $4...

The longer they drive each fare, the less fares, and the less money they make.

I have an interesting theory about the plane tickets.

Say CBS pre books tickets on every possible flight for the crews of the remaining teams. So 3 teams, 6 tickets on each flight for the crew (2 team crews??). Flight A sells out. The first two teams get tickets on flight B, and then the first two camera crews release their flight A tickets, allowing team #3 to get standby tickets when 4 tickets are released...

Possible?

-smak-

[Anubys]

Say CBS pre books tickets on every possible flight for the crews of the remaining teams. So 3 teams, 6 tickets on each flight for the crew (2 team crews??). Flight A sells out. The first two teams get tickets on flight B, and then the first two camera crews release their flight A tickets, allowing team #3 to get standby tickets when 4 tickets are released...

Possible?

-smak-

sure...but costly...and hollywood is all about money...

[sushikitten]

Thank heavens Bama didn't win (not that I was THAT worried). That said, if they had won, I might just have had to give up this show forever. :)

[Sirius Black]

sure...but costly...and hollywood is all about money...

This show is amazingly cheap to produce compared to something with screen actors (like the cast of Friends, for example) who received vast sums of cash per episode. A couple thousand bucks on plane tickets is nothing. They wouldn't fly all over the planet if the show was "losing" money.

[wmm_16]

They just have Travelocity hold them all! lol

[richNYC]

sure...but costly...and hollywood is all about money...
I thought they always buy refundable tickets??? If so, buying lots of extra seats (and then refunded the unused ones) wouldn't require any extra cost.

[sketcher]

I agree, but don't tell me you didn't see a 1 hour finale coming. The two hour finale would have had a non-elim. They used up all three of them already.

But I agree, 1 hour finale, no real final task, boring. I wasn't impressed.
I think the 2-hour finales always started with 4 teams with an elimination at the end of the first hour. So in effect we had the first hour last week.

[joeinma]

The longer they drive each fare, the less fares, and the less money they make.
-

You can say that again! We took a cab from the airport in Boston to our home in Braintree recently after missing the last shuttle bus of the evening. That late the ride is maybe 25 minutes, our cabbie was doing 90 and got us home in 15 minutes because he wanted to get to Boston for more short fares.

Airport to suburbs are charged a flat fare per a fare book they carry, so he was getting $35 whether it took us an hour to get home or 10 minutes, so it's to his advantage to get rid of us quickly.

[sketcher]

It also makes you wonder if the producers buy up enough tix on the likely final flight just to ensure that there are at least two teams on that flight. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they held a bunch of the seats and released enough of them to ensure that the models got on the flight, just to preserve the competition aspect of the show. Viewers would be pissed if the entire season came down to one team making a flight that the other two teams missed.
If this were the case why would the producers only want to get a second team on the flight? Why not all three teams?
I don't buy any of the conspiracy theories that the producers are manipulating the boarding lists for these flights.

[TIVOSciolist]

I was looking for Vipul and Arti (the second team to be eliminated) at the finish line. Every other team (including the Muslim team--the first team to be eliminated) seems to gotten some face time. However, we only saw Vipul and Arti for a fraction of a second during the group shot and once before then during a quick pan of the finish line.

Until I went back and checked in slow motion, I had thought that they might have been missing for some reason.

Strange. Had they made it further, I think they would have been a very popular team.

[KyleLC]

Yeah, I was looking for them, too. I was disappointed that they got eliminated so early.

[Anubys]

This show is amazingly cheap to produce compared to something with screen actors (like the cast of Friends, for example) who received vast sums of cash per episode. A couple thousand bucks on plane tickets is nothing. They wouldn't fly all over the planet if the show was "losing" money.

so is Survivor...yet they won't even spend the extra money (I hear it's about $10,000 per ep) to convert it to HD...

heck, it's much more stationary than a show like TAR, and Survivor won't spring for the $100,000 HD camera...

as for the refundable tickets (another poster)...I don't know if you can cancel these 5 minutes before departure...

all I'm saying is this: if there's a way to save $1, hollywood will do it the cheaper way...

[DevdogAZ]

If this were the case why would the producers only want to get a second team on the flight? Why not all three teams?
I don't buy any of the conspiracy theories that the producers are manipulating the boarding lists for these flights.
I wasn't suggesting that they bought tons of tickets on every flight, enough to allow all the teams on board. I was simply saying that they need to ensure that at least two teams make it on that final flight, or the whole season is bust. Can you imagine how incredibly lame the finale would be if only one team got on the final flight and had an hour lead when they landed in NYC? I'm not suggesting a conspiracy as much as I'm suggesting they keep it competitive for dramatic purposes.

as for the refundable tickets (another poster)...I don't know if you can cancel these 5 minutes before departure...
That's the purpose of refundable tix. They're even refundable after the plane leaves, usually up to a year later. That's why many times you'll see teams buy tix on the first flight they find, but then go around the airport looking for something better. There's no problem with them buying more than one set of tix, because any that they don't use are easily refunded, even after the race is over.

[InterMurph]

heck, it's much more stationary than a show like TAR, and Survivor won't spring for the $100,000 HD camera...

How could you possibly film Survivor or TAR with a single camera?

[cyke93]

i just watched the finish lines and i have a whole new respect for the final 3, esp bama. they really impressed me the last few episodes. i thought they would've been out a long time ago. im just sorry no one mentioned all the car troubles rob/kim had. i was always rooting for james/tyler to win. when they kept winning the past few legs, i thought to my self that oh no, they're using up their steam. it was really amazing to see james/tyler and the blondes too have such good team work. i dont think i ever saw the blond fight and james and tyler only had that little squabble at the airport.

[cyke93]

I was looking for Vipul and Arti (the second team to be eliminated) at the finish line. Every other team (including the Muslim team--the first team to be eliminated) seems to gotten some face time. However, we only saw Vipul and Arti for a fraction of a second during the group shot and once before then during a quick pan of the finish line.

Until I went back and checked in slow motion, I had thought that they might have been missing for some reason.

Strange. Had they made it further, I think they would have been a very popular team.

i just saw the first episod of TAR 10 i wished the muslim friends made it longer. i would've like to see how the race and religion would've clashed. it always sucks to be the first to go

[TiVo'Brien]

I was looking for Vipul and Arti (the second team to be eliminated) at the finish line. Every other team (including the Muslim team--the first team to be eliminated) seems to gotten some face time. However, we only saw Vipul and Arti for a fraction of a second during the group shot and once before then during a quick pan of the finish line.

Until I went back and checked in slow motion, I had thought that they might have been missing for some reason.

Strange. Had they made it further, I think they would have been a very popular team.Yeah, it was kind of unfair that they got ZERO face time at the finish line except for the group shot. Even the Muslims got a second of face time all to their own.

[Anubys]

How could you possibly film Survivor or TAR with a single camera?

that's not the point...let's say they film it with 10 cameras (Survivor)...the price of a regular camera is $40K and an HD one is 100K...that's about half a million to do the show in HD (the cameras are also heavier, but still)...and they are too cheap to do it...

it also costs about $10k to upconvert an SD show into HD...and they won't even spring for THAT...

(all the numbers I'm quoting I've seen on this forum, so I don't know first hand if they are correct)...

my point is that producers have a job...part of it is to cut down cost...

[ashu]

Umm, upconversion (SD->HD) is a waste of money. Shooting in HD is not - so I only HALF disagree with you :)

[Back On Topic] I am thrilled ungrateful & spiteful Bama didn't win :) I wish the bequty queens had, but the models are acceptable as well. About as blonde (perhaps more so) but dedicated enough to do it!